When Li Ye chopped down with the knife, Wu You and the other"s eyes opened wide.
Seeing the cold blade begin to slice down, Li Jing"an screamed like a pig. "Prince An, please spare my life!"
The blade went into Li Jing"an"s body, leaving a gaping b.l.o.o.d.y wound.
The power of the knife forced Li Jing"an to fall from the treetop, landing face down on the ground. His whole body trembled like a fish out of water and he breathed heavily.
He had been seriously injured.
A scream rose from the dense forest, Li Jing"an"s woman attendant rushed to Li Ye like she was possessed, she ignored the blood coming from her mouth and her scarlet eyes.
"I"m going to kill you!" The woman put her fingers together and made them into a sword. All of her Spiritual Qi burst out and her entire body became a sharp weapon.
"Since you are looking for death, I will help you." Li Ye snorted. "When you do something wrong, you need to pay for it."
The knife came down!
The woman, who had made her body into a sword, had been hit by Li Ye"s Knife Qi before she could rush him. Her blood splashed through the air and she fell on the ground with a short scream.
She hit the ground, her whole body covered in blood, no breath left in her body, and her eyes bulging.
Li Ye retrieved the knife without looking at Li Jing"an who was laying there on the ground. He climbed the stone steps, walking with his hands behind his back. "Go back and tell Grand Prince Gong that if he does not correct his son, and allows you to block my way again, I won"t just kill one of your attendants."
Li Jing"an, had managed to barely escape with his life and raised his head, with great difficulty, from the ground. While staring at the back of Li Ye, he had already forgotten his hatred and felt lucky to have survived.
Only by truly facing Li Ye"s Sword Qi, could a person realize the horror of Li Ye. Only by truly staring into Li Ye"s eyes, could a person know that his killing intent was not fake.
All Li Jing"an wanted to do was leave as soon as possible and get away from Li Ye, the further the better.
Li Ye had his own agenda, so he chose not to kill Li Jing"an.
Although he had been decisive, he had not been mindless. He didn"t have Grand Prince Gong"s evidence of the crime and Li Jing"an hadn"t killed him personally either. If he had killed Li Jing"an rashly or ruined his cultivation in the public"s eyes, he would be blamed for killing the youths of the Imperial Clan. It would be hard to explain to the Court of the Imperial Clan and Grand Prince Gong would not let him go easily in the future.
Currently, he was still young and didn"t have enough power, so he had no desire to make deadly enemies everywhere. Dealing with Li Guanshu and Li Yao was different. In addition, when he had killed Li Guanshu tonight, there had been no one present at the time. Since he had admitted it afterward, no one would be able to accuse him publically.
Being badly injured and his attendant being killed was lesson enough for Li Jing"an.
Watching Li Ye as he climbed the stairs, Wu You"s old attendant bowed his head slightly, not daring to look at him. He finally realized that he had been wrong about Li Ye who had been far more decisive than he had expected.
The old attendant had the sudden realization that Li Ye"s look, which had been full of killing intent, had not been a pretense, but that he had really wanted to kill him. If Li Ye could kill Li Jing"an"s attendant, Li Ye could also kill him. The woman"s lifeless body lying in front of the stone steps had been a clear demonstration.
The old attendant felt shocked as well as bitter. The direct reason for Li Ye hurting Li Jing"an seriously and killing the woman had been Shangguan Qingcheng. The old attendant glanced at Shangguan Qingcheng who was at the beginning of Qi-refining with low cultivation. She was an ordinary person, not from a prestigious family. However, Li Ye had been so angry that he had hurt Li Jing"an and killed the woman over of her. He didn"t even care that it would cause a feud with Grand Prince Gong. It was astonishing that he would protect his attendant to this extent.
So the old attendant understood that unless it was completely necessary he shouldn"t offend the people on Li Ye"s side, especially Shangguan Qingcheng. Although Shangguan Qingcheng hadn"t suffered many injuries, Li Ye had been greatly angered. If someone were to really hurt these people in the future, they wouldn"t be able to bear Li Ye"s anger or truly know how much trouble he would make.
Realizing this, the old attendant sighed to himself. As Wu You"s attendant and a follower of the princess and her husband, he had the same status of Shangguan Qingcheng. The old attendant felt a bit jealous of Shangguan Qingcheng and her having a master that would his follower so vehemently. The old attendant sighed about different people having different destinies.
It wasn"t just the old attendant that had been feeling jealous, Wu You was feeling jealous of Shangguan Qingcheng. She said in a low voice, "Did Elder Brother Ye burst into anger because of her beauty? Why don"t I have such good luck..."
But Wu You realized that Li Ye had dealt with Li Jing"an, not just for the sake of Shangguan Qingcheng. This comforted her and felt relieved. "Elder Brother Ye is going to do great things, and of course, it isn"t surprising that he would defend the people on his side..."
Self-persuasion was very effective, and the young girl was able to convince herself quickly.
Shangguan Qingcheng had no way of knowing Wu You"s and the old attendant"s thoughts. She had been moved deeply and her eyes shone as brightly as stars while she stared at Li Ye.
Li Ye handed the knife back to Shangguan Qingcheng, and then said to Wu You, "Tonight, Niushou Mountain is in chaos and we don"t know what has happened to the other youths of the Imperial Clan. In any case, we must find them first and then return to Chang"an together."
