Jin SeCh48 - Bloodshed

Shi Wuduan’s gaze swept across Zou Yanlai and all the Mi Sect elites standing behind Bai Li. His gaze paused on Zou Yanlai as he saluted in fake astonishment, “Why, if it isn’t Sir Zou? May I ask what brings you here?”

Zou Yanlai looked meaningfully at the unkempt disciples of the Xuan Sect, and said smilingly, “Well, that depends on what Mister Shi happens to be doing here.” z6A5cp

Pained cries began to echo through the valley. Zou Yanlai looked down in surprise and saw soldiers, who’d been lying in ambush, swarm out of the forests, charge down into the valley, and surround the injured Xuan Sect disciples. They were all armed, some with Daoist tools; it seemed these cavalries had come specially prepared to deal with cultivators.

They advanced and retreated deftly, their movements nimble and coordinated as a real army’s. They were nothing like the majority of proud, stubbornly individualistic, cultivators.

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Zou Yanlai’s heart skipped a beat in dismay. He thought, Had Gu Huaiyang’s power… in the few years since they last met, already grown to this extent?

This force that’d silently amassed their strength beneath the court’s notice, had suddenly become the Puqing Emperor’s greatest threat. 5PKX0g

Shi Wuduan… was a dog whose bite was worse than his bark.

That dog who bit but didn’t bark, Shi Wuduan, shook out his sleeves, and said pretentiously, “Why of course the emperor’s army is here to rid the court of corruption and uphold the prosperity of the country.”

Zou Yanlai replied, “There must be some kind of misunderstanding here, for you to have mistaken these brothers from the Xuan Sect as… corrupt traitors?”

Shi Wuduan continued to spout nonsense bold-facedly, “The Xuan Sect is indeed a righteous sect and an important subject of the empire, for the emperor relies on them heavily. Yet they have committed many heretofore unknown crimes: slaughtering disciples of their own sect, usurping imperial power, and slandering the court. Their ranks are full of vile traitors even more wretched than demons. The emperor’s army intends to clear the court, starting with the three great sects, the source of most of the emperor’s traitorous confidants.”

qvrRKS

He purposefully emphasized the words “emperor’s confidants.” As expected, Zou Yanlai’s expression stiffened, “Oh? Then I wonder if Mister Shi considers me to be…..”

Before he could finish, he was interrupted by Bai Li, who stared intently into Shi Wuduan’s eyes as he scoffed, “I’m afraid they intend to clear you out of the court as well, Sir Zou. That’s what you get for keeping company with a demon like me.”

Shi Wuduan’s eyes once again looked upon him, but because of how slowly he moved, his gaze seemed particularly heavy. Neither of them was willing to back down in the slightest. They glared coldly at each other, like strangers who shared only hatred and enmity.

A thought flashed through Shi Wuduan’s heart, but that’s little Li-zi. However, in the next instant, he instantly suppressed that extremely untimely notion. T0uF5U

It was little Li-zi, so what?

A few moments later, Shi Wuduan’s lip curled as he let out a huff of laughter and mocked, “You really are remarkable, Demon Lord. You’re very self-aware.”

In response, Bai Li merely eyed him with an uncanny expression as the snake-like smile vanished from his face. His unreadable pitch-black eyes roamed up and down Shi Wuduan’s body with something like curiosity.

Shi Wuduan paused for a second, then continued, “Naturally, abhorrent creatures like the Demon Lord here must be vanquished for the sake of the people. Associating with him is quite damaging to your reputation, Sir Zou. It’s truly lamentable; I hope you’ll return to the right path, Sir Zou.” nEMdrP

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

Even the silver-tongued Sir Zou was beggared for words. Even the Mi Sect elites behind him could sense the intense hostility between them.

Xia Duanfang frowned; as he saw it, Shi Wuduan’s face was thicker than a city wall. He’d seen him nonchalantly call a horse a donkey, talk the dead back to life, and twist the truth into knots,  but he’d never seen him so… openly offensive before.

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At those times, even Zou Yanlai, who believed he understood his thoughts, was afraid. A4saFQ

Bai Li was a fire sunken deep into the abyss, despairing of how deeply he’d fallen, always on the brink of bursting because of that despair.

“Well said, ‘vanquished for the sake of the people,’ — very well said.” Violent winds began roaring through the valley. Bai Li looked fixedly at Shi Wuduan, narrowing his eyes. His lush eyelashes were long enough to obscure his gaze, softening his icy mien.

