Chapter 247: Shattering the Void and the Fifteenth Sword

When the Fifteenth Sword was unleashed, everything returned to "death."

It was as if the river water had ceased to flow, as if the small boat that had been rocking incessantly had come to a complete standstill.

And the moment the wooden sword turned into powder, the river water flowed once more, and the light boat drifted again.

Yan Shisan still stood there without moving, yet he was drenched in sweat like rain, his clothes soaked through.

And on his face, there was still an extremely strange expression, a very complex expression.

It seemed like surprise, like joy, like fear...

Perhaps it was all of these.

Yan Shisan was on the verge of mastering this Fifteenth Sword, which had no predecessor and would have no successor; it was only natural for him to be surprised and joyful.

And the reason for his fear was that Yan Shisan discovered he was fundamentally unable to control this sword.

This sword, which was like a poisonous dragon.

Once this poisonous dragon was truly unleashed, the entire pugilistic world would be stirred into a storm of blood and gore, never to have a day of peace again.

Yu Liancheng finally broke free from the killing intent within the Fifteenth Sword and sighed, saying: "What a terrifying sword technique. I have seen many peerless swordsmen and many peerless sword moves, but I have never seen such a terrifying sword."

"This is a sword cursed by the gods and demons of the nine heavens and ten earths. No one can control this sword, and no one can understand the changes of this sword. It is just like 'death' itself." Yan Shisan was not only sighing, but his body also seemed to be trembling; even he, the supreme swordsman who had unleashed this sword, felt a shuddering fear because of it.

Just at this moment, another boat appeared on the river, looking just like a pleasure boat on the Misty Rain Lake.

On the boat, there was wine and food, and a stunning beauty who was warming wine.

When she raised her head to look at Yu Liancheng, her cherry lips held a smile, her cheeks carried a blush like a Red Cloud, and her moth-eyebrows were lightly knitted, looking pitifully moving, as if she were reminded of the shame-inducing pain she had just experienced from the rain and dew last night.

Yu Liancheng said: "Brother Yan, are you interested in having a drink with me?"

"Drinking?" A trace of nostalgia appeared in Yan Shisan's eyes, and he nodded: "Good, I haven't had a drink in a long time, and I also want to taste the flavor of wine again."

"Please."

Yu Liancheng had already drifted onto the boat.

Yan Shisan's figure flashed, his movement technique agile and swift, and he likewise landed lightly on the boat.

The beauty beside them had already poured wine for the two of them. Yu Liancheng raised his cup and said: "To see the Fifteenth Change of the Life-Taking Thirteen Swords today is truly a great fortune in life; it is worth a large cup." Having said this, he drank it all in one gulp.

Yan Shisan raised his wine cup, stared at it blankly for a long while, then suddenly tilted his head back and drank it dry. His eyes brightened as he said: "Good, it is at least thirty-year-old Bamboo Leaf Green."

Yan Shisan was a very special swordsman.

Although he had dedicated his heart and soul to the Sword Dao, he was not like Ye Gucheng or Ximen Chuixue, who did not touch a drop of alcohol and severed all worldly desires; on the contrary, he was a man who indulged in wine and women.

Everyone who knew Yan Shisan understood that after he killed someone, he would definitely go to the best restaurant nearby to drink the best wine. And after drinking, Yan Shisan would definitely go to the best brothel to find the most beautiful woman to completely relax himself.

For a person like Yan Shisan, while making money was easy, spending it was even easier. Therefore, not only did he not save a single bit of savings, but he had even sold the Sword with Thirteen Pearls.

"Haha, Brother Yan is heroic." Yu Liancheng smiled, his expression suddenly becoming serious again: "When Cangjie created characters, ghosts wept and gods wailed; the Fifteenth Change you created should likewise make ghosts and gods weep."

Yan Shisan took another sip of wine, remained silent for a long time, and then slowly said: "This sword was not created by me. Back then, I had already found the Fourteenth Change of the Life-Taking Thirteen Swords, but I was never satisfied because I knew it had another change."

