Joy of Life

Thankful for the days he spent with Thirteenth Wang holding the banner and chatting idly, and thankful for the loyal dog inside the plum garden that might have already died, at the most dangerous moment, Fan Xian stopped a split second before he logically would have. Coincidentally, he stopped just outside the perimeter surrounded by sword qi.

His abrupt stop and footstep caused one of the aces, who had contained their power for a long time, to finally lose control of the sword intent in his hands. He flew through the air and landed in front of Fan Xian, revealing himself.

One streak of sword intent landed in empty air. Immediately after, a number of other cruel sword intents followed. Although it was not a complete circle, they still approached like venomous snakes from three directions, aiming toward Fan Xian’s body.

Fan Xian felt as if the left side of his temple had been pricked by a needle. His right eye blinked, feeling a little tired. At the same time, he felt the hairs on his right arm beginning to stand up straight.

He felt the danger. After the attack by the Qin family in the valley and being pointed at by Yan Xiaoyi’s mystical bow, this was the most recent chilling sense of danger.

Five streaks of sword intent. Other than the person who had sliced through the plum earlier, who was a bit weaker, the other four were all top aces. The previously calm night in the plum garden suddenly gave off terrifying sword intents, faintly controlling the directions Fan Xian could escape in.

Just as Fan Xian thought earlier, Dongyi, a strange and godforsaken place, truly had an abundance of aces for four ninth-level aces to appear on such a normal evening.

Such an attack was enough to make one tremble. However, Fan Xian kept his head down and eyelids lowered. He felt the sword intent in the three directions around him and did not move an inch because those five swords did not move.

In the beginning, the sword intent was severe and powerful. Quickly, it returned to its usual mildness. However, his mildness carried with it a resolute aura. It was as if a few angered venomous snakes were raising their slender bodies and slowly leaning forward. Staring at the prey within the field, they were ready to perform the fatal strike at any moment.

A tearing sound gradually rang through the empty air. It was as if some kind of shapeless power was tearing the empty air and using countless streaks of sword intent to form countless threads, splitting the space in front of the plum garden into countless small areas. If anyone walked through these areas, they would be sliced by these severe sword qi into countless bloody pieces.

It seemed that they were only preventing certain people from entering Thirteenth Wang’s residence. Fan Xian didn’t think this was the case. He felt a hidden and unexpressed murderous air.

The reason these swords were holding back and not attacking was because of Fan Xian’s marvelous step at the beginning.

This step just happened to land outside the protective boundaries. It lured out the person who sliced down the plum. At the same time, it rendered the sword qi array, which had been prepared for a long time, somewhat useless.

It was clear that these ninth-level Sword Hut ace swordsmen lying in ambush did not know who was coming. From his one step, they could see the other party’s marital realm. They knew that if they abruptly attacked, it would give him a sliver of a chance.

Although the opportunity was not large, since the four ninth-level aces had attacked at the same time, they had planned to have the person return alive. The aces knew that this was not the Qing Kingdom’s Ye Liuyun or that unfathomable Emperor.

Of the five swords, the weakest one fell into silence. The other four remained hidden in the darkness. Slowly, they changed angles, aiming carefully in all directions Fan Xian could escape.

They would not move first. He who moved first had to have a goal. If there was a goal, there was something to lose. However, this disappointing shortfall was exactly what Fan Xian been waiting for to use.

Thus, Fan Xian also didn’t move.

However, being surrounded by four ninth-level aces waiting to kill was a scene rarely witnessed in this world. Even as strong as Fan Xian was, he still felt a chill. In this life, he had fought against countless aces. He had never thought about fighting four ninth-level aces at the same time. No matter how arrogant he was, he never thought he could fight against four ninth-level aces at the same time.

Although, among these four ninth-level aces, there weren’t any top ninth-level aces such as Yun Zhilan, Lang Tiao, or Haitang Duoduo.

