Chapter 226 Blade Duel at Cang Lin 42
"Current quest completed. Main quest updated. Join the Blade Duel at Chang Lin and survive until the Formless Demon is killed," the system announced once Feng Bujue and Passing Rain abolished the Bell Demon. The mission to defeat Bell Demon had been ticked off, and the above came to replace it.
Xiao Tan, Laughing Soul, and Atobe knew that Lin Chang possessed the Shapeless and Formless Law, but they had not met Lu Qingning, so they could not confirm that Lin Chang was the ultimate antagonist. They could only attempt a guess from the term 'formless demon'. Feng Bujue and Passing Rain, though, had not heard of the term Shapeless and Formless Law; they only knew Lin Chang was a powerful antagonistic NPC, so they could also only guess that Lin Chang was the Formless Demon.
Only after the five met up could they confirm the final quest's target.
By then, it was the dusk of third day at Chang Lin Town. There were only several hours left until midnight, but neither of the famed swordmasters had appeared. 'Nameless Blade' Xie San had disappeared the previous night, and Blade God Ye Cheng had not even shown up.
That day, various schools sent disciples toward Copper Plateau to get news, but none of them returned. Even the message pigeons that they sent out did not return. No one was able to enter Chang Lin, as if the whole town was on lockdown. Seeing that dusk was approaching, the martial artists in the town were all confused.
Was the duel a trick? What was the purpose? To invigorate the economy at the town? To get a discount for the Ye family at Chang Lin Inn? Was Ye Cheng too free and decided to play a prank on everyone with Xie San?
None of those explanations made sense, but no one knew what had really happened. Compared to confusion… another emotion coursing through the crowd was unease as they waited for the conspiracy to unfold.
…
On the night of the full moon in Chang Lin Town, the moonlight was like snow, showering the ground like it was daylight. There were about four hundred people gathered at the main road before Chang Lin Inn, made up from the disciples of one Family, two Spires, three Factions, four Sections as well as the other members of the martial world. Even the workers at the inn had wandered out to look, wanting to take a glimpse of the two famed masters. But so far, no one had seen the shadow of Xie San or Ye Cheng. Suddenly, a shadow rose into the air and stopped on the roof of one of the houses around the inn. The man stood three meters above ground. It was not too high, but it afforded him a great view of the surrounding, and the entire street of people could see him clearly.
"Everyone, it's about time," the man said. His voice was hoarse and low, but it reached everyone's clearly. This went to show how powerful his internal energy was.
The people with less experience did not know him, but the leaders of various schools could recognize him. He was the Shadowless Blade of the Six Flowery Blades, Shang Fei. Shang Fei was dressed in black, and he was as skinny as a skeleton under the moonlight. When he finished, he took out a bamboo case from his chest, removed a match, and lit up the fuse attached to the bamboo case. Several seconds later, a flash of fire erupted, and a shrill cry launched into the air.
People in the olden times used an arrow to summon an army of ten thousand. Shang Fei's signal might not be able to summon ten thousand soldiers, but it was good enough to summon one thousand.
At that moment, another person flew up from the ground to reach the roof. He asked, "Shang Fei, what is the meaning of this?"
That person was the leader of the Octagonal Spire, Ji Tong. The man liked to be a part of everything.
"I will help him answer that question." Lin Chang's voice suddenly cut through the crowd. His voice seemed to come from the sky and echoed down the streets. It caused people's hearts to shake.
At the same time, Lin Chang leaped out from the inn, stepped through the air to join Shang Fei and Ji Tong. That day, Clear Sky Blade had changed out of his usual white attire into a dark outfit. He carried one blade on his waist and two on his back, three in total. Lin Chang was normally handsome and sharp, but at that moment, his hair was disheveled, and there was a clear layer of darkness around his face. That afternoon, Lin Chang and Shang Fei had disappeared. Not even Ye Mu Han, Su Tang, and Miao Shaoqin knew where they were. No one would have thought that they would show up in this kind of manner.
"That's the Nameless Blade!"
"And Falling Snow Blade!"
