Martial Arts Crossover: My Wife is the Top Scholar

Chapter 418 Breaking the Divine Spear (Long Chapter, Please Read On)
"Li Zhaoting, you're not invincible! This isn't the Central Plains; aren't you afraid of being surrounded and killed?"

Sun Jiang looked at Li Zhaoting in horror. It was rumored that Li Zhaoting had killed countless people, but he used the sword of righteousness to become the leader of the Heavenly Gang by upholding the divine sword of justice and defending the righteous path.

In other words, when disguised as Yan Beifei, Li Zhaoting used the Demonic Sect's secret sword technique, which was the swordsmanship he was least proficient in and most awkward with, yet he still easily broke through the One-Man Hall.

Such martial arts prowess is truly terrifying!
In fact, Sun Jiang misunderstood. The Nine Great Forms of Soul-Slaying were not only a demonic sword technique, but also a righteous path of fighting poison with poison, using evil to subdue evil, and achieving a positive result from two negatives.

Li Zhaoting not only didn't feel awkward using the Nine Great Soul-Slaying Techniques, but actually found it very enjoyable.

"I'm here to avenge Gongsun Xiaoniang! As for whether there's danger or not, what does that have to do with you? I just want to send you to hell to atone for your sins!"

"Li Zhaoting, you are too arrogant! My Divine Spear Society has thousands of disciples, do you think you can kill them all by yourself?"

"Sending you to hell is enough!"

"You... what right do you have to seek revenge! Who is Gongsun Xiaoniang to you? What is her relationship to you? So many people in the world have died unjustly, can you possibly care about them all?"
Let alone just one Li Zhaoting, even if there were dozens or hundreds of Li Zhaotings, could you manage them all?
You're just fucking trying to gain fame and fortune!

Knowing he was doomed, Sun Jiang angrily cursed Li Zhaoting, but Li Zhaoting calmly replied, "Have you finished your nonsense? If you have, you can die now!"

"Master, hand him over to me!"

Gongsun Lan stood in front, sword in hand: "Sun Jiang, I'm avenging my aunt, what else do you have to say?"

A glimmer of hope for survival flashed in Sun Jiang's eyes.

As long as we capture Gongsun Lan and use her to threaten Li Zhaoting, we can take the opportunity to escape. We can then threaten the head of the main hall, Sun Sandian, for help. With thousands of disciples swarming in and the assistance of the Sticky Rod Office, I don't believe we can't kill Li Zhaoting.

Li Zhaoting stepped aside to face Xi Xie directly.

"Do you remember our conversation just now?"

"remember."

Which dish would you like to be?

"I want to try them all!"

"As you are about to die, I will grant your wish!"

The Purple Star Soft Sword emitted an excited boom, just like when it killed Qiu Batian and Ye Erniang. Without Li Zhaoting having to exert any effort, it actively condensed a dazzling sword light.

No one dared to let Li Zhaoting make the first move.

Faced with the threat of the Purple Star Sword's light, Xi Xie could no longer remain calm. His hair stood on end, and he drew his sword to meet Li Zhaoting. His name was "Cai Xi Xie," but the sword he used was the Evil-Repelling Divine Sword, which was used to ward off evil spirits.

The sword was completely tainted by the evil spirit of Xixie, losing its original luster. Only the hilt and the three-inch blade remained. The latter half was added by Xixie himself. The scabbard could bend flexibly and looked like a poisonous snake.

Xi Xie himself is more vicious than a venomous snake and more evil than an evil sword. He has practiced a strange mental technique that allows him to blend into the surrounding scenery. Even with night vision, he cannot be seen in the dark.

It had no vital energy, no physical form, and even its spirit had vanished, leaving only a malevolent sword aura.

Xi Xie looked at Li Zhaoting smugly.

Li Zhaoting is the leader of the Heavenly Gang and a sacred swordsman, but the evil sword energy he has painstakingly cultivated for twenty years is an anomaly in the world, intolerable to heaven, earth, man, ghost, and god.

Xi Xie considered himself an anomaly, neither god, saint, immortal, Buddha, demon, ghost, nor monster. He was an anomaly among people, an anomaly among swords, and an anomaly in essence, energy, and spirit!
It's like placing a rook on a Go board, disrespecting neither the rules of the game nor the players. The rook rampages around, completely turning the board upside down.

