Joy of Life

At a distance of fewer than three meters, the speed of the 30-plus poisoned bolts was terrifying, and the power they held was shocking. No would have thought that someone could dodge such a dense and sudden attack.

Even if the person sitting beside the table was a god, he wouldn’t be able to dodge it.

So he didn’t even try to dodge. He also didn’t seem to move, but a pair of chopsticks vanished from the container on the table. This pair of chopsticks was held steadily in his hand and began to dance easily through the air as if he was picking out delicious food from nothingness.

The soft tips of the bamboo chopsticks whistled through the air. It was as if it was not a pair of chopsticks but rather an ancient weapon infused with boundless zhenqi.

Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. Like rain hitting a banana leaf.

...

...

A collection of dull thuds rang out as all of the bolts in their rapid progress were lightly nipped and pulled by that pair of chopsticks. In an impossible state of affairs, they were all pushed slightly to the side, so they moved slightly off from their expected trajectories. They passed by the bodies of the two people sitting at the table and shot into the wood boards and walls of the Baoyue Brothel.

The crossbow bolts shot into the wood, and the tail of the bolts quivered slightly. In an instant, the 30-plus bolts made it look as if the room spouted a riot of grass, yet it did not harm their target at all.

The swordsmen of the Sixth Bureau of the Overwatch Council saw this scene before them and felt a chill surge through their hearts, taking over their entire body. To be able to push aside this many speeding bolts in such a short distance with just a pair of chopsticks, this kind of speed, this kind of eyesight, this kind of power, this kind of...

The other person was not human. The other person was definitely not human.

...

...

The Overwatch Council was the toughest organization in the court of Qing Kingdom. The Overwatch Council officials had the firmest and most persistent state of mind of Qing Kingdom. However, they were, after all, still people. When they found the enemy they were facing today seemed to have already secretly left the category of human, they felt some fear and a sense of helplessness.

The Third Bureau’s consecutive firing could only fire three rounds. It was already too late to raise their bows. Furthermore, the hands of the Sixth Bureau swordsmen were shaking as they stared with disbelief at the person beside the table. They seemed to have forgotten their next move.

At the same time, the arrows poured forward. The Seven Tiger Guards charged toward the table like seven aggressive tigers leaving the mountain. Under the protection of the arrows, they held their long knives in their hands and became seven streaks of snow-bright light chopping toward the table.

The light of the knives were still in space when Fan Xian called strictly from behind the Tiger Guards, “Retreat!”

Following this cry, he rose and his entire body lifted up.

...

...

At the call to retreat, the six Tiger Guards, other than Gao Da, forcefully pulled back their zhenqi and placed their knives across their chest very awkwardly. In the air about one and a half meters away from that table, they forcefully stopped their bodies.Their toes tapped, and they followed orders to retreat.

However, Gao Da’s martial ability was the most powerful, so his reaction was the fastest. He was the middle point of the trident and had already reached the table and faced the mysterious figure in the bamboo hat. He felt a slight chill in his heart, but he was unable to retreat. He could only let out a roar and circulate the zhenqi in his body to the extreme. His hands shifted on the hilt, and he chopped down into the air.

Gao Da suddenly felt the foot behind him tighten and his body was pulled backward by an abundant, irresistible, and enormous force of zhenqi.

The strike had already come down.

The knife flashed across the front of the table because he had been pulled by someone behind him.He didn’t strike the figure in the bamboo hat, instead he chopped down on the floor in front of the table.

With a sharp crack, the thick and solid wooden floors parted like thin paper beneath the long knife in Gao Da’s hands and a giant tear appeared. For a moment, the dust rose and wood shavings flew in all directions. Through that hole, it was possible to see the tables on the floor below.

In the instant that Gao Da had struck, the man in the bamboo hat gently put the pair of chopsticks in his hand on the table.

It was not until then, that anyone noticed that beside the table leg was a sword. A very simple sword that gave off no light. A rough cloth was wrapped thickly around the outside.

Then, the pair of chopsticks landed on the table and the normal looking sword suddenly emitted a bright light. With a zing, the sword hilt began to shake on its own accord. It jumped up excitedly and ripped apart the rough cloth wrapped around the sheath of the sword. It forced out half a snow-bright sword.

A cold and murderous sword not-of-this world emanated out from this half of a sword.

The sword will entered the space between the floorboards. When Gao Da’s long knife touched the floor, it traveled out. At the same time that the long knife split open the giant hole in the floor, countless fine cracks appeared along the knife gash and rapidly spread over.

