Questioning Heaven, Desiring the Way - Chapter 83

“That’s nothing,” scoffed Murong Wei as he suddenly raised both hands and flicked his fingers to shoot a wind that shattered the oncoming blade made of sound.

Wu Hao looked at the people who tried to attack them and recognized their clothing. He had a mocking look on his face as he said, “Tsk, tsk. You couldn’t even wait for just a while more?”

Immediately after he said those words, several figures slowly came out from the shadows. Gu Suihan raised an eyebrow. Their attackers were disciples of the Youthful Clarity and Wonderful Sound Sects. There were three men and two women, five in total.

“Why bother talking so much? Let’s battle it out,” scoffed a teenage-looking boy dressed in green. He drew his sword out from its sheath. The glow around it was half a foot wide and he thrust it toward Wu Hao.

The night sky was as dark as ink, the wind as sharp as knives. The autumn winds were biting cold and the air smelled of murder.

“We meet again,” said Gu Suihan quietly as he recognized one of the women. She turned out to be the one that he and Li Rong had met at the restaurant after Gu Suihan left home. If he remembered correctly, her name was Wan Xin and she was a disciple of Qingrou Zhenren.

“It’s too bad, you’re about to die.” Wan Xin’s expression remained indifferent as she glanced at him. A seven-stringed glass zither suddenly appeared in her hand. She raised her other hand and placed her fair and slim fingers on the strings without moving as she kept her eye on Gu Suihan.

“That’s a…!” Gu Suihan’s face paled and his eyes widened in fear as he took several steps backward. It was as though he had just seen the most terrifying thing in the world and he had flown into a panic.

“What is it?” Wan Xin began to panic when she saw Gu Suihan’s reaction and her first instinct was to turn around.

However, the second she turned her head, she felt a horrifying blast of Qi right in front of her.

“Crap!” Wan Xin frowned as she realized that she had been tricked. She was furious with herself and she quickly plucked her zither to produce a beautiful melody that turned into light green blades, shooting them straight for Gu Suihan.

“Your reaction’s pretty fast, but not good enough.” Gu Suihan smiled faintly as Questioning Heaven leaped halfway out of its sheath. As the blade vibrated noisily, it emanated a faint but bloody-smelling murderous aura.

“That’s a truly vicious weapon! How many people have you killed?” exclaimed Wan Xin in horror. She could feel the murderous aura weigh heavily on her as a chill instantly spread through her entire body.

She wasn’t the only one feeling the effects. Gu Suihan’s companions and the rest of the attackers also looked in horror at Gu Suihan. They felt like they were looking at a demon full of nothing but violence rising from the blood of thousands of corpses.

“Make a guess,” said Gu Suihan with a faint smile. The golden-red color of his sword intensified and the faint sound of ghostly howls and screams made all of their hearts pound in fear.

“Inches Away – Ends of the World!” Gu Suihan seemed to step into a different realm and disappeared before their very eyes, before reappearing next to Wan Xin less than a second later, as though he were a ghost.

“He’s so fast,” thought Wan Xin. She was so shocked by how insanely fast Gu Suihan had moved. She raised her arm and slapped a palm on her zither, then plucked a string hard. At the same time, wind gathered beneath her feet and she flew backward into the air like a leaf.

Woong! The zither string vibrated and the pleasant sound of the instrument suddenly carried a murderous vibe.

“Attacking my mind?” Gu Suihan’s eyes dimmed and his mind went blank for a moment. His sword paused for that moment and Wan Xin successfully dodged his attack.

“Run! Go in different directions!” Murong Wei started making hand seals quickly, sending countless waves of spiritual energy through the air. The trees and shrubs were instantly turned to dust from his ferocious attack.

“See you back at the sect.” Wu Hao decided not to fight anymore. He made a hand seal and tore a talisman open. His body instantly seemed to turn into mud as he got sucked into the ground and disappeared.

“I’m off!” Gu Suihan looked mockingly at Wan Xin. He moved backward as if he was going to escape, but he immediately charged forward as quickly as lightning and as furiously as a meteor, appearing next to the other female in the group.

His fingers tapped the air in front of him. “Three Fingers of Yama – Nourish the Earth Silently.” His finger seemed to absorb all of the murderous aura he emanated and his fingertip literally turned black as he pointed it at the young woman without a sound. He was like a venomous snake eyeing its prey from the shadows, like the gentle spring rains nourishing nature silently.

“Ling’er, watch out!” shouted Wan Xin anxiously when she saw that Gu Suihan had disappeared from her sight and had appeared next to her fellow disciple instead.

“What?” Ling’er still hadn’t realized what was going on, but she subconsciously ran her fingers across three of the strings on her own zither and sent several soundwaves out.

“Nothing!” A hypnotizing voice rang in her ears. Ling’er felt a warmth next to her and her eyes widened as she instinctively tried to turn to look.

But she was already too late. Gu Suihan’s sword had quietly stabbed itself into her body. His blackened finger was covered in a dark cloud as he tapped the lower part of her spine.

