Supreme Emperor of Swords

“Attacking a lady who has lost her combat strength is beneath you,” Ding Hao said. The long saber in his hand had not slowed down even slightly, its tip spinning and twirling like blooming flowers, flicking away all the hidden weapons that would fly over.

“As long as I can kill you, my reputation matters little.” The black-masked man sneered. He kept changing positions in the void, creating a raging storm of hidden weapons.

Ding Hao stopped talking.

The Wen Qing Saber trembled at a high speed, flicking off the hidden weapons that shot towards him.

He had not used Qi, but relied only on the physical strength to defend, which required abnormally sharp eyes and quick reaction. Hidden weapons stormed across the sky like pouring rain. One small miscalculation, one move, faster or slower for even just a second, would feed the long saber to the hidden weapons.

“Why don’t you stimulate Qi? Is the Qi seed in your body starting to break?” The black-masked man’s mocking laughter resounded on all sides. “Ding Hao, are you stalling for time? Shame, I’ve already set up a breath-hiding spell formation, and I can assure you that no one will dare to save you for the next thirty minutes.”

Ding Hao sneered. “And you? Why don’t you dare close combat? You are still worried that Rambling Powder failed to work, aren’t you? Are you testing me? These kids’ stuff that you call hidden weapons are no threat to me. Coward, go home to your mama. How dare you to assassinate me? I feel ashamed for you.”

The black-masked man grinned and spoke no more. He continued to change body positions and kept shooting various hidden weapons non-stop.

Besides, almost all of his hidden weapons were fired towards Huang Rong, which made Ding Hao’s defense much more difficult.

After the failed attempt to kill them in close combat, the man in black was unwilling to take the slightest risk. He was extremely fearful of Ding Hao’s close combat ability and did not want to take chances.

This was a critical moment.

They were testing each other’s patience.

Although every minute and second was precious to the two, neither had the confidence of killing the other with one blow, making the confrontation virtually a psychological contest. The one who could withstand the mounting pressure would be the one who laughed last.

“Kill!”

After fifteen minutes, the black-masked man finally lost his patience. He suddenly turned and hurled himself upon Ding Hao.

“Saber Brandish for Love!” Ding Hao bellowed, his eyes blazing with divine lights.

This was the killing move in Wen Qing Saber Technique.

At this moment, Ding Hao fought with no reservation. With the channeling of Qi, the long saber in his hand suddenly flared with golden flames. The blaze pierced the darkness of the night, reflected on the lake with dazzling lights. Ding Hao’s entire body displayed a sharp and unmatched momentum. Under the light, the saber flame soared. It almost smashed the Void. The hot saber radiance broke from the blade, With a split of a second, it chopped on the oncoming shadow.

“Poof!”

The black shadow had only time to parry the upcoming thrust with a pair of daggers. Under the direct impact, he was struck by the saber radiance. He stumbled back instantly, facing up, blood squirting out from his mouth like an arrow.

“Great…” Having witnessed this, Huang Rong, whose heart had been in her mouth, was finally relieved.

This was a common human response.

Ding Hao was also a little relieved.

But at this instant, a sudden change no one had expected happened.

Whoosh!

A faint sound, like paper-tearing, came from the water.

Alert arose in Ding Hao. Before he had time to react, a chilling light burst from the wooden board under his feet, instantly releasing the long-hidden killing intent. He pushed away Huang Rong and waved his saber across to block the pouring cold sword lights…

Clang! Clang! Clang!

A series of glaring fires exploded.

A silver vase abruptly broke with a gush of water. Out leaped armored horses and weapons that clashed and smote.

The killing intents wrestled for less than the blink of an eye.

The very next moment, everything stopped abruptly.

Holding a long saber in his hand, Ding Hao appeared again in front of Huang Rong.

A large hole appeared on the wooden floor of the pavilion. Surging water from the lake washed the floor. On the opposite side, another man besides the black-masked man stood quietly above the water, dressed in a tight black warrior robe. A cloud of gray mist covered his face, making it difficult to see him. He held a steel longsword in his hand, but only half was left.

“Good bladesmanship! Master of both sword and saber. You are worthy of your reputation.” The mysterious man laughed in the shroud of mist.

Ding Hao’s face was expressionless. “Sharp sword. I think we just met a few days ago.” Before his voice trailed off, his body suddenly shuddered. With five or six bangs, six holes burst open in succession between his chest and abdomen, and the blood squirted into the water like sharp arrows.

It happened so fast that adroit as he was, Ding Hao couldn’t completely block the pervasive sword lights.

“Ah… Ding Hao, you’re injured…” Huang Rong looked pale and asked concernedly, “You… you don’t need to worry about me. Please go… Just go. I was fooled to lead you into danger… Go. I don’t blame you!”

Ding Hao did not speak but slowly adjusted his breath.

The blood oozed from the wound, dripped to the pavilion floor, formed a pool, and then trickled down into the lake.

“Leave? He can’t leave, ha ha ha ha.” The black-masked man guffawed and said, “Little girl, we should all thank you. If you hadn’t let out that Ding Hao was still recovering from Beast Transform, we wouldn’t have had the chance. Haha, of course, we also owe you for helping us make Ding Hao take Rambling Powder. Haha!”

Huang Rong’s face turned suddenly ashen.

She had always been rebellious: neither willing to submit to her father’s discipline nor motivated to practice martial arts. She preferred to be carefree. Despite her tantrums and occasional pranks that turned the whole Swordsmanship-seeking Villa upside down, she was very simple and never ill-intentioned. She did not even know what she desired: a friendship or a little bit of care.

She was too innocent. Because of her innocence, she tended to trust people too easily.

So she was easily used by others.

However, Huang Rong had never thought that one day she would make such a grave mistake that would endanger Ding Hao. She might appear to be unconcerned, but she knew clearly what Ding Hao meant for Swordsmanship-seeking Sect. There was no way to make up for the disaster today, even by her death.

“What’s all this nonsense?” Ding Hao sneered, dragging Wen Qing Saber, and said, “My life is here. Come and take it if you can.”

The two assassins on the opposite side were confused. The black-masked man sneered. “How much blood do you still have to shed?”

On the ground, the blood formed a pool around where Ding Hao stood.

“Ding Hao, go, hurry!” Huang Rong cried.

A soft arc showed up around Ding Hao’s mouth corners. He said, “Good buddies don’t abandon each other. Don’t worry, I am here.”