Chapter 358 The Illusory Sword Intent
Li Qingcheng was not the only one thinking about it.
Gu Xingyun and Gu Qianchuan, who was in battle, feel a little confused.
Why had Li Tianlan not drawn his sword?
The 24 Moves of Sword of the Li family was unparalleled. In terms of Martial Arts, the Wang family of Beihai was undisputedly No. 1 for hundreds of years in the Dark World. Regarding swordsmanship, Xuanyuantai outshone others.
Swordsmanship could be regarded as the soul of the Li family.
Whether the successor of the Li family had a sword was totally two concepts and two states.
After realizing this problem, Gu Xingyun recollected that Li Tianlan had never drawn a sword since his return after disappearing for three years.
He had imitated Great Void Sword Intent to hurt Gu Youlan so severely.
He had struck down Gu Yunxia with more inconceivable Sword of Emperor Path.
The skills that he had used to defeat Song Ci had been like the All-Embracing Collection of the Purgatory of Heaven Capital.
What was his real sword intent?
Or 24 Moves of Sword? Why did not he use it?
Gu Xingyun took Li Qingcheng to leave the pavilion.
It was a mess outside the pavilion. The original clear pool had become muddy, while the huge rockery had broken to pieces in the grass. Hiding behind a fractured rock, Gu Xingyun looked indifferent, but his eyes were cold.
Nobody could understand his anger and killing intent at this time.
He had been the War God, a nation protector, of Zhongzhou State for over two decades. It was the first time he had been forced to flee and even needed protection from others.
Under attack, the power of the murderous weapon was incredible. Even if he stabilized the injury with improved Immortality Potion of Zhongzhou State, his various bodily functions had declined to the bottom. Unless he was willing to put up a desperate fight, in his current state, if he was alone, an ordinary expert of the Thunder-Shocking Realm could kill him.
If he was not widely speculated to be seriously wounded and need a long rest, he needed to stand out and stabilize morale. In the final maneuver of the two academies, he wouldn’t show up.
Now, he struggled to come to Huating to go through the motions.
No one thought it was a problem.
But just then, there came the problem.
Li Tianlan.
The remnant of the Li family had openly come to kill.
What did he regard Kunlun City as?
His head was buzzing, but Gu Xingyun knew the consequence of tonight’s attack.
For Li Tianlan, as long as he was not dead, there were no consequences.
Gu Xingyun was the War God of Zhongzhou State. Gu Qianchuan was an Invincible Realm expert in the Holy List, and the master of Kunlun City, who was chosen when Gu Xingyun healed his wounds.
Even if they could not restrain Li Tianlan tonight, Kunlun City would not make it widely known.
Once the news was leaked, Gu Xingyun’s severe injury and Gu Qianchuan’s incapability would be confirmed. Until then, where was the stateliness of Kunlun City?
If Li Tianlan escaped unscathed tonight, it would feel like a slap in his and Gu Qianchuan’s face. Not only would they not say anything, but they had also to endure.
Most importantly, if they could not keep Li Tianlan tonight and something unexpected occurred in the final maneuver...
When he recovered from his injuries after a few years, how strong would Li Tianlan be? Would he have become an Invincible Realm expert?
The Purple Gold Pavilion shook vigorously in front of Gu Xingyun and Li Qingcheng. Countless cracks appeared on the solid wall from the inside out, like bareness after the beauty was broken, which looked very ugly.
Having controlled Kunlun City for over 20 years, Gu Xingyun felt fear for the first time.
“Qianchuan, kill him! At all costs!”
Gu Xingyun suddenly stood up and roared.
Boom!
The pavilion exploded due to the enormous strength and mighty sword intent. The six-story luxury building, roof, foundation, and stairs seemed to explode at the same time. Broken stones shot up; smoke and dust diffused. The surging sword intent swept through the night sky. Every inch of space was filled with storm-wind, ice frost, flame, and thunder. They were the killing intent from the torn domain formed by the Tenth Unique Domain.
