Fortress Lord

"Could it be they can't see it?" Jiang Zhiwei whispered to Meng Qi, pointing with her left hand at the other experts who could also see the stone wall. They turned a blind eye to the mission prompt.

Meng Qi nodded, while Zhang Yuanshan gave a bitter smile and murmured, "So this is what appears when a mission is completed..."

When they had rescued Tan Wenbo, they had assumed they had completed one of the side missions. Had they known earlier that there would be a prompt, Qing Jing would not have died through carelessness.

"If we don't kill them, perhaps only finding the antidote to the Heart-Seizing Pill will count as completing the side mission," Meng Qi guessed.

Qi Xia sighed. "I hope nothing else goes wrong."

She tore a strip from her robe and, with Jiang Zhiwei's help, bandaged her left shoulder, which had previously only been hastily stopped from bleeding by sealing its acupoints.

After grieving for a while, Ge Chongshan and the others gathered their emotions and hurried toward the Central Hall along the route they had just scouted.

Other than the torches that seemed to burn without end, the corridor was empty and vast, containing nothing else. Since Ge Chongshan, Qi Zhengyan, Qi Xia, and the others all knew Lightness Skill, their footsteps were soft. Only Meng Qi's heavy steps sent waves of echoes through the passage, leaving him at the rear.

"Little Monk, their eyes are full of suspicion when they look at you." Jiang Zhiwei suddenly laughed softly.

Meng Qi replied helplessly, "I'd be suspicious too."

A Little Monk with such meager martial arts—perhaps not even the equal of an ordinary servant from Ge Chongshan's estate—had actually been brought by his "Master" to Hidden Emperor Fortress to kill an expert of this generation, the Fortress Lord. How could that be possible?

This was no place for sightseeing!

Unless there was another hidden truth behind it!

Jiang Zhiwei looked ahead. "Once we kill the Hidden Emperor Fortress Lord, they may surround and capture us. We must be careful."

"It's fine. Once the mission ends, we should immediately be taken away by the 'Lord of Six Paths Samsara,'" Meng Qi said based on his "experience."

"I hope so." Jiang Zhiwei's tone sank, and then she asked very solemnly, "Little Monk, when we fight later, are you willing to trust me without holding anything back?"

Meng Qi stared. "Haven't I always trusted you? If you tell me to move two steps left, I move two steps left."

He thought Jiang Zhiwei meant that his coordination had been insufficient. He felt slightly wronged; he had not doubted her in the slightest. He had always acted at once!

Jiang Zhiwei continued in a low voice, "Not that. I mean, even if there were sheer cliffs ahead, mountains of blades and forests of swords—if I told you to throw yourself forward, would you still trust me, overcome your fear of death, and hurl yourself ahead with every ounce of strength in your body?"

Meng Qi hesitated. If he had been coaxing a girlfriend in the past, he should have sworn to the heavens and declared, "If you jump, I jump too." But Jiang Zhiwei was clearly referring to the coming battle; she was hardly speaking without reason. He could not simply make empty promises and then ruin the critical moment when the time came.

Jiang Zhiwei did not urge Meng Qi for an answer, allowing him to think in silence.

Meng Qi's expression changed again and again, his face twisting. In the end, he thought that if Jiang Zhiwei failed, he probably would not survive either. Besides, he would be carrying Jiang Zhiwei when he threw himself forward—she could not possibly be trying to kill herself, could she?

Gritting his teeth, Meng Qi said heavily, "Miss Jiang, I trust you!"

Anyway, they were grasshoppers tied to the same rope!

"Remember those words." Jiang Zhiwei spoke very seriously. "You have not learned Lightness Skill, and your footwork cannot keep up with my swordsmanship, so I can only focus on defense. But that is not my specialty. If necessary, I may have to take a gamble."

At this point, she smiled. "There's no need to worry too much. Perhaps the Hidden Emperor Fortress Lord will simply keel over dead on his own?"

Meng Qi could not smile. "Let's hope so," he said stiffly.

They encountered no more enemies along the way, and Jiang Zhiwei, Meng Qi, and the others reached the Central Hall without incident.

It was a great hall built in imitation of an imperial palace. Eight corridors around it connected the plaza here to every part of Hidden Emperor Fortress.

At that moment, the gates stood open. Several Bright Yellow Flowers dotted the front of the hall, while dozens of Black-Robed Men knelt within. Upon the throne sat a lean Middle-aged Man in a bright yellow dragon robe, with a splendid beard, speaking in a resonant and imposing voice:

"I have awaited you all for a long time!"

As soon as his words fell, the dozens of kneeling Black-Robed Men rose and turned around. Every one of them had a twisted face, blood-red eyes, and bulging muscles that stretched their robes taut.

"Senior Brother!"

"Martial Uncle!"

"Ming Kang!"

