Death Scripture

Multiple figures flickered through the forest of peach trees. There seemed to be a large number of them, but only one person stepped out of the darkness.

Han Wuxian loosened her hair and leaped over to them, giving off the aura of a fairy from a mural. The smile on her face was so tender that it seemed like it could melt all of the snow around them. "Dragon King, I've come to help. Which one should we kill first? The dumb guy or the traitor?"

Upon seeing the Hall Leader, Han Fen was nearly scared to death. She involuntarily took a step closer to the Dragon King, but soon reluctantly turned around, walked back to Wild Horse, stopped at a position about seven or eight steps away from him, and started playing with the sword in her hand with her head down.

The mysterious voice was not afraid at all, and flatly said, "Han Wuxian, you're in the wrong place. This is the Essence Pavilion's turf."

Han Wuxian looked around. "This place is not too bad. The Essence Pavilion has sharp eyes. From now on, this place belongs to the Barren Sect."

That voice leered. Wild Horse slightly raised his head with a twisted look on his face, which was still in perfect synchronization with that voice. Only, there was no smile on his face at all. "You've come just in time. You may replace Han Fen and demonstrate Immortal Peng's swordsmanship to the Dragon King."

Han Fen didn't seem to have heard this great news. She still restlessly stood where she was. If she had had the choice, then she would have run as far away as she could have.

Han Wuxian looked at the Dragon King, "This man is useless, isn't he? I don't dare disobey your rules and take any unruly actions, Dragon King."

Han Wuxian had left the army camp and come here to besiege the Gui Garden without prior consent, which was obvious disobedience. However, Gu Shenwei pretended to not know about it. "Please show us your excellent skills, Hall Leader Han."

After knowing that Lotus had absorbed the internal energy that had been stored in Han Xuan's body for many years, Han Wuxian had been horrified for some time. But surprisingly, she had suddenly become audacious tonight, which deepened Gu Shenwei's suspicion that something had happened to Lotus.

Wild Horse had prepared himself, but Han Wuxian didn't start the fight immediately. She called out in a tender voice, "Come out, baby. Watch mommy kick villain's ass."

Han Xuan walked over to them from among the flickering figures in the distance. Her eyes were somewhat glazed over, but they were fixed upon Han Wuxian, as if she was afraid that Han Wuxian would suddenly disappear. "Mommy, baby's coming."

When this came from the mouth of a woman nearly thirty years old, and with an infantile tone at that, these intimate and cheesy words became extremely eerie, but Han Wuxian seemed to enjoy them very much. With an even more tender smile, she held Han Xuan's hand and pecked at her cheek.

Han Fen couldn't help but say in a quivering voice, "Han Xuan, wake up. Do you still remember me?"

Han Xuan glanced at her, and then moved her eyes back to the face of Han Wuxian. "You're Han Fen. We're close friends. Of course I remember you. You see, this is my mommy. Isn't she beautiful? I'm so happy."

"The Hall Leader's your mother? This… This… " Han Fen cast a look in the Dragon King's direction.

"Han Xuan." Gu Shenwei took a step forward as he asked, "When you were young, did this woman visit you often in Gulping Wind Gorge?"

Han Xuan had once said that a mysterious woman used to visit her often and teach her kung fu when she was young.

Han Fen hurried nodded. "Yes, yes. Han Xuan, it can't have been Hall Leader who used to go there to see you."

"Mommy gave birth to me secretly, and she didn't dare to let others know about it, so she sent someone else to see me. But her smell… Ah, I can tell that she's my mommy just by taking one sniff of her. I can't be wrong."

Han Wuxian pecked Han Xuan's cheek again. "Sweetie, every time I sent someone to see you, I had her take one of my clothes with them, and it had my odor on it."

Han Xuan had a unique nose which enabled her to detect disciples of the Waning Moon Hall hiding in the dark. Gu Shenwei had thought that she had been born with it, but it turned out that the reason why she could do this was because Han Wuxian had trained her to do so.

Han Fen became anxious. "Han Xuan, you moron. Come back to me at once. Hall Leader is not your mommy. Look at you. You two are not alike at all. Hall Leader is so beautiful, but you're so ugly. How could you possibly be her daughter?"

