The "Thirteen Swords of Life-Taking" are not actually only thirteen swords.
There is also the fourteenth sword that gives it its soul, and the fifteenth sword that represents death and destruction, which no one can defeat and no one can control.
The thrust from these four Sword Slave was the fifteenth sword technique, which they could not master even if they abandoned all their specializations, and it was reproduced in the form of a sword formation.
Jiazi is responsible for left and right, Yichou for top and bottom, Bingyin for front and back, and Dingmao for filling in the gaps.
All life was extinguished, and the Demonic Sword that had brought everything to a standstill seemed to reappear.
But this time it was pure destruction.
The point where the sword tip pointed was completely reduced to nothingness.
The leaves hadn't even fallen to the ground when they suddenly disappeared.
In this void, it seemed as if there were tens of millions of sharp swords and knives, controlled by tens of millions of invisible hands.
Even a tiny grain of dust that falls in will be shredded into tens of millions of pieces, becoming particles that can barely be observed under a microscope.
But this emptiness stopped an inch in front of the two girls.
The two moved forward, and nothingness transformed into existence.
The shattered leaves reappear and fall to the ground once more.
It was as if it had just been in a time that did not exist.
The murderous intent was averted.
The swords in the hands of the Sword Slave turned to dust.
But they were completely unharmed.
It's not that it's impossible.
But Amber and Die Wu didn't want to.
"His master said he had seen you before."
"Therefore, he is willing to give you only failure, not eternal sleep."
They were talking to the person in the thatched pavilion in the distance.
Li Lin had indeed met Xie Xiaofeng.
In that strange time and space where he was the Martial Arts Emperor, and where the Great Banner Sect, the Yihua Palace, Divine Sword Manor coexisted.
The four Sword Slave had already knelt down.
Amber and Die Wu's response was beyond their imagination; only immortals and Immortals and Buddhas could do such a thing.
They could only do nothing, like ostriches burying their heads in the sand when faced with a crisis.
"I will never forget such a sword. Could it be a reincarnation?"
As the aged voice faded, the person from the thatched pavilion appeared like a ghost in the overgrown courtyard.
There was no movement, as if he had been standing there from the very beginning.
Xie Xiaofeng's Lightness Skill was as famous as his Sword: One.
To be precise, Lightness Skill is the lifeblood of a swordsman.
With such exceptional swordsmanship, his Lightness Skill would naturally be equally outstanding.
He once appeared in two cities, five hundred miles apart, two hours apart, Chu Chu and strolling leisurely.
Just as now, as his final notes landed in the courtyard, the four Sword Slave realized his arrival.
Of course, Amber and Die Wu were different; their gazes followed Xie Xiaofeng's every move, as if his incredible Lightness Skill didn't exist in front of them.
Even in his old age, his astonishing charm failed to sway either of them.
In his youth, after defeating Hua Shaokun, the first Dragon Sword Master of the Mount Hua Sect, at the age of ten, and after experiencing his first woman, he began to become absurd and promiscuous.
For most of his youth, he was not in the Divine Sword Manor, but in brothels and the boudoirs of young girls in the throes of puberty.
No woman could resist him, and he never forced himself on her.
At his friend's wedding, he simply extended his hand, and the most beautiful woman in the martial arts world— Murong Qiudi, the bride—abandoned everything and went with him.
Even though they had never met before.
Now, his charm, his sword, and his Lightness Skill are all ineffective against these two mysterious girls.
Even though his martial arts skills have reached a limit and touched the mysterious spiritual realm, as long as he can understand the fifteenth sword, he can reach the Immortals and Buddhas realm of "the sword is the sword, and I am me" and "the sword is not the sword, and I am not me".
His insight was not a mere response.
Even if Yan Shisan used his fifteenth sword strike on him, he would be unable to harm him now that the sword had Trace Unfindable.
He wanted to completely master the fifteenth sword technique that had been nurtured in his heart after surviving that duel—a technique he was willing to cut off his own thumb to seal away if he wasn't confident.
"It is not reincarnation."
"The manifestation of the body is not unique to the Buddha; ordinary people can also reflect the universe and be born and transformed by the world."
"Draw your sword."
"Xie Xiaofeng".
Amber and Die Wu said that the porcelain sword flew between their left and right hands, its tip pointing directly at the old man.
Xie Xiaofeng no longer possessed a sword; his divine sword had been abandoned at the bottom of the lake, and the swordsman's thumb, representing his life, had been severed by himself.
But he still has a sword.
He himself is that divine sword.
He drew his sword.
The human side of Xie Xiaofeng vanished instantly.
Under extreme pressure, the world-destroying poisonous dragon imprisoned within his mutilated body began to lie dormant. A gentle breeze blew by, a breeze he hadn't thought of for about twenty years.
