Chapter 15: A Sword That Breaks the Blade's Aura
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“The chaos in Great Qian seems to have exceeded even my imagination. My knowledge of martial arts is pitifully shallow.”
“Demons, great elixirs, techniques that consume human beings…”
“And rebels like the White Lotus Society…”
The fragments revealed through Beggar Li’s words and the detailed descriptions of various items had already allowed Yang Le to lift a corner of the veil shrouding the indistinct Great Qian.
Whether it was demons, great elixirs, or a martial art such as the Spring and Autumn Art, all of them could appear openly within Great Qian’s official army.
Even the ordinary soldiers were human servants created from the discarded remains of fully consumed great elixirs.
And then there was the White Lotus Society beyond the city walls…
All of it had shaken Yang Le’s understanding to some degree.
At first, Yang Le had believed that the Great Qian into which he had transmigrated was merely an ordinary ancient world in turmoil, with martial artists as its only unusual variable.
In essence, it was a martial world suffering from the decline of imperial authority and the upheaval of a chaotic age.
But after today, Yang Le finally understood that beyond martial artists, there were also demons.
Demons even existed within Great Qian’s army—not lurking in the shadows, but standing openly in the light.
As for the wicked cultivation methods Yang Le had once thought belonged only to heretical practitioners, they too seemed to be everywhere.
Moreover, he had the faint impression that humans and demons coexisted in this world, with demons above and humans below.
“No matter how chaotic Great Qian becomes, I will survive by the sword in my hand. Having been granted a second life, I may yet stand at the summit of the martial path and see what lies there.”
“Demons or martial artists, whoever stands in the way of my martial path will die.”
When he first transmigrated, Yang Le had wanted only to stay alive.
Now, he wanted not only to survive, but also to reach the summit of Great Qian’s martial path and see it for himself.
What was that saying again? Since he had come all this way…
He could hardly have come for nothing.
“And now, I shall cut down Changsun Ji!”
Setting aside his thoughts, Yang Le happened to arrive before the room where Changsun Ji resided.
Whether it was merely his imagination or the truth, the closer Yang Le drew to Changsun Ji’s quarters, the more distinctly he sensed a dense, murderous aura.
It was different from the surging vitality of a martial artist, resembling instead a concentrated aura of slaughter.
Yang Le did not dwell on it. Every subordinate under Changsun Ji was a disgrace to humanity, practicing demonic techniques.
It was only natural for such a murderous aura to linger around Changsun Ji.
Indeed—
Even if Changsun Ji himself were a demon, Yang Le would not have found it strange.
“Lord Changsun Ji, I am Yang Le.”
He drew his sword. The blood from Li Bing’s killing still clung to the blade, dripping slowly onto the ground.
Yang Le stepped forward and knocked on the tightly closed door.
“The great elixir you wanted has come to you.”
“Damn it! Li Bing really was a worthless fool!”
The moment Yang Le finished speaking, Changsun Ji’s violent roar erupted from within. A wave of murderous aura then swept toward Yang Le outside the door.
Though the dense aura was intangible, the brutality within it instantly blasted apart the pear-wood door.
The door flew open.
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Changsun Ji’s eyes were blood-red. Holding a coiled-dragon saber in both hands, he leapt out with an overwhelming presence that seemed as heavy as a thousand mountains. Then he swung the saber in a single stroke.
A crimson arc of saber energy rushed straight toward Yang Le.
The force contained within it was so immense that, before it even reached Yang Le, the granite paving stones around them had already exploded apart. Along its path, it carved a trench half a meter deep.
“Seventh rank and eighth rank are both among the lower three ranks, but every step along the martial path is a whole new heaven. What is more, you are merely a lowly human. How dare you challenge me?”
“The moment this saber energy leaves my blade, the gulf between us becomes a heavenly chasm!”
Within the room, Changsun Ji did not know what sort of useless fool Li Bing had been to allow Yang Le to learn of the great elixir.
But to Changsun Ji, that was of no importance.
