Volume One: The Menial of Changshui County, Chapter 117: The Nonagenarian Elder

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“I am no match for him, not even in a single exchange!”

The Master of the Blazing Flame Sect raised a hand and blocked the attack.

The rampant blade aura was steadily worn away beneath his palm.

“Hiss…”

Everyone drew a sharp breath.

Too powerful!

The Sixth Rank of Martial Dao was only one rank above the Seventh, yet the gap between them was immense.

The further one advanced in martial cultivation, the more difficult it became to defeat someone of a higher rank.

Anyone capable of reaching such profound heights was no ordinary person. Every one of them possessed extraordinary talent.

Their battle prowess could not be weak. To defeat them was exceedingly difficult.

Zhong Zhengming withdrew once more and brought his blade down in another slash.

When his first strike failed, he swiftly changed his form and position.

Within the time it took to finish a cup of tea, Zhong Zhengming had unleashed dozens of slashes.

Yet in the eyes of the Master of the Blazing Flame Sect, they were hardly worth concern.

With effortless ease, he received every one of Zhong Zhengming’s attacks.

“Have you no other means of attack?” the Master of the Blazing Flame Sect asked. “If not, then taste my methods.”

“Fire rises, wind rises!”

Blazing flames erupted around his body.

Fanned by the fierce wind, the flames grew more and more savage.

Amid that raging inferno, a gigantic palm formed from fire emerged, carrying with it an apocalyptic force capable of destroying heaven and earth, and struck toward Zhong Zhengming.

Zhong Zhengming was horrified and turned to flee, but the palm print was simply too enormous. No matter what he did, he could not escape its range.

One strike would leave him either dead or gravely wounded!

Just as Zhong Zhengming thought he was about to step into certain death, ten-thousand-zhang waves suddenly surged up behind him.

The seawater formed from spiritual energy was astonishingly real, pouring down from the highest heavens.

The flaming palm quickly vanished into the towering waves, where its force was extinguished without a trace.

“Who is it?” the Master of the Blazing Flame Sect demanded warily.

To silently neutralize his killing move, the newcomer’s strength had to far exceed his own.

Could there be another expert here?

“Master of the Sect, Master of the Manor, it has been many years since we last met. How have you both been?”

A figure appeared in midair.

It was an extremely old man with a stooped back, his face marked by scattered age spots.

He was so old that he seemed liable to be buried in the earth at any moment.

“You’re still alive? Impossible!”

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The Master of the Blazing Flame Sect was shaken with fear. “You already looked like this several decades ago. How have you managed to remain alive?”

Many years earlier, when the Leaving Sword Manor had first entered the relic world, the Blazing Flame Sect had repeatedly harassed and oppressed it, nearly destroying the manor altogether.

At that critical moment, it was this old man who intervened and resolved the crisis for the Leaving Sword Manor.

Back then, the current Master of the Blazing Flame Sect had still been a child. He had watched the old man suppress the previous sect master with a casual turn of his hand. The sight had left him deeply shaken and had become a lasting shadow in his heart.

Even as recently as more than a decade ago, the old man had appeared a few times.

After that, all word of him vanished.

The Master of the Blazing Flame Sect had assumed that he was dead. He had never imagined that the old man was still alive.

“There is one thing this old man can do well: stay alive!”

The old man with the stooped back smiled from midair. “The Blazing Flame Sect has survived in the relic world by committing all manner of evil. I thought I had given you a chance, yet you still refused to repent.”

“With your generation, it is time for this to end.”

The old man continued to smile amiably.

He took a single step into the void.

Once again, waves descended from the highest heavens.

No matter how the Master of the Blazing Flame Sect resisted, he could not withstand such an immense torrent of spiritual energy.

Under the crushing pressure of the waves, the sect master dropped to one knee. Immediately afterward, the ground around him began to cave in, and his body sank steadily downward.

“You ancient relic! After living all these years, you still dare interfere with the Blazing Flame Sect!”

The sect master was furious, but helpless.

The waves descending from the heavens were simply too powerful. He alone could not possibly withstand them.

His opponent’s cultivation might already have reached the Fifth Rank of Martial Dao—an entire major realm above his own.

“Send the sect master to the afterlife!”

The old man with the stooped back exerted even greater pressure. The waves surged with increased force, instantly breaking through the sect master’s defenses and crushing him to death on the spot.

Everyone present stood frozen in shock.

They had thought the Blazing Flame Sect was certain to win. Who could have imagined that a half-dead old man would suddenly appear and suppress its master with a mere lift of his hand?

“Those who betray the Leaving Sword Manor shall die!”

The elder who had leaked the information to the Blazing Flame Sect attempted to slip away unnoticed through the crowd.

The moment he turned around, the Manor Master spotted him.

With a single leap, the Manor Master appeared beside him, then struck down with one palm and killed the elder.

A pool of blood spread across the ground. Silence descended over the scene.

“I am old… truly old.”

The old man with the stooped back slowly descended from the sky and landed on the ground, still wearing the kind smile of an amiable elder. “I am now one hundred and seventy years old. My lifespan has reached its end.”

“Today, I came especially to resolve this trouble for the relic world.”

The Manor Master steeled himself and walked before the old man. “May I ask, Senior—apart from you, is there no one else from the Northern Blade Sect?”

“There is one more. The sect master’s daughter is still here. A treasure has sealed away the aura throughout her body, leaving her in a state of suspended sealing,” the old man with the stooped back replied. “If you are ever able to leave this place, please help that girl. Do not let the Northern Blade Sect truly perish.”

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The old man with the stooped back was no fool.

It was easy to add flowers to brocade, but difficult to offer warmth in the snow.

If he helped the Blazing Flame Sect, its master would never feel grateful toward him.

But if he helped the Manor Master of the Leaving Sword Manor, then surely the Manor Master might one day lend him a hand.

The matter he had entrusted would certainly remain in the Manor Master’s thoughts.

“Rest assured, Senior!”

The Manor Master cupped his hands. “If…”

He paused and glanced toward Lu Jiuzhang and the Big Black Dog standing atop the hill before continuing, “If we are able to leave this place, I will personally see her out.”

This matter still required Lu Jiuzhang’s approval.

If Lu Jiuzhang refused, he would not dare make such a promise lightly.

“Good.”

The old man with the stooped back smiled and nodded. Then he said nothing more.

Only when the Manor Master examined his aura did he realize that the old man had already passed away.

The old man’s body withered rapidly, soon resembling a shriveled corpse.

The spiritual energy within him also began to disperse into the surrounding air.

When a person dies, all is extinguished like a lamp. No matter how much spiritual energy one has absorbed, in the end, it must all be returned to the world.

The spiritual energy in the area was extraordinarily dense, yet not a single person dared cultivate there.

…

After a long while, someone—no one knew who had begun it—started to weep, and soon sobbing filled the scene.

The cries came from the disciples of the Blazing Flame Sect.

With the death of their sect master, they had lost the pillar supporting them. From now on, they would be absorbed into the Leaving Sword Manor.

Perhaps the Blazing Flame Sect would cease to exist altogether.

The strong preyed upon the weak, and victory or defeat was often decided in a single instant.

If the old man with the stooped back had not intervened that day, the ones crying now would most likely have been the people of the Leaving Sword Manor.

The crowd was infected by the sorrow in those cries, and their own spirits sank.

“Everyone, let us return.”

The Manor Master looked at the assembled crowd.

There was no need to take possession of the Blazing Flame Sect’s territory immediately.

It would be better to return home and make preparations there—and, while they were at it, bury the old man with the stooped back.