A fight to the death

"Damn it! How could this happen!?"

Pulled along by Yan Lian, Yan Ruxue looked both shocked and furious, her eyes filled with disbelief!

Li Xian!

He was clearly just a commoner who, aside from having read a few books and being able to help their Yan Family govern a region at most in the future, was utterly useless!

How could he suddenly have become so powerful!?

A fourth-realm martial master who had achieved Internal Organ Refinement could not even withstand a single exchange with him!?

"Commander Liu!?"

On the other side, Cao Zhi also cried out in terror.

Especially when he saw Li Xian charging straight toward them, saber in hand, he felt a suffocating pressure come rolling over him. Unprecedented fear, carrying a bone-piercing chill, swept through his entire body in an instant, as though freezing every cell and making it difficult for him to move.

"No!"

"Run, Your Ladyship!"

Amid terrified cries, the six people scattered like birds.

Not a trace remained of their earlier easy laughter or noble poise. Each fled for their life, wishing their parents had given them two more legs.

At that moment, Shen Hong, who had lost an arm, suddenly realized something and shouted, "Yan Lian! You're his target!"

Yan Lian, who was leading Yan Ruxue toward the Canglang Sword Sect's mountain gate, felt his heart jolt. He instantly understood what Shen Hong meant.

Though he knew what fate awaited him next, Yan Lian, utterly loyal to Prince Yue's Residence, made his decision without the slightest hesitation. "Take care, Your Ladyship!"

The next instant, he wheeled around and ran for his life in the opposite direction from the path up the mountain.

Sure enough...

Li Xian barely paused.

He immediately changed direction, striding swiftly after Yan Lian.

Seizing this opportunity, the other guard and Shen Hong hurried Yan Ruxue into the Canglang Sword Sect, paying no heed whatsoever to Cao Zhi or the young master from the other family.

Power erupted beneath Li Xian's feet. In just a few breaths, he had caught up behind Yan Lian.

Sensing the hair-raising danger behind him, Yan Lian steeled his resolve.

"Li Xian! I don't care who you really are! If you want to kill me, I'll tear a chunk of flesh off you too!"

He spun around, every pore on his body flaring open. Abandoning defense entirely, he unleashed all his strength, formed his palm into a blade, and intercepted the charging Li Xian with the momentum of a man trading his life for another's.

"Resisting is your right. Killing you is mine."

Facing Yan Lian's desperate counterattack, Li Xian slashed with his saber.

Blood Exchange and Marrow Washing, nearly the limit of the human body!

But in the end, one was still only Mortal Flesh!

As long as one was Mortal Flesh, they could not withstand a sharp steel blade.

Under Li Xian's supremely precise slash, blood burst from Yan Lian's knife-hand strike, and his entire palm was shredded by the flashing blade.

Yet Yan Lian seemed to have already accepted that his Bare-Handed Blade Catch would fail, and was willing to sacrifice a hand to get close to Li Xian.

As his palm, wrist, and even half his forearm were shredded by the blade, his poised left hand shot out like a python emerging from its hole. It twisted slightly as it struck, its force spiraling toward Li Xian's body.

"Die!"

His voice thundered!

His killing intent soared to the skies!

Unfortunately...

Li Xian was no longer the man he had been.

Having already begun Blood Exchange and Marrow Washing, his explosive strength was inherently a notch fiercer than Yan Lian's.

With the Blood Jade Art's blood-boiling property added to that, Li Xian easily struck later but arrived first.

By the time Yan Lian's spiraling force reached him, he had already spread all five fingers, turning his fist into a palm and enveloping the force of this martial master who had achieved Viscera Great Accomplishment within it.

As the force in his hand twisted, he not only neutralized Yan Lian's spiraling power but also wrenched his entire arm out of shape.

Rip!

The sleeve tore apart!

The radius and ulna in Yan Lian's arm twisted like braided dough, then snapped!

His humerus also came out of alignment with his shoulder blade and broke.

The intense pain turned this martial master's face as white as paper; he had achieved Viscera Great Accomplishment.

Yet he clenched his front teeth and, relying on sheer ferocity, threw his head back before viciously smashing it toward Li Xian in a headbutt.

But as he leaned his upper body back to gather force for the headbutt, Li Xian had already seen through his intention.

His feet shifted backward, instantly carrying him three steps away as he twisted his body.

He still had Yan Lian's fist clamped tightly in his hand. As he pulled back and shifted with long strides, the internal-organ martial master's entire body was abruptly dragged forward, thrown off balance, and sent toppling involuntarily ahead.

At a glance, Yan Lian looked as though he was being dragged into a sideways lunge. As Li Xian twisted and turned, power surged from his waist, hurling Yan Lian's entire body forward.

That throw would send him at least four or five meters away.

This is bad!

Yan Lian instantly realized the extreme danger of his situation!

His strength surged as he used a python-turning technique to try to regain his center of gravity.

But before he could neutralize the forces dragging and flinging his body, Li Xian had used the momentum of the throw to spin a full three hundred and sixty degrees. His arm swept horizontally, his palm becoming a claw as he turned.

As he burst forward in a bow-legged, tiger-subduing stance, his steps carrying the imposing bearing of a mounted warrior with saber held crosswise, that deadly claw clamped onto the face of Yan Lian, who had been flung away and was trying to turn around.

With the momentum of Li Xian's forward charge still unabated, Yan Lian's entire body seemed to be hoisted bodily by the force of those five clamping fingers.