Yu Liancheng said: "So you were always looking for it."

Yan Shisan nodded: "Correct. Only the Fifteenth Change could defeat Xie Xiaofeng. But I exhausted my heart and blood and could not find it. By the time I was prepared to keep that death appointment, Xie Xiaofeng was already dead."

A bright light flashed in Yu Liancheng's eyes, and he clapped his hands and sighed: "I understand. Precisely because Xie Xiaofeng died, you considered yourself to have no rivals in the world. So you sank your sword, buried your name, and at the same time, sank the thought of finding the final change to the bottom of the lake. But it was precisely because of this that you were able to find the Fifteenth Change, because it is the 'God' within the sword."

"God" is invisible and cannot be found.

But to await the arrival of "God," one must empty all distracting thoughts, enter a state of "no person, no self, no forgetting, no intention," and reach the true realm of forgetting both inside and outside.

Yan Shisan nodded: "You truly do understand the mystery of this sword."

Yu Liancheng said thoughtfully: "But this is a sword that heaven and earth will not tolerate. Even if you can unleash it, it will consume all your remaining essence, energy, and spirit, and you will not be far from death."

Yan Shisan said with a calm face: "For me, as long as I can unleash this sword, what does death matter?"

Yu Liancheng, however, suddenly said: "The reason this sword is not tolerated by heaven and earth is that it has reached the limit of what this world can bear. If you were in another world, perhaps you could freely operate this Fifteenth Change, and even... even find the Sixteenth Change..."

Yan Shisan could not help but knit his brows: "Change to another world?"

Yu Liancheng did not answer, but slowly drank a cup of wine, turned his gaze to the woman beside him, and smiled: "Zhenzhen, I believe your Heavenly Venerable organization must have investigated my background."

"Yes." Li Zhenzhen nodded, her hair floating like seaweed.

Yu Liancheng said: "Could you tell me the results?"

"The Heavenly Venerable organization is vast and strict. When the Heavenly Venerable mobilizes all forces to investigate a person, at most within three days, they can investigate that person's ancestors back three generations clearly."

Li Zhenzhen pondered for a moment, weighed her words, and slowly said: "But for you, Young Master, we could only investigate up to when you appeared on the banks of Taihu and killed the 'Taihu Twin Ghosts' in one move. Investigating any further back, we could not find anything at all. It is as if... as if..."

"As if I just popped out of thin air."

Li Zhenzhen lowered her head to pour a cup of wine for Yu Liancheng: "Perhaps it is because you, Young Master, hide yourself well enough that we could not investigate it; the Heavenly Venerable is not omnipotent either."

"Wrong." Yu Liancheng shook his head and said: "Living in this world, one is bound to leave some traces. With the vastness of the Heavenly Venerable organization, even if the Heavenly Venerable could not investigate the specific origin, they should always be able to find some clues. Yet, you found nothing at all; don't you find that strange?"

Li Zhenzhen's heart stirred, her beautiful eyes shining: "So, Young Master, you mean..."

Yan Shisan also focused his gaze over, a pair of eyes that did not match his aged face shooting out divine light.

Yu Liancheng let out a light breath: "The pugilistic world says I am 'Person Beyond Heaven, Divine Sword Beyond Heaven, one sword separating the heavens,' and this is indeed correct; I am truly a visitor from beyond heaven."

"A visitor from beyond heaven?!"

Even though they already knew what Yu Liancheng was going to say, Li Zhenzhen and Yan Shisan could not help but be shocked.

Seeing the surprise and doubt in their eyes, Yu Liancheng smiled slightly: "Brother Yan's sword technique is peerless in the world; having swept across the pugilistic world with one sword in the past, you must have seen many martial arts from various sects."

Yan Shisan nodded.

Yu Liancheng added: "Especially sword techniques; Brother Yan must be very familiar with the sword techniques of the Seven Great Sword Sects."

Yan Shisan said: "Correct, they all have experts who have been defeated by my hand."

