Chapter 45: Creative Awful Deaths

The martial arts field.

By the time the second round of the examination began, only thirty-six people remained.

These thirty-six people were divided into two large groups for duels. Each group would produce only one final victor, and those two final victors would then fight each other to decide the ultimate winner: the champion.

Lin Yuchu and Ruan Mingzhao were placed in different groups.

When Jiang Yu saw this grouping, he said, “I can already see the ending…”

And in fact, that was exactly how it went.

Basically, the moment the young disciples heard what the final examination would be, they all began trembling from head to toe. Fear.jpg.

One after another, they looked fearfully toward the two people beside them who seemed completely unconcerned. Especially a certain someone surnamed Lin!

That guy was a battlefield kill-stealer!

He did not let a single one go.

Kunlun Dao Academy already had Sword Path classes. Every Sword Path class involved the disciples splitting into groups and dueling each other.

The result was…

No matter how they were divided each time, the final result was always the same. Everyone would be lying on the ground, and only Ruan Mingzhao would be stubbornly hanging on, holding his sword and facing Lin Yuchu in the final life-or-death battle.

And in the end—

Ruan Mingzhao lay down too.

He had never managed to survive a single class. Every single time, he was ruthlessly cut down by Lin Yuchu, that savage human-head harvester.

For the Dao Academy disciples of this year, the moment they heard the words Sword Path class or martial arts field, they would start trembling and remember the terror of being dominated by Lin Yuchu!

So when they heard Zhengyang Sword Immortal say that the third examination would be practical Sword Path combat, everyone’s face, except for Lin Yuchu’s and Ruan Mingzhao’s, instantly filled with despair and lifeless gloom.

As for Lin Yuchu, as the chief culprit who had caused all of this, he was naturally fearless.

One comes, one falls.

A pair comes, a pair falls!

My sword shall cut down every person in this world, whether moved by feeling or without feeling at all.

As for Ruan Mingzhao, he had already been waiting for this moment.

From the very beginning.

From the moment he knew Zhengyang Sword Immortal would come to Kunlun Dao Academy to choose disciples, he had been waiting for this moment.

The day he would face Lin Yuchu again!

This time, I will win.

I have to beat him!

↑ Not to undercut you, but you really have said that line many times. You say it every single time, and every single time you lose… by Jiang Yu, the offscreen voice who could not help roasting him.

…

Who knew whether Zhengyang Sword Immortal knew about any of this or not? In any case, this grouping was truly brimming with malice…

The two groups began their duels at the same time.

Lin Yuchu and Ruan Mingzhao each carried a sword and stepped onto different battlefields.

Their opponents were afraid, but they still gripped their swords with determination and fought bravely! In their hearts, they were crying miserably, but on their faces, they wore expressions of upright righteousness and fearless spirit!

Fight with the pride of a sword cultivator, and die with dignity as a man! by all the Dao Academy disciples who had trembled under Great Demon King Lin Yuchu’s rule and had died countless times, their bitter thoughts filled with pain.

Meanwhile, Zhengyang Sword Immortal, together with Gu Daozi, Bai Xiao, and the sole melon-eating spectator, Jiang Yu, stood below. Their gazes were fixed on the two arenas, left and right, on the platform ahead.

The duels of both groups began at the same time, with no order of precedence.

Lin Yuchu’s opponent was a senior brother two years older than him. Whether in height, stamina, arm strength, wrist strength, cultivation, or years spent learning the sword, he surpassed Lin Yuchu.

However, this senior brother had also once been a defeated soul beneath Lin Yuchu’s sword.

Therefore, this senior brother, who had long since been beaten by Lin Yuchu countless times, had not the slightest pride or confidence as an older senior. Instead, he stared at Lin Yuchu before him with a grave expression, as if facing a formidable enemy, and shouted in a deep voice, “Junior Brother Lin, this time, I will avenge my last defeat!”

Hearing this, Lin Yuchu blinked. He looked at him with a humble expression and said, “Senior Brother, when you say last time… which time do you mean?”

Heaven knew that Lin Yuchu was truly asking sincerely.

After all, he had defeated far too many senior brothers, junior brothers, and classmates in the Dao Academy. How could he remember every single one?

But to the senior brother before him, who had suffered miserable defeat under Lin Yuchu countless times, those words were no different from mockery and humiliation!

The moment he heard them, he flew into embarrassed rage and roared, “Even if I lose to you every time, Junior Brother, you cannot humiliate me like this! A man may be slain, but not insulted!”

Then he raised his sword, flicked out a sword flourish, and thrust toward Lin Yuchu ahead.

“…” Lin Yuchu.

Ah, Senior Brother, you misunderstand!

I was just asking. Just asking…

Lin Yuchu felt somewhat wronged in his heart, but his movements did not slow in the slightest. He turned sideways to dodge the incoming sword, then raised his own blade and sliced toward the senior brother’s head.

Below, Zhengyang Sword Immortal immediately frowned at the sight.

In less than ten moves, this senior brother was defeated beneath Lin Yuchu’s sword.

The second went up.

Again, very quickly, without lasting twenty exchanges, he was struck at his vital point by Lin Yuchu’s sword and was eliminated.

The third.

Lin Yuchu cut him down in one sword strike, and he left the stage wailing over his miserable fate.

The fourth…

Was pierced through the heart.

The fifth…

Was cleaved down by a sword from midair and eliminated in tragic fashion.

…

…

The more Zhengyang Sword Immortal watched, the deeper his brows furrowed.

This young man’s sword…

Fast, ruthless, accurate.

Nearly every move was decisive, each strike aimed straight at a fatal weakness.

He had to possess excellent eyesight, as well as an extremely powerful and terrifying battle instinct, almost like that of a wild beast.

