BOOM!
Huo Ci’s heart felt as if it had been split in two by lightning. His entire body trembled.
It seemed he had returned to his previous life.
He raised his hand and slapped himself hard across the face.
Wake up!
Wake up, now!
The sharp pain cleared his head, but it didn’t return him to reality.
The servant watched, wide-eyed, as the Young General slapped himself over and over, too shocked to utter a single word.
“Ah! Cousin! What’s happening?”
Huo Ci’s body froze. He turned his head slowly and saw his cousin, Li Yishu, dressed in bridal robes, running out from the side room.
A-Yan was dead. His mother had forcibly arranged a new marriage for him, marrying his cousin to him. Today was supposed to be their wedding day. Not daring to defy his mother’s wishes, he had simply banished his cousin to the side room. The main room could only belong to him and A-Yan.
Huo Ci’s mind raced. After swapping bodies with A-Yan, he had never been able to recall his memories from after marrying his cousin. Could it be—
Thwip!
Suddenly, a flying sword shot through the air from afar and embedded itself in the servant’s thigh. The servant shrieked in agony, startling Li Yishu into screaming as well. She threw herself against Huo Ci, burrowing into his arms. “Cousin, what is this? I’m so scared!”
Huo Ci shook his shoulder, throwing her to the ground. “Don’t touch me!”
The flying sword lodged in the servant’s thigh gradually dissipated. Only then did Huo Ci realize, with a start, that it wasn’t a real sword. Legends spoke of cultivators who could fly on swords. Those with high cultivation could materialize sword energy to injure from a distance.
Huo Ci now had an idea of who had killed their way in. He felt both shock and piercing grief.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Fireballs exploded in various places throughout the General’s manor, startling maids and servants into screams and panicked wails. Only the main hall remained untouched. Everyone, fleeing blindly and covered in blood, surged towards the main hall.
Knowing who had come to collect the debt for A-Yan, Huo Ci’s heart grew calm. He straightened his clothes, hauled the servant up, and said sternly to his cousin, who sat stunned on the ground, “Go to the main hall to atone for your sins.”
Li Yishu didn’t know what was happening, but from her cousin’s tone, the main hall was definitely not a good place to be. She struggled and scrambled towards the rear courtyard, where the manor’s back gate was. “No, I won’t! I haven’t committed any sins, why should I atone?!”
She hadn’t run more than a few steps when a beam of golden light flew down from mid-air, split into five parts, and bound her wrists, ankles, and neck. It lifted her from the ground into the sky, trussed up like a pig, and flew straight towards the main hall. “Cousin, save me! Ah—!”
Huo Ci ignored her. He walked calmly to the main hall and saw Yun Chunfeng at a glance.
It was indeed him.
The manor’s main gates lay kicked flat on the ground. The plaque that had hung above them was shattered into several pieces, a precious sword stabbed through its center. Yun Chunfeng stood tall and poised on the sword’s hilt. His smoke-blue Daoist robes billowed around him though there was no wind, and he looked down with lowered eyes at the wailing crowd in the main hall, neither sad nor joyful, as if observing ants.
Old Madame Huo, supported by Jinzhu and Yinzhu, hurried over. Half of her silver hair was burnt away, her eyebrows were gone, and her face was covered in soot. Her clothes were also singed and tattered. Baozhu and Yuzhu followed close behind, their heads bleeding profusely.
The moment she saw the intruder, Old Madame Huo began cursing and raving. “Shameless villain! Audacious demon! Do you know what place this is? How dare you break in?! Call off your evil magic and surrender immediately! Otherwise, my son, the General Who Pacifies the North, will surely report to the Emperor and have you torn to pieces!”
Yun Chunfeng chuckled softly, his eyes still downcast. “Torn to pieces… You mean like this?”
As soon as the words left his mouth, the five golden beams binding Li Yishu suddenly pulled apart, each in a different direction. Li Yishu, suspended in the air, was stretched into a spread-eagle position before everyone’s eyes.