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Many years ago, that person had once said matter-of-factly, “it must’ve been hard for you, having to carry such a large poop bucket over your head all these years.” Many years ago, that person had once lightly popped the bubble of self-hatred he’d been trapped in for so long. And now, that person was standing before him saying the words: abhorrent creature, must be vanquished.

“Then let’s see if you’ve got what it takes to vanquish me,” Bai Li said softly. iR6Mew

The sky which had only just brightened was instantly shrouded in darkness again. As if the gates to the Hall of Demons had been thrown wide, black shadows surged out from under Bai Li’s feet. They came forth unendingly, crawling through the ravines, soaring into the clouds, expanding into mist. Bai Li pointed up into the air. He seemed like a flickering ghost as his long white sleeves fluttered wildly in the wind.

“Come kill me then.” There was a faint, twisted smile on his face. The plants beneath his feet rapidly withered to death.

Zou Yanlai and the Mi Sect’s elites instantly cast a barrier to defend themselves.

The sound of agonized screaming rose up in the valley. The shadows, having already poured down the mountains, pounced on the cavalries of the Redscarf Army. 1SMPOT

The battle was especially cruel. The shadows drifted up from the ground, intangible and indistinct. Their forms wavered in a shape that seemed human yet inhuman. They were exceptionally dangerous, for they could not be cut by blades. If they were, they’d simply reassemble their forms. There was no end to them and they were unkillable. They were like the starved ghosts from legend, their mouths wide open as they threw themselves at anything they thought they could consume.

The valley seemed to echo with countless voices hollering: Hungry! Hungry! Hungry!

Countless men and horses were subsumed by the black shadows, gutted and disemboweled. Several of the shadowy fiends collected around the fallen soldiers as if they were sharing meat at an outdoor barbecue. The Redscarf Army, which had seemed invincible just moments earlier, halted uncertainly, before retreating in wordless coordination.

Bai Li didn’t even glance down at the valley, his eyes were glued to Shi Wuduan. He licked his lips, the gleam in his eyes was the same avarice and hunger in the starved ghosts formed from black shadows — Shi Wuduan almost thought that he was being looked at like he was a roast duck. 7bcAKi

Bai Li moved.

He crossed the mountain at ludicrous speed, and was in front of Shi Wuduan in an instant — If you don’t have what it takes to kill me, I’ll eat you. I’ll drain your blood dry and devour your flesh. I’ll grind your bones to dust, soak it in water, and drink it sip by sip.

Then, you’ll never be able to leave me. You’ll be mine forever. You’ll never come out and provoke my anger again.

His arms were outstretched, his fingernails grown into sharp points as they reached towards Shi Wuduan’s neck. LdkI4H

Shi Wuduan frowned, vexed that he’d become even more unreasonable than before. Killing intent roused within him, this person isn’t Bai Li — Shi Wuduan told himself, he’s only a cold-hearted, cold-blooded demon fiend.

Bai Li’s hands went directly through his “body.” He raised his eyebrow and stopped, airily landing on the ground. He turned and saw that Shi Wuduan and his comrades appeared to still be standing there. They looked so real that one would never know they were illusions until one touched them. 

“Oh.” Bai Li chuckled, “I’d forgotten how formidable you’ve become.”

Shi Wuduan ignored him. He lightly rubbed his chin before suddenly letting out a whistle. The sound resounded through the valley, and the Redscarf Army, which had been unsure and hesitant, hastily scattered. MH6tim

“Demon creatures are, in the end, only demon creatures,” Shi Wuduan said as he tapped his temple, “Up here, they can’t even compare with bugs.”

Bai Li’s expression soured.

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Xia Duanfang couldn’t resist coughing lightly. Suddenly, he thought that Shi Wuduan, whose behavior was getting even odder, had turned from a big wolf into a little furball. These two were arguing like they were toddlers — 

“You’re bad!” 4OoRuy

“Yeah, I’m bad, so what! If you don’t play with me, I’ll bite you to death!”

“You can’t reach me, you can’t reach me, you’re dumber than a bug!”

Xia Duanfang shivered, having scared himself back to his senses.

Suddenly, all the cliff faces became flat as mirrors, reflecting thing and person in the valley, materializing layer after layer until the whole valley was crammed full. Those reflected would become so confused they hardly knew which one was their real self. xIeQbB

As expected, the starving ghosts within the mirrors were stupefied. They instinctively used their best trick: splitting apart into smaller pieces. Thus, the mirrors became even more crowded, and they became even more dumbfounded. Many of them even crashed into the cliffs as they dashed about in disarray.

