"What a downpour."
Pushing open the door, Liu Ye frowned at the lightning and thunder tearing across the sky and the torrent of rain crashing down like a waterfall. He could not help pulling his clothes tighter around himself.
Turning back, he looked at the servant boy who had come with the message.
"Are you certain my young brother Wang went to Danfeng Tower and then took on a hundred women in just a few shichen, throwing the entire place into disarray so they couldn't even do business?"
"Master, it is absolutely true!"
The boy swore up and down. "That man is simply terrifying! No one in the tower was a match for him. Before I left, even Lady Feng had taken the field in person!"
"Strange..."
Liu Ye was utterly baffled. Counting the days, it had not even been half a month since he handed the Iron Ox Art to the lad. How could he have reached perfection in so short a time?
Just how many times a day did he train?
Could his body even endure it?
Even so, Liu Ye dared not delay. Grabbing a bamboo hat and a coir raincoat, he leaped out into the storm and sped toward Danfeng Tower.
Yet he had only covered half the distance when he realized something was amiss.
Looking out through the sheets of rain, he saw a whistling arrow rising steadily into the sky above Danfeng Tower, trailing a streak of flame that cut piercingly through the deluge.
"Hmm!?"
Liu Ye's expression changed instantly. This was the agreed signal among the county yamen's constables. Under the circumstances, it conveyed a single message to everyone:
"The White Lotus rebel has been found!"
"He's at Danfeng Tower!"
Almost simultaneously, responses echoed through both the inner and outer districts of Longxing County. Figures dashed through the downpour, surging toward Danfeng Tower in a near-frenzied rush.
"Seize him! Capture the rebel!"
"A hundred taels of bounty silver... Don't any of you dare snatch it from me!"
"Get out of the way!"
Such a massive commotion could hardly escape Xie Shi, who was holed up inside Danfeng Tower. Seeing the whistling arrow, his face twisted in horror.
'Damn it! There's an informant from the county yamen here!'
In an instant, Xie Shi's eyes turned bloodshot with rage. He had never imagined his identity would be exposed so quickly.
He had clearly disguised himself!
How could this have happened?
'Blast it, I can't stay here. I have to break out and shake off these blackskins' eyes and ears... Damned informant, you'd better pray I never find out who you are!'
His mind raced, but his actions were ruthless and decisive. Striking out with a palm, he swept up a dozen bystanders and slammed them straight through the front doors of Danfeng Tower. Blending into the fleeing crowd, he bolted out into the rain, hoping to sow confusion and increase his chances of survival.
In his prime, this tactic would have succeeded without fail.
Now, however, he was grievously wounded. His footsteps were far heavier than before, leaving tracks impossible to disguise, and the pursuing constables recognized him almost at once.
"The third one from the left is the rebel!"
"Don't let him get away!"
Boom!
Beneath the curtain of rain, muddy waves churned. Invisible blade qi manifested against the falling water as a visible tide of radiant strikes, slashing straight toward Xie Shi's chest.
At the same time, more than a dozen crossbow bolts tore through the air, practically sealing off every avenue of evasion. The arrowheads gleamed with armor-piercing light and were coated with lethal venom—even a scratch would sap his strength instantly, leaving him a lamb for the slaughter.
'Damn it! If only my fine-scale armor were still intact...'
Xie Shi's brow furrowed tightly. Had Chen Haoyan's arrow not pierced clean through his protective inner armor and scattered its scales, he would never have needed to dodge a dozen crossbow bolts.
Yet when a tiger falls to the plains, even dogs will torment it.
He had no choice but to halt. Drawing his right arm back behind his shoulder like a drawn bow, he thrust his palm forward against the incoming bolts.
Bang!
As the strike burst forth, a violent gale rose, imprinting a distinct palm shape against the falling rain. Wherever the gale swept, the crossbow bolts splintered and snapped.
The palm wind then collided with the oncoming wave of blade light. The crash echoed in unison with the thunder overhead, and rolling waves of energy blasted blossom after blossom of water into the air. Yet at that very moment, amid the flying spray, an ethereal lotus suddenly bloomed.
Pure Moon Lotus Blade—Bloom of a Single Thought!
Hidden within the curtain of rain, the flying blade flashed and was gone. By the time anyone caught sight of it, the dagger had already swept across the throat of a constable taking part in the encirclement.
Spurt!
A head tumbled to the ground as a geyser of blood erupted into the air, staining the surrounding rain an eye-searing crimson and adding the first tang of gore to the hunt.
"Back off! Don't trade blows with him head-on! Harass him from range!"
A constable shouted from the shadows. The county constables mainly practiced the Three Demon Blades of Yanluo, which did not temper skin or flesh. Their offensive power was formidable, but their defense was lacking.