There were people who knew their weapons in the crowd, and they recognized the two blades that Lin Chang was carrying—they belonged to Xie San and Ye Cheng. For blade masters, their blades were like their limbs. As long as they were alive, they would not hand their limb over to another. Yet, Lin Chang was in possession of two famous blades that belonged to others, and this caused quite the shock among the gathered observers.
"After the earlier signal, it means that about two thousand Palace Guards will depart from the main road of Copper Plateau to enter Chang Lin and surround this place. Without my order, no one will be able to leave Chang Lin alive."
When Lin Chang spoke, his voice was shaking. It showed how excited and satisfied he was. He had been waiting for this day, for this moment, for far too long.
"What did you say‽" Ji Tong gasped. That was the reaction of most people in the crowd. Lin Chang's statement was like a thunder, and it instantly caused a reaction among the crowd. After several gushes of wind, another four figures appeared on the rooftop. They were leader of Thousand Dawn Spire, Gong Sun Qian; the leader of Shao Lin, Fa Ming; the leader of Ren Wu, Song Kuan; and the leader of Xiao Yao, Zhong Lian.
"Amitabha, are you serious, Mr. Lin?" Fa Ming was polite with his question.
"Is this Master Ye's intention?" Song Kuan demanded.
"Why do you have Master Xie and Leader Ye's blades?" Zhong Lian though asked.
"Leader of Blades, Lin." It was Gong Sun Qian who cut straight to the point. "The government has never intervened into the workings of our world. That has been the law for many years, but now you mean to say that have colluded with Palace Guards…"
"What do you mean by colluding?" Lin Chang cut him off. "As a citizen of Ming, how can you call it colluding when I'm just working for the government?"
His eyes swept over the five other than Shang Fei.
"You bunch of crooked old thieves. Each of you presented yourself as righteous people, but you have been fighting for power under the surface. Every one of you thinks you can live above the government's rule." Lin Chang scoffed. "It is polite to call you leaders of schools, but in reality, you are nothing but a bunch of third rate soldiers that have been cheating the world."
His words lit up the gathered crowd like a keg of explosives. Instantly, people started to curse and scold him. If not for the leaders still standing up there, some people would have charged at Lin Chang.
"As they say… no matter how powerful or clever you are, ultimately, the goal is to serve the emperor." Lin Chang was unfazed. He continued calmly and openly. "Thanks to the Master Qian's appreciation of my talent, I have already decided to join the government to serve our great emperor."
"Pfft! Traitor!"
"I didn't expect Clear Sky Blade to be such a shameless person!"
There came another bout of curses from below. The three other Blades could no longer sit on the sidelines and observe this anymore. The three jumped onto the roof next to the one Lin Chang was on.
"Brother! Have you lost your mind? What is going on? How could you have joined the government?" Miao Shaoqin asked in shock.
Ye Mu Han was more straight to the point. She yelled loudly, "Lin Chang! What are you blabbering about. Do you wish to make the Ye family the enemy of entire martial world?"
Her gaze then moved to the Falling Snow Blade on Lin Chang's back. "And where is my big brother? Why do you have his blade?"
"Oh… Sister Ye." Lin Chang slowly turned around. "Your timing is perfect."
As he spoke, he raised his hand, and a wave of energy surged from him. It was as ferocious as a tiger as it lunged at Ye Mu Han. Ye Mu Han had never seen such a form of internal energy before. With such speed and power, she was unable to defend against it. She was hit in the face by the great energy, and she coughed out blood on the spot as she was sent flying.
"That should explain my current relationship with the Ye family," Lin Chang said in a mocking tone. At the same time, he pulled out the blade from his waist and pointed it at Ye Mu Han. With a push, the blade shot out from his grasp. "Humph… To know what happened to your big brother, you'll find out once you're in hell."
Lin Chang laughed.