Under his terrified, horrified gaze, Li Xian, his hand covering most of Yan Lian's face, drove his strength savagely downward.

"Li Xian!"

Amid that despairing cry, Yan Lian's large head was slammed heavily into the flagstones outside the Canglang Sword Sect's mountain gate.

Bang!

The flagstone beneath his head instantly cracked!

Stone chips scattered, and dust flew!

Yan Lian's eyes flew wide, staring fixedly at Li Xian, as though even in his final moment he wanted to see clearly just what kind of monster this was.

Blood seeped from the back of his head, which had been smashed open and shattered.

Li Xian released him and calmly stood up.

As he straightened, the light in this martial master's eyes finally faded away. He had achieved Viscera Great Accomplishment.

"You had far more courage than that martial master Liu Fu."

Li Xian offered a word of praise.

At least...

When the mountains ended and the rivers ran dry, this man had possessed the courage to fight him to the death and had fought until the very last moment.

And he...

Had naturally granted his wish, refraining from taking advantage of the moment when he flung him away and spun around to end his life with a single slash.

Instead, he had used the strength in his own hand to smash his skull open, letting him die by his hand.

After looking for a moment, he turned his gaze toward the Canglang Sword Sect.

At once, the few Canglang Sword Sect disciples who had come after hearing the news grew intensely nervous, as though facing a formidable enemy.

However...

Yan Ruxue, Cao Zhi, and the others had all vanished from sight.

As the host of the Sword Discussion Convention, the Canglang Sword Sect naturally had an obligation to protect its guests.

Killing people outside the Canglang Sword Sect allowed everyone to save face.

But charging straight into the Canglang Sword Sect to kill people...

Would be far too crazed.

Li Xian was not an unreasonable person either.

"Prince Yue's Residence must have experts as plentiful as clouds..."

He had no doubts about certain people's ability to twist right and wrong.

"They probably won't disappoint me."

With that, he sheathed his saber, returned to the pavilion halfway up the mountain, and sat down unhurriedly, as though nothing had happened.

But the surrounding martial-world figures who had witnessed everything finally snapped out of their daze after this battle, which took longer to describe than it had to unfold.

"Li Xian!? Who is he!? Why have I never heard of him!? Yet he's so ferociously powerful!"

"I thought Young Hero Zhang was already the cream of Jiangzhou's younger generation, but this man is even fiercer! One hour! I want every piece of information on him!"

"He fought two martial masters from the Internal Organs Realm and an expert who had achieved Muscle and Bone Great Accomplishment at the same time, leaving two dead and one fleeing! That kind of fighting strength... even someone at the Blood Exchange and Marrow Washing stage would be no better!"

"So what if he's at the Blood Exchange and Marrow Washing stage... after this, he's probably thoroughly offended Prince Yue's Residence. They likely won't let the matter rest."

"What do you mean, they won't let the matter rest? Never mind that a commandery princess alone doesn't represent Prince Yue's Residence. The key is... the corpses of two martial masters from the Internal Organs Realm are enough to forge his reputation for fighting strength on a par with Blood Exchange and Marrow Washing, and he looks barely into his twenties! Blood Exchange and Marrow Washing in his early twenties... wouldn't that earn him a place on the Hidden Dragon Ranking!? Once he's on it, plenty of major powers will be willing to invest in him and befriend him!"

"Exactly! If someone his age with that strength can't make the Hidden Dragon Ranking, who can!? As for offending the Commandery Prince's Residence... that's not a blemish, but an advantage! What major power wouldn't want to seize this chance to bestow favors and win over a genius martial master who might achieve Leaping Over the Dragon Gate in five years!?"

All manner of discussions erupted at once.

In the martial world, status, background, resources, and wealth were important, but strength mattered most!

With enough strength, obtaining status and supplies was only a matter of time!

Li Xian had just killed two martial masters from the Internal Organs Realm in succession. How much weightier was such a feat than the sparring and exchanges between practitioners from the Internal Organs Realm like Zhang Yunsheng and Bai Zhanfeng?

This battle alone was enough to make his name resound throughout the Sword Discussion Convention.

As the watching martial artists discussed him animatedly, the Canglang Sword Sect disciples saw that Li Xian had not stormed into their sect and had given them ample face. Relieved, they also sent a steward hurrying forward.

"Young Hero Li, it's our honor that someone of your standing has come to our Canglang Sword Sect to attend the Sword Discussion Convention. Those disciples failed to recognize the hidden dragon before their eyes and slighted you. I apologize on their behalf. I'll take you into the sect to meet Master Zhou right away."

The steward spoke quickly.

"Oh? I don't have to wait anymore?"

Li Xian was somewhat surprised.

"You must be joking. With your strength and standing, how could we let you wait outside? This was our mistake. Our Canglang Sword Sect has been remiss in our hospitality, and I apologize to you again, Young Hero Li."

As he spoke, the steward extended a hand in invitation. "Please come inside first, Young Hero Li. The Canglang Sword Sect will certainly provide a gift of apology afterward."

Seeing this, Li Xian wasted no time. He stood and made to leave the pavilion halfway up the mountain.

But as he stepped out of the pavilion, he saw someone coming out of the Canglang Sword Sect.

It was none other than Zhou Juechen.

Yet Master Zhou did not immediately head toward the pavilion after leaving the Canglang Sword Sect. Instead, looking incredulous, he stopped two young martial artists to question them.

What those two had been discussing, and were now describing, was precisely Li Xian's glorious feat of fighting three opponents alone and slaying two internal-organ martial masters in succession.

(End of chapter)