Realms In The Firmament

Chapter 21 – The Monarch Holds His Sword!

The two guards were pissed. However, they felt extremely pressured under Ye Xiao’s unyielding gaze! They wanted to curse and scream, yet under this pressure, their voices never managed to leave their throats!

To them, Ye Xiao seemed to be a god from the heavens. They felt that he was invincible!

After a prolonged period of silence, they finally caved in and shouted out in panic,”Ye Xiao you fool! You dare to speak with such arrogance while standing on death's doorstep!”

Ye Xiao nodded and smiled gently, “Well. Well. Then could you please send me to my death?”

Meanwhile, a completely out of breath Mu Cheng-Bai finally managed to catch up with these three. His eyes turned red out of anger when he caught the sight of Ye Xiao, and he yelled his orders to the guards, “What in the bloody hell are you waiting for? Go kill him!”

The guards could no longer stand the stress from this stand off and now they, having received the order from their master, decided to take the initiative. If they didn’t make any actions soon, they would certainly go insane. Therefore, they shouted in unison and swung their bright steel swords!

Ye Xiao laughed, casually stepped forward while facing the swords and said, “Never speak of the hardships in life. It doesn’t take a thousand bottles of wine to relieve your sorrow. It is your destiny that we have met in this narrow path. With my laughter you will be sent to your death.”

The swords had started to emit flashy rays of sword lights after being infused with the guards qi.

The guards had obviously gone all out with these attacks as they had felt a life-and-death crisis originating from Ye Xiao’s smile. Every inch of his smile gave them an ominous sense of death!

But even after going all out, they continued to feel intimidated!

Ye Xiao slightly spun around while smiling, and just barely managed to slip away from the two attacking swords. Whoops!

One of his fair and delicate hands hit the wrist of a guard!

His actions had seemed so slow that even an ordinary person would have been able to follow the movement of his arm as he attacked.

However, the guard remained absolutely powerless to defend against it!

While the guard was screaming and let go of his sword, which shone brightly as it continued on its path.

It almost managed to slash Ye Xiao’s hand!

Ye Xiao used one hand to stop the blade and tossed it to his other hand and he used this newly acquired weapon to attack the guards. A sword light burst out causing the sword slash to look like a galaxy of stars in the night sky.

He looked like a master calligrapher with a hand folded behind his back and gripping a brush pen with the other hand to write on a snow white paper.

It was both elegant and enjoyable.

The sword flashed and all observers would only see a streak of light illuminating the path travelled by the sword! But the two guards who were fighting against it showed horror-struck looks!

Moreover, they felt admiration towards a foe who was skilled to such a degree!

They worshipped his talent deep within their hearts.It felt like a paramount god from the heavens was smiting them! The slashing sword seemed to represent the will of heaven and hell!

It was inviolable and overwhelming!

They felt like that it was their destiny to die under this sword!

While the sword lights were quickly losing their splendor, blood sprayed out of the guards and painted the sky, trees and ground red.

The murderous looks that had been on the guards’ faces had been replaced by the fearful looks – like they had desecrated a god. Then they slowly fell down on the floor.

PUFF! When their bodies hit the ground, a small cloud of dust to rose from the ground.

…

The swordplay that Ye Xiao was using was The Monarch’s Sword that he depended on to rule the Qing-Yun Realm!

The Monarch holds the sword and he takes away all lives! Thousands of dead bodies fall. Beacons are lit for millions of miles! The sword of the Monarch kills with absolute certainty. It rarely shows up but it will kill when it does!

There was no one who had survived after facing The Monarch’s Sword.

…

A single sword strike had actually caused two instantaneous deaths!

Mu Cheng-Bai’s eyes were wide open as he was utterly shocked. He looked at Ye Xiao and felt that his heart had suddenly stopped beating!

At this moment, he wasn’t thinking of slipping away, nor was he feeling frightened! He felt endless astonishment and bursting rage!

“Didn’t Wang Xiao-Nian say… that this Ye Xiao was just a foppish idiot and was even too weak to hold a chicken? How come… he possesses such superior martial skills? He actually easily killed my two guards, who were both at the Grade of Renyuan, with one strike of his sword! How could a foppish idiot ever do this? Are you kidding me? Wang Xiao-Nian you are trying to get me killed, aren’t you?” A lot of thoughts kept spinning inside Mu Cheng-Bai’s head.

At this moment, the thing he wanted to do most was to find Wang Xiao-Nian and rip him to shreds! Though he was convinced that even by doing that, his anger wouldn’t be relieved!

Ye Xiao held the sword with only two fingers and casually looked at a drop of blood dripping down along the edge of the blade. He then looked straight at Mu Cheng-Bai and spoke, “You’ve had a rough day.”

Mu Cheng-Bai started panting and felt a chilling coldness in his heart. He couldn’t even utter a single word.

Ye Xiao shook his head and sighed, “This…This is my first time killing in this life.”

He stopped and slowly shook his head before continuing, “I didn’t expect the first time would come this soon.”

Mu Cheng-Bai said hoarsely, “Soon?”

Ye Xiao smiled and explained patiently, “Yes, you are right. I didn’t expect that I would start this kind of life again this soon…” One could see an extreme yearning and desire being born deep within his eyes.

Mu Cheng-Bai felt a deep sense of fear when he saw the yearning and desire in Ye Xiao’s eyes.

Ye Xiao smiled and spoke gently, “You must be exhausted after chasing me all this way, but isn’t living as long as you have done much more exhausting?”

Mu Cheng-Bai’s legs started trembling. He took a deep breath and said, “Ye Xiao! I know you don’t have the guts to kill me!”

