Translated by Team DHH.
Book 1: A New Lease on Life
Chapter 32: Heaven's Wrath Sword Style
They went back to Bian City and found another place to stay. It was owned by the Zhao family and Zhong Shan planned to stay in the city for the time being.
During the day, Zhong Shan and Tianling-er went out to stroll around the city. They passed a jade shop, Tianling-er picked out a few pieces of jewelry while Zhong Shan received from the store manager a small canister.
After they came back to their lodging, Zhong Shan carefully took out a small piece of cloth out of the canister. There was secret message written on the cloth.
'Last night between 11 pm to 1 am, tremendous fight at Hui City, seemed to be Hao San and his servant!'
Zhong Shan frowned when he read the last few words. There was a flash of seriousness in his eyes. Hao San and his servant? This information was passed along by An Ye Tang, the largest assassin organization among the six kingdoms.
Before Zhong Shan left the Kaiyang School, he had instructed the head of An Ye Tang, Anhuang, to monitor the whereabouts of Hao San and to pass information to him as soon as possible.
Last night between 11 pm and 1 am?
Zhong Shan pondered a while, then he burned the piece of cloth together with the canister. After both had been reduced to ashes, Zhong Shan spread the ashes around.
He pushed the door open and walked out.
"Zhong Shan." Zhao Suoxiang's voice came from outside suddenly.
"Where's Ling-er?" Zhao Suoxiang saw that Tianling-er wasn't around.
"She's taking a bath. What's wrong?" Zhong Shan looked at Zhao Suoxiang.
"Yesterday, there was a great battle at Hui City. And according to the messenger, it seems that Hao San was there." Zhao Suoxiang immediately said.
"Hao San was there? Wait, wait till Ling-er comes, then we will be on our way." Zhong Shan said.
"En." Zhao Suoxiang nodded.
One day later, Zhong Shan and Zhao Suoxiang were galloping on horseback on a road and Tianling-er flew on the red silk following them.
When Tianling-er heard the news that Hao San had been discovered, she so enthusiastic that she wanted to fly there right away.
Hui City was about 500 km away from Bian City. Zhong Shan and Zhao Suoxiang were both riding on swift horses and it only took them one day to arrive at Hui City.
Outside the city there was a small post station, a group of people was waiting here. And there were also some people sitting around to rest.
Zhao Suoxiang happened to come across that group of people.
"Sir, they have all gone to the mountain to the north." One of the men who was clad in a fancy robe yelled to Zhao Suoxiang on the horse.
Zhong Shan stopped the horse and saw a man in grey. His eyes brightened up when he saw a special knot on the clothes of the man. After the fancy robed man spoke, the grey clothed man also lightly nodded.
With the confirmation from the man, Zhong Shan also lightly nodded his head.
"Zhong Shan, let's leave the horses here and go to the mountain."
"Let's go." Zhong Shan dismounted immediately. They simply left the horses there, didn't go into the city, and ran directly towards the mountain to the north.
Zhao Suoxiang was at the ninth level of Xiantian and Zhong Shan was wearing his Wind Chaser Boots. Therefore, they instantly disappeared in front of everyone, leaving those behind looking at the direction they disappeared to with admiration.
Tianling-er saw from high above the two of them running towards the mountain. She naturally flew over following them.
When they reached the mountain, Tianling-er slowly descended.
"Zhong Shan, why are we here?" Tianling-er immediately asked.
"All the people who are chasing after Hao San have come here. We can't fly, you keep watch in the sky. Tell us right away when you see a large crowd gathering." Zhong Shan said.
"En." Tianling-er happily nodded. Tianling-er was happy that she finally had a job to do.
She flew high in the sky and quickly began to search the area.
"Zhong Shan, there, there's a fight over there. Wow, the mountain over there collapsed." Tianling-er kept a lookout for a while in the sky then began to shout in excitement.
"Zhong Shan, that direction. You two hurry up. I'll go ahead to take a look." Tianling-er yelled in excitement.
"No ~ ~~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~"
Zhong Shan suddenly called out.
Tianling-er paused after hearing Zhong Shan and suspiciously looked at Zhong Shan.
"Wait for me." Zhong Shan simply said.
Tianling-er truly wanted to go over there and see what was going on, yet at the request of Zhong Shan, she only hesitated for a moment and just frowned and nodded.
