783 Restrictions (1/2)

The moment Lotus showed herself and made her move, Gu Shenwei understood her intentions.

The Death Scripture had its own unique way of improving the user's strength – they had to kill high-caliber kung fu experts at least once a year. Otherwise, there was a high probability that the swordsmanship would backlash and kill its user. The swordsmanship and its user were like two mad horses sprinting towards a cliff – they clearly knew what lay before them, and yet, not only could they not stop, but they also felt the need to accelerate even faster.

There used to be a time when Gu Shenwei thought that Lotus had rid herself of this restriction, yet now he could see that he had been wrong.

Lotus had always used a sword, but she had integrated the Waning Moon Hall's kung fu into her swordsmanship, while Gu Shenwei had integrated the swordsmanship into his sabersmanship. The two different paths still had the same goal – to defer the backlash. Yet no matter what, they still needed to land that lethal sword attack.

Both of the two had encountered many kung fu experts, and yet none of them possessed kung fu prowess as great as that of Luo Qibai, who tempted the two Death Scripture users like a priceless treasure. The one who killed this person would make enormous strides in their swordsmanship.

Lotus's partner was Wild Horse, in whose sabersmanship Gu Shenwei had found some signs of the Death Scripture. Obviously, Lotus hadn't imparted the whole manual to him.

The men from the Central Plains and the Heavenly Mountain Sect had been tricked. With their numerical superiority, they had recklessly pursued the men who had ambushed them, and on their way someone had yelled, ”Hurry! Don't let the Dragon King escape!” and they then mistook Lotus, who was wearing a night outfit, for the Dragon King.

Gu Shenwei, who had been following these men at that time, finally realized that the reason why this kung fu competition had attracted so much attention was because the target of the two forces in Jade City were not Old Man Mu and Dog Butcher but rather him – nobody believed that the Dragon King was in closed-door cultivation.

As the main bait, Lotus had quickly rushed ahead of all the others. Wild Horse occasionally paused to fight back, and he always killed someone in two or three moves at the most. Luo Qibai and Li Tongsheng were focused on pursuing the ”Dragon King” and they didn't try to stop Wild Horse from killing their men.

After running through half of the city, Lotus had led her pursuers to Reincarnation Hill in the wilderness to the south of the city. This hill was home to mounds of unidentified bodies from Jade City and was also a feasting ground for the crows. And it was also the place where Gu Shenwei had decided to use the image of a blood-red crow as the symbol of the Dragon Army's flag.

Gu Shenwei had never told anyone about this, yet Lotus had nonetheless designated this hill as the place for the final showdown.

Lotus maneuvered through the crowd like a ghost and she seldom made a move. It was Wild Horse who had done the majority of the killing, but he always tried to stay away from Luo Qibai and Li Tongsheng – these two kung fu experts were the Master Commander's exclusive prey, and he was not qualified to approach them.

Gu Shenwei whipped out his saber and joined the fight. This was a golden opportunity. He could kill Lotus and rid himself of the hindrance and threat that the Waning Moon Hall represented once and for all. At the least, he could stop Lotus from improving her swordsmanship.

Gu Shenwei also wanted to test out the theories he had comprehended from the general principles of the Daoless Scroll, and nobody was more suitable than Lotus to be the subject of his tests.

When Old Man Mu and Dog Butcher arrived, Gu Shenwei had just stabbed out for the third time.

With these three saber attacks, he had restricted Lotus, leaving her unable to maneuver through the other people, and forcing her to fight back against him.

All the moves they made were deadly blows, but neither of them used the Death Scripture swordsmanship – both of them were waiting for the perfect opportunity.

Luo Qibai and Li Tongsheng had recovered from the intense chase and they immediately started organizing their men into an encirclement. Their first priority was to kill Wild Horse.

Wild Horse had leaped out of the battlefield and was standing on a slope about a dozen steps away from the others, watching the fight down below, and ready to flee at any time.

Luo Qibai watched Li Tongsheng who was on the opposite side of the ring. Both of them were able to kill Wild Horse, but neither of them was willing to give up on the two targets before them – they had discovered that the latecomer was the real Dragon King.

They both made the same decision.

Five men from the Central Plains and four men of the Heavenly Mountain Sect gathered into a formation on the periphery. They had only one task, to keep Wild Horse from interfering with the main battle.

Luo Qibai unsheathed the sword fastened to his waist, while Li Tongsheng's weapon was still his own bare hands. Together, they joined the master-level fight.

It was at this moment that Dog Butcher raised his question, ”Who is fighting with whom exactly?”

Old Man Mu watched on, fascinated, half of his body stretching out above the rock. ”The Dragon King's against three… No, Lotus's helping him… No, they're fighting more intensely… No, White Ghost and Rock Monster are plotting against each other… Holy shit! These four people are all fighting on their own, trying to kill the other three. Terrific! Fucking Terrific!”

The nine men on the periphery had discovered the existence of the two old men, yet they maintained their formation and none of them approached to attack the two.

Dog Butcher straightened his body and asked, ”Who's the other guy? His swordsmanship's also pretty good.”

”Lotus, who's even crazier than all of the disciples of the Waning Moon Hall combined.”

Dog Butcher had been hearing her name come up for awhile now, so he nodded and commented, ”She's good, but… it seems as if there are plenty of flaws in her moves too.”

”You can see her flaws?” Old Man Mu didn't believe him at all.

The crows in the sky gradually scattered. Under the bright moonlight, Dog Butcher could see more clearly, ”Don't you think so? The killing aura in Lotus's swordsmanship is too dense. Her blows are too heavy, and she is barely able to defend herself. If it weren't for her excellent lightness skills, I don't think she could've survived this long. The Dragon King's saber attacks are restrained and steady, moderate in both offense and defense. I think that the Dragon King's better.”