If time was a clock that could be accurately calculated and could be controlled at will, then let us follow the clock in the scene of passing through time and start moving in the opposite direction, returning to the time of the great Dong Mountain. Let us see the drenched yellow robe, the burning sword, the middle-aged man the tip of the sword pointed at, and countless people in the rain.
Then, the second hand gently struggled, bounced, and passed the first grid.
Following Sigu Jian's finger, the long sword that had been floating in the air suddenly flew out. Circling around his body in a semicircle, it pierced straight toward the Qing Emperor's back.
Ye Liuyun had already come to the Qing Emperor's side and stretched out his pure white hands that were like metal and stone.
The sword had already pierced through the air and tore through the thick yuanqi that might or might not have existed on Dong Mountain. In the next second, it seemed like it was going to pierce into the Emperor's back. However, that pair of pure white and even somewhat childish hands exceeded everyone's expectations as they gently pressed towards the sword.
The situation of the Great Grandmasters surrounding and killing the Qing Emperor on Dong Mountain finally underwent a shocking change. Ye Liuyun attacked the sword and not the Emperor.
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The first thing that came into contact with this killing sword was Ye Liuyun's sleeve. The wide sleeves were woven from linen. In that instant, they became extremely soft. They were like the clouds that often floated on the mountainside of Dong Mountain when there was no rain. They softly wrapped around the rapidly flying sword in layers.
The strands of cloud snapped, and the hemp sleeves shattered into butterflies that danced on the summit of Dong Mountain. The sword, on the other hand, had expended its essence in such a gentle entanglement. The coldness and killing intent it carried suddenly disappeared. It became a piece of scrap metal, dim, lightless, and very petty.
The power of this sword was too vicious and severe. After Ye Liuyun recited a verse, he had no choice but to come out and protect the Emperor's safety. However, when he revealed his true position, he was unable to find the most critical point to carry out an ambush. How should he deal with the following situation?
Ye Liuyun's white beard was soaked by the rain, but his eyes looked seriously at the sword in his hand. He did not feel any contempt because of the sword's dimness. He also did not feel any unease because he had been forced to attack early and was unable to kill Sigu Jian.
He just looked at the sword seriously and held it in his hand. It was as if this ordinary sword contained countless ghosts and gods that would come out at any moment and devour everyone on the mountaintop.
His hands, which were as steady as jade, formed an illusory circle. The mouth of his thumb and index finger turned into a circle. The silent and lightless heavenly sword abruptly stood motionless in midair.
He was a Great Grandmaster, so he knew that all of Sigu Jian's sword intent was contained in this sword. If he still did not act, the body of the sword would completely pierce into the Emperor's body.
He had wandered the four seas for many years for this moment. However, he had been forced to act early. Sigu Jian was not truly an idiot. Just as the Eldest Princess had expected, although he and Ku He had not expected Ye Liuyun to stand on the Qing Emperor's side, these two Great Grandmasters of Northern Qi and Dongyi had the deepest understanding of the Qing people's sinister and cunning. Until the last moment, they would not allow themselves to sink into danger.
The short body wearing the straw hat actually contained the wisdom of a Great Grandmaster that was completely different from his reputation in history. He only used this sword outside his body to break the Qing Emperor's plan and force out the true killer on Dong Mountain, Ye Liuyun.
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Just as Ye Liuyun stood in front of the Qing Emperor like a bright sun with his hands in a circle, forcefully suppressing the sharp sword, Sigu Jian's body began to tremble. The hemp clothing on his body shook violently like it had been struck by lightning. His sword had already flown into the air and stopped between Ye Liuyun's steady hands. Following the shaking of his body, a startling sword intent pierced through the hemp clothing he wore and shot into the sky.
Summoned by this sword intent, the sword Ye Liuyun's bare hands controlled also began to tremble violently. It buzzed in the air and shone with light again.
The rain continued to pour down on Dong Mountain. In such a short period of time, the raindrops seemed to be moving at a strangely slow speed, delicately sensing the attractive force of the earth. They no longer fell in a torrential downpour. Instead, they were like sparkling and translucent pearls.
Behind the heavy curtain of pearls and jade, the short man in hemp clothing used his body as a sword. His momentum broke through the heavens and the earth. Just like that, he traversed more than a hundred feet and arrived in front of Ye Liuyun like a bolt of lightning. He stretched out his hand and pressed down on the ordinary sword that he had worn by his side for decades.
