Chapter 58 Sword Armor

[Huang Liuqing, possessed of seventy years' worth of otherworldly true qi belonging to ordinary mortals.]

With a single Wind-Destroys-Rain, Chen Yi sent Huang Liuqing away, feeling that this was the utmost respect he could show him.

Two small boats approached, one tall and one short. The short one held a soul-hooking chain, while the tall one clutched a door-god mace. The alleyways on both banks were empty and desolate, and the two figures stood firmly upon the boats like lingering ghosts.

The tall and the short—Chen Yi recognized them as a pair of brothers. Because one wielded the soul-hooking chain and the other the door-god mace, the pugilistic world referred to them as the "Counterfeit Door Gods." Both were rank-five martial experts, and if they joined forces, probably only a rank-four expert could barely manage to defeat them.

Chen Yi caught his breath and asked, "Is there still a rank-four expert hiding out who hasn't shown himself yet?"

The short Door God grinned and said, "There's no need for him to make a move. You're going to die right here."

The tall Door God remained silent, merely raising his door-god mace and slowly closing in.

Chen Yi struck first, seizing the initiative.

Treading a circle of splashing rain, Chen Yi launched a Wind-Destroys-Rain toward the tall Door God without the slightest hesitation.

Coming with the momentum of a mighty torrent, the blade instantly chilled the tall Door God's gaze. This terrifying momentum was utterly irresistible. He raised his mace to meet the enemy and swung abruptly. A sound of tearing air rang out, followed by the clashing of metal and stone.

The tall Door God retreated several steps, then lowered his head in disbelief. That single Wind-Destroys-Rain blade had actually cracked a three-inch-thick fine iron door-god mace.

Not only that, but his arm went numb, and the web of his hand was already bleeding.

"This fellow's strength has already been drained by Huang Liuqing!" roared the short Door God. Seeing Chen Yi lunging forward, he whipped out his soul-hooking chain.

The chain hissed through the air, piercing a hole right through the curtain of rain. Relying on the Shangqing mental cultivation method, Chen Yi tilted his head to dodge as the chain closed in. Just as he was about to press forward, he saw the short Door God twist the chain. The soul-hooking chain traced an arc in mid-air, sweeping around to wrap tightly around him!

Chen Yi pressed down hard against the boat deck, lowering his head to evade the soul-hooking chain just as the tall Door God lunged in. The two of them alternated their attacks, covering each other's blind spots with seamless coordination.

The tall Door God swung his mace frantically, his offensive like a sudden squall of wind and rain. Chen Yi defended while searching for an opening, but every time he found one, the soul-hooking chain followed him like a shadow. Individually, neither of them was a match for Huang Liuqing, but joined together, they were far more troublesome than Huang Liuqing had ever been.

Just as the Counterfeit Door Gods were gradually gaining the upper hand, the river water suddenly grew more turbulent, and a clap of thunder exploded from the flat ground, as if trying to halt this struggle.

All three involuntarily paused. A short distance away at the bow of the boat, two heads broke the surface, sending circular ripples spreading outward—one crab head and one shrimp head slowly probed upward. Gloomy cyan shrimp soldiers and crab generals climbed onto the bow, looking quite comical.

The leading crab general stood on eight legs on the planking. Having yet to attain human form, apart from being as large as a child, it was no different from an ordinary blue crab. The trailing shrimp soldiers were even lower in cultivation, their bodies only as large as infants, their mouths opening and closing incessantly—they had likely just refined their transverse throat-bones.

"My brothers, the Dragon Lord is about to make his journey through the waters. Best go elsewhere to fight."

Unable to stand upright on two legs like humans, the crab general had to strain its body upward as it spoke, its two pincers tapping together in a fist-and-palm salute.

All three were startled by this sudden appearance of the crab general.

"You haven't even transformed into a dragon, yet you dare call yourself a Dragon Lord?" the short Door God laughed heartily.

The crab general glared fiercely at the short Door God and shouted, "When the Dragon Lord makes his water-crossing and transforms into a dragon hereafter, he will surely become a righteous river deity with a court rank! How dare a mere mortal like you speak so insolently?!"

Provoked by these words, the short Door God abruptly thrust out his soul-hooking chain, hurtling toward the crab general with unstoppable force. Taken aback, the crab general turned its back, and the soul-hooking chain struck its hard shell, leaving a sunken dent.

"Run, run, run!" the crab general shrieked, leaping back into the water. "Save me, Dragon Lord!"

The shrimp soldiers and crab generals vanished abruptly. The tall and short Door Gods refocused their attention on Chen Yi, but in an instant, a host of shrimp heads broke the surface below. Large prawns leapt onto the boat one after another, their double pincers clicking menacingly.

Chen Yi was rather surprised by this turn of events.