Even though Huo Ci was somewhat prepared, he was still horrified, his eyes widening in shock. Yun Chunfeng wasn’t simply demanding a life for a life; this was outright, thorough torture and execution!
Rip!
Li Yishu didn’t even manage half a word before her body was torn into six pieces like a ragged cloth.
The entire main hall fell so silent you could hear a pin drop. Everyone looked up, necks craned like strangled ducks, staring dumbfounded at the scene in the sky, unable to utter a sound. They even forgot to dodge the falling pieces of corpse.
“Tsk, tsk. Look at me, only six pieces. But you asked for ten thousand,” Yun Chunfeng mused lightly.
“Enough!” Huo Ci fought down nausea and terror, trying to stop Yun Chunfeng. “I’m the one who wronged A-Yan! Direct all your anger at me! You are a cultivator, don’t you know the price of treating all things as straw dogs?!”
The crowd finally understood: this person was here to avenge Jiang Xingyan. Panic, fear, and regret washed over them all at once.
Yun Chunfeng smiled faintly. “You? Oh, you’ll get yours. But you’ll be last. Don’t be impatient. Those who die early can be reborn early, you know.”
Amidst his casual talk, the golden light flared brilliantly. Li Yishu was cut apart—no more, no less—into exactly ten thousand pieces.
The scattering flesh and blood fell upon the crowd. Someone screamed once and died of fright on the spot. The sound snapped everyone else back to their senses. The moment they fully comprehended what had happened, some lost control of their bowels in terror, others were scared witless and sat on the ground laughing maniacally.
In the moment it took for Huo Ci to turn away and retch, countless phantom sword images flew out from behind Yun Chunfeng. They accurately pierced every maid and servant who had ever bullied Jiang Xingyan. None were killed instantly; all vital points were avoided. For a time, the rising and falling cries of pain were utterly chilling.
Those who had bullied her more received more sword strikes; those who had bullied her less were left to bleed to death. After a few passes, aside from Huo Ci, Old Madame Huo, and her four personal maids, only a courtyard of corpses remained. A few of the roughest old servant women, who had been the cruelest, were stuck as full of swords as porcupines, not yet dead, moaning softly where they lay.
Throughout the entire process, Yun Chunfeng didn’t even blink. He was more indifferent than someone crushing a few ants.
BOOM!
A sudden clap of thunder roared in the pitch-black night sky. Dark clouds rapidly gathered above the Huo manor.
Yun Chunfeng formed a seal with his left hand. A transparent wall spread out from his feet, encasing the entire front hall.
Old Madame Huo was now paralyzed with fear, her eyes fixed unblinkingly on Yun Chunfeng. Weren’t they told that wretched merchant’s family was all dead or scattered, with no one left? Where did this immortal master come from?
Jinzhu and Yinzhu beside her were scared out of their wits. As main perpetrators in bullying Jiang Xingyan, and the very ones who had personally thrown her body into the mass graves, they couldn’t imagine the punishment that awaited them. But it would surely be worse than what those rough servant women suffered. Thinking of this, their limbs went weak, and they could no longer support Old Madame Huo. The group of them fell onto the corpses of the maids and servants, instinctively scrambling backward.
For the first time, a trace of anger appeared on Yun Chunfeng’s face. He soared into the air, stopping mid-air to confront the oppressive ink-black clouds descending from the sky. “You’re rather quick to arrive this time?”
Huo Ci couldn’t hear the clouds’ voice, but he could sense they were trying to persuade Yun Chunfeng to stop.
“Fate? Destiny? I don’t care about that! I only know this: a life for a life is right and proper!”
This was the first time Huo Ci had seen Yun Chunfeng in such a furious state. With a roar, the jade crown holding his hair shattered. His hair and beard flew wildly about his face, and his eyes seemed ready to split from their sockets. His smoke-blue Daoist robes instantly turned ink-black. His once ethereal pupils were stained blood-red.
“The heavens and earth are unkind! The way of heaven is unjust! Forever I have lost my love, immediately I fall to demonic ways!”