"Impudence!"
Magistrate Zhou Yang's face darkened. The Phoenix Splendor Tree erupted with his aura, and in an instant, hundreds of branches stirred, each wielding a sword. They lashed out like the arms of a hundred-armed demon god, stabbing at Su Yan.
The blades danced through the air, fast and slow, impossibly fluid. The display was dizzying.
Su Yan had faced the giant god's swordplay before. That deity could control four swords at once—two in hand, two by spirit. Its blade work had nearly killed him, piercing his shoulder blade and leaving him half-dead.
But compared to Zhou Yang's Cosmic Demon-Slaying Sword, the giant's technique was child's play.
The Cosmic Sword unleashed over a hundred blades, each weaving through the air with different forms. It was like facing a hundred flying-sword gods at once, each wielding a unique style.
Had Su Yan never studied the blade, the first exchange would have severed his limbs and head, leaving his body riddled with holes.
He gripped the willow switch and stepped forward, using it as his sword. Instead of retreating, he charged straight into the sword array.
* * *
"Clink!"
His willow met the first blade. The moment the sword bounced away, sword light exploded from the switch's tip, shearing through the branch that held it.
Su Yan advanced another step, dodging a blade from behind. He flicked his wrist, knocking aside another sword. Sword qi swept past, and a second blade clattered to the ground.
More than twenty swords attacked from every direction. Su Yan was instantly in mortal danger. No matter how refined his technique, he didn't have three heads and six arms. He couldn't block them all.
Suddenly, the willow switch flew from his hand. It traced elegant arcs through the air, swift as arrows, severing the dancing branches one by one.
"Flying sword technique!" Zhou Yang's heart lurched.
In a heartbeat, thirty blades attacking Su Yan had been cut down. And as the boy moved, more and more swords fell.
Su Yan flipped through the air like a fish leaping the Dragon Gate, threading between the blades. The willow switch orbited him, and any sword that entered his range lost the branch holding it. Without those branches, the blades went wild and crashed to earth.
Ding-ding-dang-dang—the sound never stopped. When he landed, swords littered the ground behind him, every one cut free at the hilt.
Zhou Yang sneered. The fallen swords' hilts sank into the earth, and new branches sprouted at impossible speed, growing longer and more agile. They snatched up the blades and attacked Su Yan from behind.
"Su Yan, you have no idea how formidable the Zhou Clan's Cosmic Demon-Slaying Sword truly is! Even a demon king like you, even a full demon god fed on incense offerings, would fall to it!"
Su Yan landed only a few yards from Zhou Yang. He raised a finger. The willow switch shot forward with a whistle, speeding straight for Zhou Yang's face.
Zhou Yang roared: "Vajra Body!"
His body swelled rapidly, soon reaching twelve feet tall, golden light pouring from his skin. His hands grew massive, coated in a thin film of metallic qi. He met the willow switch head-on.
The moment his palm touched the switch, sword light blazed. With a hiss, the qi coating his palm tore open.
The willow pressed against his hand, and tremendous force erupted. Light rippled across Zhou Yang's palm like water.
At the same time, Su Yan broke through the encircling blades, grabbed the other end of the willow switch, and drove it forward like a sword thrust.
Zhou Yang bellowed, surging with power. Crack—the willow snapped through the middle finger bone of his palm and punched clean through the back of his hand. It flew free of Su Yan's grip and shot toward Zhou Yang's brow.
Zhou Yang scrambled back, throwing another punch that shattered the willow. But Su Yan snatched a fallen sword from the ground, flicked his fingers, and sent it screaming through the air. Sword qi exploded as it hurtled toward Zhou Yang.
Only then did Zhou Yang notice more than a dozen swords hovering behind Su Yan, orbiting the boy and deflecting every blade the Phoenix Splendor Tree sent at him.
These swords weren't magical treasures. They served whoever wielded them.
Zhou Yang tried to grab the incoming blade with his bare hand. Pain lanced through his palm—his five fingers flew off.
He channeled his Mud Pill Secret, and the severed fingers regrew. But in that instant, Su Yan punched him. Behind the boy, the Elephant King manifestation surged, divine power erupting.
Zhou Yang's head snapped back. His massive body lifted into the air and flew backward.
"Dog of an official! When you fed on the people of Lingling, did you ever think this day would come?"
Su Yan ran forward like a sacred elephant crossing a river. Every footfall shattered the ground. Swords streaked out behind him like meteors, carrying dragon-elephant force, driving toward Zhou Yang.
Zhou Yang panicked and roared: "Help me, now!"
Swords reached him. He threw up his hands, barely blocking three—when Su Yan spun and kicked him in the face.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Zhou Yang tumbled and crashed into the forest. Sword light chased after him, qi erupting, shearing through tree after tree.
Lingling County clerks rushed forward, shouting: "Criminal, halt your rampage!"
Before the words finished, green light flashed. A willow switch pierced through a man's skull.
That green light moved like a serpent through the air, impossibly fast. The remaining twelve clerks hastily channeled their nuo techniques. Green vines whipped through the air, trying to block it.
The green light whistled past, and vines exploded wherever it went.
Suddenly, one clerk's head jerked to the side. The light punched through his left temple and out the right. The vines around him went wild, thrashing like maddened snakes, until his brain died and they collapsed.