The cracks did not have any patterns to speak of, yet they appeared to be a beauty without any vitality.

...

...

The cracks rapidly invaded Gao Da’s long knife. His long Tiger Guard knife began to shake uncontrollably. On the sharp and solid surface of the knife, it looked like an invisible pair of hands were using a diamond to carve into it and countless deep marks appeared.

Gao Da’s hands also began to shake. He fearfully and helplessly let go of the knife.

The long knife cracked into pieces like a weathered stone face.

The terrifying sword will only traveled to the outside of the knife hilt and then suddenly jumped up. Gao Da gave a muffled grunt. He covered his chest and then sprayed out a mouthful of fresh blood. At the same time, his right wrist cracked. The joint had actually been shattered!

It was only a matter of three breaths. The crossbows and the seven knives of the Tiger Guards were as simple as the raising of a pair of chopsticks and laying them down to the man in the bamboo hat.

In their meeting just now, the Overwatch Council had been wretchedly defeated.

At this point, the people protecting Fan Xian knew that the other party’s words earlier were not empty threats. With his extraordinary and godlike realm, if the man in the bamboo hat wanted to kill the imperial envoy, even if they all died, they wouldn’t be able to stop him.

Extraordinary and godlike.

Other than the four Great Grandmaster’s, who else had reached such a realm in this world?

Fresh blood trickled out from the corner of Gao Da’s mouth, and his eyes were full of terror. Half kneeling on the ground, he stared at the man in the bamboo hat sitting not far away. Biting off each word, he said, “Sigu Jian!”

As a Tiger Guard to the Qing Kingdom’s royal family, who had he ever been afraid of? However, Gao Da said these words weakly and with hopelessness.

In the people’s hearts, the four Great Grandmasters had long left the category of normal humankind. All of the rumors had already almost become legends, and the people only felt reverence toward these four Great Grandmasters.

Respect and fear, nothing else beyond these.

No one dared to make a move against four Great Grandmasters, even if someone wanted to commit suicide, they would still not choose this road.

Gao Da stared at the figure in the bamboo hat intensely. He did not understand why Sigu Jian, who should be far away in Dongyi, would be here in Jiangnan. It was not until now that he felt his ankle being gently released by someone.

Earlier, if that person had not grabbed his ankles powerfully and pulled him back, Gao Da’s strike down and the man in the bamboo hat’s sword will sweeping out, right now it wouldn’t just be his long knife that was shattered in pieces, his body would be too.

Only now did Gao Da feel a boundless fear. He unconsciously looked back and saw Fan Xian’s right hand was shaking as he gently wiped it on his long gown.

...

...

Fan Xian’s hand was completely soaked in a cold sweat. He knew that if he hadn’t seen and called quickly, the seven Tiger Guards would have all died by the hand of the man in the bamboo hat.

However, his expression remained calm. Although his pupils constricted slightly and his right hand hidden behind his back was slowly shaking, he still remained calm. Faced with this extraordinary and godlike figure, he had to be calm.

He was facing a Great Grandmaster.

Fan Xian was not a normal person. Since his youth, he had lived with a Great Grandmaster who had not entered the ranks of the Great Grandmasters. He was personally taught by Uncle Wu Zhu. When faced with this man in the bamboo hat, he was not like the other people in the building who were so terrified they couldn’t even speak.

He was still terrified. He could feel his mouth become bitter and astringent.

Wu Zhu had once talked about the words “true power.” Wu Zhu, without a trace of zhenqi, had extraordinary power, but he was, after all, Fan Xian’s closest family. Now that Fan Xian met a Great Grandmaster for the first time in person, he finally realized that under the pressure of the other party’s true power, he didn’t have any chance to retaliate.

Fan Xian was a meticulous person who knew himself well. He knew that with his ninth-level power, 10 of him could not defeat Uncle Wu Zhu.

The same logic would prove that 10 of him could not defeat the old man in the bamboo hat in front of him.

Particularly after what he saw and felt earlier, it made Fan Xian further believe the words Uncle Wu Zhu had once said.

“A first-level could kill a ninth-level as long as they are lucky enough. But if you are facing those guys...don’t talk about such things like luck.”

The warriors under heaven move from bottom to top with the ninth-level as the strongest. However, between each level, the difference was not insurmountable, otherwise, Fan Xian would not have been able to kill indiscriminately on Niulan Street or played with Lang Tao and them in Shangjing, Northern Qi, like he did.

