Chapter 244: Where Did the Green Lotus Leaves Come From?
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The flying swords vanished without a trace in the distant sky.
“Are we really not going?” Zhao Layue asked Jing Jiu.
Jing Jiu didn’t respond to the question, turning around and walking back to the manor cave.
Zhao Layue, Gu Qing and Yuan Qü exchanged glances, speechless, because they didn’t know what to say.
The situation was quite plain right now, Liu s.h.i.+sui was at a critical moment and might die at any minute; but Jing Jiu was unwilling to see what the situation was!
…
…
The Kunlun Sect had already acted, so had Zhaoge City. The Great Marsh, the Mirror Sect, the Baotong Zen Temple, the Water-Moon Nunnery, the Fruit Formation Temple had all acted. The No-Mercy Sect should have the biggest action of all. The highly achieved swordsmen of the deviant sects were left alone for the time being, but the informants and moles placed in the orthodox Cultivation sects and the imperial court by the Old Ones would be wiped out gradually from that day on.
Walking among the crowd in Haizhou City and thinking of the news he had just received, he was fully aware that he had to leave now; but, could he still have the chance to do so?
He walked into the restaurant and sat in the familiar private room, where Xiao He had already prepared the dinner for him. Liu s.h.i.+sui thanked her and sat across from her, picking up the chopsticks and starting to eat.
Just like before, he didn’t talk so much, and Xiao He was also very quiet. However, it was pretty odd that lute music was heard outside.
After a long while, the lute music stopped. Xiao He lowered her head and said softly, “I have just received news that many incidents occurred today.”
Liu s.h.i.+sui’s hand holding the teapot stiffened slightly, wondering if the lute music had delivered the message.
Xiao He lifted her head looking at him, asking, “I don’t understand. Why you haven’t left yet?!”
Liu s.h.i.+sui picked up the tea pot and poured into her cup, saying, “It seems you’re quite informed. As a matter of fact, I’ve known that you have been sent by them to keep a tab on me.”
“I know you are a spy sent by the Green Mountain Sect,” said Xiao He.
After a moment of silence, Liu s.h.i.+sui asked, “How long have you known this?”
Xiao He replied, “For a long time, since the day I met you.”
Liu s.h.i.+sui looked at her quietly for a long while, saying, “Drink the tea.”
Xiao He raised the tea cup and took a sip.
Liu s.h.i.+sui raised the cup and emptied it.
Xiao He picked up the tea pot and refilled his tea cup.
As the lute music stopped, the noise on the street could be heard; but it was quite quiet on the upper floor of the restaurant.
After a long time, Liu s.h.i.+sui stood up and was about to leave.
“Since you are ready to leave, why don’t you kill me to shut me up?” asked Xiao He, lifting her head looking at him.
Liu s.h.i.+sui said, “I don’t know what you have done, but many people will die today. There is no need to add another corpse.”
Here was Haizhou City.
The Old Ones were located on the Cloud Platform outside the city.
Even if the West Ocean Sword Sect didn’t pursue him, it would be still quite difficult for Liu s.h.i.+sui to leave here alive.
Yet, his countenance was still composed, and no fear or despair showed on his face.
“You are prepared to die, right?” Xiao He asked him.
Liu s.h.i.+sui nodded in response.
Xiao He said, “No, you can’t die.”
Liu s.h.i.+sui didn’t quite understand what she meant.
“This was an Inn before I bought it and remodeled into a restaurant over ten years ago…”
Before Xiao He could finish her words, this remodeled restaurant suddenly collapsed, and the outer walls were torn into shreds.
The noise in the street had totally disappeared.
The dusts were everywhere, but the surroundings were still vaguely visible; there was not a single soul around the ruins of the restaurant.
It was indeed an eerie scene.
A man in black cloth with a strong build appeared on the western end of the street, and the hood covering his face poked upwards on the top of his head, looking like two horns on his head hiding under the hood; he had a boxing glove on each hand, which were embroidered with great many star-like diamonds.
A skinny middle-aged man appeared on the eastern end of the street wearing ordinary clothing, exuding a dry and cold energy, like the wind on the vast desert; and he held a brown vase in his chest, made of either jade or ceramic.
Liu s.h.i.+sui knew these two highly achieved swordsmen of the deviant sects, and he had read a great deal in the files about them.
The muscular man in black with the boxing gloves on his hands and the horns on his head was a devil Cultivation pract.i.tioner named Tu Qiu. With unimaginable strength, he could break a mountain with one thrust of his fist. The middle-aged man holding the peculiar vase was Yu Buhuan, a deviant Cultivation pract.i.tioner of the Cold Mountain; the vase in his chest was called the “Barren Vase”, which could absorb all liquid around it, including the blood.
These two highly achieved swordsmen of the deviant sects could be called upon by the Old Ones any time in the vicinity of Haizhou City. Both of them were far superior to Liu s.h.i.+sui in the Cultivation state.
Yet, Liu s.h.i.+sui was not fearful; in fact, he felt a bit relieved.
His pursuers were the swordsmen of the deviant sects, not those of the West Ocean Sword Sect, meaning that the Old Ones still desired to stay in business a bit longer; as such, he should have a chance to survive this.
All of a sudden, the zither music burst out, making those listening to it depressed. Hearing the sound of zither, the expression slightly changed on Liu s.h.i.+sui’s face.
The courtyards around the restaurant suddenly collapsed. A young girl with a short skirt, covered by many silver bells over her body, rode a blood-red elephant to the front of the restaurant.
The silver bells on her body dangled constantly, but their ringing sound couldn’t be heard, because the sound from the green jade zither in her bosom was too loud.
Her name was Nan Zheng, a free-traveling Cultivation pract.i.tioner from the South Mountains. Though she looked like a young girl, she was actually over two hundred years old, having a profound Cultivation state, and the methods she used were extremely powerful and cruel.
Liu s.h.i.+sui knew he had nowhere to flee.
“The master wants to see you,” Nan Zheng said emotionlessly while looking at him.
Liu s.h.i.+sui responded.
He summoned his sword rather than say anything.
The flying sword pierced flew Tu Qiu along with a bright light.
It was then that dozens of fists with made of devil flames flew through the air toward Tu Qiu as well.
Liu s.h.i.+sui was fully aware that Yu Buhuan had weakest Cultivation state among the three deviant swordsmen, but his Barren Vase was too powerful, and he wasn’t a match for Nan Zheng at the moment.
So he had no choice but to attack Tu Qiu in an attempt to escape from the siege.
The flying sword wasn’t very powerful because he rebuilt it after having killed Luo Huainan; but his b.l.o.o.d.y Devil Style was already in the upper state of the fifth level.
The sound of zither burst out again, and his flying sword suddenly halted in mid-air, as if it were bound by the invisible threads, unable to move forth.
Dozens of fists with the devil flames got close to Tu Qiu.
Tu Qiu thrust his two fists with a m.u.f.fled shout.
The diamonds on the boxing gloves became extremely bright, turning into two light imprints, the size of a house, blocking the fists with the devil flames.
Boom!!! Boom!!!
After many thudding sounds, the strong wind arose, blowing against the hood on Tu Qiu’s head. Tens of thousands holes instantly appeared on the hood, exposing the thickly bearded face and two ugly horns on the head.
Liu s.h.i.+sui turned around without hesitation to flee.
The sound of zither burst out again.
Tu Qiu raised his two fists to protect his face, and Yu Buhuan stepped back a few paces while holding the Barren Vase.
A shapeless air wave spread out from the point of the blood-red elephant.
Even though there was no wind at the moment, the pebbles in the ruins floated up from the ground and then shot out like the sharp arrows in every direction.
Liu s.h.i.+sui knelt down on one knee in the ruins, countless tiny cracks appearing on his fists, which were used to block the attack in front of his face, and the tiny blood droplets were seeping out from the tiny cracks.
Sitting on the back of the elephant, Nan Zheng said icily, “Resist, and you die.”
Yu Buhuan pointed the Barren Vase toward Liu s.h.i.+sui in the ruins.
The blood droplets seeping from the tiny cracks had suddenly increased in size, and then left the skin, flying away and dropping into the Barren Vase.
In the next moment, the blood droplets turned into the blood water and left Liu s.h.i.+sui’s body.
The soiled water in the restaurant ruins left the ground as well, flying away.
Liu s.h.i.+sui felt that his life was going being sucked away along with the blood water.
As he was about to do something, he suddenly saw the darkness before him.
Hundreds of green lotus leaves sprang up from the ruins, with a few pink lotus flowers in the midst.
The edges of the green lotus leaves were wilting visibly, rolling up.
Nonetheless, the magic power of the Barren Vase was temporarily hindered by these lotus leaves.
With raised brows, Nan Zheng plucked the strings on the zither lightly.
Pah!!!
The lotus flowers were broken into pieces and the lotus leaves torn into shreds, exposing the ground of the ruins.
An entrance to the underground tunnel could be vaguely seen in the ruins, but it had already been completely blocked by the smashed stones.
Liu s.h.i.+sui was gone.