This sentence was very plain, yet it was also full of pride.

"Then please, Brother Yan, take a look at my sword technique." Yu Liancheng slowly stood up and struck out with a palm in the air. Immediately, the waves exploded, and he grabbed with his five fingers in the air; a stream of water was captured by him and condensed into a sword.

Swish!

The water sword in Yu Liancheng's palm unfurled, the sword light continuous and endless, tracing out extremely exquisite sword circles; the momentum was like mercury spilling onto the ground, the shimmering sword light reflecting across the entire lake, causing the mist to scatter in all directions.

A thought stirred in Yan Shisan's mind: "That is the Wudang Taiji Sword Technique."

Soon, Yu Liancheng's sword momentum changed again, shifting like drifting blue clouds, devoid of any worldly aura, ethereal and untraceable; even with Li Zhenzhen's keen eyesight, it was difficult to capture its path.

"The Diancang Sect's sword technique." Yan Shisan identified it at a glance.

Yu Liancheng unleashed a dozen or so sword techniques in succession, each one a signature technique of a prestigious sect, and every single one had been cultivated to an extremely profound level; even the sect leaders of those schools would likely be far inferior to him.

Suddenly, the sky-filling sword light dissipated, and Yu Liancheng submerged his water sword into the lake; he looked at Yan Shisan with a smile: "Brother Yan, can you see the peculiarity in my sword techniques?"

Li Zhenzhen did not understand his meaning; with her discernment, she could only tell that Yu Liancheng's sword techniques were transcendent and refined, covering a vast range, but she could discern nothing more.

Yan Shisan frowned, lost in deep thought.

Yu Liancheng was not in a hurry; he poured a cup of wine and sipped it slowly.

After a long while, Yan Shisan's eyes brightened, and he spoke slowly: "I have crossed swords with experts from every sect and school, especially those from the Seven Great Sword Sects. Your sword techniques appear to be the signature skills of various sects, yet they are all similar yet different, and are certainly not any martial art I have ever seen."

Yu Liancheng smiled: "Do you believe what I said now?"

"To alter the essence of every sect's martial arts without losing even a shred of their power is no simpler than creating a new martial art from scratch. Therefore... the sword techniques you used are peerless arts from another world." Yan Shisan nodded, his eyes growing brighter: "So... you truly come from another world."

"That is exactly so." Yu Liancheng nodded with a smile: "A flower is a world, a leaf is a Bodhi; if one considers a world to be a leaf, I am a guest from beyond the heavens who came from another leaf."

Yan Shisan scrutinized Yu Liancheng thoroughly, then clapped his hands and said: "I never imagined that I, Yan Shisan, having lived for decades, would be able to witness a legendary guest from beyond the heavens in the final stretch of my life. I have no regrets in life, no regrets in life."

Yu Liancheng said: "In this world, the Fifteenth Sword is cursed by heaven and earth, but in another world, that may not necessarily be the case."

"Oh, how does one change it?" Yan Shisan's eyes lit up.

Yu Liancheng looked up, gazing leisurely at the firmament, and uttered four words: "Broken, Shattering, the, Void."

"Shattering the Void?" Yan Shisan frowned, a look of confusion appearing on his face; clearly, he had never heard this term before.

"The light returns to the sun and moon, the darkness replaces the void; this is a supreme realm." Yu Liancheng said indifferently: "In short, it is for your physical body and soul to break the shackles of this heaven and earth and enter another space."

Yan Shisan pondered for a long while and said: "Ascension?"

Yu Liancheng clapped his hands and laughed: "Correct, using that term to describe it is also quite appropriate."

"This..." Yan Shisan frowned: "This is simply a myth or legend; can it really be taken seriously?"

Yu Liancheng said leisurely: "If one cultivates martial arts to the peak, what difference is there from a myth? With the transcendent martial arts you and I possess, in the eyes of mortals, we are no different from immortals."

Yan Shisan said: "But I have never heard of anyone being able to Shatter the Void."