Killing an eighth-rank human martial artist was, for him…
A matter of one stroke.
“He’s strong—stronger than every enemy I’ve ever encountered.”
“An ordinary eighth-rank martial artist could not withstand such saber energy head-on. Even standing nearby would be difficult.”
As the saber energy bore down upon him, Yang Le’s expression grew slightly grave, and his eyes filled with focus.
Changsun Ji’s saber…
It truly placed a trace of pressure upon Yang Le.
But as Yang Le raised the sword in his hand, the instant the saber energy touched him, time seemed to come to a halt.
The saber energy, originally as fierce as a mountain, slowed before Yang Le’s eyes.
“Master, that is astral force, unique to seventh-rank martial artists. It cannot be resisted by anyone who has not cultivated the same power!”
Beggar Li had arrived at precisely that moment. Seeing Yang Le prepare to withstand, with an ordinary sword and eighth-rank cultivation, the saber energy of Changsun Ji—a seventh-rank peak, pure-blooded demon imbued with murderous force—he could not help but issue a warning.
Demons and humans possessed an enormous disparity in strength. Among those of the same rank, only one in ten human cultivators could defeat a demon cultivator, and even that was under the condition that the human had switched to a demonic technique.
As for Yang Le before him—
His cultivation was a rank lower.
His chances of victory fell by another tenth.
His technique was also merely a fragment of a human sword-cultivation art left behind a century ago.
Another tenth was stripped away.
And the sword in his hand was an ordinary weapon forged from crude iron.
It could scarcely even be called a weapon.
Another deduction…
No. There was nothing left to deduct.
Under such circumstances—
Yang Le faced Changsun Ji.
He was certain to die.
“My bloodline is extraordinary. If I unleash its power by force, I can kill that fool of a bull with ease, but the Night Owl of the Imperial Observatory will certainly sense it.”
In an instant, a flicker of calculation passed through Beggar Li’s anxious expression.
“But if I do not, Yang Le will certainly die…”
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Beggar Li hesitated.
…
“Demons and humans are much the same. To me, the one who kills me need not be a demon, and the one who treats me well need not be human.”
“When we leave the city, I will teach you the sword.”
“After today, I shall be your master.”
Yang Le’s earlier, indifferent words repeatedly surfaced in Beggar Li’s mind.
“I have not even learned the sword yet. You cannot die. In all of Great Qian, it would be difficult to find a second person who pursues the pure path of human swordsmanship.”
“I wager that the star-readers of the Imperial Observatory are a pack of idlers merely waiting out their days!”
In an instant, Beggar Li made his decision. He slightly lifted his hempen robe and untied the crude grass-paper talisman fastened over his abdomen.
A flower with pale, multicolored petals was revealed.
Then—
Beggar Li’s eyes and face flushed faintly, and a trace of alluring charm quietly suffused his entire being.
“Three breaths are enough to kill that stupid bull…”
Killing intent surged from Beggar Li in an instant.
“That saber energy can be broken.”
But before Beggar Li could act, Yang Le’s sword was already faster.
Yang Le struck.
There was no extravagant display of force, only a sword edge refined to the utmost purity.
It was as ordinary as a sword drifting through dancing snow among green bamboo.
He thrust into empty space.
Whether by coincidence or design, the tip of his sword met the savage astral force and violent saber energy unleashed by Changsun Ji.
The saber energy that had stirred up countless waves of brutality moments earlier vanished instantly into the heavens and earth, as though all the commotion had been nothing more than smoke and mist.
“I have not finished speaking. You are indeed strong, but I am stronger.”
As the saber energy dissipated, Yang Le’s calm voice rang out.
But—
Yang Le did not stop.
“One sword to break your saber energy, and this sword to kill you.”
The room was pitch-black, save for the candle flame swaying gently in the wind.
Changsun Ji’s figure appeared and disappeared in the flickering light, illuminated one moment by the dim yellow flame and swallowed by darkness the next.
His iron-gray face entered Yang Le’s sight.
At that moment—
Yang Le drew his sword once more.
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