Compounding matters, Xie Shi possessed consummate skill with flying daggers, having perfected the Pure Moon Lotus Blade and unlocked its martial art. Concealed weapons were notoriously difficult to detect in a downpour; without adequate protection, one could easily lose his life to a single blade. Rather than rushing in with sabers to trade blows, it was far wiser to skirmish from a distance with crossbows.
"The rebel is heavily wounded; he can't throw many blades!"
"He has no horse, so he's on foot! Wear down his stamina with crossbows! Force him to dodge and counter until he has no strength left, then move in and hack him to pieces!"
Shouts rose one after another.
Seeing this tactical deployment, Xie Shi—who had hoped his display of might would intimidate his pursuers—felt his heart sink in shock and fury.
'These blackskins... are far too experienced!'
There was no denying that this tactic struck precisely at his weakness. In his current state, if this dragged on, he really might be worn down to death.
Even so, he was a seasoned rebel who had faced desperate straits nearly a dozen times. Recognizing his predicament, he acted with immediate resolve. Planting his feet, he drew breath and raised his palms. His pale face flushed fiery red as though consumed by flames, and his entire frame suddenly surged three inches taller.
Then, he exhaled and roared:
"Die!"
A rolling thunder of sound kicked up visible waves through the rain. Xie Shi kicked off the ground and rode the momentum straight into an alleyway.
In that single burst, he invoked a secret technique, temporarily shaking off his crippling injuries to unleash the peak prowess of perfected external martial arts once more. Wherever his silhouette passed, overwhelming force erupted again and again, knocking down every crossbow bolt that drew near.
"Thinking of leaving?"
Just then, a figure abruptly materialized at Xie Shi's flank. Instead of drawing a saber, the man extended a long arm and thrust a clenched fist forward with tremendous weight.
Boom!
A thunderous crack resounded as a fist imprint tore through the rain, leaving a prominent trail across the air before slamming squarely into Xie Shi's spine from a distance.
"Hundred-Step Divine Fist!?"
Xie Shi seemed to recognize the technique. Spitting out a mouthful of blood, he felt as though his backbone had been pulverized, yet he dared not stop.
In the next instant, rather than slowing down, he harnessed the forward thrust of the punch to burst out of the encirclement even faster. He smashed through several walls along the way, kicking up billows of dust that mingled with the pouring rain before vanishing from the sight of the hunting constables.
"Liu Ye, you old dog... It's you or me!"
Xie Shi's venomous cry was quickly drowned out by the torrential rain. Yet Liu Ye, who had struck the blow, wore no look of triumph.
"He didn't die from that?"
The old constable wore a bitter expression, yet his feet never slowed as he gave chase in Xie Shi's direction, clearly having no intention of letting him escape.
After all, while he lacked the guts to risk his life, he had plenty of courage when it came to beating a drowning dog.
A great deal of it, in fact.
One pursued while the other fled, traversing nearly half the county town. As the chase wore on, the despair in Xie Shi's heart grew heavier with every step.
'I can't shake him...!'
'That old dog Liu Ye has a nose like a hound. He must have cultivated some auxiliary art—his tracking methods are too sharp. I can't lose him at all!'
What was he to do?
Xie Shi's mind spun frantically for a solution. Just then, through the hazy curtain of rain, a figure suddenly entered his field of vision.
Clad in a black-and-red official uniform with a saber at his waist... a constable?
His face looked quite young—and faintly familiar.
Just in time!
Xie Shi's eyes flashed. Stamping hard against the ground, he accelerated, charging straight toward the young constable to seize him as a hostage.
'Even if I can't use him as a hostage, hurling him as a meat shield toward that old dog Liu Ye will force him to dodge, buying me a chance to get away...'
As he calculated, the young constable's figure grew clearer. Xie Shi tore through the heavy sheets of rain, closing the distance in just a few breaths.
At the same time, Liu Ye drew near.
His martial cultivation was superior to the injured Xie Shi's, and his eyesight was sharper. Even from a distance, he pierced the rain with a single glance and recognized the newcomer.
Liu Ye's pupils contracted violently.
The young constable Xie Shi had targeted was none other than Wang Ping! But wasn't he supposed to be locked in fierce combat with the courtesans at Danfeng Tower?
Why was he here?
In that split second, Liu Ye had no time to ponder. He could only yell at the top of his lungs, "Get out of the way!"
Even as he shouted, his heart sank with a sigh.
'Too late.'
What kind of martial might did Xie Shi possess? Even heavily injured, he was not someone an ordinary martial artist could handle, let alone a rookie constable who had barely scratched the surface.
The boy was dead.
In fact, given Xie Shi's vicious, desperate temperament at the end of his rope, death might be a mercy. If the boy survived, he would only suffer far greater torment.
