Harvest

Bang.

Qin Jianghe's bedroom.

The wardrobe concealing the secret chamber exploded with a thunderous crash.

Fang Yu, his hair disheveled, revealed himself.

He looked utterly wretched. His hair hung loose, his face was savage, and he resembled a vicious ghost crawling out of hell.

Compared to taking Qin Jianghe's life.

His own life.

Was clearly more important.

Yet the instant Fang Yu escaped the main house, swishing arrows cutting through the air rang out from all around the courtyard.

The Broken Blade Hall disciples Shen Yi had hastily gathered were scattered throughout the courtyard. Drawing their bows and nocking arrows, they unleashed a barrage upon the exhausted Fang Yu.

In an instant.

A rain of arrows howled down from the sky.

If Fang Yu had been in perfect condition.

Even amid an arrow storm from a thousand troops and ten thousand horses, he would have been confident of escaping unscathed. But now, his lamp was running dry and his oil was spent...

Fang Yu roared.

He forced himself to raise the Mixed Iron Trident and spun it like a flying wheel.

Countless arrows were swept aside by the trident's shadow.

But there were always fish that slipped through the net. Pfft, pfft—arrows struck his thigh and waist, blood pouring freely.

Still, he managed to weather this round of arrows.

With no other experts from Broken Blade Hall nearby, Fang Yu seized the gap when the arrow rain ceased and darted away like a bird vanishing into the forest.

He would disappear without a trace for good.

"Broken Blade Hall!"

"This grudge will be repaid another day!"

Fang Yu leaped onto the roof, sweeping his trident sideways and knocking down the Broken Blade Hall members who tried to stop him.

Just as he was about to leave, a low voice behind him sent chills down his spine. "We're not done yet."

A streak of blade light followed like a shadow.

As though Nightveil had descended once more.

"How can you leave?"

Fang Yu twisted around, swinging the Mixed Iron Trident in a full circle as he swept it back.

Shen Yi descended from the heavens like a god.

With a single slash.

"Mountain and River Shattering!"

The grave blade momentum surged forth in layer upon layer, like rivers overturning seas. With a muffled clang!

Fang Yu was sent plummeting back into the center of the courtyard by Shen Yi's full-force strike. "Loose arrows!"

The bows and arrows around them were ready once more.

At Shen Yi's command.

Ten thousand arrows flew at once!

Fang Yu raised his eyes to the square patch of sky above the courtyard.

Suddenly, he felt like a bird trapped in a cage, never again given the chance to spread its wings and soar.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

A ceaseless chorus of clanging impacts rang out.

Fang Yu was still putting up a stubborn last stand.

But this time, his spirit had broken and his strength was gone. Arrows protruded from several places across his body, and he sank to his knees in defeat.

Shen Yi leaped down from the roof.

He staggered as he landed.

His inner breath was exhausted, and he had nearly been unable to remain standing.

Had he not cultivated the Fragmentary Array Breaker Art to perfection and nurtured an unparalleled battle intent to support himself.

He might have fallen before Fang Yu did.

Bathed in blood, Shen Yi looked at Fang Yu, who had utterly given up and collapsed in despair. He held his blade angled toward him, his throat dry.

"Yaksha Faction Master, an Acquired Realm expert."

"Your reputation is well deserved."

The blade trembled with a hum, killing intent already revealed!

Fang Yu looked at Shen Yi's face. Though smeared all over with blood, it could not conceal his heroic air. In a daze, he said:

"Even the Black and White Rakshasa failed to stop you..."

"Chen Yu?"

"There's no one like you in the martial world."

"Who exactly are you?"

Shen Yi said calmly:

"The Black and White Rakshasa are dead."

"As for me."

"I'm merely a nobody newly arrived in the martial world."

His voice lowered.

"But I have another name."

"What name?"

"Shen Yi."

Fang Yu muttered the name, then suddenly recalled a message he had received not long ago. A constable from the Dong Commandery Pacification Office had slain his superior and fled in betrayal.

The Pacification Office had posted a bounty and announced it to the martial world.

That man's name was...

"Shen Yi."

"Hehehehe... the Pacification Office?"

"They misjudged you..."

Pfft.

Without hesitation, Shen Yi swept his blade across Fang Yu's throat, harvesting his life completely.

