—
“The Gu family? Sound impressive and bold, but who can tell me what’s the Gu family anyway?”
“Ah, I remember, I have met your father. He’s at the peak of Thunder-shocking Realm and very impressive. He’s supposed to call me martial uncle, how about you? Shouldn’t you call me something nice too?”
“Why? Because my last name is Li. Does that count?”
“Did I embarra.s.s you in front of the woman you love? I’m so sorry. My given name is Kuangtu, it doesn’t sound too friendly, right? I’m kinda rude. Sweet grandson, please don’t blame me.”
This was how they met each other for the first time many years ago.
“Oh? Your woman is so fine, f*ck! Ah, I mean, I must have met you before. You look familiar, what’s your name?”
“Gu Xingyun, oh okay, I still hold seniority over you. How’s your grandpa and father by the way? Last time, they sent someone and tried to kill me. Haha, almost, they almost killed me. They need to be more careful.”
“Oh? It wasn’t them? Your whole family had explained this to my father before, there’s no point saying this over and over again, or should I show you the evidence?”
“Today I’m in a good mood, make a kowtow to me, then we’ll call it a day.”
He was young and hot-blooded, a wild boy.
In memories, that was a figure that didn’t really care about anything all the time. Underneath that wild and arrogant appearance, he could see things as they were very precisely.
A warm-hearted, yet mean genius, the future War G.o.d of Zhongzhou State.
“I just gave three moves, is the power too much for you? I still get a lot more sword moves, can you handle them or not?”
“The Gu family is getting weaker and weaker by generations, in three years, you guys initiated six a.s.sa.s.sinations, wasn’t that enough? As a matter of fact, it won’t make a difference if I die, because there’s no one left in the Gu family.”
“I have gotten into the Invincible Realm. Just you wait, and tell your father and family to wait for me.”
In memories, that seemed to be the first failure.
From beginning to end, three moves, complete failure.
At that time, he didn’t feel shame in front of that condescending figure.
Maybe it was due to the pa.s.sing time, his craziness and wildness had been replaced with tenderness. Maybe it was because of something else, he didn’t feel angry at the time.
But the people around him were looking at him like it was the most natural thing in the world, it hurt and embarra.s.sed him. At that time, he felt like he was a joke, a clown.
Although the Gu family had always been clowns.
“The Legend of Qin? Interesting. But is this enough? By you guys?”
“If I don’t want to die, who can kill me?”
“You guys are no match for me. One, two, three, ha. Are you trying to kill me with these nonent.i.ties with you?”
“Sinner! Traitor should be killed!”
“Is this what all of you want? Is this what you want?”
“Ouch.”
“All my life…”
“Understandable. Your last name is Gu after all.”
“I really want to see her again.”
The brightest days had ended, a new era had come.
Glory built in the past hundreds of years was all destroyed in the heavy rain.
Time pa.s.sed and seasons changed.
Spring breeze, summer days, autumn leaves, flying snow.
Time pa.s.sed year after year, memories of the past faded, the sword intent in the past disappeared, the glory was covered with dust, and the brilliantness was spatted on.
But he was the only one that kept improving.
The sun was bright above his head, and everything seemed to disappear.
This was his era.
Many years later, now he has become the n.o.ble War G.o.d of Zhongzhou State. Those unbearable old memories seemed to disappear completely.
Until this moment, the sunny sky suddenly got dark, and it started to snow heavily.
The familiar yet strange sword intent was stirring everything like a tornado, as if it was about to crush the whole world.
The images that he thought were gone now came back to his head, getting clearer and clearer. Gu Xingyun finally realized, that all the memories he thought he had left behind, were still there, that the shadow above his head, never really went away.
Xuanyuantai of Kunlun, the Li family, 24 Moves of Sword, and the Fifth Blade.
Flying Snow in June.
Did this sword move try to tell the world something?
Immense and intense fury occupied Gu Xingyun’s mind. His face got really dark, and the expression in his eyes got twisted in a very short period of time.
The Master of Samsara Palace in front of him, was she a surviving member of the Li family?