However, once passed the ninth-level, it advanced into the realm of celestial beings. Just like Ku He that baldy and the man in front of him...it was a completely different realm. The difference in power was like a deep gorge of which the bottom could not be seen. No kind of scheme and shrewdness could make up for it.

The top floor of the Baoyue Brothel was completely silent, while the downstairs had long begun to clamor. Although Gao Da’s strike had chopped into the empty air, it had shocked countless people. The noise was unbelievable, however, it quieted down after a small break because the guard downstairs and Shi Sang were handling it.

The man in the bamboo hat beside the table remained silent, as if he was waiting for Fan Xian to make a decision.

His body did not glow, but in the people’s eyes, his thin cloth clothing seemed to be plated with the brilliance of the sky. No one dared to look directly at it.

As for the exchange, the Mr. Zhou that Fan Xian had long wanted to capture sat silently and timidly beside the man in the bamboo hat. No one would have noticed him.

A simple person, yet he blotted out all the brilliance between the heaven and earth.

...

...

Fan Xian’s left hand was still holding the fan. He squeezed it tightly and looked at the man in the bamboo hat. He did say anything for a moment. The top floor of the Baoyue Brothel was absolutely silent, a deathly silent. The atmosphere was oppressive.

The man in the bamboo hat looked at Fan Xian, whose expression was calm, and smiled. “Your reaction, your strength...they seem to be a bit stronger than the rumors say.”

The man referenced how Fan Xian had assessed the situation extremely quickly, called back six of the people, and then exploded from his seat. In the short moment Fan Xian was in the air, he used the Coffin-Breaker to dramatically strengthen his right arm and then used a little trick to tightly grip Gao Da’s ankle, forcefully pulling him back and saving his life.

For Fan Xian to be able to do all of that in so short a time, it could already be so considered very perfect, possibly to the extent that the man in the bamboo hat revealed a trace of appreciation.

However, Fan Xian did not answer him. Contrary to everyone’s expectations, he slowly walked to the railing and did not look again at the man in the bamboo hat.

Including Gao Da, all of the guards were shocked. The commissioner was very daring! Faced with a Great Grandmaster that tens of thousands revered, he was able to act so naturally and dared to not look at the other party.

Fan Xian walked to the side of the railing and faced the wealthy Suzhou and the sparse air above it, as well as the remnant smell of firecrackers in the air. He took a deep breath. His face changed slightly before immediately returning to normal. Who knew what he was thinking of?

Footsteps rang out from the steps.

Shi Chanli, with his face full of shock, and Sang Wen, who had her mouth opened wide and worry mixed in with her gentleness, glanced at the table surrounded by the Overwatch Council and immediately turned their questioning gazes on to Fan Xian beside the railing.

“Everyone is dismissed.”

Fan Xian remained by the railing and gave the order coldly without turning his head. He gripped the fan in his hand tighter and tighter. The paper on the fan was already beginning to go out of shape. He had made up his mind.

Earlier, when the Tiger Guards had suddenly attacked, Fan Xian’s call was enough to make everyone retreat without regard to their life. From that, it was clear that all the guards offered absolutely no objections to his orders and would carry them out thoroughly. However, when he gave the order to have everyone go downstairs, everyone, including the Tiger Guards, all used silence to show their protest.

There was a Great Grandmaster who wanted to kill people. At this kind of time, no one dared to leave Fan Xian alone in the building.

Fan Xian turned around. He looked at Gao Da and smiled slightly, “Perhaps my commands are no longer effective?”

...

...

Gao Da’s heart thumped. Looking at the familiar and warm smile on the commissioner’s face and the encouragement in his smile, he felt momentarily confused. He understood Fan Xian. Every time he revealed this charming smile, often it was when he was truly angry; it was also when he had a card up his sleeve.

Fan Xian continued, “Without my orders, no one is allowed to take one step into this building. Also, immediately evacuate the surrounding streets to prevent accidental injuries.”

Gao Da let out a trembling breath and wiped away the blood at the corner of his mouth. He gave a muffled grunt and led everyone down the stairs. Along the way, he pushed down Shi Chanli, who was standing by the door and refusing to leave.

As Fan Xian’s personal guards went down the stairs, they saw a scene that remained forever etched in their minds, a scene that terrified them.

Fan Xian walked slowly step by step toward the table. He wore a strange smile on his face. The out-of-shape fan was open again in his hand. As he fanned, he walked toward the table steadily and with great confidence and ease.

