Chapter 96: Private Secret
Translator: StackThatCoin Editor: AntiGod
It was a long and wide street, yet not even a single soul could be seen. A breeze blew by the street, sweeping up a few leaves that just fell from the tree branches, hovering alongside Wu Qi as he strode forward. Nie Baihong was walking in midair, three feet above the ground. Wherever he walked by, one footstep after another was branded onto the surface of the street, with a clear outline and seeming lifelike. One could even see the fine lines on the toes of these footsteps.
All the stores along both sides of the street had their doors and windows shut tightly. A few bold civilians were stealthily peeking through the slits on the windows, trying to have a glimpse at the appearance of Nie Baihong. Like the breeze that swept across the street, the news regarding the sudden arrival of a Human Immortal had reached to every ear in this street. No one dared to leave their house and come onto the street, fearing that they might accidentally offend Nie Baihong, a legendary Human Immortal who rumors said wasn’t amenable to reason.
The news of thirty men suiciding at the city entrance had also spread to these civilians through some grape vines. The bloody human heads were still piled on the city entrance. The Human Immortal, who made thirty men kill themselves with just an order, was now walking on the street. How could these civilians not feel scared? Looking around at the emptied street, Wu Qi suddenly breathed out a long sigh. Finally, he was able to have a direct experience of the mightiness of a Gold Core realm cultivator.
Nie Baihong was walking ten feet before Wu Qi. With a deep voice he suddenly said, "The death of those patrolling officers is not to be regretted, as they tried to frame you with a scheme. Judging by how seasoned they behaved when confronting you just now, they must have done similar things countless times. They deserved to be damned. So, don't put this to your heart, and don't you think that I am a savage and cruel man."
Wu Qi remained silent for some time, before he responded with an indifferent voice, "I don't have any feeling towards their death. If Master didn't help me, perhaps I would have killed more of them if I was forced to fight back. I was just thinking about what happened a few days ago at the Myriad Red River, thinking about that innocent teenage girl, the girl Master killed with your sword."
Nie Baihong let out a cold laugh, "Are you trying to say that I've killed a wrong person? She did not deserve to be killed?"
Wu Qi pondered for some time, then nodded his head and said, "If you really want to kill someone, you can always kill Qin Qingshui, or Haoying Fenglong, or even Taba Haofeng, and you can even kill all their family and clan members, slaughter every single man and woman in their clans. I'll not feel pity or anything for that. But, that teenage girl was merely a pitiable girl who was forced to make her living in a prostitute house. Why should you kill her just because of a petty mistake?"
Nie Baihong frowned, lowered his voice and said, "If I refuse to give you an explanation?"
Wu Qi straightened his back and said with full honesty, "I had vowed to myself on that floating boat that if you were a man who killed wantonly, once I've attained sufficient cultivation, I'll kill you. I'm not a good man, yet when you killed that teenage girl, you had crossed the line in my heart."
Nie Baihong let out a few cold laughs, turned around and walked towards Wu Qi step by step, then looked into Wu Qi's eyes and said mockingly, "By yourself?"
Wu Qi nodded his head seriously, then said with a solemn manner, "Yes, by myself. My progress of cultivation will definitely be faster than yours."
Nie Baihong shook his head depressingly, as a wry smile emerged on his face as he said, "It looks like I've accepted a man with an extra sense of justice as my disciple. Yet deliberately, my mother has chosen you to be the core disciple to expand Heaven Breaking Sword Sect. I can't kill you, so what can I do?"
Nie Baihong sighed, bowed his head and pondered for some moments. He then flew towards Wu Qi, hovering beside him and walking along in midair. He breathed out a brief sigh, then said with an indifferent voice, "It is a queer feeling for me. I should just kill you right now, so I can save my effort in talking with you. Nevertheless, as you behaved fairly similar to me in the past, I'll make the exception and tell you something." He raised his head and looked into the sky.
He then pointed his finger out, unleashed a sword beam and killed the mount of the scouting officer, who was following behind them and served as the guide of Wu Qi. The scouting officer was a sensible man. He quickly jumped off from the dead mount, slowed down his pace and kept a long distance between them.