Together with others, slew an Acquired Realm martial artist. Obtained secluded cultivation time: two years and six months

Remaining secluded cultivation time: six years and ten months

Shen Yi let out a long breath.

Slaying Fang Yu had been difficult.

And it had not been his achievement alone.

Without Qin Jianghe's earlier depletion of Fang Yu's strength.

Without him and Qin Jianghe taking turns facing Fang Yu in a wheel battle.

Even without the Broken Blade Hall members lying in ambush in the courtyard at the end, they would have been unable to keep Fang Yu behind.

That was the foundation of an Acquired Realm martial artist.

He did not waste time in the courtyard. Instead, he turned and headed for the secret chamber again.

Qin Jianghe was still inside, his life and death unknown.

Back in the secret chamber.

Qin Jianghe lay sprawled on the ground, still breathing.

He was even still conscious.

Shen Yi first took out some golden wound medicine and treated several of Qin Jianghe's serious external injuries.

Then he circulated the little inner force he had just recovered and sent it into Qin Jianghe's body, helping him suppress his internal injuries.

Before long.

A Broken Blade Hall disciple cautiously entered the secret chamber and called loudly from outside the stone room:

"Young Hero Chen, is the Hall Master in danger?"

The Hall Master's secret chamber.

Without permission, the hall's disciples were not allowed to enter on their own.

Of course, in a crisis, one had to act according to the urgency of the matter.

Earlier, however, the secret chamber had been dark and narrow. Shen Yi had refused to let them follow him inside and instead ordered them to lie in ambush outside.

Only then had they succeeded in one stroke and taken down Fang Yu.

Though the great battle was now over, the Broken Blade Hall disciples were worried about Qin Jianghe's fate and could no longer care about such minor rules.

After a while.

Qin Jianghe's voice drifted over.

"Cough, cough, I'm fine."

"You all go out first and put the entire hall on alert."

"Also, immediately summon all the incense masters and elders back to the hall."

The hall members outside the stone chamber answered in unison.

Then departed again.

Seeing that Qin Jianghe's injuries had basically stabilized and that he could still speak, Shen Yi withdrew his inner force.

He rolled over and sprawled flat on the ground, limbs spread wide.

He too had reached the end of his strength.

This fierce battle rivaled the breakout at Cuixia Mountain; both had pushed his mind and body beyond their limits.

Yet Qin Jianghe swayed as he rose to his feet.

He knew.

There was still someone inside the stone chamber.

But at some point, that person's presence had become nearly inaudible.

From within a corner wall.

Qin Jianghe dragged out Ji Chengkong, who was on the verge of death.

Ji Chengkong was known as a strategist general.

His cultivation had barely reached the First-Class Realm, but he was not skilled in combat. His actual fighting strength was inferior even to that of many Second-Class Realm martial artists.

Earlier, Fang Yu's trident strike, surging like rivers overturning seas, had shattered his breastbone. Then he had been repeatedly caught in the force from the three men's clash.

The fact that he had not died after holding on until now.

Already showed astonishing willpower.

Qin Jianghe somehow found two bright pearls—night pearls—and in an instant, a faint light arose within the pitch-black stone chamber.

Shen Yi said in surprise:

"He was actually in the stone chamber? I didn't notice him at all."

"In this state..."

Qin Jianghe dropped onto the edge of the stone bed and said flatly:

"He was planning to ambush me, but Fang Yu accidentally injured him."

"There's no saving him."

Shen Yi clicked his tongue twice, feeling rather regretful. According to the system's judgment, this would basically count as Fang Yu's kill.

He could not obtain any secluded cultivation reward.

Shen Yi suddenly froze.

At some point, he had grown accustomed to linking people with secluded cultivation rewards.

As if they were not living, breathing lives.

But merely experience packs, dishes satisfying his appetite one after another.

With such a mindset, perhaps he would become a monster who killed without blinking, cold-blooded and merciless.

Shen Yi became alert and sank into thought.

Yet Qin Jianghe sent a strand of inner breath into Ji Chengkong. Stimulated by the inner force, the unconscious Ji Chengkong slowly awakened.

When he opened his eyes, he saw Qin Jianghe's face.

A face he least wanted to see.