Chapter 1172

Therefore, on the surface, the heirs of the Vertical and Horizontal schools appear to be enemies.

In reality, if anything happened to either one of them, the other would be immensely anxious.

Over all these years, though the two of them had little contact.

Gai Nie knew that this bond of fellowship still remained.

Now that Weizhuang had raised his sword to invite a duel, it did not seem to be a feint.

Weizhuang truly intended to kill him right here, right now!?

For a moment, Gai Nie felt there was no explanation other than being controlled by the legendary Chiyou Demonic Soldier.

"Die!"

Weizhuang offered no further explanation. He raised the Sharkteeth Sword and charged straight in with the momentum of wind and thunder.

The Sharkteeth Sword's overhead strike was itself a brilliant killing move within the Horizontal Sword Art.

At the same time, he spread that killing intent all around Gai Nie.

Weizhuang truly seemed to have raised a heart to kill against Gai Nie!

Gai Nie was both shocked and furious. He had never imagined that the junior brother who had grown up with him since childhood, so close and dear, truly intended to kill him today.

With the Sharkteeth Sword bearing down on him, Gai Nie could hesitate no longer. He could only raise the Yuan Hong Sword and employ the Vertical Sword Art to defend.

It was only against experts of the Farmer's Sect, against Murong Fu and the others.

That this damaged Yuan Hong Sword could still barely suffice to hold the line.

But against Weizhuang—a grand master of the same lineage as Gai Nie, of comparable cultivation, and intimately familiar with him.

The broken Yuan Hong Sword was Gai Nie's fatal weakness.

On the very first strike, Gai Nie's all-defending Vertical Sword Art was directly breached.

Watching the Sharkteeth Sword, after shattering the sword momentum of the Yuan Hong Sword, continue its slash without evasion or yielding.

Shock and fury warred in Gai Nie's heart. He could only employ the Guigu Body-Lightening Art to dodge.

But the Guigu Body-Lightening Art he knew, Weizhuang knew as well.

Before Gai Nie could even deploy it, Weizhuang's Sharkteeth Sword had already pursued him down.

With no other choice, Gai Nie could only twist his body to evade.

But this time, he ultimately failed to completely dodge Weizhuang's attack.

On the Sharkteeth Sword, the sword-flash flickered and vanished in an instant.

Yet it not only sliced off a piece of the hem of Gai Nie's clothing, but also left a wound of no small depth.

In an instant, blood gushed from Gai Nie's right thigh like a fountain.

After several successive changes of position, Gai Nie finally temporarily evaded Weizhuang's pursuit, then demanded,

"Xiaozhuang, must you truly be so ruthless and heartless?"

The wound on his thigh looked severe, yet it still weighed less than the wound inflicted on Gai Nie's heart.

He truly did not wish to cross swords with Weizhuang, let alone fight to the death.

Otherwise, over all these years, with Guiguzi having vanished into seclusion, whereabouts unknown.

According to the rules of the Guigu Sect, the heirs of the Vertical and Horizontal schools should long ago have fought to the death to determine the name of Guiguzi.

Yet in Gai Nie's heart, whether Weizhuang was the master of Quicksand or a swordsman of Despair Shanzhuang.

He was still the junior brother Gai Nie cared about most!

Now that junior brother regarded him as a mortal enemy, insisting on fighting to the death.

Gai Nie felt his heart grow somewhat cold.

"Gai Nie, say no more. Today it is either your death or mine. Make your move!"

Several consecutive strikes from Weizhuang had been dodged by Gai Nie, and Weizhuang was now furious as well.

"Didn't I already say it over at the sandy ground? We settle the victor and loser here."

That was victor and loser, not life and death!

Gai Nie did not voice this line.

He knew Weizhuang certainly would not listen to reason right now.

He could only force himself to rally his spirit and once again wield the Yuan Hong Sword to execute the Vertical Sword Art and meet the battle.

But if Gai Nie evaded—though he could not evade forever—he could at least keep from falling behind.

Once he truly crossed blades with Weizhuang, he instead immediately fell into the inferior position.

After all, the Yuan Hong Sword was already as good as ruined!

With only half a Yuan Hong Sword, no matter how exquisite the sword technique, in the end a hair's breadth of difference would lead to an error of a thousand miles.

After exchanging more than ten moves with Weizhuang, Gai Nie was hit by three strikes in succession.

Though none of the strikes were fatal, blood kept flowing out uncontrollably.

Strangely, the blood that flowed out all hovered in midair.

As Weizhuang's Sharkteeth Sword thrust in, all that blood followed the Sharkteeth Sword and entered Weizhuang's body.

After absorbing Gai Nie's fresh blood, Weizhuang's face was filled with inexplicable excitement.

Every drop of Gai Nie's blood seemed to make Weizhuang's offensive fiercer by another degree.

Looking at Gai Nie, not only was he taking hits and bleeding, he also could not bring himself to resolve to strike a killing blow against Weizhuang.

As one waxed and the other waned, Gai Nie increasingly fell into the inferior position.

"Ha ha! Gai Nie, it seems today you shall pay with your life for your womanish mercy."

Seeing Gai Nie increasingly unable to hold his ground, Weizhuang grew ever more excited and could not help but speak.

Gai Nie sighed inwardly once more, and suddenly thought of something.

If he were to die at Wei Zhuang's hands, it wouldn't be too bad.

At least he was the junior brother he himself cared about most.

Just as he was thinking this, suddenly a gust of violent wind swept in.

In the blink of an eye, it rushed into the fighting circle of the two.

Immediately after, one after another fierce and ruthless horizontal sword techniques were unleashed without pause.

They actually beat the ferocious Wei Zhuang until, for a moment, he could barely withstand it.

"Who is it?"

Hearing Gai Nie looked over and couldn't help but freeze.

The one who had suddenly plunged into the fighting circle and attacked Wei Zhuang was actually Wei Zhuang...

How could this be?

At once, Hearing Gai Nie couldn't help but rub his eyes.

When he looked again, he found that indeed two Wei Zhuangs were clashing continuously with horizontal sword techniques.

One Wei Zhuang had eerie patterns on his face — clearly the very Wei Zhuang who had been trying to kill Hearing Gai Nie.

The other Wei Zhuang did not.

Watching the two clash, sword Qi crisscrossing, and having no will to fight himself, Hearing Gai Nie slowly withdrew from the fighting circle.

Seeing the two fight faster and faster, Hearing Gai Nie was just about to step in and stop them.

Suddenly, he saw both of them strike the same stance at once.

"Horizontal Strike in All Directions!"

Hearing Gai Nie recognized at a glance that this stance was precisely Wei Zhuang's strongest horizontal sword technique move, Horizontal Strike in All Directions.

It was a move of the same caliber as his own vertical sword technique's Hundred Steps Flying Sword.

Sure enough, the two Wei Zhuangs, right in front of Hearing Gai Nie, directly executed Horizontal Strike in All Directions.

Sword Qi like a black dragon surged skyward.

In an instant, the surrounding area was filled with countless horizontal sword sword Qi.

Even though Hearing Gai Nie's cultivation was decent, he had no choice but to circulate his vertical sword technique to resist the sword Qi spilling out from the Horizontal Strike in All Directions.

Rumble rumble...

The two Horizontal Strike in All Directions clashed violently against each other.

Long Xiao's roar and sword Qi intertwined.

After a long while, a victor finally emerged.