Song of Adolescence

Chapter 176 Fury to Carry Heaven

Xiao Chuhe!

These three words exploded in the hearts of everyone present.

Born in the year that Mingde Emperor succeeded the throne, the sixth prince Xiao Chuhe, whose teacher was one of the Heavenly Revelations Four Guardians Baihu, and whose martial arts was rumoured to have attained the Unfettered Heavenly Realm at the age of seventeen, was truly a gifted and talented youth. Even in the imperial court, he was repeatedly praised by Mingde Emperor, and all the officials in the court from the highest to the lowest recognised that he was most suited to inherit the throne. However, in Mingde Year 16, during the case of Langya Prince’s rebellion, he vocally defended Langya Prince and was stripped of his titles and exiled to Qingzhou.

Then, in Mingde Year 18, Mingde Emperor issued another imperial decree and pardoned him for his misconduct. He was bestowed the title of Yong\'an Prince and summoned back to the imperial capital. Never before had a person been pardoned so quickly after being exiled, what’s more receiving such an accolade immediately. It was obvious how much Mingde Emperor cherished this prince! However, Xiao Chuhe did not respond to the decree and remained missing for the next two years.

But this name was much more than that for everyone present.

Lei Wujie was so surprised he crawled back up from the ground. "Xiao Chuhe! Xiao Se, you’re actually Xiao Chuhe!"

"So, the person shifu wanted me to wait for is really you!" Tang Lian was also shocked.

One of them was the son of the former Heavenly Revelations Qinglong Guardian Li Xinyue and had received the Qinglong order from his mother. The other was the disciple of the Heavenly Revelations Xuanwu Guardian Tang Lianyue, and had been raised from young to be Xuanwu’s progeny. Although the two of them always had their suspicions, when they heard that Xiao Se’s true identity was Xiao Chuhe, they were still shocked.

So, they’d already begun carrying out the mission of their roles!

Su Muyu looked at Xiao Se, and suddenly said, "Our information was wrong."

"Oh? How was it wrong?" When Xiao Se held his staff, that air of laziness about him completely vanished. His aura was extremely aggressive!

"According to the information we received, your meridians have been destroyed." Su Muyu waved his hand sharply, suppressing the Heart sword that was about to vibrate again. "Furthermore, even if your meridians were not destroyed, your cultivation level back then was nowhere near this realm."

Xiao Se sneered, "Sore loser much?"

"The two of us had just gone through a serious fight, and we’ve fought against Lei Clan and Snow Moon City in two battles. We’ve lost our own weapons and are down to sixth-tenths of our usual strength. You had it easy this time. Do you deserve to be so arrogant?" Xie Qidao retorted angrily.

"Only losers try to find excuses. Winners only look at the outcome. Old man of Xie House, you’ve grown old." Xiao Se raised his Wuji staff again.

"Uncle Xie, stand back," Su Muyu said in a low voice.

"Muyu." Xie Qidao frowned. "Are you looking down on this old man too?"

"Your long sabre is broken, and both fists are injured. You mustn’t exert your strength again." Su Muyu raised the Heart sword. "And I still have one sword. This is my last sword."

"I will use this sword to kill the dragon!"

"Fall!" The tip of Xiao Se\'s staff danced once again to form countless staff flowers, so abstract and dazzling that it was beyond description. Screams of alarm seem to envelop the staff, as if the evil spirits that were suppressed within the staff were about to burst out.

Only those who have seen the Wuji staff would understand why it was called Wuji. In the fundamental text of Daoism, the "Dao De Jing", Wuji was the ultimate Way. It referred to a concept of having no before and no after, no above and no below, no left and no right, no sides and no boundaries, yet also no space and no limit. It was an illusory and boundless kind of primal chaos!

If you used one word to describe what it felt like, then it felt empty.

Everything was empty.

As if the body was present, but the soul was dead.

The feeling that Su Muyu faced was this, but he was unafraid. He was once Kui, the puppet who led the personal assassin squad of the Hidden River Patriarch. He was familiar with the feeling of the living dead. Every moment that he held his sword, he felt this kind of emptiness.

He was not afraid.

He fought back.

A sword broke through the emptiness!

Su Muyu had come under the tutelage of the Hidden River Su House training school since he was eight years old, and had been practicing his sword for 23 years now. However, he never aimed to cultivate his swordsmanship to the ultimate level. From the day of his indoctrination, his teacher said to him, what you’re practicing is not the sword, but a murder weapon. There were some pretentious intellectuals in the martial world who named the sword as the “gentleman of weapons\'\', but in fact, that which we called a sword was born to kill. It was simply a murder weapon.

However, Su Muyu had always kept hidden one sword move. That was a sword he’d learned before he was indoctrinated at the age of eight. The name of the sword move was Spring Rain. The sword’s power was like rain, unbreakable, unstoppable, finely threaded yet easily entangled. He finally executed that sword move and thrust forward, no longer biting cold, no longer harsh, but a sword worthy of being called beautiful.

One man with a staff, one man wielding a sword, they brushed past each other.

Su Muyu spun the Heart sword in a slow revolution, pointed it into the ground and praised, "Wuji staff. It truly is incomparably exquisite."

Xiao Se remained silent and rested his staff on his shoulder. A slit appeared on the shoulder of his blue robes, and finally, half of his entire left sleeve fell to the ground. He frowned slightly. "Spring Rain Swordplay?"

This time, the two men fought to a draw.

However, another moment later, Su Muyu\'s knees suddenly weakened, and his whole person knelt to the ground.

"Heart sword!" Lei Wujie, who was lying on the ground and watching the fight, suddenly shouted, and the Heart sword responded. It left Su Muyu\'s hand and once more, returned to his side.

"I’d noticed this since we started. You and Xie Qidao were injured before you came to Lei Clan Fort. Who did you encounter?" Xiao Se said solemnly. "Why has the Snow Moon Sword Immortal Li Hanyi yet to arrive at Lei Clan Fort?"

Everyone felt a twinge of shock as they suddenly remembered that Li Hanyi and Lei Wujie had made an agreement before. Today, that peerless sword immortal should also have arrived! But, why would a proper sword immortal miss the appointed time? Could she have been intercepted and killed by these two Hidden River assassins? Otherwise, who could have stopped the Snow Moon Sword Immortal, and who could have seriously injured two Hidden River Heads of Houses?

"Jiejie, what about her!" Lei Wujie exclaimed in surprise. "Impossible, my sister\'s swordsmanship is peerless. It’s impossible!"

Su Muyu nodded. "You’re very smart."

Xiao Se lowered his head and shouted, "Speak!"

"Look for the answer on the road to the Underworld!" Suddenly, a harsh voice sounded behind Xiao Se, and he spun around. Xie Qidao, who was covered in blood, had already lunged at him with his fists.

Xiao Se had never seen such a vicious fist, a fist that was filled with killing intent! The one that Xie Qidao wanted to kill was Xiao Se, but when he threw out this fist, he was already a dead man. With this fist, he encompassed all of the 50-plus years of cultivation he’d tempered as the Hidden River Head of Xie House!

Xiao Se raised his Wuji staff to block, but he was still blown off his feet with this one fist.

"Xiao Se!" Ye Ruoyi rushed over and caught Xiao Se who’d been sent flying. The two of them slid back more than thirty steps before finally coming to a stop. That was how incredible the power in that last fist was.

Xie Qidao withdrew his fist, stood in place, and muttered, "I, Xie Qidao, have killed a total of 323 people in this life. According to the laws of Beili, I deserve capital punishment - death by dismemberment. Still, I would rather die, than rest!"

After speaking, he kept his eyes open and stood upright, but his body went completely still.