Chapter 164 - 100: All Living Beings’ Fortune
Chapter 164: Chapter 100: All Living Beings’ Fortune
"Tell me what wrongs you’ve suffered."
Su Chen stepped onto the Beheading Platform and brushed aside Huzi’s tangled hair. A sudden tremor ran through his hand; he was looking at two bloody, empty eye sockets.
Someone had enacted their own brutal justice.
His eyes had been gouged out before the execution.
It was, without a doubt, Huzi.
It had been three short years since they last parted in the Ninth Year of Xuanlong. Now, in the Eleventh, the once young and robust Huzi seemed to have weathered a lifetime of hardship, having aged more than a decade.
His hair had grayed prematurely, his face was a mask of hardship, and his body was covered in countless old scars. Even though he had lost his eyes, one could feel the pain emanating from the hollow sockets.
"What in the world... happened?"
Su Chen’s voice trembled.
He had the unnerving feeling that Great Liang had become utterly foreign to him. Or perhaps, having been secluded deep within the palace for so long, he had never truly known the Great Liang Dynasty at all.
"Get down from there at once!"
"You lowly commoner! This is the Beheading Platform, where we execute vile criminals! We act with the authority of the Court! If you don’t get the hell down, we’ll execute you right alongside him!"
Atop the platform, the Executioner in the Blue Robe roared in fury. He pointed at Su Chen and cursed at the surrounding Imperial Guard.
"What are you gawking at?"
"Hurry up and drag this man down!"
Dozens of Imperial Guards had the Beheading Platform surrounded, leaving no way through. But they merely exchanged bewildered glances.
’When did this man get through the crowd and onto the Beheading Platform? We didn’t notice a thing.’
’Damn!’
’He’s actually a master of cultivation.’
’But... there’s a limit to how powerful he could be.’
"Friend, you don’t want to make an enemy of the Court. Even if this death-row prisoner is your friend, you’d be wise to think about your own life."
A cold sneer was heard.
Among the dozens of Imperial Guards, one man wearing Golden Armor and carrying a Long Saber stepped forward. His eyes were cold as he patted Su Chen’s shoulder, a gesture full of menace.
An aura of True Essence surged from his body.
This was a True Essence Minor Grandmaster.
Here in the Imperial City, with the Grandmasters of the Celestial Alliance in seclusion and the Qi Cultivation Immortals never making an appearance, the lofty Grandmasters were far removed from daily life. As a result, True Essence Minor Grandmasters had become the strongest power one might encounter in the Human World.
He was powerful, to be sure.
But compared to Su Chen, he wasn’t powerful enough.
"Tell me."
Su Chen paid him no mind, his eyes fixed on Huzi.
He wanted to know what had truly happened all these years.
"Xuu..."
"I don’t know you."
"Get lost!"
Huzi had clearly recognized Su Chen as Doctor Xuu from the Imperial City Medical Clinic—the man who had once saved his life.
But his lips trembled for only a moment before he caught himself, refusing to acknowledge Su Chen.
Perhaps he felt the trouble he was in was too immense and refused to implicate Doctor Xuu.
Doctor Xuu was just an ordinary doctor at the Imperial City Medical Clinic.
He himself, a Second-Grade cultivator, couldn’t withstand the darkness of the Imperial City. He saw no hope, couldn’t wait for a brighter day, and could only trade his life to ensure one accomplice met their end.
"Tell me."
Su Chen repeated his words.
’Who is this guy?’
’Could he be someone from the Cao Gang?’
The Executioner muttered anxiously, pacing back and forth. He was furious that the nobleman involved had forgotten to have the Killing Fisherman’s tongue cut out.
’Make your move!’
The Executioner couldn’t command the Junior Grandmaster of the Imperial Guard, but he could still command the other Executioner. He gave the man a look, signaling him to act.
"Enough!"
"Get off the platform!"
The Executioner, long since out of patience, swung his great blade directly at Su Chen.
The Executioners on the Beheading Platform were all Cultivs; otherwise, they wouldn’t be able to swing a blade weighing hundreds of pounds, let alone execute villainous Cultivs.
He was a cultivator at the Second Grade.
His power was more than enough to execute this Killing Fisherman.
BOOM!
The great blade struck Su Chen.
"Hahaha!"
"Looks like I get an extra execution today."
The Executioner grinned ferociously.
BANG!
The next instant, the great blade struck Su Chen’s body as if hitting solid iron. It shattered with a deafening bang, and a terrifying rebound force surged back along the weapon.
"No!"
The Executioner’s face filled with horror, but before he could react...
SPLAT!
...his entire body exploded into a bloody mist.
"Th-this..."
The Executioner in the Blue Robe was frozen in terror.
"You’re a Junior Grandmaster, too?"
"Interesting."
"No wonder you’re so arrogant."
"But if you dare defy the authority of the Court, your fate will be the same as his—a prisoner in chains..."
Far from being alarmed, the Imperial Guard’s Junior Grandmaster was delighted. He finally made his move. Intent erupted from within him, and the swirling wind and snow bent to his will, coalescing into a sixteen-foot sword.
This was the Will of Heaven and Earth.
For a First Grade, he wasn’t weak. He had stepped into the Peak of his realm, and it was even hoped he might one day reach the First-Grade Peak.
"This is..."
"Hiss!"
"Could he be a disciple of the Wind Snow Sword Immortal...?"
Below the Beheading Platform, the crowd stared in awe at the sixteen-foot sword formed from wind and snow.
"Hahaha!"
The Imperial Guard’s Junior Grandmaster gloated, clearly reveling in the awe and reverence of the crowd.
He was quite pleased with himself as well.
His only regret was never having had the chance to meet the Wind Snow Sword Immortal.
’Otherwise,’ he thought, ’since we both comprehend the Wind Snow True Intent, a First-Grade Junior Grandmaster like me might have had a chance to become the Wind Snow Sword Immortal’s disciple.’
"Begone."
Su Chen uttered a single word.
Instantly, the winds reversed their course, and the very color drained from the sky.
The gently drifting snow instantly became a frantic, raging storm.
"What’s happening?"
"No!"
The Imperial Guard Junior Grandmaster’s expression changed dramatically. He felt his control over his condensed Wind Snow True Intent slipping away; the sixteen-foot sword was turning to strike him.
And that was, in fact, exactly what was happening.
In the presence of the true Master of wind and snow, this paltry True Intent had long since switched its allegiance and submitted, despite the fact that its power originated from the other man.
BOOM!
The Imperial Guard’s Junior Grandmaster coughed up blood as he was sent flying backward, knocked clean off the platform. His chest armor was shattered, and the flesh of his wound was instantly covered by a layer of frost.
At that moment, he vaguely understood something.
「Below the Beheading Platform.」
He stared up in disbelief at the figure standing tall on the Beheading Platform amidst the raging snow. He finally understood.