Craaaack! The blood-curdling sound of bones cracking accompanied by Ling’er’s cry of pain echoed loudly in the quiet forest.

The others who were fighting Murong Wei and the rest stopped what they were doing as they turned to look at where the scream came from. Their eyes widened in horror.

“Ling’er!” shouted one of the men as he dashed toward her, his eyes bulging furiously. Gu Suihan smiled faintly at them as he grabbed Ling’er’s neck with one hand and suspended her in the air mercilessly.

“If you take one more step forward, she’s going to die.” Gu Suihan returned his sword to its sheath and used his free hand to gently caress Ling’er’s face which was contorted from the pain she felt. His gaze seemed as empty as a dry well as he stared hollowly at them.

“Why, you!” The one who dashed toward Ling’er was the teenage-looking boy who looked like he was from the Youthful Clarity Sect. He stopped himself from taking another step when he heard Gu Suihan’s casual threat. Fury burned within him as he gripped his sword tightly. The blade vibrated loudly, echoing across the sky.

“Senior Brother Murong, Zhu Lingjian, come over. Wu Hao, stop hiding in the ground. You can’t get away just by using a mud shield talisman.”

Wan Xin landed quietly and sighed as she kept her glass zither away. “I’ll let you go on the condition that you do not kill Ling’er,” she said with a resigned look on her face.

“So that’s all we get for being kind?” Murong Wei sniggered.

Gu Suihan raised an eyebrow. It seemed like this young lady he had attacked was no ordinary person, so he quickly thought of something else. “She’s at my mercy so you have no right to negotiate with me.” As he spoke, he gently shook the screaming Ling’er, making her scream even harder.

“A thousand Spiritual Stones each,” he said with a mocking look in his eye.

“Fine,” said Wan Xin and the teenage boy immediately.

The other two men, however, looked hesitant and exchanged uneasy glances as they took a few steps back at the same time.

“You two…” The teenage boy stared disappointedly at his two seniors who were usually so warm and friendly as he pointed a trembling finger at them.

One of them looked embarrassed but he merely looked away and kept silent. He clearly did not want to hand over those Spiritual Stones.

The other scoffed and said, “The girl in his hand is from the Wonderful Sound Sect and has nothing to do with the three of us from the Youthful Clarity Sect. Why should we have to cough up Spiritual Stones for her sake?”

Wan Xin’s body trembled from her anger and she said through clenched teeth, “Our sects are part of the same alliance, so we ought to be looking out for one another and helping each other. I can’t believe both of you are behaving like this.”

“Looking out for one another and helping each other? I’m interested in a cultivation technique of the Wonderful Sound Sect. Would you be willing to let me take a look at the manual for that?” the second man snapped back. The sneer in his voice made Wan Xin and the other boy lose hope.

“Brother Gu, you’re a really smart one. You’ve divided the group with just one request.” Murong Wei silently gave Gu Suihan a thumbs-up to express his admiration.

“Not going to hand the Spiritual Stones over? It’s too bad then.” Gu Suihan exerted a little more strength in his fingers around Ling’er’s neck and her eyes nearly rolled backward as she almost lost consciousness. She tried to struggle but because her bones had been shattered by Gu Suihan’s darkened finger earlier, any movement she made only resulted in excruciating pain.

“Wait!” Wan Xin’s heart broke when she saw the pained expression on her junior’s face and immediately took a step forward and said, “I’ll pay you on their behalf. Swear by the Way that you will let her off as we said earlier.”

“Sure,” said Gu Suihan as he secretly glanced at his companions.

The three of them were clever people and knew what Gu Suihan was about to do. They hid a talisman in their hands and channeled their Qi to their feet as they prepared to run for it any moment now.

Immediately after Gu Suihan said that he flung Ling’er into the air. His sword flew out of its sheath and made several slits all over her body in an instant. He yelled, “Run!”

All four of them instantly made their escape and disappeared into the dense forest within seconds.

What about the Spiritual Stones, you might ask.

They didn’t care for those, because the process of receiving the Spiritual Stones would probably kill them. Their attackers were definitely some of the best from their respective sects since they had been sent out to secretly kill a group of Seven Kill Sect disciples.

While it was true that they were almost equal in terms of their level of cultivation, their attackers probably had a trump card they hadn’t used yet, since they dared to ambush the four Seven Kill Sect disciples like this.

If that were the case, then it was better to run. They didn’t want to die.

“These little bastards!” yelled the combined group of Wonderful Sound and Youthful Clarity Sect members when they saw that their four targets had escaped just like that.

Ling’er’s body was covered in blood as her body landed limply on the ground. Wan Xin exclaimed loudly and dashed towards Ling’er. She couldn’t be bothered to chase after the four men now.

The three men from the Youthful Clarity Sect caught up with Wan Xin and gasped when they saw what Ling’er looked like. She was barely alive as she had suffered cuts all over her body that crisscrossed each other in all directions.