Chapter 255 - 249: [Muddy World Saber]

Chapter 255: Chapter 249: [Muddy World Saber]

Xue Hen’s gaze swept over the bodies of the six members of the Seven Heroes of Jiangzuo, one by one, before finally landing at Fu Juemin’s feet.

He gazed at the woman who had just killed herself, and his voice slowly softened.

"I promised Qingqing that after I killed Ji Shaotong this time and got my revenge, I would marry her..."

The next second, veins bulged on his forehead like writhing earthworms. He violently raised the Blue Tassel Saber, its tip aimed straight at Fu Juemin, and a heart-rending, almost maniacal roar burst from his lips:

"But you destroyed everything!!"

BOOM!

The curtain of rain exploded, and the sound of Xue Hen’s enraged roar echoed through the entire street.

The boundless pain and resentment in his voice sent a shudder through the heart of nearly everyone present.

"You deserve to die! You truly deserve to die!"

"Death by a thousand cuts! I’m going to slice you into a thousand pieces!!"

An unprecedentedly terrifying Sword Qi erupted from Xue Hen’s body, obscuring him within the massive, bursting clouds of water vapor.

All that could be felt was an overwhelming resentment and a series of hoarse cries, like a crow weeping tears of blood.

This wave of resentment locked onto Fu Juemin from a distance, but Fu Juemin acted as if he didn’t notice.

Instead, a strange expression slowly appeared on his face, and he murmured thoughtfully to himself, "Is this... a breakthrough in the heat of battle, an advancement to Heart Sensing?"

"Interesting..."

...

VMMMM—

In the main hall of the Dingqing Tea House, Nie Yunzhen gently pressed a hand on the long saber in his grasp, which wouldn’t stop vibrating. He gazed off in a certain direction and said with a complicated sigh, "Xue Hen... has he already taken that step?

It seems this contest between the Southern Blade and the Northern Blade... is settled."

A bitter smile touched Nie Yunzhen’s lips, his face showing a hint of disappointment and bitterness.

Suddenly, as if remembering something, he frowned and muttered to himself, "Who on earth could have pushed Xue Hen this far? Could it be that Demon Elephant Ji Shaotong has finally appeared?"

As he spoke, his questioning gaze swept over the people around him.

But they all shook their heads, indicating they knew nothing.

Someone couldn’t help but speak up, "Elder Nie, won’t we know if we just go and take a look?"

"Yeah! What are we doing just sitting here?!"

A chorus of agreement rose, many voices tinged with resentment.

They had come to protect Li Mingyi, fully prepared to die at a moment’s notice. After waiting so long for a chance to die a noble death, their leader... their leader had suddenly lost his nerve.

This was ridiculous!

It was only because Nie Yunzhen, the Southern Blade’s, reputation was so great. Anyone else would have been torn to shreds by their complaints long ago; it wouldn’t have just stopped at a little resentment.

Nie Yunzhen heard their dissatisfaction and took two steps forward, only to see that while the three from the Black Tower were no longer blocking the main entrance, there was still no way to get to the street without going past them.

After hesitating repeatedly, Nie Yunzhen finally came up with an idea.

"We’ll go upstairs and get around them!"

A few soft hisses came from the crowd, but since Nie Yunzhen was the leader of this expedition, the men, though dissatisfied, couldn’t say anything more. They had no choice but to turn back and follow him upstairs.

As they went upstairs, the men whispered amongst themselves.

"Some great hero he is. What’s he so afraid of?"

"Exactly!"

Nie Yunzhen’s face turned slightly red, but he pretended not to hear.

’What do these people know?’

’They’re not at my level; they don’t know the terror of "Warm Evil" Fan Wuyan of the Black Tower.’

’Besides, if I’m not mistaken, the two people with Fan Wuyan must be Human Bear and the Red Lady.’

’Three of the Black Tower’s top masters came at once!’

’Am I, Nie Yunzhen, afraid of death?’

’Of course not.’

’But a capable man must put his skills to use where it counts. How could I just throw my life away for nothing?’

At this thought, Nie Yunzhen’s steps became more resolute.

......

Fu Juemin remembered the Spirit and Body Cultivation Book stating that one of the signs of a Gratitude Sensing Realm master stepping into Heart Sensing was the ability to infuse intensely strong emotions into their Martial Arts techniques or channel them into their weapons.

The Xue Hen before him clearly fit this description.

He had come this far fueled by his hatred for the Demon Elephant, and was already an Inner Sensing master capable of achieving Man and Sword as One. Then, he had watched his sworn brothers die one after another, and even his beloved had been driven to her death.

This new blood fed twenty years of accumulated hatred, triggering a qualitative transformation. He broke through in the heat of battle, entering the Heart Sensing Realm fueled by sheer hate.

At this moment, Xue Hen’s aura was completely transformed. A circle of pooled water at his feet was pushed away on its own, and within a ten-meter radius around and above him, not a single drop of rain fell, forming a bizarre "Clear Sky" domain.

Just like Toad Palace Yu Zhonggui back then, having stepped into the Heart Sensing Level, he could now, to a certain extent and within a certain range, induce phenomena that defied logic.

Fu Juemin was clearly not the only one who noticed the change in Xue Hen; many onlookers now watched with stirred expressions.

After several more roars, Xue Hen’s aura finally reached its peak.

He held the saber with both hands, its tip pointed straight at Fu Juemin. His eyes were bloodshot and his face twisted. He took a step, crossing a dozen meters almost instantly. He brandished the Blue Tassel Saber, pulling in all the rainwater from a ten-meter radius around him.

