Death… and me

The black-clothed Old Ninth screamed, but it sounded similar to wails. He clutched his belly with his left hand, and continued to move back in a frantic manner. Chu Yang’s face was calm on the other hand. His gaze was callous. He didn’t relax just yet, and chased after him in order to attack!

The sword light was still at it mercilessly. Even the slightest contact with it sent chunks of flesh and blood flying!

Old Ninth’s body was still moving backwards, but the sword light was acting even faster! It was eating away at his bones like maggots; and the maggots were spreading rapidly throughout his body.

Poof!

The Nine Tribulations Sword suddenly pierced into the Old Ninth’s chest!

The Nine Tribulations Sword’s Sword Point, Sword Edge, and Sword Spine were giving off murderous aura because they were about to kill an Emperor Level powerhouse for the first time. In fact, it seemed as if the blood of this powerhouse had brought back the blood-thirst that had been concealed for the last 10,000 years!

The tyrannical sword energy brutally burst into his internal organ, and exploded with a ‘bang’. There was an outbreak of countless streams of sword energy within his body. And, his internal organs were turned to soup in a moment’s time!

Old Ninth’s body shrank like a deflated rubber ball!

However, his neck still stood upright. The bewildered look in his eyes had remained unchanged. He powerlessly stooped down, and saw a dazzling long sword sticking out of his chest. He struggled to raise his head, and looked at Chu Yang. He asked with great difficulty… one word at a time, "You are Nine… Nine… Nine Tribulations Sword… Master…?"

Chu Yang was startled by this. His cold and limpid eyes stared at the Old Ninth as he solemnly asked, "How do you know?" Chu Yang wasn’t afraid anymore since the opposite party had lost the entirety of his life force. Chu Yang was instead curious to know how the opposite party had figured out his identity.

"He he…" Old Ninth gave a mirthless laugh, "What harm is there… in slaughtering… the entire world… Who could have thought that the Nine Tribulations… Sword’s Master… will actually… actually use me… as a stepping stone…"

Chu Yang coldly snorted, but he was nevertheless shocked. [The Ye Clan indeed deserves to be called the ‘number one clan’ in the entire Nine Heavens! They even remember the names of the various styles of the Nine Tribulations Sword!]

[That being the case… I must remember not to call out the names of these moves. Dammit, it’s a habit from past life. I didn’t know that there could be such a hidden risk in this!]

A mysterious light suddenly lit up in Old Ninth’s eyes as he opened his mouth, and shouted, "He’s the…"

Chu Yang bellowed. The sword light slashed down from top to bottom, and cleft him into two! His entire body was split into two parts from the middle, and slowly fell down.

The Nine Tribulations Sword’s Master had recently arrived in the Middle Three Heaven to rise to glory, but a Saber Emperor had already lost his life to him!

Chu Yang coldly snorted. [This bastard was on the verge of death, but he still tried to shout out my identity!] He waved his hand, and the two broken sections of Old Ninth’s saber went inside the Nine Tribulations Space.

[The others are bound to be vigilant of my heavenly weapon if they came here and saw these two broken sections of his saber. So, I can’t allow them to see this!]

A long and loud shout came from afar. He saw a bluish-green light in midair immediately afterwards. It was coming towards him like a shooting star! Moreover, eight flickering lights were following-after this bluish-green light!

Chu Fei Ling fiercely landed on the ground, and called out, "Little brother, are you okay?" Then, he saw the corpse of Old Ninth lying in a miserable state, and suddenly cried out in surprise. His jaw dropped as he fell two steps back, "You… Did you kill him?!"

His voice was full of disbelief!

Chu Fei Ling had never been this amazed in his life. [There is simply unfathomable! Oh heavens, who will explain to me what’s going on? A Third Grade Saber Emperor chased after a Second Grade Sword King, but got killed instead…? That too before he could use any martial arts?]

[Am I… Am I dreaming or something?]

"Yeah…" Chu Yang nodded with embarrassment.

Chu Fei Ling was left petrified!

Shua Shua Shua. Ye Ran Mo and his men soon landed in the vicinity. They turned their heads to look around, "How come only this little bastard is here? Where’s Old Ninth? Where did he go?"

Suddenly, they all screamed as they spotted the miserable corpse of Old Ninth lying on the ground. These eight people called-out in a trembling voice, "Old Ninth?!"

