Chapter 347: The Old Beggar

The sea breeze brushed past, carrying a faint, fishy scent, while simultaneously scattering the last remnants of the bloody blade light; a sigh of loneliness and regret seemed to drift through the void.

The murderous aura that had originally filled the space between heaven and earth was also swept away.

For a moment, the sea was vast and the sky high, the wind light and the clouds thin. A single glance was enough to make one feel the vastness of the world and feel the stifling, oppressive air vanish completely.

Only the originally towering cliff had collapsed for the most part, the reefs shattered and covered in sword marks, testifying to the intense battle that had just taken place.

Yu Liancheng held his sword tip pointing diagonally at the ground, his expression indifferent and calm, as if the earth-shattering strike from before could not move him in the slightest.

Only at the center of his brow did a red mark suddenly emerge, drops of fresh blood seeping out and flowing down his forehead, making him appear somewhat sinister.

Facing the strike that Daozhong Buer had unleashed by sacrificing his entire essence, energy, and spirit, even though Yu Liancheng's cultivation was more than a notch above his opponent's, he still could not avoid being wounded by a sliver of blade intent.

In a certain sense, that strike was unprecedented and would never be repeated. It was a strike that heaven and earth could not tolerate; the one who wields the blade must be devoured by the blade, just like Yan Shisan's Fifteenth Sword.

This wound from the blade intent appeared minor, yet it was difficult to heal and bled incessantly; every drop of blood was Yu Liancheng's essence, energy, and blood. With every drop lost, his cultivation weakened by a fraction.

The True Qi within Yu Liancheng's body transformed into black and white fish, circling the wound of blade intent, constantly playing and chasing, and in the process, continuously grinding away the blade intent.

Not knowing how long he had stood on the reef, Yu Liancheng finally let out a long breath, and the wound of divine intent on his forehead vanished, the skin knitting together.

And in this process, Yu Liancheng's gains were also immense.

Because that strike from Daozhong Buer was formed from his soul, Yu Liancheng had actually snatched away the majority of his memories, not only taking his understanding of the heartless and righteous-less blade technique to a higher level but also gaining a complete and clear understanding of this world before him.

"Technology is rising, civilization is flourishing. The torrent of humanity is surging, while the Martial Dao is in decline; so, I have actually arrived in this chaotic and interesting era."

Yu Liancheng gently rubbed the healed wound on his brow and muttered to himself: "Such an interesting world, how could I not take a good look? Moreover, on the great ship of this new era, there are quite a few remnants of the old era standing tall. These remnants are all earth-shattering experts; it is truly something to look forward to..."

Through the memories of Daozhong Buer, Yu Liancheng witnessed the splendor of this world. Two industrial revolutions had occurred, technology had developed rapidly, many novel things had appeared, and martial arts were on the wane.

Furthermore, although Daozhong Buer had retired, he still paid close attention to the world's experts and knew many of the masters who stood at the pinnacle of the world.

For instance, Huoyun Xieshen, Heilong Siling, the Rakshasa Cult Leader... these were all top-tier experts who feared no hail of bullets; no matter how the tides of the era surged and clashed, they could not shake their status. As long as they were willing, they were an army unto themselves; countries were also very wary of such Martial Dao experts, lowering their posture and doing their utmost to win them over.

"And that mysterious and unfathomable Old Beggar..."

The figure of a slovenly beggar surfaced in Yu Liancheng's mind again, his expression slightly solemn.

In reality, when Daozhong Buer was a youth, he had once traveled to the Central Plains; at that time, he was not yet blind, and he had encountered an Old Beggar selling martial arts manuals.

That Old Beggar was in the middle of swindling a young boy; although Daozhong Buer knew it was fake, he was bored, so he bought one to pass the time.

The manual was called "Snow Saber Shenggong," and it recorded lines of mental cultivation formulas, with diagrams of little people dancing with blades drawn beside the heart techniques.

The postures of the little people in the diagrams were quite strange, marked with red lines, which seemed to be the routes for True Qi circulation.

At first, Daozhong Buer did not take it to heart, but when he combined the heart techniques and the diagrams, he suddenly discovered that this was truly a blade technique manual.

Although it might not be very profound, the blade took an unorthodox path, and every move was ruthless and murderous; if it could be fused with his own blade technique, it would surely be pushed to a higher realm, and this became one of the foundations of his forty-nine "Kill Without Mercy" moves.

And by the time Daozhong Buer came to his senses, the Old Beggar had already vanished.

