The ears of Four Seas’ Fiendish Slayer, clutching his Hainan-style long saber, twitched.
Kukukung—.
In the far distance, the sound of a pavilion collapsing reached him. It seemed that monstrous Sword Pinnacle Crushes Mountains had used his Mountain-Shattering Energy again. The faint clang of weapons and distant screams mingled with the sharp rays of the rising sun, creating a strangely surreal atmosphere.
“…Was it the Sword Clan’s Water Ghost who burned my fleet along with you?” Against the backdrop of his blazing ships, Four Seas’ Fiendish Slayer suddenly posed the question.
Life-Stealing Ghost Sword answered, “Yes.”
Water Ghosts. It was the moniker given to the Luoyang Sword Clan War Department’s specialists in aquatic combat.
“…I see.”
The acrid smell of smoke now blanketed the small dock. Four Seas’ Fiendish Slayer smiled bitterly. “When we sailed up the Yellow River, I actually thought this might be a chance to turn those Sword Clan Water Ghosts into actual water demons, you know.”
He had never imagined his fleet would meet its end not in the Southern Sea, nor on the Great Ocean, but on a mere river.
“Just the grandiose, empty dream typical of stupid pirate scum, I suppose.”
Though Life-Stealing Ghost Sword answered each question, his tone was openly contemptuous, making no effort to hide his disdain. In contrast, Tang Baek, holding a chain sickle in each hand, remained utterly silent, merely observing Four Seas’ Fiendish Slayer with cold, bleak eyes.
“So, Life-Stealing Ghost Sword. Weren’t you supposed to be dead or retired?”
“Ah, fuck.” The repeated question added a layer of irritation to Life-Stealing Ghost Sword’s already fierce face, twisting it into the snarl of a wicked demon king. “Didn’t I just say no—?”
In that instant, the wind, thick with ash from the burning fleet, caught Four Seas’ Fiendish Slayer’s disheveled hair, whipping it across his face.
Swoosh—.
“..!?”
A cutting strike sharp enough to seemingly divide space itself flashed towards Life-Stealing Ghost Sword. There was no time to recall the swords floating in the air around him. Had he been even a fraction slower in tilting his head back, he would have become a traveler on a one-way trip.
Simultaneously—
Taaang!
A bullet pierced the empty air precisely beside Tang Baek’s head. Without even looking, guided solely by his presence, Four Seas’ Fiendish Slayer drew a pistol hidden in his sleeve and fired backward. If anyone other than Tang Baek—a Young Patriarch of the Sichuan Tang Clan, renowned for their mastery of hidden weapons and surprise attacks—had been standing there, they would have met their end with a bullet embedded in their skull before even comprehending what had transpired.
It was a near-perfect ambush, befitting the fearsome reputation of Four Seas’ Fiendish Slayer, one of the most notorious figures in the Heavenly Wicked Hegemons, even cornered as he was.
“This fucking dogshit! While someone is talking…!” Life-Stealing Ghost Sword swore, quickly grabbing his swords with both hands. Tang Baek, his wariness clearly heightened, took two steps further back than before.
However—
Damn it, fuck…!
—it was Four Seas’ Fiendish Slayer, the ambusher, who broke out in a cold sweat.
He countered that even while being ambushed?
A shallow cut now traced a thin line of blood across the skin of his neck, and the pistol he had fired with his other hand lay on the ground in two pieces.
“Tsk tsk.”
Yet, it was Four Seas’ Fiendish Slayer who clicked his tongue, looking down on his opponents. “Is this all the renowned masters are capable of?” His eyes curved in mockery. “You’re both just has-beens now.”
Grind.
It was impossible to tell whether the sound of grinding teeth came from Life-Stealing Ghost Sword or Tang Baek.
“Is that right? Then try dying here today by the sword of a has-been.”
What was certain, however, was that the killing intent of the two enraged masters radiated outward, and their attacks immediately surged toward Four Seas’ Fiendish Slayer.
Life-Stealing Ghost Sword’s unique sword style, Asura Five Skandha Extremity, First Soul, Life Usurper, was a sword style of such ferocious madness that its other moniker, the Five-Sword Madman, seemed entirely fitting. It rushed in as if to hack Four Seas’ Fiendish Slayer into pieces.
Qi-Dazed Ghost-Severing Slaughter.
Tang Baek’s chain sickles gripped in his hands sliced through the dawn sunlight, aiming to split Four Seas’ Fiendish Slayer’s head.