Calling people "morons" and telling them that they were "ugly" was not a smart way to persuade them to change their minds. Han Xuan's face darkened. As if acting cute, she said, "Mommy, I don't want to be Han Fen's friend any more. Chase her away."

Han Xuan's behavior was clearly abnormal. But Gu Shenwei just stood to the side. Apart from that remark that he had made previously, there was nothing else he could do.

Han Wuxian stroked Han Xuan's head. "I'll chase her away later, but she's still useful to us right now. Mommy's going to strike a villain down first. Look at this ugly guy. Isn't he a villain?"

Han Xuan turned her head aside and glanced at Wild Horse, nodding. "He is a villain. He was very mean to me. And he wouldn't let me go out of the house."

That mysterious voice sounded a little impatient. "Start fighting, Han Wuxian. Don't keep the Dragon King waiting too long."

Han Wuxian held her "daughter's" hand, "The Dragon King's a very patient man, and he never becomes anxious. But you, Immortal… what's your name again? Call the Master Commander out. It's been a long time. I really miss her."

"The Master Commander's a good person." Han Xuan still had some of her senses left. "She's good to me. She trusts me and let me serve Lady Shaomin."

"No, no." Han Wuxian's smile became slightly less bright. "You're Han Wuxian's daughter. From now on you won't have to serve anybody. I'll have a lot of people serve you."

"But I like serving the lady," Han Xuan regained part of her original stubborn tone. "Both Lady Shaomin and Lady Mingzhen are adorable people. Alas, without me around, they might not be able to eat."

The smile on Han Wuxian's face slightly froze, "Since you like them so much, then I'll invite them over to play with you."

Han Xuan nodded happily, her face full of extreme happiness. Standing not far away from them, Han Fen felt a chill creep down her spine.

Wild Horse had been closing in on her. He couldn't wait any longer and had decided to make the first move.

Han Wuxian and Han Xuan were staring at each other, displaying the love between a mother and a daughter, as if there were nobody else around.

This trick didn't work on Wild Horse. He struck out with the first sword blow.

What he was performing was the typical Lotus-style swordsmanship. His killing aura was heavy and his attacks ferocious. In the blink of an eye, Wild Horse turned into a faint, rapid blur, and anybody could feel the daunting power of his moves.

Han Wuxian leaped upwards and Han Xuan supported her "mother" with one hand from below. Clearly, this was a move that they had practiced many times before.

Han Xuan probably felt this looked fun, but Gu Shenwei could clearly see that Han Wuxian was using her "daughter" as a shield, letting her "daughter" take this sword strike for her.

Surprisingly, Wild Horse backed off, and that unstoppable sword strike was abruptly stopped.

This was by no means what the Wild Horse that Gu Shenwei remembered would have done. No matter how much Wild Horse had changed, he would always be a ruthless killer. Even if the person standing in front of him were the one he cared about and liked the most, he would never have stopped.

What had surprised Gu Shenwei even more was that Wild Horse was actually able to stop his strike.

"Never take back a given strike." This was one of the most basic principles of the Death Scripture. Gu Shenwei and Lotus had nearly died once from the backlash from missing the target. Currently, although Gu Shenwei was able to control the saber in his hand, he could only choose between killing the target or injuring the target; he couldn't withdraw the strike whenever he wanted.

Although some of the swordsmen that had caught him also hadn't received any backlash from missing their strikes, Gu Shenwei believed that it was because they hadn't been practicing this swordsmanship for long. However, when Wild Horse made his first move, that swordsmanship displayed by him was clearly very mature. He must have practiced it for at least half a year, which meant that he shouldn't have been able to stop his strikes.

Gu Shenwei didn't believe that Wild Horse's Death Scripture Swordsmanship was better than his, so the only plausible speculation was that Lotus had made some adjustments to the swordsmanship.

When he put all of these pieces together – Lotus absorbing Han Xuan's internal energy, her extremely unexpectedly imparting of the swordsmanship to a lot of people while secretly keeping a part of it to herself, Wild Horse's control of disciples of both the Essence Pavilion and the Waning Moon Hall, and Han Wuxian's behavior switching from being scared to striking first – Gu Shenwei suddenly realized the truth.

Han Wuxian had predicted that Wild Horse wouldn't dare attack Han Xuan. In the air, she kicked out laterally, made a twirl, and then used her hair as a weapon and shrouded Wild Horse in it.