A female expert of the Invincible Realm, how come he never heard of her?
Who was this?
No matter who it was, he wouldn’t allow anyone to bring back that sensitive old case in the past.
He! Would! Not! Allow! It!
Walking on the memory lane, everything from the past rushed in his heart. Surrounded by strong rage, Gu Xingyun was getting insane inside.
He was like a giant dragon whose untouchable underscore was touched.
At this moment, he didn’t care about all the interest and compromise anymore.
The Fifth Blade—Flying Snow!
Under the sky in June, the temperature in number one training ground decreased sharply. The concentrated snowflakes covered the whole sky and fell on the ground orderly and heavily.
The Sword Energy was rising.
The snowflakes were falling.
You wanted a fight.
Then you got a fight.
The Master of Samsara Palace took the fifth step.
Her spirit rose to the very top along with the sword intent. That was a tall and full figure, a little thick even. It wasn’t ugly but wasn’t beautiful either. But at this moment, her every move was so intense and stern. She was like a divine being.
Divine and mighty, like no one else in the world.
Gu Xingyun rushed forward suddenly.
Little steps became big steps.
Dashed, jumped, and soared.
His body disappeared in everyone’s eyes, getting higher and higher, as if he was heading to the sky.
There wasn’t any mysterious sign in his whole body.
Or he was the mysterious sign himself.
He incarnated himself as a sword!
His long roar lingered around the Sky Academy. At this moment, Gu Xingyun completely got rid of the appearance of a gentle and peaceful man, and he started to give off fierce, strong energy.
The snowflakes in the air were falling hard.
But Gu Xingyun’s body kept rising.
The snowflakes, which were like a sky screen, started to rotate all of a sudden, along with the movement of the air.
A big vortex suddenly appeared in the snow-white sky screen, and a strong airflow came out between heaven and earth.
The strong wind blew heavily.
On the ground, countless turfs got swept away, and the snowflakes were condensed into ice. Endless giant ice swords rushed towards Gu Xingyun’s body from the countless rotating vortexes.
Up in the air, Gu Xingyun’s furious voice rang out, a simple word. “Break!”
“Bang!”
Huge waves of air were spreading around Gu Xingyun, and countless ice swords burst into pieces around him. Countless ice pieces drifted down the ground and then immediately rose again. Gu Xingyun, who had torn apart the snow screen, was now above everything. Then he rushed straight to the Master of Samsara Palace on the ground.
Ten Skills of True Martial Arts.
Three Elements Final Hit!
…
“It’s actually a surviving member of the Li family! Look into it, find out who the Master of Samsara Palace is, dig all the way back to twenty years ago. Acting all mysterious, I need to know who she really is!”
The whole Dark World focused on this battle. Zhongzhou State, as the host, cared about this battle very much, even knowing everything was just a setup. Especially when the Master of Samsara Palace specifically pointed out that this battle needed full commitment from both parties a few days ago, the whole Zhongzhou State paid a lot of attention to the battle that was happening now.
There were very few interactions between the Samsara Palace and Kunlun City, so not many people knew about the Samsara Palace’s att.i.tude on Kunlun City.
This arranged battle felt a little weird in the beginning. After Li Tianlan got objected in the Sky Academy and Gu Changjiang got killed, the letter of challenge from the Samsara Palace had reached Kunlun City.
The Master of Samsara Palace wasn’t very nice to Gu Xingyun. Everyone could notice the animosity between the two of them, but they didn’t know the reason behind it.
Now, it seemed that all of the puzzles had been solved.
The Twenty-fourth Blade.
The Fifth Blade—Flying Snow!
The descendant of the Li family?
Everyone started to get dizzy.
In the monitor room of the Sky Academy, watching the big screen, Gu Fengbo, the Vice Governor of Kunlun City, was obviously the most excited one. He didn’t care about the choice of words anymore and spat out the words “surviving member”.
