Ch. 31
Chapter 31: He Was Dead, but His Masters, Elders, Brothers, Kin, and Friends Were Still Alive...
Cheng Yu was startled by the sight of inner force being infused into the blade.
Joy spread across Zheng Ping's brows, and his disdain only deepened. He attacked even more arrogantly now, hacking out one frenzied strike after another, intent on killing Cheng Yu completely.
Yet Cheng Yu remained calm and unhurried. He continued using the Hundred-Battle Reincarnation Saber Art, forcibly holding the gap between them at bay.
The shadow of the Xiuchun Saber was overbearing yet flawless, combining offense and defense in equal measure. As the battle went on, it only grew fiercer. Relying on nothing but his Third Rank cultivation, Cheng Yu gradually began to reverse the disadvantage and suppress Zheng Ping instead.
That was the true weight of the Hundred-Battle Reincarnation Saber Art, a Heaven-tier technique.
“How is that possible...?”
Zheng Ping had never imagined Cheng Yu's sabersmanship would be profound to such a degree.
The Great Dao was simple and unadorned, yet it birthed endless transformations.
The more he fought, the more alarmed and enraged he became. Cheng Yu's strength was no lower than his own.
“This can’t end well today. I can’t worry about anything else now!”
Seeing that things were going wrong, Zheng Ping grit his teeth, sprang backward, and pulled a jade talisman from his robes, crushing it in his hand.
In the next instant, the inner force throughout his body surged explosively, and his eyes turned red.
“Today, I will kill you, you imperial hound!”
Zheng Ping charged at Cheng Yu once more. The green inner force on his saber became even sharper than before.
A martial artist by the roadside was instantly struck with shock.
A Tianji Talisman!
Its price was terrifyingly high.
By using it, Zheng Ping had forcibly driven himself into the Fifth Rank.
The price, however, was that after ten minutes, he would fall into extreme weakness, and months of painstaking cultivation would be lost.
Zheng Ping's eyes were wild, his face savage.
“If I kill you, I’ll become the hero of Qingjiang Prefecture and make my name known throughout all Jiangnan! Then everything will have been worth it!”
Now that he had used the Tianji Talisman, he had no way back.
As Zheng Ping came slashing at him in a renewed frenzy, Cheng Yu discovered that he truly could not withstand the other's attacks now.
The Hundred-Battle Reincarnation Saber Art did contain counters to Zheng Ping's offense.
But at his current level, he could not carry them out.
Zheng Ping was simply too fast.
“Hahaha! I wouldn’t even need the time it takes one incense stick to burn to kill you now!” Zheng Ping roared with laughter.
Cheng Yu barely blocked one strike. A cold light flashed through his eyes.
He suddenly stepped half a pace back, put away the Xiuchun Saber, and drew out an unremarkable black broken sword.
“To kill you, I need only a single breath.”
The sword rose in his hand, and without the slightest warning, sword intent burst out in every direction.
A clear cry rang out. Everyone who saw that scene felt their entire bodies shudder, and their eyes snapped shut from the stabbing sword qi.
When they opened them again—
Zheng Ping’s savage head had already fallen to the ground.
He had not reacted at all to what had just happened.
Shock and ferocity were still frozen on his face.
Cheng Yu calmly put away the Demon-Slaying Sword, now blooded for the first time, and spoke in a clear voice.
“Martial artist Zheng Ping of Qingjiang Prefecture openly blocked the road and attacked a Jinyiwei officer. He deserved to die!”
【The host has slain an evil Human Ranking bandit who blocked the road and displayed the might of the Jinyiwei. Reward: a moderate amount of saber-art insight!】
Countless insights and experiences concerning the saber flooded Cheng Yu’s mind.
His understanding of the Hundred-Battle Reincarnation Saber Art deepened yet again.
Originally, because his speed had been insufficient, he had been unable to withstand Zheng Ping’s Willow-Leaf Quick Saber after the Tianji Talisman had boosted him.
But now, a different solution had appeared in his mind.
If he made full use of the advantages of his technique and fought to his strengths while avoiding his weaknesses, then even without drawing the Demon-Slaying Sword, he could have finished Zheng Ping quickly.
While Cheng Yu was still checking his reward, the martial artists and commoners watching from the sidelines trembled from head to toe, their faces drained of all color.
“Ah! Young Hero Zheng is dead!”
“How is this possible?! Cheng Yu killed Young Hero Zheng!”
“Don’t kill me! Don’t kill me!”
The only Human Ranking figure among Qingjiang Prefecture’s younger generation had died at the hands of the Jinyiwei.
Every last one of them was terrified beyond measure.
Chivalry had died at the hands of brutality!
The crowd dissolved into chaos as everyone scattered in panic, unable to accept the reality before their eyes.
But before they could get away, a cold voice rang out.
“Let me see who dares take even one step today! Death awaits!”
Cheng Yu shouted as he swept his gaze over them and drove the Hundred-Forged Xiuchun Saber in his hand viciously into the ground.
At those words, everyone’s feet froze.
Those closest to Cheng Yu had no hope of escaping. They could only drop to their knees in terror, kowtow, beg for mercy, and admit their wrongs.
None of them dared show the slightest resistance. They were as meek as lambs.
That living King Yama in the Flying Fish Uniform really did kill people.
Cheng Yu looked over the crowd kneeling all around him.
Then he spoke indifferently.
“Who died?”
“Zheng Shao... Zheng Ping!”
