Evergreen Immortal-Chapter 41: Settled

He forcefully gathered a breath of Qi.

A crazed, sickly excitement appeared on his face.

“I’ll kill you, you bastard!”

Li Rui’s brow furrowed slightly. He could clearly feel that Xu Hua’s strength had more than doubled.

“What kind of technique is this?”

“A final flare before death?”

The strength in his hands increased again.

One slash, two slashes—

The thirty-seven catty broadsword was swung with airtight precision. Raindrops falling from the sky were deflected by the blade, turning into streaks of shadow.

Xu Hua’s heart trembled.

“Even my damned senior brother probably didn’t have such exquisite blade technique, right?”

Within just a few breaths, he noticed something off.

The White Ape Phi Blade used by this mysterious expert seemed identical to his own, but in reality, they were vastly different.

“Once I kill you, I’ll naturally know.”

Xu Hua grinned, revealing a cruel smile.

The next instant, he flicked the sleeve of his right arm. A sharp dagger, gleaming with cold light, shot out in a flash, aiming straight for Li Rui’s vital point.

The dagger was incredibly fast.

It easily bypassed Li Rui’s blade.

Li Rui was startled. “What a deadly hidden weapon.”

This Xu Hua was indeed not to be underestimated. Even with a severed arm, he had used it to conceal a hidden weapon, completely unexpected.

The speed of that dagger was frightening, it was clear it had been trained with for a long time.

“Too bad you ran into me!”

Li Rui let go of the broadsword, and at the same time, drew a small dagger from his waist.

With a flick upward—

Clang!

A crisp metallic collision rang out.

Xu Hua’s flying dagger traced an arc in the air, spinning as it was knocked backward.

His eyes widened.

He hadn’t expected to run into someone of the same path. That guy had also hidden a weapon!

“Fuck!”

In a flash, Li Rui lunged forward.

He once again grabbed the broadsword still spinning in the air, then used the momentum and power of inertia to deliver a heavy downward slash at Xu Hua.

“No!”

Xu Hua’s face turned red on both sides. He could clearly hear the sound of bones breaking in the hand that held his blade.

Another slash!

With a thud, he collapsed to his knees, leaving two half-foot deep indentations in the muddy ground.

Then another slash.

And another.

The bones in Xu Hua’s body were shattered inch by inch, crushed into pieces, until finally, all that remained was a heap of mangled flesh. Blood mixed with rainwater flowed into a nearby ditch.

Li Rui sheathed his blade. Rain had already soaked his entire body.

He glanced at Xu Hua, whose body was now the same color as the muddy ground.

“Phew.”

He let out a slow breath.

In this battle, he had killed a rank-grade Bronze Bone Realm expert. It was his first time killing above his level. Even with his usually unshakable mind, he felt a subtle change.

Since he had the Perfect Life System, such feats would surely become commonplace.

He crouched down and carefully searched the body.

“Turns out he was dirt poor?”

He had hoped to find something good on Xu Hua, a disciple of the Splendid Purity Sect. But not only did he find no pills as expected, there wasn’t even a single banknote or a few taels of silver.

Most likely, Xu Hua had been away from the Splendid Purity Sect for too long, and had long since used up all his resources.

“Time to go.”

He glanced at a figure moving in the distance. The battle was over.

The rain had stopped. Water dripped from the eaves, falling with a drip drip.

It landed right on Liang He’s forehead.

“Phew!”

Liang He sat up with a jolt. “That was close. I nearly died.”

He had just gotten to his feet when he heard a mocking voice behind him. “Damn, you little brat sure learn fast.”

He turned his head.

He saw Wu Tu leaning on a broadsword like a cane, with new blade wounds on his body. He’d had a tough night fighting people from the Ghost Nether Sect.

Liang He scratched his head in embarrassment.

“Deacon Wu, I couldn’t beat them…”

Last night, their small squad had just set out when they were ambushed by members of the Ghost Nether Sect. His teammates were scattered in the chaos.

Liang He had only just entered the ranks and had barely experienced any real combat.

And right out the gate, it was a nightmare-level situation.

So he chose to follow Deacon Wu’s advice, play dead.

Fortunately, he’d survived in the end.

Wu Tu wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand. “Not bad, kid. Old Li didn’t misjudge you. I like your kind of personality. When you’ve got time, come hang out at the gambling house in the south of the city. I’ll treat you to drinks.”

Wu Tu was the kind of person who made friends sincerely if he liked someone, regardless of age or status.

“Sure!”

Liang He gave a hearty laugh.

After surviving a deadly encounter, now making friends with a high-status senior, wasn’t this just like the plot of those storybooks?!

Liang He’s eyes lit up.

Could it be… I’m the protagonist!?

“Senior Wu, you’ll definitely feel fortunate for what happened today.”

“...”

Wu Tu looked at Liang He with a strange expression.

Was this kid a bit off in the head?

He grinned, the wounds on his body stinging as they stretched.

“This time I really lost big. At least three months of recovery ahead. Damn it, I didn’t even get to see that mysterious expert’s face.”

Truly a case of losing both the wife and the army.

“If I’d known, I would’ve just done like Old Li, stayed in the branch and napped.”

Wu Tu muttered in his heart.

“Could it be that Old Li foresaw tonight’s outcome? Otherwise, why would he give up such a rare opportunity?”

“Liang He, did your Hall Master say anything before you left?”

Liang He thought seriously.

“Hall Master Li asked me to give him a reason. Otherwise, he wouldn’t let me go. I said, ‘Those who want to achieve great things must first endure hardship.”

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As expected!

Wu Tu showed a “just as I thought” expression. Now that he thought back on it, no wonder Li Rui had subtly tried to persuade him to quit the operation earlier.

“All my fault for not understanding at the time.”

In the Jianghu, there’s a saying: You mustn’t speak the secrets of heaven. Otherwise, the misfortune destined for others might fall on yourself.

That’s what “the secrets of heaven must not be revealed” means.

So veteran Jianghu folk always speak in riddles. Whether one can avoid calamity depends on personal comprehension.

Wu Tu recalled how Li Rui had tried to give him a hint.

“Old Li’s a stand-up guy!”

Inside the Heaven-Earth Alliance branch.

Dao Xiong stared at a pile of thoroughly mangled meat.

“This pile… is Xu Hua?”

“We found the Splendid Purity Sect’s token on him, and only one of the finger bones remained.”

Kong Xiannian said, “Good. The traitor Xu Hua from Splendid Purity Sect has been executed.”

The mastermind behind the Ghost Nether Sect had already been killed by Jiang Linxian, and Liu Zhen had returned to the sect to report.

His own mission had always been simpler than Liu Zhen’s. If he returned too late, the promotion slot might no longer be his.

Who cares if it was really Xu Hua or not? As long as he could make a report, that was good enough.