Chapter 54: A Single Sword

A pillar of white light shot up from behind, so bright it nearly illuminated everything around it.

It was the first time Fang Yue had ever seen such a dazzling radiance.

Strangest of all, the area lit by the white pillar covered exactly the whole of Gu Yue Cun, stretching right to the edge of the village entrance.

But at the village's edge, the intensely powerful white light, as if suddenly drained of strength, turned dim and could not extend a single inch further outward.

Almost the instant the white pillar shot skyward, Lady Chen's body suddenly stiffened; she stopped in her tracks, stood on the eaves, and whipped her head back to look behind her.

"Impossible…"

In that instant, her expression changed drastically for the first time.

Lady Chen's pupils contracted sharply, her face drained of color in a flash, as if she had seen something terrifying she could not believe.

Even a trembling shudder traveled through her pale right hand and reached Fang Yue's side.

Fang Yue knew this reaction of Lady Chen's very well.

Whenever he himself felt a chill down his spine, this was exactly what it looked like!

She… was actually afraid?

What on earth was that white light?

Because they were already quite far away, no matter how hard Fang Yue tried to look, he could only make out a dark mass of tiny black dots.

Trying to look harder, Fang Yue barely managed to make out some clues.

The villagers at the center of Di He seemed to be making one motion—kneeling.

Kneeling?

Who were they kneeling to?

In a situation like this, could there possibly still be someone who could turn the tide?

Could it be…

A name, a person, surfaced in Fang Yue's mind, almost bursting from his lips.

Before he could excitedly shout that name, he saw Lady Chen, who was gripping his hand, suddenly squeeze down with unconscious force.

Crack!

The bones of Fang Yue's left wrist were crushed outright.

But Lady Chen was completely unaware of it.

It was as if that squeeze just now had been nothing more than a stress response, like a little girl in extreme terror instinctively clutching at something.

"My left hand—my left hand that can hold a blade, eat, and drink! My precious wife!"

Fang Yue nearly burst into tears from the pain and let out a wretched scream.

Just lost the right 'sauce,' and now the left 'sauce' is crippled too!

Lady Chen, the grudge of a murdered wife shall not be shared under the same sky!

With the right hand gone, he could still try practicing a left-hand blade.

Now the left hand is wrecked too—this account is truly finished. Fang Yue's heart seethed with rage.

But before he could do anything…

BOOM!!

From Di He's direction, a sudden explosion rang out.

The grand house whose roof they had stood on earlier burst apart with a roar, its roof sent flying high, wood chips scattering everywhere.

Then the second big house, the third big house…

In barely a single breath, over a dozen houses collapsed and broke apart in succession.

And these houses happened to lie exactly on the straight line between his position and Di He's position!

As if someone were charging straight toward them at top speed along that two-point line, crashing through everything in the way!

Just as Fang Yue stood stunned, Lady Chen beside him suddenly let out a terrified, quavering shriek.

"Don't you come over!!!"

Within that scream, Lady Chen's voice seemed to turn into silent sound waves, rippling backward in rings.

The tall house closest to Fang Yue was enveloped by the sound waves and, with a sudden hum, was sliced clean through at the waist on a slant! The upper half of the house tilted and fell.

But the destruction did not stop; more fine blade marks hacked into the lower half of the house, piercing straight through.

Wherever the sound waves passed, blade marks filled the sky, wood chips flew in chaos, the surrounding houses collapsed one after another, riddled with countless blade marks—and… slammed straight into that charging presence!

CLANG!!

A thunderous crash.

The invisible blade marks, upon striking that presence, suddenly paused, as if parried aside.

They spun ninety degrees on the spot, the invisible blade marks sweeping off to either side.

Two thunderous booms.

The houses on both sides split cleanly in two from the middle, revealing the cluttered furnishings within.

More fine blade marks arrived at that moment, but were silently swallowed by a single raised hand from that figure, without making a sound.

This brief exchange and pause lasted only an instant.

Yet both Fang Yue and Lady Chen still clearly saw what that person looked like.

Blue robes fluttering, frost gathering on both hands, a Wooden Sword in his grip, standing atop the roof.

It was none other than…

"Lord Han!"

Fang Yue trembled with excitement.

"Han Laotou!"

Lady Chen was so startled that she gave a shudder.

Fang Yue lunged forward, and Lady Chen retreated violently backward.

The surroundings blurred, and he was dragged by Lady Chen's Supernatural Strength like a candle flame in the wind, swaying up and down as she retreated a great distance.

With this sudden acceleration, the jostling up and down left Fang Yue dizzy and disoriented, feeling absolutely miserable, as if he had 3D motion sickness.

Amid the blurring scenery, Fang Yue went "bleargh" and immediately threw up all over the ground. Once he felt a bit better, he suddenly noticed that Lady Chen had stopped at some unknown point.

No, she hadn't stopped.

Instead...

A wooden sword was thrust through her chest, piercing from her back out through her front.

"It's been... cough!... a long time since I've... cough... exercised this hard."

One sentence, two coughs.

Lord Han's voice only now rose unhurriedly.

"L-Lord Han!"

Fang Yue hurriedly broke free of Lady Chen's hand and looked back along the wooden sword.

At the end of the sword's hilt was a pale, thin, withered right hand, frosted with a thin layer of ice.

The owner of that right hand was none other than the familiar Lord Han!

"Lord Han! Y-you-you-you-you, I-I..."

Fang Yue stared at his savior in agitation, his mind full of questions he wanted to ask, but for the moment he didn't know where to begin.

It wasn't until the corner of his eye caught Lady Chen standing motionless nearby that he remembered to ask the most important thing first.

"Lord Han, what's wrong with her? Is she frozen in place? Let me finish her off!"

Finish her off?

Lord Han looked slightly puzzled at the term, but soon smiled and shook his head.

"Xiao Ye, you don't need to be afraid. She's already dead."

Dead?

Dead...

Dead?!!

At first Fang Yue's mind was still a bit muddled, somewhat confused, not quite grasping the meaning of Lord Han's words.

Once the meaning truly sank in, towering waves instantly surged in his heart!

His eyes went wide in disbelief as he whipped his head toward Lord Han.

"Dead?! What do you mean, dead?"

"Dead... means dead."

"But! But you—you only made one sword strike!"

Lord Han covered her mouth and coughed twice, laughing.

"Against this kind of aberration, I only need one strike... though the number of strikes I have left isn't many."

After speaking, Lord Han's expression dimmed a few shades, and she suddenly couldn't help but cough several times in a row, even bending at the waist.

But Fang Yue didn't notice this, because in his mind, the first half of Lord Han's words kept echoing.

Against this kind of aberration, I only need one strike...

One strike...

One strike!

Hiss—

Coming back to his senses, Fang Yue couldn't help but draw in a sharp breath, looking at Lord Han with the same gaze other players used to look at him.

A monster!

A true monster!

1. There are still 2 more updates today.

2. Starting tomorrow, updates will be fixed at 12 noon for 1 update, and 6 PM for 2 updates.

(End of this chapter)