Chapter 56

Zhou Yan simply made a grabbing gesture midair, and a glimmer of dark light immediately fell into his hands.

The body of Sorrow’s Breaker was soaked in blood and the moment it fell into Zhou Yan’s hands, the entire body of the blade was still shaking.

Thus, with vibration recoils of the blade, droplets of blood fell like scales of a fish, as the scales of blood fell from the blade, it left behind a wave-like pattern on the blade, seemingly assimilating into the body of the blade itself.

The blade of Sorrow’s Breaker had absorbed the essence of the blood from an enemy!

This was now an omen of death, a blade of murder!

Zhou Yan felt euphoric all over his body, it was as if all of the bloodlust had been amplified in him.

However, as soon as this change had manifested in his mind, Zhou Yan mustered up every ounce of his willpower to suppress his insatiable bloodlust.

This time, he was facing up against an insanely powerful foe whose powers peaked at the first rank of the realm of the Blade’s Menace and this foe happened to be in possession of four segments of Qi Columns. Thus, Zhou Yan felt the immense pressure from him!

Especially, if it was not for Silver Frost manifesting the Lil’ Frost specter to block the incoming attack, it would have been Zhou Yan’s head that was decapitated at this moment!

Even with the young lad’s incredible keen and sharp perception ability from his soul, he was unable to foresee that lad’s movements, and before he was able to react, the lad’s blade had already grazed Zhou Yan’s neck.

Such a powerful attack, however, as much as Zhou Yan hated to reflect on this battle, he knew in all actuality, he had lost this battle.

Since it was Zhou Yan’s cold and ruthless nature, and after Lil’ Frost had blocked that strike for him, and after he had known that the First Form of the Dragon, Pale Dragon’s Blade was not enough to murder him, hence the young lad had decided to use his other trump card, and that was one of the three Blade’s Soul that had been sealed in the body of Sorrow’s Breaker by the Lady of the Snow-Jaded Palace.

In his split-second decision, and after he had felt so close to the grips of death, he had decided to completely uproot any future threats to him.

As expected, this was also to establish dominance at this moment!

Zhou Yan was unaware of what sort of supporting menacing powerful figure this foe had, however, this man had murdered Zhou Wangyou and Zhou Wangqing.

Zhou Wangyou was Zhou Xian’s father and Zhou Wangqing was Zhou Liang’s father, who was also Zhou Xian’s uncle.

Zhou Wangchen was the third sibling in his family, and Zhou Xian’s father was the fourth. The eldest sibling, Zhou Wangchou and the fifth sibling Zhou Wangxin had not made an appearance for quite some time now. It was a mystery if those two were actually alive or dead.

It was also today that Zhou Yan and the others knew that both of his uncles were brutally murdered by this man.

It mattered not what had happened in the past, both of these men were still his father’s siblings and after he had heard everything that was spoken by that perceptive young lad, his bloodlust grew, and it was all because of that, Zhou Yan was even more concern about Zhou Xian’s condition.

Until, the lad had the audacity to unleash a lethal attack while he spoke, with a swift reaction, Zhou Yan proceeded to unleash his enormous spiritual energy directly from his soul, thus, saving Zhou Xian’s life.

The young lad was able to feel Zhou Xian was completely put out of commission by him.

Zhou Yan held Sorrow Breaker in his hand and as his soul’s energy reverberated, the blood that was being infused into Sorrow Breaker’s body was instantly turned to dust and disappeared into nothingness.

In the very next moment, Sorrow Breaker had suddenly morphed into a ray of light and with a single ‘clang’, it fell directly into its sheath that was hanging by Zhou Yan’s waist.

From the very start, as the young lad murdered until he had slaughtered this entire group of geniuses, he had never even flinched, as his emotions remained unchanged. Without mentioning how shocked and utterly surprised Zhou Lingyi and the other people that were with her, every single genius present in that scene were staring at Zhou Yan, as if they were searing the murderous look on Zhou Yan’s face into the very depths of their mind, as a reminder to never cross this man ever in future!

