Life and Death

The instant the firelight dimmed. On the plaza steps, in a dark corner behind the crowd, Wen Jifei vanished from his seat... leaning slightly out from behind the nearest corner of a wall. The dead iron rifle swung up from behind his back and extended along his arm. As the gun case slipped away, his left arm bent to cradle the stock, and Wen Jifei's right index finger hooked around the trigger. He held his breath. Given the firing range of the Elegy of the Square, the bluestone platform was not far at all. Yet Wen Jifei did not choose to fire immediately, even though with his current marksmanship, he rarely needed to give aiming much thought anymore. Because his target was a super. And this was the first shot. Could it hit? How much lead should he calculate, and how should he predict the dodging angle? If it struck a vital point, would it kill? Wen Jifei believed that even when the Swiss laboratory tested the weapon, no one had ever tried to verify such questions. In any case, it would be extraordinarily difficult. Meanwhile, in front of the bluestone platform. The four metal blocks on Han Qingyu dissolved in an instant. With all four turbines spinning at peak capacity, his left hand drew a sword, releasing it the moment it cleared the scabbard... The Rusty Sister Dimple Slash melted into the darkness, carving a sweeping arc as it swept silently toward the bluestone platform. Almost simultaneously, his body shot forward with the sword already in his right hand, flashing through in a straight line to sever the steel cables binding the seven Azure comrades. Nearest to him, the panicked Qu clan servants and executioners raised their blades to strike, but Han Qingyu wove through them in sweeping curves, cutting down several of them in the blink of an eye. Amid the screams... *Whoosh!* A sudden eruption of source energy forced down the flames that had just begun to flare up again. The person who took the lead in attacking Qu Zongxing head-on was Wu Xu. With his first step, crushed stones sprayed from the bluestone paving! With another half-step, the black Binggu Spear struck out like a dragon, thrusting upward at an angle straight toward Qu Zongxing's chest. Wu Xu rose with the spear, vaulting onto the elevated platform in a single stride. *Clang!* Qu Zongxing held his sword horizontally with both hands, blocking the spearhead. Wu Xu planted his feet to brace himself, refusing to yield an inch. At the same time, to the right of Qu Zongxing's head, the blade of the Rusty Sister Dimple Slash whirled in... Neither Wu Xu nor Han Qingyu had ever fought a super, let alone knew Qu Zongxing's true combat capability. Thus, this opening strike was not a killing blow, but a probe. To see if he could be cut, and how. If he truly proved impenetrable, their trump cards could still be saved to buy time for an escape or attempt a counter-kill. In short: Han Qingyu's logic and combat mentality dictated the battle doctrine of Stream Vanguard. They wanted to assess Qu Zongxing's attack speed, movement, and explosive power first, while gathering information and creating an opportunity for Wen Jifei. On the bluestone platform, Qu Zongxing glanced out of the corner of his eye and raised his arm, using the dead iron vambrace on his forearm to parry the Rusty Sister Dimple Slash away. Up to this point, the fight proceeded as expected. It looked like Han Qingyu and Wu Xu's coordinated assault had failed to break through. Yet at that exact instant, Qu Zongxing was left with only one arm holding his sword against the spear. The true probe arrived. With a muffled grunt, Wu Xu seized the opening and erupted once more. His source energy surge climbed to its highest tier, the spearhead of the 2.4-meter-long weapon spinning like lightning as man and spear drove forward as one... *Hiss-hiss-hiss-hiss-hiss...* Sparks flew across the bluestone platform. At the same time, *whoosh*, the flames in the plaza leaped upward again, illuminating everyone's vision. The moment vision cleared. A wet squelch rang out. Blood sprayed. ...The head of the spear in Wu Xu's hands had driven straight into Qu Zongxing's heart. This time, Wu Xu's strike had not gone astray. When he thrust, he hadn't even thought about left or right, let alone aiming specifically for the heart... It was just a tentative thrust. Landing a hit at all was already surprising enough. Yet it struck right in the heart, piercing clean through. He had impaled him to death. Holding the Binggu Spear, Wu Xu was startled. It was genuine. It was the kind of shock that was written plain across his face. Before this, in the more than a year they had spent together, neither Han Qingyu nor Wen Jifei had ever seen Wu Xu look startled. So one could imagine just how shocked he truly was. Grasping the spear, Wu Xu turned his head dumbly, staring blankly at the equally bewildered Han Qingyu, while casually wrenching the spearhead free. *Pfft!* Qu Zongxing collapsed, spurting blood. At this moment, the fire bathed the plaza in bright light, and the grand banner bearing the character "Qu" fluttered in the wind... The entire grounds fell deathly silent. Because for every single person present, shock and bewilderment overwhelmed anger, fear, or any other emotion. They were utterly lost. "Dead?! Stabbed to death?" Wen Jifei raised his head from behind the sniper scope, paused, and thought, *Holy crap, thank goodness I didn't waste one of my bullets.