SNTS: Chapter 491 (Patreon)

So this is the man responsible for the destruction of my clan…

The pain from Wu Jian’s missing limbs had vanished, but he wasn’t sure that was a good thing. A sudden cessation of pain was often an indication that a person was experiencing shock. That was a life-threatening condition that occurred when the body suffered significant trauma. He couldn’t tell yet if he was going into shock. Cultivators were a far hardier group than normal humans, but that didn’t mean they were immune to suddenly losing a limb--nevermind both their legs like Wu Jian.

“You know who I am?” Zhou Shíwēi didn’t seem surprised, and if he was, he masked his feelings well. “Did Zhe Dāozhe tell you my name? He is one of the few people who have actually seen my face, though that was a long time ago. I am surprised he still remembers.”

“It doesn’t matter how I know your name,” Wu Meiying declared.

“No, I suppose it doesn’t.” Zhou Shíwēi admitted. “You know why I am here. Come quietly.”

Wu Meiying smiled. “I refuse. And if you take one step further, I will end my life right now.”

Everyone jolted when they heard her words. Even Zhou Shíwēi did not make a single movement. The fact that he actually listened was a testament to Wu Meiying’s worth to his family.

“I was told that you were the type of woman who would actually follow through on any threat you made, so I should proceed with caution.” Zhou Shíwēi glanced at Wu Jian. “But are you sure you want to do that? If you end your life now, the young man you love will also die.”

Wu Meiying did not close her eyes or look away as she answered confidently. “I would hate that, but he and I have already made our choice. You cannot sever the bond between us unless both of us are alive. If you kill him, we will just reincarnate somewhere else. The cycle will continue, and your family will have nothing but failure to show your master.” She placed a hand on her cheek and adopted a look of mock concern. “I wonder what he would think if he were to learn that you had me within your grasp and let me slip between your fingers?”

“... It seems we are at an impasse.”

“So it does.”

Wu Jian and those with him remained silent. Hou Jingshu, Zhou Lihua, Shuchang, Youmei… none of them dared to speak or even breathe. It felt like the entire world was holding its breath.

However, this situation couldn’t continue. Wu Jian was beginning to feel dizzy. The adrenaline that had fueled his body had long since vanished, but so had the pain in his limbs, and the loss of blood was beginning to make him dizzy. He didn’t think he’d die over something like this, but he might wind up crippled if they didn’t do something about his missing limbs soon.

“Are you sure you should be so defiant? Your lover looks like he’s on his last leg,” Zhou Shíwēi said.

Wu Meiying narrowed her eyes. “Was that your idea of a bad joke? And we both know that you’ll just kill him if I comply with you. That was your master’s orders. Sever the bond between us and erase Wu Jian from existence so he can never reincarnate again. Do not think for one second that I don’t understand what is at stake here.”

“Well said,” a voice called out from above.

Everyone looked up, but there was nobody there. Wu Jian thought maybe he’d been hearing things. However, when he looked down, it was to find someone he recognized standing between Wu Meiying and Zhou Shíwēi. It had been a long time since he had seen Zhe Dāozhe, but the Heavenly Sword Sect’s master still looked the same as always. His appearance was that of someone much younger than his actual age. Not a single wrinkle lined his face. Raven-black hair flowed gracefully down his shoulders, and he stood with his spine erect.

He held a sheathed sword in his grasp.

“Zhou Shíwēi, it has been a long time since we crossed paths. You’ve grown old.”

“And you haven’t changed at all.”

“I’ve changed a lot, actually. Maybe not on the outside, but being the leader of a sect has made me change for the better. Speaking of…”

It first appeared like the two were simply chatting. The casualness of their conversation through Wu Jian for a loop. However, that moment of confusion soon passed when Zhe Dāozhe narrowed his eyes. An implacable feeling of hatred and killing intent froze everyone in place. The ground around Zhe Dāozhe trembled as his barely constrained chi leaked out unconsciously, as though he was so enraged that he couldn’t control his own powers. He normally felt so calm and composed, like a perfectly still lake, so this abrupt change made the hairs on Wu Jian’s arm stand on end.

“…I owe you quite a bit for what you did to my sect. I’ve come here to return the favor.”

“You have nobody but yourself to blame for this,” Zhou Shíwēi said with an uncaring attitude. “Had you not harbored our goddess in your sect, I would have had no reason to come after you.”

“Had you come forward and told me what you wanted in advance, I might have acquiesced and given her to you,” Zhe Dāozhe said.

“Would you really?”

“Of course not. The Zhou Clan already has far too much power. I already knew that she was important to your clan and hid her from you to prevent you from growing even stronger. Your clan is a blight upon our continent. If I had allowed you to increase your clan’s power even more, it would have tipped the balance and plunged the Xaio Continent into another war.”

“It seems conversation is meaningless then. As always, we stand at opposite sides.”

“Most unfortunate.”

The two men stood still for all of a single second, and then vanished. Their battle had begun, but Wu Jian could not even follow it. He heard sounds that made him think they were fighting, and yet, those sounds appeared to come several seconds after their clashes already ended. It was like they were moving so fast that the sound of their battle couldn’t keep up.

At that moment, dizziness like never before struck Wu Jian and he fell back. He heard a scream. Then someone was hovering over him.

“Lili…”

“H-hang on! I have a pill that will stop the bleeding!”

Zhou Lihua summoned something to her hand. He couldn’t see it very well due to the angle, but he suspected it was a pill.

“Here, take this--”

“Don’t give that to him,” Wu Meiying suddenly said.

Zhou Lihua looked at her in shock. “What? But his injuries…”

“I understand where you’re coming from. Believe me, nobody wants to heal Jian more than me. However, if you use that pill, it will be impossible for him to regain his limbs. Feed him a blood replenishing pill instead. Then use a tourniquet to cut off the blood flow. Also, do not let the wound heal over. If it begins to heal, cut into it.”