Xi Xie is such an anomaly.

He fought over 500 battles, large and small, throughout his life, and faced 417 swordsmen. No one could withstand his evil sword, including Gongsun Yangmei, the most talented and brilliant swordsman in the Divine Spear Society and Sun Yaohong's dream lover!

Xi Xie discovered that the more sincere one is in the way of the sword, the more solid one's foundation, the easier it is to be misled by evil swords.

On the contrary, when facing martial arts techniques such as fists, feet, spears, halberds, and claws, one needs to use real skills to meet them head-on.

Facing the swordsman, Xi Xie had absolute confidence.

Confidence ends when Li Zhaoting draws his sword.

The Purple Rose Soft Sword traced a graceful yet poignant arc.

After more than twenty years of arduous cultivation, Xi Xie defeated 417 swordsmen with his evil sword energy, which Li Zhaoting easily transformed into his own. It was not like risking his life for his own, but more like a young girl throwing herself into her lover's arms.

The sinister, malevolent sword, which was not tolerated by heaven and earth and was specifically designed to target swordsmen, flowed into Li Zhaoting's sword energy like a hundred rivers flowing into the sea. It circled around the sword's edge and returned tenfold or a hundredfold, using the sword's own methods to retaliate tenfold.

The Nine Great Soul-Slaying Techniques: An Unforgivable Calamity!
The heavens unleash their murderous intent, and the seasons shift and the stars change;

The earth lurks with murderous intent; dragons and snakes rise from the land.

When a person harbors murderous intent, the world is turned upside down;

The killing intent of Heaven, Earth, and Man condensed at the sword's edge, and all the negative energy within the entire manor flowed into the Purple Star Soft Sword, using poison to fight poison, turning two negatives into a positive, transforming into a sword light that upholds righteousness, protects the Way, and wards off evil.

The innocent people who were dragged away by Xi Xie to be experimented on, the experimental subjects who were cruelly murdered, and all the evil hidden beneath the manor, all manifested themselves in this moment.

The area where sword energy forms.

Avici Hell!

The cycle of suffering and rebirth continues endlessly, time flows without end, life is without pause, and the physical form remains without separation. The pain is boundless, and one will never be able to be reborn. Even if Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva were to deliver one from suffering, one would still fall into darkness, endure immeasurable torment, and be unable to recover for countless eons!
Every muscle, bone, nerve, and cell in Xi Xie's body was struggling and screaming. The intense pain overwhelmed all of Xi Xie's reason. The false and hypocritical mask was peeled off by the sword energy, just like a snail without its shell or a hedgehog without its quills, revealing its fragile heart!
All the madness, distortion, insanity, and frenzy stem from inner weakness—weaker than a snail, more foul than mud. The things you once looked down upon and despised are now returning to you.

Xi Xie thought everyone else was stupid, that begging for mercy was weakness, that beauty should be destroyed, and that he was a demon who brought disaster to the world.

As the sword energy descended, Xi Xie finally realized that he was an overconfident mayfly, a frog in a well, a weak and incompetent good-for-nothing, a coward begging for mercy. He was not a demon; the one opposite him was the demon.

The evil that shines with the light of Buddha, the demon of great compassion.

Li Zhaoting's left hand landed on Xi Xie's head.

The Great Universe-Destroying Hand of Heaven and Earth!

Li Zhaoting didn't know the secret formula, but he had watched Li Shengnan use it a few times and learned some of the moves.

Xi Xie felt as if a demon was crawling out from under his skin, and his whole body ached and itched, as if a poisonous snake was shedding its skin.

The feeling was so intense.

It's so intense that you can't help but be drawn in!
"boom!"

Xi Xie was slammed heavily to the ground.

Li Zhaoting reached out and grabbed at Xi Xie's back with one claw.

This dish is called... Lamb Spine!

Next up is General Nian's stir-fried pork!
One sword, two swords, three swords, four swords...

Xi Xie didn't know how many swords he had been stabbed. He only knew that his body was unable to move, his mind was unusually clear, and his pain was amplified several times. He could only watch helplessly as the wronged ghosts and vengeful spirits he had tortured to death clung to his body and kept gnawing at him.

The sword's edge slowly dissipated.

The evil spirit transformed into a cloud of blood mist.

