The lifebond sword was something akin to one’s life, especially for lifebond swords like Fourth Mister Zhao’s. Just the sword nucleus was an extraordinary item. Unknown amounts of effort and hard work had gone into reaching such a level before being destroyed today. While her energy sea and mental power were severely damaged, her wounds were extremely severe. Naturally, she was extremely furious.

“While you destroyed my lifebond sword, you cannot kill me today, and I have managed to peek at realm eight. It will be even harder to kill me in the future!”

Yet, this kind of fury immediately turned into a resilient and sharp look in her eyes. Seemingly, this kind of dire straits stimulated her desire to pursue the path of the Sword Furnace.

“Why is it like this!”

At this time, a furious thick-browed young person appeared on this mountain peak. It was Zhao Yi.

“The Starfire Comet Tail Sword of the Ba Mountain Sword Field. It is Zheng Xiu.”

Zhao Miao coughed out a mouthful of strange bloody gore and sneered. “But she borrowed some power from Emperor Yuanwu … today, I received her blow; in the future, I will return this blow!”

Zhao Yi took a deep breath and nodded. For him who also came from the Sword Furnace, this was a matter of fact.

Yet at this time, Zhao Miao’s gaze flashed and she said coldly, “Go find Bai Shanshui.”

Zhao Yi stilled.

In his view, while Bai Shanshui had fought in succession and her energies damaged, he may not be a match for Bai Shanshui. Also, once Bai Shanshui entered the Wei River, she was like a serpent in water. He could not find Bai Shanshui. Zhao Miao was wounded and in a dangerous state right now. The most important matter, naturally, was to protect her to leave.

“Bai Shanshui would not have gone far. I am not asking you to kill her.”

Zhao Miao glanced at him and her expression grew frostier. “The person who set up such a great trap today, will not let us leave easily. My lifebond sword is destroyed. Naturally, I am not as important to those people in Changling as Bai Shanshui, who has the secrets of the Lonely Mountain Sword Hoard. Even if I cannot obtain the Lonely Mountain Sword Hoard, I will not allow it to land in the hands of today’s mastermind.”

Zhao Yi glanced at her, his expression still hesitant.

Zhao Miao looked down, her face filled with indescribable murderousness. “While I am seriously wounded, it will not be that easy for those people in Changling to kill me.”

Zhao Yi was stunned. He could sense an indescribable presence coming off Zhao Miao. In his memories, this kind of aura had also appeared before, on the teacher that everyone had respected.

“Be careful.”

He took a deep breath and nodded.

—

After Zhao Si and Bai Shanshui disappeared in succession, Ye Celeng felt tired. She sat down on the rock that Mister Zhao Miao had been sitting on. It was only then that she sensed the changes in energies from the direction of the imperial palace before feeling the violent vibrations high in the sky.

She understood Emperor Yuanwu and Zheng Xiu better than almost all cultivators in the world. In the campaigns of the past, to destroy the three dynasties, she had seen Zheng Xiu’s Starfire Comet Tail Sword sweeping down from the sky like a true comet multiple times.

Zheng Xiu’s sword essence of sword and star being one with the star killing the fire, was similar to Zhao Miao’s sword essence that was tempered by starfire and the sword acting as a comet. While Zheng Xiu’s lifebond sword was not as sharp and straight as Zhao Miao, her sword had hidden in an unknown place among the stars. But with the sword killing the fire, Zheng Xiu’s cultivation being slightly higher than Zhao Miao and clearly the help of Emperor Yuanwu, she could imagine the outcome of Zhao Miao’s lifebond sword.

For the greatest rebel of the Qin Dynasty, Mister Zhao Miao, the destruction of her lifebond sword was akin to cutting off one of her arms. Just this showed how great the work of the mastermind behind all this was, but would this be all?

Who had created this situation, was it Emperor Yuanwu, the empress, the two ministers, or other people?

Of the three people in the situation, only she knew who had really killed Fan Zhuo, and only she knew that while she had ordered Han Sanshi to conceal the news of the Nine Hell King Sword, the presence that had lured Bai Shanshui to Fish Market was not her doing.

Other than the former Shang Family, who else in court was a powerful cultivator of the Qi Ghost Bamboo Sect?

A person who could arrange such things should know that she had concealed the news of Fan Zhuo and the Nine Hell King Sword. Then, what else would they do to her next?

“Women are usually stubborn.”

Thinking back to Zhao Miao’s words, and how she herself had chosen to remain in Changling, Ye Celeng laughed at herself as she spoke out loud.

Water flowed through the center of the river. Bai Shanshui stood quietly and flowed along like an immortal in the water. With some unknown art, her breathing was not hindered in this current. All of the blood had been washed off her body. Her presence was like the purest of water currents, but her face was too pale.