His original intention this time had been to borrow Zhou Yitang's momentum, but he hadn't expected to borrow the malicious flood dragon's momentum along with it.

That being said, when the malicious flood dragon made its water-crossing later and he met her, he would simply pretend it was their first encounter.

Amidst these thoughts, Chen Yi drew the peachwood sword strapped to his back.

A sword and a saber, standing in the rain.

The peachwood sword vanquishes ghosts; the Xiuchun saber slaughters men.

Lightning flashed like thousands of feet of golden snakes, and thunder rumbled like ten thousand rolling turtles, roaring as if to shatter the empty sky.

The river swelled, lifting the wooden boat higher and higher, rocking it violently until it was nearly capsized.

Chen Yi thrust his sword into a shrimp soldier's belly, then raised his saber to parry the soul-hooking chain launched by the short Door God.

Through wave after wave of combat, he lost track of how much time had passed, knowing only that his vital qi was circulating more and more sluggishly.

He was fast approaching exhaustion...

Chen Yi turned his head and saw that the Dragon-Slaying Sword hanging from the great bridge had shattered at some unknown moment.

The river surged upward by another three tenths.

Beneath the churning floodwaters, dark shadows loomed vaguely.

The malicious flood dragon was about to make its water-crossing!

Along the streets of both banks, faint sounds of Buddhist chanting seemed to echo. The sky seemed to darken by several shades in an instant, and the pervasive autumn rain paused momentarily, only to plummet down with even greater fury!

Near the great bridge, a thick, heavy shadow had already appeared. Its dragon-like vertical pupils gleamed with golden light. In a split second, the capital's waterways echoed the brilliance of the tide rising alongside the bright moon at sea!

Chen Yi's breathing caught in his throat.

The malicious flood dragon was about to make its water-crossing...

Yet Zhou Yitang... still had not appeared.

Thinking of her, Chen Yi experienced a momentary trance. Yin Tingxue had left her snow-goose tracks in his heart, but was she any different...?

The bitter, chilling rain lashed against his face. Chen Yi recalled the "Gesheng" from the Classic of Poetry, remembering her heart-rending cries in the rain.

Had the woman in *Gesheng* wept like her as well?

Raindrops pelted his face, and in a daze, he snapped back to his senses. Seizing an opening, he stepped forward and slashed downward with his saber toward the utterly exhausted tall Door God.

Because of the short Door God, the pair had been heavily besieged by the shrimp soldiers, and the tall Door God in particular had long since been drained to absolute exhaustion. Flustered and unable to defend in time, he watched head-on as the blade cleaved his head from his shoulders.

Before dying, the tall Door God caught a glimpse of the ever-growing phantom of the malicious flood dragon in the distance.

Chen Yi wiped the fresh blood from his face and caught his breath.

Right in that transient breathing space, as his vital qi dissipated and gathered anew,

A flash of sword light swept across the dark night.

Chen Yi abruptly jerked his head around. In the churning river waters sat a lonely boat, where a white-robed swordsman, who had been waiting for a long time, drifted forward with a single, direct sword strike!

And behind that white-robed swordsman was the surging, roaring river, accompanied by the grand, awe-inspiring roar of the malicious flood dragon as it stirred the waters to transform into a dragon in a magnificent display!

Intent to kill laid bare!

Chen Yi's pupils constricted sharply, and his grip on the Xiuchun saber loosened slightly, for death had already arrived.

In the distant curtain of rain,

A single-armed woman stood watching from afar as he vanquished ghosts and slaughtered men.

For the longest time, she had detested and loathed this very appearance of his.

The blade slaughters men; the sword preserves life.

On that exact same torrential downpour on Mount Cangwu of the Yin Sword Peak, the wind and rain battered the peonies. He had snapped her sword with his own hands, listening to her heart-rending cries while holding an umbrella to shelter her from the rain.

She remembered the hurt he had caused her, and she remembered him singing *Gesheng* for her.

"Even if you deserve to die a wretched death, you shall not die."

Zhou Yitang's mind was crystal clear.

She knew her roots of emotional attachment were deep, and her hatred was equally deep.

She knew she wanted him to die a wretched death.

Therefore, she would sever his three corpses,

And ensure he was no longer himself!

Her ring finger and little finger curled and overlapped, while her index and middle fingers pressed together into a sword-finger.

With only a single arm remaining, the sword-master used her hand as a sword, executing a downward slash from on high.

This strike was slow,

Yet the river water seemed to have anticipated it, parting abruptly and surging mightily toward both banks to avoid its razor-sharp edge!

Under this single sword strike...

This malicious flood dragon, along with the entire Great River North of the Capital, seemed as though they would be cleaved in half, and Chen Yi with them!

She still remembered that year on Mount Cangwu,

When the kudzu flowers withered, the peonies bloomed.