King of Hundred Victories Saber

The dull thud of severed limbs hitting the ground shattered the deathly silence of the snowy plains, dark-red blood pits spreading across the snow like grotesque wounds.

When the half-frozen arm of the Blood Evil Elder burst into crystal shards, countless beads of blood sprayed out, congealing under the moonlight into a scarlet mist.

Seeing this, the Earth Split Elder’s eyes bulged with rage, the eerie green runes in his palm swelling three inches as he roared, ”Junior, how dare you injure my brother!”

In the instant his twin palms struck out, the snowfield within a hundred-zhang radius collapsed with a roar, scalding quicksand erupting like volcanic magma. Within the billowing white steam was mixed a sulfurous stench of burning rot, and the snow falling from the sky was instantly steamed into powder.

Shi Feiyang, seeing the situation, hastily wrapped an arm around Guo Xiangyu’s slender waist. Bright Jade Technique True Qi surged like a furious tide as he flung her high toward the ninth heaven. ”Hold your breath, still your mind!” He himself plunged like a falling star into the sea of sand.

The scalding grit scorched the ice-blue armor. He immediately circulated the Twelve-Layered Bright Jade Technique, ice-blue True Qi surging like a flood dragon breaching the sea, forcefully carving out a winding tunnel of ice crystal through the quicksand. The Celestial Frost Blade flew from his hand, whirling as a streak of light.

The ”Hundred Victories Saber Technique - Red Dust Slash” exploded forth! The spiraling saber energy carried the force of mountains crashing and seas overturning; wherever it passed, the crimson quicksand instantly froze into grim ice walls, and in the crackling detonations, a storm of ice shards blew skyward.

Guo Xiangyu flipped in midair, her skirts blooming like a snow lotus.

Her bamboo saber traced ”Falling Blossoms in Profusion,” ten thousand bamboo shadows weaving into emerald vines that lunged straight for the bone flute in Elder Xuanming’s hand.

But that old fiend only gave a hideous laugh that shattered the icicles. ”Paltry tricks!” The bone flute blew forth the ”Soul-Stealing Demonic Melody,” the sound waves spiraling like tangible black pythons. In the instant the bamboo saber shattered inch by inch, the splintered green bamboo shot back instead, carving fine blood-lines across her rosy cheek.

Shi Feiyang burst from the ice cavern straight toward the sky, the Celestial Frost Blade trailing ten-zhang of icy radiance as it cleaved down toward Elder Xuanming’s face.

Elder Fengshi, however, flickered in like a wraith. The Wind Blade in his hand sliced through the void; as it severed the saber energy into two, the ice-blue True Qi scattered like fireworks.

Worse still, black blood gushed from the Blood Evil Elder’s severed stump, condensing midair into a twisted arm. The Blood Jade Chain once more transformed into thousands of blood pythons, a stinking wind reeking of decay surging straight at them. ”Feiyang! Left side!” Guo Xiangyu’s shout was torn to shreds by the wind and snow.

A vortex of True Qi around Shi Feiyang’s body began to flow of its own accord, the ice-crystal armor shimmering with dim blue ripples.

The blood python skimmed past his shoulder, plowing a deep trench more than a zhang into the snow. The kicked-up stones actually shattered the distant ice wall into a web of cracks.

He reversed his grip and unleashed a single slash, ”Heaven and Earth, Same Silence.” Saber light collided with the blood python, the explosive roar making the ice plain for miles around tremble. Blood mixed with ice grit fell like rain. Seizing the chance, Guo Xiangyu flung out a medicine pouch; the orpiment powder flared into crimson light. The blood pythons ignited the instant they touched it, twisting in midair into charred black fire serpents.

The four Elders realized the tide was turning and lifted their voices in a simultaneous long howl that shook the ninth heaven.

Four Silver Moon Discs crashed together with a thunderous boom, condensing in the air into a gigantic Crescent Moon Saber, the ghostly light flowing along its blade twisting space itself into a vortex.

