Chapter 144: The Green Snake in the Sleeve (Complete)

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This paired mother-and-child returning flying blade was vicious beyond measure. Even with a protective spirit garment, if the child blade failed to kill, the mother blade would follow close behind. It curved and wheeled back, making it ordinarily almost impossible to evade.

And yet, strangely enough…

The scene of blood and mangled flesh everyone had imagined never appeared.

The opponent’s figure suddenly shifted forward by several inches. When the blade curved back, he shifted backward by the same distance.

“…”

To an outside observer, he seemed not to have moved at all.

Yet he was completely unharmed.

“Fellow Daoist…”

Song Yan turned his eyes slightly. The faint gold in his irises faded, leaving only deep black.

A dangerous smile lifted the corners of his mouth.

“Why resort to murder the moment we disagree?”

The long-faced cultivator’s expression tightened, and wariness rose in his heart.

Footwork?

The man in yellow robes had some experience, at least. In the space of a few breaths, the opponent’s figure had changed position repeatedly, which already said enough.

The fifth-level Qi Refining cultivator was short, but his expression was extremely arrogant. With these two elder brothers beside him, he seemed convinced that he had nothing to fear.

With his elder brother and second brother joining forces, what did it matter even if their opponent was at the tenth level of Qi Refining?

“Heh heh, you little—”

Buzz—

Before he could finish speaking, a streak of black-and-white light skimmed past his ear and shot toward the long-faced cultivator.

“Second Brother!”

An ocher radiance suddenly rose from the hands of the man in yellow robes. Without pausing, he swung it upward to intercept the attack.

Clang!

The sound of clashing weapons rang throughout the entire front courtyard.

A pair of massive hammers crossed in the man’s hands. As spiritual power surged, they knocked the Unmoored Boat upward.

The black-and-white streak wheeled through the air and returned to Song Yan’s side.

At the same time, he slowly withdrew his sword fingers.

“…”

The short, stocky cultivator stood dazed and lowered his head slightly. His protective spirit garment had already shattered and vanished. A tiny hole in his chest, directly over his heart, was pouring out blood.

“Urgh…”

With a thud, the stocky cultivator fell to his knees, his mouth overflowing with blood.

His hands convulsed and flailed wildly, as though trying to grasp at something.

But soon, his breath left him.

Whenever he could ensure that an enemy was swiftly removed from the battlefield, Song Yan never held back. His sword-derived true essence could be called his most thunderous weapon.

“Third Brother!”

What terrifying sword energy!

The man in yellow robes was shocked and enraged. The instant he had moved to block the flying sword for his second brother, the opponent had already raised his hand.

That sword energy…

If he had been the one to receive it, he would surely have suffered grievously if caught off guard.

While the two men faced Song Yan as though confronting a deadly enemy, his expression remained calm.

Under ordinary circumstances, he would have used his sword essence to kill or severely injure the seventh-level Qi Refining cultivator first.

Then he would have fought the man in yellow robes with all his strength.

But the man in yellow robes had clearly been cautious from the beginning, and he had stayed close to the long-faced cultivator.

If Song Yan wanted to kill someone in a single strike, the short, stocky cultivator was the only one he could do so with any confidence.

“Very well. I can try that one…”

With a flex of his finger, the flying sword Linked Branches shot out of the sword case on his back and immediately attacked the long-faced cultivator.

The Unmoored Boat, meanwhile, slashed toward the man in yellow robes.

“Two swords at once?!”

“This is intolerable!”

The moment Song Yan attacked, he had fully revealed his aura: the seventh level of Qi Refining.

This eased the two already-wary cultivators somewhat.

Even so, the fact that he could simultaneously control two flying swords still startled them.

The gradually cooling corpse of their third brother nearby reminded them that the youth before them was no ordinary cultivator.

Spiritual power surged through the man in yellow robes. Abundant energy clung to his pair of ocher hammers as he crossed them to block the incoming Unmoored Boat.

Clang—

The sound of the collision reverberated through the temple.

Feeling his spiritual power draining at an alarming rate, the man in yellow robes suddenly changed color.

“A high-grade artifact?!”

Sword intent was the final piece of Song Yan’s sword cultivation. When it reached completion, it affected far too many things.

His Dao-heart and sword intent had fused together and been borne within the sword itself.

Only now was the Unmoored Boat truly a complete life-bound flying sword.

Its power had even reached the level of a high-grade artifact.

The State of Chu lay in a remote region, and its resources of spiritual treasures were scarce. Ordinary rogue cultivators, members of common cultivation families, and even disciples of most sects possessed artifacts no better than mid-grade.

Qi Refining cultivators who owned high-grade artifacts were essentially limited to the genius disciples of the six great sects.

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The man in yellow robes naturally did not understand the secret behind it. He merely considered himself “fortunate” to have encountered such a person here.

Yet he and the long-faced cultivator had roamed Chu for many years, committing arson, murder, and robbery. It was not as though they had never encountered opponents like this before.

In their eyes, such people usually shared one fatal flaw.

They were excessively self-confident.

