Feigning Death to Survive, Exposed on the Spot

"Hehe... courting death!"

Chen Sanmu laughed in extreme anger. After all these years, this was the first time anyone had dared speak to him like that.

He could not be bothered to ask why. Ever since advancing to Blood Exchange, he was no longer the man he had once been. There was no need for him to act with such caution anymore.

With a thought from Chen Sanmu, his heart thundered like a war drum. Scalding blood and qi coursed through his meridians and limbs, and a faint white vapor rose from his entire body.

He turned into a phantom and lunged straight at the swordsman.

The swordsman drew his long blade. Its edge trembled slightly, and a humming murmur spread from the blade.

Chen Sanmu threw a fierce punch, blood and qi coiling around his fist along with the Sha Qi accumulated through years of slaughter.

The instant they clashed, they borrowed the force to briefly separate. Then Chen Sanmu pressed forward again, unleashing a skyful of fist shadows in the blink of an eye, every punch stirring waves of air.

The swordsman did not yield in the slightest. His blade light was icy and fierce, cleaving apart every incoming fist imprint.

Every one of Chen Sanmu's attacks was exceptionally swift and violent. Had a Tendon Forging martial artist been here, they would not have been able to take even one punch before the force entered their body and blew them apart.

Boom—

After a deafening blast, the entire grassy field looked as though it had been plowed by some colossal beast. The earth cracked, and dust flew everywhere.

The swordsman flashed aside. The spot where he had just landed was blasted into a massive pit by a fist imprint the next moment.

The swordsman twisted and slashed. Blood and qi wrapped around the sharp blade light as it shot straight toward Chen Sanmu.

Chen Sanmu's scalp went numb in fright. That blade light was far too fast; he had no time to evade it. He could only clench his fist into a seal, sending a huge crimson fist shadow flying through the air to collide violently with the blade light.

Crash—

The blade light and fist shadow shattered, turning into streams of blood and qi that shot in all directions. In an instant, the grassland was left in complete ruin.

Chen Sanmu hastily dodged a streak of blade light and bellowed, "Such fierce blade light! Who are you?!"

"Chen has never believed he offended you, sir. Why must we keep fighting without end?"

His answer was a brilliant blade light flying straight at his face!

"Chen offered you kind advice. Do you truly think I fear you?"

Chen Sanmu's face instantly darkened, and his aura abruptly changed.

He ignited!

The blood and qi surrounding Chen Sanmu turned scorching hot. The grass and trees around him yellowed and withered.

This was the new technique he had obtained—the Three-Ember Burning Wood Scripture. It used blood and qi as firewood, raising blazing flames to burn one's enemies to ash!

Chen Sanmu threw a punch. The crimson fist shadow blazed fiercely, its surging airwaves reaching the heavens. Grass and trees along its path caught fire, and within moments, waves of heat swept across the entire field.

"Die!"

Crimson light illuminated the side of Chen Sanmu's face, and his eyes gleamed with cold, vicious intent.

The swordsman's expression remained unchanged. Facing this violent punch, he even had the leisure to glance around him.

The swordsman smiled disdainfully. "Nothing but a petty trick."

Only when the fist shadow came crashing down upon him did he unhurriedly raise his blade and cut straight ahead.

In an instant, arcs of lightning spread across the blade's surface. Not only did it slice directly through the fist shadow, the lightning surged and rapidly spread through the air.

Chen Sanmu could not evade in time. Though blood and qi protected his body, the lightning still struck him, leaving his muscles and bones numb and limp. For a moment, he could not move at all.

His expression changed drastically, and he thought, This is bad!

Sure enough, the swordsman did not let this fleeting chance slip away. With a turn of his wrist, blade light flared like fire and sped like rushing thunder, laced with lightning as it hacked straight toward Chen Sanmu.

Chen Sanmu's pupils shrank sharply. He forcibly gathered the blood and qi around his body, but time was too short. He only managed to lay down three layers of blood-and-qi defenses before his chest.

The next moment, three streaks of blade light crisscrossed, filled with blue lightning, and slammed viciously into Chen Sanmu's chest.

Chen Sanmu felt an irresistible force surge from his chest. Like an arrow loosed from the bowstring, he was blasted backward and smashed heavily into the rock wall.

Another blade light wrapped in blood and qi came chopping down. Chen Sanmu had no time to get up and hurriedly rolled aside.