Shi Feiyang drew Guo Xiangyu behind him, three layers of ice-blue shields stacking one atop the other, each layer etched with ancient runes.

As the scimitar descended, the first shield shattered like Liuli glass, the second shield crazed with countless cracks. Amid flying ice splinters, Guo Xiangyu caught sight of the cold sweat seeping at the back of his neck, actually freezing into tiny crystals in the frigid wind.

”All in!” Shi Feiyang’s eyes were bloodshot, the Celestial Frost Blade lifted high over his head, its blade absorbing the boundless chill between heaven and earth, swelling to three zhang.

The ultimate killing move, ”Hundred Victories Saber Technique: Heaven and Earth’s Longevity,” surged forth. Nine streaks of ice-blue saber energy transformed into hundred-zhang ice dragons, their roars carrying a world-annihilating might.

In the instant the ice dragons collided with the scimitar, time itself seemed to freeze. Ice chips and blood rain interwove into a resplendent dance of death, continuous detonations driving the snowy plains ever downward, gouging out a colossal ice pit.

Guo Xiangyu forced herself to channel her remaining Inner Strength into his body; blood overflowed at the corner of her lips, dripping onto his lapel. ”Feiyang... life and death as one...”

Amid a heaven-rending explosion, the figures of the four Elders were flung away by the shockwave like torn paper kites.

Shi Feiyang stood unyielding at the heart of the smoke and dust, holding her in his arms, ice-blue True Qi flowing around them, cocooning them in light. Lowering his head to see her face as pale as paper, his lips nonetheless curved into a gentle smile. ”Xiangyu, as long as I’m here, no one can take you away...”

The north wind wrapped in smoke swept past them. Guo Xiangyu’s breath was as thin as gossamer, her purplish lips faintly opening and closing.

Her trembling fingertips brushed his sharply chiseled jawline, blood-stained nails tracing faint red marks on his skin.

In the distance, the newly formed ice pit still steamed with billowing white vapor. The blood-soaked remnant snow intertwined with the ice-blue True Qi, like a tragic yet breathtaking Asura Painting. The north wind whipped up shards of ice that howled like blades, turning the air around them into frosted mist.

Guo Xiangyu leaned against Shi Feiyang’s chest, her pale lips nearly translucent. Every word she breathed seemed to drain the last of her life. ”Feiyang...”

Her voice was light as drifting silk, torn to tatters by the icy wind. ”Listen... in this wind... isn’t that the demonic music of the Cold Jade Palace again?”

Tiny crystals of ice clung to her lashes, refracting a cold, ghostly radiance beneath the moon. Yet those autumn-water eyes were misted with tears, making the sorrow in their depths all the more achingly beautiful.

Shi Feiyang’s arms suddenly tightened. The gentle warmth of the Bright Jade Technique flowed into her body like trickling streams. The clothes beneath his palm, pressed to her back, gradually grew damp—whether with sweat or blood, he could no longer tell.

”Don’t talk.” His Adam’s apple bobbed, his voice hoarse as though scraped by sandpaper. ”Once your wounds heal, we’ll return to the passes at once. Su Qinghan’s Nine-Turn Life-extending Pill, Master Tongzhen’s True Qi of the Buddhist Sect, they will surely...”

”Don’t.” Guo Xiangyu suddenly laughed softly, yet that laughter cut deeper than sobs. Her fingertips drifted slowly to his chest, drawing circles over his heart through the fabric—just as they had on countless nights, the gentlest secret signal when they lay entwined in sleep.

”You once said, the five hundred thousand disciples of the Heroic Sakura Association are the fruit of your many years of blood and toil since first you stepped into the Jianghu.” Her voice grew choked. ”They followed you over mountains and through ravines, scraping out a living amid flying sabers and flashing swords, all for the simple hope of a peaceful world...”