CH 119

In the moonlight, the assassins were like demons and monsters dancing in a frenzy, and the strongest demon in the center was dragging out a long line of blood, pointing directly at Shen Jue! All of the cavalrymen’s defenses had been defeated, and the cavalrymen scuffling with the other assassins wanted to withdraw and turn back to rescue him, yet their way out was blocked by even more assassins. Between Shen Jue and the Garuda, there was only a distance of a little over twenty steps left, and next to him, there was only Shen Wenxing, Mingyue, and her daughter, all of whom were very weak. He was already alone and helpless!

“Godfather!” Shen Wenxing’s voice trembled, tightly clutching the front of Shen Jue’s robes. Mingyue closed her eyes, pressing Yu-jie’er into her arms.

“Shen Wenxing, you’re a man, right?” said Shen Jue.

Shen Wenxing was taken aback and stammered, “Father… don’t you know whether I’m a man?”

“If you’re a man, then pick up the saber on the ground and protect the women behind you.” Shen Jue glanced at him indifferently. “Before you die, you have to be a true man once.”

“Godfather…” Shen Wenxing blankly let go of the front of Shen Jue’s robes. The sounds of fighting entered his ears, and he abruptly came back to his senses. Picking up a goose quill saber from the ground and holding it in his hands, he roared with a shaky voice, “Fuck it, I’ll fight today!”

“Very good.”

Shen Jue lifted his saber and advanced. In front of them, the Garuda was holding his saber and rapidly approaching. His black riding boots stepped on the ground, splashing countless drops of blood. Among the tide-like sounds of killing, Shen Jue closed his eyes and released a long breath. It had already been a long time since he had experienced this kind of fighting face to face, since he had a high position, so he never had to personally make a move if he wanted to kill someone. Jingtie hadn’t left its scabbard in a long time, so it was practically covered in dust in his hands.

He really wanted to know why Xiahou Pei had given him Jingtie at the time. He had heard that an assassin could only take one saber from Garan’s saber furnace in their life, and Xiahou Pei had bestowed upon him Xiahou Lian’s only saber. 

Gripping the icy hilt, faraway memories instantly returned. He once again felt Jingtie’s heavy and restrained heartbeat, again and again, becoming one with his heartbeat. It seemed to be a misperception, but the pain in his fingers were relieved, and his hand instantly seemed to merge into one with Jingtie.

It turned out that this saber had always belonged to him!

He abruptly opened his eyes; at this time, the Garuda’s saber was already close at hand! The momentum of this extremely strong assassin’s saber was like a thunderbolt, as swift as lightning, overwhelmingly about to destroy everything. No one could survive under such a fast saber. Next to the carriage armest, Shen Wenxing held his breath, his heart forgetting to beat.

Shen Jue abruptly ducked, and in this moment, he was like a dormant beast. The silvery bright blade brushed past his hair, and a section of his long flying hair was cut off, fluttering in front of his eyes.

He had dodged!

Shen Wenxing practically wanted to shout out; Shen Jue had actually dodged what was practically a killing blow from the Garuda. Shen Jue swiftly turned around and swung his saber. Where Jingtie passed, there was a piercingly cold wind, as if forming snow-white frost. His speed indeed wasn’t as fast as the Garuda’s, but he had already determined the momentum of the Garuda’s saber. Every time the Garuda swung his saber, it would be toward the enemy’s vital point. He had killed fifteen cavalrymen, and he had slit the throats of ten of them. Before Shen Jue and the Garuda met, he had made preparations. He couldn’t see the Garuda’s saber, but the Garuda would definitely have swung his saber the moment they met!

Moreover, the next moment after dodging the first blow was the best time for Shen Jue to fight back!

With a clang, the expected sounds of his blade tearing through blood and flesh didn’t appear. The short saber in the assassin’s left hand was behind his back, blocking Shen Jue’s fatal blow.

“Although your saber skills are very poor,” the assassin said in a low voice, “you are stronger than I thought.”

Shen Jue: “…”

“I do not have much time left.” The Garuda threw away his short saber and held his saber in both hands. “Apologies.”

Instantly, Shen Jue heard the sound of a blade slicing through the air, like thousands of ferocious ghosts howling at the same time, and awarped saber light flashed past his eyes like a thunderbolt from the dome of the sky. He gritted his teeth and raised his saber to block in front of him, but he wasn’t quick enough. The Garuda tilted past him, and a narrow and long wound instantly appeared on his arm. In a flash, the assassin became a ghost, and he couldn’t see anything and could only catch a hazy dark shadow. The ghost crossed past him nonstop, inevitably leaving behind a wound every time he swept past.

In that moment, Shen Jue finally felt their difference; it turned out that a disparity between saber techniques couldn’t be remedied with any amount of resourcefulness. He had been completely caught by the Garuda, like an evil spirit possessing him, unable to break free or escape. In the blink of an eye, the Garuda had sliced his body seven times, covering his torso and thighs. His yesa robes were already wet and soaked in blood.

The Garuda finished his continuous swings, since his prey was already powerless to fight back. Blood took away Shen Jue’s strength, and even if the Garuda didn’t make a move, he would die from excessive loss of blood.

However, the Garuda still had to cut off his head to bring to Duan Jiu. He would execute Shen Jue; there had been no doubt in this battle.

The Garuda indifferently raised his saber high up. Under the moonlight, that saber was a grim and cold line, as if able to separate yin and yang. Shen Jue looked up strenuously, and the long saber congealed as a line in his eyes, gathering into a point of silver light.