Zhou Lihua’s face had gone pale at Wu Meiying’s instructions. “But if I do that…”

“Do it,” Wu Jian said.

She looked down. “Wu Jian…”

Despite his vision being blurry, he looked firmly at the young woman above him. “I trust Mei. Please do as she says.”

Zhou Lihua bit her lip and blinked back tears, then nodded once.

***

Zhe Dāozhe had long since reached a point where few if any could challenge him. The days when he had to struggle to survive were long behind him. He had reached the pinnacle of cultivation, become the sect master of the continent’s most powerful sect, and mastered the sword to such an extent that he could unleash sword qi without conscious thought. At this point in his life, he had believed there were none who could stand against him.

But he had forgotten.

Forgotten that there were still two people who could contest him.

And the man he was fighting now was one of them.

Zhou Shíwēi was an old rival. They had first met over a thousand years ago, back when the largest sects were the Four Guardian Beast Sects. He had belonged to the White Tiger Sect, while his rival had been a disciple of the Black Tortoise Sect. Neither of them had been strong back then. In fact, both of them had been rather weak. Back then, Zhe Dāozhe had struggled every single day to survive. As a young man without an ounce of talent, the other disciples had looked down on and bullied him. He still remembered the fierce hatred he felt toward the other disciples.

He had met Zhou Shíwēi by chance. Like him, the young man was weak and lacked talent, and like him, he was bullied by his fellow disciples. One might think this would cause them to form a bond of friendship, but actually, it just made them hate each other. They began bitterly arguing over who had it worse on their first meeting and ended up beating the snot out of each other. After that, they would meet at least once a week just to duke it out. At some point, their hatred had become an intense rivalry that spurred them on to get stronger.

It wouldn’t be inaccurate to say that Zhou Shíwēi was the reason Zhe Dāozhe had become so strong. He still didn’t like this man. Their philosophies were just too different, and they had become even more different as time passed. About the only thing they both agreed on was that the strong survived while the weak perished. Even then, their philosophy on how the strong should act were completely different.

[Heavenly Sword Domain]

[Sovereign of Time Domain]

The two activated their domains right from the very start of the battle. Two domains could not exist at the same time, which meant the more powerful domain would win out, though it would come at the cost of a great deal of chi. As the two domains expanded and clashed, the pair pushed chi into their techniques. Distortions appeared in the space between them. A black spot like a tiny hole in the fabrics of reality warped the area around them, then began sucking everything in. Both of them stopped when they realized what was happening. It seemed they could not use their domains for this battle, lest they risk destroying themselves.

[Quiet River]

Zhe Dāozhe appeared before Zhou Shíwēi and began executing a smooth series of flowing strikes that seemed effortless and gentle, like the quiet flow of a river. Every attack he launched was aimed at his enemy’s vital points. A strike to the heart, the liver, the lungs, the kidneys. Each strike was swift, sure, and impossible for a normal person to dodge or block.

Zhou Shíwēi was not normal.

[Temporal Requiem]

Zhe Dāozhe felt the man’s technique take hold before seeing what it did. His sword arm slowed perceptibly. He knew this technique, though it had been a long time since he’d seen it. Zhou Shíwēi was an expert at manipulating time; he could orchestrate the flow of time around his enemies, making their movements slow until they were almost standing still. However, their minds still remained fully aware. It was a terrifying technique.

However…

“Don’t think the same old tricks will work on me!!!”

[Heaven’s Divide]

Channeling chi into his jian caused the blade to glow with a radiant light. Despite being frozen in time, Zhe Dāozhe was able to swing his sword, splitting the man’s technique in half. His single overhead slash released a beam of energy so powerful and so swift that Zhou Shíwēi was unable to dodge. Both he and the mountain several li behind him was split in half--or so it seemed.

[Decree of Aeons]

Zhe Dāozhe spun around just as Zhou Shíwēi raised his arm skyward, drawing in the energies of the past and future. He already knew this technique would activate before he could attack. Indeed, the man was already swinging his arm downward. This action created a rift of pure blackness, and from this rift, calamity emerged. Hundreds of thousands of meteors came raining down from the sky.

“Are you insane?!”

“I am quite sane. You’d better hurry, or those disciples of yours will die.”

Gnashing his teeth together, Zhe Dāozhe had no choice but to interpose himself between his disciples. The meteors were massive. He couldn’t judge their size exactly, but he understood that they would devastated the entire continent if they struck. Was this man really willing to go so far just to acquire Wu Meiying? Didn’t he need her and Wu Jian alive?!

[Celestial Cleaver]

Zhe Dāozhe placed his sword back in its sheathe and took a slow breath in. His chi gathered along his blade. It was almost imperceptible since the sword was sheathed, but the energy he gathered was powerful enough to annihilate a country. Releasing his breath in one go, Zhe Dāozhe removed the sword from its sheathe and swung, unleashing a crescent wave of energy that cleaved into the meteors. It didn’t just split the meteors in half, however. Celestial Cleaver created a crescent wave, but when that wave struck, hundreds of thousands of slashes were unleashed upon the target. The meteors were cut into thousands of pieces. While those fragments rained from the sky, they would not harm the people down below.

[Epohc’s End]

That was not the end of the surprises, however. Before Zhe Dāozhe could regain his bearings, Zhou Shíwēi appeared before him, palm tucked into his torso. He could not feel any chi within that palm strike, but that only made him more wary. He tried to block the attack with his sword. He soon found, however, that his sword would not move. It had been frozen in time. His eyes widened in surprise, and that was the moment Zhou Shíwēi struck him in the chest.