The Purple Rose Soft Sword returned to its sheath with satisfaction.

He said a lot, but in reality, it only lasted a few seconds. The pain that Xi Xie felt was mostly a mental illusion, the mind-controlling Nine Great Soul-Seizing Techniques, which returned to him in the mental realm what Xi Xie had done to others in the past.

The spiritual world is a thousand years in a second.

Cause and effect are reciprocated, and there is no way to recover from this after countless eons.

This move isn't very powerful and can only be used against specific opponents. If it were used on Li Zhaoting, Li Zhaoting would have a clear conscience and wouldn't be fooled by the illusion at all.

Only evil demons and heretics who have committed countless evils, killed many people, and whose hearts are twisted will wail in pain.

The original power of "Eternal Calamity" was ten, but when it hit Li Zhaoting, it was one, and when it hit Xi Xie, it was at least five hundred, and could possibly soar to one thousand.

……

Sun Jiang made his move.

Extremely fast.

Extreme speed.

Extremely frightening.

Sun Jiang knew that Xi Xie wouldn't last long and that he had to capture Gongsun Lan alive before Xi Xie died. Therefore, Sun Jiang's first move was a fatal one, with flames burning on the tip of his spear.

Sun Jiang's marksmanship was that of a "firearm".

On the battlefield, amidst mountains of corpses and seas of blood, sparks exploded one after another, and the fierce, crimson spear light streaked across the bright blue sky.

A sudden gust of wind arose, fanning the flames; the fire grew stronger with the wind, and anyone caught in its path would be doomed.

Gongsun Lan's ribbons were useless; she could only use a pair of short swords to fight Sun Jiang head-on. With each sword longer, Sun Jiang had an absolute advantage in weaponry.

Gongsun Lan gritted her teeth, thinking that if she continued to be protected by Li Zhaoting, even if she married him in the future, she would at most be a decorative vase. How much benefit could she gain? With Li Zhaoting's status in the underworld, how could he lack decorative vases?
Gongsun Lan's experience studying in the Demonic Sect taught her that you have to demonstrate the value you want to gain.

Ordinary disciples have one price, inner disciples have another, stewards have yet another, princesses of the Demonic Sect have a third, and saintesses have the highest price.

With so many prices, which one do you want to negotiate?
Gongsun Lan was confident that she could become a decorative vase, a concubine who would fawn over and curry favor. However, as a princess of the Demonic Sect, it would be a waste of her years of arduous cultivation to only be a decorative vase.

In the future, when Li Shengnan and Feng Suzhen compete for the emperor's favor, Gongsun Lan, as Li Shengnan's dowry, tries to gain prestige, but she can't even compete with Meizhu. She might be sold off!
Waste! Sell it all!

With this thought in mind, Gongsun Lan launched a fierce attack with her sword. She also knew the Nine Great Soul-Suppressing Techniques, but she was only proficient in the basics and familiar with the variations of the moves. She dared not absorb any negative energy.

Now, with Li Zhaoting's support, Gongsun Lan flicked out the ordinary iron sword that Li Zhaoting had used before, triggering the remaining sword intent. The iron sword shattered, and dozens of fragments, carrying blood-red sword light, shot towards Sun Jiang's vital points.

Sun Jiang originally intended to launch a fierce attack with his spear, but upon seeing the blood-red sword light shooting towards him, he mistakenly thought that Li Zhaoting was secretly helping Gongsun Lan. He subconsciously took a half step back, and with each step he retreated, he retreated further and further. Gongsun Lan then flicked her hand and released her two swords.

Gongsun Sword Dance!

Two ribbons bound the two swords as they launched their attack.

The two swords moved like dragons and phoenixes, overlapping like a pair of scissors, yin and yang in a cycle, combining strength and gentleness. In just a moment, the situation was completely reversed.

"Crack!"

The spear in Sun Jiang's hand was cut in half.

"Pfft!"

The short sword fell like a steel blade and axe, cleaving Sun Jiang in two from head to toe. Strangely, the blood that flowed from Sun Jiang was bluish-black, and as his life force dissipated, his body gradually dissolved. After the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, Sun Jiang turned into pus and blood.

Gongsun Lan rubbed her two swords together, generating sparks that burned away the pus and blood, preventing it from being dug up by villains.

