Chapter 1 The Darkest Hour

The darkest moment before dawn, even the light mist in Burial Heart Valley seemed a little dimmer.

After a night of slaughter, countless people had been buried in the valley forever.

But… Du Ying was not dead yet.

He had fled all the way back from Severed Soul Gorge and arrived at the gate of Burial Heart Manor.

However… what awaited him here was also a scene of rivers of blood.

At this moment, the gate of Burial Heart Manor was wide open. From outside the threshold to inside the gate, and then to the courtyard of the manor, corpses could be seen everywhere.

The vast majority of those corpses were fully armed government soldiers, and some were dressed as servants or wearing flying fish robes. But the most eye-catching of them… were probably the few corpses of old women.

Du Ying knew very well that these old women who served King Yama were all experts. They had accompanied King Yama for many years and had received more guidance than anyone else in the valley; even the one with the worst martial arts could rival the head of a first-rate sect in the martial world.

However, such a group of people had now died here along with those government soldiers…

“What’s going on?” Du Ying's worldview had been repeatedly refreshed several times in the past few hours. Compared to the shock that Yuan Qi, the Red Cherry Squad, and Feng Bujue had brought him, his reaction to the scene before him seemed somewhat indifferent.

“Oh? There’s still a living one here…” Suddenly, a feminine voice entered Du Ying’s ears.

The moment Du Ying heard this, he felt the blood in his whole body run cold, because the voice sounded from a spot only inches behind him.

“Who!” Du Ying turned around suddenly, as startled as a frightened bird.

Immediately afterward, he saw Cao Qin.

“Oh~ It’s Du Ying.” Eunuch Cao looked at his face and said, “You escaped back from Severed Soul Gorge, did you.”

“You… who are you?” Du Ying retreated involuntarily. He didn’t know why, but he felt instinctively terrified. “Did you kill all these people?”

“This one is Cao Qin.” Cao Qin replied calmly with his hands behind his back, “As for these people… some were killed by me, some were not.”

“What… what exactly happened here?” Du Ying stammered as he asked. At the same time, he was secretly gathering his true energy, in case the other party made any move that would be detrimental to him.

“Does a person who is about to die really need to know that much?” Cao Qin retorted coldly.

“Even if I am going to die…” Du Ying tried his best to control his breathing and replied in a deep voice, “It’s always better… to die knowing why.”

“Hmm…” Cao Qin nodded upon hearing this. “That makes sense.” He paused for a moment. “I think you can be considered a grandmaster of a generation, and you are already old, so I will grant you this last wish.”

Du Ying didn’t respond to these words, but just waited silently for the other party to continue.

Cao Qin thought for a few seconds and then continued, “Chang Wei killed Zhu Zhi Zha; then, the seven great masters of the imperial court killed Chang Wei; then, King Yama and I went to kill those seven great masters, but they scattered into the manor and summoned the soldiers outside the gate. So, King Yama, I, and the maids in this manor, went to a lot of trouble to kill all of these people.”

“You…” Although Du Ying had heard the whole story, he didn’t understand the reason behind it, so his face was still full of astonishment and doubt. “Just who are you?”

“He is like my father and my teacher.”

The one who answered this question was actually King Yama…

At this moment, her figure also appeared in the courtyard in front of the gate, and her attire was actually exactly the same as Cao Qin’s… a simple and elegant robe that wrapped around her enchanting figure; a wine pot was also hanging from her waist.

“What?” Du Ying simply couldn’t believe his ears. He thought that King Yama’s cultivation was unparalleled in the world, but he never expected that he would hear King Yama say such a thing with her own mouth today.

“So… do you understand how you are going to die now?” Immediately afterward, Cao Qin opened his mouth and asked.

“I…” Du Ying couldn’t answer Cao Qin’s question, because he only had time to say one word before his head left his neck… and arrived in King Yama’s hand.

That was a slender, jade-like hand, and also a fatal hand… This hand was perhaps more deadly than any weapon in the world.

“Four ladies, you’ve been watching there for a long time, why don’t you come out and talk?” Two seconds later, Cao Qin suddenly turned around and said this to a corner of the courtyard.

There, there was originally nothing at all. But after Cao Qin finished saying this, a layer of optical barrier suddenly disappeared, revealing the figures of Hong Ying and the other three.

“Since we have already been discovered by the two of you, then I might as well be frank…” This time, Xu Huai Shang didn’t let Blood Rose negotiate, but directly said herself, “First of all… are you going to kill us as well?”

