Qingcheng Demon Slaying Order

On the main road stood an inconspicuous teahouse.

Lu Shaoyou walked in at an unhurried pace and chose a seat in the corner.

"Sir, what would you like to drink?" A burly man dressed as a waiter approached with a teapot in hand.

Lu Shaoyou ordered a pot of coarse tea.

The waiter set down the pot and bowl, then seemingly casually wiped the table with his rag. In a low, rapid voice, he said, "Message from Flying Fish: Soul Severing Cliff is a trap. They will kill the Four Swords and pin it on you, enraging Songyue. Xue Yutang intends to borrow Qingcheng's name to summon Azure Province's martial world and jointly crusade against the 'demon,' making you the public enemy of the martial world."

After saying that, the waiter straightened up and strolled toward another table as though nothing had happened.

The entire exchange flowed as smoothly as drifting clouds and running water, drawing no one's attention.

Lu Shaoyou lifted his tea bowl, blew over the floating leaves, and took a light sip.

The tea was bitter and astringent, but his expression did not change in the slightest.

A trap?

He had guessed as much long ago.

If the Blood Saber Sect truly had the nerve to fight him openly and honorably, why would they resort to such a despicable trick as putting up a fifty-thousand-tael bounty?

He simply had not expected Xue Yutang's intentions to be even more vicious than he had imagined.

They not only wanted to kill him, but before he died, they wanted to utterly ruin his reputation, saddle him with the name of "demon," and leave him cursed for ten thousand years.

Kill with a borrowed knife, then strike at the heart.

"Interesting."

Lu Shaoyou sneered inwardly.

He set down the tea bowl, left behind a piece of broken silver on the table, then rose, led away his horse, and left the teahouse.

Though the Giant Whale Gang's intelligence would not change his decision, it was still a favor.

He remembered it.

Without the slightest hesitation, he continued toward Blazing Fire City.

Xue Yutang wanted to make him the martial world's public enemy? Wanted every martial artist in Azure Province to come kill him?

Very good.

He was just worried he did not have enough Slaughter Value.

Since they wanted to gather together, it would save him the trouble of hunting them down one by one.

Mount Qingcheng, Violet Sky Palace.

This was the secluded cultivation ground of True Man Songyue, leader of the Qingcheng Sword Sect. Clouds and mist curled around it, making it seem like an immortal realm.

Yet at this moment, a terrifying killing intent shrouded that paradise.

"Ah—!"

A roar filled with boundless grief and fury burst from within Violet Sky Palace, shaking the surrounding lands. Birds in the forest took fright and flapped wildly into the sky.

An incomparably icy aura erupted with a thunderous boom!

Outside Violet Sky Palace, several young Daoist attendants were meditating when they felt as if they had instantly fallen into an ice cellar. Their blood seemed about to freeze solid. They all looked up in horror toward the depths of the palace.

Boom!

The gates of Violet Sky Palace shattered beneath an invisible blast of force.

An old Daoist in a moon-white robe emerged. He had white hair and the face of a child, and should have looked like an immortal sage, but his eyes were bloodshot.

He clutched a sheet of letter paper in his hand, crumpling it out of shape.

It was the letter Xue Yutang had sent.

He was True Man Songyue, leader of the Qingcheng Sword Sect and a Xiantian Mid-stage master!

"Yi'er! Feng'er! Yan'er! Shan'er!"

True Man Songyue threw back his head and howled, his voice shrill as tears streamed down his aged face.

The Four Swords of Qingcheng were his four proudest disciples, the future of the sect into which he had poured countless efforts and placed his highest hopes!

But now, they were dead!

All of them were dead!

They had died at the hands of a demon named Lu Shaoyou!

His immense grief swiftly turned into towering fury.

True Man Songyue's true qi surged wildly around him, whipping his snow-white Daoist robe until it snapped in the wind. The terrifying pressure of a Xiantian Mid-stage master made the entire mountain tremble faintly.

"Lu! Shao! You!"

He pronounced the name one word at a time, each seeming to be forced through clenched teeth, carrying bone-piercing cold.

It was not as though he could not see the provocation in Xue Yutang's letter.

But so what?

His disciples were dead—that was fact! They had been killed by the man called Lu Shaoyou—that was also fact!

That was enough!

