Chapter 553: Eating Flesh and Devouring Blood

The Sword Saint has been defeated.

Under the gaze of all, he was defeated at the hands of Yu Liancheng.

And from start to finish, the latter used no more than two moves.

The crowd could not understand the first move; they only saw Yu Liancheng and the Sword Saint confronting each other, the Sword Saint's Sword Intent growing increasingly fierce, with Sword Qi even spilling out from his body, leaving sword marks on the walls and ground, before he woke as if from a dream, cold sweat pouring down like rain.

But the second sword, everyone saw clearly.

The "death" Sword Intent contained within that sword, even just by making eye contact, gave one the feeling of life being frozen, as if one were a fish on a chopping block, at the mercy of another.

That unspeakable terror is something one would likely never forget for the rest of their life.

This was no longer a sword technique belonging to the human world, yet it existed in the mortal realm.

That the Sword Saint was defeated by such a sword can be considered excusable.

"Defeated."

The Sword Saint sighed toward the sky, his face pale.

He spent his life seeking the sword, yet he was defeated successively by Wuming and Yu Liancheng. For a swordsman who views the sword as more important than his own life, this was undoubtedly more painful than killing him.

But soon.

The Sword Saint's eyes lit up, and Sword Qi radiated from his entire body.

He recalled Yu Liancheng's sword, and he also understood that there was indeed another sword after Sword Twenty-Two.

——Sword Twenty-Three.

The Sword Saint could be certain that it was a sword technique that did not belong to this world, nor to the three realms of heaven, earth, and man.

It even transcended invincibility, transcended perfection, transcended the void, transcended the limits...

To describe that sword technique as perfect and invincible is even to belittle it. Because this sword could not only break the void, it was even enough to freeze the void and stop time.

If pushed to the extreme, it could even invert time and space, causing the sun to be chaotic and the stars to shake; it is a mythical sword.

"Good, I never imagined that I, this old man, have sought the sword all my life, yet I am still far from the limit of sword techniques. This battle is lost, and I have no face to block you further. When Sword Twenty-Three is perfected in the future, I will come to seek instruction again..."

As the words fell, the Sword Saint's figure flashed, and with superb light-body technique, he transformed into a wisp of green smoke and vanished. No matter how Jia Dugu called out, he never looked back.

"Dugu Jian Sheng has left; it is time to settle our accounts. If you have no other trump cards, today is your death day. After all, no one likes a dog that cannot be tamed."

Yu Liancheng stood with his hands behind his back, looking at Jia Dugu with a smile.

"Also, I don't like being pointed at by arrows, so all of you go to die!"

As the words fell, his gaze landed on a piece of gravel.

Bang!

His gaze seemed to have substance; the gravel could not withstand it at all and suddenly exploded into even finer fragments, completely unremarkable.

The fragments carried a sharp intent, as if they had transformed into individual Flying Swords tempered a thousand times, piercing the void and shooting out in all directions. Within the span of a breath, screams rang out incessantly; all the Wushuang City disciples who had aimed their bows at Yu Liancheng fell to the ground dead, their foreheads pierced by fragments the size of a fingernail, dying with their eyes wide open.

Jia Dugu Yifang could not help but change his expression and took two steps back.

The crowd of experts observing in secret were all struck with terror in their hearts. Just by focusing his gaze on a stone, the exploding fragments could kill a group of Wushuang City disciples.

If this person were to truly fix his gaze on someone, would that person still have a way to live?

"Yanjing? This is the method of Chang Sheng Bu Si Shen; what relationship does Yu Liancheng have with that guy!?" The woman in the black mist frowned slightly, faintly revealing a trace of hatred.

"Master, should we intervene to save the Face-Changing Envoy?" the Black Child asked.

"No need, the Face-Changing Envoy has long had ulterior motives. The reason he invited me here this time was merely to have me and this person fight until both sides were injured."

It turned out that the woman in the black mist was the "Mo Zhu" Bu Baisuzhen from the Fear Ranking.

Bu Baisuzhen styled herself as a Demon.

All living beings are filled with boundless sins; the Heavenly Buddha will not save them, only I, the Demon, will save them.

She simply wanted to Demon Saves All Living Beings, abolish the imperial system, and realize "democracy."

It must be said, this woman's ideas were truly too advanced.

And it was precisely for this idea that she placed her subordinate, the "Face-Changing Envoy," in Wushuang City to become this City Lord, thereby controlling the Edo.

But unfortunately, the greed of the Face-Changing Envoy became increasingly difficult to satisfy.