Before all of this had taken place, all of the other scholars were assuming they were going to witness the immense power and how invincible this young lad was, however, never had they expected, this immeasurably powerful young lad had been murdered in a single instant by someone!

This had made Zhou Yan’s murderous reputation instantly spread across every corner in the main family!

…

“Did you see that? It was that man who had single-handedly murdered all sixteen geniuses in Zhou Yuan’s group with a single attack! That man was the prime genius of all time, that man who had ascended into the realm of the Blade’s Menace when he was merely at the age of fourteen, he reached the very peaks of the first rank within the realm of the Blade’s Menace when he was eighteen years of age, a scholar who had practiced the Blade’s Menace of Murderous Destruction, and was in possession of a single Qi Column of four segments! This man was decapitated by a single attack!”

“This is a man of pure malice, it would not be wise to cross him! I assume his natural gifts literally break the heavenly laws itself, the full extent of such power is immeasurable!”

“This man is not normal, since his Qi Columns and its segments were undetectable! Zhou Yuan along with sixteen people were all slaughtered with a single move, truly, this lad’s methods were indeed ruthless, a legendary murderer, if we had ever run into this man in future, it would be wise to turn the other way!”

“Have you not noticed how arrogant Zhou Yuan was behaving? It was Zhou Yuan who had incited the challenge first, so it serves him right to be slaughtered!”

“Zhou Yuan’s blade had grasped some form of temporal ability, as the speed of his blade strikes were inhumanly fast. He had used that blade to decapitate plenty of heads, however, it had never crossed his mind that karma would come for him that his very own head had now been decapitated by someone else!”

“Zhou family of the Glory City, hmph, serves him right to end this way! So he thinks his arrogance is justified for having a brother as the true heir to receive any form of teachings?”

…

Plenty of discussions echoed from a distance, however as Zhou Yan turned his gaze over to them, these sounds had dampened in volume or some had even stopped entirely, then gradually faded out entirely…his…sword skill with such ferocity had stunned and completely shocked every single genius that were present in that scene.

“Thud…”

At this very moment, both Zhou Xian’s knees had hit the very ground beneath their feet as he bent his knee toward Zhou Yan.

“I am truly sorry brother, back then, I had wronged you! I will never cause any trouble to come your way in future! I hereby solemnly swear, if I have brought trouble your way brother, I will never be enlightened to learn any form of Sword’s Way for the rest of my life, and I will be reduced to ashes and even through death will I never find peace!”

Zhou Xian had sworn an extremely serious oath at this very moment!

This was an extremely vile oath, if this oath had been violated, due to the heavenly laws, his ability to gain enlightenment would be completely disrupted, and thus, his entire body would crumble into dust, his soul would shatter, hence completely vanishing from existence!

For an arrogant lad like Zhou Xian to have made such an oath in that moment clearly showed how sincere and genuine his feelings were.

“Please get up!”

Zhou Yan spoke with a soft tone.

“Brother if you refuse to forgive me, I shall remain kneeling here. I, Zhou Xian had made a huge mistake, I can’t possibly lack the courage to admit how wrong I was right?!”

Zhou Xian spoke with a determined tone.

Zhou Yan turned around to give Zhou Xian a glance, he extended his arm to help him up and said, “I never blamed you, there is no need for your self-blame nor guilt. From how I see it, to be honest, I’ve never cared about any of this.”

Zhou Yan spoke with a calm tone as he looked at Zhou Xian.

It was only after he was held by Zhou Yan did Zhou Xian gradually stand up. His head was lowered significantly as his heart had been incredibly moved, however, the young lad remained silent.

It seemed words were difficult to escape his mouth as his feelings were heavy.

…

Zhou Yan had not waited for too long in the plaza as Elder Xing and Elder Ning had both flown back at this moment.

The very instant these two had landed, they were greeted by bodies and heads that were scattered all around the plaza, their eyes were instantly wide open in response to witnessing such a grim scene.

“What…what happened? What…what kind of strong foe had come here?”

Elder Ning’s expression was incredibly bitter as he questioned with a shocking voice.

