Five sword blades flew at high speed in the rainy night, uttering either graven or sharp whistles like some kind of weird musical instrument, each falling next to Chao Xiaoshu and Ning Que, before unceasingly alternating in positions. Five flowing rays of light sprinkled over the courtyard with green branches and blue flagstones.
Amidst the rain, the flickering sword blades flew easily and smoothly, sometimes sweeping past the floor splattering rainwater, sometimes gouging a deep mark on the wall and sometimes flying past the bodies of the four soldiers fell by Ning Que leaving additional blood stains on them, and the dying soldiers would twitch when cut by the sword blade.
Both Chao Xiaoshu and Ning Que stood within the invisible sword net comprised of the five sword blades. Each streak that made up the net was sharp and unstoppable, a harbinger of death. Neither the stiff blue flagstone, wet walls nor the corpses lying on the ground, could blunt or soften the streak at all.
The wind, the rain and the moonlight could all enter the net. Only humans were unable.
No one dared to set foot into this great invisible net covering the surrounding area of 30 feet. Even the bravest elite troop of Tang would not forcefully enter, aware of the threat of death. The sadhu and the robed swordsman were trying to control their breathing hastily in the Rain-savoring Building. The copper bowl, prayer beads and cyan-light short sword suspended around them quietly.
Astonished, the robed swordsman from South Jin Kingdom looked at Chao Xiaoshu in the rain, and said bitterly, “I hadn’t thought that a gang leader from Chang’an would be a Great Sword Master at superior grade Seethrough State, even just an inch away from the Knowing Destiny State. Can this be the strength and secret of the Tang Empire? In that case, you must know that this is the reason why the nobility of the Tang wanted to kill you. The noble has said that your life will be spared if you’re willing to surrender.
Chao Xiaoshu raised his left hand, pulling off a green leaf that had landed on his front lapel, and then raised his head to look at the robed swordsman. Calmly, he said, “You killed my brother, so whether you surrender or not, you must die.”
The robed swordsman remained silent.
The sadhu wearing a rice farmer’s hat watched Ning Que, who was beside Chao Xiaoshu. He looked at the black mask on his face and his familiar yet slightly weird hairstyle. With a frown, he asked, “Youngster, are you from Yuelun Kingdom?”
Ning Que looked back at the sadhu with no words or any response, merely knitting his brows above the black mask.
Chao Xiaoshu looked towards the elite troop of Tang on the opposite side of the courtyard, murmuring with his gaze gradually turning ice-cold, “One is a Great Sword Master from South Jin Kingdom, one is a sadhu from Yuelun Kingdom, and you guys…. are soldiers from our great Tang Empire. You colluded with foreign people for random orders from those so-called big shots. It is quite disgraceful.”
The leader of the Tang troop was unable to face up to Chao Xiaoshu’s cold and threatening gaze. He lowered his head, seemingly not wanting rainwater to get into his eyes and seemingly a bit ashamed.
But if the strong cultivators partook the battles, the battles would always be controlled by the cultivators. Ning Que and the average persons like the elite troop of Tang had no option but to assist rather than control the process of the battle. The cultivator consumed the energy, physical strength, and especially the Psyche Power extremely rapidly in battle. When they were incapable of overcoming the enemy at a stroke they would typically choose to withdraw from the attack and regulate their breathing. With respect to the previous situation, the brief dialogue during the rainy night had occurred because the Tang troops made use of the Shenhou crossbow. Chao Xiaoshu was worried that Ning Que had no way of reacting, thus taking a risk to recall his swords.
“Let’s end this.”
Chao Xiaoshu said these words tranquilly, and then raised his right arm pointing towards the Rain-savoring Building. The state of his strength was above both the Yuelun Kingdom sadhu and the South Jin Kingdom swordsman. He had the strength and the ability to choose when to fight.
Exactly at this moment.