Ye Mu Han, who was dangling in midair, was unable to evade. When she was pierced by the blade, she died on the spot. When Su Tang and Miao Shaoqin saw this, they were shocked. They were helpless to stop this. Lin Chang's blade aura was so powerful and fast that they were unable to block it. Even if they had used their body to block it, they would not have been fast enough. Lin Chang turned back to the five leaders, who were beyond shocked. He pointed at the two blades behind him. "Now you should understand how these two blades fell into my possession, right?"
In that instance, there was only silence.
Unlike Feng Bujue, Lin Chang spoke in those people's language. He used internal energy and kung fu, and everything he did could be understood. Because of that, the people gathered felt despair and fear.
"Listen to me now." Lin Chang took in the stunned faces and the silence that fell over the crowd that had been mocking him earlier. He scoffed with condescension. "Tonight, since every leader, expert, and senior is here, I will give you two paths."
No one interrupted him. Everyone held their breath as they listened to him.
"One, from today onward, you will treat me, Lin Chang, as the leader of all martial artists, and every member of the martial world will have to listen to my orders. People from all schools must jot down their kung fu into books and hand them over to the government. No one can hide anything. Only those who surrender their kung fu can leave Chang Lin.
"And the second path," Lin Chang said with a smile, "is death."
"Nonsense!" Ji Tong said. "So what if you have two thousand Palace Guards surrounding us? They are just a bunch of normal soldiers. How can they deal with the hundred experts gathered here‽"
"They don't need to beat you. They only need to hold you back," Lin Chang said calmly. "I will be the one who does the killing."
"I will kill you first!"
With a roar, a blade rushed through the air. The bamboo split into two to reveal the blade within. Miao Shaoqin had overcome his shock, and now he was enraged. He raised his internal energy to maximum, and the blade inside the bamboo aimed to strike out. Su Tang followed behind him, to take revenge for her fellow disciple. She had a sister-like relationship with Ye Mu Han and respected Lin Chang as her own brother. But earlier, she had seen Lin Chang kill her sister brutally, and that caused her mind to collapse. Even though there were tears in her eyes, when the Autumn Orchid Blade left its sheath, she utilized her ultimate skill, The Showcase of a Single Orchid, perfectly. She held nothing back.
"Humph… Laughable." Lin Chang scoffed and pulled Clear Sky Blade back into the sheath. Then he crossed his arms to grip the Falling Snow and Nameless Blades on his back. When the two godlike weapons left their sheathes, the aura stunned everyone in all directions. Just the aura from the unsheathing was enough to make the five leaders closest to Lin Chang take three steps back.
Miao Shaoqin and Su Tang were held back by the blade aura, and they were unable to reach within a few meters of Lin Chang. They were blocked by an invisible wall.
"The night of the full moon is when my power is at its height. Even I didn't expect to be so powerful…" Lin Chang held one blade in each hand, and he let them fall next to him. "You people are too dumb, so it looks like I have to make myself clearer… Ye Cheng is already dead. The duel request at Chang Lin for Xie San was written by me, and it was me who leaked the news. When you entered Chang Lin, you fell into my trap. Chang Lin Town is surrounded on all sides by mountains, and the two roads leading out of the town are now guarded by the Palace Guards. There is no way any of you can escape, and I have enough time to kill every single one of you.
"The only element of surprise to this plan was the spies sent by Shen Hou Fu, but none of them stepped in here alive, so they weren't able to find anything. If you are hoping for a third party to come save you, you'd better think again."
"Humph… Looks like you have planned far ahead," Ji Tong said coldly.
"Ji Tong, I know what you are planning, and I believe many people here have the same plan as you. Hah… you think that with the cooperation of all the so-called experts, you might be able to kill me, and then the survivors can charge out of Chang Lin or hide in the mountains." Lin Chang pointed out what most people were thinking. "Hahaha… come forth if you are. Those who come first will die first. After enough people have died, the survivors will naturally hand over their school's kung fu to survive."
At this point, layers of dark energy erupted around him. Instead of calling them the manifestation of his murderous aura, it was more like a desire for blood.
