Invincible Under Heaven

Reason

His finger force was as hard as steel, snapping straight for Li Xian's crown.

If that claw struck, Li Xian's whole skull would likely shatter!

Yet, at this critical moment, faced with this thunderous, lethal strike when all seemed spent and new strength had yet to gather, Li Xian suddenly drew in a deep breath.

Primordial Infinity!

Absorbing the oceans, achieving myriad things, swallowing boundlessness with the breath!

In the next instant, the inner core, formed by wrapping Ki and Blood with Primordial Infinity, erupted in a sudden blaze!

That core, originally fused into Primordial Unity and managing the flow of Ki and Blood and physical force throughout the body, now unleashed all its power—turning into a surging, overwhelming ki that flooded through all of Li Xian's limbs and bones!

Under Liu Fu's shocked, incredulous gaze, Li Xian suddenly struck.

He changed from a palm to a fist, meeting head-on the Viscera Refinement martial artist's eagle-like, lethal claw.

"Bang!"

Fist met claw!

Clearly, Li Xian's sinews and bones were not yet forged, and his viscera unstrengthened!

But relying on the explosion of his core energy, this attack—gathering what seemed his every ounce of strength and poised at the threshold—was even a match for Liu Fu!

Especially as the force of a fist has a natural advantage over the claw formed by five bent fingers.

When the two strengths collided, Liu Fu clearly felt the bones in his fingers, palm, and wrist, hard as refined steel, all simultaneously snap!

The force pierced through—shaking him like a stabbing needle, further rattling and fracturing the joints of his ulna and radius!

The ten fingers are connected to the heart.

"Ah!"

The searing pain made Liu Fu, who had rarely experienced such life and death fight since mastering Viscera Refinement over the past ten years, tremble all over.

He could not help but let out a shrill scream.

But before the scream could fully escape, Li Xian was already upon him.

Force started from the feet!

Power surged like a tide!

His left hand turned a knife!

A cold, dazzling blade light followed his body, which had been knocked off-balance by the fist, and surged upward.

"No!"

Liu Fu saw the blade clearly.

But...

It was too fast!

This blade was as swift as lightning!

Especially the angle of this upward slash was perfectly timed to catch Liu Fu in the moment after his strongest attack had been countered mid-air!

In this instant, thoughts flashed like lightning through Liu Fu's mind.

I calculate, yet am also calculated.

Li Xian had never given him an opportunity to strike while breaking through the blockade of over twenty guards.

How could he possibly reveal a flaw when he was closest?

Only because Liu Fu's real task was to keep the lady safe—after Li Xian broke through the guards, the crisis was at hand, and the slightest chance forced Liu Fu to act.

And at the moment he did, his fate was already sealed.

"Life and death—how could I fall so easily? Yet because of my position, I must fight and die for others. Faced with a peerless martial artist like this, I forgot that the root of all strength is myself..."

Liu Fu, pressed to the brink, stabbed out with his left hand, trying to seize the rising blade bare-handed!

But...

He underestimated the explosive speed of the core-charged blade!

And overestimated his own hurried counter!

"Hiss!"

A spray of blood burst forth.

Liu Fu's grabbing hand was severed in mid-air!

The razor sharp blade slashed in from the tiger's mouth of his palm, sliced straight through to his radius, then ripped out!

Not stopping there—the blade tore into Liu Fu's chest, then, with unstoppable momentum, cut straight up from below, cracking his chin, nose bridge, brow, and carving a crimson line skyward.

His eyes, filled with unwillingness, turned with effort towards the horror-stricken Lady Mo Caiying.

His mouth opened, seeming to voice a word...

"Run..."

Yet, having unleashed that slash, Li Xian didn't pause for a moment.

He didn't even spare a glance for the defeated fourth-stage martial artist.

His body lowered, coiling like a compressed spring.

In the next instant, the spring snapped straight.

With a crack, the floor beneath Li Xian's feet shattered, dust flying.

His form shot forward like an arrow released, and before Lady Mo Caiying could rise, his bloodied blade, iced with lethal chill, was already sweeping for her throat.

"Ah!"

"Young master, don't!"

"No!"

"Protect the lady!"

Panic and terror echoed through the courtyard!

But...

It was too late!

When facing more than twenty guards, Li Xian's only answer was speed—leaving them no time to react, giving no chance for anyone to encircle him!

As Li Xian struck, the blade flickered, tracing a crimson mark across Lady Mo Caiying's white jade neck.

"No!"

"Ah! Stop!"

The screams of Fang Xin and Mo Caiying pierced the air.

But the scene everyone expected—a single stroke beheading the lady—never occurred.

Li Xian's blade circled Lady Mo Caiying's throat, leaving only a bloody line rather than severing her head.

Yet the lady's terrified screeching frayed everyone's nerves.

Until...

"Quiet!"

Li Xian's cold voice cut through.

Mo Caiying's desperate scream ceased abruptly.

She snapped her eyes wide open, feeling the icy chill at her neck, her body struck dumb as if by lightning, jaw gaping yet locked in silence, sitting rigid in her seat, not daring to move a hair.

Li Xian's blade remained steady at her throat, but his gaze swept to another young woman nearby.

Zhang Yao.

The reason he had stayed his hand was in no small part due to the girl's cry of, "Young master, don't!"

At that moment, over twenty guards rushed to encircle Li Xian.

Fang Xin, in the lead, shouted, "Li Xian, what are you doing!? Take that blade away! The Lady holds imperial rank—if you harm even a hair of hers it's treason! No one in the world will be able to protect you then!"

