A journey through the world of martial arts

Chapter 421 The Fall
"who!"

Tiger Swordsman dodged the darts from the shadows, landed on his back, and gave Li You a fierce look. Then he scanned his surroundings and finally noticed something was wrong in a corner that was not illuminated by candlelight.

With a "ding," Tiger Swordsman swiftly fired a hidden weapon in that direction, only to see a black shadow flash by. The hidden weapon landed in empty air, and the black shadow floated down onto the candlestick. The pair of dark eyes under the mask made Tiger Swordsman's heart tremble.

"Cloud-Piercing Flowing Wind Step, you're from Eagle Fortress." Tiger Swordsman said coldly, revealing the man's origins.

Upon hearing this, Li You's eyes lit up. However, before he could even step forward to strike up a conversation, Tiger Swordsman's figure darted forward, his long sword sweeping across the room. Sharp sword energy flew continuously in the enclosed stone chamber. Li You, who was severely injured at the moment, could not even swing his sword to block. The masked man was also the focus of Tiger Swordsman's attention. The Dragon Riding Slash directly blocked his retreat, forcing him to face the enemy head-on.

"If even a Tiger Swordsman possesses such skill, the foundation of Sword Forging City is truly beyond imagination."

Liao Rushen's expression hardened as he watched the fierce sword energy rushing towards him. He gathered his strength in both palms, neither dodging nor avoiding, and pushed forward directly. A blue tornado roared out and collided with the dragon-riding sword energy. Instantly, red and blue light flickered, and the surrounding objects were torn apart by the strong wind. The candlelight paused for a moment, and then went out at the same time, plunging the stone chamber into darkness.

"Go quickly!"

Liao Rushen blocked Tiger Sword Envoy's killing move with one move, not daring to entangle with him for too long. He took the opportunity to get to Li You's side, grabbed him, and led him straight to the only exit. But just as the two were about to step into the exit, two more sword lights suddenly shot towards them. Liao Rushen's face immediately turned ugly when he saw this. He flicked his sleeve and two more gusts of wind swept away the sword lights. But this delay slowed down his movements. Looking at the two familiar figures blocking his way, Li You couldn't help but feel a chill in his heart.

"The Phoenix Sword Envoy and the Qilin Sword Envoy, two of the Four Great Sword Envoys, the Sword Forging City actually sent three sword envoys to deal with me. It seems that I have quite a lot of influence."

The stone chamber was bright again, and Liao Rushen looked at the man and woman walking towards him with a gloomy expression.

The Phoenix Swordswoman was a woman in a tight-fitting red outfit with a delicate appearance and sharp eyes. She held a long, narrow sword with a red ribbon hanging from its end.

The Sword Master was a handsome man with a refined appearance and tall stature, dressed in a golden military uniform. His eyes were clear and bright as he looked at the masked Liao Rushen. He said in a deep voice, "Since the Lord of Azure Eagle Fortress has come in person, Sword Forging City should welcome him with the utmost courtesy. Since we are here tonight, the rest of you may stay here."

As soon as the Sword Master Lin finished speaking, a fierce gust of wind suddenly came from behind the two of them, Li You. He turned around and was horrified to find that the Sword Master Hu was attacking again. The Dragon Riding Slash, which was even more ferocious than before, was coming straight at him with the force of a thousand pounds.

At the same time, Liao Rushen felt a sharp pain between his eyebrows, and his expression changed drastically. He hurriedly dodged to the side and saw a thin sword flying towards him. The dense sword energy on the sword condensed into a single point and, as easily as cutting tofu, instantly pierced into the hard stone wall. Before Liao Rushen and his companion could take a closer look, the scorching palm wind in front and the dense sword energy behind attacked together, intending to kill the two of them.

Seeing this, Liao Rushen hurriedly tried to move around, but after changing his steps several times, he still couldn't escape the predicament. Not only that, with each step he took, the dense sword energy and fierce palm wind filled the gaps, constantly shrinking his room to maneuver. If this continued, he would be trapped and killed in no time.

Thinking of this, Liao Rushen looked coldly at Li You, who was struggling to defend himself. He made a decision and silently came to Li You's side. Under the other's incredulous expression, Li You felt a blackout and immediately lost consciousness.

With a "bang," Liao Rushen injected a stream of true energy into Li You's corpse, then flung it towards the two Phoenix Sword Envoys. At the same time, he activated his protective aura and hid behind the corpse as he sprinted forward.

Li You's corpse was unprotected. As it was thrown forward, it was enveloped by the palm wind and engulfed in flames. With the dense sword energy constantly shooting out holes, the flames intensified. Just when Li You's corpse was less than half a zhang away from the Phoenix Sword Envoy and the Qilin Sword Envoy, the Tiger Sword Envoy immediately cried out in alarm.

"Hide!"

Upon hearing this, the Phoenix Sword Envoy and the Qilin Sword Envoy exchanged a glance. Instead of dodging, they joined forces with their swords and slashed forward with all their might. A magnificent sword light flashed by, and Li You's corpse, which was about to explode, was instantly cut in two. The mangled flesh was annihilated by the force before it even hit the ground.