Good!
In that desperate, life-or-death moment, a smile touched Four Seas’ Fiendish Slayer’s lips.
I was waiting for this…!
His hands now gripping his long saber tightly, he spun, drawing both Life-Stealing Ghost Sword and Tang Baek into his rotation.
Four Seas’ Fiendish Slayer’s Life-Saving Ultimate Technique: Whirpool Stream.
A movement mimicking the irresistibly powerful vortex of the sea. Against this life-saving technique—
—Life-Stealing Ghost Sword’s ferocious sword strikes tasted flesh, drawing blood, but ultimately slid past.
—Tang Baek’s chain sickles merely lopped off a thick clump of Four Seas’ Fiendish Slayer’s wild hair.
Now…!
Channelling the immense power generated by the Whirpool Stream rotation, Four Seas’ Fiendish Slayer’s Hainan-style long saber flashed.
Four Seas’ Fiendish Slayer’s Secret Transmitted Saber Style: Secret Art, Solitary Cove.
His trump card, a reinterpretation of the stolen secret saber arts of the Hainan Sect, proved to be a formidable weapon. In an instant, Four Seas’ Fiendish Slayer’s long saber sliced through the space around him, creating dozens of pieces.
However, even after unleashing a near-perfect counterattack, Four Seas’ Fiendish Slayer’s face contorted in disbelief. He had felt no impact, no satisfying feedback from his ultimate strike. It wasn’t that he had merely grazed his opponent’s clothes or missed by a hair’s breadth. His long saber had simply, perfectly, cut through empty air.
Fuck…!
Life-Stealing Ghost Sword and Tang Baek hadn’t been within range in the first place. They had only feinted, moving their upper bodies as if charging deep, while actually pulling back.
“What the hell are you doing, playing by yourself?” Life-Stealing Ghost Sword’s mocking voice pierced Four Seas’ Fiendish Slayer’s ears. Just then, one of the swords Life-Stealing Ghost Sword had left floating sliced through Four Seas’ Fiendish Slayer’s thigh.
“Hup…!”
Simultaneously, with Tang Baek’s low kiai, the chain sickles he had left behind tore into Four Seas’ Fiendish Slayer’s shoulder blade.
“Keuhok…!”
Even amidst the searing pain, Four Seas’ Fiendish Slayer gritted his teeth and flashed his long saber once more.
Four Seas’ Fiendish Slayer’s Secret Transmitted Saber Style: Secret Art, Parched Wave.
As if his arm or the saber itself had momentarily stretched, the cutting strike swept across a far wider range than before.
“Still putting on a little show all by yourself, huh?”
But another of Life-Stealing Ghost Sword’s swords, moving as if alive, stabbed his other thigh, while Tang Baek’s chain sickles darted like snakes’ heads, tearing chunks of flesh from his waist. Their bodies were now even further away from Four Seas’ Fiendish Slayer than before.
“Y-You fucking bastards…!” A curse erupted from Four Seas’ Fiendish Slayer. Those two masters, easily ten years his senior, hadn’t fallen for his taunts at all. They had never intended to close the distance. They had merely pretended to be provoked, pretended to charge in, solely to lure Four Seas’ Fiendish Slayer into overextending himself.
“Hey, you.”
Amidst Life-Stealing Ghost Sword’s mockery, Four Seas’ Fiendish Slayer’s long saber howled menacingly, slicing through the air around him. Within the range dominated by his blade, he was confident he could defeat anyone.
“Don’t you have any more techniques you stole from the Hainan Sect?”
But it was meaningless if his opponents simply refused to enter that range.
“Keuhok!”
The sharp edge of a chain sickle raked across the fingers of his left hand gripping the saber.
“Kuaaak!”
Even as his severed fingers flew into the air, spraying droplets of blood, Four Seas’ Fiendish Slayer launched several more attacks.
“Don’t you have a final secret art, something like that?”
But it was futile from the start. His opponents’ weapons were swords commanded by Qi and chain sickles. They had absolutely no intention of giving up their overwhelming advantage in reach compared to his long saber.
From the very beginning.
“Uwaaaaaaaaah!”
Letting out a roar that was part scream, part kiai, Four Seas’ Fiendish Slayer charged directly at Life-Stealing Ghost Sword. But in doing so, he was forced to parry Life-Stealing Ghost Sword’s five swords one after another.
“Keuak…!”