Was he about to die? The night wind brushed past his hair, like the icy breathing of Heibai Wuchang 1 in his ears. He was indeed about to die; this death had come so suddenly, yet it was within reach. The piercingly cold blade was approaching, and the silver light spread into an expanse of white. In his daze, he suddenly recalled many things from the past: Xiahou Lian sitting in front of the threshold and tying lanterns, Xiahou Lian grimacing as he drank the bitter medicine, Xiahou Lian weaving small orchid flowers for him. And, from many, many years ago: Xiahou Lian carrying him on his back in the snow and struggling to crawl back to Qiuwu Courtyard.

In the wind and snow that filled the sky and covered the ground, twelve-year-old Xiahou Lian roared, “Young Master, don’t die!”

The boundless snow spread out underneath their feet, and in the world of pure white snow, they were two lonely and small figures, embracing each other in the vast universe.

That forlorn and piercing call reverberated in his ears, and he abruptly lifted his saber.

He still had an idiot waiting for him to come home. He had knelt for over ten miles to pray to Buddha, and he still had to go home to see whether he had recovered. How could he die?

Shen Jue abruptly rose up, and this man who was weak and sickly in other people’s eyes dragged his body covered in scars to parry the Garuda’s beheading blow. There was no expression on his face, and only his tightly pursed lips revealed his obstinate stubbornness. After Jingtie warded off the Garuda’s blow, it sliced through the wind, and the jet-black blade restrained all light as it went through a desolate and straight line.

The two of them passed each other, and a wound appeared on the side of the Garuda’s sleeve, warm blood sliding past his skin.

He looked down and touched the blood on his sleeve, and was suddenly a little blank.

Very few people could fight back under his saber, so he hadn’t been wounded like this in a very long time.

“I take back what I said just now, you are very strong,” said the Garuda.

Shen Jue panted heavily, as the blow from just then had already sapped all of his strength. Finally, a cavalryman got out and came to aid him, standing in front of Shen Jue.

“I will give the strong the respect they deserve. So, for my next blow, I will use all of my strength.” The Garuda crouched down slightly and put his saber horizontally in front of him.

At the side, Shen Wenxing widened his eyes; what nonsense was that assassin saying? He would use all of his strength in the next one, so was the saber from just then now his true strength?

“Garan Saber • Inverse One-Heart Chop, most expert,” the Garuda said in a low voice.

The melancholic moonlight flowed on his blade, and his eyes under the mask were hidden behind his saber; they were black and deep, as if storing thousands of lights. The momentum of this assassin’s entire body instantly changed, and a majestic demon seemed to stand up behind him. All of the cavalrymen retreated in fear. They had also fought against many assassins and experienced the ferociousness of Garan Saber, but in this moment, they discovered that they had never seen the true Garan Saber.

The true Garan Saber was the saber of a demon.

The Garuda stepped forward, suddenly sprinting forward like a fierce wolf. His saber dragged warped lightning as it passed a winding arc, and the cavalryman was killed the instant he approached. Shen Jue heard the sticky sounds of his blade submerging into blood and flesh and then leaving, so cold it seemed to soak into his bone marrow. The lighting sliced past a line, and the demon saber finally arrived in front of Shen Jue. The Garuda held his saber in both hands and pressed down like thunder, the manner of his saber becoming as heavy as a huge mountain!

In that stunning saber momentum, Shen Jue’s vision was an expanse of white.

“Clang——”

The blade suspended above his head didn’t fall down. Flute sounds amid the night wind sounded from the forest, flowing quietly. His vision gradually cleared, and Shen Jue saw a girl standing in front of him with black hair and black clothes, her wide sleeves sliding down along her raised arms. However, her exposed arms weren’t a woman’s lustrous skin, but two blades flashing with cold light instead.

Someone said the girl’s name for him, “Zhaoye!”

In the darkness, something in the air flashed with a piercingly cold silver light, an extremely thin silk. Shen Jue lifted his head along the silk. Opposite of them, on a mulberry branch aloft in the air, a pitch-black figure was hanging upside down, looking down at all of the assassins below. His appearance was too frightening, like an upside-down bat, and everyone was startled.

“Who is it!” The assassins whispered, “How can he control Zhaoye and Leading Mechanism Silk!”

“I heard that when Shen Jue was hunting down that traitor, he confiscated many of his things.” The Mahoraga said, “It looks like Shen Jue even restored his Mechanism Silk and puppet techniques.”

The Garuda retreated as he said in a low voice, “Is that so?”

“Hey, you over there,” said the figure on the tree.

The Garuda lifted his head, looking at him quietly.

“Yes, I’m talking to you.” Under the moon’s shadows, the person’s eyes were clearly bloodshot. “Was it you who caused the wounds on my governor’s head and body?”

“Not the ones on his head.” The Garuda was very truthful.

Xiahou Lian landed on the ground from the tree, walking toward him step by step. “All in all, I’ll count it on you. Bastard, you dared to touch my person, if I don’t kill you today I’ll write my name backwards.”

“You are Shen Lian?” The Garuda didn’t move. “Which Lian? What was your name before you changed names?”

Xiahou Lian smiled, his smile containing a wolf-like ferociousness. He opened his fingers and pulled abruptly, and invisible silk trembled violently in the air, mulberry leaves rustling and swirling like rain. Zhaoye suddenly lifted her head and dashed toward the Garuda.

“My name is,” Xiahou Lian said, “your uncle.”