Chapter 170: Romantic Even as a Ghost

"Alas, you unlucky child, I hope you live a proper life in your next one."

Yu Liancheng sighed softly, an indescribable sense of melancholy on his face; after all, having killed the adopted son he had just taken in, he did not feel very good inside either.

"Alright, it is time to settle our accounts." Yu Liancheng had already paced over to stand before Young Master Xiao, looking down at her from above.

"I wonder how you intend to deal with me; after all, I am only a little girl, and as a man, you should always be a bit more magnanimous." Young Master Xiao was smiling; she smiled very sweetly, and she also smiled very beautifully. As long as a man was normal, seeing such a smile, it would be hard for him not to be attracted to her.

Yu Liancheng shook his head and said, "Since you know you are a little girl, you should not have secretly plotted how to harm me, nor should you have entered this treacherous and unpredictable Edo."

"But not everyone has the martial arts of you, Young Master Yu, to be able to do whatever they please." The smile on Young Master Xiao's small face vanished, replaced by a look of utter despondency, which also seemed to carry an indescribable charm and pitiableness.

"I know you are a person of the Heaven Sect," Yu Liancheng said. "Tell me where your Sect Master is, and I might spare your life."

"Your courage is truly too great; you have already angered Heaven. Once he is truly enraged and takes action himself, there is absolutely no one in this world who can survive thirty moves from him."

Yu Liancheng let out a cold laugh and said, "I only know that he is a coward who dares only to hide behind the scenes."

Young Master Xiao was silent for a long while, then suddenly said, "Fine, I will tell you. I, too, only hope for him to die soon; no one is willing to be a puppet of 'Heaven,' controlled by him."

Yu Liancheng nodded: "Good, speak."

"Listen well, he is currently at..." Before Young Master Xiao had finished speaking, she suddenly rose and launched seventeen moves at Yu Liancheng; without him noticing, she had already recovered her strength.

Although her palm techniques were not heavy or powerful, they were poisonous, swift, and agile, and furthermore, they were a mix of feints and reality, changing unpredictably; no one could tell which of her moves were feints and which were real.

But Yu Liancheng saw it.

His body swayed in some unknown way, and all seventeen moves missed, not even brushing the corner of his clothes.

Although Young Master Xiao's moves had missed, a "clink" was heard; cold light flashed on her slender fingers, and five streaks of cold light shot like lightning toward the five major acupuncture points on Yu Liancheng's chest.

It turned out that she had thin steel caps fitted over her fingernails, which could be used as hidden weapons when necessary.

"You woman, you really have quite a few tricks. Whatever other tricks you have, feel free to use them; I will make you lose with total conviction." Yu Liancheng flicked his sleeve and smiled as he opened his palm, in which five thin steel fingernails were startlingly held.

"You... you are simply... a ghost." Young Master Xiao's expression had changed; she had thought she had many tricks, but no matter what trick it was, in front of this person, it was as if it were non-existent.

"So I am a ghost." Yu Liancheng looked Young Master Xiao up and down, a meaningful smile on the corners of his mouth: "To die under a peony flower, one is still romantic even as a ghost; tell me, should I be a romantic ghost?"

Young Master Xiao stamped her foot: "Fine, I will fight you to the death."

Her hand reached out like lightning, and with a "snap," she drew a short sword from the jade belt at her waist.

The thin and slender short sword, when shaken against the wind, stretched out straight and stabbed seven swords at Yu Liancheng like a poisonous snake. The sword style was fast and sharp, somewhat like the style of the Hainan Sword Sect.

But looking closely, it was completely different from the Hainan sword style; it was even sharper and even swifter.

Yu Liancheng watched a few moves and had already glimpsed the subtlety of it; he thrust his right hand forward and flicked his finger, and the sword light instantly shattered.

Young Master Xiao only felt a great force collide with her, and her body could no longer stand steady, falling backward.

But she rolled on the ground a few times, and from somewhere, a thick black smoke shot out, engulfing her entire person.

