Despair Beneath the Night

Rumble—

Thunder roared through the stormy night like an angry god, plunging the Tai Kun Mountain Range into oppressive gloom.

In the woods, Yang Jueding and Li Qingqiu pressed on through the downpour. When they reached a stretch of level ground, Yang Jueding turned to Li Qingqiu.

"This heavy rain is bound to take a toll on us. And the Seven Peaks Alliance is a long way from here; it'll take several days to reach it. Why don't we rest for the night, then head into town tomorrow and borrow two horses?"

Yang Jueding thought Li Qingqiu had lost his mind. He figured that if he endured the rain alongside him for a while, maybe he'd come to his senses.

Li Qingqiu replied, "It's fine. There's no need to rush. We just need to catch up with the people who fled from the Seven Peaks Alliance. They're dragging along a lot of wounded, so they can't have gone far."

"So that's what you meant. I really thought you were going to charge straight into the Seven Peaks Alliance."

Yang Jueding breathed a sigh of relief. He'd nearly said, I thought you'd gone mad.

The two of them would be marching straight to their deaths if they went to the Seven Peaks Alliance.

But chasing down a group of wounded martial artists? That would be easy as pie.

"In that case, let's pick up the pace!"

Yang Jueding perked up and started walking faster. Li Qingqiu didn't stop him; that was exactly what he wanted.

In the dim woods, Yang Jueding used his lightness skill while Li Qingqiu used the Gale Technique. They swept through the night like ghosts. At a glance, it seemed their feet never touched the ground.

The night grew darker, and the merciless downpour began to ease, as if the heavens were nearly done venting their fury.

Along a mountain road between the peaks, hundreds of strong horses plodded forward. Many carried wounded martial artists on their backs, while more than a hundred others led the horses along at a slow pace.

Yue Zhenchuan walked at the head of the group. Rainwater streamed down his cheeks, and his gaze was icy, but inside, he was still shaken to the core.

A gash still marked his neck. It had nearly reached his throat.

The sight of Jiang Zhaoxia, raging like a demon, wouldn't leave his mind. And that young woman—she had almost killed him with a single sword strike.

The Qingxiao Sect had actually been hiding two terrifying young fighters, a boy and a girl. Add Li Sifeng to the mix, and Yue Zhenchuan couldn't make sense of it.

He had never encountered such monstrous talents, not even at the Hegemon Sects he had visited, let alone at the Seven Peaks Alliance.

This grudge had been sealed. There was no way the Seven Peaks Alliance could let it go. He had to take the news back and rally the entire alliance to wipe out the Qingxiao Sect. Otherwise, ten years from now—no, perhaps in just five—the Seven Peaks Alliance would face annihilation.

The more Yue Zhenchuan thought about it, the more afraid he became. He even suspected that monsters and demons lurked within the Qingxiao Sect. Word of Lin Xunfeng's quest for immortality had already spread, and many heroes of the martial world had laughed at him for losing his mind. Yue Zhenchuan had been among them. But now that he thought about it, had Lin Xunfeng encountered something that inspired him to seek immortality?

The rain had stopped, but Yue Zhenchuan's spirits were still nowhere near clear skies.

"Heroes up ahead, please wait!"

A deep, booming voice rang out from behind. The Seven Peaks Alliance disciples spun around in alarm, afraid that people from the Qingxiao Sect had come to kill them.

Yue Zhenchuan jolted in fright too. He turned and saw two figures in straw rain capes hurrying toward them. In the darkness, their outlines were hard to make out; they could barely tell that they were human.

There were only two of them, but after the fierce battle earlier that day, the Seven Peaks Alliance disciples were still trembling with fear. They didn't dare let their guard down. One after another, they drew their weapons and braced for a fight.

They were hauling the wounded, and many of them were injured themselves. They couldn't outrun anyone. And if they fled, they risked being picked off one by one.

"I'm Yang Jueding. Have any of you heard my name?"

Yang Jueding's voice rang out again. Once he gave his name, the Seven Peaks Alliance disciples exchanged glances and relaxed.

The Dragon Subduing Great Hero Yang Jueding was known throughout Guzhou's martial world.

Yue Zhenchuan breathed a sigh of relief as well. He knew Yang Jueding. When Yang Jueding had once visited the Seven Peaks Alliance, Yue Zhenchuan had seen his skills. He might not have been a match for Yue Zhenchuan, but his palm strikes certainly lived up to his reputation as one of the top ten on the Heavenly Ranking.

"So it's Brother Yang! Come over and join us!"

Yue Zhenchuan called out, even waving the two men over.

If Yang Jueding joined them, they would certainly be safer.

Yang Jueding seemed to recognize him and quickened his pace. The Seven Peaks Alliance disciples hurriedly parted to let him through.

"What happened to you? Did you get into a fight with the Azure Cult?"

When Yang Jueding came close, he removed his straw hat and asked with a teasing grin.

Yue Zhenchuan paid no attention to the person behind him and replied helplessly, "We went out to take care of something and ended up taking a beating."

Yang Jueding stepped up to Yue Zhenchuan and examined his injuries. He clicked his tongue in admiration. "A real expert, huh? Judging by these sword wounds, the strikes were fast, and every one was aimed at your life."

Yue Zhenchuan's expression turned stiff. He snorted. "He was an expert, all right. I was careless today..."

"Are you experts from the Seven Peaks Alliance?"

Li Qingqiu walked around Yang Jueding and looked at Yue Zhenchuan as he asked.

Yue Zhenchuan couldn't see his face clearly and assumed he was one of Yang Jueding's juniors. He replied casually, "Yes. The Seven Peaks Alliance and the Dragon Subduing Great Hero beside you are old friends..."

