The Brave Fear Nothing

The enormous fire lotus seemed capable of purifying the mortal world. Whatever it touched burned, while its flames spiraled inward and plunged toward a single point!

"No!!!" The last attendant was burned into charcoal amid terrified wails! Liu Yunshen snatched up his corpse and held it before himself. The scorching heat peeled away the outer layer of the black iron rod, gradually revealing its true form—it was actually a broken, rusted iron sword!

"Am I going to die here?" Liu Yunshen sighed. The Yellow Sprout in his dantian seemed to feel the despairing heat as well, beginning to wither, while the rivers of his meridians gradually ran dry!

Just when all hope seemed lost, a blazing sun rose within his dantian—a sun that should never have appeared in the Yellow Sprout Realm! Its warm radiance enveloped Liu Yunshen, while the black date inside him melted a little more. Countless azure-green lights seeped into his bones and meridians, slowly strengthening them!

Yet the searing heat was overwhelmingly powerful, far beyond what that warm rising sun could contend with. Liu Yunshen howled in agony and rolled across the ground!

"He should have turned into a lump of charcoal by now!" Jie Xiao exhaled a breath of stale air, withdrew his stance, and landed. In an instant, he had consumed twenty percent of his Gang Qi. He kicked the burned servant's corpse, only to see, to his shock, that aside from severe burns on Liu Yunshen's arms, his face, head, and body were nearly intact. He lay on the ground, struggling to breathe, while the wounds on his back were slowly healing!

"So I guessed right! Since one sword can't kill you, then I'll use two!" Jie Xiao made his decision at once and drew his sword!

Liu Yunshen sighed. "Senior, may I ask something of you?"

"Stalling for time!"

"Senior, your cultivation is unfathomable. Could you please send that girl the demon sect ravaged back to her home?" Liu Yunshen was recovering quickly, but his injuries were far too severe; he could not possibly heal completely in less than two hours. He exhausted all his strength to say those words, breathing violently, his face deathly pale!

Jie Xiao was greatly astonished. He leaped into a tree and gazed at the girl more than ten li away—her eyes gouged out, one arm broken, her chastity lost. Even he, an assassin with a heart harder than iron, was shaken slightly. This youth is upright and selfless. Though he is about to die beneath my sword, he is still thinking of those suffering common folk!

"I beg you, Senior!" Liu Yunshen fell to his knees and kowtowed!

"I agree!" Jie Xiao snorted and thrust out his sword!

"Big Dog Brother! Hu Two! Brother Cai, Brother Gong! I'll see you in the next life!" Liu Yunshen raised his head, closed his eyes, and awaited death!

A miserable cry rang out!

"Ow! My ass!"

Jie Xiao's face changed drastically. His sword was embedded three inches deep in a man's buttock, blood streaming down!

The man flew into a rage and slapped Jie Xiao across the face. "The hell, didn't you see me taking a shit!?"

"This man—" Jie Xiao staggered back in terror and raised his sword to stab Liu Yunshen again. The man grinned, caught Jie Xiao's longsword between two fingers, and snapped it into a foot-long piece of steel. He broke it again as easily as snapping a fried dough stick, then ground the broken sword into powder with his hand. Blowing it from his palm, he flashed the two of them a smug grin. "So? Could this skill earn me a few bits of loose silver if I went around the martial world selling strength pills?"

"Who can break a second-tier high-grade immortal weapon with their bare hands!?" Jie Xiao was shocked and enraged as he turned to flee.

"You disturbed my elegant pleasure of taking a shit. How do you think you ought to compensate me? How about you..." Jie Xiao moved like an afterimage, but the man was ten times faster than an afterimage. Liu Yunshen rubbed his eyes, yet still could not see which of the man's feet had touched down first!

"You!" Jie Xiao was horrified. The man pressed a hand upon his shoulder and sneered, one hand holding up his waistband as he stared at Jie Xiao's rear!

"A man may be killed, but not humiliated!" Jie Xiao roared and raised his palm to kill himself.

A ray of light flashed, and within three feet, flowing radiance seemed to ripple. The man's movements were not particularly fast, yet he effortlessly pried open Jie Xiao's arm, frozen in midair, and pressed a palm against his dantian!

