Chapter 51: One Slash

"The martial world calls me the 'Skull-Breaking Bamboo Cane Old Man.' The thing I love most in life is smashing people's brains and sucking out their marrow, because it is truly extremely delicious."

The straw-cloaked old man spoke immediately after, his gaze fixed on the heads of Sun Changyu and the coachman, lightly tapping the waterlogged street with the bamboo cane in his hand.

As if contemplating the force and feel of striking their heads in a moment.

Next, silence fell for a moment within the curtain of rain.

The straw-cloaked old man's peripheral vision shifted, looking toward the two black-clad figures on the eaves of the shops on either side, and said:

"Do the two of you not intend to reveal your identities?"

Hearing this, one of the masked men in black slowly shook his head and said:

"No need. After we finish killing, you will naturally know who struck the blow."

Upon hearing this, the straw-cloaked old man did not mind; his gaze turned to the carriage ahead and he said:

"No rush to kill that Imperial Prince yet. After dealing with these two eunuch dogs, we will each rely on our own abilities to take the heads."

Hearing this, the two swordsmen in green robes said:

"That is excellent."

In the next instant, the true qi around the two men boiled, and the long swords at their waists trembled and whistled, sheathing themselves in an instant.

Transforming into two beams of clear light, they shot out through the air like lightning, aiming directly at the coachman and the Grand Eunuch Sun Changyu.

The straw-cloaked old man did not delay either; his withered palm slapped heavily on the bamboo cane in his hand.

That bamboo cane began to spin rapidly, churning the wind and rain filling the sky around them, and likewise flew swiftly toward Sun Changyu and the other.

At the same time, the straw-cloaked old man's seemingly hunched body suddenly had true qi rolling within it, emitting a scorching red light; like a swift rabbit taking flight, he followed the bamboo cane step for step without missing a beat.

Where the cane arrived, the man arrived; the killing intent that devoured men followed like a shadow.

The Grand Eunuch Sun Changyu said nothing; he casually reached out and grabbed at the half-air.

The surrounding rainwater fell before him, and under the cover of the Kuyin True Qi, transformed into individual dark ice prisms; in the next moment, like arrows fired in unison, they shot toward the charging straw-cloaked old man.

The coachman turned and ran behind the carriage, gripping a blade with both hands, and suddenly slashed horizontally toward the two beams of clear light flying in.

Several feet of fierce blade light surged and receded on the blade's edge; a patch of rain curtain before the coachman turned into mist under this scorching blade light, spreading out a blade shadow that pierced the sky and spanned the long street.

In the rain, a clanging sound louder than the thunder in the heavens rang out; in the half-air, sword light and blade light intertwined, then suddenly collapsed and vanished without a trace.

"You have some skills!"

"What a domineering blade technique."

The voices of the two swordsmen in green robes came from far to near; the two beams of clear light that had been intercepted had, at some unknown time, fallen into their hands, transforming into two winding green steel spiritual snakes that went straight for the coachman's ribs.

"The Tianjin Wei indeed has many nameless experts, but the two of us combined can fight the Heavenly Immortals; killing you is effortless."

The two swordsmen in green robes laughed together.

As the words drilled into the coachman's ears, the coachman's face immediately changed drastically.

The two men's forms were too fast, and the swords in the opponents' hands were even faster; so fast that after he reacted, he only had time to block horizontally with his blade, and his entire body was blasted back by the powerful sword qi.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The coachman's feet plowed a trench several feet deep into the long street, while the entire stretch of blue brick street surface around him, several zhang wide, exploded and flew apart.

Briefly stirring up a cloud of lime dust in the rain, which was quickly extinguished by the rain filling the sky.

Crack!

The coachman looked down; the long blade in his hand suddenly cracked, then scattered into several pieces and fell to the ground.

And across his waist ran two sword marks; bright red blood flowed down with the rainwater, dyeing the puddle beneath him red.