Sigu Jian's hand once again gripped his sword. The tip of the sword spat out wildly like a silver snake dancing chaotically with an imposing aura.
Just as the still curtain of rain was forcefully broken through by the hemp clothed Sigu Jian, Ye Liuyun's eyes abruptly shone with a bright light. Like a flowing cloud enveloping the sun, he forcefully absorbed the sun's energy. With a muffled grunt, his two palms, which had formed a circle, came together inwards.
With a crisp clap, the empty air was like solid metal. A moment later, it was forcefully crushed by this pair of pure white hands and merged with the body of the sword.
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For a Great Grandmaster, there were no traps. Even though the Qing Emperor had set up a trap and hidden Ye Liuyun until the end, Sigu Jian had still easily pierced through the layers of fog with one strike. Immediately after, Sigu Jian used this great opportunity to pour all of his sword power back into the sword.
To Ye Liuyun's side was the Qing Emperor. Faced with this swift and fierce strike, he could not dodge it. He could only use the cloud hand to forcefully block it. However, when the endless sword power was matched against the physical body, Ye Liuyun could not use his Sanshou techniques to his heart's content. Sigu Jian had seized this opportunity.
In a battle between Great Grandmasters, the occasional thought could change the color of heaven and earth. It only needed a slight shift for the situation to shift.
Sigu Jian cried out shrilly and crazily. All of the ruthless sword qi in his body surged into the sword in his hand. The speed at which the sword qi surged was so fast that the hilt of the sword in his hand suddenly became hot. With a whoosh, it evaporated all of the water on the grass rope.
The terrifying sound of metal scraping against stone rang out. The long sword between Ye Liuyun's tightly clasped hands advanced an inch.
Ye Liuyun's head remained slightly lowered. The wide sleeves on his arms had long become butterflies dancing in the air around him. The most stable pair of arms in the world held the sword tightly between them. A moment later, the skin on his hands began to crack inch by inch. It was like a patient who had contracted some kind of skin disease. The skin aged, and the edges curled up. It looked like the land during the drought in the fifth year of the Qing calendar, cracking open. It was strangely terrifying and miraculous.
His eyes were filled with a calm gaze as he watched the sword in his hands inch closer to his body. He did not reveal a glimmer of emotion. He only spat out one word.
"Cloud!"
Following this word, the two arms, whose skin had already cracked open by the supreme sword qi, abruptly became soft. They were deeper than the ocean, softer than lake water, and purer than the eyes of a Jiangnan woman. They were the clouds in the sky. Strands of the clouds were like longing. Strand by strand, they were tied to the startling sword. It made the extremely powerful sword suddenly meet with gentleness and had no choice but to temporarily stop along the way.
In this short second, the heavens, in good humor, bestowed a bolt of lightning that lit up the particularly dark mountaintop covered by dark clouds.
The lightning lit up Sigu Jian's face under his bamboo hat. His eyes were filled with a wild aura like that of a wild beast.
He didn't say a single word. He only howled shrilly. The howl echoed through Dong Mountain and knocked countless people unconscious. He was a Great Grandmaster who used the sword. He used the Sigu Sword. He focused on what was in front and disregarded what was behind, pressing forward with an indomitable will.
The power of the sword surged out along with the howl. The rising ruthlessness could not be stopped. Boundless murderous intent and ruthless aura were all in this strike.
This was the most powerful strike Sigu Jian had made since he was born. It was a strike formed from his entire life, spirit, and belief. The power of the sword was swift and ruthless. It already had traces of being heaven-defying. On this land, no one had ever made such a strike before. There probably wouldn't be one in the future.
No one could stop it. Not even Ye Liuyun.
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In a situation, it was often difficult to distinguish between the people in the situation and the people outside the situation. The people who planned to win often only realized in the moment things ended that no matter how they schemed, they had schemed against themselves and ruined their lives.
The development of things would always drift further and further away from the original plans of those in control. If he had known everything that had happened in this second when the clock stopped, perhaps the Qing Emperor would have chosen to gather the Tiger Guards on the mountain at the very beginning and have the Qing Kingdom's two Great Grandmasters face off against Ku He and Sigu Jian. With Wu Zhu at the side, he could have swung his knife after the 100 Tiger Guards were mutually wounded. How could the situation now have occurred?
