Wen Jieyuan bore down on him, putting on airs.
Su Yi just swept his gaze across the courtyard, and when he saw that nothing was damaged, he said lightly, “It’s true that quite a few strange things happened here last night, but… What does that have to do with you?”
Wen Jieyuan’s?brow?scrunched up, and he laughed, “Su Yi, you wretch of a live-in son-in-law, you’ve only managed the Apricot Clinic for one day, yet your temper’s already grown this much?”
The guards laughed coldly along with him.?They worked for the Wen Family. Over the past year, who among them hadn’t heard how worthless and pathetic Su Yi was?
They didn’t take him the least bit seriously!
Wen Jieyuan continued disdainfully, “Or is that you think, as her ‘husband’, you can take advantage of Lingzhao becoming a Grandmaster’s disciple to improve your situation?
“Let me tell you: even if I killed you here and now, Cousin Lingzhao wouldn’t avenge you!” As he said this, there was a hint of pity in his gaze.
Su Yi’s expression only grew calmer. Suddenly, he asked, “Do you know Wu Ruoqiu?”
Wen Jieyuan was suddenly serious. “Did you meet that wandering Daoist last night?”
Su Yi instantly understood. “Just as I thought. You and your father have long since known about the courtyard’s dangers. Had anyone else spent the night here, I’m afraid they’d have died already.”
Wen Jieyuan fell silent. Suddenly, he burst into laughter, a strange look in his eyes. “Su Yi, you were supposed to die last night, but then, it’s not too late.”
He waved, his voice cold and indifferent. “Kill him!”
“Yes, sir!” The guards scattered throughout the courtyard responded immediately, surrounding Su Yi, their gazes icy and murderous.?“My apologies, ‘Young Master’!”
Clang!
A short but bulky man drew his iron shortsword, then launched himself off the ground like an arrow?loosed?from its bowstring. He hurtled straight towards Su Yi’s back.
The shortsword slashed a perfectly vertical streak of sword light, fast as lightning.
Su Yi didn’t so much as shift positions, but his sheathed sword whipped behind him.
The sheath slammed into the short, bulky man’s chest when the shortsword was just half a foot from Su Yi’s back.
Crunch!
The attack looked casual, but it was incomparably overbearing. The stocky guard’s ribs shattered and his chest caved in.
He screamed in agony, but before he could react, the sheath rose and slammed into his neck.
The Blood Circulation Realm, Refining Muscle Stage elite guard fell, knees slamming to the ground with a thud, his neck broken and his head hanging limply. He breathed no more.
It happened in an instant, and throughout the entire process, the sword never left its sheath, nor did Su Yi turn to face his foe. He’d killed him facing the opposite direction, without even looking at him!
Everyone in the courtyard was horrified.
“That cripple recovered his cultivation!?” Standing beside the well, Wen Jieyuan’s expression darkened.
A year ago, the Sword Chief of Blueriver Sword Manor’s outer sect, Su Yi, lost his cultivation, then married into a Wen Family as a cripple. Everyone in Guangling City knew that.
Yet now, Su Yi had effortlessly slaughtered a Blood Circulation Realm cultivator!
“All of you, attack at once!” The man in black shouted coldly. He was the captain of this group of guards. He was tall and lean, and his eyes flashed. He’d been immersed in the “Refining Sinew” stage for a long time, and he had ample combat experience.
Even as he gave his orders, he led the way forward. He raised a three-foot mace over his head and swung.
Whoosh!
Fierce winds tore through the air with an ear-piercing howl.
The other seven guards raised axes, blades, tridents, and various other weapons, then charged as one.
Based purely on the murderous intent emanating from them, it was obvious that they were ruthless and long accustomed to bloodshed.
Although he was surrounded, Su Yi gazed only at his sword. He whispered, “Alright then. Today, I’ll baptize you in their blood.”
Even as his whisper echoed throughout the courtyard….
Clang!
A streak of sword light shot forth, and the sword, its blade as dark as night and gleaming with faint purple hues, rose into the air. The metal hummed, as if clamoring for a feast of fresh blood.
The sword was called “Mortal Edge.” The name came from the phrase “I enter the mortal world and sharpen my heart like the edge of my blade.”
Clang!
Mortal Edge’s sword light swept across the man in black’s mace, which cracked, then split in half as if it were made of tofu.
The sword’s edge was far too sharp and despotic!
One swing of the blade, and he cut through both the mace and its wielder’s right arm. A waterfall of blood gushed from the stump, bright red and piping hot.
The man let out a low grunt and retreated in terror, only to see an incomparably bloody scene play out before him.
Su Yi’s sleeves billowed. He gripped his sword, glanced to the sides like a fallen immortal, and struck six times in rapid succession.
Cut, stab, sweep, slice, burst, split!
Every swing of his sword was fast as the wind and destructive as fire. The scattered attacks were unrestrained, as ethereal as lightning and fleeting as light.
Su Yi resembled a cyclone towering into the nine heavens, wanton and unbridled.
Thud!
One of the guards collapsed, eyes wide with shock, a bloody hole through his throat.
Splurt!
Another guard’s head flew from his shoulders and into the air, his face a mask of lingering terror.
A rapid series of collisions and muffled thuds followed. Some of the guards were hacked to pieces. Others had their throats cut or their chests sliced open….
Fresh blood burst like a display of bright red fireworks, beautiful yet violent, blooming in the skies above the courtyard.
When Su Yi stopped and lowered his sword, everyone but the black-robed captain and Wen Jieyuan had perished. Blood flowed like a river.
This was just like the silence following a sudden crack of thunder.
Su Yi just stood there, as calm as ever, sword in hand, utterly at ease. The blade was as dark as the night, and it dripped with blood.