"Perhaps there have been, but you simply do not know, or perhaps even if someone could shatter it, they did not know this concept at all, and ultimately died of old age in this world."

Yu Liancheng looked at Yan Shisan: "To shatter and transcend, one must cultivate peerless martial arts to the apex of this world. Without a doubt, your Fifteenth Change is already sufficient to reach the realm of transcendence. But even if you know the concept of 'Shattering the Void,' whether you can transcend is not certain."

The Fifteenth Change was indeed terrifying.

But Yan Shisan was now truly too old.

Whether his physical shell could withstand it was another matter entirely.

Yan Shisan was also looking at Yu Liancheng: "Did you come here by Shattering the Void?"

Yu Liancheng shook his head: "I have my own methods. When your Fifteenth Sword is complete and the time comes for our duel, I will lend you a helping hand."

Yan Shisan said: "Why would you help me?"

Yu Liancheng took a sip of wine and said slowly: "Watching someone shatter and depart is, for me, an unprecedented experience; perhaps it may lead to some improvement in my own martial arts."

"Shattering the Void?" Yan Shisan recited the term, and after who knows how long, his aged face suddenly radiated an unprecedented brilliance, and a trace of vitality appeared within his withered-wood-like body: "Regardless, I finally have a direction to move forward, don't I?"

He had already sensed that he was about to complete the Fifteenth Sword.

And not long after completing the Fifteenth Sword, he himself would die.

This was a sword that heaven and earth would not tolerate; the moment he thrust this sword, heaven and earth would strip away his life force. Furthermore, he could already sense that he could not control the "Fifteenth Change," and yet he could not release this poisonous dragon.

Therefore, once the Fifteenth Sword was created, the first person he would have to kill was himself.

This was a very tragic fate.

And now, Yu Liancheng's words were like a ray of sunlight piercing through layers of dark clouds.

Yu Liancheng raised his cup and smiled: "Brother Yan, I wish for you to complete the Fifteenth Sword soon and shatter away."

Yan Shisan also raised his cup and smiled: "I accept your auspicious words."

Clink~

The two wine cups collided, and the two of them drained their cups in one gulp; they looked at each other and could not help but laugh heartily, a sense of having met a kindred spirit in their laughter.

From this day on, Yu Liancheng stayed outside the cabin every day, watching Yan Shisan, who sat by the grass stove in the distance.

As for Yan Shisan, he spent most of his time sitting quietly in front of the grass stove as well, as if in a daze, but there was no longer a trace of expression on his face.

The Yan Shisan of seven years ago was a romantic and sentimental wanderer who loved wine as his life, and often killed in a fit of rage.

Even the Yan Shisan who drank with Yu Liancheng yesterday, though aged, was still immensely heroic, and he possessed the same excitement, anger, fear, and other emotions as any ordinary person.

But when Yan Shisan sat by the grass stove, he had already abandoned all the emotions of the human world, and all the feelings of the human world ceased to exist.

Yan Shisan had once taught Tie Kaicheng to learn the Thirteen Swords of Death, and Tie Kaicheng was full of respect for Yan Shisan, but when he spoke of Yan Shisan to Xie Xiaofeng, he only used four words to evaluate him: "He is not human!"

As long as one is human, one will have emotions.

But Yan Shisan no longer did.

He had entered a state of "no person, no self, no forgetting, no intent," silently waiting for the arrival of the "God" within the Fifteenth Sword.

No one knew when this "God" would arrive, just as no one knew when "death" would descend.

But Yu Liancheng knew it was not far off.

One day, two days, three days...

Time gradually passed.

And when the ninth day arrived, Yan Shisan suddenly picked up the knife and the wooden stick, and began to whittle the sword again.

The moment the sword was formed, Yan Shisan had already unleashed the Life-Taking Thirteen Swords.

Very quickly, the fourteenth variation had been unleashed; all variations had reached their end.

Yet at this very moment, in this world filled with death, desolation, and killing intent, a bolt of lightning suddenly streaked across.

