Chapter 33: Willow Remnant Sun
When Zhu Luo opened Su Li’s letter, the fat old man sat to the side with a smile, not particularly worried. He naturally knew Su Li was formidable, and Su Li’s sword was terrifying—but this was, after all, just a letter. Even if it contained Su Li’s sword intent and divine soul, the medium was limited. How could it truly harm Zhu Luo?
The fat old man even felt a hint of disdain for Zhu Luo’s hesitation, thinking that perhaps matters in the capital would need to be arranged differently.
But when that sword intent burst forth from the letter, plunging the entire Ten Thousand Willow Garden into darkness, the fat old man realized he had been wrong.
Su Li’s sword was far more powerful and fearsome than he had imagined.
Just a single trace of sword intent on a piece of letter paper could suppress a super-strong expert of the Eight Winds and Rains level?
Although Zhu Luo was injured, this was still utterly inconceivable.
The realm within that sword intent had even subtly surpassed Zhu Luo’s by an entire level!
Even the will of a sage likely could not achieve this.
Aside from legendary powerhouses like Zhou Du Fu, Chen Xuan Ba, Emperor Taizong, or Wang Zhi Ce from back in the day, who else could manage such a feat?
Su Li was no sage, yet his sword path had nearly reached the divine!
Watching the Golden Crows erupting within the Winter Garden, the bright moon in the night sky suddenly dimming, the fat old man’s face showed shock. Without time to think, he drifted over.
Zhu Luo was already in peril. If he didn’t act now, it would be too late.
With a sharp howl, the fat old man’s palms tore through the air before him and slammed toward those scorching, Golden Crow-like sword intents!
He looked like a mountain of flesh, yet his drifting movement was remarkably light, and his palms fell just as gently, flapping slowly like a true bird.
The Golden Crow Sword was a secret sword of the Li Mountain Sect, originating from Su Li. Its sword intent was blazingly hot; once unleashed, it ceaselessly spewed light and heat outward, unstoppable.
Back during the Grand Court Examination and in the Zhou Garden, Chen Changsheng had used the Golden Crow Sword several times, forcing opponents stronger than him to temporarily retreat from its edge.
Today’s Golden Crow sword intents came from Su Li’s hand, and their power was beyond imagination.
If an ordinary cultivator so much as touched those sword intents, they would likely be burned directly into green smoke.
Even a highly advanced expert could only contend with them like Zhu Luo, using the Moonlight Sword Intent, and dared not make direct contact.
Yet, for some reason, though the fat old man’s face showed wariness and fear, he still struck down toward those Golden Crow sword intents.
An indescribable aura appeared in the already ruined courtyard of the Ten Thousand Willow Garden.
That aura was powerful, but still inferior to Zhu Luo’s Moonlight Sword Intent. However, it carried an ancient, primordial feeling.
A sun that seemed almost real appeared between the fat old man’s palms, blindingly bright and dazzling!
Under the illumination of those rays, the fat old man’s face no longer held any trace of joviality. His kindly brows and eyes became immensely majestic, and behind him, the images of a dragon and tiger manifested.
At this moment, he was no longer the wealthy country elder one might see in a village—he was clearly an emperor!
……
……
Three powerful auras converged in the Ten Thousand Willow Garden.
Moonlight struggled to cast its silver glow across the sky.
The blazing sun continuously pushed back the falling night.
Countless sword intents, like firebirds, wove between the sky and the sun.
Tens of thousands of cold-resistant weeping willows began to burn.
This was not the fire of twilight, but true combustion.
The frigid Winter Garden seemed to plummet instantly into a scorching hellish abyss.
With a thunderous roar, flames flew wildly, charred willows toppled, wells cracked, and walls collapsed.
No one knew how long passed before those violent and raging auras finally began to subside.
The estate had become ruins. The cold pool could no longer reflect anyone.
Zhu Luo leaned against a remnant willow by the pool’s edge, his face pale, his chest stained with patches of blood. Worse still, his left hand had been severed at the wrist.
The fat old man stood within a broken table, his obese body straining the table’s remaining edges to the limit, as if it might shatter at any moment. His face, full of fat, no longer held any trace of joviality or imperial majesty—only exhaustion and ugliness.
From many years ago, he had already glimpsed the threshold of the Sacred Domain. If not for his fear of the reaction from that person in the capital, he might have crossed it long ago. And in this battle just now, he had even displayed strength not inferior to the Sacred Domain.
Yet he and Zhu Luo had still lost—and lost so miserably. If that sword intent had not been aimed at Zhu Luo, and if his family’s inherited techniques had not been similar in origin to the Golden Crow Sword’s Dao source, he would surely have been severely injured. And even with his help, Zhu Luo might already be dead by now.
And their opponent was merely a letter from Su Li.
Zhu Luo slowly stood up and gazed at the surrounding wilderness.
The once infinitely beautiful Ten Thousand Willow Garden was now a scorched wasteland. In the distance, some willows were still burning.
The Ten Thousand Willow Garden still existed, but it no longer lived up to its name.
Just like him now.
He understood clearly—this was Su Li’s revenge.
To this, he had nothing to say.
“I’m afraid I cannot participate in the capital’s affairs.”
Zhu Luo said to the fat old man without turning around, his expression desolate.
The fat old man knew this was inevitable. Not to mention that Zhu Luo might never recover his peak strength, he might even fall from the ranks of the Eight Winds and Rains.
For Zhu Luo, the most important thing now was how to arrange for his family and the Heartbreak Sect’s future—because that was his true legacy.
The fat old man shook his mountain-like body and walked out of the Ten Thousand Willow Garden.
Outside Hanqiu City, with the help of his subordinates, he climbed with some difficulty onto a massive carriage.
A middle-aged man with powdered face and a somewhat shrill voice asked quietly, “Your Highness, what happened?”
“You know? I originally thought that if the great plan succeeded, the first thing I would do was seize that great carriage from the Liang Prince’s mansion.”
The fat old man squinted toward the direction of Xunyang City, speaking sorrowfully. “Now I don’t even know if I’ll ever have the chance to sit in it in this lifetime.”
He looked toward Xunyang City, but in truth, he was looking toward the capital.
He spoke of the Liang Prince’s great carriage, but in truth, he meant the throne in the capital’s imperial palace.
The middle-aged man had already been deeply unsettled by the strange events at the Ten Thousand Willow Garden, and now the prince’s lament made him even more anxious.
He and those officers and civil officials were all retainers of the prince’s mansion, yet they could only obey the capital’s orders. Over the years, he and his subordinates had taken enormous risks, traveling far and wide to rally support for the prince. If the prince’s great plan failed, where would they find a way to survive?
“Endless Green has entered the capital.”
The middle-aged man wanted to restore the prince’s confidence, so he quickly shared the news he had just received.
The fat old man was somewhat surprised. Although Endless Green was also one of the Eight Winds and Rains, she had never been among his recruitment targets—because she was also a woman.
What was that old Daoist nun doing in the capital? Would it cause any unforeseen changes?