The dark night turned into a world of light.
Wind, frost, lightning, and fire surged everywhere and destroyed everything like a storm.
A touch of blood came from the most central part of the storm. The dark red was brilliant in the chaotic light.
The snow-like white clothes fell from the sky like a meteor and into a pool out of control. Then, the water waves splattered. The waves ran high for a moment and then suddenly calmed down.
Emerging from the water, Li Tianlan was getting higher and higher.
He stepped on the water and drew himself up.
Innumerable folds appeared in the white clothes of cloud streaks. The waist side was utterly cut open. Blood ran down his waist and dyed his thighs.
Li Tianlan moved his neck, showed no expression, and walked on water.
Gu Qianchuan’s figure reappeared in front of Gu Xingyun.
Wind, frost, lightning, and fire appeared and vanished intermittently around him. But this time, it was not in the domain. Everything turned into gloomy and sharp sword intent all over the sky.
Gu Qianchuan held a pitch-black dagger. At the sword tip, blood was dripping. He looked at Li Tianlan quietly, with indifference in his eyes.
“You go first,” said Gu Qianchuan calmly.
...
He had launched attacks with all his might now. He seemed to strike a blow at Li Tianlan, but he dared not be careless, because Li Tianlan had never drawn a sword.
...
In the short-term hand-to-hand fight, Gu Qianchuan had got a rough idea about Li Tianlan’s strength. His nature of strength was the Invincible Realm, but he was incapable. The quality was enough, but the quantity was insufficient. By standard, Li Tianlan was at most 1/2 or 1/3 of an ordinary expert of the Invincible Realm.
Wudi was also 1/3 of an expert of the Invincible Realm.
In this state, Li Tianlan’s short-term outbreak was definitely not inferior to that of the weakest expert of the Invincible Realm.
He was not invincible, but he had the quality of the Invincible Realm.
Such examples were rare in the Dark World, but there were always some amazing figures who could do this.
In these three years, three men could do this in the Dark World, and all came from Zhongzhou State.
Such figures could not be called experts of the Invincible Realm for the time being. However, they had paved the way for reaching the Invincible Realm. Therefore, they were called the battle strength of the Invincible Realm.
...
All of them were the battle strength, including Tribulation three years ago, Dijiang, the Wang family of Beihai, in these three years, and Li Tianlan, who returned three years later.
Gu Qianchuan was grateful that three years had passed.
He had not entered the Holy List three years ago. If so, he might have suffered a setback when he confronted Li Tianlan today.
In Li Tianlan’s current state, Gu Qianchuan firmly believed that he could exceed him. That strike could prove the fact.
If such a character went crazy, Gu Qianchuan would have certain misgivings. At the very least, he was uncertain that he could guarantee Gu Xingyun’s safety because Li Tianlan had never drawn a sword.
...
Li Tianlan returned three years later, but he had never revealed his own sword intent.
Gu Qianchuan was almost certain that Li Tianlan’s sword intent was not the 24 Moves of Sword.
The 24 Moves of Sword was amazing, but it was not worth hiding.
Undoubtedly, he had hidden to deal with Gu Xingyun at the most critical moment.
As long as Gu Xingyun left in advance, he could be free to kill Gu Qianchuan.
“Are you sure?” asked Gu Xingyun.
...
Gu Qianchuan was less sure because he did not know how strong the little monster’s sword intent was.
In the pool, the water waves fell and instantly calmed down.
Li Tianlan started to accelerate.
The white clothes were stained with blood, but he never slowed down. He moved rapidly and lightly, like a wisp of cool breeze.
“30%.”
Gu Qianchuan’s mouth twitched. With that concluding word, wind, frost, lightning, and fire around him suddenly surged up.
With countless light, sword intent all over the sky covered Li Tianlan like the canopy of the heavens.
Li Tianlan howled and rushed forward.
He stepped out of the water and soared to the sky.
Like a rainbow, his figure hit against the canopy.
