Qin Shi: I went astray in the Heavenly Sect

Chapter 149 Handan Strikes, The Second Sword

Handan City, Yuhua Pavilion.

General Li Mu held a bronze sword upright in front of him with his right hand. His aura rose and fell like the tide, followed by a wave of energy that rippled outwards.

As the art of war says, "The strategy of warfare is to avoid the strong and attack the weak."

As a great general who had fought on many battlefields, he had a profound understanding of military strategy. After entering the Grandmaster realm, he learned many techniques from military strategy.

The methods we use today are derived from military strategy.

By utilizing the fluctuations of true energy, combining the real and the illusory, it is enough to force out enemies hiding nearby.

Previously, Ni Chang used a secret technique to become invisible, which was very troublesome. If this secret technique is not broken, he will be at a great disadvantage in the upcoming battle.

In a corner of the room, Ni Chang noticed that the tables and chairs in the room had started to shake, and her expression changed.

Although she didn't know exactly what methods Li Mu was using, she was very clear about one thing: if she let him continue like this, she would definitely be exposed.

Before long, Ni Chang suddenly felt a strange force coming towards her, intermittent but continuous, like waves, one after another, and the nearby objects began to vibrate.

"shock?"

Ni Chang frowned slightly, then seemed to realize something, and her heart tightened suddenly.

Before she could take any action, a murderous intent had already arrived.

"Got you!"

A chilling voice reached her ears.

"Whoosh!!"

Immediately following was a whooshing sound, and Ni Chang felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end.

"Locked up!!"

Li Mu swung the bronze longsword in his hand and then rushed over.

Military strategists, who traverse the battlefield, mostly possess external martial arts skills, and a master like Li Mu has already reached the pinnacle of such skills.

Just like the great general Ji Wuye of Korea, who possessed superb martial arts skills, even if Mo Ya attacked with all his might, he could not break through his defenses.

The person in front of us is far superior to Ji Wuye in terms of cultivation level, and far more difficult to deal with than that great general from Korea.

Without time to think, Ni Chang drew her sword to block, but the force transmitted through the sword made her expression change again.

"Crack!"

Hearing the constant sounds around her, Ni Chang raised an eyebrow. In front of Li Mu, a grandmaster, the Jade Flower Pavilion beneath her feet was already beginning to crumble.

"Look, there are people up there!!"

Suddenly, a commotion arose downstairs.

Out of the corner of her eye, Ni Chang saw several groups of people appearing on the street. These people were none other than the Imperial Guards of Handan City.

“Can’t delay any longer!!”

Ni Chang's heart tightened. Li Mu, this grandmaster, was different from other grandmasters. Once he had soldiers under his command, his combat power would be greatly enhanced.

"A master of military strategy, truly troublesome."

Then, Ni Chang's internal energy began to surge violently. As one of the Eight Swords of Yue, Jing Ni was not only exceptionally skilled in forging and of superior quality, but it could also greatly enhance the strength of sword energy in battle.

As Ni Chang's true energy was injected, the Jing Ni Sword began to hum, and a red light flashed on its blade, directly deflecting the bronze sword that Li Mu had thrown at it.

Seeing the general who had already reached her, Ni Chang's eyes sharpened. Jing Ni slashed through the void, her sword light blazing, and several sword energies shot out in succession.

Li Mu's expression changed. He seemed not to have expected that the person in front of him could turn defense into offense in such a short time.

Then, with a stomp of his foot, he did a somersault, dodging the first two sword energies while catching the bronze longsword that Ni Chang had deflected.

"Ding!!"

Li Mu held his sword horizontally in front of him, using the blade to block several sword energies that followed. However, it was not an easy task for him to block these sword strikes.

He was pushed several feet away by these sword energies.

"The power of the sword energy has increased??"

Li Mu narrowed his eyes. Judging from the exchange just now, the opponent's strength was below his own, so the opponent had never confronted him head-on.

But those few sword strikes were powerful enough to make him take them seriously.

"Crack!!"

Then two more voices reached their ears. The two swords that Ni Chang had unleashed continued their momentum, splitting open the window of the Jade Flower Pavilion and rushing directly into the night.

Under the firelight, the pink sword energy was quite dazzling. When Wang Shan and Wang Hu, the commanders of the Imperial Guards who had arrived at the foot of the Jade Flower Pavilion, saw the two sword energies, their expressions changed slightly.

"He's at the Grandmaster level!"

Wang Hu, being knowledgeable and experienced, immediately guessed the level of the person who wielded the sword.