At the same time, the dark ice prisms struck by the Grand Eunuch Sun Changyu were shattered after the straw-cloaked old man channeled and struck them with his bamboo cane.

His form flashed out; he gathered Kuyin True Qi in a single palm and blasted out another strike: the "Kuyin Dark Palm."

In an instant, the half-air was sealed and frozen by the chilling qi, and the standing water on the ground congealed into a layer of dark black dark ice.

Seeing this, the straw-cloaked old man felt no fear at all; the bamboo cane in his hand was like a red-hot iron, wrapped in red light and steaming with heat, and the tip of the cane directly clashed with the Kuyin Dark Palm.

In the next instant, the terrifying afterwave of true qi shook and scattered in all directions, blasting the two high walls and shops around the two men until they collapsed, turning into a pile of ruins.

But the Grand Eunuch Sun Changyu was clearly slightly inferior; he was blasted back by the straw-cloaked old man's cane strike, only managing to stop when he retreated to the carriage.

"How is it?"

With the blue bricks beneath his feet shattered into powder and slag, Sun Changyu finally released the force from his body and asked the coachman behind him with a grim face:

The coachman lowered his head without speaking, suddenly tore off the robe slashed by the sword qi, simply wrapped the wound at his waist, and said calmly:

"We cannot win; we will likely die here. I will try my best to hold them off; Grand Eunuch Sun, take the people and find a chance to escape."

Hearing this, Sun Changyu's gaze darkened; he subconsciously glanced at the carriage behind him.

And at this moment, Li Musheng happened to lift the carriage curtain and look over, shaking his head and saying:

"You two are not up to it."

Speaking, he pointed to the straw-cloaked old man walking slowly in the distance and said:

"That old man's Wu Gong cultivation is stronger than yours and counters your true qi; how can you fight?"

Then, he looked at the coachman again, raised an eyebrow, and said:

"You are even less capable; two against one, ganging up on the few; there is absolutely no chance."

Hearing this, Sun Changyu took a deep breath and spoke in a soft, sinister voice:

"Young Master Li must possess no small Wu Gong; perhaps you should think about how to escape from these people's hands?"

At this time, the coachman did not speak; he only gripped the handle of the broken blade, which was now only a small half remaining, and said aloud:

"I have served with Grand Eunuch Sun for many years. After I die, please have Grand Eunuch Sun deliver my pension silver to my daughter's hands; I cannot trust the others in the Tianjin Wei."

"And also, escape while you still can!"

Having spoken, the coachman gripped the blade handle and suddenly charged toward the two swordsmen in green robes who were smiling and looking this way.

His form shot out from his original spot, leaving a afterimage that vanished without a trace, leaving only a vacuum-like human silhouette in the rain filling the sky.

"Que Blade Slash!"

The coachman gave a low, heavy shout, the half of a broken hilt gripped in both hands, and brought it down in a vertical chop from the air toward the two swordsmen ahead.

Hum!

In an instant, the whole world trembled; the raindrops drifting down from the sky abruptly froze, bouncing endlessly in midair.

Whether it was the rain, the water flowing through the underground channel, or the muffled thunder at the edge of the sky—every sound vanished in that single instant.

On the empty, broken long street where the carriage had come to a halt, a golden blade-shadow more than ten zhang long silently rose into being.

That golden blade-shadow was overbearing and fierce, dazzlingly brilliant, as if it had drawn in every ray of light between heaven and earth.

The blade-light tore the void until it twisted and collapsed, and the next instant it came crashing down toward the street ahead with a thunderous roar.

This slash was so fast it reached the extreme; from the moment the golden blade-shadow appeared to the moment it fell and vanished like a pillar holding up the heavens, no one could make out even half a trace of its path.

But the next instant, the stretch of long street ahead instantly crumbled beneath that slash, turning into a long, narrow pit filled with stone chips and mud.

…

The coachman stared blankly at everything before him, eyes wide, and muttered:

"This… was really a slash I threw?"

(End of this chapter)