536 The Letter Sent to the Myriad Willows Garden

…… …… Su Li had left behind seven letters. He had Xu Yourong pass on two of the letters to Chen Changsheng, one letterwas left for his daughter, and another letter was left for that small child inthat blacksmith in the village at the foot of Mount Li that was just beginningto learn the sword. He had also prepared a letter for Qiushan Jun, but QiushanJun had calmly rejected it. The remaining two letters had been sent to two other locations via the mostordinary of postal routes. One of these letters was sent to a mansion situated outside Hanqiu City. The Myriad Willows Garden. Thirty thousand cold-resistant crooked willow treeswere planted within this garden. Zhu Luo was Sect Master of the Emotion-Severing Sect, the head of the Zhuclan, an old friend of Emperor Xian, and one of the Storms of the EightDirections. Any one of these identities could let him live a life impossiblefor an ordinary person to imagine. This garden that still flourished withgreenery in the depths of winter was proof of this. Today this mansion had a guest, an old and very fat man. As he sat on theround palace armchair, his fat waist was like the waters of a river spillingover a dike, making his bright yellow belt all the more conspicuous. This fat elder had kind brows and pleasant eyes, his squinted eyes were filledwith a calm and warmth detached from worldly affairs, and his face was one ofjubilation. He looked just like those wealthy old men often found in thecountryside, but since he could sit across from an important figure like ZhuLuo, it could be assumed that his status and background were not ordinary.Today, besides the myriad willows and mantle of snow, no one else could be seenin this garden. It might have had something to do with this portly elder'svisit. Of course, it could also have had something to do with the letter placedon the table between them. "When will that woman die…" The portly old man smiled and spoke, but when hesaid the word 'woman', he unexpectedly paused and his smile momentarilyvanished. The word 'woman' was so faint that it was difficult to hear. Theplump elder continued, "The stars above have their own plans. As for what timeto go to the capital, we must still wait for additional news." Zhu Luo slightly creased his brow, seeming somewhat dissatisfied with thissentence. "No matter how you look at it, our strength is still a bit lacking." The old man sighed, "In order to conduct a grand project, mighty force isrequired. The White Emperor couple will definitely just watch from thesidelines. In fact, our best choice is still Su Li." When mentioning Su Li's name, neither of them even glanced at the letter onthe table. After a moment of silence, Zhu Luo noted, "Su Li truly is very powerful." Back in Xunyang City, Su Li was heavily injured and could not exchange blowswith him, but he was forced to admit that purely in terms of strength, it wasvery difficult to find a person more powerful than Su Li. The term 'strength' naturally was not strength as commonly understood by thecommon people, but the purest and most terrifying fighting strength. "Black Robe planned for so many years and the demons sent out over a hundredthousand cavalry and wolfriders, ten-odd Demon Generals, and three of theirfigureheads to unite and suppress him on the snowy plains, but they still lethim escape. On the following journey back south, as a cripple, he once moresucceeded in developing his sword. Presumably, he comprehended some things andclimbed to some unfathomably high peak. I'm afraid that he's advanced one morefoot into the sea of stars. He truly is powerful to the extreme." The portly elder sighed, "Back then, many people, me included, believed thathe had the greatest chance of killing that woman, but he obstinately refused.Now, if he were to help us, the probability of killing that woman wouldincrease by thirty percent, but he just so happened to choose this time toleave." Zhu Luo emotionlessly said, "Under the request of His Holiness, I went toXunyang City to kill him. How could he join us? And why would he send me thisletter?" As the two spoke, they did not look at the letter on the table, but theirminds had been focused on the letter the entire time. Now that they had finallymentioned it, their gazes fell upon it. Nothing strange occurred in this quiet winter garden, yet in the chilly wind,one could faintly hear the clattering of spears and shields. The portly elder narrowed his eyes at the letter. It was like a seam, burstingwith fierce light, being cut open in a snow-white mantou. It was abnormallyvigilant. He then raised his head to Zhu Luo as if asking, should we open this letter ornot? Zhu Luo's expression was very solemn and for a long time, he did not speak. The plump old man had noticed something peculiar about this letter, so givenZhu Luo's cultivation, he could naturally see it as well. He knew that this letter concealed a sword. The letter was Su Li's letter, so the sword was naturally Su Li's sword. Although Su Li's cultivation was extremely high and he was publiclyacknowledged to have reached unfathomable heights in the path of the sword,when compared to the Eight Storms and four of the Saints, he was still ajunior. Moreover, for various reasons, his name had never been mentionedalongside them. He had written this letter to Zhu Luo precisely because he wanted to tell theentire continent that as long as he wished, he could destroy the so-calledStorms of the Eight Directions at any time. If this were several centuries ago when he was at his height, no, even severaldecades ago, even one year ago, when confronted by this letter, Zhu Luo wouldcarelessly smile, then tear open the envelope, taking in at a glance all thesharpness on the paper. In this way, he would not cause any loss to the martialfame of the Storms of the Eight Directions. But now, he was somewhat hesitant. Because he had suffered severe injuries at Xunyang City and even now had notfully recovered. Those injuries had come from Wang Po's blade, Liu Qing's sneak attack, andthose ten thousand flowing lights in Chen Changsheng's sword sheath. His mostserious injuries had come from the Holy Maiden's charge across a thousand li. Even more importantly, just as Wang Po had said in Xunyang City, he wasalready old. Su Li had also once mentioned it in his jeers that right now, he could die,but he could not lose in battle. For the Emotion-Severing Sect and the Zhu clan, he was the tree that reachedtowards the heavens. Other than the people of the Liang Household, all the people of TianliangCounty required his protection. What would happen if he lost? The winter garden was exceptionally quiet. The thirty thousand cold-resistantand crooked willows in the distance waited with extreme patience in the coldfor the coming of spring. The portly old man was also very patient, calmly gazing at Zhu Luo. After quite some time had passed, Zhu Luo finally made a decision, taking adeep breath. The wind suddenly grew violent and the thousands of willows began to sway inthe wind, seeming to cheer and also seeming to be wavering in fear. No more hesitation could be seen on Zhu Luo's face, only indifference and coldarrogance. He was a supreme human expert who had once charged into the snowy plains withonly his sword. Even if he was troubled by old wounds, how could he be scaredwitless by a single letter? His hand fell upon the letter, very firmly, and then tore it open. A sword glow shot out from the envelope and its light made his face seem verypale. This sword glow was so bright that the winter sun above the garden even dimmedand cause the willows to smoke. It was clearly daytime, but the garden seemedto have been cast into twilight. A sword glow appeared in Zhu Luo's eyes. This sword glow did not come from theletter, but from his own world. With a clang, the moonlight sword emerged from its sheath and slashed at thesword intent that had exploded from the letter. With a cacophony of deafening clashes, a frenzied gale raged through theMyriad Willows Garden and the thirty thousand willows swayed back and forth. A bright moon came from the north and suspended itself over the sky,attempting to drive away the dark night that had not fully set in. The sword intent from the letter cared not for this. It instantly unleashed amassive light, touching all things, real and unreal, and setting them allablaze! The willows were instantly ignited, the icy ponds smashed, and countlessflames soared to the sky like birds of fire. The Golden Crow emerged from Mount Li!