“Governor Gu, language! For hundreds of years, members of the Li family have always been the War G.o.ds and heroes of Zhongzhou State. Though Li Kuangtu committed treason, Senior Li is still alive and well. Besides, to make up for the mistake in the past, Senior Li has been prisoned at the border for many years, and you still called them surviving members?” “Is Senior Li a surviving member to you too?”
At the spot closest to the screen, there sat supreme commander Ye Dongsheng, a member of the Zhongzhou State Decision Making Committee and the Deputy Minister of the Military Ministry, who was called the G.o.d of Army. He cast a cold glance at Gu Fengbo, and his tone sounded dangerous.
“Of course I don’t mean it that way. No one can deny what Senior Li had done, but the Governor of Samsara City, she… she…”
Gu Fengbo repeated himself a few times. Finally, he gave out a cold snort and said, “I know she’s got some problems in her, so we must find out.”
Of course they needed to find out.
No one knew how anxious Gu Fengbo felt inside when he saw the Fifth Blade.
A beggar suddenly got into a billionaire’s mansion, killed the master and took all his property. But the beggar found out that the master didn’t die after years of living well off. Perhaps this wasn’t the most appropriate a.n.a.logy, but he felt exactly like that. Even Gu Fengbo himself felt surprised at how anxious he was.
Ever since Li Honghe got prisoned at the border, the Li family went completely downhill. It seemed like the whole Zhongzhou State was waiting for him to die, waiting for the Li family to perish completely.
But who could have thought that there was still an Invincible Realm superior in the Li family, and many years ago, this superior founded Samsara, which now had become one of the ultimate superpowers in the whole Dark World!
“How is that possible?”
“Where did this G.o.dd.a.m.n woman come from?”
Gu Fengbo’s head was a whole mess, and there was still confusion beside the panic.
In the time when the Li family was the most powerful, the Gu family had the information of every member of the Li family. After the Li family went down and Li Kuangtu died in a battle, the Gu family still knew about the whereabouts of everyone in the Li family.
In this case, how could they miss the Master of Samsara Palace?
Besides, among the 12 Super Masters of Samsara, a few of them had appeared many years ago, which meant the Samsara had existed since then. If the Master of Samsara Palace had come from the Li family, then they wouldn’t have had any reason to miss this information.
According to the patriotism of Li Honghe (the old b.a.s.t.a.r.d), even if there was really a female heavenly successor that could match Li Kuangtu in the Li family, they would definitely report to Zhongzhou State.
But many years had pa.s.sed, Zhongzhou State knew nothing about this person.
In other words, according to the intelligence from all parties, the Master of Samsara Palace wasn’t supposed to exist in the Li family.
Then why did she know the unique technique of the Li family?
The Li family, Li Honghe, 24 Moves of Sword, and the Master of Samsara Palace…
Gu Fengbo’s head now was messy like a pot of glue, and he was literally a human form of the question mark.
And the Master of Samsara Palace wasn’t the only one he needed to worry about.
In front of the crowd, the Master of Samsara Palace directly used the 24 Moves of Sword, the unique technique of the Li family, to fight Gu Xingyun. This move had a very deep meaning behind it. From now on, if people started to consider Samsara as a secret tool the Li family put abroad, like how East Island connected to the Night Spirit, then the Li family’s status in Zhongzhou State would have an earth-shaking change.
In the mess, Gu Fengbo subconsciously looked at the figure that stood in the front of the monitor room.
Sword Emperor w.a.n.g Tianzong of Zhongzhou State!
The current top one master of Zhongzhou State was now staring at the screen in silence, with his hand holding his chin. Like everyone else, he looked like he was thinking about something.
When Gu Fengbo opened his mouth and was about to say something, a voice aside rang out, a soft and smiling voice. “Tianzong, did the Master of Samsara Palace use the unique technique of Xuanyuantai? The Fifth Blade? Didn’t you know who she is before this?”
The voice sounded old but steady, and it felt very energetic.
This was an old man that looked around fifty, but the vicissitudes in his eyes showed people that he was a lot older than he looked. Right now he was standing in front of the screen too. Watching the two “immortals” fighting on the screen, he asked with interest.