In the most important day of Sigu Jian's life, he perfectly demonstrated the wisdom and decisiveness of a Great Grandmaster. He only used one strike to force Ye Liuyun out. He also perfectly used the Qing Emperor's plan and the Qing Emperor's life to force Ye Liuyun into a hopeless situation.
If Sigu Jian had not used up some of his energy when he was climbing the stairs to heaven on Dong Mountain to kill the 100 Tiger Guards with one strike, perhaps that startling strike would have long pierced into Ye Liuyun's abdomen.
Of course, if he had not used the fresh blood of 100 Qing aces as a sacrifice to this sword to accumulate boundless bloody killing intent, perhaps Sigu Jian would not have been able to use such a heartless and ruthless strike.
Ye Liuyun had three ways to deal with this strike. Just like the last of the 36 stratagems in that world, when the situation had developed to an extreme, the best method was often the simplest method.
Given this Qing Great Grandmaster's peerless movements and Liuyun Sanshou, when faced with Sigu Jian's startling strike, he could have chosen to retreat and escape. He could have used the sanshou sea of clouds to temporarily seal the edge of the sword for a moment. He only needed a moment to leave the area enveloped by the sword power.
However, the Emperor was by his side. If he dodged, the Emperor would probably be turned into a sky full of minced meat under this heavenly sword. Thus, Ye Liuyun did not dodge. At this moment, he was already unable to dodge.
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Wu Zhu, who had been standing silently at the door of the old temple, lowered his head. At some point, his hand had once again landed on the handle of the metal drill by his waist. The Emperor's life was on the line, but he still did not act.
In the last minute moment of this second, a slight smile suddenly flashed across Ye Liuyun's crude face. It appeared particularly strange for this smile to appear at such a moment.
A portion of the cloud-like hands was suddenly blown away by the wind on the summit of the mountain. It swept up and headed straight for Sigu Jian's face.
Before the cloud arrived, the straw hat had already flown far away. The strong wind hit his face and blew directly at Sigu Jian's face.
Since he could not block this strike, then why should he? Ye Liuyun chose to remove one hand and spread out a patch of cloud to cover Sigu Jian's face. This was what low-level martial artists were best at — besieging the enemy to rescue the besieged. However, in the hands of this Great Grandmaster, it appeared free and at ease, leaving and leaving as he wished.
It was a patch of cloud on the horizon. Following the ruthless and soaring sword intent, it gently and quickly floated toward Sigu Jian's face.
If Sigu Jian ignored this sanshou and the longsword pierced into Ye Liuyun's abdomen, with the sword intent and murderous aura contained in the sword, it could instantly shred Ye Liuyun's organs to pieces. Even if Ye Liuyun luckily survived, he would no longer have any ability to fight.
If he wanted to avoid this Sanshou, with just a thought, a gap would naturally appear in the spirit and spirit that poured into the sword. How could an imperfect and ruthless swordsmanship stab a Great Grandmaster under the sword?
Ye Liuyun's choice at this moment was very wise. It could even be said to be wonderful. He knew that his cloud could not heavily injure Sigu Jian, but he forced Sigu Jian to make a choice in such a short amount of time.
He used his life to gamble on Sigu Jian's heavy injury. He could clearly sense that Sigu Jian had already advanced into a realm of absolute killing. However, there was still Wu Zhu, Eunuch Yao, and everyone else at the summit.
Ye Liuyun could die, but Sigu Jian could not be heavily injured. A heavily injured Sigu Jian could not guarantee that he could kill the Qing Emperor. Such an outcome was something Sigu Jian could not accept.
Thus, his cloud flew out and waited for Sigu Jian to change his sword.
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Sigu Jian did not change his sword. A wild aura continued to shine through his eyes. His black hair danced wildly in the mountain wind. He looked like a demon holding a sword. His aura was intimidating. The longsword continued to press toward Ye Liuyun with an indomitable will.
His left hand, however, was empty, pointing diagonally to the left. He didn't pay any attention to the cloud that was rushing towards him at all.
There were tens of thousands of sword techniques in the world, but there was only one way to hold a sword. Sigu Jian's left hand was in the most standard way to hold a sword. The space between his thumb and four fingers was empty. Suddenly, a weak sword intent seeped out from the emptiness.
Although it was weak, it was unusually easy to kill the bright yellow figure that the empty sword in his left hand pointed toward.
Ye Liuyun attacked Sigu Jian and had no choice but to save him. Sigu Jian held the hilt of his sword and used sword intent to break through the air to counterattack Ye Liuyun.
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