Chapter 554: Seven-Life Love and the Love That Topples Cities

A decree of the Fourteen Terrors list was issued, and the world was shocked.

Countless people in the pugilistic world only then realized that there were so many inconceivable existences in this world.

And without a doubt, everyone was most curious about the "I" of the Fourteenth Terror; since it was the bottom-most existence on the list of terrors, it must surely be a world-shaking supreme expert, possessing all kinds of inconceivable and mysterious methods, an existence surpassing God and Demon.

It was just too mysterious; the mere character "I" was simply unable to elucidate its power, to the extent that many people believed it was merely a hollow reputation, and that the compiler had inflated its value.

Yet in the battle of Wushuang City, this supreme expert finally surfaced and was revealed before everyone. All who witnessed this battle were terrified by the horror of the Fourteenth Terror.

Two sword strikes to defeat the Sword Saint.

One sword strike to kill a thousand men.

One can only describe this person as unfathomable.

At present, Wushuang City has changed masters, and that terror of terrors has logically sat upon the position of City Lord of Wushuang City.

While the pugilistic world was buzzing with discussion, Yu Liancheng had already arrived at the Guandi Temple to the east of Wushuang City.

Because the Guandi Temple was relatively remote, and coupled with the fact that under the rule of the Jia Dugu, the people of Wushuang City were living in misery, unable to even eat a full meal and running about for their livelihoods all day, this Guandi Temple had naturally fallen into decline.

Yu Liancheng had stepped into the temple.

The temple was quite dim, with only sparse incense smoke.

Of course, relying on Yu Liancheng's eyesight, he naturally took in the scene within the temple at a glance.

This Guandi Temple was actually not large, measuring only about a few zhang in length and width. However, that statue of Guandi was not small, standing two heads taller than an ordinary person, and holding a Qinglong Crescent Blade, looking awe-inspiring and truly intimidating.

Inside this Guandi Temple sat an elderly man in gray clothes with a tall build. Seeing that this person had gray hair and a face full of sorrow, he was precisely the temple keeper of the Guandi Temple, seemingly troubled by the lack of incense.

Upon seeing Yu Liancheng, the temple keeper immediately beamed with smiles.

Under the guidance of the temple keeper, Yu Liancheng offered incense to Guandi, and naturally, he could not avoid donating a sum of incense money.

After scanning the Guandi Temple, Yu Liancheng once again fixed his gaze on the gray-clad old man: "I have already decided to take over Wushuang City. Furthermore, the power of the wind is already in my hands, so the 'Seven-Life Love' is also within my grasp."

The temple keeper gave two dry laughs and asked suspiciously: "Young Master, Young Master, this humble one does not understand what you are saying."

Yu Liancheng said: "Wushuang Laolao, this matter originally did not need to be discussed with you, but you have guarded Wushuang City for generations, and are also descendants of Guan Yu, so I am giving you an explanation."

The temple keeper was stunned: "What descendants of Guan Yu? What Wushuang Laolao?"

Yu Liancheng, however, had already turned to leave.

"Wait!

"

Just as he was about to step out of the Guandi Temple, an exceptionally aged female voice suddenly rang out: "Since you already know the past grievances between the Dugu Family and our Hua Family descendants, you should understand that I, Laolao, will absolutely not stand idly by! As long as we have a single breath of soul remaining, we will never let Wushuang City fall into the hands of anyone..."

"Oh." Yu Liancheng gradually turned around and looked at the solemn-faced temple keeper: "Even if the Dugu Family is no longer the Dugu Family of the past? And Wushuang City is no longer a Wushuang City worth saving?"

Only hearing the temple keeper say word by word: "Correct, no matter what changes occur in Wushuang City, we must still hold on, because... righteousness shines like the sun and moon."

Yu Liancheng said calmly: "Although in my view, your persistence is somewhat foolish, everyone has their own ideas. I am too lazy to lecture you on grand principles; whether you want to stop me from becoming the City Lord of Wushuang City, or obtain the 'Seven-Life Love', it is very simple: just defeat me."

"Hehehe."

The temple keeper suddenly let out a series of cold laughs that made one's hair stand on end: "You, do you really want to obtain the 'Seven-Life Love'?"

"A supreme move that can topple a city, who would want to miss it?"

The temple keeper suddenly wiped her face, removing her disguise to reveal her true appearance.

Even though Yu Liancheng had long anticipated it, he could not help but frown when he saw the face of Wushuang Laolao.

Seeing that there was not a shred of flesh on Laolao's face, the entire face was just like a deflated ball, with only a thin layer of skin clinging to the bones beneath, resembling a skeleton.

And right in the center of this eerie face, there was a blood-red scar running straight from the top of her skull through her brow, bridge of her nose, and piercing through her lips and chin, making her face look as if it had been split down the middle and sewn back together, appearing quite demonic and terrifying.