Now, perhaps it is just right to use Yu Liancheng's hand to get rid of him.

Seeing the Sword Saint leave without a care and Bu Baisuzhen failing to appear for a long time, the Face-Changing Envoy could not help but curse inwardly. Now, the only one he could rely on was himself.

Jia Dugu feigned composure and shouted coldly: "Yu Liancheng, you cannot kill me? I already know your identity."

"Oh, you know my identity?"

Yu Liancheng raised an eyebrow.

Could it be that my identity as a transmigrator has been exposed?

The Face-Changing Envoy straightened his collar, appearing as if everything was under control, and said coldly: "The Love of the City is a secret that is never passed on; even for my Dugu Family, it is only occasionally recorded in ancient books. Apart from the Dugu Family, the only ones who know the secret of the Love of the City are the descendants of Hua En, the daughter of Hua Tuo, who swore to protect Wushuang City back then. So... you are not Yu Liancheng, but should be Hua Liancheng."

The crowd of experts watching, including Bu Baisuzhen, were all confused by what they heard.

What Hua Family?

What Hua Tuo's niece Hua En?

And apart from the Face-Changing Envoy and the true descendants of the Hua Family hiding in the shadows, perhaps only Yu Liancheng knew of the grievances and entanglements between the Dugu Family and the Hua Family.

During the Three Kingdoms period, a remarkable woman emerged from the Dugu Family; her father was the City Lord of Wushuang City at that time.

This woman was naturally intelligent from childhood, well-read in many books, skilled in the arts of the Five Elements, and her talent for martial arts was also excellent.

She not only learned all the martial arts of the Dugu Family but also realized the fierce and domineering "Dragon-Subduing Divine Leg" from the I Ching, and even created two great unique skills: the "Wushuang Divine Finger" and the "Wushuang Sword Art."

Later, this woman became the wife of the Martial Saint Guan Gong, and because she was too extraordinary, worthy of being called peerless, some gave her the title of "Wushuang Furen."

By the way, this woman was named Dugu Lian'er.

That style of "Seven-Life Love" lost in the long river of history—"City-Toppling" refers to a single blade-stroke that topples a city, while "Love" is the love of Dugu Lian'er.

In folk legends, besides slaying Yan Liang and Wen Chou, and passing five passes and slaying six generals, Guan Yu also has a very famous story of scraping bone to remove poison.

Back then, Guan Yu fell into an ambush, was struck by an arrow in the arm, and was infected with a strange poison called "Three-Day Soul-Hooking Poison."

And in a cliché, melodramatic twist, this strange poison required the "Yin Qi of a virgin" as a medicinal catalyst.

And the person who sacrificed herself was Hua Tuo's daughter, Hua En.

Hua En was a beauty whose appearance was not inferior to Dugu Lian'er, and she possessed exceptional medical skills and also deeply revered Guan Yu.

Later, when Guan Yu was ordered to guard Jingzhou, before leaving, he instructed Dugu Lian'er to take good care of Hua En, because at that time Hua En was already pregnant with his child.

Later on, it was Guan Yu's defeat at Maicheng.

Although Dugu Lian'er did not like Hua En, because of Guan Yu's instructions, she still took good care of Hua En.

Yet Hua En, out of jealousy, spoke harshly to Dugu Lian'er and eventually left without saying goodbye.

Coincidentally, Eastern Wu sent experts to capture Hua En, because Hua En had Guan Yu's child in her womb, which could be used to restrain Liu Bei, who was enraged by the tragic death of his sworn brother.

Seeing that Hua En was about to fall into the hands of Eastern Wu, Dugu Lian'er rushed over.

Facing hundreds of Eastern Wu experts, Dugu Lian'er exhausted all her strength and finally broke through the encirclement, saving Hua En. But she herself was severely injured, and even after recuperation, she only had a little over a year of life left.

The two women shook hands and made peace from then on, and in the final moments of her life, Dugu Lian'er designed a mechanism to seal the Seven-Life Love left behind by Guan Yu within Wushuang City.

She also exhausted her heart's blood to simplify the Seven-Life Love into "Seven-Life Love" with only one percent of its original power, so that Hua En would have the strength to protect herself after she died.

Moved by Dugu Lian'er's kindness, Hua En made a vow to protect the descendants of the Dugu Family for generations to come.

The Dugu Family once fell into decline, and it was only by the secret help of Hua En's descendants that they were able to reclaim the Dugu Family's ancestral foundation—Wushuang City.

And this Jia Dugu seems to have mistaken Yu Liancheng for a descendant of Hua En who has been secretly protecting the Dugu Family.

