Chapter 26: Not Worth a Glance, Utterly Worthless!

Because Lin Pingzhi had joined the Huashan Sect and his only remaining living relatives were the Wang family in Luoyang, Yue Buqun’s trip down the mountain included the intention of having Lin visit his maternal grandfather to report his safety.

Linghu Chong accompanied them, though he looked unwell, his spirits sluggish and his expression even somewhat dazed. Since descending Mount Huashan, he had first been inexplicably infused with six strands of inner energy by the Peach Valley Six Immortals, and then had those six forces forcibly suppressed by the monk Bu Jie using two opposing strands of energy. While the eight strands within his body had reached a state of equilibrium, he was now unable to manifest any of his own internal power, rendering him essentially a cripple.

This was bad enough, but what pained him most was that the object of his affection, his junior sister Yue Lingshan, had grown quite close to Lin Pingzhi. Their intimacy was such that she seemed to have grown distant even from him, her former senior brother.

The Huashan contingent arrived in Luoyang and, following Lin Pingzhi, reached the gates of the Wang residence. Ordinarily, there would be several burly guards waiting at the entrance, and the gates would be wide open. Now, however, the gates were shut tight. Not only were there no guards to be seen, but even as the group stood before the entrance, no one came out to greet them. Given the influence and reach of the Wang family in Luoyang, it was impossible they were unaware of the Huashan group's arrival; why was it like this?

Yue Buqun said, "Pingzhi, go and knock."
"Yes, Master," Lin Pingzhi replied.

He stepped onto the threshold. It was too quiet—an indescribable, eerie silence. Lin Pingzhi tapped the door knocker gently. "Knock, knock. Knock, knock." After a long while, there was still no response. Just as Lin was about to knock again, he noticed the gate was not bolted and stood slightly ajar. He pushed it open with force, only to find the front courtyard devoid of a single soul.

Yue Buqun led his disciples through the gate. Lady Yue frowned slightly, saying, "Senior brother, something is wrong." Yue Buqun nodded slightly. "Pingzhi, let us go inside and see." Lin Pingzhi acknowledged, leading the group in hurried steps.

As they passed through the front courtyard, they still saw no one. Just as Lin Pingzhi was about to call out anxiously, his face suddenly turned deathly pale; he stumbled back a few steps and collapsed onto the ground.

A sharp cry rang out. Yue Lingshan rushed forward. "Little Lin, what is—ah!"

Something was indeed wrong. Yue Buqun and the others hurried forward. At a single glance, they were nearly frightened out of their wits. Even Yue Buqun and Ning Zhongze felt their scalps tingle and their fingertips turn icy cold.

Blood. There was blood everywhere. And where there was no blood, there were corpses. Bodies lay strewn across the fields, and the blood had soaked into the earth; as far as the eye could see, the ground was a sea of red, with almost no other color.

Then, a bloody figure crawled out from the main hall. He was not walking; he was dragging himself. He used one arm, for the other was gone; he used one leg, for the other was missing. He shouted as he crawled, his voice trembling and shaking. No one could make out what he was saying, but everyone knew he was begging for his life.

Lin Pingzhi, still sitting on the ground, recognized the man: Wang Yuanba, his maternal grandfather! Wang Yuanba was over seventy, yet he was usually ruddy-faced and full of vigor. But now, at this very moment, the once-vigorous old man was indescribably wretched, filled with an unspeakable, terrifying panic.

What was he so afraid of? At the thought of it, no one dared to step forward to help; instead, a collective urge to flee this place surfaced in their minds.

Footsteps approached. Two more people walked out from the hall—they were actually walking! One was a young girl with a face as pale as theirs; the other was Ren Yi. It was him!

His silver hair hung over his shoulders like snow. Aside from the face they all recognized and those silver locks, his body was also stained red with blood. And that sword—it, too, was red; a vivid, dripping crimson. Everyone realized that the blood on his clothes and his sword was not his own; it was theirs. And they were all dead—all dead by his hand.