He finally understood that he had encountered a master playing in the mortal world, but it was a pity that he had missed his chance. Thereafter, no matter how he searched, he never found a trace of the other party.

Later, when Daozhong Buer returned to Dongying, he accidentally flipped through a book and happened upon information about the Old Beggar.

What was recorded in the book was quite similar to his own experience; it was roughly about a Dongying expert who met the Old Beggar in the Central Plains, purchased a manual from the Old Beggar, and from then on, his martial arts improved by leaps and bounds, and he became an extraordinary figure.

But that Dongying expert had become famous over a hundred years ago and had long since passed away, yet the Old Beggar seemed not to have changed much.

This also became an unsolvable mystery in Daozhong Buer's heart.

Were those two beggars played by different masters of the mortal world, or was it a Demon God figure who had lived for at least one or two hundred years and had seen through the mystery of death?

"Old Beggar, selling manuals—could it be him?"

When he chewed over this memory carefully, a strange look appeared on Yu Liancheng's face.

Since this world had the "Ultimate Killer" Huoyun Xieshen, then surely it also had A Xing, the Condor Heroes, and... the Old Beggar who sold the Tathagata Palm to A Xing.

If it really was that Old Beggar, then things would be interesting.

Yu Liancheng remembered that the Old Beggar possessed quite a few martial arts classics, such as the Tathagata Palm, the Xianglong Shiba Zhang, the Jiuyang Shenggong, the Thousand-Hand Tathagata Palm...

"Perhaps as long as I find A Xing, I can find clues about that Old Beggar."

Yu Liancheng walked to the giant rock engraved with Daozhong Buer's sixteen-character motto.

Although this giant rock had been damaged in the previous battle, the sixteen characters on it remained intact.

Yu Liancheng flicked his sleeve and pointed his fingers like a sword; soon, a line of deep characters appeared, the strokes like dragons and snakes, the handwriting elegant.

It read: The Person Beyond Heaven, Yu Liancheng, defeated Daozhong Buer here.

He wanted to use these dozen or so characters to fish out another blade expert.

After finishing all this, Yu Liancheng's figure turned into a fleeting shadow, treading upon the vast ocean, heading east.

Half a month later.

"Ling... ling... ling..."

A crisp bell sound rang out at the cliff, but for some reason, this bell sound carried a murderous intent, like the wail of the Grim Reaper, making one's hair stand on end.

The bell sound came from a pair of silver bells, which hung at the end of the hilt of a wooden long blade carried by a lonely figure.

This lonely figure wore a Dongying martial warrior outfit, which was rather loose, yet it could not conceal the surging, massive killing intent. A head of messy hair fluttered in the sunset light like flames, as if burning.

"Old ghost, I have come as promised; I have come to take back my blade, and I have come to take your life." The person had a murderous look on their face, their eyes empty and hollow—they were also a blind person, and it was none other than Daozhong Buer's disciple—Wudi.

His real name, of course, was not "Wudi."

But he was born for the sake of being invincible, and he could die for the sake of being invincible. Apart from these two names, there was no other name that fit him better.

Twelve years ago, Wudi was not yet blind, still had feelings, and believed his martial arts had reached perfection, so he challenged Daozhong Buer; the result was naturally a miserable defeat, a miserable defeat without any suspense.

Wudi was in despair, resolutely knelt down, left his blade behind, and declared that he would return for a battle in twelve years, vowing not to let Daozhong Buer down.

Twelve years had passed, and Wudi had also walked the same path as his master: destroying his own eyes, killing his wife, severing all feelings and righteousness, living a life of solitude, dedicating his entire life to the blade path, and his blade technique had gradually reached a transcendent, peerless level.

"Old ghost?"

Wudi frowned; he called out several times, but he did not hear Daozhong Buer's voice.

Although he was blind, what he could see far exceeded that of the vast majority of people in the world.

His figure moved in a flash, striding swiftly as if walking on level ground; before long, he had traversed the entire cliff and finally stood before the great boulder.

Wudi reached out to stroke the saber marks on the giant rock, and when his hand touched the final character "two" of the sixteen-word inscription, the muscles on his face suddenly twitched: "This old ghost's saber technique is indeed more than a notch better than it was back then."

Then, Wudi's palm brushed over the character marks left by Yu Liancheng, and the expression on his face suddenly turned excited and terrifying, his figure appearing to tremble.

——An excited tremble.

"Yu Liancheng? What a Yu Liancheng, to think there is still such a master in this world! Hahaha, this is truly wonderful."