His body tore apart the canopy, which was filled with violent sword intent. Li Tianlan moved faster and faster. Along the way, the white-robed figure passed by with the simplest speed and strength.
His bravery and fearlessness were thrilling.
Gu Xingyun took a look at Li Qingcheng and turned around without hesitation.
The elites of Kunlun City stationed at the pavilion had finally realized something. Several specially refitted black Mercedes-Benzes quickly approached.
Dozens of elites rushed to the pavilion from all directions.
Some of them rushed to Li Tianlan.
The others escorted Gu Xingyun to leave Mount Dong.
Gu Xingyun sat in a Mercedes-Benz.
Several Mercedes-Benzes formed a team and left the pavilion at full speed.
The pavilion had turned into ruins.
The smoke and dust had yet to disperse.
Gu Qianchuan’s sword intent had suddenly reached the limit.
The white-robed figure, who tore apart the canopy, came before Gu Qianchuan.
He dealt him a heavy blow, without any fancy skills.
Gu Qianchuan revealed a grim smile and never retreated. He hit him with surging sword intent.
The piercingly cold wind became silent.
In the wind, heat and cold alternated; fire and frost vanished; only the freezing and scorching wind were turbulent.
Gu Qianchuan radiated brilliant light.
There was a touch of blue in the whistling wind.
The dark blue light shimmered, and then it shone brilliantly under the starry sky.
All ice frost and lightning fire gathered in the dark blue arc of light. Each ray of light was sword intent and power.
Thousands of sword intents broke out at the same time, like a torrential flood.
That was was known as Ten Skills of True Martial Arts, the most well-balanced and perfect unique skill of Kunlun City.
That was Gu Qianchuan’s best application of the Ten Skills of True Martial Arts. He applied several unique skills in an integrated way, which was his most active skill.
The Eighth Supreme Sword Move and the Extermination of Five Elements reached the acme of skill in the Tenth Unique Domain.
The Brilliant swordlight overshadowed the light in the night sky. Surging and endless light instantly swallowed Li Tianlan.
As Gu Qianchuan punched, all swordlight broke out as if guided.
The punch with extreme sword intent collided with Li Tianlan’s fist.
Natural Qi waves were generated in the ruins of the pavilion. As Qi waves passed by, the ruins completely turned into smoke.
Li Tianlan’s white robe wholly shattered and he was bloodstained. As surging swordlight covered him, he was smashed to the distance because his body was out of balance.
Gu Qianchuan’s figure staggered. He took a deep breath but was unable to pursue and attack him in a short time.
He was not upset but sneered.
Li Tianlan landed on the place where the elites of Kunlun City gathered in the Purple Gold Pavilion.
Among the nearly 20 people, one had reached the Thunder-Shocking Realm; five had reached the Fire-Flaming Realm, while others had reached the Ice-Condensing Realm at least.
This strength was indeed average.
The most desirable place in Martial Arts of Kunlun City was the sword formation.
The unique skill could form a sword array.
20 elites could naturally form an array.
As Li Tianlan’s figure fell, the blaze lit up in the place where the elites of Kunlun City gathered.
Gu Qianchuan took a deep breath and rushed over without hesitation.
Li Tianlan wanted to kill Gu Xingyun.
There was an opportunity tonight.
Kunlun City wanted to kill Li Tianlan. In this situation, there was also an opportunity.
It was the best opportunity.
20 elites of Kunlun City gathered together. Ice Frost and Flame flashed above Li Tianlan.
In the front, the expert of the Thunder-Shocking Realm was all in blue. The blue electric arc blended into the blaze and instantly vanished.
All ice pitons integrated into the blaze and also disappeared.
In the crowd, only the light violently flickered and burned the sky.
All Gu Qianchuan’s sword intents disappeared after the outbreak.
Li Tianlan’s figure fell into the fire.
The flame burned and distorted the air. His figure became a bit vague.