Fan Xian’s eyes stared at the broken plum in front of his foot. His eyelids were lowered. He appeared calm. In reality, he was already uncomfortable from the merciless sword qi present, as well as the omnipresent pressure. His entire spirit had been pushed to the realm of rebound or snap. Sweat was slowly starting to pour out of his body.

Countless streams of cold sweat rolled down his back. Because of the inclined angle of his body, the sweat on his forehead followed his brows and slid down the bridge of his nose.

A drop of sweat seeped into his eye. It stung and hurt a bit, making him blink his eyes.

The four powerful warriors around him still did not move. They knew that the ace they had surrounded could not hold out much longer and was about to move first.

After Fan Xian put his last step down, he knew he had an opportunity to escape. However, he hadn’t known if Thirteenth Wang was in the courtyard, so he had stopped his steps. He didn’t take the risk of forcefully breaking through the blockade behind him.

He had not thought that the aces lying in wait outside the plum garden would be so powerful or that Yun Zhilan would be able to call on so many brothers from the Sword Hut. Thus, he secretly entered a cruel test of endurance.

When that drop of sweat entered his eye, he gave up the thought of entering the courtyard. Closing his eyes, he whistled distinctly and emptied his body of turbulent air. The large and small cycles in his body began to circulate wildly. Using the purest breath of Tyrannical zhenqi in his body, he abruptly shot backward.

In the dark night, dust flew up. With a bang, Fan Xian disappeared. Dissolving into a streak of wind, he quickly swept backward.

If the assassins had been any other people, they would probably not have been able to react in time to the circulation speed of Fan Xian’s Tyrannical zhenqi. They would have only watched as he frantically escaped. However, all of these assassins were ninth-level aces, goddamn ninth-level aces.

When Fan Xian closed his eyes, a streak of light sword qi came from his right. The tip of the sword glowed with a cold light and headed straight for his delicate eyelids.

Fan Xian spat out a breath onto the sword qi. The sword qi wobbled slightly, but it did not stop. Piercing downward, it headed toward his fragile throat. The sword did not move and pressed forward. It had the essence of Sigu Sword.

Fan Xian’s body trembled violently and disappeared into a puff of smoke. He relied on his powerful speed to forcefully leave behind the injury of the sword intent. At almost the same time, a normal metal sword quietly appeared behind him as he retreated.

Since Fan Xian was retreating quickly, the Sword Hut ace was not able to block his figure. But, a sword could. This common steel sword left the person’s hand and just happened to fly below the figure moving like lightning, drawing a line across Fan Xian’s left calf.

Fan Xian could not reduce his speed. Once he slowed down at all, he would be surrounded by the four ninth-level aces and have no chance of fighting his way out again.

The sword skills of the disciples of Dongyi’s Sword Hut were indeed incredible. The sword that flew out from his hand was able to precisely and ruthlessly slice toward Fan Xian’s calf amid a high-speed battle scenario. It appeared as if Fan Xian had, very stupidly, used his calf to slam toward the blade of the other person’s sword.

Fan Xian didn’t reduce his speed. Out of everyone’s expectations, his body twisted forcefully in midair. However, the angle of his movement was too small and had no have effect at all. In a flash, his calf ruthlessly struck against the sharp blade of the sword.

With a crisp dong, no one was able to describe their emotions. Fan Xian’s leg had not broken.

On the contrary, it was the mysterious sword blocking the way that seemed as if it had been struck by a heavy hammer. It fell abruptly to the ground and rolled away.

Fan Xian’s calf had been struck heavily. He flipped through the air. It resulted in him facing the darkness of the plum garden, the only gap for escape hidden in the darkness.

In front of the gap was an old plum tree. There were no flowers on the tree, only old branches like the long bears of dragons. It twisted and shook endlessly.

Fan Xian was charging toward the old plum tree as fast as he could. As long as he could pass the gap, he would be able to safely enter the darkness.

In the end, he underestimated the tricks of the Sword Hut warriors. Two of the four ninth-level swords had been used. The other two had already quietly and certainly calculated Fan Xian’s path of retreat and were in the darkness behind the old plum tree.