Only the voice of Young Master Xiao could be heard in the thick smoke: "Yu Liancheng, I cannot beat you, but don't think you can catch—ah!"

It turned out that before she had finished speaking, the moment she raised her head, she saw Yu Liancheng again, and her face turned white with fright.

Yu Liancheng smiled: "Since you haven't told me where Young Master Tian is, and you haven't let me be a romantic ghost, how can you just leave like this?"

Before this sentence was even finished, he had already struck.

Since he had already struck, very few people could dodge it.

This move appeared to have nothing extraordinary about it, but it was very fast—incredibly fast—and in an instant, it had landed on Young Master Xiao's shoulder.

If it were anyone else, once his hand landed on their shoulder, it would be very difficult for them to escape his grasp.

But in that instant, Young Master Xiao became more slippery than a fish; with a twist of her waist, she had already slipped out from under his palm.

This time, however, she did not flee.

Was it because she knew she could not escape?

Or did she have other tricks she had not yet used?

"Since you, Young Master, want to be a romantic ghost, I naturally have no reason not to fulfill your wish."

A light flickered in Young Master Xiao's eyes; her exceptionally delicate and petite figure spun, as if she were a flying celestial maiden, and her clothes fell away, revealing in an instant a perfect, flawless, and beautiful body.

Her figure was undoubtedly a bit petite, but she was well-developed, with perfect proportions; there was not a single part that was not attractive.

Moreover, this petite and exquisite nature seemed to hold a different kind of temptation for many men.

The next moment.

Young Master Xiao's face blushed like a peach blossom, and with a soft moan, she threw her whole body into Yu Liancheng's arms.

In an instant, Yu Liancheng felt his arms full of warm jade and soft fragrance, smelling like orchids and musk, intoxicating the mind; where his hands touched, it was all smooth and supple.

At this moment, Young Master Xiao's slender, jade-like hands had already reached toward the back of Yu Liancheng's head.

Her fingernails were thin and sharp; she giggled, breathing lightly.

However, Young Master Xiao's expression changed very quickly.

She had originally intended to use her fingernails to break his skin, and hidden within the fingernails was the "Seven Apertures Bone-Melting Powder"; even if Yu Liancheng did not die, she would have a chance to escape.

But she suddenly discovered that she could not cut through at all.

Yu Liancheng's skin was simply like iron.

But her reaction was also very fast; in an instant, she had slipped out of Yu Liancheng's arms like a fish. But just as she slipped away, she was suddenly seized by an overwhelming killing intent and Sword Qi, unable to move.

In her gaze, Yu Liancheng's hand already held a sword, she knew not when it appeared.

A soft sword.

It was exactly the one she had dropped on the ground.

Yu Liancheng looked at her, and there was no longer a smile on his face.

It was filled only with an indescribable, murderous aura that made it hard for one to breathe.

The next moment.

The sword thrust out, the sword light like lightning.

Young Master Xiao discovered that not only could she not block it, she could not even dodge it.

This sword strike was truly too fast.

She could only wait for death.

She had already closed her eyes, waiting for the taste of death.

Perhaps sometimes, death is not as uncomfortable as one imagines.

However, she did not get to experience that taste.

Opening her eyes, she saw Yu Liancheng toying with her soft sword, exclaiming, "This sword of yours is truly not bad."

"What exactly do you mean? You aren't killing me?" Young Master Xiao seemed to have been stunned.

"I haven't asked for the whereabouts of Young Master Tian yet, so naturally I cannot kill you." Yu Liancheng smiled slightly at Young Master Xiao, and the intangible, formless power of the Soul-Capturing Art diffused outward.

Young Master Xiao was already emotionally agitated from having narrowly escaped death, and at this moment, was even more susceptible to influence.

"Didn't you want me to be a romantic ghost? Come over here, but make sure not to pounce on me; I have a fierce wife at home, and her nose is very sharp."

Yu Liancheng beckoned again, his tone revealing a trace of eeriness and filled with a seductive power that actually compelled Young Master Xiao to walk toward him involuntarily.

"Not bad, lying on the ground, you are very smart, and also very obedient."