Within Reach, A Nation's Enemy

The night grew deeper and deeper, and the Old Locust Tree stood silent and still.

Suddenly, a figure appeared atop the courtyard wall on one side.

Vaguely, he could be seen wearing a Black Daoist Robe, his body as gaunt as bamboo, each hand carrying a human corpse.

The Daoist tossed them casually, and the two corpses he carried dropped onto the courtyard ground. Immediately after, he leaped down and arrived inside the courtyard.

"Hm? Qing Wan, someone's living in this courtyard?"

Because the sky was too dark, only now did the Daoist see clearly that the abandoned courtyard, once overgrown with weeds, had now been swept clean and looked completely renewed.

"Wu Ruoqiu, you finally came."

The one who answered was Su Yi's calm voice.

He had already risen from the bamboo chair, his right hand casually holding the Peach Wood Sword, standing in the night as he quietly looked at the other man.

This Wu Ruoqiu appeared to be a little over forty, with fair skin and willow-like whiskers drifting lightly. He carried a sword on his back, and a Yellow Gourd hung at his waist. He actually looked rather otherworldly.

"Who are you? How do you know my name?"

Wu Ruoqiu was startled, a wary look appearing on his face.

As soon as he finished speaking, a shrill, strange whistle came from his mouth.

But after waiting for a long while, none of the movement he had expected occurred.

Wu Ruoqiu's heart sank. He grew somewhat anxious. What was going on?

"Those Ghost Corpse Worms were all killed by me. Even if you scream yourself hoarse, it's no use."

Su Yi strolled toward Wu Ruoqiu as leisurely as if he were walking through an idle courtyard.

"Who exactly are you?"

Wu Ruoqiu barked, bright light flashing in his eyes, the energy throughout his body already poised to erupt.

"Don't be nervous. Before we fight, I have some things to ask you."

As Su Yi spoke, he had already arrived within ten feet of Wu Ruoqiu and stopped there.

Only now did Wu Ruoqiu see clearly that opposite him was a youth just in his teens, dressed in a blue cloth robe, holding a wooden sword, his figure tall and slender. The aura on him was merely at the level of the Blood Moving Realm, nothing more.

Wu Ruoqiu immediately relaxed, mocking himself inwardly. I really am getting more timid the older I live. I was actually almost frightened by a fledgling at the Blood Moving Realm.

He clasped his hands behind his back and said coldly, "Young man, you aren't qualified to speak with this Wu. Go call your teacher over. I'd like to ask him how he teaches his disciples, for one to have not the slightest bit of manners!"

The Ghost Corpse Worms in the well had lost contact, and even Qing Wan was hiding and refusing to appear. This made Wu Ruoqiu suspect that there was another expert behind Su Yi.

Su Yi laughed disdainfully and shook his head. "If there truly were someone in this world capable of being Master to me, Su, perhaps I would be overjoyed. Regrettably... to this day, I have yet to encounter even one."

Wu Ruoqiu was stunned, then sneered, "Your hair hasn't even fully grown in, but your tone is certainly not small! If you still refuse to invite your Master out, don't blame this Wu for being impolite!"

Brilliant light surged in his eyes, and his bearing suddenly changed. As the energy in his body circulated, there was actually the faint sound of a surging, tide-like roar swelling and rolling within him.

This was power that only the Qi Gathering Realm could grasp.

Once a martial artist circulated his technique, his blood and qi gathered, boiling and burning.

Under the guidance of that internal energy, in battle, every movement could be made as precise as if measured with a ruler, not off by the slightest fraction, controlling one's entire strength to the most exquisite degree.

Wu Ruoqiu's cultivation was at the Profound Opening level of the Qi Gathering Realm. With copper skin and stone flesh, iron bones and jade tendons, ordinary blades and spears could hardly injure him at all.

A faint sneer appeared at the corner of Su Yi's lips. "Then I, Su, would like to see how a minor character at the Qi Gathering, Profound Opening level like you intends to be impolite."

"This Wu has walked the world for many years. I've seen arrogant people, but never anyone as arrogant as you!"

Wu Ruoqiu laughed in anger.

The Qi Gathering, Profound Opening Realm was a minor character?

Listen to that. Was that even human speech?

When a Qi Gathering Realm cultivator suddenly struck, that power was as swift as thunder, tyrannical and fierce. Merely that imposing momentum alone could scare a Blood Moving Realm figure out of his wits!

Wu Ruoqiu's plan was very simple: first capture Su Yi, then force out the expert behind him. In this way, he could stand in an undefeatable position.

Just as he was about to seize Su Yi.

Right at this moment—

Deep within Su Yi's pupils, the shadow of a sword suddenly emerged, and a vast, icy, terrifying aura surged forth with it.

Boom!

Wu Ruoqiu's mind felt as if it had been struck by lightning. His soul trembled, his vision went black, and in a daze, it was as though he had fallen into an endless purgatory. A mysterious immortal sword descended from beyond the heavens, suppressing and shattering the eternal blue firmament as it crushed down.

A feeling of terror—smallness, helplessness, despair—welled up, striking Wu Ruoqiu's state of mind so hard that it nearly collapsed.

This feeling lasted only an instant.

But under this impact, Wu Ruoqiu's forward-rushing figure stalled, just five steps away from Su Yi.

Five steps was the standard distance for martial artists to fight to the death.

So-called blood spilling within five steps, even emperors unable to withstand it; close enough to touch, every man an enemy state!

This was precisely such a situation.

Right within those five steps, Su Yi moved.

He thrust out with a single, simple stroke.

Fast, precise, ruthless!

It was like an instinctive reaction forged through countless rounds of drawing the sword—precise to the extreme, fast to the extreme, and ruthless to the extreme.

Pfft!

