Vast Baleful Intent

Liu Yunshen tightly embraced the two brothers in leather armor, so overcome with emotion that tears streamed down his face!

"Brothers, don't cry!" Zhao Dagou took out a handkerchief and offered it to him. Liu Yunshen wiped away his tears as the Qin army commander glared furiously at the three of them!

"This is not the place to talk. You two should go back first! Don't concern yourselves with this matter!" Liu Yunshen warily transmitted his voice to them.

Hu Two said excitedly, "I never imagined that after just one month apart, my brother would already become a qi cultivator! When will you teach me too?"

Liu Yunshen smiled and tightly gripped Hu Two's arm.

"You two still haven't returned to your ranks?!" the Qin army commander roared.

Zhao and Hu had no choice but to return to the formation.

"What are you here for?!"

"A demon-slaying man!" Liu Yunshen's gaze pierced through the military formation, fixing fiercely upon Yan Chen!

Yan Chen staggered back in terror and hid among the rear ranks.

The Qin army commander flew into a rage. "Men, seize this brat for me!"

"Who dares?!" Liu Yunshen's shout cracked like thunder, his eyes blazing with the fury of violet lightning!

The Qin army commander's face turned deathly pale. "He's a qi cultivator!"

Liu Yunshen strode forward, shoved aside the Qin soldiers, seized Yan Chen in one hand, and dragged him before the villagers. "Kneel!"

Yan Chen's knees buckled, and he dropped to one knee, weeping. "Brother Liu, it was all that vile bastard Shangguan Hui who exposed your whereabouts! Only then did the Palace Master send people to intercept and kill you. It has nothing to do with me—I was merely forced to act under orders!"

Lei Zhaoye stepped forward and snapped, "What else do you know? Speak!!"

"Brother Liu killed dozens from our Devil Sect in Heavenly Capital. That enraged that old dog, Great Dream Venerable of the Palace of Delusive Thoughts, and the old dog flew into a rage before sending men to intercept and kill you! Please spare my life! Please spare my life!"

Yan Chen had washed his hands clean of every crime, yet said not one word about volunteering for the task himself. Lei Zhaoye knew there was deception afoot and pressed on. "Could it be that your Devil Sect is also colluding with the Qin Kingdom?!"

Yan Chen's pupils shrank. He hurriedly waved his hands. "No! No! Nothing of the sort! How could that be?"

"Then what is this?" Lei Zhaoye angrily pointed at the Qin soldiers. Cai Yuelin and Gong Liefeng looked anxious and hurried forward. In low voices, they said, "Brother Lei, our Four Swords Sect still has need of them. If we fall out with them now, I fear the Sect Master will blame us!"

Lei Zhaoye turned back toward the others, his brows twisting into nine bends and eighteen turns. His eyes were clouded, yet his voice was icy. "Brothers, our Four Swords Sect broke away from the Myriad Swords Sect because morality within the sect had collapsed and its rules had rotted away. We fled to the Qin Kingdom because we had heard that the Qin Emperor was a ruler of virtue and a lord of benevolence! Yet what we see today... we are instead inferior to Brother Liu!" Lei Zhaoye pointed at the old men and women in the village who clutched their children's corpses and wailed, his expression changing sharply. "If founding a sect means merely clinging to life in this world, then I say it would be better not to found one at all! At worst, we fight them in a thunderous, earthshaking battle—the heavens can decide victory or defeat!"

"Well said!" Ouyang Qingcang drew his treasured sword. "I said as much long ago, but Father never listened!"

"Everyone! Everyone!" The Qin military commander shed his earlier overbearing manner and walked forward with a beaming smile. "Young Sect Masters of the Four Swords Sect, could you... could you return Young Master Yan Chen to this humble officer? Then this humble officer may also report back!"

Yan Chen was overjoyed and tried to hop forward on one knee. Liu Yunshen thrust a sword through his dantian, then followed with another stroke that beheaded him. "If Heaven does not punish him, then we are all guilty!"

The Qin army commander was enraged. After carefully noting the differences between Liu Yunshen's clothing and that of the other five, he immediately shouted coldly, "You! Don't think that just because you're a qi cultivator, my Great Qin can do nothing to you! If you have the skill, then hide in someone else's sect for the rest of your life and never show your face!"

"You brat surnamed Ying! Is that any way to speak to my brother?!" Hu Two's blood surged to his head, and he lifted the commander one-handed. The commander was terrified and furiously shouted at the people around him, "What the hell are you still watching for?! Kill this black bandit!"

"Who dares make a move?!" Zhao Da stood before everyone with a long spear in hand.

Liu Yunshen flipped his hand and took out the long spear once used by Zhao Tanlang, tossing it to Zhao Da. "Weapons hold neither good nor evil; people hold righteousness and wickedness. Brother Zhao, take the spear!"

The demon-powered spear was like a vicious flood dragon, wheeling through the air several times before landing steadily in Zhao Da's hand! Zhao Da stared at it. Its shaft was neither metal nor wood, yet incomparably tough. Countless currents of blood qi surged through it, as though it rejoiced at falling into the hands of a new master. "What a fine spear!"

With both feet dangling off the ground, the Qin army commander turned his head toward Zhao Da and screamed, "Excellent, Zhao Da! You actually joined the Devil Sect and intend to use a devil artifact to slaughter my Qin army soldiers!"

Gong Liefeng and Cai Yuelin both sneered. "The person you desperately sought to protect just now was also a son of the Devil Palace. Why are you now acting like a rat with its head in one hole and tail in another?"

"I... I had a stirring of conscience!" Suspended in midair, the Qin army commander stared into Hu Two's bull-like eyes and wet himself in fright. "Brother Hu, Hu... let's talk this over!"

Liu Yunshen sighed and caught Hu Two by the arm. "Brother Hu, let him go. After all, he is human, not a demon. His crimes do not warrant death!"

Hu Two snorted, tossed him aside, then took off his armor and boots. Barefoot, he raged, "I thought all Qin men were men of blood and spirit. I fled all the way here, and only joined the army after winning General Ying Hua's appreciation. I never expected to encounter scum like you after just two days!"

"Hu Two, don't waste words on him! Let's leave!" Zhao Da stripped off his armor and boots as well, tossing them onto the ground.

The Qin soldiers looked ashamed, and all of them glared furiously at their commander!

The commander shouted, "What are you looking at?! What are you looking at?! All of you, go into the village and collect rent!"

The soldiers were struck dumb with astonishment.

"Commander, we collected it only half a month ago. Why must we collect it again...?"

"Cut the damned nonsense! I said collect it, so collect it! Move!"

"I'd like to see who dares!" Liu Yunshen drew his rusty iron sword and once more stood before the village entrance.

The Qin army commander approached with a bitter smile. "Worthy brother..." He glanced at Hu Two and Zhao Da, who were glaring at him from nearby, and hurriedly changed his words. "Big Brother, it isn't that I wish to collect rent. It is an order from above. If this humble officer cannot collect it, every soldier in the army will be punished. This is absolutely true!"

"Is that so?" Liu Yunshen looked toward several nearby Qin soldiers. Their faces were resolute, but they sighed and shook their heads as they walked into the village. The villagers wailed, chickens and dogs flew into chaos, and the sobbing cries of children rang across the land.

"Is there no law left beneath heaven?!" Liu Yunshen's double pupils emerged, and his killing intent rose like layer upon layer of mountain ridges. As if answering his call, the rusty iron sword let out a tremendous hum that made the hundred-odd soldiers present clutch their heads in agonizing pain!