This was a born sword cultivator.

His sword was a sword meant to kill.

Zhengyang Sword Immortal stared at the young man’s face. He saw that on that fair, delicate, handsome face, there was now only cold indifference, and his gaze was as sharp and stern as a sword.

When he swung his sword at his classmates, he did not hesitate at all.

Even though this was merely a match that ended when a point was made and not a true attempt to injure anyone, ordinary people would still find it difficult to be as decisive as he was: fierce in action, merciless, without the slightest hesitation or softness.

A person like this…

Either his temperament was powerful and firm to a degree ordinary people could not reach, or else…

…

Lin Yuchu was simply too good at fighting. The titles of Sword Path killer, battlefield kill-stealer, and terrifying Great Demon King were not given to him for nothing.

In less than two hours, he had taken down all seventeen opponents and eliminated them. Everyone was down. Only he stood alone over the field of fallen opponents, holding a long sword stained from battle, smiling proudly and standing apart.

Those classmates and senior brothers who had suffered all kinds of unbearable and inhumane defeats at his hands were now each hugging their heads, curling up into balls, and squatting miserably beneath the arena.

They formed a row.

They truly looked pitiful and terribly wronged.

“Too much! This is too much! He went for my head again, sob sob.”

“You only got hit in the head. I was split clean in half. That way of losing… was way too tragic. Do I not need dignity?”

“You guys were only hit in the head or split in two. I was cut right through the middle, right through the middle! Just thinking about that scene is terrifying. That way of losing looked way too ugly!”

“Sob sob sob.”

“Sob sob sob.”

“Sob sob sob.”

“…”

“…”

What followed was the grand conference denouncing Great Demon King Lin Yuchu for being cruel, terrifying, heartless, deranged, and utterly inhuman…

On the arena.

Lin Yuchu put his sword back, then turned and stepped down from the arena.

He came before that group of wronged, pitiful, innocent classmates and senior brothers squatting beneath the arena, the group who had just died miserably at his hands. Looking at them, he showed an embarrassed, apologetic smile and said, “Senior Brothers, Junior Brothers, sorry about earlier. I was a bit too heavy-handed.”

“There are no friendships on the battlefield. I hope you can understand,” Lin Yuchu said in a sincere, earnest, moving tone.

“…” The senior and junior brothers who had died in all sorts of creative ways.

We. Do. Not. Want. To. Understand. Thank. You!

The senior brother who had been the first to die miserably at Lin Yuchu’s hands—yes, the one who had been struck in the head—raised his head and looked gloomily at Lin Yuchu before him. He said, “Junior Brother Lin, losing to you means our skills are inferior. We have nothing to say about that.”

“It’s just…” he said, his voice nearly breaking down as he cried, “Next time, can you give us a normal, ordinary, slightly friendlier way to lose?”

“Every time, it is either the head, or the heart, or the waist, or the throat… I’m about to be traumatized!”

↑ After being classmates with Lin Yuchu for so many years, Sword Path class was undoubtedly the Dao Academy disciples’ most terrifying nightmare.

“...About that.”

When Lin Yuchu heard this, a troubled expression immediately appeared on his face. He looked at the senior and junior brothers before him, their expressions bleak and their eyes full of tearful accusation as they stared at him, and said, “That is not really something I can control. Usually, I choose the fastest way to end the fight.”

The kind that ends it in one move.

It saved time and effort, and it had never failed.

Lin Yuchu looked at this group of senior and junior brothers before him and comforted them, saying, “Anyway, dying sooner or dying later is still dying. In that case, you might as well die earlier and save yourself the trouble of struggling in vain. Early death, early rebirth, right? As for the method and appearance of death, once you’re dead… why care so much?”

“…”

“…”

“…”

The Dao Academy senior and junior brothers immediately stared at him with dead eyes.

Then you try dying like that yourself, damn it!

It would absolutely, absolutely, absolutely leave a shadow in your heart!

If Cloudridge did not have only this one Dao Academy subordinate to the Kunlun Sword Sect, I would have transferred schools ages ago, okay?! Terrifying Great Demon Lin.

↑ Without Lin Yuchu knowing it, when he was quiet and demure, he was the flower of their Kunlun Dao Academy, the beautiful academy flower whom this group of adolescent boys often used as bragging capital before the neighboring Dao Academies.

When he moved, specifically during Sword Path class, he became the Great Demon King whose very name made people tremble in fear, the one who could come for your life from a thousand miles away!

On the other side.

On the other arena, the victor had now also been decided.

There was no suspense at all.

The winner was Ruan Mingzhao.

See? I said I knew the result the moment this grouping came out…

Jiang Yu looked at Ruan Mingzhao, who stood tall on the arena after his victory, holding a long sword with a cool expression, and thought this to himself.

Next would be the final battle that came every single time.

The duel between Lin Yuchu and Ruan Mingzhao.

The final winner would emerge from between the two of them.

There was also no doubt about this…

Jiang Yu thought, the winner will definitely be Lin Yuchu again.

Almost everyone present held the same thought as him.

Only a very small number of people watched with a wait-and-see attitude. What if?

And at this moment—

On the arena.

Ruan Mingzhao, who stood tall on the stage, turned his head and looked toward Lin Yuchu, who was standing below on the other side, currently comforting (???) the senior and junior brothers who had died in all sorts of creative ways at his hands.

Lin Yuchu, who had been speaking with that group of senior and junior brothers, seemed to sense something. He raised his head and turned his gaze toward the arena over there.

He saw—

Ruan Mingzhao, standing high above, raised the sword in his hand toward him. The long sword pointed at him from afar, issuing a declaration of war.

“I will wait for you here.”

Ruan Mingzhao mouthed the words to him silently.

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