He hadn't finished speaking when a flash of swordlight blazed. Yang Jueding had no time to dodge and was splattered in the face with blood. His eyes widened in stunned disbelief.

Yue Zhenchuan's eyes flew open too. His hands instinctively clamped over his throat, but blood kept spurting out. There was no stopping it.

"You..."

Yue Zhenchuan stared at Li Qingqiu in disbelief as his body staggered backward.

The Seven Peaks Alliance disciples nearby paled. They were about to shout, but Li Qingqiu turned and swung his sword, slitting another throat.

Not far away, Yue Zhenchuan's young disciple had taken the chance to rest. Sitting on a rock, he was about to pull down his pants to check the wound on his thigh when he saw his master stumble backward and then collapse with a thud. He froze.

He was just about to ask what had happened when the straw-cloaked figure beside Yang Jueding turned around and hurled the sword in his hand straight at him.

Thwack—

The blade pierced the young man's forehead and dragged his whole body along for several yards. By the time he came to a stop, his life was gone. His eyes stared wide open, even in death.

Li Qingqiu rushed over and yanked the sword from his head. Then he shot toward the other Seven Peaks Alliance disciples, swift as a ghost.

The disciples had finally reacted. They spun around to face Li Qingqiu.

After breaking through to the Nourishing Yuan Realm Third Layer, Li Qingqiu had undergone a complete transformation. His senses were sharper, his body more agile, and his reflexes lightning-fast.

Every person he passed, he cut down. He made no unnecessary moves. The sound of his blade slicing through flesh rang out again and again.

After a brief moment of shock, Yang Jueding quickly turned around. Seeing the bodies strewn across the ground, he was stunned by Li Qingqiu.

So fast!

So ruthless!

He had long known Li Qingqiu was strong, but he had never imagined he would be this powerful. Even Jiang Zhaoxia couldn't compare.

"Kill him!"

An older Seven Peaks Alliance disciple shouted, his face twisted with rage as he raised his saber. Then he charged straight at Li Qingqiu.

The other disciples charged in too. More and more horses were spooked, whinnying one after another. Some began to bolt. Wounded men tumbled from the horses' backs and were trampled to death beneath their hooves.

In an instant, the mountainside descended into chaos.

Every one of the Seven Peaks Alliance disciples was injured. They could barely fight while wounded, and even at full strength, they would never have been a match for Li Qingqiu.

That was why the battle became a one-sided massacre. Watching Li Qingqiu cut loose, Yang Jueding felt a chill run down his spine.

What a murderous aura!

Yang Jueding had roamed the martial world, but he cared more about the strength of one's skills and one's reputation than about slaughter. That was how he had become a great hero. At that moment, Li Qingqiu made him deeply uneasy.

He tried to convince himself that the Seven Peaks Alliance had brought this on themselves. They weren't an honorable sect, either; they had committed plenty of misdeeds in the martial world.

Back when he had visited the Seven Peaks Alliance, he had claimed he wanted to exchange martial arts pointers, but in truth, he had meant to put them in their place. Unfortunately, he hadn't succeeded and had been forced to pretend he had only come to make friends.

No matter how he tried to reassure himself, though, watching Li Qingqiu rampage through them like a tiger in a flock of sheep made him wonder: if he had to face an enraged Li Qingqiu, how many moves could he withstand?

Once more than half of the Seven Peaks Alliance disciples had been killed, the survivors finally broke and fled. Li Qingqiu had no intention of letting them escape. He hunted them down one by one.

The disciples were injured and had been traveling nonstop. They were already exhausted, and Li Qingqiu cut them down after they'd barely gone any distance.

After the time it took an incense stick to burn.

Li Qingqiu walked up to Yang Jueding with his sword in hand. He raised his head, and beneath the straw hat, his face was spattered with blood.

"Only one is left. He can't have gotten far. I'll go after him, then head to the Seven Peaks Alliance. You stay here. Without these people carrying the news back, the Seven Peaks Alliance won't come back for revenge. Tomorrow, take the disciples and clear away the bodies on the mountain. We don't want an epidemic breaking out."

Li Qingqiu finished speaking and turned toward the direction in which the last Seven Peaks Alliance disciple had fled.

He had taken only two steps when he seemed to remember something. Turning back to Yang Jueding, he said, "Sorry to trouble you again. Go through all these bodies and see if there's anything valuable. Bring it all back to the mountain. And don't breathe a word about tonight to the disciples—not even to my junior brothers and sisters. Don't tell them what I went to do. Just say I'm patrolling the mountain."

With that, Li Qingqiu turned away and left, sword in hand.

Beneath the vast night sky, Yang Jueding watched Li Qingqiu's retreating figure. He opened his mouth but couldn't utter a word.

After witnessing Li Qingqiu's terrifying strength, he believed that even if Li Qingqiu failed at the Seven Peaks Alliance, he would still be able to escape unharmed.

He stood there, watching Li Qingqiu disappear over the mountain ridge. Only then did he come back to his senses. He turned and looked at the bodies strewn across the ground, the corner of his mouth twitching.

He suddenly felt that the task Li Qingqiu had given him was no easier than fighting.

Meanwhile, three li away.

The last Seven Peaks Alliance disciple was fleeing up the slope. In his panic, his foot caught on a rock along the way. He tumbled down the mountainside, rolling and bouncing all the way.

When he finally came to a stop, every inch of him ached. He felt as if his bones were about to fall apart.

He sucked in a pained breath and struggled to get up. The moment he lifted his head, his eyes widened, and despair washed over his face.

Following his gaze, Li Qingqiu stood on the ridge in his straw cape, looking down at him with his sword in hand. The clouds had parted just then, and the bright moon hung high above Li Qingqiu's head.