“No powerful foe has made its presence, Zhou Yuan and his group of people were all slaughtered by me.”

Zhou Yan had a calm gaze in his eyes, his expression was cold and emotionless, as even his voice sounded eerily calm.

“Slaughtered… by you? You, a second rank Blade’s Essence trash, could possibly kill someone that had ascended to the very peaks of the first rank within the realm of the Blade’s Menace like him? You are spouting the words of a mad man right?”

Elder Ning let out a bitter chuckle through his waves of wrath.

“If Zhou Yan had claimed it was done by him, then it was indeed him! Zhou Hening, don’t cause any form of trouble nor should you fuel the flames of your wrath. You should stay out of this matter, that was because I had told our lord about both Zhou Yan and Zhou Ying being in possession of a twin Qi Column! Both Zhou Yan and Zhou Ying will be the prime focus of our resources and cultivation of their skills for our family soon!”

Elder Xing stood out at this moment, he had blocked Elder Ning’s Blade’s Menace that was emanating from his very own body. The tone of his voice was also calm.

“What…are you saying Zhou Hening, what in the world are you saying? Zhou Yan and Zhou Ying, the both of them are in possession of a twin Qi Column each with two segments? You, you you…”

Elder Ning’s wrath was starting to rage violently in his body, it was as if the blood in his body was also boiling.

However, he never unleashed any attack, but the waves of fury were boiling in his body! However, the moment he had heard the phrase, ‘twin Qi Column’ his entire body felt as if he had fallen into a glacier as the boiling blood had instantly cooled down.

The rash and violent intent he had earlier had been violently extinguished and purged from his mind.

It was obvious when he heard such news, it had given him an unprecedented impact.

“True, truly a twin Qi Column, and each with two segments? Are you certain, truly certain?”

Elder Ning had completely ignored the corpses that were beyond salvation on the ground, as in that moment, his gaze was completely focused on Zhou Hexing.

“So you assume I dare to report this entire matter when it was unconfirmed? Also, based on Zhou Yan’s status alone, do you think these people who were merely in the realm of a Swordsmen and Blade’s Cardinal could possibly enter these walls?”

“You actually thought that was true didn’t you, I have completely lost my mind then?!”

Zhou Hexing replied with a mocking tone.

However, Elder Ning was not angered by it as he stood at the same spot, frozen in shock.

His gaze proceeded to calmly stare at Zhou Yan then drifted to Zhou Ying. Those gazes had become incredibly complicated.

“Also, I must add, Zhou Yan’s qualities weren’t only his Qi Column alone, his ability to gain enlightenment was impeccable that a man like him would only exist once a millennia or two. Give him some time, he shall be an incredibly powerful person in the entirety of Xiao Yao Capital City and the Water Region!”

Elder Xing replied in a serious tone.

“Yes indeed…if that is the case, then these people, it serves them right to die. Zhou Yan, Zhou Ying, work hard now.”

Elder Ning was completely shocked as he no longer cared to seek justice for the geniuses who had perished, as he stared at Zhou Yan, hints of respect had flashed across his face, even the tone of his voice had become gentle.

“Yes, Elder Ning.”

The gaze in Zhou Yan’s eyes too had become gentle as he looked directly at Elder Ning.

Zhou Ying, on the other hand, had responded with a gentle smile, as she was shocked to receive any form of compassion by Elder Ning.

It was also at this moment, Elder Xing approached Zhou Yan’s side and proceeded to take out a Seal of the Golden Sword and said, “Zhou Yan, Zhou Ying, this is the Seal of the Golden Sword that was graced by the Lord himself. This is a symbol of status after you have accepted it, you both may use this item to enter into the first to the third floor of the forbidden library.

“The fourth to the fifth floor is reserved after you both had contributed to the family alright…”

As Elder Xing spoke, he took out a tiny ten-centimeter golden dagger. This dagger resembled a shrunken Blade’s Specter, it was emanating a unique essence.

Zhou Yan and Zhou Ying proceeded to accept it with a bow.