Chapter 44: The Peerless Sword

The Sword Casting Villa was left with only the Jian Mo before Duan Fengyun's eyes; Duan Fengyun stepped forward to seal Jian Mo's acupoints, searched his body, and found the Duanmai Sword Qi he had been seeking.

Duan Fengyun had long coveted this sword technique, simply because this Duanmai Sword Qi could exert power without the aid of a sword, preventing a decline in combat strength in the future should he be without one.

Now that the Duanmai Sword Qi was in hand, Jian Mo had lost his reason for existing and was taken away by a single strike of the Fire Scale Sword.

Duan Fengyun and Bu Jingyun, the two fellow disciples, wiped out the Sword Casting Villa.

At present, only the four fellow disciples including Duan Fengyun, Chuchu, and Jian Chen remained within the Sword Pool.

Bu Jingyun looked around, knowing he was now safe, and then relaxed his tense nerves; his vision went black and he fainted.

Seeing this, Duan Fengyun hurriedly stepped forward to support Bu Jingyun; this state of Bu Jingyun's terrified Chuchu, as she thought Bu Jingyun had been injured somewhere, and the woman made of water began to sob again.

"Chuchu, don't worry, Yun is just exhausted from successive battles and his body is drained; once we transfer some True Qi to him in a moment, he will be fine."

Duan Fengyun had intended to scare Chuchu, but seeing that she had started crying, he gave up on intimidating her and told the truth.

Hearing this, Chuchu finally stopped crying, and the group lifted Bu Jingyun to prepare to leave the Sword Casting Villa.

Seeing that he was the only outsider left, Jian Chen also bid farewell to the group:

"Everyone, now that the Peerless Sword has found its master, I must return to report to my master. Farewell, everyone."

Duan Fengyun and the others had no mind to pay attention to Jian Chen now, so Chuchu nodded and replied: "Alright, Brother Jian Chen, see you again."

Jian Chen left with his sword, and the group also left while supporting the unconscious Bu Jingyun.

Duan Fengyun carried the Peerless Sword for Bu Jingyun, wanting to study this top-tier divine weapon of the Fengyun World properly.

Duan Fengyun swung the sword a few times and discovered that the sword was completely beyond his control. Indeed, divine weapons all have spirit; this sword had already recognized Bu Jingyun as its master.

Walking out of the Sword Pool, the Sword Casting Villa was already empty, its people scattered like birds and beasts; the sword-casting legend that had been passed down for a hundred years thus disappeared from the Jianghu.

The group supported Bu Jingyun out of the Sword Casting Villa and traveled rapidly; on the road, Duan Fengyun also learned of the situation regarding Qin Shuang and Nie Feng. Indeed, they were all people of great fortune, and after surviving a great disaster, they all had even greater opportunities.

After successive battles, even Duan Fengyun could not handle it, and in the end, the group chose to settle down at an inn.

The group laid the unconscious Bu Jingyun flat on the bed, and Chuchu thoughtfully brought hot water to wipe Bu Jingyun's body.

Looking at and touching the scars burned onto Bu Jingyun, Chuchu felt immense pain in her heart.

When the group arrived at the inn, Jian Tan had already quietly followed them there.

Seeing Bu Jingyun unconscious, Jian Tan knew his chance to seize the sword had come; he slipped into Bu Jingyun's room while the others were not by his side, preparing to steal the sword.

But Duan Fengyun had long anticipated that Jian Tan would come; having left Bu Jingyun's room, he climbed out of another room's window and entered Bu Jingyun's room to wait for Jian Tan's arrival.

The first thing Jian Tan saw upon slipping into the room was not the Bu Jingyun lying on the bed or the Peerless Sword, but Duan Fengyun, who was sitting on a chair to the side with his legs crossed, looking at him with a wicked smile.

"Mr. Jian Tan, how have you been? It hasn't been long, and we meet again."

Duan Fengyun stared at the cowering Jian Tan and teased him.

Looking at the returned Duan Fengyun, Jian Tan, feeling guilty as a thief, stammered:

"Hall Master Duan, long time no see. I am not here to steal the sword; I only wanted to borrow it to admire it, to see the brilliance of this divine weapon. If there is any offense, I shall leave now..."