...

...

In reality, from that side to the table was only a distance of a dozen steps or so, but in these dozen or so steps, Fan Xian felt he had walked through the gates of hell.

What was remarkable was that the closer he got to the table with the man in the bamboo hat, the calmer Fan Xian felt, like an oasis of peace.

Reaching the side of the table, Fan Xian stared at the man’s eyes and rudely met his gaze, as if he was not scared at all. The man only had to casually raise his hand and he would be able to kill him. But, he also seemed to think that this imperial envoy of Jiangnan Road was amusingly daring and smiled slightly as he looked at him.

...

...

Gao Da went downstairs and immediately rearranged all defenses. He also followed the commissioner’s order and evacuated the nearby people. He ordered his subordinate to quickly go to the governor’s manor to mobilize troops. Although he knew these methods would do nothing against the extraordinary martial artists in the building, it still kept people occupied.

He then climbed to the top floor of the building closest to the Baoyue Brothel and flipped onto the roof. He carefully hid his body and watched every movement in the Baoyue Brothel across the street. He was prepared to throw his own life into this gamble at any moment.

Gao Da hid behind the gargoyle on the roof and stared at the top floor of the Baoyue Brothel. He could not hear what was being said inside, but just watching what was happening was enough to shock him.

...

...

The building was empty except for Fan Xian and the man in the bamboo hat facing him. One was sitting beside the table, and one was standing beside it.

As for Mr. Zhou, Fan Xian did not consider him a person but rather an eyesore, so he waved his hand indicating for him to move to the side.

The already deeply terrified account master of the Junshang Conference, Mr. Zhou, started and then immediately left his seat obediently and sat down in a corner beside a railing.

A chair was emptied.

Fan Xian lifted the front of his robe and sat down expansively without a care.

He was now less than half a body’s length away from the man in the bamboo hat. It was intimate, dangerous, and terrifying in the extreme.

Gao Da, watching from a distance, almost died of fright while Fan Xian in the building continued to smile lightly.

He folded up the out-of-shape fan in his left hand, slowly lifted the chopsticks the man in the bamboo hat had left on the table, and put them back into the container. He did these three actions very attentively, slowly, and carefully. After the chopsticks were put back into the container, he then sighed happily and clapped his hands as if he had completed a mighty work.

The man in the bamboo hat had not moved to kill him. This meant everything could still be discussed.

“Daring.” The man in the bamboo hat looked at Fan Xian with a slight smile. “Of the younger generation, you are the most outstanding talent.”

If the Grandmaster’s words got out, it would certainly establish Fan Xian in a stable position, yet Fan Xian did not feel and gratification from these words. He smiled warmly and said, “So what? If you want to kill me, it is still the work of a moment.”

The man in the bamboo hat calmly said, “My words earlier are still in effect. If you pull back the Black Knights, I will not kill you.”

...

...

Fan Xian suddenly raised his head. His eyes revealed a glimmer of mocking and disdain.

In this, it has been a long time since someone dared to use this kind of gaze to look at the man in the bamboo hat. So, although the man in the bamboo hat was a top figure in the world, he still couldn’t help a glimmer of anger.

“This is your demand?”

“A full Grandmaster has fallen to such lows?”

“Even if you don’t want your old face, our Qing court still want our face.”

Fan Xian suddenly opened his mouth and countless scathing words flew out as if the person in front of him was not an unfathomable Great Grandmaster but one of his subordinates in the Overwatch Council that he grabbed by the ears to scold.

The man in the bamboo hat was startled. It was clear no one had ever lectured him like this before. For a moment, he didn’t know how to react.

Fan Xian aggressive slammed the table and stared at the man’s strange appearance and said each word clearly, “Are you going senile? This is a matter of the Junshang Conference. Whether or not I mobilize the Black Knights to slaughter people has f*ck all to do with you...unless you have disciples in that manor? Do you think I will listen to you if you charge in like this and put a knife to my throat? Even if I did listen to you, what about the future? Do you think your disciples won’t die? They’ll probably die even faster!”

Fan Xian’s voice became sharp. It held a mixture of boundless disdain and ridicule. He pointed at the man’s nose and taunted, “I beg you to be more clear-headed. What year are we living in now? Long gone are the days a sword could remove all obstacles. Who do you think you are? Do you think you are a sword immortal? That is still a dead end!”

...

...