“That depends on the attitude of the four of you.” King Yama said, raising her hand to gesture at the corpses all over the ground, “You see… all my maids are dead, but I wonder… are the four ladies interested in serving me?”

“If a negative answer is equivalent to death, then I’m afraid we can’t refuse.” Xu Huai Shang replied.

“Hehe… why do you have to show such an unhappy expression?” King Yama smiled, and that smile was so beautiful that it was intoxicating. “You should be happy, in fact… you are extremely lucky.” She waved her sleeves. “In the past few years, although my maids were also well-fed and clothed, they didn’t live any real good days; but from now on, it will be different… From today on, I am the supreme of the martial world. After you leave the valley with me, you will have endless glory and wealth to enjoy.”

Just as she finished speaking, and before Xu Huai Shang could respond, suddenly!

“Mar?tial?World?Su?preme?”

A cheap and powerful voice that shook the sky came through the air…

That voice repeated these four words one word at a time, and with obvious questioning and mocking tones.

Without a doubt… there was only one person in the entire script who had the ability (the amplification effect of the Cheat Watch) and the interest to do such a thing.

“Hmph… this is going to be interesting.” Cao Qin closed his eyes and chuckled, commenting in a low voice.

The next second, Feng Bujue’s figure appeared on the tall courtyard wall of the manor. Although… the gate was only a few meters away and it was open.

“This daddy is here! Who dares to call himself the supreme of the martial world?” After he appeared, he came out with another blatant taunt, looking like he didn’t put anyone in his eyes at all.

At this moment, Yuan Qi, the Hell Frontline Squad, and the martial artists had also passed through the village outside the manor and arrived at the gate of the manor.

Hearing Jue-ge’s remarks, the expression on Alliance Master Yuan’s face became quite awkward; logically speaking… as the leader of the martial arts alliance, Yuan Qi was the most qualified person to say that sentence, but how could he possibly say such a thing. However, he couldn’t point out that Jue-ge was “speaking wildly,” after all, this kid was on his side, and his martial arts were unfathomable. It would be unwise to start a conflict with him at this time.

Therefore, Yuan Qi could only pretend that he didn’t hear anything and quickly changed the subject: “King Yama! Stop dreaming your spring and autumn dreams!” He shouted loudly, “Today, heroes from all walks of life have gathered here, and we will never let you hand over the art of immortality to the im…”

When the word “imperial court” reached his mouth, he happened to see the corpses of government soldiers all over the courtyard, which made him swallow the second half of his sentence.

“Speak, why aren’t you speaking?” King Yama looked at him, as well as the leaders of the various gangs and sects behind him, and a clear hatred flashed in her eyes. “You want to say that I colluded with the imperial court, and then let me hand over the art of immortality to you?”

“Hmph…” Yuan Qi waved his sleeves and snorted coldly. “Even if you didn’t collude with the imperial court, it is also a fact that you have harbored evildoers from the martial world all these years. A degenerate like you…”

“Shut up!” At this instant, King Yama roared out loudly, interrupting Yuan Qi’s words.

In an instant, boundless true energy, carrying killing intent and sound waves, spread out…

The four members of the Red Cherry Squad were also unlucky. Because they were close, they inexplicably had 20% of their survival points blasted away by this sonic attack.

The four members of the Hell Frontline Squad were a little further away, but they were not spared from this AoE attack either, and all lost about 15% of their health.

Of course, compared to the martial artists, the players were considered lucky… because their power system was not based on the foundation of “internal energy,” so this move did not cause full damage to them; they only received the damage from the “sound waves,” but in reality… the other part of the damage based on “internal energy resonance” was the most deadly.

After the shout, except for the eight players, Cao Qin, and Yuan Qi, everyone else present was shaken by King Yama’s shout, spitting out blood, and collapsing with horrified expressions.

These people were either well-known veterans of the martial world, or the heads of famous sects, or young and promising martial arts geniuses.

However, among these people, no one could withstand this move.

Although no one died on the spot, the internal injuries caused by this move clearly made them unable to stand up.

This shout… seemed simple and crude, but in fact it contained extremely profound martial arts principles. Leaving aside the players, just talking about the martial artists in this world… to defend against this move, one must do two things – first, have internal energy from a martial arts mental cultivation method with at least twenty years of average level; second, sense and judge the mystery of the move at the moment the opponent launches it, and immediately use one’s own internal energy to create a barrier inside the body, covering one’s major organs.

