Chapter 74: My Nightmare Conquered, Who Dares to Fight with Me! (V)
Li Xiuchen replied, “Master was concerned that I might have a hard time defeating you, so he gave this sword to me!”
This one sole sentence froze Luo Jianiqing, who felt like being thrown into an ice-age cave. His heart froze gradually. Every single breath brought bleakness into his vine. Blood overcast his sight. Endless despair thrived inside him. There was nothing left in him, but vast darkness and the last beam of light.
He said hoa.r.s.ely but still in a st.u.r.dy tone, “he asked you to… kill me!”
Li Xiuchen pondered for a moment, then said, “Master said, seeing this sword is the same as seeing him in person. After you end your life, I will bring your corpus back to Master, let him know that you already gave in, and will never dishonor our Yu Xiao Peak again!”
“Li Xiuchen!”
The last bit of light vanished with Li Xiuchen’s words. Luo Jianqing collapsed, drowning in great sorrow. Luo Jianqing uttered a heart-broken moan. Drawing out Zhui Yin Sword which had already been broken into two parts, he dashed toward Li Xiuchen. His body was moribund, but he didn’t give a d.a.m.n, because nothing hurt more than the gash on his heart.
The greatest sorrow came with a dying heart.
They had known each other for forty years. They had lived together for forty years!
He concealed his sordid thoughts for years. He became an excellent Great Senior Disciple of Tai Hua Mountain just for his Master! He never had a chance to be whom he wanted to be. He spent his whole life trying to be the Great Senior Brother of all the disciples on Tai Hua Mountain, to be a perfect Great Senior Disciple, to be Xuan Lingzi’s disciple, to be…
No! He wasn’t his disciple anymore.
Now, his Master wanted him dead.
Anguish devoured Luo Jianqing. His heart was torn into thousands of pieces, bleeding profusely. The last bit of thought that kept him alive, the hope that helped him to survive, was just being his Master’s disciple and having a chance to look at his Master for just one glance, but now, what did he get?
An asunder heart, and a will to obey his Master’s last request!
When Luo Jianqing got close to Li Xiuchen, he dropped Zhui Yin Sword that he had been gripped so hardly.
Zhui Yin let out a panic sword cry, but Luo Jianqing didn’t want to fight anymore.
Zhui Yin, Zhui Yin (Xuan Lingzi’s mortal name “Wu Yin” means “no sound” in Chinese, while “Zhui Yin” in Chinese means “chasing sound”)! He’s been chasing sound for decades. It was a tiring chase. He was so tired to lift his fingers; he was so tired to speak; he was so tired to keep chasing. Why kept doing it? Given that he was destined to chase in vain, given that his Master was deemed to abandon him, what was the purpose of holding Zhui Yin in his hand?
Without a slightest hesitation and led by Li Xiuchen, Xuan Ling Sword stabbed at Luo Jianqing’s chest in a sudden.
Luo Jianqing gave up defense completely. He smiled, and slowly closed his eyelids. The tip of Xuan Ling Sword touched his skin, with icy bleakness froze Luo Jianqing’s flesh and vines. Trivial things in their daily life started to reemerge in his mind: when he was little, his Master held him in his arms while he fell asleep; when he grew up, his Master strictly criticized him when he made mistakes; when his Master started to keep distance from him; when he hid in his own house and watched his Master putting all his efforts in teaching Li Xiuchen.
Xuan Ling Sword slowly pierced in his chest.
The sound of slicing flesh was thumping in his head, incredible loud.
“Don’t dishonor our Yu Xiao Peak.”
“You are the Great Senior Brother. If you don’t cultivate hard, you are not qualified enough to lead your brothers and sisters!”
“You become so full of yourself with so little achievement? Jianqing, I am so disappointed.”
…
“…Jianqing, be careful.”
The last sentence reached Luo Jianqing’s ears in a soft caring tone, as if the speaker was holding back tremendous emotions.
Luo Jianqing suddenly opened his eyes. The Xuan Ling Sword had already stabbed in half an inch. Diabolic expression appeared on Li Xiuchen’s face. Seeing Luo Jianqing’s awakening, he pounced fiercely toward Luo Jianqing, but incandescent bice light suddenly glittered between Luo Jianqing’s eyebrows, where a four-petaled lotus gradually emerged.
The next moment, an intact Floating Frost Sword appeared in Luo Jianqing’s hand.
“This is my Internal Demon, but all has changed in this life! Mirage, break!”
Sword Light radiated out from the Floating Frost Sword. An elegant bice lotus suddenly bloomed with vast Spiritual Power, attacking Li Xiuchen. The latter let out a painful scream and dispersed in the air. The wind-roaring cliff vanished as well.
In a blink, Luo Jianqing was delivered back to the compet.i.tion ring.
In front of him, Yun Rong belched out a mouthful of blood, face pale like paper, reeling back a few steps and falling onto the ground. n.o.body could believe that this seemingly careless man was a genius sorcerer!
Although Yun Rong practiced Yun Family’s sword patterns as well, his main weapon was his formidable mental power. The reason why Bai Chi was defeated by Yun Rong even before he could draw out his spear was that he was trapped in the mirage at the very beginning of their fight.
Yun Rong was slightly trembling. He wiped out the blood seeping out from his mouth and asked in a husky voice, “you were trapped by my mirage, then why…”
Several droplets of blood were oozing from Luo Jianqing’s chest as well. Though the stab happened in the mirage, as long as Luo Jianqing believed it was truly happening, the harm could be reflected in reality. This was Yun Rong’s unique Mirage Shadow Kill.
Luo Jianqing cleaned the seeping blood at the corner of his mouth and fixed his eyes on Yun Rong, “because, something is really different.”
This time, Luo Jianqing drew out the Floating Frost Sword, looking at his opponent with serious expression. He sighed softly, “thank you for letting me see what was buried deep down in my heart and confirm my belief in Dao. You are a respectful rival who deserves me to defeat you with an unsheathed sword.”
With incredible brilliance, the Floating Frost Sword was brandished toward Yun Rong. The Sword Shadow formed a bice lotus in the air, graceful but formidably lethal. Yun Rong immediately drew out his sword to defend, using Yun Family’s Heaven Phoenix Jade Kill, but he still spat out a mouthful of blood and was knocked out of the compet.i.tion ring.
Inside the ring, Luo Jianqing stood at the center, elegantly. He was just standing there, but n.o.body dared to breath.
He waved his sword slightly, then a sword gash was carved on the ring ground. Luo Jianqing lifted his gaze. Eyes shrinking and voice condensed, his words thumped in everyone’s ears, “Now, I stand here as the Great Senior Disciple of Tai Hua Mountain, who dares challenge me!”