Chapter 200: It doesn't matter
Translator: Translation Nation Editor: Translation Nation
Elder Liu walked out and noticed that the heavy rain had subsided, turning into a light drizzle. He looked around his surroundings and sighed, "What a nicely designed building, but half of it has been burnt down."
"That's something that can't be helped." Someone replied.
Many other buildings around were on fire. Although the rain had reduced some fires, most of the buildings had already been completely razed down. The walls of those buildings which were still standing were charred black. Many burnt corpses were scattered all around.
Elder Liu was feeling regretful at the destruction of such nicely constructed buildings, as he subtly instructed some men to check out the condition of the men. Several men had gone and just returned at this point, "We've suffered great losses this time!"
"Yes, the first wave itself saw us losing more than ten men, with no enemy being killed. Thankfully their Dao capabilities were reduced earlier on by the weakening of their Paradise. But after that, the fighting started to get intense and we lost many more men."
"Thankfully Elder intentionally held his men back, and we managed to reduce the death toll."
"Most of them had fled into the dark underground tunnels. When we finally take over the main hall, we should then surround the underground tunnels before killing them all." Elder Liu frowned before breaking out in laughter. "Do they actually think they can escape?"
Just as he spoke out, he stepped on a hand of a corpse, causing blood to spurt out across his robes. He paused, clearly taken aback and decided to wipe the blood on the robes of the dead corpse. At this point another corpse next to him jumped out, and swung his sword.
Elder Liu’s reaction was extremely fast as well. He squeezed a ring on his finger, where a ray of white light shot out and transformed into a protective shield. However, Elder Liu was still force to retreat due to the ferocity of his enemy.
At the next moment, a loud "pu" was heard. A sword stabbed right into Elder Liu’s chest and exited out of his back. Elder Liu gasped like a fish, all the while loud mouthfuls of blood were spilling out. He looked at his killer wide eyed, in disbelief before falling to the ground, breathing his last. His of eyes remained open in shock even in death.
"Ah!"
Everyone around screamed out in shock and reacted after several seconds of being shock. "Quick, kill this man and avenge our Elder. Kill him!"
An entire group of people were shouting as they charged towards Pei Zi Yun. Pei Zi Yun watched calmly before he moved as quick as lightning and reappeared beside someone. Such speed was actually a sort of Dao arts, causing himself to become lighter and more nimble, with faster reflexes. The swordsman he appeared beside sensed danger as he raised his sword to block the oncoming blow.
"Pu" A sound could be heard as the both of them exchanged multiple strikes at each other, their swords sending rays of reflection everywhere. All of a sudden, the swordsman felt a a heavy crushing feeling upon his body and fell over. Without speaking another word or hesitating, Pei Zi Yun stabbed him, destroying his internal organs. While the swordsman was screaming in agony, another person inched nearer and drew his sword.
Pei Zi Yun moved with extreme agility as he dodged the blow before returning with such a forceful and lethal strike. The second swordsman felt a sharp pain in his chest before falling to the ground.
In such a short span of time, a pair of swordsmen had been slain by Pei Zi Yun. Everyone around felt a chill in their hearts. Pei Zi Yun didn’t even bother looking at his fallen victims as he charged at the rest of them. Several more fighters didn’t even have time to escape and had no choice but to engage in battle. With just a blink of their eyes, four fast moving rays of sword reflections moved past them, as they held their ground and defended themselves.
Pei Zi Yun flicked his wrists, as his sword spun in the air, making a sharp whooshing sound as he drew a long line in the air. In the next second, the four swordsmen around him felt their hands turn numb as they started shaking in fear before retreating.
His sword moved in faster than them. He slid his sword in a circular movement, slashing across all their chests. The four of them gave groans of pain as they flew back from the impact of the slash. At this point, Pei Zi Yun sensed danger and hurriedly stepped to the side.
Where he stood several seconds ago, a ring of vines and canes converged together as it shot high up into the sky.
At this point, someone from behind dashed out at Pei Zi Yun, with a sword in his hands, intending to take Pei Zi Yun’s life. There was a loud "zhng" as their swords entwined. Pei Zi Yun’s body shook a little from the impact, which caused the swordsman to be startled. He then shouted out loudly, "Hurry kill him now. He’s been fighting many battles and his strength has been reduced by more than half. He won’t be able to hold out for much longer!"
"Is that so?" Following those words, Pei Zi Yun moved in a terrifying speed and brought his sword down. The swordsman felt like he was actually looking at a bolt of lightning, and knew he would be unable to dodge this blow, and thus raised his sword to defend himself.