As a faint smile lit Gu Qianchuan’s cold eyes, the sword intent was revived.
No matter how subtle the 20-elite sword array was, it was hard to threaten Li Tianlan, even if he was severely wounded.
However, the sword blade formed by 20 elite cannon fodders was enough to aggravate Li Tianlan’s serious injury.
Gu Qianchuan could be sure that Li Tianlan, who was severely injured, would be dead tonight.
Li Tianlan’s body fell into the fire.
“Crack...”
A slight crackling sounded under the night sky.
...
It was like a clang or...
A long sword came out of the sheath!
The sound was very light but so slight.
In a trance, Gu Qianchuan heard Li Tianlan’s gentle but huge heartbeat.
A long sword came out of the sheath?!
The smile on his face suddenly faded.
The swordlight in the pavilion faded, the starry sky became dim, and the blaze disappeared.
Everything changed in the blink of an eye, without any mysterious sign.
Before Gu Qianchuan realized, the sword array had disappeared without any trace.
There was really no trace.
The 20 elites of Kunlun City also disappeared with the blaze.
There was no blood, no scream, and no dust.
It was like nothing ever existed, including the flame and the crowd. Everything instantly went into nothing.
Suddenly, tranquility pervaded the ruins.
The world had initially been quiet.
Gu Qianchuan stood stiffly in place.
He inconceivably looked at the scene in front of him and even blinked.
He felt like dreaming.
The flame symbolizing Li Tianlan’s death went out; the elites of Kunlun City faded away, and Li Tianlan... also disappeared.
“What is sword intent?”
“Is it sword intent?”
Gu Qianchuan was suddenly shocked. Only now did he realize something.
Li Tianlan had disappeared!
He was not there and not dead. Where could he have gone?
Gu Qianchuan’s scalp tingled in a flash. His heart was cold and numb.
He was absolutely stronger than Li Tianlan.
When he was in a strong position, he did not keep on an eye on Li Tianlan.
Li Tianlan abandoned him and disappeared. How could Gu Xingyun survive?
He went mad, silly, and panicked.
Gu Qianchuan was instantly uneasy and even perplexed.
Gu Xingyun must not die!
At least, he could not die now.
That was why he and Gu Xingyun could trust each other.
The seriously wounded Gu Xingyun still ranked fifth on the Divine List. His strength deserved the name of War God for nation protection of Zhongzhou State.
It was important for Kunlun City.
If Gu Xingyun died, Gu Qianchuan could not keep Kunlun City alone.
He must not die.
Gu Qianchuan, who was confused, suddenly turned around and rushed in the direction of Gu Xingyun’s retreat at any cost.
A drop of blood fell in front of him.
Gu Qianchuan was stupefied and confused.
Another drop of blood dripped.
“Am I... hurt?”
He thought blankly, “Why don’t I remember?”
In utter confusion, he saw the third drop of blood.
Gu Qianchuan’s body vibrated, and he suddenly realized something.
He couldn’t have gotten hurt if he didn’t sense any injury on his body. Thus, he checked and made sure he was not injured.
It was not his blood.
Li Tianlan.
Li Tianlan!!!
Gu Qianchuan suddenly raised his head.
A ray of silver light appeared in the starless night sky.
It was the most splendid silver that Gu Qianchuan had ever seen. It was gorgeous, vivid, fancy, but with indescribable fierceness.
Silver light shone down as if the stars were falling all over the sky.
A hand with a silver bracelet was above Gu Qianchuan.
The bracelet was unfolded and turned into a long sword.
Falling Stars!
Li Tianlan held the hilt of the long sword with the blood-stained hand.
The silver light was so bright and illusory.
When Gu Qianchuan looked up, the Falling Stars Sword went straight down.
There was no wind, thunder, lightning, and fire.
Even the air had not changed a bit.
Silver light gathered.
The Falling Stars went straight down.
A stroke was a stroke.
Pure sword, real sword, illusory sword!
A sword was a sword, without any extra meaning.
