Chapter 104: Zuo Lengchan—A Pawn or Not?

Yang Xin used a blink-step technique to appear before Ding Mian of the Sky-Pagoda Hand, Lu Bai of the Immortal Crane Hand, and Fei Bin of the Great Mount Sun Hand, studying the three of them closely. They were not dead, but they were not far from it.

“Crocodile tears and false compassion—you’re no different from Yue Buqun, just a hypocrite!” Luo Hou of the Great Yin-Yang Hand said coldly, casting all restraint aside. A lifeless despair hung about him.

Smack! Smack! Smack! Smack!

Yang Xin seized Luo Hou by the throat and gave him a flurry of slaps.

“A warrior may be slain, but not humiliated. Who are you, exactly? Why do you insult me?!” Luo Hou roared in fury.

“Who am I? Did Old Yue not tell you? I’m his martial uncle. By that reckoning, you should address me as your martial uncle too. As for why I’m insulting you—because your understanding is all wrong. Who told you that being cut in half means certain death?” Yang Xin said lightly.

His words were like a beam of light, illuminating the heart of Luo Hou, who had already resigned himself to death.

“That’s impossible!”

“What is possible does not cease to exist just because you do not know it. Don’t mistake ignorance for personality.” Yang Xin glanced at the three men, who were on the brink of death, then rose and gave a perfunctory clasp of the hands. “The Mount Heng Alliance’s Dragon-Filling Ceremony is over. Next is an internal matter of our Five Sacred Sword Sects. Gentlemen, take your leave.”

He was driving them away at once.

No one dared dawdle. The moment they saw Yang Xin ordering people out, they fled in a panic. Some even unleashed their lightness skill and ran from the Liu residence as though escaping for their lives. A forty-meter blade was enough to chill the soul just to imagine.

After the crowd had dispersed, Yang Xin turned his hand, and heaven and earth seemed to invert. He pulled everyone from the Huashan, Songshan, Hengshan, Henshan, and Taishan sects, along with the entire Liu residence, into a mirror space, then began treating Ding Mian, Lu Bai, and Fei Bin in the same manner that Uchiha Madara had once saved Uchiha Obito, whose body had been severed almost beyond recognition.

“Martial uncle, what are you doing?” Yue Buqun asked in confusion.

He had thought they would be able to finish off the five great bodyguards of the Songshan Sect this time and weaken Songshan’s strength. He had never expected Yang Xin to save them instead.

If anyone else had tried—if even the miracle doctor of murder, Ping Yizhi, had come to heal them—Yue Buqun would have scoffed. Across all ages, no one sliced in half had ever been brought back to life.

But with Yang Xin making his move, Yue Buqun understood clearly that Ding Mian, Lu Bai, and Fei Bin were not destined to die today.

“Old Yue, widen your horizons and think longer term. Look at today’s infighting among our Five Sacred Sword Sects—your killing me, me killing you—how is that any different from the old internal strife between the sword and qi factions of Mount Hua? Tell me, wouldn’t you agree, Nephew Zuo?” Yang Xin said as he spoke, and with a flick of his hand, he conjured an avatar.

The avatar raised its left hand high, palm outward, while its right hand began to trace a circle. A golden, radiant spatial gate appeared, and on the other side stood Zuo Lengchan and the other bodyguards.

“Nephew Zuo, come over and speak with me,” Yang Xin said calmly.

On the other side, Zuo Lengchan and the others went pale. They had been discussing the matter of Mount Heng when a dazzling golden spatial gate suddenly appeared before them. It would be a lie to say Zuo Lengchan was not alarmed.

He was indeed a great figure, but that greatness was built upon his own perception of the world. This abrupt spatial gate had clearly shattered his worldview, so of course he was on edge.

“Could that be Senior Brother Zuo over there?” Luo Hou of the Great Yin-Yang Hand asked in disbelief.

Hearing Luo Hou’s voice, and seeing the miserable state of Ding Mian, Lu Bai, and Fei Bin, Zuo Lengchan’s expression turned stormy and unreadable.