While he had been talking, Song Jiao had flown down from the branches and landed right next to Shangguan Qingcheng. The enchanting woman held Shangguan Qingcheng"s hands and giggled. "Your Highness, you make her so moved that her face and ears redden and even her hands are hot. I"m afraid that she is already into you. Your Highness, you should not let the beautiful lady down."
Li Ye did not care about Song Jiao"s joke. This woman had suffered a loss in front of the waterfall, and she wanted to save her dignity. "This is a... Jianghu master who has turned to my side. She is kind of a follower of the Prince An Manor."
Song Jiao"s ident.i.ty was a secret, so she had made an agreement with Li Ye so that she would not expose her ident.i.ty when they went back to Chang"an. Fortunately, she was proficient in transfiguration. As long as she did not use her iconic cultivation method of "Coldness of Yi River", she wouldn"t have to worry about being noticed. The only reason Li Ye could recognize her was that she had not hidden her temperament.
Song Jiao"s joke made Shangguan Qingcheng"s white face become even more beautiful with a pink flush. She wished she could dig a hole and hid in it. She was a straight-forward person and not good at arguing, so she felt embarra.s.sed at this moment. After listening to Li Ye"s explanation, she resisted the impulse to pull out a knife to cut Song Jiao.
Wu You"s reaction had been more direct, she clapped her hands as she wore a look of surprise on her face. She had been amazed and excited. "What a beautiful sister!"
After they had met up with each other, they did not linger and went to find the other youths of the Imperial Clan together.
Fortunately, the youths of the Imperial Clan were not easily injured, because they had attendants to protect them and they also had their life-saving magic treasures. The weakest Li Ji had been eliminated. Although many disciples of Sanqingguan had been killed in the earthquake, the youths of the Imperial Clan had not been seriously injured and they had been contacted, one after another.
Afterward, they arrived at a platform with a broad view. In the air above the mountain"s peak, Nangong Diyi was still fighting with a group of people. They had been fighting up until now, but by the time everyone had gathered to watch the fight, it had come to an end.
It was over in the same way it had been in Sanqingguan when the three swords appeared again.
Three swords materialized accompanied by three thunderous sounds exploding in the air. Instantly, three 30-meter-long cyan lights chopped down and the besiegers were sliced into pieces. They fell from the sky like dumplings. Half of them had been injured or died immediately. The others retreated hastily because of their bad situation.
However, Nangong Diyi did not pursue them. He had been exhausted by the fighting.
"Insects Awakening Sword showed up like thunder and the Three Buyue swords drove the enemy home." Song Jiao raised her head to look at the exciting scene under the starry night, there was a fire of desire dancing in her eyes. "The "Insects Awakening Sword" and the "Buyue Method" deserve great reputations. If I were a few years younger, I would have rushed to fight with him."
Done talking, Song Jiao thought about making an indiscreet remark, so she laughed at herself and said to Li Ye, "This Nangong Diyi fellow, though he is arrogant, has great strength. His "Insects Awakening Sword" is one of the ten most famous swords in the world, and he created the "Buyue Method" himself."
"Nangong Diyi has been cultivating for a few years. He went to the Great Wall of Gubeikou to test his sword when he first created the "Buyue Method". At that time, the savages of the prairie were going south to fight against those of the gra.s.s valley. They sent out thousands of cavalries to attack the Gubeikou Pa.s.s. He happened to encounter them. He pulled out his sword, leaped over the wall alone, and wielded the three swords towards the thousands of cavalries."
"Rumor has it that when Nangong Diyi had wielded his sword, the sky had been thundering just like now. His Sword Qi chopped down through the air and went deep into the cavalries" formation, reaching a hundred steps. Within that hundred steps, people and horses had been killed. Afterward, there were three Sword Qi gaps remaining in the cavalries" formation which had been divided into four pieces. More than eight hundred people had been killed. The savage cavalries, who were known for their fearlessness, cried out loud. They couldn"t even touch the walls of the Gubeikou Pa.s.s, and so they retreated in a panic."
"Nangong Diyi became famous because of the battle of Gubeikou. Since then, this praise appeared. "Insects Awakening Sword shows up like thunder and the Three Buyue swords drive the enemy home", which means that thousands of troops have to retreat obediently when they encounter the "Three Buyue swords "."
After saying this, Song Jiao smiled suddenly. "However, this guy, although he has a great talent in cultivation, he is mindless. He knows nothing outside of cultivation. This time, the only reason he would have appeared in Niushou Mountain was that he had been fooled by Li Guanshu..."
Song Jiao"s had not yet finished speaking when an aureole falling from the sky hit the ground. It carved out a deep hole not far away from everyone, causing smoke to plume everywhere.
Before the smoke dissipated, a young man stepped out holding his sword in his hand. He had a jade-like face and wore a white robe, he looked like a scholar. He opened his small eyes wide and looked very angry as if the world owed him a lot of money. When he saw Li Ye and the others, he asked, "Have any of you seen that Li Guanshu a.s.shole? Point him out so I can kill him!"
Li Ye opened his mouth a little bit but said nothing. He looked at Song Jiao who was giving him a thumbs up and an expression of approval.