What it tore through was, of course, not lightning.

—It was sword light.

At the instant the sword light thrust out, the tip of the sword suddenly rippled with a strange vibration.

As soon as the vibration began, the furnace fire suddenly extinguished.

Although the sword edge was vibrating, everything in the surrounding area had come to a standstill.

—Absolute stillness.

Even the light boat that had been rocking incessantly on the river had come to a complete stop.

Even the flowing water beneath the boat had completely ceased.

If one were to say that the Fourteenth Sword was already a peerless, lethal sword strike, unique in all of heaven and earth.

Then the Fifteenth Sword was like a life-reaping sword thrust from hell, carrying the deepest Darkness and death, swallowing all vitality.

Everything in time would reach its end before this sword.

No words could describe this situation; there was only one word, a very simple word—Death.

—The flowing water dried up, the variations were exhausted, life ended, and all things perished.

This was the true essence of the "Life-Taking Thirteen Swords."

And as he thrust it out, the wooden sword once again turned to dust, and the wrinkles on Yan Shisan's face added quite a few more. To anyone looking, he was now an old man with one foot in the grave.

But this old man also seemed to have transformed into a Divine Sword, his Sword Qi soaring to the heavens; that sharp Sword Intent was enough to make anyone in the world look sideways and be moved.

"Congratulations, you have finally mastered the heaven-startling, earth-weeping Fifteenth Sword." Yu Liancheng had appeared beside Yan Shisan at some unknown time, clapping his hands in praise: "With this sword alone, Xie Xiaofeng is definitely no longer your match."

"If Xie Xiaofeng is not my match, then what about you?" Yan Shisan fixed his sharp, piercing gaze on Yu Liancheng: "Yu Liancheng!"

His voice was very aged and very cold. He was currently in a state of "forgetting both things and self, devoid of emotion and righteousness."

"Who knows?" Yu Liancheng shrugged his shoulders.

To tell the truth, when facing this sword, he did not have the certainty of victory, and might even die under it. But just like facing the "Little Li Flying Dagger," he had ways to make Yan Shisan die before he could even unleash this sword.

"Since you don't know, why don't we decide the outcome." Yan Shisan's aged face was suddenly filled with an indescribable fighting spirit. He longed to cross swords with a master like Yu Liancheng using the Life-Taking Thirteen Swords, and he also longed for Shattering the Void, to enter a broader world.

Yu Liancheng shook his head and smiled: "Three days from now. You need to adjust yourself to your peak today. Otherwise, in your current state, I am truly afraid I might accidentally throw out your old waist."

Yan Shisan had just unleashed the Fifteenth Sword; although it was only a wooden sword and had not fully exerted the power of this strike, it had already consumed much of his essence, Qi, and spirit.

Although these three days could not adjust Yan Shisan to his peak state, they could at least keep him from being as "frail as a reed" as he was now.

"Fine, I'll listen to you." Yan Shisan nodded; he also understood his current state.

"However, before that, you need to retrieve your Sword." Yu Liancheng drifted, his figure already sweeping onto a small boat that looked like a pleasure boat arriving from afar.

Yan Shisan recognized this boat; it was on this very boat that he had carved a mark and sunk his Sword.

"Carving a boat to find a sword is something only a fool would do," Yu Liancheng laughed: "Fortunately, you met a clever person like me."

He struck with his palm, a palm force sent through the air, splitting the mark Yan Shisan had carved when he sank the sword years ago. Instantly, water splashed open, and a Sword flew out from the depths, its scabbard inlaid with thirteen pearls.

"Catch." Yu Liancheng had already tossed the Sword to Yan Shisan.

Yan Shisan looked at this Sword; it was as sharp as it had been before. Relying on this sword, he had traversed the world, invincible in battle; he had always been fearless, and also heartless.

And now, he had found the essence within the sword, and would surely be invincible in the world.

Yu Liancheng said: "Three days later, a death appointment, be there or be square."

Yan Shisan said: "Fine, three days later, a death appointment, be there or be square."