He stood surrounded by seven fresh, still-bleeding corpses, a bloody spectacle.
“That… What kind of sword technique is that?” The black-robed man was shocked out of his wits. He was dazed, and his eyes were bewildered; he was completely intimidated.
Wen Jieyuan was stunned too. He trembled in both terror and fury, and his eyes filled with disbelief.
“If you nourish your sword with slaughter, it grows ferocious. If you temper it in blood, it develops a baleful aura. It’s best to polish your sword with your Dao Heart. But then, although Mortal Edge has a hint of spirituality, it’s ultimately just a mortal weapon. The taint of bloodlust won’t harm it.”
Su Yi glanced at Mortal Edge, then at Wen Jieyuan. “You’re an ‘esteemed disciple’ of the Wen Family,” he said flatly. “Don’t you dare fight me?”
Wen Jieyuan felt a chill course through him.
He was only in the Blood Circulation Realm’s Refining Muscle stage, and he’d been pampered from a young age. He’d never seen such a bloody spectacle in his life, and he was already scared out of his mind.
“Young Master, run! Hurry!” Suddenly, the nearby man in black shouted, pulled out a crossbow, and aimed it at Su Yi.
Whoosh!
A bolt shot out like lightning, its glint bitingly sharp.
Su Yi shifted to the side, dodging with just three inches between the bolt and his throat. The point thudded into the courtyard’s walls, leaving a deep hole and scattering fragments of stone.
From this, it was clear how powerful the bolt was!
Wen Jieyuan had already come to his senses, and he seized this opportunity to flee the courtyard.
The man in black held his crossbow and rewound it, pulling the trigger and loosing one bolt after another.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
The sharp points stirred up howling winds as they shot through the air in rapid succession, straight towards Su Yi, as concentrated as a downpour.
Su Yi didn’t retreat. Instead, he advanced, flickering and shifting, allowing the bolts to slip right past him.
He was already at the Refining Sinew stage. He moved like an arrow and landed as gently as the wind, nimble as could be. 𝚍ｏ𝚟𝚕.ｏｒｇ
Even though he walked amidst a rain of projectiles, he seemed calm and composed, dodging each incoming bolt by a hair.
In the blink of an eye, he arrived before the man in black, entirely uninjured, not even a single hair out of place.
“If you do this, you’ll only hurt yourself!” The man in black shouted. He’d already used up all his bolts, and as Su Yi drew near, he couldn’t help but despair.
Strong!
Too strong!
So strong that even a Refining Sinew expert like him felt terror and helplessness rise from deep within his heart.
“You saved your master out of loyalty. That’s worthy of praise, so I’ll give you a clean death.” With that, the tip of Su Yi’s sword flashed.
Splurt!
The sword went straight through the man’s chest, destroying his heart.
In the last moments before his death, he couldn’t believe how fast and efficient Su Yi’s movements were. It seemed he wasn’t the least bit concerned about how grave the consequences of his actions might be.
The man in black thudded to the ground and collapsed in a puddle of blood.
But Su Yi had already fixed his gaze elsewhere.
Wen Jieyuan had already reached the gates, as frantic and terrified as a dog after losing its master.
How could Su Yi let him escape so easily?
With a flick of his toes, a shortsword flew into the air and landed in his palm.?His arms surged with power, and he flung it.
Swoosh!
The shortsword flew like an arrow, fast and ruthless as lightning, then sunk straight into Wen Jieyuan’s back.?The combination of agonizing pain and overwhelming terror put Wen Jieyuan on the verge of collapse.
“If I’d known this would happen, I wouldn’t have had them lock the gates….” Wen Jieyuan’s?expression filled?with despair.
But it was then that—
Someone opened the gates from the outside, and a group appeared just beyond the courtyard.
The leader was a hulking, mountainous figure in armor and warrior’s robes. When he opened his eyes, they seemed to crackle with electricity.
This was none other than the commander of the city lord’s guards, Nie Beihu.
“Commander Nie, save me!” Wen Jieyuan had only just despaired, but now, he was mad with delight. He screamed for help, like a drowning man clutching at straws.
“This….” Nie Beihu’s gaze swept across the courtyard. The sight of so many fresh, bloodied corpses surprised even him. His expression shifted, and he sucked in a cold breath of air.
Huang Qianjun and a group of guards had followed him in, and the bloody spectacle shocked them, too. Their nerves went taut.
Then, their gazes landed on the solitary figure standing amidst the carnage: Su Yi.
They couldn’t calm down. It was obvious to all of them that he was responsible for all this bloodshed!
“Commander Nie, hurry! Hurry and capture that villain Su Yi! He’s on a murderous rampage. He killed all my attendants, and he wants to kill me too!” Wen Jieyuan cried out, both bitter and frantic.
He’d been at the banquet a few days ago, and he saw Nie Beihu and Fu Shan make an appearance. He instinctively assumed that since Nie Beihu was on good terms with the Wen Family, he’d back him up.
But what happened next left him stunned.
Nie Biehu suddenly came to his senses, clasped his fist, and greeted Su Yi. “I apologize for my late arrival, Young Lord Su, and humbly request your forgiveness.”
“Commander Nie, you… How could you….” Wen Jieyuan felt as if he’d been struck by lightning. He was tongue-tied, and his eyes bulged. He was too shocked to even speak properly.
Nie Beihu ignored him, his expression indifferent. He just looked at Su Yi with utter respect.
Su Yi furrowed his brow, then glanced at Huang Qianjun. “Did you invite Commander Nie here?”
Huang Qianjun froze. He could tell that Su Yi was displeased, and he broke into cold sweats.?He wanted to explain, but in the end, he could only lower his head and grimace. “Yes.”