As the sharp swordlight passed, there was nothing but destruction!
...
This stroke was perfect.
Gu Qianchuan, who was burning with anxiety and lost his mind, had the slightest precaution.
The silver swordlight was getting closer and closer.
Gu Qianchuan uttered the most heart-rending cry in his life.
The silent and empty void domain instantly rose.
In the next second, silver light pierced the void without stagnation and continued to fall silently.
The blood all over the sky rose, solidified, and floated in the torn void.
In the wild scream, the power of the Invincible Realm thoroughly broke out on Mount Dong.
Endless light covered everything.
An arm rushed into the sky in a shower of blood, and blood sprinkled. Gu Qianchuan could not take Gu Xingyun into account and escaped in the direction opposite to Gu Xingyun without hesitation.
His arm went some distance in the air and then floated in the broken void.
The silver swordlight slowly disappeared.
As the sword intent swept through, the void disappeared, and one of Gu Qianchuan’s arms also vanished as if they never existed before.
The bloodstained white shadow flashed in the sky and rushed in the direction that Gu Xingyun went, without any hesitation.
...
Li Tianlan did not know how powerful he was, but he knew he was not well-matched with Gu Qianchuan in strength if they needed to fight to the death.
Even if Gu Qianchuan were the last one on the Holy List, he would not be able to win.
It was obvious.
Thus, he hid nothing and told his idea to Lin Youxian.
He had gone through three years of disruptive breakthroughs. After his return to Zhongzhou State, Li Tianlan’s biggest card was that he had never shown his sword intent in the world.
The emptiest sword intent.
That was also the core of the plan.
Gu Xingyun had taken Gu Qianchuan when he had come to Huating, which showed that he had brought the most central protection force of Kunlun City.
Li Tianlan wanted to kill Gu Xingyun, but he could not defeat Gu Qianchuan. He thought that he was not far behind Gu Qianchuan.
Therefore, he and Lin Youxian appeared on Mount Dong.
The plan itself was very simple.
Li Tianlan confirmed that as long as he pressured Gu Qianchuan enough, Gu Xingyun would retreat by himself based on his character.
That was not only because of Gu Xingyun’s discretion but because Li Tianlan was sure about his value.
...
He was powerful, so Kunlun City wanted to kill him.
As long as he occasionally showed that he could fight against Gu Qianchuan, Gu Xingyun would definitely let Gu Qianchuan launch attacks at all costs.
He retreated first not only for safety but also for the finishing touches after death.
Therefore, Li Tianlan had never drawn a sword from the beginning to the end.
He aimed to let Gu Xingyun retreat alone while showing his strength. Meanwhile, he restrained Gu Qianchuan to kill him because he was reluctant to give up this opportunity.
After Gu Xingyun went away, Li Tianlan started to draw his sword.
Li Tianlan planned to temporarily get rid of Gu Qianchuan’s sight with the illusory sword intent. He would launch a sneak-attack to hit and kill Gu Qianchuan when the latter felt uneasy.
As for Gu Xingyun...
Gu Xingyun would think that no one dared to fight against him in Zhongzhou State.
Moreover, it would not take much time for Gu Qianchuan to be back.
Hence, he had withdrawn easily and decisively.
Gu Xingyun was right.
No one dared to fight against Gu Xingyun in Zhongzhou State, even the Wang family of Beihai dared not.
However, there was an heir of the Lin Clan beside Li Tianlan.
It was on the top of Mount Dong.
When Lin Youxian saw the Mercedes-Benz fleet drive away from the pavilion, he knew that Li Tianlan’s plan was a success.
Moreover, it was very successful.
He did not know whether Li Tianlan could hit Gu Qianchuan hard with his sword intent.
To do that, Lin Youxian must perform his tasks.
In the plan, after he hit and killed Gu Qianchuan, Li Tianlan would join him as soon as possible. Then, they would kill the War God for nation protection of Zhongzhou State.