Upon hearing Wang Hu's words, Wang Shan frowned. In the entire Zhao Kingdom, there is only one Grandmaster, General Li Mu. If the person who made the move in the Jade Flower Pavilion is a Grandmaster, then who is the person who fought against him?

"good!!"

Suddenly, a voice came from the burning Jade Flower Pavilion, and the rough tone made Wang Hu and Wang Shan's faces darken.

This voice was all too familiar to the soldiers of Zhao; it was the voice of Li Mu, the great general of Zhao.

"Father, is he a great general??"

When Wang Shan approached Wang Hu, his voice was tinged with nervousness. Li Mu had been ordered to go to the northern border to suppress the Xiongnu, but now, without the king's permission, Li Mu had returned on his own. If the king were to blame him, Li Mu would be in a difficult position to explain himself.

Wang Hu stared at the top floor of the Jade Flower Pavilion, where sword energy was flying wildly, his eyes flickering uncertainly.

Although he wasn't at the very center of the battle, judging from the flashes of swords and the aura of the blades, his opponent was no ordinary person. If Li Mu hadn't been there, probably no one would have been able to stop him.

"Perhaps the general has other plans; capturing the thief is the top priority right now."

At the same time, the Prime Minister's residence also received the news.

Looking at the intelligence in his hand, Guo Kai narrowed his eyes. The Jade Flower Pavilion was on fire, and it was suspected that two Grandmaster-level combatants were fighting.

The moment Guo Kai saw the intelligence, a thousand thoughts raced through his mind. The first person he thought of was Jing Ni, the top-level assassin of the Luo Wang organization hidden in Handan, whose cultivation level was Grandmaster.

As for the other person, he now had a somewhat uncertain candidate—General Li Mu. He had already received news that Li Mu had left the northern border and was very likely to have returned to Handan City.

What intrigued him was why Jing Ni went to the Jade Flower Pavilion, and why Li Mu was there.

"Could it be?" Guo Kai's eyes flickered, and a bad thought rose in his mind. Grandmasters were not common in various countries. If the Grandmaster who appeared in Handan City was the same person from beginning to end, what did this mean? In other words, if the three top experts of the Sun-Shielding Sect and the Azure Dragon Gang were all the work of this Heavenly-level assassin from the Luo Net, what did the Qin Kingdom mean by this?
Stirring up conflicts between the courts of various countries and causing them to kill each other is the consistent style of Luo Wang, and Guo Kai has long been accustomed to this.

But there was one thing he felt was a problem: Jing Ni had been in Handan for several years, not just a few days. If the other party had planned this all along, why hadn't they carried it out before, and why were they launching an attack now?

Standing by the window, gazing at the dark night, the Prime Minister of Zhao found it difficult to grasp the complexities involved.

However, there was one thing he could guess: Jing Ni's appearance at Yu Hua Ge was probably because the top courtesan there wouldn't allow her to enter the palace.

"Looks like there's going to be some excitement tonight!"

Guo Kai sighed softly, then summoned his men. With such an incident in Handan, the King of Zhao in the palace was probably awake. This time, he wanted to see how Li Mu would explain things to the king.

"Men, prepare the horses!!"

Upon hearing this, the butler jogged over, looking puzzled.

"Is the master going out tonight?"

Guo Kai casually tossed the secret report in his hand to the steward and chuckled.

"It's not that I'm going out, but that His Majesty will be summoning me soon."

With such an incident occurring in Handan, besides the Imperial Guards maintaining security in Handan, the Prime Minister himself will likely have to intervene, and of course, the eldest son will also be present.

"Is there such a thing?"

After reading the secret report, the steward was taken aback. As Guo Kai's confidant, this steward knew quite a lot. On the contrary, Guo Kai had arranged many things through him.

"Two Grandmasters, when did Handan City become so lively?"

Guo Kai put his hands behind his back, a cold glint in his eyes. If things were really as he thought, then he would have to be on guard against Jing Ni. Looking back now, the task he had assigned to Mu Xue was indeed necessary. If a Grandmaster lost control of himself, the entire Prime Minister's residence would probably turn into a battlefield.

"Sir, should we send someone?"

After a moment's hesitation, the butler asked again.

Guo Kai pondered for a moment, then shook his head.

He had already planted spies in the Jade Flower Pavilion, otherwise the intelligence wouldn't have been able to get back. And the situation in the Jade Flower Pavilion is not stable now. No one can be sure how the two grandmasters will end up.

He understood the principle that a wise man does not stand under a dangerous wall, so he didn't want to get involved in this mess again.

"Go ahead and make the arrangements! Let me know immediately if you get any further updates."

The butler bowed slightly, turned around, and left the study.