Those who had always enjoyed smooth sailing easily became trapped in the whirlpool of arrogance.

As long as one revealed the slightest opening, they would take the bait.

Like the youth before them. He clearly possessed the ability to fight them steadily and keep them at bay, yet he insisted on showing off.

Once he and his second brother put up a little resistance, they would deliberately reveal several openings and create the illusion that they were about to lose. That would lure their opponent into pressing ahead recklessly.

Soon, the opponent’s spiritual sense would grow exhausted, and his spiritual power would run dry.

At that point, he and his brother would have him helpless on their chopping block.

The long-faced cultivator understood this without needing to say it. He immediately urged the paired mother-and-child blades to circle beside him while retreating again and again, deliberately displaying weakness.

Song Yan was not being arrogant.

With the current strength of his spiritual sense, controlling two flying swords at once was not difficult.

The battles he had encountered in the past had either been easy enough for a single flying sword, or so overwhelming that even two would have made no difference.

He had therefore rarely employed such techniques.

After returning to the sect, apart from practicing the Void-Observing Sword Eyes and Cloudborne Intent, he had reviewed the many other methods of sword control recorded in Essentials of Swordsmanship.

At last, he had been bold enough to study the section concerning sword formations.

A sword formation was, as the name suggested, a grand formation with flying swords as its formation cores.

Its might in offense, defense, and suppression was extraordinarily powerful.

Yet to master a sword formation, one first had to become proficient at controlling multiple flying swords against an enemy simultaneously.

Beyond that, the means of sword control and the number of flying swords were both crucial. Knowledge of formations was even required.

With his current abilities in every respect, he was not yet qualified to delve deeply into sword formations.

The senior who had compiled Essentials of Swordsmanship, however, understood how difficult it was to cultivate sword formations.

Thus, with great thoughtfulness, he had included several sword techniques intended as transitional steps.

After comparing them, Song Yan ultimately chose one to practice. He had only barely entered its threshold.

This encounter was also meant to give him a chance to practice on these two men.

The opponents were showing him weakness, and he saw through it clearly. How could two late-stage Qi Refining cultivators possess only this much ability?

As the Unmoored Boat tangled with the man in yellow robes, the latter pretended that his body had become “unstable,” twisting and leaping away.

Song Yan showed no reaction. His fingertips moved slightly, and his sword formula changed abruptly.

The Unmoored Boat shot forward, aimed directly at the man’s face. The latter raised both hammers before him and smoothly diverted the force.

But the Unmoored Boat’s blade turned slightly, its hilt tapping lightly against one of the hammers.

Although the sword’s edge was deflected, a shadow of the sword split away from it. It wheeled through the air like a green snake flicking out its tongue, winding toward the man’s brow.

The man in yellow robes was horrified. With nowhere to evade, a pendant hidden at his neck erupted with a vibrant green light.

It barely managed to block the strike.

The Unmoored Boat, however, had already reestablished its assault. The man raised his hammer and struck again.

Metal rang against metal, and another sword shadow emerged, curving toward his ribs.

Sssht.

The sword shadow was razor-sharp. It sliced through the man’s protective spirit garment and carved a wound a foot long across his body.

“What kind of bizarre sword technique is this?!”

The man in yellow robes grunted, his heart filled with dread.

While Song Yan’s right hand controlled two flying swords and fought both men, his left hand suddenly dropped.

A strand of azure sword energy flowed from his wide sleeve. It was supple yet incomparably condensed, resembling blue smoke or the gleam of a blade.

The sword energy shot out like wind sweeping through fallen leaves, rushing toward the man in yellow robes at tremendous speed.

Daring to underestimate it no longer, the man frantically circulated his spiritual power. Ochre light surged around his body and spread over him like armor.

Sssht.

Two shattering sounds overlapped. One on the left and one on the right, two enormous tears instantly split open in his protective radiance.

The man in yellow robes felt a wave of lingering fear. Had he not once practiced a special art for guiding spiritual power, this strike alone would likely have left him gravely wounded.

He raised his eyes and saw that the young cultivator did not appear particularly fatigued.

This man’s spiritual power and spiritual sense were both far beyond those of ordinary cultivators.

Ju Luyi had hidden herself in a corner from the very beginning, secretly observing the battle.

Seeing that Senior Song could actually suppress two opponents while fighting them both, she could not help feeling astonished.

“How impressive.”

Feeling the power of the sword energy he had just unleashed, Song Yan’s eyes flickered.

This sword technique was called Azure Snake in the Sleeve.

It was a complete sword-art style, encompassing not only swordplay and sword techniques, but also methods for using sword energy and techniques for controlling flying swords.

A rough understanding of its basics was not especially difficult. The sword principles within it, however, were subtle and profound, worthy of long-term practice and study.

Most importantly, several of its essential sword principles would be extremely helpful when he later practiced sword formations.

The long-faced cultivator nearby had also noticed that something was wrong.

The youth was fighting the elder brother with all his strength while simultaneously dealing with him. Clearly, he was not the kind of fool they so often encountered.

The two exchanged a glance and saw the ferocity in each other’s eyes.

