Chapter Twelve: Disfigure
Many things in the world were accidental, but many seemingly accidental things were inevitable.
In the suburbs of Changling.
As a carriage came on the path, beside a dilapidated small house, a swordsman in yellow robes grew more excited, his breathing sped up. His attention and perception were not on the carriage itself but the driver.
He knew that the driver once wore the same yellow robes as him, and if that person had not left abruptly, he could not have dressed in these yellow robes and walked in the Changling imperial palace.That person had followed the empress ever since she came to Changling. He did not know why the other had betrayed the empress and left, just that the other was vastly more experienced and knew much more. He had searched for a long time with all his ability, but never had been able to get news of him. Only today, this person finally slipped up and his whereabouts were confirmed.
The result of knowing too many secrets one should not was death. This yellow robed successor who was also from Jiaodong Commandery felt no sympathy for his predecessor. He did not want to talk to the other at all, just confirm the other’s ident.i.ty, and then kill the other as fast and clean as possible.
One did not need to confirm the other’s ident.i.ty while they were alive. So when he was certain that the person on the carriage could not flee, he breathed at will. A small sword hidden in his sleeve rang out, turning into a bright light and pa.s.sing through the hole in the roof above him.
The bright sword light did not directly attack the carriage driver. This was just a signal.
From the two sides of the winter forest, two flying sword essences, much stronger than that of the yellow robed man, one red, one white, fell towards the carriage driver.
The two galloping horses sensed the threat of death, and whined furiously. Their hooves scrambled, but they were suppressed by the great power from the head of the carriage. They stopped at their spot, their hooves creating splashes of mud on the ground.
Time seemed to freeze around the carriage driver at the front. The speed of the flying swords coming in murderously made the movements of the carriage driver look like he was moving in slow motion.
Facing the red and white swords, the carriage driver only made a simple movement. He took out a small bra.s.s mirror and then channeled all his vital energy into the profound seal scripts on the surface.
In the next moment, the small bra.s.s mirror gave off the sound of little fishes jumping out of the water. Pale yellow lights curved like the moon came out of the bra.s.s mirror, gently supporting the two swords and then imprisoning them completely. The two small swords were floating around the carriage driver, trembling, unable to advance or retreat.
The yellow robed swordsman inside the small house walked onto the path. He looked at the two trapped swords without any surprise. The other had followed the empress for so long. It was not strange for the other to have powerful seal weapons. Also, the two swords were just to keep the other trapped here. There were naturally stronger cultivators to kill the other in the end. He only had to be present to see the other killed.
His gaze naturally moved to the forest on his left. There was a swordsman there fighting with all his power, trying to get his trapped flying swords back. The entire winter forest was trembling, dried branches being snapped. Even the dried leaves on the ground were sent flying, spraying like a fountain from between the trees in the forest.
The shadow of a woman suddenly appeared with the leaves. There were few women among the top cultivators of Changling. But if it was a woman, they were frequently terrifying. The woman who appeared now was the master of the Endless Palace in Changling’s imperial palace, Pan Ruoye.
Pan Ruoye glanced at the carriage driver. Dried leaves flew, burning up as they sped up in the air and turned to threads of flame. The threads of flame did not directly fall on the carriage driver, but the surrounding world, cutting the connection between the little mirror and the primal energies in the world.
The yellow mirror suddenly dimmed. The two small swords started to advance again. At such a short distance, no cultivator could not dodge the thrust of the flying swords. The carriage driver’s life appeared to be over now.
But at this moment, a rebellious presence suddenly descended on the path. Pan Ruoye’s breathing suddenly stopped, her eyes wide, filled with disbelief. The threads of flame suddenly went out. The little bra.s.s mirror shone again, and the little swords stopped in the air again.
One swordsman sensed something, and suddenly flew forward. But a palm strike was much faster than him, and seemed to press gently on him.
Pop!
The swordsman’s body exploded without feeling any pain. A clump of broken bones flew out. The swordsman in the forest on the other side just felt the presence coming in when the broken bones stabbed through his forehead, and came out the back of his head with a spray of blood.
The yellow robed cultivator started to tremble violently. In his subconscious, even Marquis Xu, famed for his dominance among the thirteen marquises, could not have such a rebellious presence. Even more importantly … they could not be so powerful! His pupils contracted. What he saw in the wind was still a woman!
This was a middle aged woman, dressed in ordinary Daoist robes. She had two shocking scars on her face that made her look like she was wearing a hideous mask.
“Who are you!” He shouted in a trembling voice.
“Master?”
Pan Ruoye turned around and saw this middle aged woman who had suddenly appeared and killed two powerful swordsmen. She had a confused expression.
“Master?” The yellow robed cultivator spoke up. He could not help but want to say something, but the moment he opened his mouth, a vicious presence fell onto his mouth. His head exploded like a ripe watermelon.
“Master, why is this?”
Pan Ruoye could not understand why her master, who had always been in seclusion, had suddenly appeared here, much less why she used such vicious means to kill the cultivators present.
The woman whose facial scars were like a mask did not answer her question, just glanced at the restless horses.
The two horses immediately froze, and then shattered into countless pieces of meat.
“You say you want to talk about past events with me, events regarding that person slashing my face back then.” The middle aged woman still did not answer her, just turned to look at the carriage driver. She said slowly and viciously, “What do you want to say?”
Pan Ruoye’s breathing suddenly stopped. Many people in Changling had forgotten this woman, and also something that had been famous in Changling at the time. But she knew the ident.i.ty of this middle aged woman, and knew who had disfigured her back then.
The carriage driver shrouded in the vicious presence lifted his head and put away the small mirror. He knew that the middle aged woman had cultivated for many years in peace, but her emotions right now were likely wilder than they were back then. So he did not waste words and said, “The reason that person disfigured your face back then was because of Zheng Xiu.”