Jie Xiao, who possessed superb pill arts and swordsmanship, could not resist at all. His sixth-rank pill power of the second Qi Refining Realm was forcibly sealed down to the ninth rank of the first realm!

"Y-you are Xiao Jinyu of the Nine Bestowals Sect!!!" Jie Xiao stared at the sun, moon, and stars pattern on the man's lapel and the Golden Bell design at his sleeve cuffs, terror evident in his voice.

"What Nine Bestowals, Ten Bestowals? Sounds awful." The man took out a wineskin from his robes and took a huge gulp!

Jie Xiao said angrily, "To think I would encounter Your Excellency Xiao Jinyu, Palace Lord of the Funeral Bell Palace of the Three Stars Sect! Even if this junior cultivated for another hundred years, I would still be no match for you. Farewell!"

It was said that the Three Stars Sect descended from an evil organization called the Nine Bestowals Sect from over a century ago. There were nine palace lords in the sect, and Xiao Jinyu was the master of the Golden Bell Palace. But because the sect had committed every evil imaginable and was even more vicious than the Heavenly Demon Sect, the martial world had given each palace a nickname.

For instance, the Golden Bell Palace was known as the Funeral Bell Palace.

Xiao Jinyu was moody and unpredictable. He usually loved traveling alone across the Nine Provinces and rarely brought subordinates with him. When others called him the Funeral Bell Palace Lord, he was instead immensely pleased.

"You can't leave! Finish fighting him before you go!" Xiao Jinyu laughed, pointed at Liu Yunshen, then pulled open his pants and went behind a tree to take a shit!

Jie Xiao instantly calmed down. The people of the Three Stars Sect are a hundred times crueler than the Heavenly Demon Sect. Every one of them is an unpredictable, monstrous tyrant. Their sect master's identity is exceedingly mysterious. No one knows whether his cultivation has reached the Earth Immortal Realm, but anyone who has provoked them has never left alive!

Liu Yunshen gritted his teeth and rose to his feet, cupping his hands. "Thank you, Senior Xiao!"

Xiao Jinyu gave a sinister grin, his eyes repeatedly roaming over Liu Yunshen from head to toe. After wiping his hands with tree bark and yellow earth, he gave Liu Yunshen a lecherous smile. "I merely thought you were handsome. It would be a pity to kill you."

Liu Yunshen was slightly afraid. He turned his head to stare at Jie Xiao and gave him a meaningful look.

The two understood at the same time and fled north together!

Xiao Jinyu sneered. Like a clear breeze, he appeared before them in an instant. "You refuse a toast only to drink a forfeit!"

"You misunderstand, Senior. The two of us were merely stretching our limbs!" Liu Yunshen smiled and cupped his hands. He lightly touched Jie Xiao, whose face was filled with fury, and whispered, "Where there are green hills, there is firewood."

Jie Xiao sighed and brought both palms together in a seal.

Liu Yunshen raised the rusted iron sword and slashed at Jie Xiao. Jie Xiao's palms opened and closed in every direction, silently gathering Qi. Liu Yunshen was secretly startled. At the brink of life and death, his footwork gained another flash of insight, nearing the number ninety-five, only a little short of perfection.

"His footwork seems to secretly accord with the cycle of the heavens and stars! If he were not seriously injured, he should be three parts faster than before!" As Jie Xiao fought, he concentrated on observing the flaws in Liu Yunshen's footwork while his palm force struck with speed!

Liu Yunshen dodged with difficulty, his breathing gradually steadying. Though I have a weapon while he does not, my grave injuries are still a disadvantage. If this drags on, I may still be unable to defeat him!

Jie Xiao had finished building up his momentum. He took a deep breath, and bitterly cold air gathered in his palms. Extreme-cold Sword Qi fell from the sky like the Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Spike of Hanging Sky Temple!

Has my cultivation grown stronger? Or has his cultivation weakened? This sword momentum is several times slower than before, at the very least! Liu Yunshen's double pupils opened wide. Seeing the incoming attack clearly, he wielded the rusted iron sword to deflect each strike one by one, shattering the ice swords!

Jie Xiao was shocked and enraged. He activated all his cultivation, but his surging Gang Qi had been sealed to less than one-eighth of its former strength. He could no longer do anything to Liu Yunshen!