Meanwhile, Liao Rushen, who was hiding behind the corpse, felt a sense of alarm the moment the sword light struck. Without thinking, he created a fake body and, taking advantage of the gap when the corpse was cut open, rushed past the defenses of the two swordsmen and ran directly out of the exit. The swordsman Hu sighed as he watched the fleeing figure.

“Killing these people is nothing. If we could keep Ru Shen alive, that would be wonderful.”

Hearing Tiger Swordsman's words, Phoenix Swordsman said nothing, but the constant buzzing of her thin sword clearly made her unhappy as well.

"Our mission is to kill the rest of them. As for experts like Liao Rushen, the young city lord and the Dragon Sword Master will handle them."

The swordsman sheathed his sword, looked at the mess in the stone chamber, and said to the two of them, "Let's clean this place up first."

After escaping the clutches of the three, Liao Rushen arrived at a stone chamber. The chamber was empty except for a stone bed and a bronze lamp. Liao Rushen glanced around, sneered, and went to the bronze lamp. He blew out the candle, turned the lamp, and with a crack, a hole appeared in the floor of the chamber, big enough for one person to fit through. Liao Rushen's face lit up with joy. Then, as if he had thought of something, he first threw several luminous pearls inside. He pricked up his ears, heard no other sound, and then ducked down and jumped inside.

As soon as Liao Rushen entered, the ground immediately returned to normal, and the bronze lamp was relit. In the flickering candlelight, a figure flashed by.

On the other side, at the bottom of the icy pool, Wei Guang saw a hexagonal altar in front of him, its surface shimmering with spiritual light. A crimson beam of light emanated from the top of the altar and spread outwards to the bottom of the pool. The water was warmer the closer one got to the altar. Wei Guang noticed the unusual phenomenon and immediately floated over to this side.

"This place must have been created by the Sword Forging City suppressing the Cold Pool. If we can destroy this place, we may be able to find a way out."

Wei Guang knew that this cold pool must have a spring, otherwise such a large lake could not have formed in this volcano. Thinking of this, Wei Guang swam forward with all his might. Just as he was about to approach the altar, he saw the water suddenly surge, and torrents rushed over. Wei Guang's expression changed drastically when he saw this. He had already exhausted a lot of his true energy and was underwater, so he could not exert 70% of his full strength.

Without time to think, Wei Guang hurriedly activated his protective shield to block the impact of the water flow. He was hit by three torrents in succession, causing the shield to flicker and even twist and deform. Wei Guang, who was inside, was in great pain, his whole body was being squeezed back and forth, as if he wanted to be crushed into a lump of rotten flesh.

"No, if this continues, I'll be crushed into a pulp."

Looking at the cracked air shield, Wei Guang took a deep breath and immediately channeled his true energy, using the last bit of force to rush to the edge of the altar. Just as his hands gripped the edge of the altar, the air shield suddenly shattered, and a surge of hot and cold energy instantly enveloped Wei Guang. He was startled and quickly leaped upwards, swimming directly onto the altar.

Upon reaching the altar, Wei Guang saw that the source of the red beam of light was actually a hexagonal crystal floating in mid-air. Wei Guang's pupils constricted slightly, and he reached out to grab the crystal. However, at that moment, Wei Guang suddenly felt a daze. When he opened his eyes, he found himself standing in the middle of the altar, and the crystal had disappeared. Wei Guang thought to himself, "This is bad," and was about to turn and leave when he felt a chill beneath his feet. Looking down, he saw that a layer of ice had appeared out of thin air and was spreading towards his body at a visible speed.

"We've fallen into their trap!" Wei Guang glanced around and realized that all the Dharma Platform Crystals had vanished, leaving only a bone-chilling cold.

"Illusion array."

After uttering those two words, the water surged, instantly freezing Wei Guang into an ice sculpture. He was then swept into the bottom of the water and disappeared in the blink of an eye.

On the other side, Liao Rushen entered the secret cave and, using the light of the luminous pearl, cautiously walked forward until he arrived at a hall filled with all kinds of longswords. The walls of the hall were covered with sword marks of varying depths.

Liao Rushen was increasingly alarmed as he looked at the sword mark. It appeared to be at least fifty or sixty years old, yet the residual sword energy on it had not completely dissipated.

"This place should be where the weapons of the ancestors of Sword Forging City are stored, but why is it so simple?"

Liao Rushen only glanced at it casually. He didn't dare to touch the longswords lightly. After looking at the surrounding formation and calculating for a moment, he finally determined that the formation set up here should be a formation that gathers true essence from all directions, drawing on the spirit of the volcano to keep the longswords here from being destroyed.

"This formation is quite interesting, but it has been around for too long and its power has dissipated considerably. This has given me an opportunity. The gate of life is in the east. Heh, I wonder what kind of expression the Sword Master will have if he finds out that this place has been destroyed."

