Chapter 260 - 32: Celestial Sword Kill Order
His strike successful, Chen Ye didn’t linger, plunging deeper into the dense forest without looking back.
Less than a minute after he plunged into the forest...
BOOM—!
The golden Fierce Tiger Sword finally arrived!
But the clearing was already empty, save for a beheaded corpse lying silently on the ground.
The Fierce Tiger Sword trembled violently, as if enraged. It had failed to save the person its master had ordered it to protect, and it had allowed the murderer to escape.
It circled in the air for a moment, as if searching for the killer’s trail.
Suddenly, it spun its blade and unleashed dozens of golden Sword Lights, slashing violently in the direction Chen Ye had fled!
SWISH! SWISH! SWISH!
The dozens of Sword Lights covered a range of over a thousand meters.
RUMBLE!
Huge gashes appeared one after another in the dense forest. Countless ancient, towering trees were sliced in half, while others were shredded into clouds of splinters by the Sword Qi.
The entire forest looked as if it had been ravaged by an ancient Giant Beast, leaving a scene of utter devastation.
But aside from kicking up a sky full of dust, the frenzied assault had accomplished nothing.
Chen Ye was long gone.
The Fierce Tiger Sword seemed to realize that further pursuit was pointless.
It circled reluctantly a few more times before its light receded. Then, it hung silently in the air above Xiao Zhanbai’s corpse, awaiting its master’s arrival.
Meanwhile, several streaks of light appeared in the distant night sky, flying toward them at incredible speed.
They were other disciples from the Celestial Sword Manor.
Upon receiving Xiao Zhanbai’s distress signal, they had rushed over from all directions at the first possible moment.
The one in the lead was a grim-faced young man in white robes—Zhao Qian, the very disciple who had recently taken over the investigation from Xiao Zhanbai.
Riding a cyan Flying Sword, he was the fastest of the group and the first to arrive.
However, when he saw the scene before him, he was utterly stunned.
His eyes, filled with shock and horror, took in the corpse on the ground and the Fierce Tiger Sword hovering in the air, radiating an aura of supreme majesty.
"This... This is... The Young Manor Master made a move?"
Zhao Qian muttered to himself, his gaze then falling upon the female corpse.
When he got a clear look at the familiar white martial arts uniform, his pupils shrank to pinpricks.
"Xiao... Xiao Zhanbai?"
Zhao Qian cried out, his face a mask of disbelief.
’Xiao Zhanbai... the one who’s always been a cut above me, hailed as one of the Twin Walls of the Law Enforcement Hall... is dead?’
’And she was beheaded even after the Young Manor Master himself made a move.’
’What... What in the world happened?’
’Who could possibly have such audacity, such terrifying strength?’
Just as his Heart Spirit quaked and his mind fell into chaos...
...several more figures arrived, riding their Flying Swords in from different directions.
They were all disciples of Celestial Sword Manor, and upon seeing the gruesome scene and Xiao Zhanbai’s body, their faces mirrored the same shock and horror as Zhao Qian’s.
A deathly silence fell over the scene.
Just as the disciples stood speechless before the horrifying sight, two figures with even more powerful auras arrived in an instant from the direction of Qingzhou Prefecture City, one after the other.
The one in the lead was a young man in an ornate white robe. He had a face as handsome as jade and an extraordinary, transcendent bearing.
He approached by walking on air, his hands clasped behind his back. With each step, an invisible staircase seemed to form beneath his feet. Despite using no Magical Artifacts, his speed was a notch faster than that of the disciples using Sword Flight.
It was none other than the Young Manor Master of Celestial Sword Manor, Jian Wuchen!
Half a step behind him was an old man in the gray robes of an Elder. His hair and beard were white, his features stern and completely devoid of expression.
It was Elder Jian of the Law Enforcement Hall!
The moment the two arrived, the intangible pressure they exuded made every disciple’s heart pound with fear.
"Greetings, Young Manor Master! Greetings, Elder Jian!" Zhao Qian was the first to recover, bowing hastily.
The other disciples, as if waking from a dream, quickly followed his lead. They all bowed their heads, not daring to even breathe too loudly.
𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦
Jian Wuchen’s expression was frighteningly grim.
He ignored their greetings, his gaze immediately locking onto the Fierce Tiger Sword hovering in the air.
The Fierce Tiger Sword seemed to sense its master’s arrival. With a low hum, it transformed into a streak of golden light and shot back to his side.
Jian Wuchen reached out, gently stroking the blade. The chill in his eyes was sharp enough to freeze the very air.
He didn’t need to ask to know what had happened.
The Fierce Tiger Sword was his Lifebound Divine Weapon, one he had spent years refining with his Heart Spirit. Their minds were linked.
Therefore, even though he hadn’t been physically present, he had seen everything that transpired with perfect clarity through his connection to the Fierce Tiger Sword.
Someone had killed an elite disciple of his Celestial Sword Manor right under his nose—and after he had already intervened!
This was no mere provocation.
This was a blatant slap in the face!
A towering rage burned furiously in Jian Wuchen’s chest.
Yet his face showed no trace of this fury. He appeared perfectly calm, but hidden beneath that tranquility was a murderous intent terrifying enough to annihilate everything.
Meanwhile, Elder Jian had approached Xiao Zhanbai’s corpse and was examining it closely.
When his gaze fell on the perfectly smooth wound at her neck, a sharp, almost imperceptible glint flashed in his eyes.
’What a fast blade... what a sharp blade!’
’A single, clean strike. Utterly decisive.’
He then extended two withered fingers and gently traced the edge of the wound.
A faint but incredibly domineering Sword Intent traveled from the wound, up his fingertips, and into his body.