The plan was halfway carried out, so Lin Youxian had no reason to withdraw.
He did not want to create trouble, but he was not afraid of trouble.
The fleet went downhill along the mountain road, getting closer and closer to the highway under his feet.
Lin Youxian stood up and silently adjusted the machine gun beside him.
Or, it was something like a machine gun.
This was a weapon fixed on the mountain. It was similar to a multi-barrel gun in shape, but its caliber was six or seven times larger than an ordinary gun. It even could be called as machine cannon. A string of bullets hung on the weapon. Such bullets with the machine gun never served for any national army in the world.
Its codename was Storm. All the bullets were small-sized armor-piercing ones.
This was a surprise for Gu Xingyun!
The Mercedes-Benz fleet was getting closer.
Lin Youxian chuckled and held the gun body.
“It’s exciting...” he whispered and aimed at the fleet on the highway down the hill.
...
He fired when they were nearly 800 meters away.
Thunder rambled on the top of Mount Dong.
The dazzling and terrifying tongue of fire burst like a nightmare. Hundreds and thousands of small-sized armor-piercing bullets shot out of the muzzle, almost pouring out like crazy.
Storm fired on the top of the mountain.
For a moment, violent gunshots filled the entire Mount Dong.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The specially modified Mercedes-Benz team descended into chaos. The car bodies, roofs, and windows shattered under gunfire. Two Mercedes-Benzes first rolled down the mountain and turned into soaring fire blasts after the explosion.
The Mercedes-Benz in the middle was immediately burned.
The fire illuminated inside the car and quietly filled the space outside, covering the entire car body.
Storm poured down like crazy. Countless bullets were melted by the fire, while a few bullets hit the specially modified vehicles.
The vehicles were full of dents and holes, but they were still accelerating.
“It’s a bit interesting...” said Lin Youxian with a smile.
Then, he smashed the Storm as the bullets were running out.
He started striding along the top of the mountain.
One car and one man were parallel on the top of the mountain and the road.
The car was getting faster and faster.
Lin Youxian stretched his body, moved forward, and stepped on the air. He jumped from the top of the mountain hundreds of meters above the ground.
The Mercedes-Benz was surrounded by fire.
Thunder lit up around Lin Youxian.
His figure jumped from the top of the mountain and slammed on the roof of the car with a bang.
The car body distorted under the attack, but it was still moving forward without stop.
Lin Youxian sneered and drew out a soft sword from his waist.
The soft sword was completely straight like steel in a wobble.
Lin Youxian fiercely pierced into the car roof.
A woman’s scream came faintly from the vehicle below.
Lin Youxian pierced into the roof and fixed his position. He leaned forward and smashed the heavy bulletproof glass with a bang.
He reached out his hand from the windshield and grasped the steering wheel.
He put forth his strength.
Crack!
The Mercedes-Benz continued to dash forward over 120 yards per hour, but Lin Youxian turned the steering wheel.
The vehicle drifted on the mountain road and crashed into the rails beside at a super high speed.
The car exploded in the violent collision. In the fire, Gu Xingyun, covered in blood, took Li Qingcheng to escape from the near-destroyed Mercedes-Benz.
Lin Youxian suspended above the two people without expression.
The soft sword in his hand gently shook and immediately became straight again.
A touch of pale yellow spread to the sword tip.
Suddenly, the sword intent around Lin Youxian was sky-high.
It was Ninth Blade · Dusk.
There was no hesitation.
The pale yellow swordlight moved across the valley. Lin Youxian combined with his sword and went straight to Gu Xingyun!
Gu Xingyun’s eyes were cold and angry.
As he moved his body, Li Qingcheng beside him suddenly shrieked, “No!” She blocked in front of Gu Xingyun and opened her hands.
“No!”
Gu Xingyun roared, ignoring everything.
Lin Youxian withdrew his sword by instinct, but it was too late.
With pale yellow swordlight, he pierced the straight sword tip into Li Qingcheng’s chest.