The blunt wooden sword pierced through the skin, flesh, and blood of Wu Ruoqiu's chest, shattered his breastbone, and with force like dead wood snapping before a raging storm, punched straight through him.

Scalding blood burst out from his back along with the sword tip!

Because the force of that strike was too fierce, Wu Ruoqiu's body was driven into a sudden forward arch, like a cooked shrimp curled in on itself.

His eyes bulged round, his face filled with bewilderment, as if he could not believe it. In a hoarse voice, he said, "You... you're really in the Blood Moving Realm?"

"Genuine, no substitutes."

Su Yi casually drew out the wooden sword and took three steps back.

The wound was too severe, and Wu Ruoqiu could feel his vitality rapidly draining away.

"You... didn't you have things to ask me... Why... why strike so viciously? If I die, you won't know anything."

Wu Ruoqiu spoke in broken fragments, deeply confused.

Su Yi said offhandedly, "Oh, I'm not interested in knowing anymore."

Wu Ruoqiu: "..."

He was so furious he spat out a mouthful of blood on the spot.

Gritting his teeth, he shrieked with venomous hatred, "You've ruined my sect's great undertaking! Just wait for revenge!"

When he finished speaking, Wu Ruoqiu collapsed onto the ground, his breath gone, dead then and there.

Those wide-open eyes were filled with unwillingness.

He probably had never imagined that the difference of a single move would cost him his life at the hands of someone in the Blood Moving Realm.

"He couldn't even withstand a wisp of branded aura. The divine souls of Great Zhou Dynasty martial artists truly are weak..."

Su Yi shook his head inwardly.

Previously, he had used precisely a wisp of aura from the "Nine Hells Sword" in his mind.

Even though that wisp of aura was extremely faint and insubstantial, it was still not something a Qi Gathering Realm figure like Wu Ruoqiu could contend with, and it had caused Wu Ruoqiu's divine soul to suffer a shock.

It was by seizing that opportunity that Su Yi had been able to run him through the chest with one sword strike.

"Had I known it would be like this, I would have clashed with him head-on. Though it would have been a bit more troublesome, with my current cultivation and my attainments in the sword path, it would still have been enough to kill him."

Previously, Su Yi had assumed Wu Ruoqiu was an evil cultivator who had mastered no small number of vicious methods, so he had not planned on going toe-to-toe with him. Instead, he had directly expended his own cultivation and used a tiny bit of his trump card.

Who would have thought that the other party would be foolish enough to rely only on his cultivation to fight him, without using any vicious secret arts or powers at all?

"It seems I still took these evil cultivators of the mundane world too seriously."

Su Yi mocked himself a little.

Thinking about it now, Wu Ruoqiu had not been stupid. Rather, as a Qi Gathering Realm character, from the very beginning he had looked down on Su Yi, who possessed only Blood Moving Realm cultivation.

From this, it could be seen that weak cultivation also had its advantages: it could make an opponent underestimate him and grow careless.

"Do you know Wu Ruoqiu's sect?"

Su Yi's gaze turned toward the Old Locust Tree not far away.

"Reporting to the Immortal Master, I... I am not clear on this matter."

A smear of red appeared in a fluster on one of the branches.

She rubbed the corners of her clothes between both hands, her delicate head lowered. Her clear, pretty face, which still carried a hint of baby fat, was filled with weakness, helplessness, and pitifulness.

A Sheathed Longsword, a yellow gourd, three silver notes worth one thousand taels each, a pouch of roughly twenty taels in broken silver, and a damaged Yellowed Book with only a few pages remaining.

Aside from these, there were no other items worth noting.

After first putting away the silver notes and silver, Su Yi picked up the Yellowed Book.

The book was damaged, and the few remaining pages recorded some vicious secret arts for refining and raising Ghost Corpse Worms, their contents extremely sinister and evil.

After skimming through it hastily, Su Yi could not help feeling disappointed. Even in the hands of crooked sects and evil paths, this bit of secret art in the book would be crude beyond measure, enough to make people laugh until their teeth fell out.

However, Su Yi did notice that at the end of the book's final page, there was a line written:

"Yin Sha Sect, gifted by Weng Yunqi to my disciple Wu Ruoqiu."

Su Yi immediately understood.

The sect behind Wu Ruoqiu was this "Yin Sha Sect," and his Master was named Weng Yunqi.

"Before he died, he said I ruined his sect's great undertaking. Looking at it this way, the matter of Wu Ruoqiu raising Ghost Corpse Worms must have been done at the Yin Sha Sect's instruction."

Su Yi's brows lifted slightly.

He had a premonition that the places where the Yin Sha Sect raised Ghost Corpse Worms were definitely not limited to this one alone.

In other words, there should have been similar "insect-nurturing grounds" elsewhere in Guangling City.

As he pondered, Su Yi had already torn the book in his hands to shreds. If such an evil secret art fell into someone else's hands, it would surely bring disaster to an entire region.

Next, he picked up the sheathed longsword.

The scabbard was forged from black iron. When he drew the sword, a choking stench of blood and rot rushed into his face.

Su Yi frowned, his expression turning disgusted.

The sword had been refined from Pine Pattern Wood. The blade was steeped in a layer of dark-red blood, while its edge gave off a greenish sheen, its aura incomparably foul.

"To think they used the menstrual blood of unmarried young women to nurture a sword. What kind of evil cultivator is this? They're simply too pathetic!"

Su Yi shook his head for a while, feeling a wave of nausea.

Crack!

Su Yi exerted strength through his fingers, and the pinewood sword shattered into wood chips. Then Su Yi burned it completely clean with a single fire.

"Mm, this gourd is rather interesting."

When Su Yi picked up the sole remaining Yellow Gourd, his interest was finally stirred a little.