Justice

When two warriors met on a narrow road, the bolder one won!

A life-or-death battle between martial artists tested their split-second bursts of power and decisiveness!

Bang!

The violent impact and the sound of breaking bones rang out at the same time.

In truth, just as he had guessed,

Li ChunJun had broken who knew how many ribs.

His shoulder blade...

had also shattered under the force of the violent collision.

And when Li ChunJun slammed into him at full speed, his body flew backward as if it had been struck by a speeding sedan.

The pain in his shoulder and the sensation of flying helplessly through the air made his heart jolt.

He even felt a little dizzy.

But even in that state, his tenacious will to fight quickly brought him back to his senses, and he did everything he could to steady himself.

Still in midair, he shifted the gun in his hand, aiming its muzzle at Li ChunJun, who had sent him flying but was still charging forward with undiminished momentum!

At the very same moment that he aimed at Li ChunJun, the latter leaped forward with the force of his momentum, his right hand sweeping sharply to one side!

He yanked the sword from the "No Parking" sign—a treasured blade worth more than a million ordinary swords—and gripped it in his hand.

As his strength surged, the sign was torn apart!

Sparks flew!

A sword!?

The sword Li ChunJun had thrown earlier lay right beside the path along which he was flying!?

This was bad!

Realizing his tactics had been flawed, Fang Lieyun's pupils contracted sharply, and he pulled the trigger without hesitation.

But Li ChunJun had retrieved his sword and was diving through the air. He completely ignored the gun aimed at him, fixed his cold gaze on Fang Lieyun as he hurtled backward toward the ground, and raised his sword!

He drove it down!

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

Gunshots rang out!

In an instant, four bloody holes blossomed across Li ChunJun's body!

Yet he seemed not to feel the pain. Eyes wide, he followed his dive's downward momentum and plunged the sword he held aloft into Fang Lieyun's chest as the man crashed to the ground, his whole body convulsing!

Thrust!

The blade pierced his heart!

Thud!

The two slammed into each other.

Li ChunJun's seventy- or eighty-kilogram body crashed heavily down on Fang Lieyun.

One above, one below!

But even after that violent collision, Li ChunJun still gripped the sword tightly, bracing himself over Fang Lieyun.

He wouldn't let go for even a moment.

Bright red blood streamed from his body, staining Fang Lieyun from head to toe.

Their blood-red forms became indistinguishable.

And Fang Lieyun...

His eyes were wide too. He stared at the sword through the vital heart in his chest, then at the very young Li ChunJun right before him.

In his eyes...

There was disbelief.

Disbelief that Li ChunJun would choose this way to die with him.

And disbelief that he himself would fall here.

The powerful vitality of someone at the peak of Unity kept him from dying at once.

Li ChunJun's physical strength surpassed his, and the same was true of him.

But...

Whether it was Fang Lieyun, his heart pierced by a sword, or Li ChunJun, shot four times, neither of them would survive.

In the end, this narrow-road encounter had ended with both sides destroyed.

After bracing himself against the sword for several seconds, the four bloody holes in Li ChunJun's body gradually drained away all his strength.

His body slid down and toppled onto its side.

"Why..."

Fang Lieyun breathed faintly.

So young, yet so strong, with a boundless future ahead of him. Why take this path?

Even just now, he could have kept running, tried to snatch a chance at life beyond the blockade. Why turn back so suddenly and die with him?

Doubt. Confusion.

Li ChunJun lay on his back, gazing at the sky.

He had heard of Fang Lieyun.

A famous hero who rooted out evil in Guangzhou City.

He could no longer tell whether that was true.

He could no longer tell right from wrong, either.

The world had never been simply black or white.

He was only eighteen. His experience of society, fresh out of the ivory tower, wasn't enough to help him distinguish justice from evil.

All he could do was what he and Ling Zhi had talked about: remain true to the heart of an ordinary person, and use the simplest values of ordinary people to judge the world, to judge all living things.

So...

"No reason. I had to kill you to survive."

Li ChunJun answered, "So I could keep taking revenge."

"Revenge..."

Fang Lieyun paused for a moment, then said, "You should trust the law and take up its weapons to protect yourself, instead of pouring your resentment and indignation into violence."

"If I didn't pour it into violence, I wouldn't even have the right to meet you."

Li ChunJun spoke calmly. "And the law... Great Shang's law... Being alive is the greatest crime."

"The world isn't as bad as you think... There are still people who believe in the justice in their hearts and tirelessly put it into practice..."

Fang Lieyun said.

"You believe in the law and regard it as justice. You want us to believe in it too, because... you're the ones who decide how the law is enforced."

Li ChunJun said, "If the law were enforced strictly, then no matter what I did, I'd be breaking it. Even breathing would be a fault. The only question is whether you choose to make an example of us over it. If you punish me, I deserve it. If you don't, I should be grateful."

Fang Lieyun thought of the prevailing state of affairs in Guangzhou City, in Great Shang as a whole, and even in every country in the world. He fell silent.

After a long while, as his heart stopped beating and an icy chill began to spread through his body, he gathered his thoughts and managed to ask, "What if you're wrong?"

"If I'm wrong..."

Li ChunJun lay on the ground, his consciousness growing weak as well. "If I grow stronger in the future and realize I was wrong, I'll bring back the people I wronged."

"Bring them back?"

Fang Lieyun managed to turn his head slightly.

"Yes."

Li ChunJun answered earnestly. "Immortals possess boundless powers and mana, live forever without aging or decay, travel above the nine heavens and descend to the Yellow Springs, create all things, turn yin and yang upside down, and command reincarnation."

He paused. "I'll become immortal."

"Become immortal..."

Fang Lieyun found it somewhat amusing.

Immortals!

What were they!?

The ultimate pursuit of every cultivator!

You're a martial artist, not even a cultivator, and you dare dream of immortality?

But he couldn't laugh anymore.

With no more oxygen reaching his brain, his consciousness gradually scattered.

In a daze, he couldn't help thinking of the law and justice he had upheld for over a decade. He asked himself: had he really been completely right?

Had he been completely just?

Unfortunately...

He had no answer to give himself.

Because if he had truly been completely just, he could never have allowed Jin Guangming, or even his superior Mo Lei and the others, to lord it over everyone in Guangzhou City and throw their weight around.

So...

The comprehensive enhancement of a level 9 life-form ultimately made Li ChunJun tougher than Fang Lieyun.

When faced with fatal injuries, he could hold on longer, too.

And so, he lasted until the end.

Fang Lieyun breathed his last before him.

Earlier, at the Jin Family Courtyard, dozens of External Refinement martial artists and nearly twenty Internal Strengthening martial artists had given him more than 600 experience points altogether.

Now, with Fang Lieyun dead...

A gentle yet powerful energy suddenly surged from the body that had been on the verge of giving out, instantly awakening every dormant function in his body.

His consciousness, which had nearly faded away, jolted awake like someone on the verge of sleep, suddenly startled alert.

His eyes, already closed, snapped open!

Thanks to tianyingz for the alliance-leader reward.

Ever since the era of Li Qiuxian, I've often seen your comments while sneaking a look at the comment section.

Of course, it's possible you were here even earlier.

Thank you for your support all this time.