Legend of Fu Yao

“Fuyao—run!”

It was said extremely softly, as though it were a ray of moonlight or a slight breeze, yet it struck Meng Fuyao with such suddenness.

Alarmed, she raised her blurry eyes, but the person had already brushed past her as though he were a gust of wind and disappeared into the depths of the little alley, leaving only a faint, familiar sound of breathing, carrying with it the taste of sunshine that she had felt before.

Meng Fuyao’s vision suddenly blacked out.

Following that, she noticed that the night was extremely hot and humid with the smell of impending rain, and a faint smell of smoke drifted in the air. The smell of the slightly moist smoke was heavily concentrated in the narrow alley, blocking their path like an iron board.

And as for the sky above her, she wasn’t sure when the faint yellow light of the moon disappeared.

Meng Fuyao got up suddenly.

She got up and immediately raised a leg and kicked Yao Xun out of the way. Yao Xun was not expecting the kick, and his long and thin body drifted out like a kite. Due to his exceptional Qinggong, he flipped his body in mid-air and crossed over the wall.

Yet, he wasn’t able to cross over the wall.

A flash of smoke appeared, and the sky darkened and brightened as a faint yellow smoke surrounded all four directions, coming down on them like a blanket from above.

“Shhh—”

Mist!

Had the darned old man recovered from his wounds already? He actually came to kill her in this dark alley without caring about his status!

A look of incredulity flashed past Meng Fuyao’s face—No matter how eccentric the top ten were, they at least all had some individuality and the air of a true master; this Mist was truly a disappointment to the top ten, he should be removed!

The haze became thicker and thicker, and she heard laughter within the mist, ear-piercing and eerie. Meng Fuyao knitted her brows together and cursed, “Which old pigeon is learning how to squawk like a chicken in the middle of the night, do you want to live or not?”

“Little girls will always be this fearless of death.” Mist’s cackling was as near and far as ever, “I was delayed by some miscellaneous duties recently. But today I especially took some time out to take your mongrel life, come on, be a sport, just kill yourself.”

“Sure.” Meng Fuyao wriggled her eyebrows and drunkenly flung a broken tile at him. “Be a sport, use this tile to smash your own head.”

“Hmph!”

The haze thickened and rose into the air, condensing into a spear and striking straight for her!

Whoosh!

A gust of wind as strong as a desert sandstorm filled the air, coming from below and above and simultaneously clamping down like an enormous blanket, mercilessly falling upon Meng Fuyao and her guards. The ‘blanket’ was humongous, covering a huge area around them and Meng Fuyao and her men were like ants, unable to escape in any direction.

However, Meng Fuyao did not try to escape either.

She suddenly raised her head and laughed strangely, her eyes glinting brilliantly, piercing through the smoke; where had the drunkenness from before gone?

“Old mongrel, you’ve been had!”

Before she finished her words, she suddenly landed a punch on the wall beside her. With a loud crack, the ‘bricks’ of the wall fell off completely, revealing a black iron sheet. She kicked it, and a deep hole suddenly appeared on the ground they were standing. Immediately, Meng Fuyao and her guards jumped down, followed by her laughter, “May this gentleman enter the tunnel!”

She reached into the pre-prepared pit and pulled a lever; instantly, with a loud rumbling noise, all the walls of the “alley” fell off, revealing iron sheets. Thereafter, following the contraption, the iron sheets quickly formed together, trapping Mist right in the middle!

Mist let out a blood-curdling roar.

“Shameless!”

Meng Fuyao smiled unabashedly and reached into the pit, retrieved the spear she had prepared beforehand and jumped out with her guards—this iron sheet could only trap Mist for an instant, time was of the essence!

Between the iron sheets, the smoke diminished, flashing intermittently; Mist could strike out at any moment!

Meng Fuyao stepped onto the far corner of the pit and leaped up. Halfway up, Tie Cheng gave a great shout from behind her and waved his spear as Meng Fuyao stepped against it, sending her up five feet into the air like a whirlwind. She handed atop the metal box and immediately plunged her spear through the iron sheet with lightning speed!

Yao Xun, Tie Cheng, and the other guards sprinted over as well and launched their swords forward in unison, piercing the steel box.

Mist roared angrily, and the steel box split open with a tremendous bang, splintering into a thousand black metal fragments in the night sky.

Whoosh!

A flash of white light appeared above them, and lightning streaked between the clouds like golden snakes dancing. The clouds seemed to tremble, and countless droplets of water began to fall, first gently, then getting heavier and more intense as the droplets were blown about by the wind, looking like crystals falling from the sky.

Black steel fragments were scattered on the entire ground, and under the rain, they glittered brilliantly. The water on the ground quickly flowed in all directions, and among the various streams of water, one of them was dyed a pale red.

Mist was standing there with a deep, bloody hole on his shoulder. His knee was bleeding as well, fresh blood spurting out and staining his yellow master’s robes crimson.