However, thinking about it carefully, it does not seem hard to understand why Jia Dugu would have such a thought.

Yu Liancheng not only understands the secret of the Seven-Life Love, but after planting the Life and Death Talisman on this Jia Dugu earlier, the first thing he did was to make him issue various decrees to treat the city's commoners well.

"Setting aside whether I am a descendant of the Hua Family, why can I not kill you?"

Yu Liancheng looked at Dugu Yifang with a faint smile: "I am not unaware of your true identity; do you really think I would show mercy?"

Indeed, even if Yu Liancheng were truly a descendant of the Hua Family, he would be protecting the Dugu Family and Wushuang City, not this fake City Lord.

"Heh, is that so? You might as well look at the city wall." Dugu Yifang's face was ferocious and smug.

The crowd suddenly discovered that a pile of dark, heavy clouds had appeared on the wall of Wushuang City.

No!

Those were not clouds, but heads—countless moving heads.

One could see that the sprawling city wall was teeming with heads.

Countless Wushuang City commoners were being held hostage by the blades of Wushuang City disciples; they were of all ages, men and women, old and young, all looking in despair at Yu Liancheng inside the city.

They were not the only ones looking at Yu Liancheng, and of course, their City Lord—Dugu Yifang—was among them.

Dugu Yifang's face became increasingly ferocious and ugly: "Kid, I don't care if you are from the Hua Family protecting Wushuang City, but I might as well tell you, if you dare to touch me, then the lives of the countless lowly commoners on that city wall will not be saved. You had better think clearly; there are not only ordinary commoners in there, but also old people, children, and even pregnant women. Because of your one moment of hesitation, they will all lose their lives."

Jia Dugu Yifang's words were full of malice, and everyone believed that he would absolutely order it to be done.

For a time, many martial arts practitioners watching the scene discussed it heatedly, and many young heroes who had just stepped into the pugilistic world were even more indignant, ignoring the dissuasion of their elders and drawing their swords to confront him.

Dugu Yifang seemed to hear the discussion, and a sneer appeared on the corner of his mouth: "A bunch of idiots. To achieve supreme hegemony, one must be ruthless, domineering, and unscrupulous. Like you lot with your womanly benevolence, you will only end up as stepping stones for others in the future."

As he spoke, his gaze fell on Yu Liancheng again: "Yu Liancheng, perhaps you are indeed not from the Hua Family. But I must say, that sword strike of yours earlier was perhaps no worse than the Seven-Life Love. Furthermore, if I am not mistaken, the sword in your hand should be the Divine Stone you retrieved from the Leifeng Pagoda. As long as you hand over the manual and the Divine Stone, and withdraw from Wushuang City, I will let these lowly commoners go, otherwise—"

Yu Liancheng stood with his hands behind his back, his expression calm as he said: "Otherwise, what would you do?"

"Otherwise, the lives of these lowly commoners will not be saved."

Dugu Yifang's expression became increasingly ferocious, revealing a hysterical madness.

Yu Liancheng shook his head and said: "Is that so? I don't believe it."

"Good, good, you don't believe it, then I will make you believe it." Saying this, Dugu Yifang gave a wink to the Wushuang City disciples on the city wall and shouted loudly.

"Push them off."

At the order, all the Wushuang City disciples on the wall immediately obeyed, mercilessly pushing over a thousand commoners off the city wall, which was several zhang high.

In an instant, the wails of the commoners filled the sky. From such a high city wall, if the young and strong did not land on their heads, they might survive, but the old, weak, women, and children would certainly die without a doubt.

Many people let out gasps of shock, as if they still could not believe that Dugu Yifang, as the City Lord, would actually commit such a crazy act.

Dugu Yifang stared fixedly at Yu Liancheng's face, attempting to find a trace of panic on it.

But unfortunately, that handsome face, which had always been calm and light, remained composed, as if he had never taken the commoners who were about to suffer heavy casualties to heart.

However, at this very moment, a ball of black mist appeared strangely beneath the city wall.

This black mist instantly spread out, and the commoners who had fallen from the city wall plunged into the black mist, as if they had dived into a pile of cotton, caught by a gentle force, and not a single one was killed or injured.

By the time all the commoners were still in shock, the black mist dissipated, as strangely as it had appeared before.

"Bai! Su! Zhen!

"

Dugu Yifang spat out these words almost through gritted teeth.

Who else could it be, besides her master Bai Suzhen, who could save over a thousand people in an instant and produce that special black energy?