And Tang Baek’s chain sickles mercilessly shredded the exposed back of Four Seas’ Fiendish Slayer, carving him up like fish fillets.
Even the Sword Clan’s most savage sword master, called the Madman, and the Tang Clan’s Headhunter, called the Blood Wind Emissary, fought with heads as cold as their blades, methodically exploiting the weaknesses of an enemy forced into recklessness.
“Y-You, you dogshit-like bastards…!”
Now utterly ravaged, Four Seas’ Fiendish Slayer stumbled backward. Bright red blood dripped from his body, splattering onto the wooden planks of the dock. Drip, drip.
“Fighting like this…! Have you no pride as masters?!”
He was nearing the edge of the dock. There was almost nowhere left to retreat. Behind him now were only the rough waves of the Yellow River, shattering the dawn sunlight.
“Pride?” Life-Stealing Ghost Sword sneered, maneuvering his swords through the air to flick Four Seas’ Fiendish Slayer’s blood off them. “And what kind of master’s pride did you have when you preyed on poorly armed merchant caravans? When you captured innocent, powerless commoners and sold them into slavery?”
The accusation momentarily struck Four Seas’ Fiendish Slayer speechless, his face flushing crimson. “That was just business! Don’t talk nonsense, Life-Stealing Ghost Sword! At least a warrior of the Sword Clan should fight honorably—!”
“Hey.” Life-Stealing Ghost Sword waggled the sword in his hand. “Might want to watch your back.”
At those words, Four Seas’ Fiendish Slayer halted the backward step he had been subtly trying to take off the edge of the dock. His original plan had been to leap into the Yellow River once cornered, hoping to utilize his superior Water Arts, in which he was more confident. Perhaps he could even find a chance to escape.
However, Four Seas’ Fiendish Slayer’s senses picked up presences abruptly surfacing from the Yellow River.
“Those Sword Clan Water Ghosts…!”
They had finally finished burning the last fleeing pirate ship and converged here. Silently, holding short swords in their mouths, they formed a closing cordon in the water. There were dozens of them. Even for a master confident in his Water Arts, leaping in now would be suicide.
“…Fuck.”
Muttering a curse to the heavens, Four Seas’ Fiendish Slayer sheathed his long saber. His stance lowered, and the rough river wind seemed to draw inwards, centering on him. Using his arm to steady the scabbard in place of his ruined left hand, his right hand gently, delicately gripped the hilt, like touching a flower petal.
“…Hoh?” An exclamation of admiration escaped Life-Stealing Ghost Sword at the ghostly aura emanating from the stance—an aura born from abandoning all lingering attachment to life. “Alright. A final blade in this life… that’s worth receiving.”
Life-Stealing Ghost Sword’s five swords flew back, slotting into their scabbards on his back. He planted one foot firmly forward, drew one of the swords, and assumed a left-handed reverse-grip drawing stance.
“Come.”
No kiai, no presence. No greed, no thought. No signal was given, yet under the dawn sun, the weapons of the two men flashed out almost simultaneously.
Four Seas’ Fiendish Slayer’s Secret Transmitted Saber Style: Secret Art, Spirit Returning.
It was beautiful. The most perfect draw of his entire life.
Yet, somehow, Life-Stealing Ghost Sword’s sword, drawn later than his own, was already slicing through his waist.
Sword Clan Secret Sword: Flash Shadow, Instant Moment. Evil Monarch Preys.
It was a counter-sword technique: strike second, hit first; one strike, one kill. Before Four Seas’ Fiendish Slayer could comprehend the nature of this sword art—a creation of the Grand Young Master, Yeon So-hyeon, the most esoteric in the Sword Clan’s history…
Tang Baek emerged from the shadows like a phantom, his chain sickle slicing through Four Seas’ Fiendish Slayer’s head.
Tuk.
Four Seas’ Fiendish Slayer’s head rolled onto the wooden dock floor.
Roll, roll.
Headless, his torso nearly severed at the waist, the body collapsed where it stood. Life-Stealing Ghost Sword smirked down at the severed head.
“I’m the has-been? That was a new technique I just mastered, you piece of shit.”
Despite his pretenses, it seemed Life-Stealing Ghost Sword had indeed taken the insult to heart.
The Fresh Blood Fleet was utterly destroyed. Four Seas’ Fiendish Slayer’s life was extinguished.
From the distant city, the faint sound of cheering, signaling victory, drifted on the air.
The battle for the Valley of Sins was over.