Chapter 33

Translated by boilpoil Edited by boilpoil

Bai Lianhua ponders for a while but can’t come up with a suitable response.

Say “I’m sorry, but I don’t know what’s up with this sword either”?

——You kidding? If you don’t know what’s going on, how could you be standing there so calmly? If you really were a bystander, you’d already be running away screaming when you see a floating sword.

Or say “your sword enjoys doing good deeds, and suddenly just landed from the sky to save me from the desperados, what an honourable sword”?

——Nope nope, even he himself thinks it’s super fake. To call the Sword of Inverse Springs an honourable sword, how deluded would one need to be to say an excuse like that?

He can’t help it, he’ll have to stay silent.

If it’s a wok he’ll have to carry, so be it… The antagonist probably wants to see him suffer a bit too anyway.

Seeing Bai Lianhua stay silent, Lei Kuiliang gets angrier. He gets off his horse and tries to sheath the Sword by holding onto it.

Bai Lianhua looks at Lei Kuiliang as he tries to do it, and already knows what would happen… Even if he were physically stronger, more powerful, or even a martial arts master, but Lei Kuiliang is still a normal human. There’s no way he could successfully throw his weight around the Sword of Inverse Springs.

He’s already personally experienced it as well.

As expected, the Sword stays motionless under Lei Kuiliang’s action. It is still floating in midair completely unscientifically.

Lei Kuiliang’s group of underlings appear surprised as well.

Some people look at the Sword with a hesitant expression, feeling scared of it; some look expectant and even enthusiastic, thinking that the Sword lives up to its name, and is no mere mortal sword… Now that they think about it, that these strange powers are not discovered before must be because General Lei can’t use them to their full potential. What a pity.

Lei Kuiliang turns around and looks at Bai Lianhua with a violent aura about him, “if you act obediently and stop the tricks, perhaps I’ll let you live.”

Bai Lianhua feels he’s been wronged, “… this really has nothing to do with me.”

“Nothing?” