Trapped within the Black-clothed Arrow Array, Shi Yuanjian couldn’t escape even if he sprouted wings.
However, the Divine Robe Captains didn’t fire their arrows, because Shi Yuanjian held Wang Sen, the Sect Leader of the Celestial Fragrance Sect, in his hands.
It was best to capture him alive.
BOOM!
Knowing he had no way out, Shi Yuanjian thrust out a palm. His Palm Wind kicked up sand and sent stones flying as it swept forward.
"Good timing!" Chen Xin swung the Long Blade he held in reverse, unleashing a fierce, ten-foot Sword Qi under the moonlight.
BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG!
The Sword Qi and Palm Wind clashed violently, unleashing a terrifying force. Even the Divine Robe Captains on the wall were affected, their Mechanical Crossbows trembling in their hands.
Several Captains quickly steadied their crossbows, then exchanged shocked glances. To their utter disbelief, the Copper Order Lord was actually using his Inner Realm cultivation to match an Outer Realm expert’s True Qi without losing any ground.
As the Sword Qi and Palm Wind collided, thick smoke filled the air!
A remnant stream of Sword Qi pierced through the smoke. Shi Yuanjian raised his left hand to block it, only to hear a sharp TEAR as his flesh was sliced open!
"You bastard!"
Shi Yuanjian cursed. During their brief clash in the wing room earlier, he had realized this Divine Robe Guard possessed excellent Saber Skill. Thus, he had pushed his Scattering Flower Palm to its limits, attempting to shatter his opponent’s intricate Sword Technique with his immense Outer Realm Level True Qi.
He hadn’t expected his opponent’s True Qi to be completely on par with his own!
"Shi Yuanjian, you repeatedly broke the precepts, leading to your expulsion from Shaolin. If your master hadn’t pitied you for being an orphan, choosing to face the punishment of the Precepts Hall himself rather than crippling your Martial Arts, how would you even have these skills?
"You were only six when you followed your master up the mountain. He raised you to adulthood and treated you as his own flesh and blood. Is this how you repay him now?"
Before his voice even faded, Chen Xin, executing the Meteor Meteorite Step, arrived!
He unleashed the Seven Kills Saber Technique in rapid succession.
Reverse Soul Stealing! Nightmare Birth! Dust Returns to Earth!
Every strike was a fatal move. True Qi coated Unstoppable, seemingly endless.
"What do you know?!"
Carrying Wang Sen with one hand, Shi Yuanjian could only use his free hand to parry left and right. With Chen Xin pressing him at every step, he was in constant peril.
Even so, he distracted himself to shout back. "The Shaolin precepts strip away one’s humanity! We master all these Martial Arts, yet we’re forced to obey those eight precepts and ten prohibitions. Thieves murdered my parents, yet I wasn’t allowed to avenge them! What use is this Martial Arts then?
"As for that old man, even Buddha performed good deeds like cutting off his flesh to feed an eagle or sacrificing himself to feed a tiger. He saved me, raised me, and let me go—all just to do good deeds so he could become Buddha in his next life. I merely fulfilled his wish!"
Chen Xin kept his mind steady and focused. The killing moves in his hands never ceased as he continued to speak.
"So you descended the mountain and slaughtered the thieves’ entire family, sparing not even a three-year-old child. Such a monstrous sin—do you think it falls on you, or... on your master?"
The Archives of the Divine Robe Guard contained records of the three great Venerables of the Celestial Fragrance Sect. During the day, Chen Xin had long committed Shi Yuanjian’s information to memory and had even investigated his master.
That investigation yielded a new discovery.
"Naturally, it falls on me! I was the one who killed them, I was the one who chopped off their heads, and I’ll be the one to go to Hell! What does it have to do with that old bastard?!"
Shi Yuanjian roared furiously, actually taking a slash to his chest from Chen Xin just so he could strike out with his palm.
Scattering Flower Palm: Solitary Beauty!
Chen Xin held his blade horizontally in front of him, blocking the palm strike aimed straight at his forehead.
CLANG!
The blade of Unstoppable trembled violently. The sharp wind blew Chen Xin’s official hat away, leaving his hair whipping wildly around his shoulders.
"He knew full well you would kill, yet he still let you down the mountain without crippling your Martial Arts, allowing you to commit such a massacre.
"Do you think such indulgence isn’t a sin?
"I hope you can still say the same when you meet your master in Hell," Chen Xin chuckled softly. "I forgot to mention—Master Dazhi passed away at the end of last month."