The ground outside the hall was already littered with corpses; there were at least a hundred of them. What, then, of the inside? It was unthinkable, unimaginable. Someone once said, "When a common man rages, blood spatters five paces; when an Emperor rages, millions of corpses lie in wait." Was he a common man, or was he an Emperor? How could a mortal commit such a slaughter, and how could one man possibly achieve it?

Wang Yuanba looked back, crying in terror, "Don't, don't kill me! You cannot kill me, you..."

With a flick of the sword, it returned to its scabbard. A gash opened in Wang Yuanba’s throat, and the old man lost his final spark of life.

Lin Pingzhi finally snapped out of his shock. Though his body trembled, he gritted his teeth and hissed, "Why? Why did you do this?"

Ren Yi smiled. "They wanted me to hand over the Bixie Sword Manual... but I didn't have it, and they refused to listen or believe me!"

Lin Pingzhi lowered his head, his voice rasping, "Even so, you didn't have to kill them, and to do it in such a way..."

Ren Yi still smiled. "I killed them. So what?"

Lin Pingzhi fell silent, not daring to speak further, but someone else wished to speak for him. Yue Lingshan was silenced by a sharp look from Yue Buqun and then had her mouth covered by Linghu Chong’s hand. She bit down on the back of Linghu Chong’s hand with her sharp teeth, drawing blood.

Ren Yi looked at Linghu Chong and said, "I didn't think much of you before, but now, you seem much more pleasing to the eye."

Ning Zhongze could hold back no longer. "Have you said enough, sir?"

Yue Buqun suddenly barked, "Junior sister, be silent!"

Ren Yi smiled at him. Yue Buqun’s face turned pale, yet he was also forcing a smile... No one had expected this; that he would act in such a way... Ning Zhongze looked at the man beside her in disbelief, as did all the disciples.

Ren Yi patted Qu Feiyan’s small head. "Feifei, do you know why the 'Gentleman Sword' is acting like this?"

Qu Feiyan shook her head.

"If it were someone else, he would speak righteous words of a gentleman to you, because he would not be afraid of them! Even if he couldn't defeat that person, that person might not dare to kill the leader of the Huashan Sect, and even if they did, he could run. But I am different. He knows in his heart that if I were to be displeased, he would be as good as dead. Most people become very compliant when faced with death."

Regardless of how ugly the others' expressions were, Qu Feiyan’s face softened, and she giggled, "So the Gentleman Sword isn't necessarily a gentleman; he can just be pretending."

Ren Yi nodded. "You must remember, if you ever meet someone like this in the future, you must kill him. A person who knows how to endure like this—if not removed immediately, they will surely leave behind future trouble."

Qu Feiyan nodded. "Brother, are you going to kill him now?"

As soon as these words were out, Yue Buqun’s smile froze, and everyone retreated in horror.

Ren Yi smiled and shook his head.

"Brother Ren, you aren't going to kill him? Didn't you just..."

Ren Yi laughed. "I am different from you... because my name is Ren Yi—Ren as in 'to do as one pleases,' and Yi as in 'the freedom of one's own will.'"

With that, he took Qu Feiyan and walked toward the gate. Everyone cleared a path, and he brushed past them before vanishing from their sight.

He was gone. That man, so arrogant and so proud, had left. And as he left, he had taken with him everyone’s pride and courage. Compared to Ren Yi, their pride was not worth a scoff, and their courage, in the face of death, was not worth a cent.

Linghu Chong loosened his grip, watching the direction where the man had disappeared. Within his heart, feelings of envy, respect, and deep resentment intertwined.

Outside the residence, Ren Yi exhaled a turbid breath. An unprecedented exhaustion swept over him, but even so, there was an indescribable sense of relief in his chest. His internal energy was nearly depleted. All three hundred and thirty-seven of them—not one had survived his blade, and not one had escaped. It was too tiring; right now, his hands were too weak to even hold his sword steady.

Qu Feiyan asked with concern, "Brother Ren, are you alright?"

Ren Yi shook his head. Without another word, he continued on his way.