Charging toward the tree, Fan Xian’s eyes narrowed slightly. A cold light flashed through his eyes. He looked at the two green-clothed people behind the tree, as well as the two swords in their hands piercing slowly toward the trunk of tree.

The slowness was a misperception of time. At such a high-speed environment, it was difficult for a human to change what was going to happen.

The two swords appeared to be moving determinedly forward with great foolishness into the open air behind the tree. Fan Xian knew that these two swords were powerful and had found that spot with great accuracy. It was the spot where the tip of the sword would cross with Fan Xian’s body.

Given Fan Xian’s present Tyrannical martial methods and trajectory after forcefully increasing his speed, his unstoppable charge toward the old plum tree would certainly bring him into intimate contact with the tips of the two swords.

After thinking for a long time, in an instant it was like he was riding a white horse across the opening of an alley. The trunk of the solid old plum tree lay in front of Fan Xian. He made contact with it, making it become soft. It was as if a strip of steel had become soft enough to wrap around a finger

Fan Xian crashed toward the old plum tree. He pressed forward with his body against the old plum tree as he moved closer and closer to the tips of the two swords, which seemed to have found an empty spot in the plum garden.

No one was able to change any of this. In the next instant, Fan Xian would be pierced through the chest by these two remarkable swords. However, the old plum tree changed everything.

The body of the plum tree changed slightly. The tree bark on the back of the tree had been shattered by the two streaks of sword intent that were very close. Yet, it didn’t snap or shatter. It continued to block Fan Xian behind itself as if it didn’t want Fan Xian to suffer any injury.

The eyes of the two green-clothed disciples of the Sword Hut suddenly lit up like they were seeing something they had never before seen. The plum tree bent as far as wood could, yet it still did not break.

Fan Xian’s Tyrannical way was clearly very violent. Why did this plum tree still not break?

The tips of the sword gently landed on the body of the old plum tree. With two light puffs of sound, the sword intent followed the wood up and straight to Fan Xian’s heart meridian.

Fan Xian’s Tyrannical power had long stopped existing. He was like a leaf as he lay on the plum tree. It was like he had always been a part of the old plum tree.

Strangely, the plum tree bounced back and took with it the leaf-like Fan Xian. Coincidentally, it avoided the two strikes the green-clothed disciples of the Sword Hut had been readying for a long time.

After countless rustling sounds and under the onslaught of the two steel swords, the old plum tree became a sky full of shattered wood.

Among the sky ful of shattered wood, Fan Xian was already headed in the direction he had initially been facing. He flew out explosively. Dissolving into a grey dragon, he swept past the completely unprepared Sword Hut ace at the back like a flash of lightning. Ruthlessly, he smashed into the wood door of the courtyard and bounded into the room.

After the old plum tree had been shredded, the two green-clothed aces of the Sword Hut glanced at each other. A strange light flashed through their calm eyes. They knew who had come. Among the faint excitement, they couldn’t help but feel a powerful sense of admiration.

In the beginning, he was as tyrannical as wild thunder. Upon reaching the old plum tree and seeing the hidden sword, he became as soft as wind, gently stroking the trunk of the tree, moving with the flow, and dodging two sword attacks of the Sword Hut with remarkable skill. Using the power of the rebound, he immediately turned from the wind back into an explosive hurricane and unexpectedly crashed back into the courtyard Thirteenth Wang lived in.

The Sword Hut warriors waiting in ambush all thought Fan Xian wanted to escape. No one expected that his retreat, which he had charged for a long time, was in preparation for breaking into the courtyard. No one thought that faced with the ambush of four ninth-level aces from the Sword Hut, Fan Xian would have the courage to not retreat.

To be able to make such a complicated calculation within such a short amount of time and to even consider the old plum tree in the path of his retreat and reactions the Sword Hut aces might make, Fan Xian’s simple retreat and push contained an untold amount of life and death experience when faced with enemies, as well as determination.