Those words struck Shi Yuanjian’s heart like a heavy sledgehammer with a loud THUD. The energy he had gathered for the Scattering Flower Palm: Dazzling Blossoms dissipated, causing his strike to land weakly against Chen Xin’s blade.
"You... you bastard, you must be lying to me!"
Shi Yuanjian’s eyes bulged like copper bells, preparing another palm strike to kill this nonsense-spouting Divine Robe Guard.
But he would never get that chance.
SWISH!
An arm flew high into the air.
The blade’s gleam flashed upward. Seizing the opening created by his opponent’s disturbed Heart Spirit, Chen Xin severed Shi Yuanjian’s left arm with a single slash.
Now, his opponent had only one hand left—the hand holding Wang Sen, rendering him completely unable to fight.
"Ahhhhh! I want you dead!"
Like a maddened demon, Shi Yuanjian released his right hand, letting Wang Sen drop to the ground.
Chen Xin narrowed his eyes, preparing to block his opponent’s desperate, life-risking attack... Wait, no!
Chen Xin was horrified. The palm strike Shi Yuanjian unleashed was actually aimed straight at Wang Sen’s face.
He was trying to kill the Sect Leader of the Celestial Fragrance Sect!
Wang Sen was slumped weakly on the ground, unable to move. Faced with this lethal strike, he was completely defenseless and could only close his eyes and await death.
CRACK CRACK CRACK CRACK!!!
In the nick of time, the Divine Illumination Internal Power that Chen Xin had planted within Shi Yuanjian during their palm exchange in the wing room finally erupted!
The bones in Shi Yuanjian’s fingers and palms fractured inch by inch. In an instant, his hand no longer looked like a hand; it was reduced to a piece of mangled flesh hanging from his wrist!
This sudden turn of events left even Shi Yuanjian utterly stunned.
But Chen Xin wasn’t stunned. His shout of "Fire!" rang loud enough to pierce the clouds.
SWISH SWISH SWISH SWISH!!!
The highly trained Divine Robe Captains’ muscle memory kicked in faster than their conscious reactions. Countless steel arrows tore through the air, embedding themselves into Shi Yuanjian’s flesh and blood.
In less than a second...
Shi Yuanjian was covered from head to toe in feathered arrows, bleeding profusely.
As Wang Sen watched this scene unfold from the ground, a large wet patch spread across his crotch.
Fortunately, the Divine Robe Captains had aimed all their Mechanical Crossbows solely at Shi Yuanjian, ensuring Wang Sen wasn’t struck by a single arrow.
With a heavy THUD, Shi Yuanjian collapsed to the ground, a low groan escaping his lips.
Chen Xin stepped forward. Clinging to his last breath, Shi Yuanjian looked at him. His mouth opened and closed as if he were trying to ask something.
"I didn’t lie to you," Chen Xin said, nodding. "Master Dazhi has indeed passed away."
The light faded from Shi Yuanjian’s eyes. He struggled to utter one final sentence, but only his lips moved; no sound came out.
After speaking those soundless words, the remaining vitality in Shi Yuanjian’s body seemed completely drained. He closed his eyes and breathed his last.
Shi Yuanjian—Venerable Zhenyan of the Celestial Fragrance Sect, the outcast of the Shaolin Sect, and the disciple of Master Dazhi—had died within the Black-clothed Arrow Array.
Chen Xin sighed. Judging by the shape of Shi Yuanjian’s mouth, his final words had likely been, "I won’t meet my master in Hell."
Though he verbally called him an old bastard, deep down, he probably viewed Master Dazhi as his father.
SWISH!
Chen Xin severed Shi Yuanjian’s head with a single slash. Sympathy aside, he had to make absolutely sure the man was completely dead.
"You’re the Sect Leader of the Celestial Fragrance Sect, aren’t you?"
Turning around, Chen Xin crouched down to look at Wang Sen, only to be met with the stench of urine.
"Tsk." Chen Xin backed away in disgust. "Men, escort him to the Imperial Prison."
Tonight, Shi Fuma Street was brightly lit.
The Divine Robe Guard escorted the Celestial Fragrance Sect cultists one by one to the Imperial Prison.
...
Five days later, the Celestial Fragrance Sect in the Capital City had been entirely wiped out.
A document was submitted to the desk of the Purple Gold Divine Robe Luoi Yangyi.