Chapter 81

Humanity existed within the liminal space between heaven and earth. There must first

be a self, before there can be an other. One judges others by comparing them to

oneself, the way that one may judge other living things.

If one is unhappy, their world

is unhappy; if one is without sorrow, so follows their world. For the joy in one's heart

Bai Rong laughed sweetly: "Xiao-shixiong, you really do like to weave all sorts of tales

about me every hour of the day. Could it be that you think that shizun will treat you

more favorably if you cut me down? Don't forget that you belong to Yuan-zongzhu first

and foremost. If you want to change your status, then show some good faith. What use

is there in attacking a little girl like me?"

Baoyun, who stood by Yan Shou's side, suddenly opened his mouth to speak: "We

haven't yet found who we were looking for, and here you all are starting internal

disputes. Is this how Yuan-zongzhu and Sang-zhanglao teach their disciples?"

The tone of this voice was severe and ghastly, sharply contrasting with his solemn,

dignified appearance of a monk.

However, the effects were obvious. Bai Rong and Xiao Se immediately shut their

mouths and didn't say another word.

Yan Shou glanced around once more. His line of sight finally fell upon the large statue

of Buddha. He paused, before taking a step towards it.

His actions attracted the attention of the others. Even Baoyun said: "Yi¹, this statue of

Buddha is quite large. If it's hollow on the inside, then it could hide someone inside."

Yan Shou looked the status up and down, starting from the top of its head down to the

pedestal it sat upon, before suddenly extending his hand and pulling away the sheet of

fabric it sat upon. After seeing the marks left upon the sheet of fabric, he laughed

coldly, and immediately struck the statue!

With Zhang Feng² aimed right at the center, the crack on top quickly spidered

throughout the statue. A loud crash followed, and the Buddhist statue split into four!

There really was someone within it!

Everyone present gazed upon the figure that was hidden within the statue. Yan Shou

laughed loudly and flew towards them like an eagle hunting its prey—he threw himself

towards the man before him!

Before he had even made it there, his Zhang Feng had already swept across the area,

as sudden as the madness of wind and strong rain, the skies were filled with bloody

shadows—as cold as winter cutting into bone, filled with a ghastly dread coming down

in torrents. It was enough to make someone feel as though they were being concealed

by the bloody shadow of Zhang Feng from head to toe while being taken by surprise.

There wouldn't have been any room for them to have run—they would only tremble

with fear as hopelessness took over their hearts.

Even if Shen Qiao possessed the strength he had in the past, he would have been

caught completely unprepared against the palm of Yan Shou's Zhang Feng—so large it

was that it blotted out even the skies—much less with the strength that he possessed

now, which was exhausted from having battled the four of them earlier.

When they had fought earlier, Yan Shou had feared how Shen Qiao reached the state

of jian xin. However, he had made out the details of Shen Qiao's condition. He had

realized that Shen Qiao's present internal strength was completely unable to sustain

any jian state. In short, though Shen Qiao's progress on jian dao had developed

quickly, his foundational internal strength was unable to keep up. And this fatal flaw

wasn't something that could have changed within the short amount of time he was

hiding for.

Therefore, he believed that this strike would at least be able to pin Shen Qiao down

where he was and leave him unable to act in an unpleasant situation, even if it wasn't

strong enough to inflict serious damage upon the other man.

Just as he thought this, his Zhang Feng glided towards its target. The distance

between Yan Shou and Shen Qiao shrank quickly—yet the other man quickly blocked

him just in time!

Before Yan Shou's eyes was a sea of white light, filled with cold, ominous killing intent.

It had even suppressed Yan Shou's Zhang Feng and overflowed its bloodied shadows

as jian qi closed in on Yan Shou's face!

"Yan-zhanglao, be careful!" Xiao Se shouted.

Yan Shou didn't need Xiao Se shouting his throat out he had already quickly retreated.

The others didn't stand by and watch. Baoyun had leapt up and grabbed at Shen Qiao

from another direction.

Shen Qiao drew his sword, while jian qi followed the sword's body, overflowing as it did

before being cleansed by true qi. A flash of teal fabric floated past elegantly, almost

seeming to transform into a bluish-green bow of light, and was only further enhanced

with and by the blade's light—the sight of it was indistinguishably dazzling.

These weren't truly empty words. Shen Qiao was fighting one against two, and up until

now, he hasn't seemed to have exhausted himself. Not only Baoyun was unable to deal

with him—even Yan Shou was clearly showing signs of being close to defeat.

How could a single person suddenly become this strong?!

Xiao Se could only think this with such indeterminable bewilderment. He even

wondered if Yan Wushi had imitated the dual cultivation methods of Hehuan Sect—but

even if he had, the results wouldn't be anywhere near this extent of Shen Qiao's

improvement, especially within this short span of time.

He scoffed coldly, and felt disinclined to continue arguing with Bai Rong. Instead, he

continued to watch the battle that took place on top of the roof.

However, in the short time that the two of them had exchanged a handful of words, it

seemed that it was already clear who had won and who had lost the battle that took

place on the roof.

The hearts of Hehuan Sect's people were not completely identical. This was very much

clear from Shen Xiao and Yan Shou's battle.

Although Shen Qiao had reopened his acupoints earlier, his strength could not have

advanced this significantly so as to reach its peak within the span of an evening. At its

best, his meridians were able to expand, allowing him to recover some of his strength.

And his strength at present wasn't much different from that of Yan Shou. However,

fighting against Yan Shou and Baoyun would be a more strenuous task.

But Baoyun gradually decided not to interfere after seeing how Shen Qiao focused all

of his energy into pursuing Yan Shou. He allowed Shen Qiao to ride out his winning

streak, while Yan Shou was beset by one problem after another.

Yan Shou was filled with great hatred. Moreover, he did not want to be underestimated

by the rest, so he wanted more than anything to kill Shen Qiao on his own.

Who knew that the Shen Qiao of the present was completely incomparable to the Shen

Qiao of the past. His Shanhe Tongbei sword was enough to ward anyone from

approaching him. Yan Shou had wanted to change from his defensive position to an

offensive one, but remained unable to for fear of the screen of light from the other

man's sword. Amidst the light, the powerful and infamous "Bloodstained Monk" had

been suppressed to the point of being unable to land a single strike on his target. He

knit his eyebrows severely as he wore a grave and stern expression, as beads of sweat

appeared on his forehead.

He was cornered. Inevitably at some point, he was careless, and at that very moment,

the light of the Shanhe Tongbei sword expanded vigorously, heading straight between

Yan Shou's eyebrows.

Baoyun naturally could not sit and watch as Yan Shou lost his life before his eyes. If he

had, then it would be difficult to explain once he returned to Hehuan Sect.

"What are you two standing there staring there for?!" he shouted directly at Xiao Se

and Bai Rong.

As he did this, he raised one hand and prepared to strike in Shen Qiao's direction.

Xiao Se and Bi Rong could no longer stand on the sidelines and watch the way that

they were. They immediately entered the battle, each one prepared to attack Shen

Qiao.

However, when two experts are battling, a myriad of changes can take place within the

blink of an eye. The moment that they had already made an attempt to interfere with

the battle, they already heard Yan Shou's tragic cries. This omen of death arose from

within the curtain of light emitted from the sword; and as the light vanished, did it

come crashing down.

***

1 yi: an expression of surprise.

2 zhang feng. I believe this is the name of Yan Shou's technique. Zhang = open

palm; feng = gust; wind; phoenix.