What shocked the aces of the Sword Hut the most, and what they admired the most was, Fan Xian’s ease in circulation, his casual release and withdraw in changing the nature of his zhenqi. If Fan Xian did not have such an incredible power, when he first came into contact with the old plum tree, he would have broken through the tree and landed among the two swords.

In this world, no one had ever been able to cultivate two styles of zhenqi that were so vastly different but each at the peak of their category, let alone to be able to change between them with such naturalness and ease as Fan Xian.

The two green-clothed aces looked at each other and saw the shock and admiration in each other’s eyes. In this world, only Sir Fan junior had cultivated the Qing Emperor’s Tyrannical method and the natural way of Northern Qi’s Tianyi Dao at the same time.

The aces in Dongyi had known of this for a long time. Even they had not thought Fan Xian would be able to execute both of them in an instant and catch all of the warriors by surprise as he cleverly found a gap.

Only Fan Xian, that one strange person in the world, had both a large and small circulation.

…

…

Fan Xian crashed into the courtyard and charged into the back room. He saw Thirteenth Wang sitting cross-legged on the bed with a sallow complexion and deeply sunken and spiritless eyes. It was clear that Thirteenth Wang had been poisoned. For some reason, seeing this scene made Fan Xian angry.

Like a gust of wind, he charged to the side of the bed and stabbed a finger on his right hand toward the woman holding a sword to his throat.

Fan Xian charged in too quickly. It was clear the woman had not expected that with five senior disciples going out at the same time, they would still be unable to kill the enemy who had come. On the contrary, they had allowed the other party to charge into the inner garden. With her face full of shock and confusion, she had no time to react. She watched as Fan Xian’s extreme severe attack moved straight toward her vital area and prepared for imminent death.

It was right at this moment that a sliver of bitter pain flashed through Thirteenth Wang’s eyes.

Fan Xian’s expression did not change, but his heart darkened slightly. Pulling back his finger slightly, he moved it to the side and struck against the left side of the female disciple’s chest.

The female disciple gave a muffled groan and fell onto the bed, unconscious.

There was no time to say anything. There were still ninth-level aces from Sigu Jian’s Sword Hut pursuing him. Fan Xian did not ask why Thirteenth Wang had been poisoned. He only picked up him silently and pushed off viciously from the bed.

With a crash, the large carved wooden bed collapsed. Fan Xian’s figure charged out the direction he had come from, toward the courtyard. A retreat, an advance, and another retreat. The three directions Fan Xian choice to move in were strange and completely did not adhere to common sense. They also completely surprised the Sword Hut aces.

The four ninth-level warriors from the Sword Hut saw Fan Xian enter the courtyard. Filled with caution, respectful admiration, and anger, they decided that he would certainly take their younger brother disciple and break through the back wall of the courtyard to escape. They did not expect for Fan Xian to stupidly charge out of the front doors carrying Thirteenth Wang.

Three of the ninth-level warriors and the eighth-level warrior had already flown up like large birds toward the direction of the courtyard. It was imperative that they stopped Fan Xian’s progress.

As they were in midair, they found, with shock, that Fan Xian had just passed by them on the ground and was charging toward the plum garden.

The green-clothed swordsman greatly skilled with the sword jumped with surprise at this sight and gave a loud hiss. Relying on his brilliant cultivation, he forced himself to turn in midair. His feet kicked against the bright moon in the sky. His entire body drew an arch through the air and shot down toward Fan Xian’s back. He was worried about Thirteenth Wang on Fan Xian’s back, so the tip of his sword was aimed at the back of Fan Xian’s head.

Pushing off against the moon and flying through the air, this strike appeared at ease and casual.

Outside the front door of the courtyard, there was another green-clothed swordsman holding his sword with both his hands. His expression was solemn. His elbows poked out slightly to hold the sword upright. He stabbed straight toward Fan Xian’s face.

It was still these two green-clothed swordsmen and Fan Xian. Suddenly, it had become one green-clothed swordsman in front of him and one behind him, catching Fan Xian in a pincer.