Gongsun Lan remembered that there was an extremely insidious poison in the Manchu imperial palace called "corpse-dissolving powder". If you were exposed to even a tiny bit of it, your body would turn into pus.

Collect this pus, dry it in the sun, and sift and purify it to make brand new corpse-dissolving powder.

In other words, with just one bottle of corpse-dissolving powder, one can have a continuous and inexhaustible supply of it.

Of course, this is just a fantasy.

According to experiments conducted at the sticky rod site, a bottle of corpse-dissolving powder can be transformed a maximum of eight times. Under normal circumstances, it will lose its effect after five or six transformations. To ensure the highest level of efficacy, it can only be transformed a maximum of two times.

Li Zhaoting and Gongsun Lan exchanged a glance, and the two went to the warehouse to search for kerosene. This kerosene was prepared to destroy those experimental subjects, and there were as many as two hundred barrels of it.

The two men poured kerosene all over the courtyard and then set it on fire. The once-powerful one-man show was reduced to ruins in the flames, leaving not a single piece of paper behind.

The paper must be destroyed.

Li Zhaoting searched through everything with writing on it, including plaques, books, banknotes, account books, and even toilet paper. He poured kerosene on all items that could be used to record text and burned them clean from the inside out, leaving not even the bronze cauldron behind.

After doing all that, the two headed to the Black Forest.

The fire burned for two full days and two nights.

After the fire was extinguished, government officials came to inspect the ruins.

The authorities sent scouts to investigate, but all they found were charred bones and a courtyard reduced to ruins; nothing else remained, not even a blade of grass.

The commander of the Sticky Rod Office rolled his eyes and immediately went to find Sun Sandian, the head of the Divine Gun Society. "Others may not know, but you definitely do! If you want to stay in the Qing Dynasty, obediently hand over the secret, or we'll wipe out your entire family!"

Not long after the official left, the "Prince" sent people to inspect the ruins. Upon learning that all the items had been burned, he breathed a sigh of relief and stroked his white hair.

The throne is mine!
The throne will be mine sooner or later!
I am the true emperor!

The prince clenched his fists and looked up at the sky!
……

The Black Forest.

Iron Rust kidnapped Sun Yaohong for ten days.

One day, he had to deal with the relentless pursuit of the one-man rule.

To deliver a message in one day.

One day, a message requesting help was sent by carrier pigeon.

It took Li Zhaoting five days to travel.

It took a day to eliminate the one-man rule.

Today is the last day.

Sun Yaohong looked at herself by the river.

The water reflected a woman with tangled, messy hair, two bags of unshelled walnuts in front of her, tattered clothes, a face full of sorrow, and a withered, thin appearance.

Sun Yaohong didn't quite recognize herself.

Is this woman really Sun Yaohong, the one whose red sleeves fluttered like nightingales, whose lotus steps were intoxicatingly fragrant? How did I become like this? Am I really still alive?
Sun Yaohong subconsciously looked to the side.

A wild beast was lying under the big tree.

His body was riddled with holes and tattered, not a single muscle was not rotten, not a single organ was not deformed. Even a lizard was more presentable than him, and a toad was more intact than him. His whole body looked as if it was covered in rust.

Therefore, his name is Rust.

"Mountain Owl" rust!
Iron Rust lay sprawled under the tree, asleep, yet its teeth still made a grinding sound as if gnawing at the bone, and its right eye was wide open, the eyeball almost completely rolled back.

Only a touch of dark red remained, a bewitching dark red.

The rusty head was adorned with a red flower.

These are the only two emotions that rust evokes.

Back when the emperor had a one-man show, Sun Yaohong picked a flower for Tiexiu, who happily wore it until the flower withered. Then, Sun Yaohong played the sheng (a type of reed pipe instrument) by the window, and Tiexiu listened intently, just like Yu Boya and Zhong Ziqi.

Sun Yaohong never dreamed that after her beloved disappeared, the only confidante in the world would turn out to be a mad and bloodthirsty beast. With the help of this beast, Sun Yaohong left the one-man show and escaped to the Black Forest.

Rust, of course, was incapable of issuing a challenge.

The challenge was issued by Sun Yaohong.

Despite her nausea, Sun Yaohong leaned close to the ear of the critically injured and dying pursuer and repeated the same words over and over again.

"If you want to kill me, let Li Zhaoting come!"
—I'll wait for him here for ten days!