"The martial art I practice is the 'Seven-Life Love', a simplified version of the 'Seven-Life Love' left by Wushuang Furen in the past, consisting of seven levels. Even at the strongest seventh level, its power is not even one percent of the Seven-Life Love. But like the Seven-Life Love, performing this move will instantly mobilize the Yang Qi within the body, severely affecting the internal balance. Anyone who practices the 'Seven-Life Love' will eventually end up like me, withered and emaciated, living a life worse than death."

"The Seven-Life Love is already like this, let alone the Seven-Life Love."

"Guan Gong was revered as the Martial Saint, his cultivation transcending the mundane. Even he, after using the Seven-Life Love, suffered great damage to his foundation. If you obtain the Seven-Life Love, you will at most be able to use it two or three times before your Yin and Yang become unbalanced; why seek your own death?"

Yu Liancheng shook his head and said: "You are wrong, that is only because your foundation is insufficient."

"Stubborn! And! Unyielding!"

Wushuang Laolao spat out four words, and her voice had changed again, becoming a deep and resonant male voice, carrying an intimidating power, as if every word spat out could make the temple tremble.

At the same time, her entire body was undergoing an unexpected change.

Red mist was seen constantly emerging from Laolao's body; her already sturdy frame became even taller, and her withered, shriveled skin immediately sprouted muscles, becoming as hard as iron. Even her skin-and-bone face inflated like a balloon, rapidly turning a deep red, as if scorched by fire. Her dry, messy white hair rose up, and in the blink of an eye, it turned into a mass of black hair flying in the sky.

Laolao reached out a hand, a hand wearing a silver-threaded glove.

On this glove woven with silver thread, there was embroidered a vivid and lifelike dragon, seemingly roaring and bellowing, carrying an unprecedented dominance.

With a "whoosh", an object flew from behind the temple and into Laolao's hand.

Bang!

Laolao slammed the object onto the ground, and the floor instantly shattered.

This was a blade.

A Qinglong Crescent Blade over seven feet long.

In just a breath or two, Laolao had transformed from a withered, emaciated old person into a nine-foot-tall, robust man, and that peerless, domineering aura was enough to intimidate all the petty people of the world.

This was the prelude to the "Seven-Life Love"; usually appearing like a skeleton, only when the internal energy is driven does the fleshly body return, with a face like heavy dates, shaped like Guan Gong.

And the pair of silver-threaded gloves in Wushuang Laolao's hands were also left by Wushuang Furen to Hua En, capable of doubling the user's internal energy.

"Die!

"

Wushuang Laolao stomped her feet, and amidst the shattering ground, she suddenly soared into the sky. She smashed through the roof of the Guandi Temple, leaping five zhang high. At the same time, the red mist radiating from Laolao's body twisted and changed, suddenly transforming into seven tossing, coiling, and clawing fire dragons. As the Qinglong Crescent Blade in Laolao's hand slashed out, they opened their ferocious dragon claws and pounced downward.

Boom!

Under the violent force, the entire Guandi Temple seemed to fall into a landslide and tsunami; it only held on for a moment before exploding into countless fragments, flying off in all directions.

The seven roaring fire dragons, along with the violent force of the Qinglong Crescent Blade, all poured down toward Yu Liancheng.

"A one-percent power Seven-Life Love already has such might; it truly makes one look forward to the real City-Toppling Love."

Yu Liancheng stood with his hands behind his back, slightly tilting his head to watch the Fire Dragon and Wushuang Laolao swooping down.

With a shift of his intent, the Broken bricks, stones, and beams flew backward in an incredible fashion, surging toward the sky.

In the process, the bricks, stones, and beams were gathered and condensed by an invisible force, forming a giant palm that seemed to cover the sky and block the sun, meeting Wushuang Laolao's seventh-level "Seven-Life Love."

Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

After seven muffled sounds, the Fire Dragon let out a mournful cry, then shattered in sequence, turning into a sky full of fire rain that scattered like a brilliant and dazzling display of fireworks.

Boom!

Another unprecedented loud noise erupted; it was the giant palm colliding with the blade aura of Wushuang Laolao's Qinglong Crescent Blade, sending energy flying and stone fragments splattering everywhere.

A moment later, the giant palm was shattered to pieces, and Wushuang Laolao also fell from mid-air.

Wushuang Laolao returned to her emaciated, skeletal form; this strike had exhausted almost all of her essence, energy, and spirit. If not for the Qinglong Crescent Blade supporting her, she would have already collapsed to the ground at this moment.

"You have lost."

Yu Liancheng stood tall with his hands behind his back; from beginning to end, it seemed he had not even moved his feet once.

Wushuang Laolao was about to say something, but could not help but vomit a mouthful of blood; the look of horror in her eyes, however, could not be concealed.