She had no understanding of the powerful secret arts of Ba Mountain Sword Field, but when Zhao Miao’s lifebond sword was destroyed, she had also sensed the powerful energy conflict in the sky. She knew that only a few people in the Changling imperial palace could achieve such a thing.

At this time, she increasingly realized that the person who had arranged this situation was not as simple as to be one of the marquises or kings.

The secret arts of the Cloud Water Palace could let her stay for days in the water, and cause her presence to merge completely with ordinary water currents. Even if the realm eight Emperor Yuanwu came to the river surface right now, she had confidence she would not be discovered.

But the destruction of Fourth Mister Zhao’s lifebond sword caused her anxiety. She sensed that this situation was just the beginning.

When this kind of anxiousness rose, she no longer hesitated. She took out a crystal pill bottle from her sleeve, poured out the only blood red pill and placed it in her mouth.

A sickly red flush appeared on her face. The water current around her did not change but her figure within doubled in speed and became a white flow.

In less than half an hour, she was situated in a deeper region of water. An enormous white shadow appeared in the dark water and quickly came towards her.

This was an enormous white carp whose eyes flashed with intelligence. This was a friend that Bai Shanshui had met many years ago when she cultivated in the water. If she was meeting this white carp, she would ordinarily be extremely happy, but the moment she saw this white carp, she suddenly realized where her strong anxiety stemmed from.

“No!”

She let out a harsh scream in the water, a string of bubbles and sound exploding in front of her.

In this moment, the enormous white shadow froze abruptly in the water.

A circle of red spread along its head, dying the world before Bai Shanshui’s eyes and her eyes red.

“My generation likes learning the sword, reside by the cold pool for a decade … Kill the serpent, the blue water crimson for three months … Today, we fight Changling, tomorrow, we kill the Qin King? Haha, Bai Shanshui, you rampaged and sang in Changling but did not expect that you are just a homeless dog in the eyes of my dynasty and my king!”

A wild laugh exploded in this deep region of water. A figure dressed in ordinary grey robes held a long whisker of the white carp in one hand as he pulled the white carp’s head into his hand.

At the same time, a terrifying sword essence shot out of his right hand, the inky green sword light like an enormous seagrass that surged in front of Bai Shanshui.

The calm surface of the river suddenly exploded into an enormous water pillar more than thirty meters wide. Bai Shanshui was pushed out of the water by this blow.

“Lian Bo!”

Bai Shanshui was furious. With a scream, she held her green sword in her hand.

The grey figure also floated to the water surface. This was a middle-aged man holding an enormous inky green sword, clad in the most ordinary grey cloth robes. However, he also wore straight sword scar and the brand of a prisoner on his forehead.

The man threw the white carp’s head aside. He looked at Bai Shanshui and said emotionally, “After nineteen years, we finally meet again.”

Bai Shanshui laughed in rage. “As a person of the Wei, you became a marquis of the Qin, enjoying glory and riches. You actually remember former grudges, and your former sect?”

This powerful cultivator with a sword scar and a prisoner’s brand on his forehead was naturally one of the thirteen marquises of the Qin, Marquis Lian. While he had lands in Changling and also an establishment, he was usually stationed around the Xiong-Qiang area. He had great power among the vassal countries in that area, and was called a demi-king of the Qiang. But he had been secretly summoned back to Changling to appear in front of Bai Shanshui. From Bai Shanshui’s words, this Marquis Lian was from the Wei!

Lian Bo touched the scar on his forehead and laughed with grief. “If not for your Cloud Water Palace being so dominant and powerful in the past, and eliminating all the sects that opposed you, why would the Wei be unable to recover? Even if Wei could not avoid destruction, it would not have been destroyed this quickly. If we were to really argue about this, I do not know who the greatest culprit in the destruction of the Wei actually is. It has been many years since the destruction, and you still want to avenge the country. Why do you not think? Due to people like you, the Qin are not good towards the people of Wei. You want the people of Wei to live well, but you do not know that they do not live well, possibly, because of people like you.”

Bai Shanshui sneered disdainfully. “After being a dog for so many years, you think like a dog.”

Lian Bo narrowed his eyes and laughed. He said, “I fear the Wei King’s bones have rotted. There is no meaning in talking about this. I only remember that my sect was destroyed, my teachers and fellow disciples all dying under your sword.”

Bai Shanshui did not look at him. She only looked coldly at the sword in her hand and the carp blood spreading through the water. She said, “Your former relatives are all dead, but your present relatives in your marquessate establishment are many more than in the past.”

Lian Bo understood Bai Shanshui’s words. He took a deep breath and said, “So even if I die today, I will make you die here as well.”

Translator Ramblings: Volume two’s climax is now done. I’d say volume one and two were building up to this first part which ties together several important women and factions together in one battle.