Death Scripture

Wild Horse was already tired of killing, but he didn’t want to stop. He could no longer find a suitable opponent. Repeatedly swinging his sword had become a way to kill time. This made him have the desire to speak.

His ‘tongue,’ however, was in someone else’s mouth.

She was standing beside Wild Horse with a small lamp in her hand. In the dim light, corpses were scattered everywhere like the scene of destruction after a tornado. With her head held high, she looked quite excited and a bit proud. “Dragon King, I know that you are here. Why not show up and have a fight to end the duel that you had with Wild Horse several years ago? This time, the two of you don’t have to circle around…”

A swordsman appeared quietly and launched an attack from behind Wild Horse. He was fully confident in his swordsmanship, to the point that it almost reached the level of worship. With this strong belief, he had killed many people in the dark underground palace, so many that he thought that he could challenge Wild Horse.

Everyone who had died under Wild Horse’s sword had thought the same way.

Wild Horse turned slightly, causing the sword in his hand to pierce his attacker’s body. It was so simple and effortless that it was like an executioner killing a prisoner who had been tied up.

Wild Horse finally recalled this feeling. His childhood memory of his family being slaughtered came back to life, but he didn’t feel sad at all, because he had become those golden roc killers. They had brandished their sabers skilfully and coldly, completely indifferent towards the fresh lives as if they were deities in heaven who could manipulate all living beings at will.

This was the Ceasing and Arising Swordsmanship, a sword technique that Wild Horse had comprehended. In the Waning Moon Sword Manual that Lotus had passed to him, he had noticed the words ‘Ceasing and Arising.’ The two words had appeared randomly throughout the obscure explanatory notes and were quite inconspicuous, but they impressed him a lot.

There was another corpse at her feet. “There’s only one true training method of the Death Sutra. Both you and Lotus are wrong.”

“Shameless Han Yuan, how dare you say the Master Commander’s name.” In the darkness came Han Fen’s angry voice.

Han Yuan laughed. “Han Fen, the Dragon King has come with you, right? Everyone can call out everyone’s name. That’s what names are for. Lotus taught us the wrong swordsmanship, so she no longer deserves to be the Master Commander. Wild Horse is the only hope of Waning Moon Hall.”

“Wild Horse is a maniac. He wants to kill all the disciples of Waning Moon Hall.” Han Fen became even angrier.

Bursts of laughter rang out in the seemingly empty darkness. It was really funny to hear a disciple of the Waning Moon Hall call another one a ‘maniac,’ as they were usually the maniacs from an outsider’s point of view.

“You misunderstand Wild Horse.” Han Yuan was happy to be Wild Horse’s mouthpiece and explained in his stead, “Wild Horse is eliminating the impure and retaining the pure. There are too many wastrels in Waning Moon Hall. For example, you are one such wastrel. Apart from being used as a stepping stone, what is the use of keeping you? Ten or fewer top swordsmen are more powerful than hundreds of ordinary disciples.”

“Nonsense.” In the face of someone even more unreasonable than herself, Han Fen appeared to fumble, unable to think of a proper reason with which to refute the other side.

“This is the rule of Waning Moon Hall. Han Fen, have you forgotten that you yourself have killed many fellow disciples to survive until now? Wild Horse didn’t do this on a whim. He’s the one who really understands the essence of Waning Moon Hall. As for Lotus, huh, she actually wants Waning Moon Hall to join in the struggle for hegemony. Does she think that she can gain the Dragon King’s favor by doing so? What a ridiculous idea! She sees Waning Moon Hall as a tool to do whatever she wants, but she’s wrong and Wild Horse’s right.”

The more Han Yuan said, the more she became excited. As she glanced at the blurred figure in the dark, tears of happiness filled her eyes. She really adored this one-armed man.

Han Fen was rendered speechless. Han Yuan continued monologuing, but changed subjects. “Dragon King, don’t you want to see the real Death Sutra Swordsmanship? ‘Death Sutra.’ That’s what you and Lotus call it, right? From now on, it will be called the ‘Ceasing and Arising Swordsmanship.’ Only Wild Horse has understood the essence of the Ceasing and Arising Swordsmanship. Since he has mastered it, what’s the use of keeping those disciples around? Dragon King, show yourself. You’ll see the truth when you die.”

The Dragon King didn’t show up. Instead, a round of applause rang out in the darkness. “Well said, well said. You really are Wild Horse’s… It’s hard to describe. By the way, what kind of ‘sword’ did Wild Horse use to teach you the so-called truth?”

Han Yuan’s expression immediately changed. “Old Man Mu? You haven’t practiced the Ceasing and Arising Swordsmanship. You don’t deserve to be here.”

“Alas, it’s really a pity that I never had an opportunity to learn such a formidable technique. There’s no greater pain in life than this. I’m really unfortunate. When I see these corpses on the ground, I feel even more unfortunate. They died so young and so fast, even faster than me. It’s really unfair!”

“Attention, disciples of the Waning Moon Hall and the Essence Pavilion. Kill Old Man Mu and Han Fen right now. She also doesn’t know the swordsmanship and doesn’t deserve to die under Wild Horse’s sword,” Han Yuan ordered coldly.

The disciples, who had been used as tools to improve Wild Horse’s swordsmanship, still treated the order as if it were god’s decree. As soon as Han Yuan’s voice fell, a series of faint sounds came from the dark corner that was reminiscent of someone sighing.

Someone fell, but Old Man Mu’s voice came from another direction. “Wow, amazing. There’s no need to see it. I know that the Ceasing and Arising Swordsmanship is amazing simply by hearing its name. Brother Wild Horse, you finally created a set of martial arts skills. The two years that you spent with me weren’t a waste of time. Heh heh, you’ve finally gone through all sorts of ordeals. Now, you have both the swordsmanship and women. If you can share them with me, I can teach…”

Han Yuan acted, but as soon as she moved, she fell headfirst towards the ground. The lamp also fell to the ground and lit her clothes.

