Chapter 1

The sky was gray, and the mist was like silk. The east was about to dawn, and a faint glow was beginning to show. A few orange-yellow halos were dissolving and spreading from the dim sky, growing thicker and thicker.

Ye Hai, who was meditating and regulating his breathing in the forest, opened his eyes, and the expression on his wrinkled face changed slightly.

"Is that Sword Chief Lin?" Ye Hai slowly stood up and said. He didn't need to look back to know who had appeared behind him.

Lin Changzai had a very high position in the Ye residence, and even Ye Hai had to call him Sword Chief.

"Indeed," Lin Chang replied.

"Is there...news about the Clan Head?" Ye Hai asked. It was already the day of the duel, and he estimated that Ye Cheng should have arrived.

"That's right." Lin Chang sneered, "The news is... Ye Cheng is already dead."

"What did you say?" Ye Hai exclaimed. He immediately turned around, only to see a ferocious and cold face.

Lin Chang's words were definitely not a joke. First of all, it wasn't funny, and secondly, he wasn't someone who would joke.

"You've worked hard these days, Old Master Ye." Lin Chang's tone was very calm, but his eyes revealed an undisguised excitement and triumph. "You've been here, helping me block all the Jianghu riffraff and the spies sent by the imperial court, saving me a lot of trouble."

"What do you mean? Helping you?" Ye Hai had already vaguely sensed the other party's killing intent, so he instinctively showed hostility.

"Heh...do you still remember that handwritten order?" Lin Chang smiled.

Ye Hai's mind buzzed, and a white light seemed to flash before his eyes. He had realized something, but he couldn't believe it was true. If an ordinary old man had suffered such a blow, he would probably have fainted long ago.

"You...you put the Clan Head..." Ye Hai's breathing was already disordered, and his expression was a mixture of shock and anger.

"Didn't I say that Ye Cheng is already dead?" Lin Chang replied casually. "If you're not too senile yet, you should have understood when you heard that sentence. The duel challenge was written by me, and that handwritten order was also written by me. The instruction to the disciples not to approach Jianzhong (Sword Tomb), the instruction for you to guard here, and so on...were all my intentions."

"You!" Ye Hai was so anxious that his internal energy became disordered. He staggered back two steps. "Impossible...how could you..."

"How could I kill Ye Cheng? Hmph..." Lin Chang took over his words. "Of course, it's because my martial arts are above his." His killing intent grew stronger and stronger, but his hands were still behind his back, with no intention of touching the sword at his waist. "Compared to killing him, imitating his handwriting was even more difficult." He smiled. "I followed Ye Cheng for many years, and spent months studying his calligraphy, striving to achieve both form and spirit. But... even if I'm confident that I can deceive everyone, I'm not sure I can deceive your eyes." He slowly paced forward. "When I handed that handwritten order to you, I was really worried that you would see through the flaws. Fortunately, you didn't express any objections in the end, and just obeyed."

"I did notice some strangeness at the time..." Ye Hai's whole body was trembling. He gritted his teeth and said, "But I thought..."

"Hahahaha..." Lin Chang interrupted him with another burst of laughter. "You thought that killing the Clan Head, provoking a duel, and falsely conveying a handwritten order...any one of these things was impossible, right? Hahahaha..." He couldn't help laughing. "And these things all came from my hand, Lin Chang's hand, so it's even more impossible, is that it?"

"Lin Chang, the Ye family has shown you kindness as high as the heavens and as deep as the earth..." Ye Hai said, "Why..."

"Bullshit!" A look of violent rage suddenly appeared on Lin Chang's face. "Kindness as high as the heavens and as deep as the earth? Where does that come from? I cultivated this martial art myself; I earned the position of Bi Kong (Azure Sky) Sword in the Jianghu myself by risking my life; I have worked diligently for the Ye residence for many years, aren't these all what I deserve?

"Any disciple who joins the Ye residence has the opportunity to learn the martial arts I learned in the Ye family. But the Ye family's ancestral techniques are only passed down to their own descendants, aren't they? Ye Cheng and Ye Muhan can learn 'Ye Family Swordplay', can learn 'Falling Snow Divine Skill', why can't I? Because I'm just an outsider, no... a servant!"

At this point, Lin Chang's eyes fell, and the killing intent around him surged like a river, pouring towards the old man in front of him.

Fierce sword Qi burst out from Lin Chang's fingertips. At this moment, having no sword was better than having one. The sword Qi, along with dozens of fallen leaves from the forest, attacked Ye Hai.

As he made his move, Lin Chang revealed a mocking expression: "It's laughable that you, old lackey, have been working like a dog for the Ye family your whole life, and still think you've received so much kindness."

Let alone dodging, Ye Hai had never even seen this killing move before. He was instantly pierced through by those razor-sharp leaves, and spat out blood.

Perhaps knowing that his fate had arrived, Ye Hai calmed down after being injured: "Alas...maybe you're right, but that's always been the way of the world. I, Ye Hai, wasn't born into a wealthy family, nor am I from a famous martial arts clan. This is my fate, and I can't blame anyone for having a bad fate.

"I know very well how the Ye family has treated me. They have nothing to be ashamed of towards me, that is grace; I am willing to repay them, that is righteousness.

"Live in what kind of world, be what kind of person. This old man can't change his fate, but at least he can live with a clear conscience.

"But you, Lin Chang, hmph... if the Ye family didn't teach you martial arts, where would you have cultivated your martial arts? Without relying on the Ye residence's reputation, how would you have become famous in the Jianghu? Even if you think the Ye residence has no kindness to you, does the Ye family have any grudges against you?

"It's clearly your own wolfish ambitions, but you have to make it sound like others owe you something..."

"Shut up!" Lin Chang raised his hand and pointed, and a stream of zhenqi (true energy) shot out from his fingertip, entering Ye Hai's chest.

"You can't change your fate, so accept your fate and die!" Lin Chang looked at the other party with cold eyes. "I'm different from people like you... my fate is up to me, not up to heaven!"

A moment later, dozens of Qi swords burst out from all parts of Ye Hai's body, blooming into bloody flowers.

Ye Hai also truly understood at this moment... why Ye Cheng had died.

Lin Chang's martial arts had reached a realm that Ye Hai could no longer comprehend. Perhaps no one in the world today was his opponent.

"What exactly do you want to do? This duel, what exactly is it..." Blood gushed out of Ye Hai's mouth, and the dozens of holes in his body were also bleeding profusely. He leaned against the tree, gradually slumped to the ground, and forced himself to ask this last question.

"Hmph... go down and ask your Clan Head." After saying this, Lin Chang turned and left.

In fact, even if he was willing to answer this question, Ye Hai would no longer be able to hear the answer...

In the east, a red sun burst forth, dyeing the pale purple sky sky-blue, and plating the rolling clouds with gold.

In the mountain forest, under an old locust tree, in a pool of blood, sat an old man. He would never wake up again, but his eyes remained open...