Hua Zhengyang, the chairman of Zhongzhou State Decision Making Committee, the Deputy Prime Minister of the Cabinet!
He was one of the leaders in public from the Academics. In some ways, according to the official level, Prime Minister Hua Zhengyang was the figure of the highest level among the audience. He was a big shot that could represent the att.i.tude of Zhongzhou State.
“I only found out that a while ago.”
w.a.n.g Tianzong seemed to be thinking about something, and he spoke in a slow pace. The moment the flying snow appeared, the Sword Emperor of Zhongzhou State first thought of Li Tianlan.
After this battle, considering how Qin Weibai of Samsara felt about Li Tianlan, all kinds of rumors were starting to emerge. It seemed that Li Tianlan’s ident.i.ty was about to get exposed.
w.a.n.g Tianzong didn’t understand Samsara’s plan. From the perspective of him and the w.a.n.g family of Beihai, once the ident.i.ty of Li Tianlan, the successor of the Li family, got exposed, there would be a good side and a bad side. When he realized this, he stopped thinking about this battle anymore and started to think about the following adjustment of the w.a.n.g family of Beihai and the Southeast Group.
“You know who she is?”
Hua Zhengyang let out a soft laugh. “In those days, the Li family was the pillar of Zhongzhou State. Twenty years ago, though I wasn’t in a very high position, I knew something about the Li family. Who was this Master of Samsara Palace in the past years? I never heard that Senior Li had a foster daughter or something.”
As one of the leaders who were in frequent contact with the Samsara, Hua Zhengyang only found out the Master of Samsara Palace’s ident.i.ty now. Different from Gu Fengbo being anxious, he felt surprisingly happy.
If the Master of Samsara Palace’s ident.i.ty could be a.s.sured, then from now on the Academics would have a good weapon when confronting the Southeast Group, the Prince Group and the Special Warfare Group.
Maybe it was just like how Zhongzhou State, who held the North Korean nuclear issue, treated the United States, the overlord of the world at the six-party talks many years ago.
“I don’t know.”
w.a.n.g Tianzong shook his head slowly. He did know about how the impartation of the Master of Samsara Palace and the Li family were connected not long ago, and he also knew a more interesting fact.
The last name of the Master of Samsara Palace was Gu.
To be honest, w.a.n.g Tianzong wasn’t really sure that the Master of Samsara Palace was related to the Li family. The last name could be a coincidence, but the impartation couldn’t lie. Lately, the w.a.n.g family of Beihai had been treating the Master of Samsara Palace like she was from the Li family. They planned to make sure her ident.i.ty.
But so far, the information w.a.n.g Tianzong got was all chaos and uncertainty. As the Li family’s closest battle companion, the w.a.n.g family of Beihai started to investigate twenty years ago, and even before that, but they still couldn’t find out who the Master of Samsara Palace was. This was getting really weird.
So right now he didn’t want to hide it, and he needed the other groups to join the brainstorm. “I did serious research on something…”
“But the result I got was very messy. All the evidence pointed out that, the Master of Samsara Palace doesn’t even exist. Or to put it in a more precise way, at least the Master of Samsara Palace didn’t exist in the Li family in the past. But according to our intelligence, the Master of Samsara Palace is at least in her forties right now?”
“…”
Hua Zhengyang hesitated and mumbled to himself. “In this case, there are even more possibilities.”
“Shall we go ask Senior Li? It has been years since the last time we visited him at the border.”
Hua Zhengyang continued with a smile.
w.a.n.g Tianzong smiled but stayed silent. Li Honghe might have known something. But obviously, even if he knew, he wouldn’t spill it out.
The Li family had been quiet for so long in the past twenty years, so long that many people forgot something.
w.a.n.g Tianzong came to his sudden realization until the 24 Moves of Sword reappeared today after many years.
At a time when they were still very young.
That Zhongzhou State War G.o.d of Xuanyuantai had amazing combat capability, but he was more famous for overall arrangement in battles.
In the twenty years of living far at the border, did he really stay mute all this time?
That was an old fox with mature strategies and deep deliberation. After many years, he might have already become a spiritual being.