The others had also discovered the dismembered corpse that lay in a pool of blood. And, it was none other than their own ninth brother!

They cried out in pain as Ye Ran Mo flew into a rage and thundered, "Who killed my ninth brother?! Come out and show yourself if you have the guts!"

The other seven people readied their sabers, and looked around. The look in their eyes was bone-chilling, but it was also filled with grief and indignation.

The surroundings maintained their silence. And, they didn’t get any reply. Only a burst of wind came and blew away the yellow sand.

These eight people racked their brains. But, they couldn’t imagine that their ninth brother had been killed this shrimp-like Second Grade King Level Kid… because… that was simply impossible!

[How can a trivial Second Grade King Level Expert possibly kill a Third Grade Emperor Level Expert? Even someone as stupid as a pig won’t make such a deduction…]

[He couldn’t have done it, and Chu Fei Ling arrived here with us. So, there must be someone else!]

[Who’s the murderer?]

Ye Ran Mo faced upward, and roared like a madman. He then started to hurl abuses, "Fu*k your grandmother! You dared to kill a person, and don’t even have the guts to acknowledge what you did? Come out! You can’t hide the truth from us! You shameless villain! How dare you take unfair advantage of somebody’s difficulties?! I will chop you to pieces…"

The other seven people also began to rain curses. The hatred and grievance was killing them, and was manifesting itself as an emotional outburst.

Chu Fei Ling opened his mouth, and looked at those eight guys. They had seemingly lost themselves to their raging emotions. Then, he took a look at the murderer… who stood before him with a terrified look on his innocent face… He couldn’t help but be totally speechless…

[What nonsense is this?! What the hell is going on here… can’t you see that the murderer is right in front of you? And, you guys are looking for some nonexistent entity?]

The throats of these eight people got tired of cussing after a long time had passed. So, they stopped yelling out loud, but they were still cussing in whispers. Meanwhile, Chu Yang had turned a deaf ear to them. He had remained hidden behind Chu Fei Ling, and had maintained an ever-present ‘frightened’ expression on his face. He looked innocent and pure. He was like a ‘good’ teenager who had never seen a corpse in his life!

One look at his face and any one would think that this boy was pure, innocent, good-hearted, and free of all evils. He looked like an untouched flower that had grown-up in the protected environment of a greenhouse!

Ye Ran Mo suddenly turned his head, and fiercely looked at Chu Yang. "There you are, little bastard! How did my ninth brother die? What did you see? Own up to the facts!"

The other seven people also came to realize, [there’s an eyewitness here!]

Therefore, they immediately looked at Chu Yang in a fierce manner. In fact, their ferocious facial expressions made it seem as if they would swallow Chu Yang whole!

"I… I… I… I… I’m not involved in this matter." Minister Chu was so scared that his legs went limp. Even his voice was trembling…

"Speak the truth!" Ye Ran Mo bellowed, "I will let you live as long as you tell the truth!"

Chu Fei Ling’s facial expression turned even more bizarre. In fact, it got somewhat distorted.

"I… I… I… Actually I…" Chu Yang was trembling, "… I’m very scared…"

"Don’t be scared!" Ye Ran Mo was extremely furious at the moment. However, he would have to lower his tone since he wanted to know about the murderer of his ninth brother. Therefore, he restrained his anger, and his intense killing intention. Then, he lowered his voice, and spoke in a comforting manner, "Don’t be scared. I won’t kill you if you honestly tell me what happened here. I will give you a reward instead…"

"Reward…?" Chu Yang’s eyes lit up. He stuck-out his tongue, and greedily licked his lips.

"Yes!" Ye Ran Mo said in an amiable manner. He even smiled!

"What reward?" Minister Chu asked timidly.

"This!" Ye Ran Mo’s anger was about to explode. But, Chu Fei Ling was glaring at him like a tiger watching its prey. So, it was impossible to intimidate the boy for an answer. [This nasty little bastard is actually taking advantage of my situation. Isn’t this like looting a burning house?]

However, he had no other choice. He put his hand into his bosom, and took out a purple jade since he was in a state of desperation, "See? This purple jade will be yours as long as you tell me the truth!"

The purple jade that Ye Ran Mo had taken out was fist-sized. Its entire body was glowing with a purple radiance, and it looked crystal clear. It was easy to tell that it was extremely valuable.