His face was pale as he stood there breathing heavily. Following his breaths, the smoke surrounding his face seemed to thicken and fade, and each time, the smoke seemed to become even denser when it reappeared. It was clear that having taken two blows from Meng Fuyao had truly angered him, and he was probably going all out to kill her now.

However, Meng Fuyao refused to give him a chance to strike back.

She laughed under her breath and with a flash of Destiny Rebellion, its blade flashing white under the moonlight, she lunged forward with great force.

Rise Wind, Ascension, Moon Soul!

After winning the final battle of the True Martial Arts Meet, this was the first time Meng Fuyao used her newly-honed skill of combining the powers of Gale, Moon Soul and Ascension in battle. She had been training diligently this period to get used to combining the three great inner energies. As such, there was no sound of the wind nor great light, yet the air around them had suddenly turned a bone-chilling cold, and she had become more than three times faster than the usual human limit.

Speed! The true power of combat lay in speed; in facing an opponent whose inner energy far exceeded one’s own, one had to be a shifting wind, everchanging, not giving one’s opponent a single chance to unleash his ability!

Meng Fuyao had turned into light and shadow, into the whirlwind that traveled thousands of miles, swirling around in all areas without limit, with only one target at its core—every evil deed that Mist had done!

Mist could no longer compare with her in terms of speed.

He was injured, and his movements were inhibited, the wound on his shoulder especially severe; it was Meng Fuyao’s lethal blow, and ordinary masters would have already been skewered by the spear, but more importantly, the tip of the spear contained poison! As for the four walls of the iron sheet surrounding Mist, they all sprayed poison!

Now, he was poisoned, injured and forced into a fight with Meng Fuyao.

Tie Cheng and the other guards rushed forward to aid her only to be met with her glare as she scolded them, “Damnit if I still need your help by now, I don’t need to live anymore!”

Out of the corner of her eye, high up on the roof of the opposite house, she noticed a person sitting there, his pale purple robes drifting lightly in the air. The person was even holding an umbrella lazily and on his knee squatted a certain white-furred lord. Both person and rodent were smiling down at her with no intention of moving.

It was the person that always let her go her own way yet always kept her within his vision.

Meng Fuyao smiled slightly and turned back to fight and kill without worry.

As for the two perched on the roof, they too watched as she fought and killed without worry.

Mist’s assassination attempt in the night had failed, and he was mentally exhausted. Adding on to getting injured and poisoned unexpectedly, he was physically exhausted. Now that he was facing the well-prepared and ruthless Meng Fuyao, he was running out of energy.

However formidable a strong contender was, he always had a limit, and with all three aspects exhausted, one could only die!

The 328th move.

The smoke surrounding Mist coming from his palms was thinning. Meng Fuyao used a feint and proceeded to launch a complicated set of hand movements. She had learned it from watching the fight between Zhangsun Wuji and Tai Yan that night. Once the complicated dance was complete, Mist raised his hand to land a blow only to hit empty air.

At the same moment, Meng Fuyao stepped back and turned around, her black hair flying around her like a dense fog. In a single graceful move, she had already backed herself straight into Mist’s chest!

It was an extremely unexpected move, and Mist had never thought to fight backward, yet someone had actually dared to leave her own back completely exposed to him, even running straight to him herself.

Mist was startled, and it later would prove to be fatal.

Sha!

The black blade sliced through the rain in a flash.

Meng Fuyao retracted her sword, blood running down its blade, gleaming under the night rain. As the rain slowly washed away the blood, it looked as if it were a soundless dance of life, fading into nothingness after a moment of brilliance.

The rain did not make any sound, and the two were both drenched in rain and blood. Meng Fuyao kept her back against Mist’s chest until she felt the body turn cold, as though the smoke that lingered around him suddenly dissipated through his wounds.

She raised her eyebrows, raised her leg, and did a backthrust. With a “ping” the body flew into the air several feet before skidding against the wet ground for another few feet and landing partially submerged in a puddle.

A faint stream of reddish water streaked along the floor. His blood was the same color as anyone else. It was as though after death there was no shocking difference due to his status.

Just like that, one of the top ten, whose name had been shaking the earth for thirty years, the legendary master Mist, died on a most ordinary rainy night in a little alley. He was killed by a young woman barely eighteen years of age.

If anyone had the chance to witness this fight, they might not have even believed their own eyes.

Except, there was someone who had seen everything clearly. In a dark corner up ahead, Yan Jingchen was slowly coming back to his senses, his vision cloudy—he had watched the entire fight, from Mist’s initial offense to getting trapped to Meng Fuyao fighting against him to his eventual demise.

He stood there motionless, not daring to believe what he just saw as he stared into nothingness, as though he had not seen anything, yet also as though he had seen the benevolence and kindness of fate.

He lowered his head slightly, staring through the rain, watching a smiling young woman with a sword in hand, her long hair and robes flying freely around her, her silhouette like that of a celestial being. The air about her was severe yet warm, without an ounce of arrogance, yet it made one unable to tear one’s gaze from her brilliance, and it made one feel ashamed to approach.