"Yan Li is my mother's husband, yet I have my surname following hers, Nie."
Wu Qi turned his head and looked at Nie Baihong. He wanted to hear what kind of an excuse would this man come out to justify the action of killing the teenage girl on the floating boat. He had vowed to kill Nie Baihong, but as Nie Yaonu had thought highly of him and even gave him the Sword of Greedy Wolf, Wu Qi couldn't suddenly turn hostile after receiving advantages from them. As a man, even if he wanted to kill someone, he would want to make sure of the facts, and get to the bottom of the action. Both Wu Qi and his previous Master, Wu Wang, were not the men who killed someone before finding out the truth.
The expression on Nie Baihong's face had turned rather queer. His pupils were expanding, and it seemed his soul had wandered to somewhere else. Using a near sleep-talking like tone, he slowly spoke out some events that happened ages ago.
It all started from the day when Nie Yaonu inherited the legacy of Heaven Breaking Sword Sect.
Over six hundred years ago, Nie Yaonu was just a herbs harvester who lived in a small village outside of Ji City. She frequently visited Mount White Sun, harvesting herbs and selling them to the medicinal stores in the city. Perhaps it was her destiny, that one day, as she wanted to harvest a 'Five-colored Dark Heart Grain', she used a rope and lowered herself from a cliff. Not knowing why, perhaps her bone structures matched the requirement, she accidentally entered the Immortal's Cave of 'Sword Stems From the Mind'. There, she inherited the legacy of an Immortal, and found herself two secret scrolls of Heaven Breaking Sword Sect: The Heaven Breaking Sword Technique and Arts of Heaven Patching Formation.
As she was just an ordinary girl from a remote village, her knowledge and experience didn't teach her to conceal her findings. Very soon, the news about Nie Yaonu being bestowed with the Immortal Fate had spread across the dynasty. During that time, led by Crown Prince Yan Qijun, the eight princes who were overseeing and governing the Great Yan Dynasty had paid her a visit. They pressured her in the name of the dynasty's good will. Thus, Nie Yaonu had senselessly become the Imperial Sinecure of Great Yan Dynasty. After that, Great Yan Dynasty contributed the money and manpower, and established the Heaven Breaking Sword Sect.
Due to the restriction imposed by the Immortal defense mechanism, except Nie Yaonu, no one else could obtain any information from both the scrolls of Heaven Breaking Sword Technique and the Arts of Heaven Patching Formation. Unless it was taught by Nie Yaonu herself, no one in Great Yan Dynasty could obtain any cultivation method from these two secret scrolls.
As a result, during one occasion of attending a dinner, Nie Yaonu, who had just begun cultivating, fainted after some wine. When she woke up, she found that she was sleeping beside Yan Li, and they had had sex when she was unconscious. What followed after that were conventional yet effective tricks: For the sake of her village's safety, and for the sake of her first lover's safety, and as Nie Yaonu had lost her virginity to Yan Li, she was forced to marry him.
With that, Yan Li had succeeded in obtaining the sword technique taught by Nie Yaonu. Nevertheless, after she went through the dramatic event, Nie Yaonu had matured quickly. She had decided to conceal the existence of Arts of Heaven Patching Formation, while the sword technique she taught Yan Li lacked the most important chapter: the Unity of Sword Energies.
"After that?" Using the eyes of a busybody, Wu Qi stared at Nie Baihong, who had a gloomy expression. He knew such vision could easily make other misunderstand his intention and agitate those saddened people. However, as this was an evil trace came from Le Xiaobai's soul, Wu Qi would still need to pour in a great effort in order to wipe these nasty habits out from his own soul. At least for now, when Wu Qi heard the story told by Nie Baihong, all the cells in his entire body were boiling with excitement.
What happened after that was no surprise. The first lover of Nie Baihong had also joined the Heaven Breaking Sword Sect and obtained the legacy of the sword technique. He formed his Gold Core, but suddenly died by accident just before he was going to face the Heaven Tribulation. His death was quiet and left no trace behind. Nie Yaonu was pregnant at that time, and the father of the baby was definitely not Yan Li. From the moment when she was pregnant and until Nie Baihong was born, Yan Li was in a secluded cultivation and breaking through Gold Core realm. When Yan Li finally had his Gold Core formed and finished his secluded cultivation, Nie Baihong had already grown up to become a toddler.
