Chapter 10: Rainy Night, Sword in Hand, Killing

"General Yue, you're indeed ruthless—but how do you know I'll cooperate with you?"

The cloud-pattern spy heard every word, then suddenly spoke, his voice hoarse and mocking, coldly smiling as he drew his short sword to kill himself—General Yue Qianfeng suddenly said: "If you can defeat this child, I'll let you go today."

The spy had witnessed General Yue Qianfeng's slaughter firsthand and knew where he was hiding.

They were mortal enemies; General Yue's words, even a child knew, were not to be trusted.

Yet hearing this, the spy paused, his gaze lowering to the child clutching the blade—yet as an enemy, he inexplicably slowly lowered the short sword meant for his own throat, fell silent for a long while, then said: "…General Yue is Deputy Commander to Marshal Yue."

"Marshal Yue keeps his word as heavy as gold—I believe you."

He forced himself to stand up, pressing his fingers against several acupoints on his body to stop the bleeding.

Excruciating pain drenched him in cold sweat, yet the sliver of life before death sharpened his spirit—he focused intensely, and his internal Qi surged upward, gradually dulling the pain; his leopard-like eyes locked onto the teenager, he drew a long, narrow blade with his right hand and gripped the short sword backward in his left: "Boy, come."

Li Guanyi gripped the blade, his heart pounding faster; Yue Qianfeng smiled, slapped his palm against Li Guanyi's shoulder, and a scorching energy surged into Li Guanyi's body—inside his mind appeared Yue Qianfeng's voice.

"Advance with the blade, sweep the clouds, cleave the mountain."

The warm current flowed through Li Guanyi's tendons and muscles, triggering his body's instinctive response—he stepped forward unconsciously, the narrow blade rising from below, gleaming with chilling frost under the moonlight like a crescent moon, deflecting the spy's long blade.

The opponent's strength far exceeded Li Guanyi's, but now he was mortally wounded, on the brink of death.

Second, the warm current inside Li Guanyi greatly amplified his muscles' instantaneous explosive power.

It perfectly shattered the opponent's weapon, matching force with force; then the current spun through Li Guanyi's palm tendons, turning his hands, transforming the diagonal slash into Turned into Weight, striking down along the path of the previous upward slash—the blade heavy, forceful, the short sword knocked away, a grotesque wound torn open across the spy's clothing, blood spraying.

The cloud-pattern spy let out a muffled roar and lunged again.

But his body had been pierced by a Heaven's Mechanism Crossbow—only permitted to Night-Run Cavalry commanders—his meridians shattered, speed and strength drastically reduced; Li Guanyi's internal warm current flowed, propelling his body forward, executing the sword technique—each move, each strike, ferocious and domineering; the current flowed through his meridians and muscles, never fully vanishing, leaving behind faint threads of warmth.

This sword form centered on cleaving and chopping.

It used sweeping, slashing, and wiping as auxiliary moves, with thrusting as its hidden strike.

"Hold the blade horizontally and sweep—sweep the clouds."

"Grip the blade with both hands—cleave the waves."

Yue Qianfeng's voice came slow and steady; as the warm current swept through Li Guanyi's arm meridians, it activated his body and Qi—the teenager felt a river-like surge within him, driving the long, dark blade through the rain-soaked night, stirring up blood.

The spy's eyes suddenly flared—he discarded the short sword, thrusting his long blade straight ahead, a killing aura lashing at Li Guanyi's face; in that instant, instinctively, his body grew cold, his mind blank—then Yue Qianfeng's roar exploded in his ear: "Open your eyes!"

"Look at this killing intent!"

Li Guanyi's eyes widened—he saw the shattered mist of rain, the spy's masked face, the bulging eyes and bloodshot veins beneath; he heard the roar, smelled the blood, the earthy stench of rain-soaked soil, and the spy's foul breath.

Facing this killing intent directly.

Simultaneously, the warm current shifted—he crouched, assuming a resting stance, the long blade drawn back to his waist; he evaded the fatal thrust with footwork, his body coiled like a taut crossbow string; as the opponent's strike aged, his body snapped forward, both hands thrusting the blade straight ahead.

Yue Qianfeng's voice exploded in his mind:

"Stab the King!" The long, dark blade was sharp—a masterpiece of Chen Kingdom craftsmen, capable of slicing through armor and flesh in a galloping charge; in this instant, the blade pierced armor, driving straight through the spy's abdomen, organs, and flesh—dark green bile and blood slid down the blade's blood groove.

Li Guanyi's body, driven by the warm current, twisted aside, avoiding the spy's embrace; both hands gripped the hilt, twisting violently, unleashing all his strength in a horizontal sweep—the surge of the warm current was ferocious, nearly mobilizing every muscle and tendon; the long blade tore through flesh, reappearing in the night, streaked with blood and green.

Accompanied by Yue Qianfeng's roar, naming the technique:

"Kill the Emperor!"

The spy knew—he hadn't lost to this boy; behind the child who had just begun training today stood the legendary general who had dominated battlefields for over a decade; with a final roar, he unleashed his last remaining internal Qi, punching forward with all his might toward Li Guanyi's face.

But Li Guanyi's body snapped back—the blade was too late to return, yet he raised the hilt upward like a spear, jabbing it into the spy's wrist.

"Push the Mountain!"

Then he retreated; the blade tip pressed against the ground, the warm current within him suddenly churned—Yue Qianfeng's lingering tyrannical true force surged rapidly, activating every meridian and muscle; in an instant, a flash of cold light erupted—the blade arced upward like frost and snow, using point and push to create distance.

He spun, both hands gripping the hilt, raising the long, narrow blade high.

Using the momentum of the spin, like a crescent moon, abandoning defense and footwork, his right foot stepped forward, stomping with the force of a fist strike, his body lunging forward as if weightless—all his being concentrated on the blade, slashing down with crushing force.

"Final Technique: Slash the Heavenly Wolf!"

This brilliant streak of light cleaved through the spy's flesh, becoming the last light in his eyes—and it severed the ten-year gloom within Li Guanyi's heart.

Clang.

The blade's tip pressed into the ground—so fierce was the strike that it embedded itself into the rain-soaked mud; Li Guanyi gasped heavily in the rain, slowly loosening his grip; Yue Qianfeng's true force had dissipated, yet the memory of that sword form remained etched into his muscles—as if he had practiced this set for years.

And within his meridians, the warm current had formed its own cycle, flowing gently.

Li Guanyi's strength began recovering at an astonishing rate—far better than when he had dragged corpses; he lowered his head, clenching his right hand, feeling that warm current, then stared at the Chen Kingdom spy before him, riddled with blade wounds—the enemy of his sworn foe, the nightmare of these ten years.

For a moment, he felt dazed—he finally had a sense of solid ground beneath his feet.

Even with his temperament, he felt an urge to scream and weep.

"Well done."

Suddenly, a large hand pressed on Li Guanyi's head, ruffling his hair; Yue Qianfeng bent down, his long arms extending lightly, lifting the fallen spy, grinning as he seized the spy's skull and drove it hard against the long blade stuck in the ground.

A sharp blade cry.

The blade's back, though narrow, severed the spy's neck.

He tossed it aside.

A severed head, gushing blood skyward.

The wilderness overflowed with killing stench and blood! The giant ruffled the boy's hair, grinning: "Boy."

"Welcome to this chaotic world!"

(End of Chapter)