However, he didn’t manage to block the blow. Fresh blood spouted out, as he gave a cry of pain and fell to his knees.
"Pu!" A single arrow shot across, which Pei Zi Yun dodged. He felt a certain chilliness on his back, as he rolled once again nimbly to the back of a huge boulder. Pei Zi Yun then started panting vigorously, trying to recover his strengths as soon as he could. In all truth, Pei Zi Yun had been killing relentless the entire night, and was rather exhausted as well.
"Pei Zi Yun, although you killed an Elder, I can give you an opportunity to fight in fair combat. You can count on the prestige of Dark Altar Sect to know I won’t lie to you." A swordsman walked out as he spoke, as he signalled for the Daoists around to prepare their spells and for the archers to prepare their bows.
"Pei Zi Yun, do you really think a mere boulder is going to save you?" The swordsman stepped forward and saw that an entire bunch of vines had appeared on the group before him. The vines then wrapped itself around the boulder and hoisted it up in the air.
"There’s nobody?" The swordsman was alarmed as he looked around warily. As he took several steps, he shouted out, "Pei Zi Yun look around. Your sect’s mountain has been destroyed by us, and you’re still thinking of hiding. Where will you hide?"
"If not, you can cast your support for Dark Altar Sect and join us. I believe that with your powers, you can definitely become a Core Disciple in our sect easily. That’s a much better alternative compared to dying in battle right?"
"We are all Daoists, and cultivation is difficult. Isn’t everything just for longevity and immortal lives?"
"But if you die, you shall get nothing out of all these years of cultivation."
The night was dark and visibility was poor. Pei Zi Yun gave a cold laughter and hid behind a boulder further away. He secretly observed the archers and Daoists which were hiding some distance away. Although he couldn't actually see the archers themselves, he could see light reflected off the shiny points on the arrows. Based on the angle of the elevation on the arrowheads, he had a rough estimation of the archers’ positions. It was slightly harder to predict where the Daoists were hiding however, as they were well concealed.
Any other ordinary day, killing these people would be only too easy. But with his current condition, he was under fire threat. Thinking this way, he shifted position stealthily, and moved as nimbly as a cat.
"Something isn't right." A swordsman thought out to himself when he shouted out, "Be careful of a stealth attack!"
The minute he spoke out, he realized that he had just given away the position of the archers around him. He then hurriedly shouted out, "Ji Yuan, be careful! He's coming towards you…."
Hearing the swordsman’s words, an archer some distance away hurriedly scrambled to his feet, trying to flee. Pei Zi Yun’s shadow descended down upon him, and slashed at him.
In the moment between life or death, the archer threw down his bow and drew a sword from his side. However, Pei Zi Yun was clearly much faster. He felt a certain coldness bite down in his chest. It wasn't even painful. He felt his entire body turn numb as he groaned and collapsed to the ground.
All of a sudden, several large vines wrapped themselves around Pei Zi Yun, constructing him. The minute the vines touched him, he moved like the speed of lightning and picked up the bow on the ground. With a "xiu" he shot an arrow into the darkness. The next sound that was heard was the anguished cry of a Daoist.
The Daoist struggled to stand up, before he collapsed again.
"You're the only one left. Go to hell!" The minute the Daoist died, the vines around Pei Zi Yun relaxed their grips. Pei Zi Yun wrestled the vines off his body before swiftly picking up the bow and letting another arrow loose, which the victim responded with a loud groan.
Another fighter advanced upon him, which led to the sounds of sword clanging against sword. The minute the sounds ceased, it was replaced by a loud gurgling sound. Pei Zi Yun had stabbed him in the throats soundlessly. The fighter wobbled for several moments before falling to the ground.
"So what if you have the advantage of high ground! I've already killed eleven or twelve of you huh?" Pei Zi Yun stood up straight as he panted. He then fished out a vial from his robes. "Fortunately I still have several pills left from the last time. I can use it to give me a boost."
As he mumbled under his breath, he emptied the vial onto his palms before swallowing all three pills. He then looked across at the grand hall, which still had the sounds of killing emanating from it. "Actually I doubt there are many more enemy surrounding the hall."
"Our forces outside should combine with those inside to kill them all."
"Junior brother Pei, is that you?" At that time someone asked.
"Who’s that, Zhang Yun is that you?" Someone wormed out of the adjacent hall. This hall had been wrecked, half of it was close to crumbling. Broken fragments of glass lay strewn across the entire area.
They both looked at each other before Pei Zi Yun asked, "What's the matter?"
