Chapter 373: Chapter 371 A Glimmer of Cold Light Arrives First
As things stand, Le Yin could simply walk away after snatching Ming Shuiyun, even abandoning everyone wouldn’t be a problem.
The reason he worked tirelessly to disperse the sword scabbards and prevent them from fighting each other was precisely to create an undisturbed environment for cheating—cheating outside the exam hall is difficult because transmitting answers is easily interrupted, just like when the cheaters playing a flute duet were battered by a suona played by the Cicada Dust. If Le Yin used firearms to transmit answers, it would be like hanging a sign on himself saying "Come disrupt me if you dare".
Even if Le Yin and others are allies, it’s useless. Not to mention those like Cai Nu and Niruo, who are merely deceptive surface allies, even someone like Mie Tangya who doesn’t like drinking sweet honey Five-Flower Tea would surely take this chance to backstab an ally—just a little help can make an ally’s exam results drop to zero, who could resist such a lucrative transaction?
It’s like when a dorm mate sticks their rear next to your hand, can you resist the urge to smack them? Or when your desk mate falls asleep in class and the teacher calls them to the front, do you wake them up saying ’the teacher’s calling you to do a problem’ or ’the teacher’s calling you to clean the blackboard’?
Whether it benefits oneself is irrelevant; causing harm is an ancient temptation inscribed in human genes. Le Yin judged the sword scabbards by the heart of a villain, which is why he resolutely chose to walk the tightrope and deceive the masses, leaving no opportunity for the other sword scabbards.
Cheating has already ended, and now even if the other sword scabbards play survival games here, it has nothing to do with Le Yin, yet he doesn’t want to just leave.
Although the reason Le Yin painstakingly completed this cheating plan was to ensure Ming Shuiyun gets good results, he also found much joy in this wondrous experience and even wants to try a more thrilling playstyle.
As the saying goes, love what you do; diving into the sea surely can be for living, but also for the sake of interest. Since Le Yin finds it thrilling, he should carry through with it.
Besides, if Le Yin really flaked out, his reputation would be completely ruined. Every sword scabbard would know him as Qin Le Yin ’a pair of jade arms enamor thousands, a bit of red lips seduce tens of thousands’, an evil fallen sword scabbard extracting ally benefits without any moral integrity; no one would cooperate with him again, and even if someone does, it would surely be a sham, never sincere.
Though Le Yin doesn’t care about Qin Le Yin’s reputation, the thought of maintaining the ’pure and flawless’ ally persona to continue deceiving the other sword scabbards, tricking them into believing Qin Le Yin truly didn’t betray them, even considering him the ideal ally who’s skilled in both domestic and public spheres, and privately exclaiming ’meeting Qin Le Yin is the luckiest thing in this life’, made Le Yin’s Ice Blood boil!
What man could refuse such a challenging dangerous game!?
Conquering sword scabbards is nothing; making all sword scabbards your wings is the real skill!
Le Yin looked up at the scattered red flares in the sky, instinctively trying to tie his hair with a rope, only to realize the rope had been cut by Niruo earlier. Unable to find a replacement, he pulled a strand of Ming Shuiyun’s hair, causing Ming Shuiyun to exclaim in pain and look at Le Yin with dissatisfaction, muttering ’vain’, then looked up at the sky: "Will the other sword scabbards come when they see this signal?"
"Yes."
"Why call them here? It’s not really for an afternoon tea party, is it?"
"Exams."
"Exams?"
"Yes." Le Yin tied the red hair, "My Eye of Omniscience exam has started."
...
...
At the border of the Nightmare campus, a red flag was shining with emerald green brilliance in the sunlight, and Niruo sat cross-legged nearby with eyes closed, injuries rapidly healing under the emerald light.
Just like combat techniques, internal scenic battle methods come in many variations, like the voodoo scenic which turns medical arts into poisonous books, the eight gates scenic which massively strengthens one’s attributes through cellular rapid regeneration, or even the cosmetic medical scenic that focuses on aesthetics... Of course, these variations have major flaws; the official one designated medical officer battle technique is still the genuine scenic.
Not all martial artists practice scenic techniques, but those who have fought in border battles inevitably know scenic battle techniques—if you cannot perform emergency treatment, you won’t last until you can return to the camp shouting ’where’s the medic’.
Niruo practiced voodoo scenic, and compared to the genuine version, the most notable advantage of voodoo scenic is its quick mastery, but the downside is it heavily consumes lifespan. Voodoo scenic often requires drug support, and these drugs are generally strong-effect poisons in large doses, which would leave a normal person exhausted after direct consumption, but absorbed through scenic battle techniques they can greatly expedite healing, only to leave one exhausted afterward.
The red flag before Niruo was his own, permeated with poison. A little spiritual power activation causes it to emit emerald green powder under the sun, reflecting emerald brilliance; just being nearby lets one enjoy the rapid healing effect together.
Though the effect is incredibly strong and provides group healing, it makes sense voodoo scenic hasn’t spread widely. No matter how fast Niruo recovers now, the more pleased he is, the more his toilet will suffer later.
