King of Hundred Victories Saber

Li Ji smiled and patted his shoulder. ”We didn’t just hold it; we also let those bandit scum know that our Heroic Sakura Association Ryukyu Sub-Branch is not a place they can invade at will!”

Dusk stained the Ryukyu sea a blood-colored Liuli glow. Lu Chengfeng’s Azure Dragon Saber glinted with a dark red light beneath the setting sun, the beads of blood congealed in the nicks along the blade shivering and falling with his every movement. Li Ji leaned against the sub-branch’s arrow tower, the Wind Thunder Sword slanting at his waist, faint threads of blood seeping through the bandages wrapped around the hilt.

The two of them gazed at the sea choked with floating wreckage of enemy ships. The salty, fishy wind whipped splinters of wood against their faces, the reek of smoke and powder mixed in, enough to make one retch.

”Those Japanese pirates will be back again!” Lu Chengfeng viciously wiped the blood from his blade with his sleeve, the old wound at the tiger’s mouth of his hand seeping fresh blood once more. ”Fusang Wanderers have always repaid a grudge a hundredfold, let alone this time when they lost two warships.”

His voice was hoarse like a cracked gong, yet his gaze was locked on the line where sea and sky met in the west, as if he could pierce the night’s curtain and see through to the enemy’s schemes.

Li Ji drew his Long Sword; the blade reflected his pale yet resolute face. ”Each time they come, we strike them down each time!”

The lingering sparks of lightning along the spine of the sword flickered on and off, clearly illuminating the bloodshot veins in his eyes. ”The blood we’ve spilled on these reefs should long since have told them—Heroic Sakura Association’s dock is not a place they can spit on as they please!”

Before his words fell, the bronze bell on the distant watchtower suddenly thundered, its peals startling clouds of seabirds into the sky.

Sure enough, a few days later at dawn, before the sea mist had dispersed, more than forty Japanese pirate warships pressed in like a swarm of black-shelled beetles.

The flag of the ”Great Bodhisattva Hachimantai” hanging from their prows snapped fiercely in the sea wind, the wild laughter of the Rangers carried along with the gusts. ”Ryukyu savages, today we’ll raze your dog’s nest to the ground!”

Lu Chengfeng stood at the bow, staring at the approaching enemy formation, then suddenly drove the Azure Dragon Saber hard into the deck. ”Form up!” At his command, the sub-branch disciples swiftly arrayed themselves in an Eight Trigrams Array, shields like walls, arrows like a forest.

Li Ji leaped atop the highest watchtower, the Wind Thunder Sword pointing straight at the firmament, the thunder it roused in the clouds faintly flickering.

The Japanese pirate warships launched the first attack; countless fire arrows, trailing long streams of flame, tore across the sky. Lu Chengfeng bellowed and unleashed ”Dragon Roar Shakes the Eight Desolations” from the Azure Dragon Saber Technique, eight arcs of golden blade-qi fanning out to sweep horizontally, cleaving half the fire arrows into fragments.

Yet the enemy ships were too many; plenty of fire arrows still rained down on the dock, instantly igniting raging blazes. Seeing this, Li Ji shifted his sword along an oblique line, bringing down the Wind Thunder Sword move ”Thunder Smite the Nine Heavens.” Several bolts of heavenly lightning crashed onto the enemy decks, and the wooden hulls erupted at once into sky-high flames.

”Kill!” A Fusang Wanderer stepped off a burning gangplank and sprang onto the dock, the cold gleam of his Japanese Saber flashing.

Lu Chengfeng reversed his grip and struck with a single slash, executing ”Dragon Leaps into the Abyss.” A streak of saber light flashed past; the Ranger, man and blade alike, was split clean in two, blood splattering across his black-iron Soft Armor. But more enemies surged forward like a tide, the sub-branch disciples falling into bitter melee, screams rising one after another.

At that critical juncture, Shi Feiyang’s reinforcements finally arrived. He stood at the prow of the flagship, the Bright Jade Technique circulating to the state of ”Supreme Forgetting Emotions Ice Soul Cold Prison,” cold air around him congealing into three zhang of white mist. ”Break!” Shi Feiyang thrust out both palms, unleashing ”Heaven’s Edge,” a move from the Hundred Victories Saber Technique. Golden and white saber-qi intertwined, surging forth with the force of mountains and seas, cleaving three enemy vessels in half. Sea water flooded in; the cries of the Japanese pirates were instantly swallowed by the crashing waves.

Fuma Xiaoyezi suddenly appeared, her scarlet ninja robe flickering in and out of sight amid the smoke. ”Shi Feiyang, don’t think you can slip past this tribulation!” She formed seals with both hands. ”Falling Sakura Killing Array!” Tens of thousands of poison-laced sakura blossoms shot out from the mist, the edges of the petals shimmering with dark green-black venomous patterns.

Bai Zhi raised her jade flute lightly, the Nine-headed Serpent Gu hissing and screeching, its foul crimson venom splattering out in a curtain that collided head-on with the sakura poison miasma.

Li Ji seized the opening and executed ”Thunder and Fire Intertwined” of the Wind Thunder Sword, the lightning and flame entwining along the blade as he thrust straight for Fuma Xiaoyezi.

Fuma Xiaoyezi let out a sharp cry, her short blade whirling into a silver arc, yet the instant it met the sword light, the thunderfire backlashed. Her sleeve erupted in roaring flames. She staggered back in disarray, a flicker of terror flashing in her eyes.

On Lu Chengfeng’s side, his killing intent had burned red; the Azure Dragon Saber howled in his grasp, every stroke claiming a life.

But the enemy numbers were truly overwhelming; wounds gradually multiplied across his body, blood soaking through his garments.

At the hair’s breadth of life and death, Shi Feiyang drew on the vortex-like suction of the Bright Jade Technique, pulling dozens of Japanese pirates toward him, then slammed his twin palms forward with ”Red Dust Slash.” Nine streaks of golden saber-qi crossed and re-crossed; wherever they passed, the Japanese pirates were either cut in half at the waist or chopped into pulp, broken limbs and severed arms bobbing upon the sea.

The bloody battle raged on for a full two hours. When the setting sun once again bathed the sea in red, the waters were littered with nothing but Japanese corpses and shattered warship hulks.

Fuma Xiaoyezi’s substitute body, under Shi Feiyang’s Ice Soul Cold Prison, turned into a crystal-clear ice statue and then shattered with a crash.

Lu Chengfeng and Li Ji stood upon the charred dock, looking over the devastation all around. Though utterly exhausted, their eyes shone with a proud light.

”We’ve held it again. But this time, we really have to thank the Grand Squad Leader for his sudden Counterattack!” Lu Chengfeng’s voice carried the relief of one who had survived a great calamity. He tightened his grip on the Azure Dragon Saber. ”Next time, if they dare come again, we’ll make sure none of them ever return!”

Li Ji wiped the blood from the Wind Thunder Sword, its clear ringing echoing out. ”Exactly! The renown of the Heroic Sakura Association is forged in the blood of our enemies!”

The two of them exchanged a smile, then turned away to begin clearing the battlefield.

The blood-colored afterglow tinted the Ryukyu sea an amber hue. Shi Feiyang stood upon the scorched earth, the ice-blue True Qi around him slowly dissipating, his dark battle garb stained with blood yet still snapping in the wind like a banner.