Hearing the killing sounds increase in ferocity once more, Zhang Yun hurriedly spoke out in whispers, "There are tens of them surrounding our main Patriarch Hall, trying to kill their way in. Since we have a secret underground tunnel within the main hall, I've escorted several injured disciples, and others who were unable to fight."
"Chu Xia is among them."
"How many more people are there within the hall?" Pei Zi Yun interrupted him.
"For people who are able to fight, we have only nine left. We have dozens more who are wounded or unable to fight. They are all down within the tunnels. However the tunnels doesn't lead far away, and only goes a short distance.
"I understand!" Pei Zi Yun looked down and knew, "There are not more than thirty enemy left. The difference in our skill level is not very wide as well. It doesn’t matter if you’re slightly injured. As long as you can hold onto a bow, that would be enough."
"Go down, and gather all the remaining disciples who are strong enough to hold onto a bow."
"I will look around and search for arrows which had been fired."
"Alright!" Zhang Yun was immediately convinced by Pei Zi Yun’s stern tone and voice and hurriedly replied. He squeezed back under the secret passage and returned before long with a dozen people. Each one of them were injured, and some were even bleeding.
"The enemy has surrounded the Patriarch’s Hall. It seems like they have to break into the hall in order to destroy Paradise, probably due to some link. If not they wouldn’t have surrounded the Patriarch’s Hall, dying to get through. We have to kill all of them."
"Everyone pick up a bow and some arrows. Quick, I’ve just killed an Elder on the other side. But they will find out soon enough and react accordingly."
"We should work together and shoot arrows to kill them. The rest of those men won’t be able to react fast enough to avoid the arrows. They also won’t expect us to attack from behind, since they assume that everyone is now hiding inside the hall."
Pei Zi Yun gave the orders coldly, "I just need everyone to shoot three arrows each. Leave the rest to me and senior brother Zhang."
"Besides, once we start attacking from outside, the rest of them inside would react accordingly. We are not alone. Come, let’s go now. Kill!"
"Yes!"
"Boom boom boom!" Several large wooden logs were used to hit against the door, trying to break it down. Although there were spells within the hall preventing the door from collapsing, there were several cracks on it. A Daoist burst out in laughter, "Looks like Free Cloud Sect’s Patriarch Hall isn’t going to hold up for much longer. The people inside must be tired at this point, let’s kill them."
"Everyone ready!" Following the orders, the rest of the fighters, swordsmen and Daoists fixed their eyes on the large wooden door. They accumulated all their energy and were ready to break down the door and overwhelm everyone within.
At this point, they heard an emotionless order, "Release!"
"The door hasn’t been broken down, who would anyhow give such an order?" The Daoist thought to himself. At this point the sound of arrows whizzing through the air could be heard. The entire sky was filled with arrows as it rained down upon them. Seven or eight people screamed out in pain, including a Daoist as they fell to the ground.
"We’re under attack!
"Release again!" Another barrage of arrows rained down upon them. This time, only five or six people screamed out in agony from being struck. Another wave of people fell and died.
"Last round!" Ten arrows fired into the air, killing three or four more enemies.
Shooting arrows required quite a tremendous amount of energy. Most of the people firing arrows had wounds which split open as they exerted strength on their bows. Fresh blood spilled out from their wounds, as they ran out of energy, unable to fire more arrows. At this point, Pei Zi Yun let out a huge roar as he took Zhang Yun and charged in.
The nearest fighter pulled out a blade and slashed wildy and fiercely at Pei Zi Yun. However, it didn’t do any damage to him. He dodged the blow deftly before the gleam of his sword could be seen. Blood spurted out from the fighter like a fountain as he fell over.
Pei Zi Yun charged through like a sharp sword as he slashed his way to the middle. He didn’t even bother sizing up his opponents first, as he always did. Without thinking, and ignoring all the dangers around him, he wielded his sword in a desperate bid to take everyone down.
Although he didn’t pay as much attention to his surroundings as he usually would since this was a desperate situation, he found his mark just as often. The sound of his blade piercing through coupled with the softness of his enemies bodies reaffirmed him.
"Just like the clouds and the winds, I shan’t worry." In that moment, while he was killing all his enemies around him, he finally understood the highest order of the Shen Family’s Thirty Seven Techniques, which he had learnt by watching Shen Zhen."
The skies were wrapped with dark clouds. Only the light from lanterns provided illumination. Zhang Yun looked across and watched in awe. His mouth and eyes were opened wide in surprise. Pei Zi Yun’s sword almost melded into the dark of the night as six people who surrounded him fell to his merciless blade. Blood spurted out in all directions as he slew them effortlessly.