The man had almost said Young Hero Zheng, but he hurriedly corrected himself.
With his hands behind his back, Cheng Yu stared at them coldly.
“What sect was he from?”
“R-replying to you, my lord, he was the senior disciple of Leaf Blade Mountain in Hongxi County.”
The man kneeling on the ground was terrified out of his wits. Without the slightest hesitation, he spilled Zheng Ping’s background.
Only after speaking did he come to his senses, confused as to why Cheng Yu had asked that.
The man was already dead. What difference would knowing his sect make...?
In the next moment, all the kneeling bystanders abruptly lifted their heads and looked at one another.
Their faces began to shake, and cold sweat poured from their scalps like rain.
Zheng Ping was dead, but his master, martial uncles, and the others were still alive...
Leaf Blade Sect was finished!
“Leaf Blade Sect. Not bad... you’ve got quite a lot of nerve.”
Cheng Yu softly repeated the name Leaf Blade Sect, then picked up Zheng Ping’s head, mounted his horse, and rode away.
The people still prostrating themselves on the ground remained terrified. They pressed their heads down as low as they could, afraid that the living King Yama might suddenly turn back and notice them.
Only after Cheng Yu had ridden far into the distance did they dare support their trembling legs and stand up one by one, all of them drenched in cold sweat from fright.
Their hearts were still filled with lingering fear.
“Young Hero Zheng... Zheng Ping actually died. He was the only Human Ranking prodigy in all of Qingjiang Prefecture. How could this be...?”
“That Cheng... Senior Banner Captain Cheng also looks incredibly young, yet he was able to completely suppress a Human Ranking genius. He’s truly terrifying.”
“With the Jinyiwei producing such a ruthless figure, I’m afraid the very sky over Qingjiang Prefecture is about to change!”
As the crowd spoke in lingering fear and amazement, a man dressed in rough hemp clothing, with a cotton-wrapped sword on his back, stared blankly in the direction Cheng Yu had departed.
Excitement and fanatic fervor flickered in his eyes.
When Cheng Yu had drawn the Demon-Slaying Sword against his enemy, he had been the only person who had not shut his eyes.
Because he could not bear to miss that stream of sword qi.
That supreme true intent of the sword, that ultimate sword intent brought to perfect completeness with every lift of the hand and every movement.
It was untainted by even a trace of technique or inner force, possessing only the purest sharpness and authority.
The purest sword.
“Elder, you were right. I have finally seen the future of the sword...”
...
Qingjiang Prefecture City.
Urgent hoofbeats tore through the city streets, and no one who saw them failed to recoil in alarm.
Because tied to the horse was a savage human head.
Cheng Yu arrived before the Jinyiwei Hundred-Household Office of Qingjiang Prefecture and dismounted.
With Zheng Ping’s head in one hand and the Hundred-Forged Xiuchun Saber braced in the other, he strode inside.
“Who dares barge into the Hundred-Household Office? Give me—ah!”
The Jinyiwei inside the office had never seen such a ferocious figure. Every one of them was startled.
Where had this slaughter star come from?
If Cheng Yu had not been wearing the Flying Fish Uniform, they would have thought someone had come to exterminate the entire Hundred-Household Office.
Then they looked again at the head hanging at Cheng Yu’s waist and recognized the face of the man who had been Hundred-Household Commander Ma’s guest just yesterday.
Their legs instantly went weak, and they collapsed to the floor.
Storm waves rose in their hearts.
He had killed Swift Saber Zheng Ping!
None of them dared make the slightest sound, much less stand in the way of this Lord Yama.
Inside the main hall of the Qingjiang Prefecture Jinyiwei Hundred-Household Office, one man was leisurely drinking alone with a smile on his lips.
“Once they’ve dealt with that fellow surnamed Cheng, I’ll just pack up all the wealth he’s extorted these past few days!”
“That’ll teach those bastards what it means for the mantis to stalk the cicada while the oriole waits behind.”
“Haha!”
With a Human Ranking genius taking action, Ma Yuan felt that the great threat weighing on his heart had finally been removed.
Not only could he recover the property he had lost, he could also make a huge profit on top of it.
In his delight, he began drinking right there in the Hundred-Household Office.
But as he drank, something suddenly blackened his vision.
An object had been thrown onto the wine table, smashing the dishes and wine everywhere.
“Which blind bastard did that?!”
His elegant mood ruined in an instant, Ma Yuan slapped the table and rose furiously to his feet.
But before his anger could even last half a breath, he suddenly saw clearly what had been thrown onto his table.
It was a human head.
And no matter how he looked at it, it seemed to be Zheng Ping, whom he had met only yesterday...
He froze where he stood, an icy chill piercing through his entire body.
“Have I drunk too much? Am I hallucinating? Zheng Ping is a grand Human Ranking genius. How could he possibly be dead...?”
“You’re not seeing things.”
A cold voice yanked Ma Yuan out of his dazed disbelief.
The moment he turned around, he saw a young, handsome face, yet one filled with boundless authority and icy killing intent.
He had never seen that face in person before, but he had flown into a rage at its portrait countless times...
“Ah!”
Ma Yuan let out a scream and staggered backward as though he had seen the most terrifying demon in the world.
But in the very next second, Cheng Yu’s saber, gleaming with cold light, was already resting against his throat.
"What good news has Hundred-Household Commander Ma encountered to get so drunk in broad daylight? Do you need me to help you sober up?"