The man in the bamboo hat looked at Fan Xian like he was watching an idiot and suddenly felt that he was an idiot. He walked the earth and received the reverence of tens of thousands, even the ruler of a country treated him with respect. It was impossible to find someone who was not respectful to him much less someone like this beautiful youth in front of him...pointing at his nose and taunting him.

But, he was a Great Grandmaster after all. He was stunned for a moment before recovering his calm. On the contrary, he gazed at Fan Xian and laughed out loud with such cheer.

“It has been many years since anyone dared to talk to me like this.”

As he spoke, the man’s tone dropped and he said coldly, “I will count to three. If you don’t give the order to pull back the Black Knights, I can only kill you.”

Those steady hands slowly came to a rest on the table.

Fan Xian’s gaze dropped slightly, looking at the hands that should be aged yet had not a single extra wrinkle.

...

...

Below the table, the sword was pulled with a powerful force. It gave the roar of a dragon and began to buzz. The hilt of the sword rose slowly. The half of the sword shining with a snow-white brilliance lit up the inside of the building brilliantly.

“Three.”

The man in the bamboo hat began to count backward coldly.

Fan Xian’s eyes narrowed. He glanced at him and directly said, “One.”

Finishing this word, his fist smashed down beside him.

This punch contained the bitter cultivation of almost 20 years of day and night mediation, the tyrannical zhenqi of the unnamed skill, the Coffin-Breaking technique of the Ye family, and the Heart of Tianyi Dao learned from Haitang. Qi followed the will, and in a breath he shattered tens of thousands of barriers, broke through meridians, circulated the punch through his body and ferociously slammed it down.

His fist landed on the hilt of the sword.

The air in the building moved without cause, and the air outside of the rail seemed to have been shaken, distorting the scenery around it.

With a zing, that normal sword was smashed back by Fan Xian, and the dragon’s roar immediately disappeared.

Beside the railing, Mr. Zhou had long fainted from this world-shaking shock and was wretched lying beside the railing.

...

...

Fan Xian swallowed back the mouthful of fresh blood that had risen up in his chest. He stared fiercely and toughly at the man’s eyes and suddenly opened his mouth to yell out, “Deng Zi Yue, listen to my orders!”

This shout imbued with zhenqi traveled out and in a moment reached the entire long street. Gao Da, hidden across the street started and unconsciously stood up, while Deng Zi Yue who had been standing guard in the middle of the street the entire time didn’t know what had happened. In a trembling voice, he replied, “I am here.”

Fan Xian continued to stare into the man’s eyes and viciously said, “Send the order for smoke and fire. Have the Black Knights enter the garden, if they meet resistance...kill without mercy.”

Kill without mercy!

...

...

After an indeterminable amount of time, a complicated sigh came from the man in the bamboo hat and interrupted the silence at the top of the Baoyue Brothel. “You are right. I shouldn’t have re-entered the human world. Only, the people you want to kill, that you want to capture, are people that I care about. What is there to be done?”

The man in the bamboo hat gently grasped the sword hilt beside the table. He picked up and said in a quiet voice, “So I picked up the long sword and left the Eastern Mountain...”

The power of the sword gradually overflowed.

If was a lie to say Fan Xian was not scared or nervous, but he valiantly used his state of mind to control every tremble in his muscle. He stared intensely at the man’s face and said one sentence.

“You don’t dare to kill me.”

...

...

Silence.

“Why don’t I dare to kill you?”

“Because you are not Sigu Jian that idiot.”

Fan Xian again tightly gripped that broken fan on the table and said, “Of the four Great Grandmasters, as long as it is not that mercilessly idiot, no one dares to kill me.”

The man’s hand continued to grip the hilt steadily.

Fan Xian believed that if the other party pulled out his sword, his body and head would separate. So, he forcefully pushed down the glimmer of fear deep in his heart and said each word clearly, “So that is why I don’t understand why you would appear here. In my heart, you should be on a half broken boat singing under the skies, relaxed and at ease...A virtuous person whose sleeves do not dip into the flowing clouds, not a brutish martial master who would let matters bring confusion to your heart and act in such a stupid way.”

The man’s gaze changed. Fan Xian wasn’t sure whether or not his eyes were playing tricks on him because he saw a glimmer of appreciation in the other person’s eyes.

“The waves only bloom for a moment but compared to rocks a millennia-old, none are the same...Sir is also like this.” Fan Xian stared intensely at the other person. “If you are Ye Liuyun, how could you dare to kill me?”