The fluctuations of spiritual power around both men began to grow violent.

“It seems now is when you intend to get serious.”

By this point, Song Yan had lost interest in entangling with them to practice his swordsmanship.

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If he were facing two ordinary late-stage Qi Refining cultivators like these, without any particularly formidable techniques or artifacts, then with his sword-derived true essence and Cloudborne Sword, he could indeed fight them both at once.

But…

There was more than one Azure Snake hidden within his sleeve.

“Xiao He.”

Hiss—

The hiss of a cold-blooded creature rang out. A green, bamboo-leaf-shaped blade shot toward the long-faced cultivator like a flying dagger.

He frowned and leaped into the air, only to discover in surprise that the faintly glowing green leaf was pursuing his movements like an artifact.

In desperation, he immediately hurled the paired flying blades, slicing the green leaf into two.

One half grazed his protective spirit garment. His spiritual power slowly melted away, like snow dissolving beneath the warm sun.

“What?!”

Xiao He parted her jaws slightly, and green demonic power gathered within her mouth.

It swiftly condensed into another green leaf. With a whoosh, it continued toward the long-faced cultivator.

Then it abruptly veered away and vanished amid the wreckage scattered throughout the temple.

After that, one or two green leaves would occasionally shoot forth from unknown locations.

Their demonic power was exceptionally condensed and their nature strangely treacherous. The slightest carelessness would cause one’s spiritual power to be dissolved.

“Damn beast!”

The long-faced cultivator cursed. He expanded his spiritual sense to its fullest, yet could not find the little snake’s whereabouts.

He had to fight the flying sword while also guarding against the snake’s uncanny hidden attacks. His mind rapidly grew fatigued, and the consumption of his spiritual power intensified.

The man in yellow robes’ heart sank. A spirit talisman flew out of his Cosmos Pouch.

Its radiance surged, transforming into a stream of blood-colored energy that sank into his chest.

His body slowly swelled. In a matter of moments, he had transformed into a “giant” more than ten feet tall.

Spiritual power poured forth, and the pair of hammers in his hands expanded along with him.

He suddenly smashed them into the ground. A vast tide of golden spiritual energy erupted and surged outward in every direction.

With the long-faced cultivator held at bay by Xiao He, Song Yan no longer held back.

In the blink of an eye, a trace of gold stained his eyes.

Sword energy surged around his body. His white Daoist robe fluttered though there was no wind, and the Sword Palace that Suppressed the Dao rang with a clear sword cry.

He unleashed Cloudborne Intent and slipped past the surging spiritual radiance.

At the same time, one white sword shadow after another, wrapped in the force of wind and thunder, shot rapidly from the sword case behind him, circling and wheeling through the air.

With a faint point of his sword fingers, the Unmoored Boat transformed into a streak of black-and-white light.

Buzz—

The man in yellow robes charged straight toward Song Yan. His massive hammers flew in sweeping arcs, knocking the Unmoored Boat aside.

But the flying sword was razor-sharp, and wind and thunder surged across its surface.

The man’s protective radiance trembled on the verge of shattering.

He paid it no heed. One of his great hammers dragged across the ground, then suddenly flicked upward, sending sand and stones flying and obscuring the view.

His spiritual power condensed, and he dropped from above, attempting to kill Song Yan on the spot.

Boom—

The twin hammers smashed into the earth. The ground of Nanshan Temple caved in, forming a vast crater as countless cracks spread outward.

Yet there was no bloodied corpse within it.

“How…”

Buzz!

The Unmoored Boat’s radiance erupted. It stabbed out from behind him with sudden force. No matter how quickly the man in yellow robes reacted, he could only turn around and brace both hammers before him in a hasty defense.

Azure sword light flickered within the attack and pierced forward in an instant, following the momentum of the flying sword.

Azure Scales Conceal the Edge, Awaiting the Perfect Moment.

The protective spirit garment was immediately shredded by the two razor-sharp sword lights, which struck like the fangs of venomous snakes.

“Not good!”

Wind lent strength to thunder. Nine white sword shadows infused with the intent of wind and thunder rapidly circled around him, while the Unmoored Boat wheeled through the air and hung above his head.

At that moment, the man in yellow robes had exhausted his previous strength, while his new strength had yet to gather.

Sssht.

The first sword shadow pierced his shoulder. A wave of agony surged through him. Lightning flashed, numbing his shoulder and arm until the great hammer in his hand nearly slipped free.

The next five sword shadows entered in succession, sinking into vital points throughout his body.

“Ah—”

He cried out in pain. His enormous body pitched forward and began to fall.

Yet a massive current of sword energy lifted him slowly into the air.

The sword energy filling the sky suddenly contracted in an instant. Black-and-white sword light, accompanied by wind and thunder, came crashing down.

Boom—

The chaotic sword energy swept up the mountain wind and scattered the stench of blood throughout the temple.

Little Ju hid behind the alchemy furnace. Only after the fierce wind had died down did she slowly open her eyes.

Several white sword lights, trailing numerous afterimages, circled and converged in the sky before returning one by one to the sword case behind Song Yan.

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