Wild Horse had killed her. Han Yuan understood Wild Horse’s thoughts but couldn’t understand his aversion to voices. He had had enough of the endless nagging. Everything could be expressed with the saber in his hand. What was the use of talking so much?

A more annoying voice, however, was still incessantly sounding out. “Brother Wild Horse, there’s no need to be so heartless. I was just joking. In fact, your woman and I were innocent. Honestly, if I remember clearly, then when I enjoyed myself at Waning Moon Hall, she hadn’t been born yet. Ehh, could she be one of my daughters? Brother Wild Horse, you killed my daughter. Uh-huh … Good son-in-law, call me father-in-law and I’ll forgive you…”

After the clothes were burnt away, the fire became a bit weak. When it ate through the skin and came into contact with the fat, it grew bigger and bigger, igniting the surrounding corpses.

Wild Horse was clearly visible now. With a sword in hand, his head was lowered as if he were mourning for his mistake. When he looked up, however, there was no emotion in his eyes at all – they were even emptier than those of a dead man.

Other figures were starting to show up, too.

Mid-lake Hall was very spacious. Over a hundred people were scattered everywhere about ten steps away from each other, but it didn’t look crowded at all. Everyone was motionless as the slaughter was not over yet. All of them were ready to draw their swords at any moment.

Wild Horse moved like a giant crocodile crawling in the shallow water; all the small fish around it automatically preemptively got out of the way.

Old Man Mu couldn’t hide himself any longer. Squatting on the torch holder, he had almost merged into the wall. “Heh heh, Brother Wild Horse is as cool as ever. I’m very satisfied to be your father-in-law. I may still have some daughters left at Waning Moon Hall. I’ll pick another one and send her to you.”

Wild Horse approached step by step. The sword in his hand was like a fast-writhing snake in the light of the corpse fire. He hated this voice. This hatred had taken root from the first day that he had met Old Man Mu, and he had endured it for two years. After that, he was often woken up by the familiar nagging in his dreams. Finally, it would end today.

Old Man Mu gulped heavily. He wanted to run away, but he couldn’t move. Wild Horse was indeed different from before. Without any excess movements, he had blocked off all the routes of retreat. Old Man Mu couldn’t find a safe way out.

“Dragon King, it’d be a good time to show up now. It’s more beneficial to you if I’m alive,” Old Man Mu said as his eyes swept across Wild Horse.

Wild Horse didn’t fall for it. He knew about Old Man Mu’s tricks and he trusted his alertness more.

The fire of the corpse suddenly died out. Meanwhile, the torches on the wall were lit one by one, making the Mid-lake Hall brighter.

Old Man Mu smilingly looked at Wild Horse and asked, “The smell of the burnt corpse isn’t very good, is it?”

Wild Horse turned around and saw the man who he had been waiting for.

The corpse fire hadn’t spread very far. Gu Shenwei waved his hand and blew it out. Han Fen, Han Ling, and the brothers of the Shangguan family lit the torches on the wall and carefully kept their distance from the disciples in the hall, especially Wild Horse. So, only the torches near Old Man Mu hadn’t been lit.

The smell was really awful, but Wild Horse didn’t seem to care. He started walking back. Suddenly, he dashed forward and killed a disciple of the Essence Pavilion a dozen or so steps away with incredible speed before jumping back to his original place, continuing to move forward.

There was a distance of a hundred or so steps between them. Wild Horse killed five people along his way, both far and near without any fixed rules. It seemed like he had chosen his targets randomly.

Everyone watched silently. No one was surprised, and no one retreated, like a flock of pigs and sheep to be slaughtered.

Gu Shenwei also watched this without saying a word. Standing in the center of the hall, the charred body was beside his feet, but he didn’t care about the smell at all.

A disciple of the Essence Pavilion suddenly made a move. He wasn’t close to the Dragon King. There were several people between them. But this made his surprise attack even stealthier.

Gu Shenwei swapped the Five Peaks Saber to his left hand and stabbed backward with a reverse grip.

The sneaky attacker became ambushed himself instead. It was not until the sharp saber pierced his belly that he realized that he had been hit. He reached out with his hand. Considering the length of his arm and the long sword, there was still some distance between him and the Dragon King. He didn’t understand how the Dragon King had hit him with a backhanded stab.

Gu Shenwei pulled back the saber and swapped it back to his right hand.

Wild Horse paused, and his empty eyes finally showed signs of life.

The Dragon King had just shown him the Death Sutra Swordsmanship. Compared to the last time in the Gui Garden, there were more subtle changes that went beyond his imagination. All of a sudden, Wild Horse found himself retreating from the ‘threshold’ and that he hadn’t even entered the ‘hall’ yet.

Not only did he feel confused, but he also felt angry.

Gu Shenwei did not open his mouth because he also believed that the saber in his hand was more suitable to express his real thoughts. So he took a deep breath and made three moves on the spot. Each move was very strange, seemingly meaningless yet also profound.

The onlookers all felt that the three moves were similar to those of the Waning Moon Swordsmanship. Only Wild Horse seemed to have received a heavy blow, and he retreated two steps back, his saber-wielding arm shaking slightly.

Wild Horse’s understanding of the Death Sutra Swordsmanship was still within the scope of the twenty-nine training methods. The three figures that Gu Shenwei had seen on the wall of the second chamber were the complementary forms to the Ceasing and Arising Swordsmanship. When Wild Horse suddenly saw it, how could he not be shocked?