The Sharpness of Mist Blades

The familiar recipe, the familiar taste.

Wu Tie soaked in translucent white fluid. His neighbor, Yang Jian, narrowed his eyes slightly and watched him quietly through the two layers of Crystal Ball walls.

Wu Tie had grown accustomed to Yang Jian's presence. He looked reverently at the hole left in Yang Jian's forehead where the vertical eye had vanished, then moved his limbs.

The numbness and weakness were fading, bit by bit. Strength was slowly returning. Wu Tie could feel blood gradually forming within his body, steadily filling every corner of him.

Old Tie stood on the ground, bloodlight flickering in his eyes. Figures flashed across the crimson screen, faithfully replaying every reaction of the two Palm Commanders, Eunuch Gu, and Eunuch Lan.

As he watched the screen quietly, Wu Tie secretly marveled at the power of those tiny Metal Spiders.

With them, would the Longevity Cult and Mist Blades not hold any secrets from Wu Tie?

"Tell me, what are they going off to do?" Old Tie raised a paw in puzzlement and pointed at the screen. "Mm, your grandpa here is a fine hand at fighting and killing. But intelligence gathering and tactical analysis... ha..."

Wu Tie blew a few bubbles from his mouth.

This fellow Old Tie... he had always claimed to be an Ancient Divine Weapon of the medical support type.

But judging by his words and deeds, by the hints that sometimes slipped through his words, he was clearly a killing machine skilled at murder and arson. How did he have anything to do with the words "medical support"?

Of course, if stuffing Wu Tie into a Crystal Ball to soak counted as "medical support," Wu Tie had nothing to say.

After blowing a few more bubbles, Wu Tie shook his head.

He could not guess what Eunuch Gu, Eunuch Lan, and the two Palm Commanders would do either. Still, Old Tie's earth-shattering strike had been terrifying. Even while fleeing for his life, Wu Tie had not forgotten to look back. That spectacle had truly been horrifying.

If that strike had landed on the Wu Family's stone fortress... the entire Wu Family, over a thousand people from top to bottom, along with the whole stone fortress and all of Wu Valley, would have been swept completely flat, wouldn't they?

"They were scared off... or perhaps they went to find experts for help?" Wu Tie's injuries from the Origin Breaking Blood Blade had healed. He slid out of the Crystal Ball, dried himself, and put on his fitted armor before frowning at Old Tie.

This was only his guess. He did not know whether it was right.

If his guess unfortunately proved correct, then this secret realm would face a larger war in the future. Especially if experts from the Longevity Cult and Mist Blades came here, even the Ancient Divine Weapon Camp might not be safe.

"Old Tie, how many times can you unleash an attack like that?" Wu Tie thought of a very serious question.

Old Tie let out a heavy sigh, sprawled on the ground, and scratched his head with a forepaw.

"Who knew what that Howling Celestial Dog did before it died? Its exterior looks unscathed, but quite a bit inside is damaged." Old Tie shook his head. "Big Iron is useless. There are no tools here capable of repairing the Howling Celestial Dog..."

"Probably once every... half year?" Old Tie looked at Wu Tie, the bloodlight in his eyes flickering several times. "You were too merciful toward those Mist Blades assassins... You should not have merely wounded them. You should have done everything you could to kill them."

Old Tie lectured Wu Tie sternly. "Inflicting severe, unacceptable losses upon the enemy in a short period is an effective means of ending battle and achieving tactical objectives. You only wounded those assassins without killing them... That was the same as doing useless work."

Wu Tie sat before Old Tie without saying a word.

He had carried a great banner to declare war on Mist Blades and the Longevity Cult. He had overcome the hesitation and fear in his heart and done it.

But asking him to kill those Mist Blades assassins...

Wu Tie could not do it.

After all, his age was what it was. In the Wu Family, he had been taught by Master Hui since childhood. Unlike his father and three elder brothers, he had not grown accustomed to fighting and killing over territory and profit.

Old Tie gazed deeply at Wu Tie. After a long while, he finally nodded. "Fine, this is not something that happens overnight... Your grandpa here has seen soft, pathetic little rookies who pissed their pants the first time they went onto a battlefield... Once they kill enough people, even softies can become experts. It is only a matter of time."

"Now, we begin a new lesson."

"Intelligence, or rather, useful information, is an indispensable part of any war."

"Whether it is the Longevity Cult or Mist Blades, we actually know nothing about them."

"And they exist in the Azure Flame Domain?"

"What is the Azure Flame Domain like? Where did the Longevity Cult come from? How powerful is Mist Blades in the Azure Flame Domain? What kind of relationship do they have? We must understand these matters... Especially when our capital is limited. War is no child's play."

"Tell me, how can we obtain the intelligence we need?" Old Tie stared at Wu Tie very seriously.