This was a strange fighting tactic. Like a whip held by Han Xuan, Han Wuxian let Han Xuan wave her around, spinning with her movements. Her feet, knees, hands, and hair were all weapons, which, together with numerous hidden weapons and knockout powder, formed an extensive barrage of strikes.

Wild Horse backed off step by step. Every time he gave out a sword strike, Han Wuxian would move to the other side of Han Xuan right in time and let her "daughter" become her protective shield.

Now even Shangguan Hong knew what was happening. He had cleared the snow off him and returned to the Dragon King by now, and he was even closer to the Dragon King than before. "What happened to Wild Horse? Since when did he become so merciful?"

The disciple of the Essence Pavilion hiding in the dark also got anxious and he finally spoke for himself, ordering Wild Horse, "Don't let that woman get in your way. Kill her!"

Han Fen was just as anxious as the disciple of the Essence Pavilion was and she hadn't noticed that Wild Horse had been deliberately avoiding striking Han Xuan. She just felt that her close friend was in grave danger. After hearing that order, she overcame her obedience towards Immortal Peng as well as her fear of the Hall Leader and rushed forward. "Han Xuan! Run!"

Han Xuan didn't run. She was obsessed with the motherly love. Even if she knew that Han Wuxian was using her as a shield, she would still take the strike for her without any hesitation.

Wild Horse no longer tried to avoid hurting Han Xuan. With the antidote provided by the Waning Moon Hall, he didn't have to be afraid of Han Wuxian's secret arts. And he also believed that his kung fu skills were much better than that of Han Wuxian's.

A saber and a sword clashed. It was the Dragon King who defended her against this sword strike. Even Shangguan Hong, who had been standing by his side, hadn't clearly seen how the Dragon King had joined the fight.

Unlike the hesitant and cautious strikes that he had made previously, this blow had been imbued with Wild Horse's full strength. Under the potent counterforce of the violent impact, Wild Horse instantly lost his balance.

Han Wuxian refused to let this opportunity slip away. She freed herself from Han Xuan's grip, leaped behind Wild Horse, and struck out several times with her fingers, wrapping a strand of hair around his neck.

And then Han Fen arrived. Unaware of what had just happened, she grabbed Han Xuan's hand and said, "Come with me."

Han Xuan didn't move.

"Lady Shaomin caught an incurable disease, and her only wish is to see you again."

Gu Shenwei blurted out a lie. Han Xuan fell for it and her face changed drastically. "Where's Lady Shaomin?"

"Han Fen will take you there."

Han Fen was a little slow and it wasn't until after she was stunned for a while that she suddenly understood. She carried Han Xuan in her arms and started running, yelling, "I'll take you to the lady."

Han Wuxian didn't try to pursue them. Her subordinates were all around them, so she wasn't worried that Han Xuan would manage to make it out of this place. She was enjoying the process of slowly killing her target.

Gu Shenwei took two steps backwards, seemingly having no intention of interfering in what Han Wuxian was doing. All of a sudden, he thrust his saber at a pile of snow under a nearby tree.

That was just a slightly humped pile of snow, and it didn't seem man-made at all. However, surprisingly, someone jumped out of it before the saber could reach the snow.

A skinny, old disciple of the Essence Pavilion leaped aside, glaring at the Dragon King and Han Wuxian.

"You're very skilled, Dragon King," Han Wuxian gave a compliment, her hair tightening. "It turns out this so-called Immortal Peng is just a rat… "

Gu Shenwei gave another saber strike. The disciple of the Essence Pavilion drew a dagger and was ready to fight back, but the expected fight didn't take place.

Han Wuxian's hair loosened and Wild Horse freed himself from the restriction. He immediately leaped several steps away and panted for breath, mobilizing his internal energy to fight against the Qi injected into him by the opponent.

Holding her shortened hair, Han Wuxian said, "The Dragon King always makes unexpected moves. Even if you want to cooperate with Lotus, you don't have to protect this dumb guy."

"I need him to take me to Lotus," Gu Shenwei said unapologetically. Then he turned and faced Wild Horse, who still hadn't stabilized his Qi yet, and the horrified disciple of the Essence Pavilion. "The Master Commander lost all of her internal energy, but I have no intention of taking her life. You better take me to her right now."