[The earth shattered, the heavens and earth were consumed by fire]
This is the name of the sword, the name of his sword style, which is as natural as the wind.
The fallen leaves on the bluestone bricks were once again swept up by the wind and flew towards the two of them.
The sword is not a fallen leaf, but the invisible wind.
When the wind blows, who can withstand it?
And who knows where the wind comes from?
Xie Xiaofeng did not move.
But his spirit, his sword, had already vanished into the wind.
The fierce winds swept Dadi, and indeed some were missed.
But who would notice this oversight?
Moreover, this overlooked spot, the center of the wind vortex, the location of the leaves, is itself a change within a change, the essence and strongest point of this sword technique.
It's like a mountain stream; when it flows down, you can clearly see gaps in it, but by the time you reach out your hand, the stream has already filled those gaps.
The porcelain sword does not need to search for the wind's omissions.
It simply awoke, and a clear, sharp sword aura swept across the sky.
The wind was also cut off without exception.
Along with the sword in Xie Xiaofeng's heart, that lurking poisonous dragon.
Xie Xiaofeng smiled.
He was a master swordsman who had spent his entire life with the sword; the sword was his life, his soul.
Without a sword in his heart, he has lost his life and soul.
All that remains in this body is an ordinary, frail old man.
But he laughed.
Laughing heartily.
The Four Sword Slave also laughed.
"You are clearly no longer a sword."
"You have lost your life."
Amber and Die Wu couldn't understand why they could never put down their swords; the swords were their masters, their everything.
"I have been freed," Xie Xiaofeng said. "Not just freed from the sword stance of the fifteenth sword, but completely freed from the sword."
"I am finally just Xie Xiaofeng."
In order to lay down his sword, he once abandoned his birthright and wealth, faked his death and lived in anonymity at the bottom of society as a [useless Aji].
But even so, he couldn't get rid of the sword.
To live, to live with dignity, to live for oneself and those one cares about, Xie Xiaofeng, wielding the sword, must reappear.
"Even without a sword, I am still Xie Xiaofeng."
The old man with white hair and beard waved his palm, without any swordsmanship. His heavy yet light-as-wind-like palm force swept across the road, turning the bluestone slabs along the way and the gate that had been blocking the courtyard into dust, revealing the brown soil underneath.
"You've become stronger, but you've also become weaker."
"You are only stronger than you were a finger-snap before you caught the sword, but weaker than you were at the Setsuna you caught it."
Amber and Die Wu frowned.
"Perhaps," Xie Xiaofeng nodded with a smile, "But that's only for now."
He will definitely be stronger in the future than he was at that Setsuna.
"I don't understand."
"Adding legs to a snake" is superfluous.
Amber and Die Wu Dance shook their heads and disappeared into the sword energy.
The story of the sword in this world has come to a complete end.
That sword, soon to rival the one before, is on its way.
But they did not stay.
They were going to find two swords.
A domineering and murderous sword.
A Compassion for Heaven and Man and merciful sword.
——
The Forbidden City, the Golden Imperial Hall.
The domineering figure, having killed everyone who stood in his way, slowly moved forward.
His hair was disheveled and his face was stained with blood, but he had more of an imperial air than the man in the dragon robe on the dragon throne.
"You are no longer the emperor; I am the true Son of Heaven."
The domineering figure waved his sleeves.
On the dragon throne, the person who should have been the most honored in this land rolled off the throne and fell unconscious in front of the man.
His gaze didn't linger on the emperor at all; he simply stepped over him as if he were just a carpet or a staircase.
Only after he sat on the dragon throne and laughed wildly for a long time did he look down.
Amidst his unrestrained laughter, the emperor, who had been lying face down, woke up and staggered to his feet.
"I am the true Son of Heaven of the Ming Dynasty. Since the time of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors, there has never been a eunuch who could become emperor."
The domineering figure on the dragon throne was actually a eunuch.
No one who meets him for the first time would think that way.
That emperor, who, besides being arrogant, resembled a pale-faced scholar, actually looked more like a eunuch.
It's as if their bodies have been switched, just like their current identities have been reassigned.
"Can't you see that I am already the emperor?"
The man was not angry; he still showed some mercy to his former master who had promoted him.
Although he gained favor because he saved this incompetent and mediocre emperor.
"You? You want to be emperor? That's just wishful thinking!" the emperor said disdainfully.
The man should have been furious.
The greatsword in his hand, made of door panels, is named [Heaven's Wrath].
It can only be controlled by sacrificing the blood of overlords and masters, in conjunction with the [Heaven's Wrath Heart Method].
The sword and the inner power will inspire the swordsman's domineering spirit and demonic nature; the combination of the two is the most enchanting swordsmanship in the world.
The sword drinks blood and absorbs internal energy.
The swordsman's power increases dramatically, making him immune to all poisons, indestructible, and incredibly strong.