Seeing Tianling-er willing to listen to him, Zhong Shan was quite pleased. He and Zhao Suoxiang bolted towards the direction Tianling-er had pointed out.
"Hurry, you two hurry." Tianling-er had promised Zhong Shan to slow down, but she was still anxious and kept hurrying the two guys.
From the distance, Zhong Shan could already hear the din of battle. The sound was so loud that it reached their ears from so far away, Zhong Shan became somber.
"You don't have to wait for me. With Ling-er at my side, it'll be alright. You go ahead." Zhong Shan said to Zhao Suoxiang.
Though Zhong Shan had his Wind Chaser Boots on, he was still much slower than Zhao. However, Zhao Suoxiang had been keeping pace with Zhong Shan without saying anything.
"Alright." Zhao Suoxiang readily answered. As he spoke, his feet quickly moved towards the distance at full speed.
Tianling-er saw Zhao Suoxiang speed away, she was even more anxious and sighed. She was envious of him.
Seeing Tianling-er's expressions, Zhong Shan shook his head with a laugh. He also sped up towards the same direction.
The closer they got to the place, the sound grew louder. Obviously, the battle there was grow more and more fierce.
"Boom ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~"
Zhong Shan heard a tremendous sound of a great impact.
"Go~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~"
An utmost desperate voice.
Tianling-er's eyes were filled with curiosity, her face, however, was full of anxiety. She really wanted to hurry and fly over to take a look. Yet, Zhong Shan wouldn't allow it, she couldn't do anything.
"Da shixiong, it's da shixiong." Tianling-er suddenly burst into a smile in surprise. She didn't even bother to tell Zhong Shan and quickly flew over.
Zhong Shan frowned seeing Tianling-er suddenly flying away, but he also quickened his steps towards the booming sound.
Soon enough, Zhong Shan saw the place.
It was a huge valley with smashed rocks strewn about the inside. In the middle of the valley stood the second generation da shixiong, Tiansha, of the Kaiyang School.
Around him stood many practitioners, they were all facing a black robed bony old man together.
The bony old man was releasing a large amount of black air from his body. He was floating in the air on top of a flying sword. He had single-handedly stopped all of these powerful men. Behind him was a tall mountain.
The old man was holding a horsetail whisk[1] in his hand and looking at everyone with a killing intent. On the ground, many bodies were strewn around. Obviously, they had been all wounded by the old man.
Tiansha was facing the old man directly, while Tianling-er flew above nearby.
"Move away." Tiansha said in a deep voice.
"Hahaha, you want to chase after my young master. My young master has long gone. You guys have better forget about it." The bony old man laughed loudly.
"Hum." Tiansha sneered with endless killing intent.
When the old man heard Tiansha, he seemed to sense danger and started to wave his whisk towards Tiansha.
Tiansha, right at that instance, moved his hand to his sword on his waist and used a rather strange gesture to quickly pulled out the sword with full force.
"Ciyin~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~"
The sound of the long sword coming out of the sheath. When Zhong Shan arrived, he felt like a huge bolt of lightning had suddenly appeared. It was so strong that it blinded Zhong Shan; he could only see a vast expanse of whiteness in front of his eyes.
At that instant when he went blind.
"Ciyin~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~"
The sound that the long sword went back into the sheath.
Afterwards, Zhong Shan's vision recovered. At the moment when he recovered, Tiansha had already sheathed his blade and right in front of him, the old man was cut in half down the middle.
The horsetail whisk was broken in half on the ground, the flying sword had fallen not too far from it, and the old man also fell to the ground, dead.
All the practitioners looked at Tiansha with fear, appalled at the old man's dead body.
Tiansha, was simply too strong, Tiansha!
"Kaiyang School, Heaven's Wrath Sword Style?" Right next to Zhong Shan, Zhao Suoxiang looked at Zhong Shan with amazement.
"Da shixiong, you are awesome." Tianling-er immediately came down from the red silk and yelled in excitement.
Tiansha's move was too cool. Heaven's Wrath Sword Style? Once the sword was out of the sheath, the wind and clouds had changed colors. The practitioners from various schools were all shocked by Tiansha's sword style.
Footnotes
^ Also known as a fly whisk. It's a whisk made from horsetails, used for swatting flies. Daoist priests in Ancient China would also carry these. Image for those interested: http://bit.ly/2ontRXq