Chapter 80

"Gongsun Lan, you don't visit without a reason. I should be even with you," the youth in red said lazily.

"I kindly took you in for a few days, you saved my Eighth Sister's life, and you specifically told me that there was a traitor among my sisters who was colluding with the enemy. How could we be even? It's clear that I owe you much more."

"An extremely beautiful girl cooked a few meals very clumsily, and the taste wasn't exactly hard to swallow."

"That scene, which looked somewhat joyful, made me feel that you don't owe me anything."

"Hua..." Gongsun Lan paused and then said:

"Forget it, I still prefer to call you Zhuang Buran. Did you see through my disguise long ago and intentionally watch me make a fool of myself?"

"I never like to watch people make fools of themselves."

Zhuang Buran said slowly:

"Do you know that the idea I had at the beginning was just like Ye Gucheng and Ximen Chuixue finding someone to compare swords with—I wanted to have a fight that would determine both the winner and life and death."

Gongsun Lan smiled self-deprecatingly:

"Then shouldn't I be extremely fortunate that a moment of kindness allowed me to save my own life?"

"Yes, I am also a bit surprised. You are the first person I wanted to kill but didn't," the youth in red said casually and loosely.

"I should feel even more honored that I could escape with my life from the hands of the most lawless and daring madman in the Jianghu."

Gongsun Lan drew the pair of short swords at her waist and smiled brilliantly:

"I don't like to owe people in my life. I heard that you wanted to see my sword dance at the beginning, so now let me dance it for you."

She danced with swords in both hands. As the sword light flashed, the seven-colored ribbons on her neon dress also began to dance non-stop. The whole person seemed to have turned into a brilliant morning glow, shining so brightly that people couldn't even open their eyes.

For a moment, one didn't know where the person was, nor where the sword was.

A smile appeared on the corner of the youth in red's mouth, as if he had seen the essence of the sword technique. The sword stance was strange and complicated; once released, it was like mercury pouring onto the ground, pervasive. As long as the enemy showed a little flaw or had a little negligence, it was very likely they would die under the sword immediately.

"Once there was a beauty of the Gongsun clan, whose sword dance moved all directions. Your sword technique is truly beautiful, and only a peerless beauty can truly bring out the power of this set of sword techniques."

The youth in red clapped and smiled:

"The person is like a rainbow, the sword is like a meteor, excellent!"

Gongsun Lan sheathed the short swords in her hand and said:

"Are you really blind or pretending to be blind?"

"I don't know if I'm blind or not. Anyway, as long as I want to know, then within three miles, everyone's every move and every word is as clear as the patterns in my palm."

The youth in red suddenly smiled:

"Speaking of you, on your jade-like arm, which is like spring lotus root, there seems to be a purple-red birthmark the size of a copper coin, shaped like a cloud."

"Besides that, let me teach you a lesson: you think a helpless and pitiful young man has no martial arts, so do you think the world-famous Baiyun City Lord would also plot against people?"

"You..."

Hearing the latter part of the sentence, which seemed to be full of deep meaning, Gongsun Lan's clear eyes shook. She was silent for a while and said:

"I spent all day hunting geese only to be pecked by a goose. It seems the one who is truly blind is me."

As she turned to leave, she suddenly said:

"Zhuang Buran, no matter how powerful you are, you are just a little thief who loves to lie."

After saying this, she walked out of the courtyard full of peach blossom fragrance without looking back.

"A smile before meeting, a promise for a lifetime at the first encounter."

The youth in red under the peach forest was silent for a long time and spat out two words:

"Boring."

September 13th.

In the capital, the closer it got to the night of the full moon, the more lively the city became. Who knew how many Jianghu experts had poured in.

Just yesterday, three or four hundred famous martial arts figures entered the capital, including at least five sect leaders, ten gang leaders, and twenty or thirty chief escorts. Elder Mu Daoren of Wudang and the Dharma Protector Masters of Shaolin had also arrived.

During these days, Lu Xiaofeng could not be at peace either. The number one expert in the palace, Wei Ziyun, used ribbons to limit the entry of Jianghu heroes into the palace, saying that anyone whose martial arts could be recognized by Lu Xiaofeng...

... could obtain a certificate to enter the palace from him—a ribbon from Persia, a treasure of the palace, which changed color and shone in the moonlight and was extremely difficult to imitate on the market.

This move completely put Lu Xiaofeng on the fire. He couldn't say anything because whether it was Ximen Chuixue, Ye Gucheng, or Mu Daoren, they were all his friends, and he really couldn't bear to see them fight to the death.

It is a pity that how could he shake the minds of these people? Anyone who has practiced martial arts to the level of being peerless in the world is iron-hearted and will not regret it even if they die a hundred times.