Sun Yaohong's original target was Tie Shou. Her lover, Gongsun Yangmei, had only one friend and one person he admired in his life, and that person was Tie Shou. In order to marry Sun Yaohong, Gongsun Yangmei worked for Sun Jiang. After listening to Sun Yaohong's advice, he risked his life to persuade Sun Jiang to stop.

Then, Gongsun Yangmei disappeared.

Before leaving, Gongsun Yangmei said that if there is one person in the world who can find out the truth about the one-man show, that person is Tie Shou; if there is one person in the world who can sweep away the evils of the one-man show, that person is Li Zhaoting!

—Yao Hong, if I don't come back, it means I was killed by Sun Jiang. Find a way to escape and spread the news. Whether to investigate or destroy the case is up to you. I'm willing to die for you!

After Gongsun Yangmei disappeared, Sun Yaohong saw another Gongsun Yangmei, but her girlish sensitivity made her notice the flaws and realize that the other person was definitely a fake.

Even if this imposter knows their secrets, knows about romance and is proficient in the "Raising Eyebrows Sword Technique," he is still an imposter, a walking corpse.

Gongsun Yangmei no longer exists.

Gongsun Xiaoniang is dead!

Sun Yaohong's best friend, Gongsun Yaohong, was tricked away by Xi Xie with lies and never returned.

The people around Sun Yaohong—her maids, her nannies, and even the cook who had said a few kind words to her—all mysteriously disappeared. She seemed to be a rich young lady, but in reality, she was worse off than a caged bird, living a life worse than death.

What kept Sun Yaohong alive was hatred!
Avenge Gongsun Yangmei!
To avenge my mother and best friend!

Avenge all those who died innocently!
Avenge myself!
Sun Yaohong was in a daze and fell into a deep sleep.

She dreamed of the flowers she planted, the grass she cultivated, the cats, dogs, and birds she kept. She dreamed of the breeze blowing, the leaves trembling, and the swing swaying. She heard a carefree and affectionate song. She dreamed of two emerald-feather-like eyebrows about to take flight, and a pair of affectionate eyes.

When Sun Yaohong woke up, she was no longer surrounded by a dark forest, but in a bright room, covered with a soft quilt and wearing a set of pajamas.

There was a steaming bowl of rice porridge on the table.

The dressing mirror was surrounded by rouge and face powder.

Fans, bamboo baskets, and cloaks hung on the wall.

"Am I...am I dreaming?"

"This is not a dream! You are saved!"

Gongsun Lan looked at Sun Yaohong tenderly.

"Cousin, I...I'm not..."

"I understand your concerns. My master destroyed the one-man rule, and I killed Sun Jiang!"

"Good riddance! He should have died long ago!"

A normal person would shed at least a few tears upon hearing that their father has died, but Sun Yaohong not only didn't shed any tears, but her face was full of joy, and she was so excited that she wanted to jump up.

The blood feud with his mother, lover, and sisters, as well as the humiliation of his entire life, all vanished with it.

"Cousin, where's the rust?"

“You know, Rust can’t go back! He doesn’t belong to this world, he belongs to that dark forest.”

"Rust...rust..."

Sun Yaohong let out a long sigh.

Rust is created by modifying normal people.

Who is that "normal person"?
Who could be excited by Sun Yaohong's flowers and understand her melodies after losing all reason? This question cannot be pondered too much; the more one thinks about it, the more painful it becomes.

"Cousin, you...you got married?"

"The cult leader made a bet with him and lost! I was defeated by the cult leader, what can I do? Just accept my fate!"

Gongsun Lan raised her eyebrows with a hint of smugness.

"Yao Hong, here, no one knows who you were in the past, and no one cares. You can live here in peace; everything is over."

“I left a diary in the room.”

"All the paper in the hall, and even everything that could be written on, was burned by the raging fire. The fire burned for two days and two nights, and all the records were destroyed."

"Thank you, cousin!"

“We are sisters, this is only natural.”

"What is my brother-in-law doing?"

"He went to eliminate any potential troubles."

"future trouble?"

“Yiguantang, Naweitang, and everyone involved in this matter will die by his sword.”

"Is your brother-in-law that amazing?"

"When punishing evil and upholding justice, he is a god of war!"

(End of this chapter)