Ye Xiao spoke with half-closed eyes, “You mean you have distinguished blood?”

Then he followed, “Or special status?”

He didn’t stop, “Or powerful backgrounds?”

At last he said, “None of that will work on me.” He pointed at the sharp and bloodstained blade, “and neither on this.”

Mu Cheng-Bai gnashed his teeth, “I am from the Mu clan! I am Mu Cheng-Bai! I am Mu Cheng-Bai…”

Ye Xiao moved his ear forward, “Never heard of them.” He held the sword and stepped forward.

“I am the brother-in-law of the crown prince! I am the older brother of his wife!” Mu Cheng-Bai was sweating. As Ye Xiao stepped closer to him, he couldn’t help but step back and say, “If you kill me, the Ye clan will suffer repercussion for your actions. But if you let me go today, I promise you, Ye Xiao, I will make you rich and powerful in the government!”

Ye Xiao straightened his back and said after thinking, “Did you know me before today?”

“No, I didn’t.” Mu Cheng-Bai shook his head and answered, “We have nothing against each other. You can’t just kill me.”

“Nothing?” Ye Xiao frowned, “Then… what did you do all this for?”

He was truly confused about this.

“Wang Xiao-Nian! It was Wang Xiao-Nian!” Mu Cheng-Bai nearly shouted out, “That bastard, he… he… He was angry because you had robbed something from him. He asked to come along with me today and happened to see you there… So he encouraged me… Then I… I…”

“Oh…” Ye Xiao narrated, “It was Wang Xiao-Nian… Hmm, so you went after me? You bullied me and then tried to kill me… Right?”

Mu Cheng-Bai was scared to death, “NO! NO! NO! Noooo…”

Ye Xiao ignored him and said softly, “Several days ago, I got poisoned… You know of it, don’t you?”

Mu Cheng-Bai was confused, “Poison? No please… It wasn’t me.”

Ye Xiao looked right into his eyes and frowned, “It wasn’t you? You know nothing?”

If the brother-in-law of the crown prince didn’t know… Then who did it? Wang Da-Nian was surely a suspect and he was with the crown prince… But now Mu Cheng-Bai said that he didn’t know anything about it…

This case was getting extremely complicated and confusing.

“I don’t know. Please. It truly wasn’t me…”Mu Cheng-Bai was willing to take out his fresh heart to show his honesty.

“It wasn’t you… and you know nothing… then what should I keep you alive for…” Ye Xiao frowned.

“I am useful! Please! I truly am… Lord Ye, listen to me please… I… I can help you in anyway… The government businesses, the wealth, the martial world…” At the moment, if there were pills for regret, Mu Cheng-Bai would spend every penny he had to buy them all. But there was no such thing in existence.

He now had to beg for his life, and had started promising one beautiful thing after the other.

Ye Xiao was too vicious at that moment! He was making Mu Cheng-Bai feel so stressed that he felt unable to control his bowels – he was almost certainly going to suffer from incontinence.

“If I can get through this alive, I swear I will figure out ten thousand ways to torture Ye Xiao and and that father of his, Ye Nan-Tian, to death!”

Mu Cheng-Bai was already planning his revenge, but even so, he kept on making promises to Ye Xiao in hopes to get him to change his mind. He was hoping that Ye Xiao would let him go.

But he also knew that his chance of survival was truly too small…

If Ye Xiao hadn’t kill the guards, he might have considered sparing Mu Cheng-Bai. But since he had already killed the guards, he couldn’t stop anymore.

Ye Xiao sighed, “I really want to trust you, but… I can’t. I know that if I let you go, it will bring me unending troubles. You are begging. That’s true. But I can also feel that you’ve already started planning your revenge… People like you, they are always standing high and never get humiliated. What happened today must have already created a seedling of burning shame deep inside your heart. If I were to let you go, your revenge would arrive at my doorsteps shortly, right?”

Mu Cheng-Bai shook his head fearfully, “No! No… Absolutely not… You must trust me. Please, trust me…”

Ye Xiao was nonchalant, “Besides, I always do things cleanly… In many situations, things will just change when I speak one word extra…”

“Ahhh… Ahhh…” Mu Cheng-Bai gasped weirdly and strange sounds were coming out of his throat, even he didn’t know why. His eyes turned wider and wider in fear as he stared at Ye Xiao. Then he suddenly screamed and started running away, as if the devil himself was chasing after him.

Ye Xiao’s eyes flashed as he slightly flicked his wrist. The steel sword flew out of his hand straight for Mu Cheng-Bai. PUFF! It managed to penetrate his back and quickly cut through his heart!

Mu Cheng-Bai’s body still ran for several steps before falling down.

His eyes were inanimate but still seemed to be looking forward. There was no hate in his eyes, only fear and regret.

He had messed with the wrong guy.

“The brother-in-law of the crown prince?” Ye Xiao looked down at the dead body and shook his head, “How can a dead man be the brother-in-law to anybody… Dead men are sharing the same title… Dead bodies.”

“Don’t worry, I will avenge you.” Ye Xiao stared at the body, “I will punish Wang Xiao-Nian soon enough.”

After saying these words, he walked away steadily and did not spare a second look. He made his way out of the forest while stepping on the fallen leaves.

A calm man could be seen walking casually out of this forest, as if he had just enjoyed the sunset followed by the appearance of the moon and the stars.

From start to finish, not a single drop of blood nor a single speck of dust had stained his clothes.

Three bodies remained on the forest floor, silently waiting to be devoured by the hungry wildlife.