Even if Ximen Chuixue formed a bond with Sun Xiuqing, one of the four beauties of Emei, causing a gap in his sword technique, and even if Ye Gucheng was poisoned by the Tang Sect of Shu after his injuries healed, it did not shake their determination to participate in this battle.

Even Mu Daoren, who was known for being lazy, although he did not say whether he would participate in this battle, also took a ribbon. Whether he would make a move after entering the game was truly unpredictable.

Chunhua Tower.

Ye Gucheng sat in the middle of the second-floor restaurant, with a handsome young man in gorgeous clothes standing in front of him. His eyes carried a cruel emotion like a carrion hawk.

There were many onlookers from the Jianghu around, including Lu Xiaofeng and others.

Just as the atmosphere was heavy and it seemed like a critical moment that could break out at any time, a red-clothed, bare-footed, blind youth walked in leisurely.

Instantly, the already heavy and quiet place added a bit of oppression, and many people couldn't help but hold their breath.

"Why are you all looking at me? Continue watching whether City Lord White Cloud is injured and whether he can break the Tang Sect's flying sand with a crushing momentum," the youth in red walked to an empty table and sat down as light as the breeze.

"Xiao Ba, you are becoming more and more elusive. Where have you been these days?" Hua Manlou walked down from upstairs.

Zhuang Buran greeted the shop assistant to serve wine and said casually:

"I knew you were coming to persuade me, so I had to go out to find some peace. Let's not talk about my affairs for now; let's see how much City Lord White Cloud's strength has improved."

"Hua Manxin, watch closely. Can this sword of mine still let you continue to talk and laugh nonchalantly?"

Ye Gucheng moved his hand, and the sword light flew up. No one could describe the brilliance and splendor of this sword, nor could anyone describe the speed of this sword. It was no longer just a sword, but the wrath of the Thunder God, a strike of lightning.

Then the onlookers from the Jianghu saw fresh red blood flowing from the shoulder blades of the handsome young man.

Ye Gucheng walked down slowly and came to the side of the youth in red, saying:

"How is it?"

The youth in red played with the wine cup in his hand and said something that everyone could not understand:

"City Lord Ye, you are really good at stealing the show."

"What do you mean?" Ye Gucheng's expression did not change.

"Everything a man pursues in his life is fame, profit, women, and power."

"City Lord Ye has an immortal demeanor, is famous all over the world, and has high martial arts, so he naturally does not lack these things."

"But in order to practice the sword, he doesn't even drink wine or tea, and even gives up all kinds of pleasures in the world, thus possessing peerless sword skills. But in doing so, he has also created an irreversible void in himself."

"For City Lord Ye, for a swordsman like himself, loneliness is his only companion, but what is more terrifying than loneliness is desolation and coldness, which is a deep and unbearable loneliness."

"Such loneliness, if one is unwilling to endure it anymore, one cannot maintain the purity of dedicating oneself to the sword, just like Ximen Chuixue today, causing a gap in his own sword technique."

"The reason why a person is a person is that they cannot completely abandon their seven emotions and six desires, so no matter how strong a person is, there is always an end to their endurance."

"When this loneliness accumulates to an unbearable point over the years, I think an existence like City Lord Ye probably doesn't want to endure it anymore."

Hearing this, Ye Gucheng's eyes sank and he said:

"You don't look like a blind man at all."

"Hehe, if you don't want to be ordinary and can't endure loneliness, then what is the only way out?"

The youth in red stopped at the point and did not continue, knowing that the reason why Ye Gucheng still embarked on the path of rebellion in the original plot was nothing more than wanting to die himself.

He did not want to be one of the so-called heroes, but wanted to be the Baiyun City Lord who would never be weaker than others in his life.

That is why he set up a wonderful must-die situation for himself, splashing the biggest waves in the imperial court and the martial arts world. Wouldn't that be dying in the right place, extremely refreshing?

After listening, everyone felt confused and didn't know what riddles they were playing.

"Ever since your name as a madman became known to everyone in the martial arts world, your childhood experiences have also become widely known."

Ye Gucheng's expression was calm:

"A person who stays indoors all year round and only likes to sleep under peach blossoms and wake up under peach blossoms, isn't it also because of loneliness? How long can you endure it?"

The youth in red seemed a little puzzled and said:

"I don't care about moral bottom lines. I go crazy when I encounter things, never wrong myself, and always make things difficult for others. Where does loneliness come from?"

"Just like I slaughtered the Snake King's three thousand brothers, is it because they are bad?"

He shook his head:

"No, are they worse than me? It's just because I wanted to."

"Take the so-called martial arts grand event soon, for example, it's just a whim, and it's three words... I'm happy to."

Upon hearing this, everyone felt a chill down their spines and felt horrified, deeply understanding what it meant to hear a hundred times is not as good as seeing once, and the same eight words popped up in their hearts.

"The name of the madman, well-deserved!"

(End of chapter)