Yu Liancheng smiled: "It seems your plan is going to fall through."

Dugu Yifang's face was terrifyingly cold, and he shouted hysterically: "Archers, prepare your arrows!"

As soon as these words were spoken, the Wushuang City disciples on the city wall drew their bows and pulled their strings, and the arrows were pointed directly at the fleeing Wushuang City commoners.

"Forget it, I'm done playing."

Yu Liancheng yawned; the opponent's tricks were truly uninteresting and had already made him feel bored.

With a flick of his sleeve, a faint gleam of sword light flew out from his sleeve.

This gleam of sword light was neither ethereal nor unpredictable; it had only one quality—speed.

Incomparably fast.

Like lightning tearing through the long sky.

No one could describe the speed and power of this sword strike.

And this sword strike also perfectly embodied a truth—of all the martial arts in the world, nothing is unbreakable; only speed cannot be broken.

This streak of lightning flew to the city wall at an inconceivable speed, and then, at an inconceivable speed, pierced from one side of the city wall to the other.

Following this flying strike, which was difficult for the naked eye to capture, countless heads burst and exploded, turning into headless corpses that tumbled off the city wall like dumplings being dropped into a pot.

The sword light flashed again, and that faint streak of sword light had already flown before Yu Liancheng.

Only then did the crowd see clearly that it was a small sword no longer than a woman's palm, its blade exceptionally slender, like a woman's slim waist. Yet, the bloody aura emanating from the sword made one look upon it with dread.

One sword strike kills a thousand men.

The sword's name—Red Flail.

"I imagine you have no trump cards left now, so... it is time to settle the debt."

The next moment, Yu Liancheng appeared before Jia Dugu.

Jia Dugu's expression changed abruptly; before he could beg for mercy or make a move, four sharp bursts of Sword Qi had already severed his hand and foot tendons, and his body collapsed limply to the ground.

Immediately following, a sensation of riding the clouds and mist came over him, and he was floatingly brought to the top of the city wall.

"Rest assured, I will not kill you, because the debt you owe me is not much, and it has now been barely settled. But there are more people's debts that you need to repay."

Yu Liancheng patted Jia Dugu on the shoulder and smiled: "Let us see how the 'lowly commoners' you speak of settle their accounts with you, the high and unreachable City Lord."

Having said this, he threw Jia Dugu down from the city wall.

Although Jia Dugu's hand and foot tendons were completely severed, he was still a First-class Expert in the Edo with vigorous True Qi, and by relying on his powerful Protective True Qi, he only ended up covered in dust and dirt from the fall.

Yu Liancheng looked down from above, his gaze falling upon the anxious and uneasy city residents: "Although this man is the City Lord of Wushuang City, under his rule, the people of Wushuang City have lived in misery. Previously, for his own selfish interests, he disregarded your lives, no different from a beast. Now, this man lies here, his hand and foot tendons severed, unable to move a single finger."

"Come, settle your old debts and vent your resentment to your heart's content."

The crowd, however, scattered in a circle, looking at Dugu Yifang with fear and unease; this was the prestige the Dugu Family had accumulated over hundreds of years.

Jia Dugu lay on the ground, blood flowing from the corner of his mouth, his face pale.

The moment his body hit the ground, the Sword Qi buried within his body erupted once more, shredding his dantian; he had now truly become a cripple.

Yet, facing this group of lowly commoners, he remained arrogant and haughty.

"Presumptuous! You group of lowly commoners, I am the City Lord of Wushuang. If you dare touch a single hair on my head, I will make you wish you were dead!"

Facing the City Lord's reprimand, some city residents became even more terrified, while others burst into rage: "Living in Wushuang City, which day has not been worse than death?"

"My poor daughter was defiled by your guards, and when I went to Wushuang Mansion to seek justice, I had a leg and an arm broken."

"Every year there are all sorts of exorbitant taxes and levies, invented under various pretexts; even in a year of a bountiful harvest, my parents at home were starved to death."

"Since he has never regarded our lives as anything, why should we still honor him as City Lord?"

The crowd became increasingly indignant, and the resentment and anger toward Wushuang Mansion that had built up over the days erupted like a volcano. Everyone's eyes were filled with hatred, wishing they could eat his flesh and drink his blood.

Yu Liancheng's divine sense shifted slightly.

And so, they truly did as they wished.

The crowd quickly engulfed Jia Dugu, and no matter how he roared or begged for mercy, it was of no use.

Piercing screams tore through the sky, lingering for a long time without subsiding, like the wailing of night crows, making one's hair stand on end upon hearing them.