"You wretch! You demon! You dared kill my beloved disciples! This Daoist will tear you into ten thousand pieces and grind your bones to ash!"

With a fierce sweep of his sleeve, his voice, cold as the ice of the Ninth Netherworld, rang across all of Mount Qingcheng.

"Pass on my sect leader's decree!"

"Send out the Qingcheng Demon Slaying Order at once!"

"Gather all allies of the Qingcheng Sword Sect, and broadly invite heroes and fellow practitioners from across the realm. In three days, assemble at Soul Severing Cliff outside Blazing Fire City!"

"This Daoist will personally cut off that demon's head and use his blood to honor the spirits of my four disciples in heaven!"

"Return a bright and clear heaven and earth to Azure Province!"

The moment the sect leader's decree was issued, the entire Qingcheng Sword Sect was shaken!

The Qingcheng Demon Slaying Order was the Qingcheng Sword Sect's highest-level summons. Unless the sect faced a crisis of life and death or suffered an unparalleled humiliation, it would never be issued lightly.

The last time this order had been issued was thirty years ago, to surround and exterminate the Bloody Hand Butcher, who had ravaged Azure Province at the time.

Now, the order was issued again for one man alone!

Like a mountain collapse and a sea tsunami, the news swept through Azure Province's martial world even faster than the Blood Saber Sect's bounty.

If the Blood Saber Sect's reward had only attracted desperadoes and the greedy,

then the Qingcheng Sword Sect's Demon Slaying Order stirred the entirety of the so-called righteous sects!

The Qingcheng Sword Sect had stood in Azure Province for a hundred years, with friends far and wide and disciples, old acquaintances, and allies spread throughout the land.

True Man Songyue was even more a man of great virtue and prestige. Now that his beloved disciples had been killed, he was personally descending the mountain to take revenge, under the banner of ridding the martial world of evil.

Countless sects and individuals who called themselves the Righteous Path responded in turn, whether out of friendship or for the sake of fame.

For a time, all of Azure Province fixed its gaze upon Blazing Fire City.

Soul Severing Cliff, once an obscure precipice known to no one, instantly became the eye of the storm for the entire martial world.

What had originally been a martial-world vendetta had, under Xue Yutang's meticulous planning and True Man Songyue's fury, evolved into a great battle between righteousness and evil against Lu Shaoyou—a public trial by Azure Province's entire martial world against an outsider.

Two days later, Blazing Fire City.

This border city was now packed to the brim.

The inns within the city had long since filled up; even the woodsheds were occupied. In every street and alley, martial-world figures carrying sabers and swords could be seen gathering in groups of three or five, talking animatedly.

"Have you heard? True Man Songyue has already arrived! He's staying at the City Lord's Mansion! Sect Leader Zhou of the Diancang Sect, the 'Iron Sword,' came with him, along with Elder Liu of the Hengshan Sect, the 'Returning Wind Sword'..."

"That's far from all! They say even Tranquil Heart Nunnery, which has always stayed out of worldly affairs, sent people! This time, Lu Shaoyou cannot escape even if he grows wings!"

"Hmph! A demon who slaughtered innocents deserves to be killed by all! The Blood Saber Sect's eldest young master is benevolent, and True Man Songyue compassionate. The fact that they are willing to give him a chance for a fair fight at Soul Severing Cliff is already an immense mercy!"

The air was thick with excitement, greed, slaughter, and a hypocritical sense of justice.

Outside the city, the road leading to Soul Severing Cliff was even more crowded with people.

Countless martial artists had rushed there ahead of time to seize advantageous places to watch, terrified of missing this grand event not seen in a hundred years.

Amid that clamorous tide, a figure in blue robes walked slowly against the flow of people, heading toward Soul Severing Cliff.

He was not riding a horse. Step by step, he walked at no great speed, yet every step was exceptionally steady.

He was Lu Shaoyou.

He had come.

One man, one staff.

He walked toward the execution ground so carefully prepared for him.

He walked toward the so-called Righteous Path that had already sentenced him to death.

The sunlight stretched his shadow long—lonely, yet carrying an arrogant air that looked down upon all beneath heaven.

The stage had been set, the audience had taken their seats, and the executioners had sharpened their blades.

And the sacrifice everyone had chosen stood calm-faced, stepping one pace at a time toward the center of the stage.