Cries rang out from the experts Ge Chongshan had brought. Clearly, some of the Black-Robed Men had once been people they knew.

The Black-Robed Men let out beastlike roars, their eyes devoid of even a trace of reason.

"Demon, what have you done to them?" someone shouted in grief.

The Fortress Lord snapped sharply, "Do you still possess any sense of rank and station? How dare you roar at your Lord Father!"

He slowly rose and pointed at the Black-Robed Men. "They willingly transformed into beasts to serve as my vanguard! Once I have crushed the rebels, I will shower favor upon their descendants and ensure their eternal wealth and glory!"

"Beast!"

"Madman!"

Curses erupted one after another. Ge Chongshan barely retained his reason as he said, "Hand over the Heart-Seizing Pill and the antidote to this poison that turns people into beasts, and we may yet spare your life!"

There were many punishments worse than death!

"Haha, haha." The Fortress Lord brought two fingers together like a sword and laughed. "These immortal medicines were bestowed by Heaven. How could there be an antidote?"

"I received Heaven's mandate, and all under Heaven submit. Yet you deceive your sovereign and defy those above you. Die!"

Bestowed by Heaven... Meng Qi's Heart Moved.

The dozens of Black-Robed Men immediately leapt from the hall and pounced on Ge Chongshan and the others. Judging by their speed and movements, their martial arts were anything but ordinary.

"They all possess strength close to Orifice Opening..." Jiang Zhiwei sighed. "If we had not waited for Master Ge and the others, who knew how many of us would have died before we could kill this Fortress Lord?"

She still seemed quite confident in the strength she had possessed before her injury.

Ge Chongshan and the others could not bear to let old acquaintances suffer in the Sea of Suffering. Setting aside any thought of "questioning" Jiang Zhiwei's Master, they kept a wary eye out and charged forward one after another. Zhang Yuanshan blended among them, his figure graceful and drifting. In only a few steps, he somehow slipped around the Black-Robed Men and rushed into the hall!

"The True Martial Sect's Eight Trigrams Astonishing Spirit Steps truly are wondrous beyond compare." Jiang Zhiwei could not help sighing. "There is no poison mist. We'll circle into the hall from the edge of the plaza."

She knew clearly that Meng Qi's martial arts were weak. If he tried to shuttle through the crowd, he would likely fail to break through. Now, however, the Black-Robed Men and nearly a hundred experts led by Ge Chongshan were locked in an inseparable melee near the hall entrance, making it ideal to slip around the edge.

Meng Qi also saw Qi Xia weaving through the battlefield, passing through "flowers" and around "trees" as she hurried to assist Zhang Yuanshan. He said nothing and sprinted for the edge of the plaza, while Qi Zhengyan was blocked by a Black-Robed Man and found it difficult to break free for the moment.

Clang!

Just as Meng Qi reached the edge of the plaza, he saw a stone door fall, sealing off the passage.

"None of you will escape!" The Fortress Lord's hands gleamed iron-blue as he took Zhang Yuanshan's sword head-on.

"There must be other passages. He's here himself!" Ge Chongshan shouted, steadying everyone's hearts. Then, with his Iron Fan whirling, he took two blows head-on and also forced his way into the hall.

Meng Qi did not dare delay. He ran for the hall entrance, then, under Jiang Zhiwei's direction, passed through the sparser and less chaotic section of the battlefield.

Inside the hall, Ge Chongshan, Zhang Yuanshan, and Qi Xia were joining forces to besiege the Hidden Emperor Fortress Lord. Yet beneath his fierce, savage iron-blue palms, they could only hold on bitterly. Had Zhang Yuanshan's sword not formed Taiji and defended as steadily as a rock, Qi Xia, whose left shoulder was already grievously wounded, might well have been struck down.

Ge Chongshan's martial arts were roughly equal to Zhang Yuanshan's, but he was far inferior to the Fortress Lord. Moreover, the moment he had entered the fight, the Fortress Lord's successive rushes of attacks had startled him into a cold sweat, shattering his fighting spirit and leaving him unable to counterattack for the moment.

Though Zhang Yuanshan's swordsmanship was exquisite and wondrous moves emerged one after another, the Hidden Emperor Fortress Lord relied on the ferocity of his Iron Palms. His realm also surpassed Zhang Yuanshan's by more than a single level. Every time, he forcefully met Zhang Yuanshan's supreme techniques head-on, breaking skill with strength and firmly maintaining the upper hand.

"Senior Brother Zhang excels at Taiji defense, but he has not mastered the Zhenwu Sword Art. Otherwise, how would the Fortress Lord dare press so fiercely?" As Meng Qi drew near, Jiang Zhiwei gave her quiet assessment. Then her longsword flickered, catching the Fortress Lord's left palm at precisely the right moment.

