Chapter 1384: Chapter 1384: Sword Light Flashes, Blood Splatters!
“Qingyan, you’ve changed…”
Li Chenzhou looked at Zhou Qingyan, whose face bore a cold sneer, and felt a faint ache in his heart.
He could hardly believe that the once lively, cheerful, and smiling confidante had beco so cold, ruthless, obsessive, and extre.
Back in Spirit Lake City, Li Chenzhou had overheard nurous negative rumors about Ruoshui Palace from so Innate Experts, particularly about its current Palace Master, Zhou Qingyan, who had beco a na feared by many.
It was said that since Zhou Qingyan took over as Palace Master, she implented exceedingly strict palace rules, including one particularly inhumane decree: female disciples were forbidden from privately forming relationships with Martial Dao partners. Violators faced severe punishnt—the male Martial Artist would be killed, and the female disciple would be imprisoned for life in Ruoshui Palace’s Reflection Valley.
However, affection between n and won is a natural human inclination. Despite the strict rules, many young Ruoshui Palace disciples, naive in matters of love, still found themselves forging connections and forming bonds with male Martial Artists they encountered during external training missions.
The most famous among such cases was Zhou Qingyan’s own daughter, Zhou Yuruo.
Years ago, Zhou Yuruo t Zhuge Dingtian and instantly fell in love. Knowing full well that even as the Palace Master’s daughter, her transgression of palace rules would not spare her from harsh punishnt, Zhou Yuruo was undeterred. Like a moth drawn to fla, she resolutely fled Ruoshui Palace to elope with Zhuge Dingtian.
Yet, for Zhou Yuruo and all other disciples who had violated the Ruoshui Palace rules, the outcos were consistently tragic.
So disciple had apparently leaked information to the outside world, revealing that over the years, Ruoshui Palace had imprisoned more than a hundred female disciples for their romantic entanglents, and their Martial Dao partners had also been hunted down and executed by the palace’s enforcent disciples.
Li Chenzhou initially refused to believe Zhou Qingyan could commit such cruel acts, but after verifying it through various sources, he reluctantly accepted the truth.
Li Chenzhou, a man of justice and zero tolerance for evil, was outraged and gave up on his intention to visit Ruoshui Palace and et Zhou Qingyan.
However, after Fang Bai and Zhuge Lian left Huaxia Sect, Li Chenzhou began to contemplate the situation carefully. Zhou Qingyan’s dramatic change in personality made him apprehensive. Were she to discover Zhuge Lian’s identity, the consequences would likely be dire, and conflict between them seed inevitable.
Despite Ruoshui Palace commanding a force of ten thousand disciples and over a dozen Innate Experts, Fang Bai’s formidable combat skills and mastery of formations ant he could escape with Zhuge Lian with ease, albeit at great cost to Ruoshui Palace.
Though Li Chenzhou harbored resentnt toward Zhou Qingyan, their long years of marriage made the prospect of her suffering at Fang Bai’s hands unbearable. Furthermore, he pitied the innocent disciples of Ruoshui Palace. Thus, he decided to follow them.
Li Chenzhou intended to intervene at a critical mont to prevent a clash between both sides. Yet he didn’t expect Zhou Qingyan to act impulsively and attack Fang Bai directly. Left with no choice, he sighed deeply and revealed himself atop the Snow Peak.
It was his sigh that caused Zhou Qingyan’s attack to pause.
“I’ve changed?”
Holding the Love Severing Sword, Zhou Qingyan pointed it at Li Chenzhou and said sharply, “Indeed, I’ve changed! But if not for you, how would I have beco like this? Li Chenzhou, you made this way. Shouldn’t you feel ashad for this?”
Li Chenzhou opened his mouth but found himself at a loss for words.
“What, no response? No argunt? Do you deny being a heartless man?”
Zhou Qingyan sneered coldly, twirling the Love Severing Sword into an intricate pattern of sword flowers before thrusting it forward.
But this strike was not aid at Fang Bai—it turned toward Li Chenzhou, targeting his heart.
Li Chenzhou quietly watched the long sword as it hurtled toward him, his face calm, unmoving, his voice barely above a whisper, “You’re not wrong. Had I not insisted on venturing out for training back then, I wouldn’t have faced calamity, nor failed to return… I do owe you a great deal. If my life can erase your hatred and restore you to who you once were, then take it.”
Zhou Qingyan heard his soft murmurs clearly. Her brows furrowed with hesitation, but she gritted her teeth and sped up the sword’s montum.
The full-force strike of an Innate Expert at perfection level was utterly overwhelming.
The Love Severing Sword’s two-foot blade seed to unleash a raging torrent of waves from its tip, crashing toward Li Chenzhou with unstoppable force.
Li Chenzhou closed his eyes, his face serene and unwavering, awaiting the arrival of Zhou Qingyan’s deadly thrust.
“Mother, don’t!”
“Grandfather, dodge!”
Two cries of alarm ca simultaneously from Zhou Yuruo and Zhuge Lian. Both threw themselves forward to stop Zhou Qingyan’s life-snatching strike.
But how could Zhou Qingyan’s sword be so easily halted?
“Pfft!”
A flash of blade, a splash of blood.
The Love Severing Sword in Zhou Qingyan’s hand pierced into the flesh of Li Chenzhou’s chest.
Just two more inches, and the tip of the sword would penetrate Li Chenzhou’s heart—a wound no gods or immortals could heal.
As the blade entered Li Chenzhou’s flesh, Zhou Qingyan felt as though she herself was also stabbed, her heart twisting painfully beyond endurance, tears blurring her vision instantly.
Was this the end for the man she once loved with all her heart yet ca to loathe so deeply? Had he truly perished by her hand?
Just a little more forward, and she could easily end the life of the hateful man before her. Yet why did she feel not a shred of joy, only a soul-crushing despair?
“No! I cannot kill him! If I do, I’ll lose my Martial Dao partner forever; Yuruo will lose her father forever; Lian’er will lose her grandfather forever… They will hate for a lifeti, and I will live out my days in compounded agony!”
At that mont, Zhou Qingyan was overwheld by stark regret. She tried to withdraw the sword, but the montum was already loosed, the True Yuan released, and there was no way to reclaim it.
“Clang!”
A soft sound rang out, and the trajectory of Zhou Qingyan’s Love Severing Sword halted abruptly, as though locked in place by trendous force, unable to move forward even an inch.
Zhou Qingyan’s gaze sharpened, and she discovered that the blade of the sword had been pinched between two fingers—those belonging to the young Martial Artist standing beside her granddaughter.
Shock overwheld Zhou Qingyan.
Her strength was at the pinnacle of the True Martial Realm, and she prided herself as one of the top-tier Martial Artists within the realm. Yet her all-out thrust had been casually stopped by Fang Bai’s two fingers, which still seed relaxed and capable of more.
This realization caused a montary blankness in Zhou Qingyan’s mind, followed closely by fear.
Behind Zhou Qingyan, the high-ranking mbers of Ruoshui Palace were equally flabbergasted. Many had readied themselves to praise their Palace Master for her strike, but now stood dumbfounded, unable to utter a word.
“Palace Master Zhou, to attack even your own husband? That’s crossing a line, don’t you think? Brother Li is my friend and an honorary Elder of Huaxia Sect—I won’t allow you to harm him.”
Fang Bai, having pinched the Love Severing Sword with two fingers, released it after speaking, casually flicking the sword’s blade.
Zhou Qingyan let out a startled cry, her body trembling as if struck by lightning, retreating rapidly with the Love Severing Sword in hand.
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