He casually slapped away the flying rocks, indignation filling his heart even as he forced a smile onto his face.

"Who exactly are you, sir? If you have any demands, you may as well state them outright. Chen is humbly the Third Chief of Blackwind Stronghold. So long as it is within my power, I will not be vague about helping."

Chen Sanmu's eyes flickered, but in secret, he was taking every second to regulate his breathing.

The swordsman said lightly, "Was Blackwind Stronghold not supposed to have only Hei Kui as a Blood Exchange martial artist? Since when did it gain two more?"

Chen Sanmu did not mind revealing a little information in exchange for a moment to catch his breath. This man's oppressive presence was simply too strong.

His blade light was swift as rushing thunder. Even burning his blood and qi, Chen Sanmu could barely keep up. Not to mention that sharp aura—it was practically unstoppable.

"Originally, there was only Chief Hei Kui. But a few months ago, we joined forces with Blackwind Stronghold and now share the chiefs' seats."

Chen Sanmu rose to his feet and explained, though his gaze remained fixed on the swordsman.

"To make you, Chen Sanmu, and another person willingly bow your heads... I fear Hei Kui alone could not have managed it." The swordsman spoke slowly.

"Azure Cloud Bandits must have been pulling strings behind this."

The moment the words "Azure Cloud Bandits" left his mouth, Chen Sanmu's expression shifted slightly. Yet he concealed it in the blink of an eye, pretending not to understand as he asked in confusion,

"What do you mean by that, sir? Chen's name is indeed Sanmu, but I do not know of these so-called 'Azure Cloud Bandits.'"

"Chief Hei Kui is exceptionally capable. Naturally, Chen is convinced by him."

Chen Sanmu's heart tightened, and his waist and back stiffened.

In that moment, countless thoughts flashed through his mind: whether Blackwind Stronghold's scheme had been exposed, the Azure Cloud Bandits' arrangements, and more.

The swordsman shook his head and sighed softly.

"With death staring you in the face, you still dare talk tough. Why do you think I came looking for you today?"

For a time, the grassland fell utterly silent.

After a long while, the swordsman seemed to lose patience. He raised his blade, blood and qi ceaselessly circulating around him like rivers bursting through their banks.

A thunderous roar suddenly rang out.

The swordsman's gaze was casual, yet when it fell upon Chen Sanmu, it was like a towering mountain crashing down, pressing every muscle in his body taut.

"Wait, wait!" Chen Sanmu hurriedly cried out.

"Since you know of the Azure Cloud Bandits, you surely are no nameless nobody. Why not reveal your name, so Chen may properly admire you?"

"Since my fellow martial artists think so highly of me, they bestowed upon me the name Three Blades." The swordsman replied calmly.

Chen Sanmu cupped his fists. "So it is Brother Three Blades. I have long admired you, long admired you."

Yet inwardly, he was cursing furiously. What Three Blades? He had never heard that title before. This man was most likely just fooling him.

"Brother Three Blades, since you know of the Azure Cloud Bandits, you should also know that they are enormously powerful—the foremost force in the Green Forest."

"They passed down an order demanding that we bandits of Verdant Grain County merge into Blackwind Stronghold. We bandits did not dare disobey."

Chen Sanmu paused briefly before continuing.

"Brother Three Blades is outstandingly skilled. If you are willing to join Blackwind Stronghold, Chen is willing to guarantee you the position of Second Chief."

"Not only will Blackwind Stronghold support your cultivation, but it is said that the Azure Cloud Bandits also left behind insights into breaking through to the next realm."

"Once you break through, flying through the skies and burrowing into the earth, extending your lifespan by two hundred years—none of it will be impossible."

As he spoke of this, a trace of yearning involuntarily surfaced in Chen Sanmu's eyes.

"Spirit Cultivators..." the swordsman said with feeling.

Chen Sanmu continued to persuade him. "A man like Brother Three Blades surely also aspires to become a Spirit Cultivator. Why not join Blackwind Stronghold and seek the Great Dao together?"

The swordsman shook his head. "I have my own path. You bandits..."

Though he did not finish, the contempt in his words was self-evident.

Chen Sanmu clenched his hands, cursing Three Blades eight hundred times over in his heart. If anyone else had dared treat him this way, he would have long since torn them into ten thousand pieces.

Damn it, he was no match for Three Blades!

"Any last words?" the swordsman asked blandly.