Taking that chance, Zhang Yuanshan's sword shot out like a long serpent leaving its lair, pointing straight at the Hidden Emperor Fortress Lord's chest and forcing him to withdraw his palm to defend himself.

For the first time since the fight began, the Fortress Lord had been forced into such a passive position. Jiang Zhiwei's sword came faster with every stroke, like surging waves and crashing tides. Together with Zhang Yuanshan, Ge Chongshan, Qi Xia, and the others, she gradually suppressed the Fortress Lord.

The Hidden Emperor Fortress Lord suddenly snorted and began to move, constantly circling and constantly attacking.

During that brief clash, he had already spotted Jiang Zhiwei's weakness: Meng Qi's sluggish footwork.

Sure enough, Meng Qi and Jiang Zhiwei were immediately thrown into peril. Though Jiang Zhiwei knew how they should move and Meng Qi obeyed without hesitation, giving instructions took time. Even slightly more complicated sequences could not be carried out at all.

Left with no choice, Jiang Zhiwei shifted from attack to defense. Together with Zhang Yuanshan, she blocked most of the Hidden Emperor Fortress Lord's attacks while Ge Chongshan and Qi Xia counterattacked. Blows came and went between both sides, and neither could break the deadlock.

Clang! Clang! Clang! When the longsword struck the Fortress Lord's iron-blue fleshy palms, it sounded like metal hitting iron. As Meng Qi listened, irritation suddenly surged within him, and his legs began to feel weak and sore.

"Poison!" Zhang Yuanshan, who had fought the Hidden Emperor Fortress Lord first, had already turned ashen. Ge Chongshan and Qi Xia's movements had also slowed somewhat.

The Hidden Emperor Fortress Lord instantly gained the overwhelming advantage and burst into laughter. "They transformed into Poison Beasts! There are also Rare Flowers before the hall—the two meeting is a match made by Heaven!"

"Once I kill you all, there will be no one left in the martial world capable of opposing me!"

In the distance, the experts, who were likewise beginning to feel weak and limp, watched as the skin of the Black-Robed Men started to rot and emit vapor, yet they became ever more vicious. Despair welled up from the depths of their hearts. Who could have imagined such an undetectable method of poisoning?

"Beast! I'll fight you to the death!" Ge Chongshan roared in grief and fury.

At that moment, Meng Qi, filled with fury and fear, heard Jiang Zhiwei say in a calm, peaceful voice:

"Throw yourself forward."

Throw himself forward? Those iron-blue fleshy palms were directly ahead. If they struck his body, it would be Ten Deaths No Life!

But Meng Qi remembered his earlier conversation with Jiang Zhiwei. Countless Thoughts churned through his mind. In that flash of lightning and spark of flint, he thought of the dead Yan Wujiang and Qing Jing, of how he would be at others' mercy after being invaded by poison mist, of his peaceful life in the past, of these inexplicable encounters...

Then all his thoughts swiftly converged into a fierce, desperate resolve.

"Fuck it. When a man dies, his balls face the sky; if he doesn't die, he'll live ten thousand years! I'm doing it!"

Meng Qi's facial muscles twisted as he threw himself at the Hidden Emperor Fortress Lord with all his strength.

Throughout it all, his eyes were wide open, fixed stubbornly on those iron-blue fleshy palms. Even if he died, he wanted to see how he died!

Suddenly, a streak of dazzling sword light flared up and rapidly filled Meng Qi's vision, leaving him unable to see anything else.

What beautiful sword light... The thought rose in Meng Qi's mind without conscious intent.

The experts fighting the Black-Robed Men suddenly Felt a Sense, as though a subtle change had occurred between heaven and earth. They all looked up and saw a sword light like a startled swan flying beyond the heavens—a sword light that made them forget all else!

As the sword light faded, Meng Qi saw the longsword nailed into the Hidden Emperor Fortress Lord's brow. Its tip had sunk deep, and the wound was faintly red. Those iron-blue fleshy palms were pressed against his chest, but they no longer held a shred of strength.

Thud! Unable to stop his momentum, Meng Qi crashed into the Hidden Emperor Fortress Lord and knocked him to the ground. Carrying Jiang Zhiwei, he rolled several times before finally coming to a halt.

Only then did Meng Qi see that the Hidden Emperor Fortress Lord still wore a smile at the corner of his mouth. Yet his pupils had shrunk, as though filled with deep terror and disbelief.

Lowering his head, Meng Qi saw the five slender fingers of Jiang Zhiwei's right hand trembling violently. They no longer resembled the hand that held a sword. Then he heard Jiang Zhiwei's heavy breathing.

"One of the nine killing moves of the Supreme Sword Scripture?"

"Sword Comes Without Self, Sword Comes Without Self... She actually learned Sword Comes Without Self!"

Qi Xia and Zhang Yuanshan muttered in utter shock.