Wu Tie frowned and pondered for a while, then suddenly smiled. "Capture someone and interrogate him?"

Old Tie bared his teeth and gave a dry laugh. "That's right, catch a tongue and ask him... Mm, then we need to choose our target carefully. You cannot beat Mist Blades Palm Commanders, and your grandpa here currently has no strength to do anything to them either... As for slaves, what could they possibly know?"

"Therefore, choosing a suitable target for capture is very important."

Choosing a suitable capture target was important. Thus, two days later, after the "Void Sun" darkened and "night" descended, Wu Tie stole a raft belonging to Mist Blades, crossed the great river downstream, and slipped outside the Longevity Cult's stronghold.

It took little effort. With Old Tie's guidance, Wu Tie used a thin needle and a specially prepared plant-based paralytic toxin to easily capture a young man who had stood behind Eunuch Gu.

There were no warriors ready to die, nor any tough men who could endure torture. Or perhaps Old Tie's savage and distinctive "human-headed dog" appearance had frightened the other man. This handsome young man with his slick appearance truly answered every question, spilling everything he knew without holding back.

In the Longevity Cult's eyes, the Azure Flame Domain was a remote, barbaric, underdeveloped great domain.

The main region of the Azure Flame Domain consisted of eight large underground caverns of varying sizes. The largest was only two-thirds the size of the secret realm before them, while the smallest had a diameter of merely a hundred li or so.

The eight caverns were divided among the three strongest Lineages. Within them, hundreds of rocky passageways of varying sizes led to thousands of stone caves, large and small, each inhabited by different numbers of Lineages...

Countless stone caves lay above or below, some extremely close together, others separated by a hundred li...

Together with the countless crisscrossing, chaotic mine tunnels, mining passages, corridors, and hidden paths, the stone fortresses and settlements of all sizes, the mine slaves living in corridors and pits, and the wild natives...

As well as organizations like Mist Blades, along with other strange groups large and small...

All of this made up the Azure Flame Domain.

The Azure Flame Domain got its name because the largest of the eight core stone caverns contained a lava river, within which burned a wondrous heavenly flame known as "Azure Flame."

Azure Flame was bluish-white in color, immensely hot, and contained an extraordinarily miraculous power.

Weapons forged with Azure Flame were more than twice as sharp and resilient when made from the same materials. This was not so obvious in the hands of Foundation Establishment cultivators, but in the hands of Xuan Sensing cultivators, especially Chonglou Realm cultivators, they could unleash even more formidable killing power.

For instance, the personal weapons of Mist Blades' Nine Palm Commanders were all masterpieces made by the Lu Family.

The Azure Flame Domain was named for the Azure Flame in that lava river.

Among the three strongest Lineages of the Azure Flame Domain, the top-ranked Lu Family monopolized that lava river. Their family armaments were thus exceptionally fine, allowing them to overpower the Yan Family and the Shi Family.

As for the Longevity Cult, it was not a native power of the Azure Flame Domain.

Several decades ago, a small Lineage subordinate to the Shi Family in the Azure Flame Domain blasted through a mineral vein with Mountain Splitting Thunder during mining and discovered a new passageway.

This passageway, stretching over a thousand li, gave the Azure Flame Domain its first contact with the outer domains.

An exploration team jointly formed by the three great Lineages of the Azure Flame Domain encountered a merchant caravan from the outer domains at the end of this passageway.

That caravan happened to contain spies of the Longevity Cult. The Longevity Cult's gaze fell upon the Azure Flame Domain, and it began its infiltration.

Because of the Azure Flame Domain's overall strength, the Longevity Cult had only dispatched four experts—Grandma Chi, Grandma Hong, Eunuch Gu, and Eunuch Lan—to preside over its Azure Flame Domain branch hall.

The young man captured by Wu Tie was himself a native of the Azure Flame Domain. He had been abducted by the Longevity Cult as a child and trained.

What he knew was limited to the Azure Flame Domain and some basic intelligence concerning the Longevity Cult's Azure Flame Domain branch hall. As for how powerful the Longevity Cult truly was, or the circumstances of its upper ranks, those were matters beyond the reach of a cultist at his level.

After all... though he was Eunuch Gu's personal attendant, the Longevity Cult was strange and evil. These "personal disciples" were more often auxiliary materials for Eunuch Gu and the others during cultivation, or even "great tonics" used to temporarily boost their power and replenish their expenditure during battle.

Their status was awkward, and they would never be given an opportunity to access true secrets.

Still, although he did not know how strong the Longevity Cult's hidden forces truly were, this young man revealed quite a bit of intelligence on Mist Blades.