The scene shifts again to the Young Master's residence. After receiving the news, Young Master Jia rushed towards the Jade Flower Pavilion without stopping. Unlike Guo Kai, this was ultimately his property, and the fact that a major battle had taken place here made him nervous.

The fifth floor of Yuhua Pavilion.

Ni Chang looked at the man in front of her and tightened her grip on the long sword. After several fierce exchanges, she also had several wounds on her body.

Several cuts were visible in the black armor in front of him, and his arms and wrists were covered with wounds of varying severity, with blood flowing down his arms.

The clash between Grandmasters was not as simple as it seemed. Li Mu was exceptional in both his realm and experience in combat, and in this exchange, she did not gain any advantage over him.

Of course, she also inflicted considerable injuries on her opponent, after all, this general was more suited to battlefield combat than individual fighting.

The fire grew larger and larger, and now only the two of them remained alive in the entire Jade Flower Pavilion; the other girls in the pavilion had long since fled at the first sign of trouble.

"Surrender and I might leave you a whole corpse!"

Li Muhu's eyes widened slightly, his blood and qi surged, and his true energy erupted like a volcano. After a fierce battle, this man who had dominated the battlefield was about to reach the peak of his power.

Ni Chang's lips twitched.

If it were anyone else, their strength would have been greatly reduced after suffering such injuries. They would never be as energetic and vigorous as this opponent, whose momentum not only remained unaffected but also grew stronger with each battle.

"Does the general really think victory is assured?"

Ni Chang stared intently at the person in front of her, then gave a cold laugh.

Li Mu gave a soft snort.

"The area downstairs is already surrounded by the Imperial Guards. Do you think you have any way to escape?"

Upon hearing this, Ni Chang ran her hand along the blade of the Jingni Sword and sighed softly.

"I'm not talking about them, but about the battle between you and me. It's undeniable that the general's skill level is indeed above mine, but there's one question: how long can the general's sword last?"

Upon hearing this, Li Mu's face darkened.

The man before him was right. The bronze longsword in his hand was just a sword he had casually picked up when he was in the Northern Territory. Compared to the Jingni sword, it was indeed far inferior.

Even with the enhancement of his own true energy, the blade of this bronze longsword was still covered with countless nicks and punctures.

"You're right, my weapon is indeed at its limit. However, there's one thing you might be mistaken about."

Through the mask, Ni Chang's gaze swept over coldly. She continued with a hint of amusement, "Oh? I guessed wrong? Even now, General, are you still going to deceive yourself?"

Li Mu reached out and ran his hand along the bronze longsword in his hand, as if he were caressing his lover. He had seen countless such weapons pass through his hands in battle, and he had experienced them being chipped, dulled, and even broken. So he was not really concerned about the current situation.

"Do you think I have truly given it my all?"

Li Mu's words came again, and at the same time, an extremely fierce aura surged from his body. Sensing this aura, Ni Chang suddenly felt a sense of foreboding.

The battlefield is different from other places. Without the courage to die for your cause, how can you survive in the fighting? The strongest part of an army is its military spirit. Li Mu has commanded troops for many years and has experienced no less than a hundred battles, large and small, from eliminating bandits to wars between countries. If he stops moving forward for one reason or another, he will never achieve the Grandmaster realm.

"Warm-up complete. Now, let me give you a piece of advice: if you don't have any other killing moves, you can die right now!!"

The next instant, Ni Chang felt a chill in her heart as an immense pressure locked onto her. She instinctively shook her head and looked down, only to see a plume of bloody smoke suddenly appear behind the person in front of her, soaring into the sky.

Then Li Mu's figure disappeared from her sight, a speed that made Ni Chang's pupils shrink.

Before her gaze could follow the general, Ni Chang instinctively raised the Jingni sword in her hand to block above her head. Her instincts, honed through life and death, saved her like a wild beast. With a clang, Li Mu appeared in front of her, and the bronze sword was now right above her head.

"Can it be blocked?"

Just as Ni Chang was about to breathe a sigh of relief, she heard Li Mu's voice again.

Before Ni Chang could react to what the other person meant, a burst of sword energy suddenly erupted.

This time, the sword energy was like a rainbow, several times stronger than before. Even the sword energy she enhanced with the Jingni Sword was far less exaggerated.

Outside, a buzzing sound reached the ears of all the Imperial Guards present. To everyone's astonishment, the Jade Flower Pavilion was cleaved open by a single sword strike.

Ni Chang felt her body go out of control and was smashed down from the fifth floor by the sword. Seeing her opponent's uncontrollable figure, Li Mu followed like an eagle swooping down to attack.

"The second sword!!"

(End of this chapter)