Chapter Fifty-Two: No Way Out

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By then, Jie Peiling had arrived as well. The raised platform was still plainly visible to him, and it was the same familiar road. He drew a deep breath.

In the morning, he had come to watch a spectacle. In the afternoon, he had come to kill.

Dozens of figures came tearing through the air. They were all martial artists assigned to guard the place, somewhat stronger than the men from the Li household. Yet in Jie Peiling’s eyes, they were no less fragile than sheets of paper. He spoke a single word.

“Leave.”

Li Shen had already crawled deep into the crowd. He did not seek out the parents who had given him life. Instead, he crawled before Ding Zhenguang, the commandery governor’s son, and, like a dog, smeared the black blood covering his body across the young man’s dark robe.

“Master Ding! Master Ding! Save me, Little Li!”

Not far from Ding Zhenguang, the Li couple had somehow already departed. They had no face with which to meet their eldest son.

Everyone around them knew what had happened. They had wanted to see the couple’s expressions, but when they discovered that the two were gone, they were bitterly disappointed. A fine spectacle had been lost.

The Old Immortal was taking his intermission, so they could enjoy another drama instead—one in which the youth in the conical hat, whom they had earlier watched the show alongside, might provide them with an altogether different surprise.

The middle-aged man from the beginning cautiously approached Ding Zhenguang and asked in a low voice,

“Young Master, I have crossed paths with that man in the hat. He certainly isn’t—”

Li Shen suddenly let out a shout and threw himself at him, trying to tear the man’s face apart. Fortunately, the sword-bearing youth was faster.

He showed Li Shen no mercy whatsoever. Seizing him by the back of his robe, he flung him aside.

“You little bastard… Do you damn well know who I am?”

“I know. You are one of the Li family.” The sword-bearing youth spoke with complete seriousness. Then he turned to Ding Zhenguang. “Brother Ding, I stake my honor on this: he is no murderous man. He is a good person.”

At those words, Li Shen could not help laughing—a laugh of utter misery.

“Every last member of my Li family, from servants to honored retainers, more than a hundred people in all, is dead! If that isn’t murderous, then is there a villain left anywhere in this world?”

A chill ran through everyone present. He had slaughtered an entire clan?

Had the head of the Li family not arrived with his wife, then perhaps he would have—

Now they looked upon the slowly approaching youth with terror. They imagined that all the blood upon his body had flowed from the people of the Li family.

Every one of them believed so.

But in truth, it was all Jie Peiling’s blood. Not a drop of the Li family’s blood had touched him from beginning to end. He was like a lotus rising from the mire, unstained by even a speck of dust—utterly pure.

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“Brother Ding, you know what sort of men we are after traveling this road together. Since he has vouched for him, then I’ll trust him too!”

The martial artist slapped his chest and declared this with absolute conviction.

The Taoist nodded. “From his bearing, one can sense a natural force. There is not the slightest trace of anything superfluous within it. The facts prove that those people deserved to die.”

Li Shen felt nothing in particular, but he knew he had to make his position clear.

“You’re talking nonsense! My Li family has been loyal and honorable for generations. How could we be such people? Clearly… Ah, I see now. You’re one of his men!”

Ding Zhenguang nodded thoughtfully. Resting his hands upon his knees, he spoke softly.

“Remain calm.”

He had taken no side. With those words, he merely wanted everyone present to continue watching and let matters unfold naturally.

Jie Peiling continued forward. The martial artists retreated behind them. They were afraid. Though they could not sense the slightest trace of internal force from this man, they could feel the breath of death.

Jie Peiling’s voice was cold. “I have only one purpose: to see Li Shen die here.”

One of them gritted his teeth. With murderous intent laid bare across his face, he launched the first attack. But the instant he took a step—

Jie Peiling raised one finger. Sword force burst from it and struck the man in the shoulder.

The man dropped to his knees, his face filled with disbelief. Then, having lost all sensation of the energy within his body, he fainted.

“Consider this your only warning. If anyone else tries to stop me, losing his cultivation will be the least of his concerns.”

The remaining martial artists were chilled to the bone. What kind of technique was this? Manifesting internal force externally was nothing extraordinary; they could do that themselves. But who could so effortlessly cripple a renowned master of martial arts from the commandery?

Perhaps a few people in the imperial capital could manage it. But how old was Jie Peiling?

At that moment, several people came and tossed Li Shen’s ruined body into the distance.

The meaning was obvious: they wanted him left to live or die on his own. From beginning to end, Ding Zhenguang had spoken only one sentence.

Those words had been so ambiguous that no one knew whom he was helping. He had revealed none of his emotions, either. Everyone felt that this man possessed unfathomable depths. Otherwise, how could he be the son of the commandery governor?

But Ding Zhenguang himself did not think so. The moment he saw that familiar figure, his entire body began to tremble. This was only their third meeting, counting the present one, yet he was terrified beyond measure.

The two of them had never exchanged a single word. And yet, for reasons he could not explain, Ding Zhenguang had felt a fear rising from the depths of his soul the first time he saw Jie Peiling. The terror had no discernible source. It was as if the other man had seen straight through him with a single glance.

His command to remain calm appeared to be directed at everyone else, but in truth, he was saying it to himself—ordering his own heart to settle and refusing to let himself be frightened.

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“Save me… I don’t care who you are… Save me! Anyone will do, so long as you can save me…”

Li Shen wailed in agony. Most of the blood on his face had already been washed away by his tears.

He was afraid. Truly afraid.

By now, he had no means left to preserve his life. It was obvious that Ding Zhenguang knew Jie Peiling’s true identity.

Worse still, the parents who had raised him had abandoned him. Why? Why did this world treat him so cruelly?

Wait! There was still one person!

The Old Immortal. He was an immortal master as well. Since he was allied with Hui Feiran and Sailatu, his strength should not be far behind theirs.

Jie Peiling had already suffered serious injuries. He must be at the end of his strength now. If Li Shen told the Old Immortal everything, then surely he could survive—and that demon would surely die!

At the innermost part of the raised platform stood a general who had been stationed nearby. With nothing better to do, he had been watching the spectacle. He glanced at the commandery governor and asked,

“Is this really appropriate? Whatever else may be said, he is still the son of a family of officials in our imperial court. Surely—”

The commandery governor gave a faint laugh. “You can go and help him.”

“Will you help?”

“Naturally.”

As the general searched for his spear, the commandery governor suddenly spoke.

“I will help him.”

The words were like a basin of icy winter water, extinguishing the murderous intent that had begun to burn within the general.

“I’m curious who he really is. I could have performed that crippling move just now as well; it wasn’t difficult. The main reason was that the martial artist had been blinded by fear. If it had been me—”

“You martial artists certainly know how to talk. I’m beginning to think you train your mouths rather than your bodies.”