Fan Xian lowered his head and charged forward like he did not care about the sword coming toward the back of his head. His eyes were focused ruthlessly on the green-clothed swordsman in front of the door. It was as if he wanted to kill him using just his gaze.

Suddenly, a strange change happened.

Fan Xian’s footsteps landed like metal hammers on the ground. Each step that landed kicked up a puff of smoke. In just a moment, smoke and fog filled the space in front of the courtyard and plum garden. It completely enveloped him and the green-clothed swordsman in front of the door.

The green-clothed swordsman coming down behind him suddenly realized that Fan Xian’s body seemed to be slightly shadowy. He still didn’t panic. He continued to pierce down with his sword. Suddenly, he felt his left eyelid twitch strangely, as if feeling a great fear.

There was an extra shadow below the moonlight. Was it his own shadow?

Fan Xian charged into the smoke and fog. The black dagger in his hand was throwing off scattered sword light. The green-clothed swordsman in the smoke still had his sword in hand. The sword light was scattered. Each of them only watched what was in front and not what was behind. They each executed their sword intent. A glimpse of panic suddenly flashed through the eyes of the green-clothed swordsman as a deep cut appeared below his armpit. The man didn’t know why his heart suddenly panicked. He allowed Fan Xian to charge by.

A shadow floated across the sky. The other green-clothed swordsman let out a sharp whistle. Forcefully shaking off the power from the moon, he chopped down with his sword and landed on empty air. Immediately after, he felt a chill on the left side of his chest. His zhenqi immediately dispersed. Immense pain shot through his body as he fell to the floor.

…

…

The smoke and fog dissipated. The four ninth-level disciples of the Sword Hut met in front of the plum garden. Two had been hurt, and two stood in a daze, looking at the flat and empty land in front of the courtyard. For a long time, no one knew what to say.

No one had thought that the two ninth-level swordsmen that were the pride of the Sword Hut would both be injured by the other party’s sword in one move. They believed that even if Yun Zhilan had personally attacked, or if their young brother disciple had not been poisoned, they could still not use one move to injure them.

“What happened?” One of the ninth-level aces looked with astonishment at his third and fourth brother disciple sitting on the ground.

Those two green-clothed swordsmen were the third and fourth brother disciples of the Sword Hut who had the deepest cultivations. The Sword Hut had 13 disciples, 12 of them were in the ninth-level. Among them, the third and fourth brother disciples were the most excellent. No matter what, they did not believe what they had seen.

The third disciple of the Sword Hut had received a small wound on his armpit from Fan Xian’s black dagger. It was not a big deal, but he had lost his concentration. This allowed Fan Xian to escape with Thirteenth Wang on his back. However, the fourth disciple had been injured more heavily. He had been pierced through the chest by a sword. Fortunately, it had not pierced his heart. But, it appeared terrifying as blood poured down.

The two green-clothed swordsmen once again met each other’s eyes. This time, there was no longer admiration of Fan Xian’s strength in their eyes. It was pure fear.

“The smoke was poisonous.”

They still had a huge secret they hadn’t said. Sir Fan junior of the Southern court was a master of poisons. The Dongyi faction knew this. Even if Fan Xian’s pause to lay out the poison was a clever trick, the third disciple of the Sword Hut should not have lost to him in just one move.

Although the fourth disciple of the Sword Hut, who had kicked off from the moon and learned Sigu Jian’s exquisite feint, had been suddenly attacked by that assassin hidden in the shadows by the door of the courtyard, he shouldn’t have been so injured.

Two of the green-clothed swordsmen slowly lowered their heads to digest the shock in their hearts. They knew this matter was big. They had to report it to their master. Their earlier loss was not completely in terms of strength. One strike from the shadow had shocked them completely.

Fan Xian of the Southern court knew where Sigu Jian’s secret base was. The assassin hidden in the darkness had used the most authentic Sigu Sword. Furthermore, the sword intent was more severe and bloodthirsty.