Meanwhile...
Facing Xie Shi bearing down on him, Wang Ping felt an unprecedented calm. His body felt as light as a feather, devoid of any fear or tension.
'Xie Shi, Senior Brother Xie... I've missed you to death.'
In truth, Wang Ping bore no personal grudge against Xie Shi. But as a constable looking to climb higher, he lacked an ideal stepping stone.
Xie Shi's appearance at this exact moment was truly charcoal delivered in the snow.
A clash in the county town, a rebel dead on the spot... How pleasant that sounded!
'What's going on!?'
At that very instant, Xie Shi seemed to sense something. A piercing, drill-like pain flared at the center of his brow, and an intense premonition of mortal peril erupted within him.
This was another secret art of the White Lotus Sect, capable of sensing fortune and calamity. On that fateful night, it was this very art that had kept him from being killed outright by Chen Haoyan's arrow. Now, he felt as though he had returned to that night, staring down that peerless arrow and the suffocating vision of his own demise!
'Is it that old dog Liu Ye? Can his Hundred-Step Divine Fist strike from so far away?'
Xie Shi's eyes were bloodshot. The throbbing pain at his brow felt as though his skull were splitting in two, and sheer terror morphed into wild fury.
You want to kill me? In your dreams!
With that thought, Xie Shi disregarded his near-exhausted body and stimulated it once more with his secret technique, casting aside his injuries to unleash every ounce of power he had left.
Boom!
A roar drowned out even the thunder in the sky. Rippling shockwaves surged through the rain with Xie Shi at their center, heralding the rampage of an unrivaled force.
A dull rumble like the beating of a drum echoed within Xie Shi's chest, while visible beads of crystalline bloody sweat seeped from every pore across his body, rolling off and dissolving into the downpour—proof of his vitality surging to its absolute limit as his internal power exploded with savage fury!
'No matter the cost, I have to break out in the shortest time possible!'
Xie Shi lunged forward, intending to seize the young constable, fling him toward Liu Ye, and use the opening to unleash a flying blade with everything he had.
'I'll send the blade right through this young constable's chest—that will catch him completely off guard.'
Xie Shi calculated. Though his hand was already reaching for the young constable, his mind was no longer focused on him, but rather on Liu Ye pursuing from behind.
Whoosh—!
Torrential rain, fierce wind, two men.
Only at this moment did Wang Ping finally raise his eyes. The perception of his spiritual sense merged with what his physical eyes saw, reflecting Xie Shi's ferocious visage.
Instead of retreating, he advanced.
Clang!
His saber cleared its sheath.
Every movement flowed like water, guided as if by divine aid, yet compressed into a single instant so swift that no one could trace its path.
To Xie Shi's eyes, the young man merely made a motion to draw his blade, and then the gleaming tip already occupied his entire field of vision. The three blade intents of Greed, Wrath, and Delusion struck straight at his soul, causing a revolving lantern of past memories to flash uncontrollably through his mind.
'Yanluo's Summons!?'
The martial art condensed upon perfecting the Three Demon Blades of Yanluo—renowned as "With blade in hand, Yanluo walks the land," a summons delivered on behalf of the King of Hell himself.
Yet that was not the most terrifying part.
What truly terrified him was the resonant blade chime that erupted from the constable's entire body after unleashing this strike, reverberating in response to the blade as his great sinews snapped.
It was an extraordinarily bizarre sound, elongated and melodious, blending faintly with the torrential downpour.
'A dragon's roar... True dragon sinews!?'
Boom!
The blade flashed. The throbbing ache at Xie Shi's brow finally faded, and the sense of impending doom vanished with it, replaced only by endless void and thoughts returning to utter silence.
In a daze, he saw the other man's face once more.
It was indeed familiar—just a bit older. If he were a little younger... Hmm?
Xie Shi's pupils shrank violently. On the verge of death, he experienced a sudden surge of dying clarity, staring in utter disbelief at the figure before him.
It was him!?
The yamen mole who hadn't known a shred of martial arts—the junior brother whom his master and he had abandoned?
Impossible! Absolutely impossible!
He wanted to roar, but had no strength left. The fleeting spark of dying clarity was snuffed out in an instant, and the vision before his eyes plunged entirely into darkness.
Thud.
A single body, split down the middle into two halves, collapsed to the ground. Blood poured forth like a burst dam, merging into one with the torrential rain.
Dead... He's dead!?
Rushing up from behind, Liu Ye halted in a daze. He stared at the young constable standing in the rain, leaning on his saber, unable to recover his senses for a long time.
Only when the young man looked up and chuckled softly did the silence break:
"Don't worry, Uncle Liu. No need to dodge."
"The rain is heavy tonight—just right for washing a blade."
Chapter 13