In the end, Zuo Lengchan still crossed through the spatial gate and entered the mirror space. Why did he come? By his simple code, if the other side could find him anywhere at any time, then running was impossible. Since escape was impossible, he might as well face it head-on.

After Zuo Lengchan and the others arrived by Yang Xin’s side, Yang Xin paid them no mind and continued treating the injured. The process was swift. Before long, Ding Mian, Lu Bai, and Fei Bin had been brought back from the brink. Though their bodies were badly damaged, their lives were no longer in danger.

Everyone present in the Five Sacred Sword Sects looked at Yang Xin as though he were a deity.

It was now beyond doubt that the incident at the Wild Goose Return Tavern, where Yang Xin had revived Taishan Sect disciple Chi Baicheng, was real.

“What exactly do you want to do?” Luo Hou was completely bewildered by Yang Xin. More than anything else, he understood one thing: none of them could possibly be Yang Xin’s match.

“For the grand future of the Five Sacred Sword Sects, of course. We can no longer change the past, but we can still seize the future,” Yang Xin said these incomprehensible words, then turned toward Henshan Sect.

“The martial world is treacherous, and the killing and slaughter of the martial world are not suited to Henshan Sect. After returning, you should shut your gates and withdraw from the world,” Yang Xin said calmly. Yet beneath his tranquil tone lay an unquestionable dominance.

“Henshan Sect has already sealed the mountain. We only came because of Senior Brother Liu of Mount Heng. I, Dingyi, will take the disciples back at once, report to the sect leader senior sister, and then close the gates. We will don blue robes, worship the Buddha, and no longer concern ourselves with the right and wrong of the martial world,” said Abbess Dingyi hurriedly.

Although Abbess Dingyi had a fiery temper, she was not foolish. If it had been Zuo Lengchan trying to forcibly merge the Five Sacred Sword Sects, the three Ding of Henshan might well have fought him. But this unfathomable Yang Xin made her not dare to harbor even the slightest thought of resistance.

Besides, with so many people in the martial world now practicing the Evil-Resisting Swordplay, Yang Xin’s order for Henshan to shut its gates was also a way of preserving the sect’s inheritance. Dingyi had no reason to object.

“Abbess, you are righteous indeed. Farewell, and I shall not see you out,” Yang Xin said, and with both hands he made a sweeping motion through the air. A golden, radiant spatial gate appeared before everyone, with Henshan’s Seeing-Nature Peak on the other side.

“Amitabha.”

Dingyi intoned the Buddha’s name, then stepped through first. The disciples of Henshan followed close behind. In an instant, the Five Sacred Sword Sects present had become the Four Sacred Sword Sects.

“Taishan Sect, you may return as well.”

With that, Yang Xin casually opened another spatial gate and directly sent the Taishan Sect people away.

Truth be told, Yang Xin looked down on Taishan Sect. They had neither strength nor strategy, and their leader, Taoist Tianmen, could not fully control the sect. Inside the sect, people like Tianjizi restrained him, and their own strength was lacking too. Even more troublesome, Tianmen’s temper was extremely fierce, and his head did not seem especially reliable. Taishan Sect also had no truly outstanding figures; the only one with any brilliance was Chi Baicheng, but his strength simply was not enough.

Tianjizi and the others had wanted to cling to Yang Xin’s thigh, but Yang Xin gave them no chance at all and sent them away directly.

With two of the Five Sacred Sword Sects gone, only three remained.

Yang Xin snapped his fingers, and Mount Heng disciples Mi Weiyi and Xiang Dainian immediately returned to the rear courtyard of the Liu residence. Then, together with the other disciples of Mount Heng, they escorted the Songshan Sect disciples out.

“What is this?” Zuo Lengchan’s gaze narrowed.

“Just a little illusion trick,” Yang Xin said.

At his words, the heads of the Songshan Sect disciples scattered on the ground all burst into wisps of white smoke and vanished.

“All the irrelevant people are gone. Now it’s time to talk business,” Yang Xin said, clapping his hands. Then he pointed at Zuo Lengchan. “Nephew Zuo, have you ever considered that your Songshan Sect, and Zuo Lengchan himself, are merely a pawn of Shaolin?”