The massacre of 400,000 Zhao soldiers was once the work of Bai Qi, the legendary butcher.
Even Bai Qi was killed by the sword because his domineering aura could not suppress the sword's ever-increasing demonic nature.
Not to mention the man before her, who had no bell, whose lover was dead, and whose surroundings were desolate.
His temperament began to become extreme and he became easily angered.
However, the appearance of a sword made [Heavenly Wrath] feel threatened, and his rationality began to return.
"There it is."
"In the imperial city."
The porcelain sword hangs in mid-air.
Two silver figures moved forward.
On the Hall of Supreme Harmony.
"Me? I'm not worthy to be emperor?" the man sneered. "You incompetent ruler who neglects state affairs, only knows how to be a carpenter, and even colluded with Japanese pirates?"
"A lecherous man who serves you with his life while coveting your soon-to-be-married lover, using imperial power to oppress you?"
"Without me and Zhao Zheng, you would never have been able to ascend the throne."
"You don't actually think Ye Min likes you, do you?"
"The person she likes is Zhao Zheng."
"She married you for the sake of so-called great love, so that you could be a good emperor."
"Wei Jinzhong, you—" The emperor broke down.
"Zhu Youxiao, don't you understand this point? Otherwise, you wouldn't have become suspicious as soon as I stirred things up." Wei Jinzhong sneered, "Suspecting this woman you obtained through power, who is pregnant with your child."
The main gate of the Hall of Supreme Harmony shattered out of thin air.
"Put it down, Jinzhong."
In the holy golden light, Zhao Zheng, the aggrieved party being discussed by the two, appeared.
He stood with his hands behind his back, as if he had only come to visit an old friend and have a heart-to-heart talk.
"I've let it go."
"Let it go?" Wei Jinzhong mocked. "Sure enough, your cuckoldry skills have improved again."
"I have no choice but to give up Ye Min to let you join the class."
"Last night I killed your best friend right in front of you, and also made you a master of martial arts."
"I thought you wouldn't reappear for several years."
Zhao Zheng was not angry. He simply smiled calmly and looked at Wei Jinzhong with compassionate eyes. "Hatred only leads to depravity. Only forgiveness and compassion are the only way to liberation."
"Very well," Wei Jinzhong said. "Then wait a moment. After I kill Zhu Youxiao, you can forgive and pity me. I will repent and become a good emperor."
Zhu Youxiao, who also suspected that the "Compassion for Heaven and Man" mental technique had corrupted Zhao Zheng's mind, said, "Zhao Zheng, you wouldn't actually agree, would you?"
"Then I will stop you," Zhao Zheng said. "You will not be a good emperor."
Zhu Youxiao breathed a sigh of relief.
"Because I don't have the surname Zhu?" Wei Jinzhong sneered.
"No, it has nothing to do with your status as a eunuch." Zhao Zheng shook his head. "Throughout your life, didn't Wang An, Lai Xi, and the Emperor all show you great affection?"
"But how did you treat them?"
"After you seized power, how did you deceive the emperor, grasp power, and plunder the people's wealth?"
"That's all nonsense!" Wei Jinzhong raised his sword. "According to your logic, shouldn't I have the opportunity to be a good person and a good emperor? You're just blindly loyal and weak."
"Just like how you abandoned Ye Min!"
"You can definitely help me, and I will listen to all your suggestions."
"But you only oppose it blindly, and you even ally with the Japanese pirates for it. Don't think I don't know where your [Zhanlu] came from!"
Two female voices suddenly came from afar, interrupting Wei Jinzhong's incessant chatter.
"Stop."
"Shut up."
"Continue."
"The Benevolent Sword is about to disappear."
Wei Jinzhong didn't look towards the source of the sound at first, but instead burst into laughter.
"Zhao Zheng, you're wavering!"
You haven't truly let go!
"You can let go of your hatred for me, but as the Commander of the Imperial Guards, you cannot let go of your blind loyalty to the Ming Dynasty!"
"In the face of your blind loyalty, love, brotherhood, and hatred can all be set aside."
"Your blind loyalty is both the source of your great success in cultivating your Compassion for Heaven and Man mindset and your weakness that prevents you from achieving perfection."
"Don't listen to him, Zhao Zheng, I order you!" Zhu Youjian couldn't stand it anymore, "Uh—"
His head rolled off, and blood gushed out like a fountain, staining his dragon robe red.
"Very good."
"It was indeed him who prevented Renjian from achieving perfection."
"Very good."
"All you need to do now is forgive us."
Zhao Zheng turned to look at the source of the sound. The Compassion for Heaven and Man on his face vanished completely, replaced by deep-seated hatred.
The realm of Compassion for Heaven and Man that could freeze time has shattered.
Thunderclouds suddenly rolled across the sky; the heavens were enraged!