# 433
**Chapter 433: Civil War**
**Venue.**
“Well said… ‘don’t know you’…” Lin Qiye sneered. “Since that’s the case, I won’t treat you as Night Watch either…
Kill them.”
“Heh-heh-heh-heh…”
A cackle flashed past Lin Qiye’s side; a figure wreathed in black flames shot like lightning toward Team 010. Mad Cao Yuan raised his Straight Blade, a savage arc of murderous qi howling out!
Among Team 010, a burly man stepped forward, Straight Blade meeting the slash head-on. The instant the two blades clashed, the big man was sent flying by Cao Yuan’s single strike!
Old Han behind him was about to help when an arrow skimmed the tip of his nose, leaving a thin bloody scratch and drenching his back in cold sweat.
Jialan stood calmly, nocking a second arrow to her bowstring.
In a twist of light, the remaining three members of Team 010 vanished as if erased from existence, leaving no trace.
At that moment An Qingyu—immaculate in suit and glasses—curled a fingertip. Invisible threads around him snapped tight, weaving a cage of silk that sealed off one corner of the hall!
Inside the cage, three figures flickered into view from emptiness, faces ugly.
An Qingyu adjusted his glasses; eerie grey glinted behind the lenses.
“Sorry, your optical cloaking doesn’t fool me,” he said flatly. Frost crawled along the threads, freezing the trapped trio and the air around them.
Except for captain Wei Xiuming and vice-captain Miao Su, every member of Team 010 was only River-realm. At full strength they would have been a brutal fight, but for some reason vice-captain Miao Su had mysteriously disappeared…
Four against six, and in the first exchange Lin Qiye’s side already held the advantage.
Darkness bled across the blade of Lin Qiye’s Straight Blade; the next instant he shot forward like lightning, streaking past Wei Xiuming and straight for the raised platform.
Wei Xiuming’s face changed. He spun, blade flashing from its sheath to intercept the darkness-coated weapon, forcing it back toward Lin Qiye with a powerful slash.
“No matter who you are, without lawful cause you can’t lay hands on civilians… Leave now, while you still can,” he warned grimly.
Lin Qiye caught the returning Straight Blade, pupils blazing gold.
“Get lost!!”
He stamped on the floor and blinked to Wei Xiuming’s chest, blue edge slicing the air toward his heart!
Clang—!!
Wei Xiuming crossed his blade, blocking the strike; he twisted, edge lining up on Lin Qiye—
and slashed!
Ting—!!
A bird-like trill sang from his tip. Lin Qiye’s pupils shrank; he flashed sideways.
A hair-thin slash grazed him, carving every table and chair in its path, shearing a load-bearing pillar like paper, ripping through a floor-to-ceiling window and vanishing into the sky.
Glass exploded; high-altitude wind roared in, whipping cloth and debris across the floor.
Lin Qiye stared at Wei Xiuming’s Straight Blade, gaze heavy.
“Forbidden Ruins Sequence 072, 【Sparrow-Cry】—grants ultimate ‘sharpness’ to anything it touches. Even a rotten stick will slice reinforced concrete. Every cut sings like a bird, hence the name.”
An Qingyu frowned at the gouged floor.
Wei Xiuming stood calmly. “If I cut you, you die. Walk away.”
Lin Qiye’s eyes narrowed. “First you’d have to hit me.”
“Wrath like splitting lightning, swift as the chariot of sun.” He stepped.
His form blurred, faster than sight, a ghost-shadow flashing before Wei Xiuming!
Bolstered by verse and Star-Night Dancer, Lin Qiye’s speed had smashed the River-realm wall and reached Sea-realm, rivaling any speed-specialist.
Wei Xiuming’s pupils contracted; he tried to track the after-image, too slow.
Slashes met only air, shattering more windows; the cloud-top venue gaped on every side, a wreck.
Suddenly a blade flashed behind Wei Xiuming.
He whipped his sword back, barely deflecting the Straight Blade; a line of blood opened across his suit.
Staggering, he swept his blade in a 180° crescent, fine arcs covering every angle ahead.
Lin Qiye’s face tightened—not for himself, but for An Qingyu and Cao Yuan behind. He set his jaw to meet the cut head-on—when a blue blur flashed in front.
Jialan slung her pale hardwood bow, catching the lethal arc bare-handed. Sparrow-Cry, which sliced all things, was crushed in her grip!
Wind tore at her blue skirt as she stared at Wei Xiuming.
“Leave him… to me!”
Her voice rode the wind past Lin Qiye’s ear.
Lin Qiye hesitated, then nodded. He turned from Wei Xiuming and sprinted for the father and son on the high platform!
Wei Xiuming moved to intercept, but Jialan was already there, fist splitting air with a pop, driving for his face.
Forced into close quarters, he traded blows—futile against the immortal Jialan. No strike harmed her; every punch of hers landed hard, driving him back step after step.
Mad Cao Yuan and An Qingyu pinned the remaining five. Not that Team 010 was weak—An Qingyu nullified optical stealth, and Mad Cao Yuan fought like a berserker, one man pressing three.
Amid the chaos, a blade flashed.
Lin Qiye appeared in mid-air above the platform!