Li Xian didn't reply, merely glancing at the lady before reaching out...

He plucked a single hair from her head.

A sudden stab of pain made Mo Caiying tremble.

Yet with the blade at her throat, terrified as she was, she dared not move a muscle.

If she slipped, her throat could be slit before she could regret it.

Li Xian opened his palm, letting the wind carry the hair away.

Then he turned to Fang Xin.

"And then?"

Fang Xin opened his mouth, but all his threatening words choked back.

Especially when he saw Lady Mo Caiying glaring sharply at him, likely murderous, Fang Xin's tongue turned dry.

He didn't know what else to say.

A deathly silence fell over the courtyard.

Seeing things devolve so badly, the guard Tan Zhang could only sigh and step forward.

"Young Master Li, whatever you want, can't we just talk—does it have to come to this?"

However...

He recalled his earlier conversation with Li Xian, then looked to the corpse of the chief steward...

He couldn't help but twitch at the corners of his mouth.

But no matter what, the situation had to be handled.

Their fate was tied to the Marquis household—if one prospered, all prospered; if one suffered, all suffered.

They couldn't allow a standoff.

So he braced himself and said, "Whatever Young Master Li wants, just say it—I believe, as long as it's possible, the Lady will agree... Besides, commandant Fang Xin is right. Please put the blade down. The Lady's status is noble—if she's even slightly harmed, I fear all Jiangzhou will have no place for you."

"What does it matter?"

Li Xian cocked his head and looked at him.

"If I can't stay in Jiangzhou, I'll go to another province; if I can't stay there, I'll leave Great Zhou altogether. A true man can walk the world—what place can't be called home?"

These words...

Not only Tan Zhang, but even Fang Xin felt their scalp tingle.

Fearless, utterly unrestrained.

They could tell—Li Xian's words were not bravado. He truly didn't care.

With indifference comes fearlessness.

And with fearlessness, total disregard.

If he was ready to wander the world, with no attachments, even if he killed everyone in the Marquis household—including the Lady—he would feel no guilt!

Tan Zhang gritted his teeth and continued, "You may escape freely, Young Master, but those around you may not—if innocents die because of you, wouldn't your conscience suffer..."

"If the Marquis household truly retaliated against others, and one day I returned, fully trained, to eliminate all of you—every traitor among you—wouldn't that be just?"

Li Xian said calmly.

Tan Zhang was left speechless.

This "Young Master Li" had already cut ties with all teachers, family, and friends to join the Marquis household.

Even if the Marquis household harmed his kin, it might not affect him at all; what's more, it could bring destruction on themselves when he came for vengeance.

The barefoot aren't afraid of those with shoes.

In that moment, Tan Zhang, Fang Xin, and even the Lady suddenly understood.

Unless a top master could kill Li Xian in one blow, he, free of ties and constraints, was truly unstoppable.

"Idiot!"

The Lady cursed Tan Zhang, Fang Xin and the rest in her heart.

She had always been adept at reading others, and knew that Zhang Yao seemed on good terms with Li Xian.

These brash martial men couldn't succeed—she hastily signaled Zhang Yao with her eyes.

Zhang Yao looked at Li Xian...

Her mind was buzzing.

She couldn't understand it: just over ten days ago, "Young master" was seeking her advice on the nine martial stages, and now he had returned to the Marquis household as a fourth-stage martial artist, disregarding the household's experts and taking the Lady hostage.

Getting the Lady's signal...

She hesitated, but in the end, stepped forward.

"Young master, please don't harm the Lady... Whatever you want, let her know."

Li Xian glanced at Zhang Yao.

His gaze lingered on her a moment.

But he knew showing affinity could be harmful, so he quietly looked away, turning to Tan Zhang.

"You know full well what I want—if not for you all seeking me out, I'd never have come to the Marquis household."

Mo Caiying's eyes snapped to Tan Zhang.

"What Young Master Li wants,"

Tan Zhang said mildly, "is that the well water doesn't mix with the river water."

"Fine."

Mo Caiying quickly said, "Li Xian, I promise you—we'll never trouble you again."

She even forced a smile on her well-maintained face.

"I admit, the household has wronged you lately. From now on I'll make the servants change their ways and respect you as son-in-law—after all, we're family, we should be harmonious. There's no need for conflict and making us a laughingstock."

"Very good. You've finally learned to reason."

Li Xian calmly withdrew the blade from Mo Caiying's neck.

As soon as the blade left her, she staggered, retreating several steps.

Fang Xin, Tan Zhang, and the rest rushed up, shielding her, tightly watching Li Xian.

But...

None dared act.

Even Liu Fu, a consummate Viscera Refinement expert, couldn't stop Li Xian from seizing the Lady.

Now, with no Internal Viscera Refinement masters left, to further provoke him would be seeking death.

"And the eighty taels of silver—forgotten?"

Li Xian looked at Tan Zhang.

The Lady, having heard the guards mention the "eighty taels", immediately ordered her closest maid, "Fetch eighty taels of silver!"

The maid took out a hundred-tael silver note.

Li Xian took it, then pulled out twenty taels from his own pouch and returned them.

This behavior left the maid at a loss.

Li Xian ignored her; he didn't look at Zhang Yao again. He forced the silver into the maid's hand—

"Farewell."

-------------= Clacky's Corner -------------=

They got lucky Li Xian has a soft spot for Zhang Yao...

【ദ്ദി(⩌ᴗ⩌)】