Shi Wuduan smirked mockingly and whistled. The Redscarf Army appeared again, as if by magic, and charged towards Banya and the disciples of the Xuan Sect. The starved ghosts rushed forth in response, but just as Bai Li had passed straight through Shi Wuduan’s “body,” they too were unable to find the Redscarf Army’s cavalry’s “bodies.”

These seemingly illusory cavalry were only tangible when they came into contact with the remnants of the Xuan Sect’s disciples. Real swords, real spears, real combat, real killing.

The starved ghosts fell into chaos as they frantically scurried about within the valley. Mkbpiu

Banya was greatly enraged and aggrieved after his proud disciple, Zhao Chengye, was skewered like a shish-kebab before his very eyes. He was forced into a corner by four cavalries, all of whom seemed to be cultivators as well. They were expert martial artists, not any one of them, alone, was on par with Master Banya. Yet their coordination was so excellent they were nearly invincible.

Banya knew that he couldn’t hold out any longer. He threw his head back in a roar, concentrating his qi in his dantian to amplify his voice, “Shi Wuduan! You parricidal little beast!”

“Parricidal?” Shi Wuduan started laughing. Even if Bai Li was in his way, even if the Mi Sect interfered, he wouldn’t let any of the Xuan Sect’s people escape. He had the ability to back up his words; they could forget about trying to stop him. They could sort their other debts and grudges out later, “I thought parricide was one of the Xuan Sect’s time-honored traditions? Shishu, children imitate their elders’ flaws, you know.”

The moment he spoke, the southern sky was lit ablaze by a blood-red firework. Everyone turned to look. Zou Yanlai grimaced, while Shi Wuduan grinned. He stood in midair, his hands clasped behind his back, as he dispassionately took in their alarmed expressions. Then, almost as if he was afraid they hadn’t understood what’d happened, he explained, “It looks like everything on Dazhou Mountain has gone smoothly.” 2zUvg3

Because the Xuan Sect had been ambushed, the Mi Sect’s elites, plus the Demon Lord, had been sent out to oppose Shi Wuduan. Dazhou Mountain only had….

They’d been purposefully lured away!

“Didn’t you understand me quite well, Demon Lord?” Shi Wuduan taunted breezily. 

He took a look at the situation at the base of the mountain; everything had ended in their favor. But for some reason, he hadn’t felt any pleasure upon getting closure. He’d killed Banya, one of the people he hated most, yet he still felt empty – heavy even.  QFxr7z

Then he said to Xia Duanfang and the rest, “Now that it’s over, we’ll be taking our leave. Sir Zou, we’ll meet again on the battlefield.”

Up until then, Bai Li had been standing motionlessly as if he’d been spellbound.

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A moment later, the Redscarf Army retreated using the mirrors as cover and disappeared into the ether. Shi Wuduan took one last look at Bai Li, then turned to leave.

Bai Li suddenly smiled. Something silver flashed in the air; it almost appeared to be an invisible wall. Shi Wuduan instantly spun back around, and saw that Bai Li had drawn a beautifully crafted bow, aiming an arrow at an empty space. ExBAhP

“I found your mirror,” Bai Li laughed softly.

Then he swiftly loosed the arrow, which shot through the air with astonishing speed. Shi Wuduan with no time to dodge, had a split-second realization — it’s a shadow!

He saw the arrowhead, gleaming coldly, sink into his chest with his own eyes.

He heard the sound of something shattering. WLFAOU

Shocked, Xia Duanfang waved and dismissed the mirror. He said, “Go,” before he caught Shi Wuduan and dove into another mirror, disappearing on the spot.

Shi Wuduan felt the mirror’s chill spread throughout his entire body. His chest belatedly throbbed with pain, as if even this was something he reacted half a beat slower to. He slowly lifted his hand and touched the warm blood. It dripped along his palm.

Xia Duanfang was yelling something by his ear, but he couldn’t hear him anymore. Shi Wuduan suddenly blacked out.

That bow he used — Shi Wuduan’s last thought crept through his mind, slowly as ever — I strung that bow myself. n1yPJe

Translator's Note

It means to rid the emperor of “evil” ministers

Translator's Note

It means: to tell a bald-faced lie

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4 comments

  1. Goshh, nooo. But author’s timely humor in the middle of the chapter saved me a bit.

    Thank you for the chapter !