Chapter 337: Vertical and Horizontal

"Xiao Zhuang, long time no see."

The moment the fellow disciples met again was the moment they drew weapons against each other; Gai Nie's expression was somewhat complex as he looked at the latter, not knowing what to say.

"Senior brother, you are still the same as before, so pedantic."

"I originally thought that after you defected to the Great Qin Empire, you would have changed, but I never expected that in the end, you are still like this."

"You think you can save people, yet in reality, you cannot save anyone; on the contrary, you will only harm them."

"Look, these people are also implicated because of you. You think you fought your way out of Xianyang City, but over in Xianyang, they merely let you go on purpose."

"Otherwise, do you really think you could have left Xianyang City?"

Wei Zhuang said with cold sarcasm.

Perhaps the Great Qin Empire would have some misgivings about Ghost Valley, but if they truly wanted to keep Gai Nie, it would be absolutely no problem; Wei Zhuang was very clear on this point.

He immediately thought that there must be a conspiracy involved; the high-level officials of the Empire must be plotting something, so when the Empire sent someone to invite him, he did not refuse.

He wanted to see exactly who the Empire was preparing to plot against.

Subsequently, he found out that the Empire was plotting against those forces opposing the Empire, especially the reactionary forces led by the Mohist School.

Regarding the Mohist School, Wei Zhuang had no particular feelings.

Although he hailed from Han, he did not have the determination to restore the state like Zhang Liang; perhaps he was calmer and clearer on the fact that, facing the Great Qin Empire, the great cause of restoring the state was almost impossible.

No matter how powerful they were, facing that ambitious and masterful emperor, Ying Zheng, no one could compare.

Under his leadership, the Great Qin Empire was constantly growing stronger.

Therefore, he and Zhang Liang parted ways; he knew Zhang Liang's long-held intentions, but he did not favor them.

Because they simply could not succeed; as long as the interior of the Great Qin Empire was not in chaos, opposing Qin was merely a joke.

After all, the Six States were not the Great Qin Empire's match back then, let alone now that the Six States had been destroyed; for the remaining descendants of the Six States' nobility, it was even more impossible.

Opposing Qin did not require the powerful martial force of a few individuals, but rather the need to defeat the Great Qin Empire's army squarely on the battlefield.

Yet, what armies did those remnant forces of the Six States have?

As the leader of Quicksand, the information he understood, though not as good as the Great Qin Empire's Net, was definitely not bad, so he naturally knew that the remnant forces of the Six States did indeed leave behind a bit of military strength.

But these forces, let alone going head-to-head with the Great Qin Empire's army, would likely be wiped out by even a random detachment of the Great Qin Empire.

In Wei Zhuang's view, the only possible chance was to let the commoners of the former Six States fall into chaos, coerce the commoners to rebel, and there might be a sliver of a chance.

Of course, this chance was also too small.

As long as Ying Zheng was there, as long as the Great Qin Empire was there, there would be no chaos.

As for these people from the Mohist School, wanting to rebel was even more impossible; although the Mohist Leader was the Crown Prince of Yan Guo, Tai Zi Dan, so what? Yan Guo had long been destroyed, and these remaining disciples of the Mohist School...

After today, I fear less than one-tenth will remain.

Regarding his senior brother getting mixed up with the Mohist School, he only shook his head inwardly; although the misunderstandings between him and Gai Nie had been cleared up.

Yet, there was never a moment he did not want to defeat the other party; he wanted to let his master know that he was the most outstanding Ghost Valley disciple of this generation.

"Senior brother, I have waited for this day for a long time. I wonder if, over these ten years, your strength is as the outside world says—that you are the Sword Saint of the Qin State, the number one swordsman under heaven."

He did not care much about the reputation Gai Nie had acquired, because he knew that all of this was merely something done by someone on purpose.

The number one swordsman under heaven is not something just anyone can casually claim to be.

Even as arrogant as he was, he did not dare to say that he was the number one swordsman under heaven; to this day, he could still recall that swordsman holding dual swords back then, who had beaten them, the Ghost Valley disciples of the vertical and horizontal paths, until they had no power to fight back.

Ten years had passed, and there was no news of the other party; he had been searching for the person all these years, just hoping to avenge that grudge from back then.

Unfortunately, there was not a shred of news—well, it wasn't that there was none; it was said that this person had died.

But he did not believe it; that person had the cultivation of the Tongxuan Realm back then, how could they die so easily?

These years, he had worked hard to improve his cultivation, and now he was at the peak of the Tongxuan Realm.

"Xiao Zhuang."

Gai Nie called out softly: "If I win, can you let them leave?"

"Haha! My good senior brother, I never thought that even now, you could still be thinking of others."

"You had better look after yourself first."

Wei Zhuang's brows knit together, and the baleful aura all over his body suddenly burst forth; a faint black baleful energy surged toward Gai Nie.

He slowly raised the Shark Tooth in his hand, pointing it at Gai Nie, and said coldly: "If you are defeated, not only you, but they too, will all die."

The chilling words to the extreme made many people in the Central Hall frown, but no one refuted him.

If Gai Nie were truly defeated, then these people would indeed be in danger; these people from Quicksand were already a headache for them, not to mention that outside, there was still the Great Qin Empire's army.

"Xiao Zhuang!"

"No need for nonsense, draw your sword!"

Gai Nie still wanted to say something, but Wei Zhuang had already lost patience, instantly stepping forward to charge, the sword Qi of his blade erupting along with him.

The biting cold aura caused the temperature in the Central Hall to drop by several degrees suddenly.

A cold sword edge, a brilliant sword gleam.

"Ding, ding—"

In an instant, the two exchanged over a dozen moves in mid-air; as the sword Qi crisscrossed, it formed a web, wantonly destroying the surroundings, and the stone floor beneath their feet even showed streaks of sword marks, several feet deep.

"Retreat quickly!"

The two were locked in battle, and the residual power could affect a range of a hundred zhang; thanks to the Central Hall being large enough, otherwise, the two's battle would likely have destroyed this Central Hall completely.

"This is the strength of the Ghost Valley's vertical and horizontal swords."

Gao Jianli looked at the two figures in the arena that were nearly afterimages, feeling the waves of Sword Intent emanating from them, and his hand tightened unconsciously around the Shuihan Sword.

Compared to those two, his strength was far too lacking; both were of the Tongxuan Realm, yet in a real battle, he feared he could not block a hundred moves from either of them.

And that would still be with the help of the Shuihan Sword's power.

"Xiao Gao!"

Just at this moment, a sudden warmth came from the back of his hand; raising his head, Gao Jianli saw Xuenü.

"Do not be discouraged, sooner or later you will also be as powerful as they are."

Xuenü said softly.

"Mm!"

Upon hearing this, Gao Jianli felt a warmth in his heart, and at the same time, he secretly made up his mind that after leaving this time, he must work even harder at his cultivation to reach the combat power of Gai Nie and the others as soon as possible.

Otherwise, the next time their Mohist School encountered danger, who else would be left to stand up? Could it be that they would still have to rely on Gai Nie to stand up?

Gai Nie is not a disciple of the Mohist School; Miss Duanmu saved his life, so him standing up now can be considered a repayment.