Boom——
Upon hearing an explosion in the distance, Niruo opened his eyes to see a bright purple-blue butterfly land on his thigh.
He turned his head to see the distant red flare, his stiff face pulling a slight smile.
After putting away the red flag, Niruo took out the scale of a bamboo fish, sharpened the blade of the serrated cherry long knife with it, applied sword oil he bought at a high price from the Hunter’s Workshop, completed all preparations and headed over.
He truly didn’t have much hope for Qin Le Yin’s integrity, during his healing he faintly realized Qin Le Yin had intentionally lured him away—but everyone calculates against each other, this kind of minor scheme can be comprehended.
Precisely because there were no expectations, everything came as a surprise. Qín Le Yin actually fired the signal flare to summon him to handle the other sheaths, fulfilling his promise, which made Niruo, who was accustomed to seeing unreliable people, suddenly feel that there were still worthy opponents in this world.
Since Qín Le Yin didn’t let him down, he naturally wouldn’t disappoint Qín Le Yin’s expectations.
They would use the blood of the other sheaths to dye their pact red!
Transformed into a swift gale, Niruo quickly approached the location of the signal flare. Just as he was about to arrive, Niruo suddenly sensed something and rolled forward, swinging his blade to create a circular slash, instantly cutting the nearby trees in half!
Sakura Dragon Sword Dance: Brushing Dormer!
Boom!
Clang!
With the sound of a firearm, Niruo felt the trembling of his Cherry Blade. In that fleeting moment, even though he had lunged forward, if not for the speed of his sword, that bullet would have drilled into the back of his skull!
Such a fast bullet, such swift killing intent!
After shattering the bullet, the murderous intent that had triggered a response from Niruo’s spiritual power vanished without a trace. The entire forest became serene and peaceful, as if that sniper attack had been nothing but a poisoned delusion of Niruo’s.
Was this the half-second instant annihilation that Qín Le Yin spoke of?
Previously, it hadn’t seemed significant when he heard about it, but truly facing Niruo, the pressure felt immense—he had less than half a second to dodge and block. Any slight mistake would mean death. Even though he had been unbeaten through countless battlefields, he still felt the threat of death facing such instantaneous battles that determined life and death in a single breath.
The battlefield was filled with killing intent, keeping one in a constant state of tension. But now, Niruo didn’t even feel any danger; his spiritual power seemed nonexistent, and the surrounding calmness was so conducive to detoxification that Niruo couldn’t even muster a sense of tension.
Martial artists have a saying, "a sudden impulse of the heart," meaning that when someone harbors murderous intent towards you, your spiritual power will enter a combat state. The terror of the Instant Annihilator is in turning a martial artist into a mortal, making all intuition vanish into nothing.
Under instant annihilation, all beings are equal.
"Is Qín Le Yin fighting such a monster..." Niruo suddenly had this thought. Thinking of how he had doubted him earlier, his heart felt somewhat complicated. Yet, this mood didn’t dull his blade; instead, it only made it sharper.
He exhaled a long breath, the white vapor extending a foot away like a sword. The Cherry Blade suddenly shimmered with countless petal-like cracks, as if it might shatter at any moment.
Suddenly, Niruo slashed to the side!
Boom!
At the moment the gunshot rang out, Niruo slashed out hundreds of cherry-colored sword lights, sweeping forward like a Butterfly Storm!
Sakura Dragon Sword Dance: Wave Butterfly!
The bullet was directly torn apart by the Wave Butterfly Storm, which pushed forward for fifty meters before gradually subsiding. Along the way, all the trees were severely damaged and scattered, countless petals and leaves still floating in the air without falling!
Though Niruo wasn’t a traditional sword-wielding martial artist, he still demonstrated the greatest strength of a sword-wielding martial artist—long-range large-scale combat!
In the era before the invention of firearms, top sword-wielding martial artists could sweep vast areas with a single swing. The sword-wielding martial artist troops advanced by swinging swords, able to cleave mountains and destroy cities, even hundreds of sword-wielding martial artists couldn’t stop a single sword strike.
However, sword-wielding martial artists rarely use such long-range attacks in normal times since they are costly and ineffective. It would be overkill to target one person and not worth attacking a group when they could charge in for a melee. Yet, regardless of its utility, just possessing this potential made sword-wielding martial artists subtly regarded as the first among the eighteen combat techniques.
Other martial artists facing an Instant Annihilator could only dodge or risk approaching, but sword-wielding martial artists had the option of long-range confrontations! Even just one hit was enough to provide Niruo with sufficient opportunity!
He saw someone moving in the distance, drew his sword to slash the air, and pursued like flowing wind!
At this moment, Niruo spotted a gleam at the corner of his eye, followed by a giant dragon colliding from the side!
A gleam arrived first, followed by a spear emerging like a dragon!
The earth roared, the winds howled, and all things in the world hinged on the strike of a spear!
Once having lost to Niruo, Xia Mu Sword Sheath challenged him again!