"Since I was born and until the moment before I took over the position of Sect Leader, I've gone through 297 assassinations… almost once every year." Nie Baihong looked at Wu Qi and smiled briefly. "I once had seven loyal disciples, they were all your senior brothers. But they all died because of trying to protect me. Stepping through their blood and flesh, it took me a great effort to finally sit firmly on the position of Sect Leader."
Nie Baihong sighed, then he continued, "I have to kill people. No matter who the person is, as long as he or she shows a little bit of disrespect to me, I'll have to kill them. Let those who comply with me thrive, and those who resist me perish. The sword would swing towards those who disobey me! Only by casting a fear in the mind of those people through mass slaughtering will I not be killed by them. Only then would no one have the courage to wield their sword in front of me."
Nie Baihong shook his head and said, "Yes, that teenage girl merely sneezed in front of me. It was a petty matter, and she didn't deserve to be killed. But do you know what? All the people in Great Yan Dynasty are calling me as the 'Great White God of Slaughter'. If I didn't kill her, I'd not be the same God of Slaughter anymore, and those who wanted to kill me would once again take out their sword and come before me. So, the only thing I can do to prevent that from happening is to kill, keep on killing."
Wu Qi stared at the gloomy face Nie Baihong compassionately, sighed and said, "Then, you should kill Yan Li!"
Nie Baihong didn't say anything. After some time, he lowered his voice and said, "If I tell you, the person I wish to kill the most are Yan Dan and Yan Qijun, will you inform them about this?" Nie Baihong suddenly giggled, staring at Wu Qi with a wondering expression.
Wu Qi remained silent and pondered for some time, then he shook his head and said, "If the person you want to kill is Jing Ke, I'll give your secret out. As for Yan Dan and Yan Qijun, I do not have any sentiment against them."
If Nie Baihong really wanted to kill that brave yet miserable warrior, Wu Qi would really give him out. As for Yan Dan and Yan Qijun, they were both not Wu Qi's children, so why should he bother about their life or death? For someone who had done those nasty things to Nie Yaonu, their moral standing was not something that Wu Qi could respect.
Nie Baihong smiled, it was a joyful smile. "The Chief General Jing Ke? He is a brave and courageous man. In the entire Great Yan Dynasty, only he and Gao Jianli are two good fools! Haha, you are born to be my disciple!"
Wu Qi again pondered, then he looked at Nie Baihong and said, "For the sake of that teenage girl on the floating boat, once I form my Gold Core, I'll stab you once with my sword. If you manage to survive from it, our score will be settled then. If you're dead because of that, then it will be the retribution from the Heavens! Look into your own heart and ask yourself, you've told me the miserable encounter of Patriarch ages ago. Yet, that teenage girl on the floating boat, she is just like Patriarch in the past, a weak and fragile girl!"
Nie Baihong's smile came to a sudden halt. His eyes looked distracted and his body trembled suddenly.
A stream of warm blood burst out from Nie Baihong's mouth. He stared right into Wu Qi's eyes and said with a deep voice, "I see! Fine, fine, fine! Once you form your Gold Core, I'll not put up any defense. With my pure corporeal body I'll take a stab from you! Look into my own heart and ask myself, excellent! Wu Qi, you're good, you're the good Daoist Greedy Wolf!"
Nie Baihong let out a nearly hysterical laugh into the sky, then suddenly lowered his voice and said mysteriously, "For the sake of this 'look into my own heart', do you want to know a secret regarding Princess Zhang Le? Hehe, as she is having a good relationship with you, I don't wish to see you being killed by someone and thrown into the city moat!"
A secret related to Princess Zhang Le? Wu Qi's expression changed instantly. "Tell me, I want to know that!"
Nie Baihong laughed strangely, then he compressed his voice into a tiny thread and sent it straight into Wu Qi's ears.
Upon hearing what Nie Baihong told him, Wu Qi's face fell. After some time, a strange smile emerged on Wu Qi's face.