Meanwhile, Liu Yunshen drew in and expelled a breath, his injuries healing at tremendous speed. His Yellow Sprout rooted itself deep in the soil, and his sword force grew ever stronger!

The two fought fiercely for half an hour. The battle was deadlocked, and neither could claim victory!

"Boring!" Xiao Jinyu snorted and extended his index finger from dozens of zhang away.

Mighty Sword Qi tore through the air. The two were horrified and each retreated half a step.

"You may leave now!" Xiao Jinyu jerked his chin toward the left.

As though granted a great pardon, Jie Xiao bowed in thanks. He gave Liu Yunshen a pitying look, then departed at top speed.

Xiao Jinyu rose and approached Liu Yunshen with a smile. "Boy! Your cultivation is so low. Why not follow this master from now on..."

"You!" Liu Yunshen retreated several steps until a mountain wall stood behind him.

"Stop!"

Gu Jingchuan shouted and landed with the others.

Gong Liefeng, Lei Zhaoye, Cai Yuelin, and Cao Langao all glared so fiercely that their eyes nearly split!

"You see your martial uncle and still refuse to bow?" Xiao Jinyu tilted his head as he stared at them, his body leaning against a tree. Yet he seemed like a hundred-zhang giant sword stretched between heaven and earth!

All the youths were terrified.

"Martial Uncle?! What is going on?" Liu Yunshen stared at the others in shock.

Lei Zhaoye clenched his teeth. Gong Liefeng said furiously, "He killed the Sect Master and betrayed the Four Swords Sect!"

Xiao Jinyu stretched lazily. "That was so many years ago. Why do you little ones still remember? So stubborn at such a young age! Why not let your martial uncle introduce you all to the Three Stars Sect?"

"Pah!" Cai Yuelin's face turned red as he spat out a curse.

Gu Jingchuan's face was pale as he said in a low voice, "You are pressing us too hard, sir. Do you truly wish to become enemies with the Gu Family?"

Xiao Jinyu's expression turned cold as he raised his chin. "Boy, are you threatening me?"

"I would not dare! It is only that these people are all my friends. Gu Jingchuan will never permit his friends to suffer misfortune!" Gu Jingchuan remained courteous, further restraining all his pill power.

"Though my intentions were not entirely good, I did save this boy after all. Give me one gold ingot, and we can consider this matter settled!"

Xiao Jinyu extended his right hand. Liu Yunshen took out a gold ingot and placed it in his palm. Xiao Jinyu gave an evil grin, then swept his gaze toward Cao Langao and Shui Xuanshuang.

The two women turned deathly pale and hid behind Gong Liefeng and Gu Feibai. When everyone looked up again, that moody, lecherous fiend had vanished without a trace!

Everyone let out a long breath. Gu Jingchuan's clothes were soaked through. "Good thing we bluffed him!"

"This time, we have Brother Gu to thank!" Gong Liefeng, Lei Zhaoye, and Liu Yunshen stepped forward together and bowed in gratitude.

"Let's go back and deal with those beasts first. We'll see whether to hand them over to the authorities, or..." Gu Jingchuan was sighing when he saw Liu Yunshen had already leaped into a tree and rushed back. He immediately shouted, "Don't do anything foolish!"

"After him!"

When they reached Elm Forest, the Han Dynasty officials had already arrived. An old woman threw herself over the girl and wept until her heart seemed torn apart. "Who did this to my daughter!? Is there no justice left in this world!?"

"What are you doing?" the Prefect of Jingzhao demanded menacingly.

Liu Yunshen pointed at the dozen or so demon sect disciples on the ground, their cultivation sealed by Essence-Sealing Locks, and demanded, "What crimes will these people ultimately be charged with?"

The Prefect of Jingzhao looked at the wailing old woman and sighed. "At most, they will be sent back to the demon sect for them to handle! You... you killed people in the street!"

The rusted iron sword flashed like lightning. In an instant, more than ten people were hacked into pieces on the spot! Liu Yunshen shouted furiously, "If such villains are not killed, heaven's justice cannot endure! If the demon sect comes demanding an explanation, let them seek me, Liu Yunshen!"