Although she had watched the battle between Yu Liancheng and Sword Saint Dugu, she knew she was no match for him.

Yet she had thought that the seventh-level "Seven-Life Love," bolstered by these gloves, should have at least caused the opponent some slight obstruction.

But she had not expected to be defeated so easily.

"From a great nation down to the grass and trees. Formation, existence, decay, and emptiness; life, death, withering, and flourishing—all have their own destiny. With Dugu Yifang's rule, the people are living in misery; the country should have changed hands long ago. If you forcibly assist the Dugu Family, it is no different from acting as an accomplice to a tyrant. Your ancestors were truly bastards; because of their own promises, they brought disaster upon their descendants. For a hollow and ethereal promise, exhausting one's entire life—is it really worth it? Perhaps you think it is, but for those three little girls, is it worth it?"

Yu Liancheng shook his head and turned to leave.

Wushuang Laolao's expression shifted uncertainly, as if her mind were wavering due to Yu Liancheng's words.

Before long, three more little girls came from the woods. Their steps were light and swift, running as if gliding; they had actually all mastered impressive light-body techniques.

"Laolao, what happened?"

"Laolao, Laolao, who hurt you?"

"Is it the 'Panic of Terror' you spoke of before? We will help you take revenge."

These were three delicate, doll-like little girls; their appearances were extremely cute, and they were only about ten years old, still carrying an innocent, childlike air.

And these three sisters also had very strange names: Siye, Wuye, and Meng.

They had no surname; if one were to trace their origins, they were all descendants of the Martial Saint Guan Yu, and perhaps they should have been surnamed Guan.

But their ancestors, to repay a debt of gratitude, believed that only the descendants of Wushuang Furen could be surnamed Guan.

Therefore, they had no surname.

Wushuang Laolao looked at the three little girls, her heart suddenly falling into a state of bewilderment.

For the sake of so-called "righteousness reaching the heavens," must she really let them become like her in the future, neither human nor ghost?

If it were in the past, Wushuang Laolao would never have wavered in her determination to protect Wushuang City, even if she had to discard her own life.

But having seen Dugu Yifang's true face that day, her inner resolve had been shaken, and coupled with Yu Liancheng's words, she became even more lost.

Was such a Wushuang City truly worth protecting?

And Yu Liancheng's methods were extraordinary and refined; how much effort would it take to snatch Wushuang City back from his hands?

It would be one thing for someone like her who was about to die of old age, but were Siye and the others to spend the rest of their lives trapped in this?

The sun set in the west.

The guards at the gate of Wushuang City had been replaced.

After all, the original guards had suffered heavy casualties; this current batch was mostly martial artists who had seen Yu Liancheng's peerless cultivation and had voluntarily defected. Yu Liancheng naturally understood that many of these people harbored ulterior motives.

But he did not care; he had the confidence to suppress them.

Boom!

The guards had been feeling somewhat drowsy, but suddenly, a strange sound came, causing them to perk up.

"Hey, did you hear that? It seems there's a strange sound."

"Indeed, this sound seems to... be coming from underground."

"No! It's not from underground; it's from that Iron pillar engraved with 'Martial Saint'."

As the words fell, only a "Boom" was heard; the top of that Iron pillar had been pierced by a peerless, unmatched force, and broken Iron flew everywhere on the spot. At the same time, a cyclone actually flew out from the pillar, spinning faster and faster, until it finally shot into the sky, turning into a terrifying tornado that swept in all directions.

Within the tornado, one could vaguely see a Qinglong Crescent Blade moving with the wind, as if it had no weight, or as if the wind itself had arisen because of it.

The so-called hurricane was merely the blade aura it was emitting on its own.

A blade aura that dominated the world!

The blade aura scattered, and heaven and earth seemed to turn dark, with the sun and moon losing their light because of that terrifying tornado of blade aura.

"Run!"

No one knew who shouted it, but the guards scattered and fled. Most of these guards possessed martial arts, but facing this blade aura storm, they still felt as insignificant as ants.

Just at this moment, a hand like that of a god pierced through the hurricane and grasped the Qinglong Crescent Blade.

The violent blade aura gradually subsided.

Yu Liancheng stepped through the void, his black robes fluttering, holding the Qinglong Crescent Blade, a look of realization appearing in his eyes.

He had seen the City-Toppling Love; he had seen that style of the city-toppling blade technique.

Above the city wall, a mass of black mist appeared and disappeared, and beside it stood a woman entirely shrouded in black robes.

The black-robed woman looked at the blade aura storm that made heaven and earth lose their color, and said in a tone of surprise: "Is this the blade technique that topples a city with one strike? There is actually such a terrifying blade technique in the world!"

"You are wrong." From the black mist came Bu Baisuzhen's ethereal and elusive voice, yet it carried a hint of hidden, murderous dominance: "This is merely the opening stance of the City-Toppling Love."