Duan Fengyun laughed: "Mr. Jian Tan, no need to be so polite. If you want to see the sword, just come and look."

Duan Fengyun stood up, picked up the Peerless Sword placed by Bu Jingyun's pillow, and walked toward Jian Tan.

Seeing this, Jian Tan hurriedly tried to flee, but things had reached this point—would Duan Fengyun let him leave? Could he run away?

Of course he could not. Duan Fengyun ignored Jian Tan's desperate pleas and swung his sword directly; Jian Tan fell right there, becoming the first person killed by the Peerless Sword since its emergence.

After tasting blood, the Peerless Sword began to tremble incessantly, and Duan Fengyun gradually lost control over it; as soon as Duan Fengyun let go, the Peerless Sword flew to Bu Jingyun's side.

Hearing the noise in the room, Qin Shuang and the others rushed in. Seeing Jian Tan's corpse on the floor and then looking at the expressionless Duan Fengyun to the side, Chuchu hurriedly asked:

"Young Master Duan, what just happened? Why is Jian Tan's corpse here?"

Duan Fengyun replied: "On the way to the inn, I kept feeling that someone was following us, so after I left Yun's room, I re-entered through the window. I happened to run into Jian Tan, who wanted to steal the sword. To prevent our whereabouts from leaking, I killed him with one strike."

Knowing the ins and outs of the matter, the group did not say much, but they strengthened their guard over Bu Jingyun to prevent any other ill-intentioned people from arriving.

On the other side, Jian Chen returned to Zhonghua Lou to report to Wuming.

Seeing Jian Chen empty-handed and looking disheveled, Wuming had already guessed the result.

Wuming asked: "Chen'er, into whose hands has the Peerless Sword fallen?"

Jian Chen replied: "The Peerless Sword has fallen into the hands of Bu Jingyun."

Upon hearing this, Wuming could not help but shake his head and say:

"The thing I feared most has happened after all; the Peerless Sword has fallen into the hands of someone with ulterior motives. This Bu Jingyun is also a ruthless person; with the Peerless Sword in his hands, it will surely cause a storm of blood in the martial arts world. Chen'er, tell me the process of this sword-seizing."

Thus, Jian Chen recounted everything that happened within the Sword Pool to Wuming, including Duan Fengyun's final slaughter of the Sword Casting Villa personnel within the Tianchi.

After listening, Wuming sighed: "The four of them, Duan Fengyun and the others, were once disciples of Xiongba and were indoctrinated from a young age with Xiongba's philosophy that those who submit will prosper and those who resist will perish. All four of them treat human life as mere grass. Now that the four have left the World Association and each obtained heaven-defying opportunities, I know not if this is a disaster for the Jianghu."

Jian Chen thought for a moment and still tried to exonerate the four of them: "Master, although Duan Fengyun and the others are ruthless, they operate on the principle of 'if others do not offend me, I will not offend them.' The four are also upright people; I think you are overthinking it, Master."

Wuming looked at the naive Jian Chen and did not answer. He raised his head to think for a while, then said to Jian Chen: "You go back and rest first. In a few days, accompany me on a trip; I want to go and meet this Peerless Sword and the four of them."

Jian Chen exclaimed: "Master, are you going to re-enter the Jianghu?"

Wuming shook his head and said: "Not so. This time I only want to examine the character of these four. If they are people who kill indiscriminately, I will take the Peerless Sword away."

Jian Chen understood Wuming's meaning, nodded, and went back to his room to rest.

Before leaving, Wuming asked Jian Chen to leave the Hero Sword behind so he could find someone to recast it.

After Jian Chen left, the image of Duan Fengyun's unconventional manner appeared in Wuming's mind, and he recalled Jian Chen's comment about him being ruthless and wiping out entire families. He muttered: "Duan Fengyun, what kind of person are you, really?"

Jian Chen rested well at Zhonghua Lou for a few days, and the Hero Sword was also recast.

Seeing that the time was right, Wuming had Jian Chen bring the Hero Sword, and the master and disciple left Zhonghua Lou to go find Bu Jingyun and the others.