Liao Rushen sneered, then stepped onto the Seven Stars formation, and with a flash of cold light in his hand, three darts landed in a triangular pattern on a stone wall on the east side. With a loud boom, the longswords in the hall hummed incessantly, and sharp sword energy quickly filled the entire hall. Liao Rushen's expression remained unchanged, and a black and white aura appeared around him, deflecting the sword energy that struck it.

The formation was forcibly activated. Liao Rushen immediately followed the method of breaking the formation, blocking the sword energy attack while throwing a small seven-star flag towards the gate of life. The seven-star flag landed right in the middle of the three darts. With a surge of true energy, a flash of spiritual light appeared on it, and three blue rays of light instantly poured into the three darts. With a crack, the three darts merged into the stone wall like water, and three fist-sized holes were immediately melted into the stone wall, which continued to expand, gradually becoming one hole.

"It's now."

A glint flashed in Liao Rushen's eyes, and his figure moved instantly. Despite the attacking sword energy, he struck the hole with his palm. With a loud bang, the stone wall was instantly destroyed, revealing a relatively wide passage. At the same time the stone wall was destroyed, all the longswords in the hall stopped humming, and the sword energy dissipated. Liao Rushen exhaled a breath of turbid air, drew the feather fan from his waist, and walked calmly towards the outer room.

"That's all."

Liao Rushen snorted coldly, calculated again with his fingers, and confirmed that this passage was the way out. He immediately used his lightness skill, and in less than half a moment, Liao Rushen felt a fresh breeze coming from the wind. A look of joy flashed across his face.

"You're a genius, where do you think you're going!"

A delicate shout rang out, and at the same time, two sword lights shot out rapidly. Upon hearing this, Liao Rushen was immediately startled and turned around to see two figures flying gracefully towards him. The one in front was Jian Xiong, followed by Long Jianshi.

"The junior is rude."

Liao Rushen snorted coldly, and with a light wave of his feather fan, a blue gale swept out, swallowing up the two sword lights. The expressions of Jian Xiong and Long Jianshi became slightly solemn.

"Heh, trespassing into my forbidden area in the dead of night is not the way a senior should do. You have broken the rules of my Sword Forging City, and anyone who does so will have to pay the price."

Jian Xiong's figure flew gracefully, the Bloodstained Sword in his hand radiating a blazing crimson light. With the Dragon Riding Sword Qi enhanced by this sword, it gained even more majesty. With a dragon's roar, a blazing fire dragon composed of sword qi surged and pounced towards Ru Shen.

At the same time, the Dragon Sword Master unleashed the Dragon Riding Slash, and streaks of crimson sword light rained down on Ru Shen. Upon seeing this, Ru Shen's expression turned solemn. Although these two posed no threat to him, he knew he couldn't defeat them within three to five moves. The commotion here was too great and would inevitably attract the attention of the Sword Master and others.

With this thought in mind, Liao Rushen did not want to fight the two. Instantly, his figure transformed into two figures, each facing the two's killing moves. He then took the opportunity to turn around and run down the mountain.

With two soft hissing sounds, Liao Rushen's two phantom images were instantly annihilated. Jianxiong looked at Liao Rushen, who had already gone far away, and called out to Long Jianshi. The two of them immediately chased after Rushen.

Upon noticing the voice behind him, Liao Rushen's expression turned grim. This Sword Forging City was truly impenetrable; the four who had broken into the cave were probably in grave danger.

"We didn't even manage to find the location of the Frost Sword on this trip. When we return, we'll inevitably incur Guan Yutian's wrath."

The thought of the mysterious and unpredictable Guan Yutian sent a chill down Liao Rushen's spine. Since returning to the Supreme Alliance, he had clearly felt that Guan Yutian's trust in him had diminished considerably, and he had no idea what had happened to him.

"These two are relentlessly pursuing us. Perhaps we could try to lure them to a place and capture them, using them as leverage."

Liao Rushen's mind raced. He glanced back at the two pursuers and made up his mind. He slowed down, closing the distance between them. Jianxiong and Longjianshi, who were following behind, exchanged a glance and then increased their speed instead of slowing down, rushing straight at Rushen. When they were only about ten feet away from Rushen, Longjianshi took out a silver iron ball, stimulated his true energy, and threw it at the sprinting Rushen. With the sound of a mechanism opening, the iron ball cracked open, releasing a fine silver net that covered Rushen as he fell.

"A thousand-threaded deadly net!"

Liao Rushen's expression changed several times. Then, he reacted quickly and threw a Crimson Thunder Pearl at the silver net. It exploded with a bang, knocking the silver net aside. However, the loud explosion also woke up most of the people.

"Walk."

As the candlelight gradually illuminated the city, Liao Rushen swiftly ran in another direction, quickly leaving Jian Xiong and the other man far behind. But before he could even catch his breath, a cold voice rang in his ears.

"You've got it all figured out! I've been waiting for you for a long time."

(End of this chapter)