Chu Fei Ling also came to Ye Ran Mo’s aid from the side at this time, "Little brother… Brother Ye is asking very sincerely. So, you must tell him. We will solve our internal problems later."

Ye Ran Mo straightened up, and looked at Chu Fei Ling. Several emotions built-up in his heart as he spoke-up in a sinking tone, "Brother Chu is a real gentleman. I admire you very much!"

Chu Fei Ling nearly burst into laughter. He was having too much fun in the secrecy of his heart. Then, he replied with a smile, "Don’t worry about it. This is one matter, and that’s another. These two matters aren’t related. We must deal with a problem one step at a time. And, finding the murderer should take top-priority right now. We will deal with our problem later. I arrived a bit late, and I’m truly ashamed that I didn’t see the murderer…"

He was being sincerely supportive, and was backing Ye Ran Mo with all his might. However, he was on Chu Yang’s side with all his heart…

Minister Chu held out his hand, and hesitated a bit. Then, he took the purple jade, and put it in his pocket. He then looked around with traces of fear in his eyes, "I'm afraid that he’s still in the vicinity…"

Ye Ran Mo heard this, and immediately understood what the boy was hinting at. He turned around, and gave a series of commands, "Everyone must increase their vigilance! Keep a close watch over everything! We can’t allow the murderer to hurt this little brother!"

That ‘little bastard’ had turned into ‘little brother’ since he was helping them out!

The seven people complied, and scattered around.

Ye Ran Mo put on a fake smile on his face as he approached Chu Yang. These two were separated by only a few steps at this moment. He benignly spoke-up, "Little brother, you can tell me now." He simultaneously said in his heart, [you tell me, and then I will slap you into meat sauce. After that, I will take back my thing from you.]

Chu Yang nodded; he was still trembling. A look of terror flashed in his eyes as he said, "I don’t know what exactly happened back then. I was trying to escape… suddenly a man in black clothes came flying from the sky… and dropped down all of a sudden…"

"What?" Ye Ran Mo’s eyes flashed brightly.

"Then, he scolded me. I ran at once. But, I suddenly heard a voice from over there. It said…" Chu Yang’s face revealed an extremely frightened expression. In fact, his small face had turned pale with fright.

"What did it say…?" Ye Ran Mo asked as he narrowed his eyes. He then attentively looked in the direction in which Chu Yang had pointed his finger. [Ah, there seems to be several piles of stones over there. Is the murderer hiding there?]

"He said…" Chu Yang whispered.

"What did he say?!" Ye Ran Mo got impatient. His eyes were paying attention to those piles of stones, while his ears eagerly waited for a response…

"He said that…" Chu Yang mumbled at first. Then, he suddenly roared, "He said fu*k your grandmother!"

That loud shout from his mouth sounded like an explosive thunder, and shook Ye Ran Mo’s mind. He sensed utter chaos in his brain. However, Chu Yang didn’t hesitate. The Nine Tribulations Sword stealthily emerged in his hand as he shouted. And then, he crazily attacked at the head of this top-class person… the man was unfortunately in close proximity, and was waiting for an answer with his head tilted to one side!

The speed of Chu Yang’s limbs’ movement was so fast that it seemed as if he had suffered from a fit of spasms.

One ray of cold light pierces ten thousand fathoms!

What harm is there in slaughtering the entire world!

A sharp will buried deep will not change!

Gather wind and cloud to rule over all!

A sword’s edge famous for all eternity!

Wind and cloud move unhindered from east to west!

The sun and the moon thunder at my will!

Chopping mountains and breaking peaks under blood red sky!

This spine has existed in this world since eternity!

One must go through the nine hidden hells on this journey!

Cut off the traveler's attachments with worldly affairs!

The sharp edge will reach everywhere and put everything to rest!

In my palm lies a pile of bones as tall as a mountain!

This sword's slash will give birth to a turbulent sea of blood!

The world of mortals originates from the path of ruthlessness!

Don't restrain the blade when beheading the entire world…!

The 16 consecutive sword moves – with the power of each move far surpassing any existing swordplay in the world… whether modern or ancient – had been crazily unleashed by Chu Yang in a split-second like an unstoppable torrent. And, all this power had entirely poured itself down upon Ye Ran Mo’s head… and, the poor man was still waiting for the answer…

The sword light instantly filled the surrounding area in a radius of 30 feet like a great tsunami. It didn’t even spare a single spot…

Damn him! This distance was way too close…