The rainwater exploded into a mist, which was then swept up by the terrifying Sword Qi, forming a hazy, ten-foot-long blade of light in mid-air that was visible to the naked eye!

"Duan Yue Ninth Form, Return to Nothingness!"

Xue Hen fixed Fu Juemin with a death glare and roared. The sound of his roar resonated with the Sword Qi, causing the pooled water on the street to levitate, where it formed thousands of glittering droplets before exploding all at once!

The mist from the exploding droplets was madly compressed and devoured by the Sword Qi. This caused the already astonishingly hazy blade of light to transform, after absorbing enough water vapor, into a giant, shimmering "Water Blade" that seemed solid!

As this blade fell, many of the onlookers sighed inwardly.

With this one strike, Xue Hen of the Broken Mountain Saber would surely see his fame and prestige in the world of Martial Arts rise to a new level!

This strike, filled with twenty years of old and new hatred, was one that few, even those also in the Heart Sensing realm, could be absolutely confident in taking...

BOOM!

The "Water Blade" fell, and the terrifying Sword Qi cascaded down like a celestial river. A giant splash exploded in the middle of the street, centered on the point where Xue Hen’s saber landed!

A deluge of mist rushed outwards in all directions. The resulting squall was so powerful it even cracked the closed doors of several nearby storefronts...

WHOOSH—

Beneath the downpour, figures slowly advanced up the street, but none of them spared a glance for the site of the battle.

These Martial Arts masters, who had come for fame, profit, or revenge against the "Demon Elephant," now all had their eyes narrowed, their Martial Sense on full alert, ready at any moment for the legendary demonic figure who might burst out from any corner!

Only a few, like Tang Jing and Madam Ding, stared fixedly at the spot where Fu Juemin had been standing, as if they couldn’t believe that the vibrant person from their memories... was about to exit their lives in such a way.

"Even this isn’t enough to draw out Ji Shaotong?"

Beside the overturned tram, the cloaked giant from the Black Tower surveyed his surroundings and said with a frown, "Did we guess wrong? Does Ji Shaotong not care about his successor at all? Or perhaps, this was just a decoy he deliberately put out, while he himself caught wind of this and fled long ago?"

"Then what should we do?"

Beneath the red umbrella, the woman sighed softly. "Ji Shaotong won’t even come out when the man is dead. Doesn’t that mean this was all for nothing?

If I’d known it would turn out like this... it would’ve been better to leave the man to me.

A handsome man of this quality is quite a rarity!"

The woman sighed wistfully, and the cloaked giant turned his gaze to Fan Wuyan, a question in his eyes.

Fan Wuyan, however, had his eyes narrowed, staring at a certain spot in the mist-filled center of the street. A strange light was swirling rapidly in the depths of his pupils.

"Who said he’s dead? He’s alive and well."

Fan Wuyan said softly, "The way I see it, the one who’s going to die... is Xue Hen."

After he said this, the cloaked giant and the woman with the red umbrella froze for a moment, then spun around and quickly looked in a certain direction.

When the two of them saw the scene at that location clearly, they both shuddered, and a look of utter disbelief slowly appeared in their eyes.

—There, under the pillar of the memorial archway, Xue Hen was frozen in a two-handed grip. His Blue Tassel Long Saber was being held fast in the palm of a slender, pale hand, caught in a hovering, contactless grip.

Between the hand and the saber, countless layers of dense, heavy, transparent distortions, imperceptible to the naked eye, seemed to have gathered. As the five fingers slowly closed, the long saber cried out, and clear finger-shaped indentations began to appear on its snow-bright blade.

The long street fell into a dead silence.

Every moving figure froze.

"Why... why? Why?..."

The hatred on Xue Hen’s face had almost completely faded, replaced by a deep... profound bewilderment that came from the depths of his heart, from the very source of his soul.

Fu Juemin watched him quietly.

With All Five Orifices Opened, the dark light around him had faded away. The incredibly potent Vitality formed a halo of perfectly transparent distortion around his body, blurring his outline completely.

Others could not see his expression; they could only hear a voice, so flat it was almost cold, coming clearly from within the distortion.

"There is no ’why’."

"If being useful was just a matter of having enough people in your family die, and shouting loud enough..."

"...then why would I even bother practicing Martial Arts?"

When Xue Hen heard this, he froze completely.

He stared blankly at Fu Juemin, as if trying to pierce through the layer of distortion to see the true appearance of the man within.

But at that moment, the hand that had been gripping his Blue Tassel Saber suddenly let go, and an invisible and surging force gently pushed Xue Hen several meters away.

Immediately after, Xue Hen began to tremble.

His face was pale and he stood rooted to the spot, but he could feel an indescribable, utterly terrifying Saber Momentum rapidly rising at an incredible speed.

It soon climbed to a height he could barely imagine, let alone comprehend.

At this moment, he...

...was like a lone person standing beneath a colossal tsunami that blotted out the sky!

"However, I must thank you. Your Saber Technique has been very inspiring."

"To show my gratitude, you may die by this strike of mine."

As Fu Juemin’s voice fell, all the transparency and distortion around his body converged, gathering entirely within his palm.

He formed his hand into a blade. In its center, an invisible, intangible, yet very real vortex of dark turbidity seemed to be coalescing.

"The Five Poisonous Creatures, the Five Aggregates, the Five Evils... the Five Muddles!"

This strike was the inverse of the Purifying Light Saber, the yin of the five elements!

To scour, to destroy, to crush, to defile....

Summoning the evil age of the Five Muddles into the world!

It is called—the [Muddy World Saber]!

...