"Brother Three Blades, what do you mean? Did we not agree..."

Chen Sanmu's expression tightened.

The swordsman cut him off. "Since those are your last words, prepare to be on your way."

"You! Three Blades, do you really take Chen for clay to be kneaded as you please? If you want to kill me, let us see whether you have the ability!" Chen Sanmu pointed at the swordsman and roared.

Chen Sanmu had long been prepared and had never relaxed his guard. The blood and qi throughout his body began burning madly, as though his life depended on it.

His aura suddenly surged by a great margin. His entire body seemed embedded within flames, like a fire spirit possessing him, every move brimming with blazing fire.

Though using this move would leave Chen Sanmu weak for a long time, he had no other choice if he wanted to live.

"Now this is somewhat interesting..." The swordsman raised his blade. As the blade swept through the air, it left faint afterimages. In no more than a breath, blade shadows filled the space around him.

"Take this strike, and I will spare your life."

Chen Sanmu's eyes lit up, and the blood and qi around him surged once more. It condensed before his chest into a dark-red seal, radiating a terrifying scorching heat.

Three-Ember Seal! This was Chen Sanmu's trump card. He disregarded the cost and went all out, all for a single sliver of hope to survive.

The blade shadows around the swordsman merged into one and gathered upon the blade. Brilliant flowing light radiated from its edge, and at a single glance, one could not help but lose themselves in it.

Flowing Light Illusory Dream!

Like flowing light at dawn, life and death were but an illusory dream!

Chen Sanmu stared blankly at the brilliant flowing light rushing toward him, his face wearing a dazed expression.

That flowing light seemed to hold every beautiful thing in the world. Through that blade light, Chen Sanmu saw himself complete Blood Exchange, then break through it and attain the exalted status of a Spirit Cultivator!

Flying through the skies and burrowing into the earth, founding a sect and becoming an ancestor. Free and carefree, utterly at ease.

Clang—

Chen Sanmu collapsed onto the ground, blood from his chest soaking into the earth. He murmured, "How beautiful..."

Gradually, Chen Sanmu's body stiffened on the ground and no longer moved.

After quite some time, the swordsman finally sheathed his blade and turned to leave.

The grassland returned to its former silence. The forest wind blew past, raising a cloud of dust that drifted down over Chen Sanmu's body.

Suddenly, the supposedly dead Chen Sanmu moved.

First, his fingers twitched slightly. Then, slowly, his heart began to beat, and the blood and qi dormant throughout his body started flowing again. At last, he slowly stood up.

"I finally survived." Chen Sanmu let out a long breath.

Earlier, he had secretly retained a portion of his blood and qi and used the Tortoise Breath Technique to enter a state of feigned death. He had finally managed to fool him.

But he was severely wounded now and had to stop the bleeding quickly, or his life would be in danger.

"Three Blades, just you wait. If I do not avenge this grudge, I swear I will not be—"

Before he could utter the final word, a figure clad in black entered his sight.

Chen Sanmu looked as though someone had seized him by the throat. Terror filled his face as he stared at the swordsman who had appeared so abruptly.

The swordsman merely smiled faintly. "Swear you will not be what?"

Chen Sanmu laughed sheepishly. "Brother Three Blades, you jest. Earlier, Brother Three Blades said that if I took that strike, you would spare my life."

"A peerless hero such as Brother Three Blades must surely keep his word as dearly as a thousand pieces of gold."

"Chen will leave at once and will not sully Brother Three Blades' eyes. From now on, wherever Brother Three Blades may be, Chen will certainly retreat three paces."

Having said that, he ignored whatever response the swordsman might have and staggered toward the depths of the forest.

Splurt—

Chen Sanmu slowly lowered his head and looked at the blade that had pierced through his heart. He smiled miserably, reaching out to grasp the blade and slowly trying to push it out.

But the surging strength he once possessed had vanished without a trace. His voice was hoarse and low.

"Why... are you unwilling to spare me?"

"Did you not say you would spare my life?"

The swordsman's expression was indifferent. "Only a life held in one's own hands is truly one's own."

"Something promised by another can naturally be taken back as well."

At those words, the light in Chen Sanmu's eyes dimmed again, gradually losing all vitality.

The swordsman sheathed his blade. Deprived of support, Chen Sanmu toppled to the ground, his blood dyeing the grass red as he murmured,

"I really wanted to live..."