For example, Mist Blades was the strongest local power in the dark world of the Azure Flame Domain, the fourth greatest force after the Lu Family, Yan Family, and Shi Family. Mist Blades lived by licking blood from knife edges. Their relations with the three great Lineages were all poor, yet the three great Lineages often could not do without Mist Blades' help...

Judging purely by the number of elite warriors and absolute military strength, any one of the three great Lineages fighting alone truly would not be Mist Blades' match...

The overall situation in the Azure Flame Domain was roughly this: among the natives, the three great Lineages stood in a three-legged balance, the three joining hands to restrain Mist Blades, while the three great Lineages and Mist Blades also joined hands to guard against the Longevity Cult's infiltration...

While Wu Tie was capturing a tongue in the secret realm and interrogating him for intelligence, an ambush had just ended in the passageway connecting the Azure Flame Domain to the outer domains.

Ever since contact had been established with the outer domains, the three great Lineages of the Azure Flame Domain had jointly built a war fortress in the passageway. Large numbers of elite warriors were stationed there year-round, strictly guarding against large-scale invasion by outside forces.

Outside the war fortress, piles upon piles of luminous vegetation cast bright light through the passageway. A stretch of passageway dozens of li long was fairly bright, comparable to the brightness beneath the "Void Sun."

A massive stone wall two li wide blocked the entire passageway. Upon the towering wall, several generals from the three great Lineages wore armor and stood behind the battlements, smiling as they pointed outside.

Several dozen tall Ox Tribe warriors stood atop the wall with refined steel axes in hand, baring their teeth in muffled laughter.

Over a hundred tall Lizard warriors, famed for their astonishing archery, held longbows. Their amber eyes rolled about as they stared unblinking at the black-clad assassins lying in pools of blood outside the city wall.

This was a small merchant caravan. More than a dozen Gray Rock Lizards pulled four-wheeled cargo carts, standing quietly at the edge of the passageway.

Over twenty caravan guards lay dead in pools of blood, their bodies densely pierced by arrows and their eyes unable to close in death. Many had not even drawn their weapons before being killed by the concentrated arrow barrage.

Eunuch Gu lay on his back, while Eunuch Lan lay facedown, blood soaking through their clothes.

Eunuch Gu lay on the ground with a straight blade having sliced open his neck, nearly severing his entire head. His eyes were wide open, his dull gray pupils staring fixedly at the thousand-meter-high vault.

Eunuch Lan panted in great gasps.

His chest had been split open by a straight blade, his lungs cut apart. Great quantities of bloody bubbles continuously seeped from the wound. Blood-tinged foam also kept spraying from his mouth and nose. He gasped desperately, his hands spasming and trembling as he crawled bit by bit toward the war fortress hundreds of meters away.

A man clad in black fitted Soft Armor, with a black cloak draped behind him, flickered and silently appeared beside Eunuch Lan. He planted his right foot heavily on Eunuch Lan's back.

"You can try shouting loudly here and see whether you can make them hear... what you want to say?"

The man crouched down. His long, powerful fingers lightly poked Eunuch Lan's head, and he suddenly chuckled softly. "That was close... Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth were a little greedy, but fortunately they came to understand..."

"How could those three possibly swallow that place? Unless it was all of Mist Blades, they could not swallow it."

"Still, quietly swallowing that treasure land is easier than fighting your Longevity Cult and those three Lineages for it..."

Eunuch Lan struggled to raise his head and looked bitterly at the man in black.

Mist Blades had Nine Palm Commanders. From the First Palm Commander to the Ninth Palm Commander, each was a Chonglou Realm expert.

Legend said that Mist Blades also had a Grand Commander, whose nickname was "Mist Blades." It was said that this Grand Commander was stronger than the other nine Palm Commanders combined.

Eunuch Lan had originally believed legends were merely legends.

But unexpectedly, legends were legends... Even joining forces with Eunuch Gu, he had failed to receive even one slash from this Mist Blades Grand Commander.

Had they known the Mist Blades Grand Commander was so terrifying, they should have sent news of the secret realm back to the Longevity Cult's main hall in advance...

With a crack, the Grand Commander snapped Eunuch Lan's neck, then rose with a smiling face.

He lightly shook his hand and called unhurriedly toward the war fortress, "People of the three Lineages, come out and collect the corpses... All this blood will frighten passing merchant caravans. Who will still do business with our Azure Flame Domain then?"

"Tell the heads of your three Lineages... Mist Blades has removed the Longevity Cult branch hall for the Azure Flame Domain. You must pay for this merit. If you do not pay, I will personally come to your doors and have a proper talk with them."

Amid chuckling laughter, the Grand Commander's figure gradually turned transparent and melted directly into the air.

"Now, it is time to meet that legendary expert... One strike shattered several li? Tsk... Could that bastard be mad?"