"Friends, you are here today to witness blood on the best blades in the world, aren't you? In that case, why don't you use your own blood to witness my blade skill?" He was getting mad, and his face was turning black and purple. "Of course, I will allow you to surrender. Pick your own path…"
At that moment, Lin Chang no longer looked like a person. A pool of dark energy gathered at his forehead and refused to spread. His pupils were turning the same way. They were dark and eerie like a monster. "Those who submit will live; all others will die."
The leaders from the five schools had years of experience behind them, and they could be called experts in their fields. It was hard to imagine that a group like that would attack at the same time against one person, but at that moment, this was the reality.
Shang Fei had left Lin Chang's side and leaped onto the next roof to fight Miao Shaoqin and Su Tang.
The sound of thunder came from Lin Chang's side. The dance of blades and palm strikes rang out as five fast moving shadows circled around him. The movement of the five leaders was powerful like eagles or swift like dragons. They cooperated with each other very well. They weaved in and out through each other's attack and defense. This was why they were experts. After a few rounds of testing the water, they had a fairly good understanding of each other's fighting style. Theoretically speaking, if one was cornered by these five, even if they had three heads and six arms, they could not last for more than two hours, but the scary thing was… the person with the advantage was Lin Chang, who was surrounded by them.
His left hand held the Falling Snow blade, his skill swallowing everything like Tsunami; his right hand held the nameless blade, and it swam about fast and furious like lightning. Lin Chang's left and right hands were using two different blade styles, and they were respectively Ye Cheng's Ye Family Blade Style and Xie San's Swift Nameless Blade.
This feat caused the five leaders and the surrounding members who were watching to be lost for words.
Dual Fighting Style was a legendary kung fu technique. According to legend, there was a beauty who utilized this skill to operate the Quan Chen Blade Style and the Yu Nv Blade Style at the same time. In this day and age, this was nothing more than a legend. But what they were witnessing was even more ridiculous. In the legends, the beauty was using two blade styles that she had learned, but Lin Chang was using two styles that he could not have learned.
There was only an explanation for this…
"Small Shapeless Style?" In the crowd, it was Mu Rong Yin who saw something and gasped in surprise.
"What? Shapeless?"
"What kind of kung fu is that?"
"I have never heard of it before."
Obviously, even those experienced elders had not heard of this kung fu technique before.
"Small Shapeless Style is the ultimate kung fu from the Taoist class. It focuses on inner peace and the waltz within the unshaped. When activated, there is no obvious trace of style. Those in possession of this technique will be able to utilize the immense power to copy other people's skills that the person has witnessed. The copy might be even stronger than the original…" Mu Rong Yin had played her role as the explanatory NPC quite well, but her explanation merely caused the fear among the crowd to deepen…
"Hahaha…" Even though Lin Chang was far from Mu Rong Yin, he heard every word that she said clearly. He laughed and drew a circle in the air with the blades he was holding. The aura gathered, and he easily forced the five back.
"That's a good guess, but you're wrong," Lin Chang said. "My kung fu is one hundred times more powerful than the Small Shapeless Style!"
As he finished, he leaped into the air and appeared right before the leader of Ren Wu. Lin Chang tossed the Nameless Blade into the air and freed his right hand. He struck with his palm, and the palm aimed right at Song Kuan's heart.
"You wish to take us down one by one…" Song Kuan did not evade. He had a good mastery of internal energy and specialized in manipulating his adversary's offense to defend. He was confident that he would be able to take this palm strike and use it to his advantage. "Humph… This will be your fatal mistake. Energy can be manipulated and amplified back to the user. Four dials to shun a thousand kilos!"
With a loud bang, they were greeted with a gruesome scene. Song Kuan's upper body burst into a blood mist. This leader from Ren Wu had his body blasted into pieces while he made ample preparations to take Lin Chang's palm strike. When what remained of Song Kuan's lower body rolled down the rooftop, Lin Chang opened his palm calmly to fetch the Nameless Blade that had fallen from the sky.
"A nice idea, but first… you must have four dials." Lin Chang smirked. "And second, the weight of my skill is more than a thousand kilos."
Everyone present was stunned. Only one person managed to laugh after seeing this.
Not only that… said person even gave Lin Chang some applause.