* Qu Zongxing had died just like that. "He hadn't even declared himself emperor yet." "Died before the expedition was won... no, died before the expedition even started." Wen Jifei muttered under his breath. "A fake super." Han Qingyu bent down to pick up his fallen sword. "So am I supposed to go up and make a speech now? Like, 'Look, we've already cut down your leader, surrender quickly and hand over all your source energy blocks'..." "Thank you!" a foreigner's expression of gratitude cut short Han Qingyu's daydreaming. "Thank you!" "..." The ones who reacted fastest on the scene were actually the Azure soldiers who had just been rescued. Those who remained hadn't seen Han Qingyu before and didn't know who he was, but from what had just unfolded, they could all guess he was an ally, and they rushed over one after another to thank him. A noisy clamor broke out. Han Qingyu glanced back at them with mixed feelings. "Stop buzzing around and put on your apparatuses quickly." Rescuing them wasn't out of some grand righteousness; his conscience simply wouldn't allow him to stand by and watch while doing nothing. Han Qingyu gestured toward the source energy apparatuses on the corpses on the ground and paid them no further attention. Turning around, he looked once more at Qu Zongxing on the ground. "A fake super! Something feels off..." *Something feels off,* Wen Jifei thought as well. Stepping out from the rear, he walked down the steps, sweeping his gaze across the grounds. *Wait? That old man pouring boiling water... wasn't it him yesterday too?* *Even after all this slaughter, is he still pouring water?* Beside the bluestone platform, a white-haired elder dressed in coarse, grayish-white cloth—resembling a Qu clan servant—filled a cup and drew the kettle back. "Look out!" Wen Jifei yelled. Han Qingyu heard the warning, turned, and sprang backward, sweeping his blade across in a horizontal slash. *Whoosh!* An explosion of source energy shook the entire grounds. The kettle in the old man's hands flew free, clanking loudly as it dragged a dead iron chain from his sleeve. One end of the chain was fastened behind the kettle's handle, while the other remained in his hand. Like a meteor hammer, the kettle swung upward at an angle, tracing a lethal arc. Only at this moment did people realize just how heavy that kettle truly was! For the howling wind in the air was so deafening, punctuated by the crack of a sonic boom. *Bang!* The kettle whipped past the slashing dead iron straight sword and slammed heavily into Han Qingyu's chest. *Pfft!* Spitting blood midair, Han Qingyu flew backward and crashed hard onto the ground. Seeing this, Wu Xu surged forward in a single stride, thrusting out his spear before halting and sliding sideways to shield Qingzi. On the other side, having successfully landed his ambush and grievously wounded Han Qingyu, the white-haired elder did not press the attack. Standing on the bluestone platform, he smiled and cupped his hands. "This old man is Qu Zongxing." He was the real Qu Zongxing. The one who had died was a decoy—a body double for decades, standing in at every occasion. Even within Qu Family Village, only a handful of elders holding the highest status and three to five of the most exceptional youths knew the truth. The true Qu Zongxing possessed super combat power. His very first strike had inflicted severe injuries on Han Qingyu. The cheers across the grounds came late, exploding into a roar. The people of the hidden clans rallied in exhilaration, drawing their blades and encircling the bluestone platform. The freed Azure soldiers grabbed weapons and gathered beside Wu Xu. Behind them, Han Qingyu struggled to his feet with his head down, wiping the blood from his mouth with the back of his hand. Qu Zongxing looked over. His gaze lingered briefly on Wu Xu before passing over his shoulder to rest on Han Qingyu. "To die, or to live?!" Han Qingyu lifted his head to look at him. "If you want to die, I will kill you. If you want to live, kill those seven, come kneel before me, and acknowledge me as your master." Qu Zongxing smiled faintly and said, "Talent is rare. I will give you two a chance. Accept our brand and become war slaves of my Qu clan." Wu Xu didn't turn back to look at Han Qingyu. "Qingzi, find a chance to run," he said. Then his eyes darkened, and the Binggu Spear in his grip hummed with a low vibration. Wu Xu had taught He Tangtang the Near-Death Surge. Han Qingyu and Wen Jifei had never seen his own Near-Death Surge. "Don't, Wu Xu. You're no match for him. Even the two of you combined aren't enough now..." By now, Wen Jifei was already carrying the rifle in one hand, walking down the steps on the side. No one stopped him. He walked over to the edge of the bluestone platform and rested the rifle on it. He said dejectedly, "Holy crap, you can play it like that?!" Talking as he went, Wen Jifei climbed onto the bluestone platform, picked up the rifle, and stood up. "A grand clan patriarch—no, an alliance leader, and a super combat power at that..." he said, carrying his rifle as he walked toward Qu Zongxing. "To pull a stunt like this—a body double puppet, an old tea-pouring servant, huh? And an ambush on top of that. Isn't that winning by foul means? Qu..." *Bang!* The muzzle was pressed virtually against Qu Zongxing's heart when it fired.