The five sword blades shuttling back and forth at high speed within the courtyard turned suddenly, moving their trajectory as though hearing a clear command, uttering a sharper whistle, ripping, tittering, frying, burning, penetrating the Rain-savoring Building.
The sadhu turned nervous and vigilant, open-eyed with his two hands shifting the mudras rapidly between his knees. The copper bowl suspending in front of his body also flew to meet the enemy, along with the string of ironwood prayer beads, circling around his body.
The swordsman from South Jin Kingdom harrumphed. His complexion was as pale as snow, while his lips were as bright as blood. His Psyche Power penetrated through the Breath of nature inside and outside the Rain-savoring Building through the various orifices of Ocean of Qi and Mountain of Snow, controlling the cyan-light short sword that flew like lightning.
No!”
The sadhu’s pupils suddenly shrank. The light gray sword shadows concealed in the boundless spring rain were barely visible. It was only when the whistling flew towards the Rain-savoring Building, that he saw clearly that there were only four, and not five!
Where had that last sword blade flown off to?
The sadhu was about to warn the swordsman from South Jin Kingdom beside him, but it was already too late.
A beam of extremely faint sword shadow quietly bypassed the girth of the Rain-savoring Building, unnoticeable to the two inside the building. It slipped down the wooden pillars, and then sped up abruptly in the waist-high position, penetrating the extremely thick wooden pillar like a hot blade piercing snow. In an instant it appeared behind the swordsman’s head!
The swordsman from South Jin Kingdom sensed the chill in the air behind his head. Feeling extremely frightened, his two hands hung out of his sleeves waving madly. The cyan-light short sword suddenly paused, but had no way out to save its master.
With a light hum, the sword blade pierced into the back of his head, puncturing through his hyoid bone. It flew out carrying blood and shredded flesh askew, just like a strange bloodthirsty worm!
The swordsman from South Jin Kingdom stared at Chao Xiaoshu with wide eyes in the rain. He leaned backwards, holding onto his throat which was spraying blood. It was only at his last moments when he finally confirmed that the reaction speed of his opponent was indeed far beyond his own.
Its master dead, the short sword no longer controlled by Psyche Power fell to the rainwater, sprang twice and then went still. The two sword blades formerly struggling with the cyan-light short sword converged with the other three sword blades and assailed at the body of the sadhu at high speed after giving a harsh whistle. It resembled the boisterous wind and rain rather than five simple dull dots.
The five sharp-edged sword blades collided with the stiff and massive copper bowl ceaselessly. Ironwood prayer beads danced at a high speed, resulting in a clear and melodious sound interspersed with the occasional clang. The patch of dandelion-like golden flowers around the sadhu would bloom sometimes and be blown away by the wind at other times.
Suddenly, innumerable holes appeared on the old frock worn by the sadhu, from which blood seeped ceaselessly. Buddhist cultivators rarely wore soft armors like ordinary cultivators. He soon became drenched in blood.
Chao Xiaoshu looked into the Rain-savoring Building calmly. His hands hung motionlessly outside of his sleeves. The five sword blades moved around as if they were plucking a melody, like five invisible fingers.
Chao Xiaoshu raised his eyebrows slightly. His face was pale, as if the color had been washed off by the rainwater. He had discovered that the sadhu’s firm willpower far exceeded his estimation. The sadhu lifted the front piece of his black gown graciously, completely disregarding the rain of bows and arrows surrounding him, and the elite troop of Tang rushing at him as he sat down in the torrential rain.
Chao Xiaoshu stared at the enemy within his mansion beside the threshold of his house. His sword-like eyebrows gradually flattened. The five mysterious sword blades gathered together, whistling, and coagulated into a sword again. Then they thrust directly at the copper bowl without any trick or dodge!
Just at that moment, one of the two horse carriages at the secluded intersection, washed by the heavy rain outside another enclosing wall, started moving slowly towards the gate of the Chao Mansion. The sound of hoofbeats and moving wheels were muted by the wind and rain.