A clerk in green robes heard movement to his left and turned—just as pain lanced through his back. The willow switch punched through his chest from behind.
His heart shattered from the sword qi surging through the switch. He spat blood and fell.
That green light was a death sentence. Soon it had swept through the forest, and the sharp whistling slowed. It drifted back to Su Yan, unhurried.
Behind him, massive green vines threaded through the forest, growing and writhing, then slowly withering and falling.
Beneath the vines lay the corpses of thirteen clerks.
Ahead, Zhou Yang hung against a cliff face, drenched in blood, pinned by four swords through his limbs.
He struggled and roared, trying to break free.
"Magistrate Zhou," Su Yan said, his violent aura calming. He looked at the pinned man with a level gaze. "I used to envy men like you."
Zhou Yang stopped struggling and laughed. "Su Yan, you want to be an official? Why didn't you say so? I'm a Zhou Clan scion. Arranging a post for you would be nothing."
His eyes flickered. The Phoenix Splendor Tree silently gathered the scattered swords, branches stirring—when a flash of sword light cut the tree down at the root.
Zhou Yang's face darkened. He dared not move again.
Su Yan thought back to his life in Jiangjia Village. "The gods only sit behind offering tables and inside shrines, accepting bows and incense, eating only twice a month on the first and fifteenth. They still have to answer prayers, regulate rain and wind, grant wishes. But officials like you draw imperial salaries, wear silk and fine food, and wherever you go, people kneel. You live better than gods. When I was small, you rode past in splendor, and I stood by the road, my face covered in mud thrown up by your horses' hooves. I envied you. I dreamed of being like you."
Zhou Yang quietly channeled his nuo technique and smiled. "It's not too late. The Zhou Clan has no grudge against you. We only saw your talent and meant to recruit you by force. Since it's a misunderstanding, why make enemies? The Zhou Clan can arrange a post for you."
Su Yan continued, "When I followed my godfather and grandfather catching snakes, I never slept well. I'd wake at night hearing officials drag people away, women screaming, children crying, old women climbing walls to escape. By day, I'd see officials ride into villages like bandits, looting everything. Back then, I had a dream. I wanted to be as imposing as an official."
Zhou Yang said, "You can be. Serve the Zhou Clan loyally, and we won't mistreat you."
"The next day," Su Yan said, "I saw a woman throw herself into a well, and a man hanging from his own doorway. That's when I realized being an official wasn't so wonderful."
Zhou Yang sighed. "I too often grieve for the people's hardships. Treacherous ministers hold power, and corruption spreads from above. Since you wish to reform these ills, you should become an official. With power, you could change the old and build anew, govern the people—wouldn't that fulfill your ambitions?"
Su Yan's face darkened. "Later, my grandfather was bitten by a snake and died of poison. My father—my godfather—took responsibility for me. He wasn't my blood, but he cared for me well. He worked himself to the bone for years, saved a little silver, and bought two mu of land. He told me, A-Yan, stop catching snakes. You'll die by a snake's fang one day. He said, farm the land instead. The day after he bought it, the officials came to collect the green-crop tax."
Su Yan's mouth twitched. He fell silent, then said, "He had no money. They took the land and sold it to Landlord Jiang."
Zhou Yang frowned slightly. "Paying taxes is the law of the land. That has nothing to do with Lingling's clerks."
"My godfather cried for a long time. He said the money for that land was bought with my grandfather's life, that he was saving it for me to marry. He said he had failed me, failed my grandfather, and he would earn it back. He went into the mountains to catch exotic snakes. He didn't come back for days. I found him dead, poisoned. Even the yao wouldn't eat him. I carried him back and buried him with my grandfather."
Zhou Yang said, "With such a tragic past, you should join the Zhou Clan. As an official, you could prevent more people from suffering as you did."
"You misunderstand, Magistrate Zhou. I didn't tell you all this to beg for pity or a post."
Su Yan lifted his head. His eyes met Zhou Yang's, and he spoke softly. "The villagers told me that those who die unjustly become vengeful ghosts. And my good friend Yuan Qi told me that explaining yourself to a corpse is a waste of breath."
The willow switch drifted up from behind him.
"So I'm explaining why I'm killing you—before I kill you."
Su Yan turned. The willow switch shot forward like a green rainbow and punched through Zhou Yang's brow.
Wuwang—sincerity of the utmost degree.
To be without delusion is to be sincere in heart.
Su Yan acted with sincerity and swiftness. He had said he would let Zhou Yang die with understanding, and he did.
Zhou Yang's eyes bulged. He let out a thunderous roar, dying with his eyes wide open.
Su Yan glanced back at his expression and shook his head. "The villagers probably lied. I explained everything so clearly, and he still died unsatisfied. Next time, I'll kill first and explain after. Much safer."
Then the great bell floated out from behind Su Yan's head. "A-Yan, do you know why your strength has grown so fast, why you could cut down so many nuo masters so quickly?"
Su Yan didn't understand.
"Because you are a qi cultivator."
The bell's voice was low and distant. "Your Qi-Gathering stage has reached the absolute peak. You can see the inner barrier within your body, about to knock on the gate and open the River of Heaven. Once you take that step and grasp true arts, you will be a true qi cultivator."
"Once you take that step, you will walk a path different from all others."