Only by doing these two things could one complete the defense against this move, otherwise…

“Heh…” King Yama looked at the martial artists who immediately began to meditate and circulate their energy after falling to the ground, and sneered, “What ‘heroes’… you also deserve to be called heroes?” As she spoke, she shifted her gaze to Yuan Qi, “But you, this chess piece… can be considered a person of some importance.”

“Yes, I am quite surprised by this too…” Cao Qin interjected.

“What are you talking about… who is the chess piece?” Cold sweat had already slipped down Yuan Qi’s forehead. The martial arts cultivation that King Yama had displayed in the previous attack had made him almost despair. If it weren’t for the four fellow Daoists from “Broken Sword Tea House” standing beside him, he would have surrendered in all likelihood.

“You don’t understand, do you?” Cao Qin smiled at him, said five words, and then suddenly changed his voice, making it almost hoarse, “If I say it like this… will you understand?”

“You!” In an instant, Yuan Qi’s spirit… was pushed to the brink of collapse.

Because he recognized that voice, it was a voice he would never forget.

“You… you are…” Yuan Qi’s body and voice were trembling incessantly.

“That’s right, I am that fortune-telling blind man.” Cao Qin said calmly, looking at Yuan Qi with his hands behind his back, “And you… are a chess piece that I buried in the martial world more than twenty years ago.”

“No… impossible…” Yuan Qi said with a shocked expression, “You and I just met by chance… If I didn’t come to you for fortune-telling, you wouldn’t have been able to discover that I have the Life Star Profound Art in my body!”

“Yes, you and I did meet by chance.” Cao Qin replied, “But you must understand… regardless of whether there was that chance encounter or not, the result would be the same.” He paused for half a second. “In addition to the ‘Life Star Profound Art’, I know at least twelve kinds of supreme arts that ‘one only needs to obtain one to dominate the martial world’; among them, I can take out ten kinds at any time and teach them to others. In other words… as long as I want to, supporting a leader of the martial arts alliance is very easy. All I need… is a person who knows how to cherish opportunities, and about ten years of time.”

Hearing this, Yuan Qi’s psychological defenses completely collapsed. He had already realized that… this person’s cultivation and calculations had already reached a realm that mortals could not reach; without even trying, he knew that no matter what he did… it would be futile in front of this person.

“Eunuch Cao, what are you guys singing, can you explain it to us?” At this time, Feng Bujue spoke again, his tone not changing at all.

“Hehe… Tea House Owner Feng, speaking of which, this matter is also related to your Broken Sword Tea House.” Cao Qin replied.

“Oh?” Feng Bujue’s reaction was unbelievably fast. “Could it be… related to the ‘Azure Spirit Sword Debate’ of that year?”

“Exactly.” Cao Qin replied, “It seems that Tea House Owner Feng still remembers, that’s good…” He raised a hand and gestured towards King Yama, “Let me formally introduce to everyone… this ‘King Yama’ is the orphan of Bi Kong Jian Lin, Chang’s descendant… Lin Yan.”

“Oh~” Hearing just this sentence, Feng Bujue deduced many things.

“And I…” Cao Qin looked sideways at Lin Yan, “Am her adoptive father.”

As soon as his two sentences of introduction were finished, Lin Yan lightly moved her lotus steps, turned to face Feng Bujue, and said, raising her head, “Tea House Owner Feng, Lin Yan… I have long admired your name.”

King Yama’s words… scared everyone quite a bit. From Yuan Qi, to the Red Cherry Squad members, to the martial artists, to the audience outside the field… all looked at Feng Bujue with eyes like they were looking at a god.

“For more than forty years… I have dreamed of seeing you…” Then, Lin Yan’s face revealed a strange smile, a smile with a bit of excitement, a bit of cruelty, and a bit of indescribable subtle emotions, “You can’t imagine how many times I have killed you in my dreams… It is precisely because of that hatred for you that I have become what I am today.”

After saying that, she untied the wine pot from her waist… tilted her upper body, raised the pot, and lifted her neck, opening her vermilion lips and drinking it all down.

She drank so selflessly and uninhibitedly… even if the jade nectar overflowed from her mouth, flowed down her chin, passed her pink neck, and disappeared into her undulating chest… she didn’t care at all.

Lonely valley, late autumn, under the mist, before the flowers.

But see, that beautiful woman drank down a whole pot of wine, then gently twisted her waist, straightened her body, and glared at Feng Bujue with a pair of captivating eyes, “Today, I will finally get my wish…” She threw the wine pot in her hand at random, spread out her palms, and unleashed her true energy, “…kill you, and avenge my father!”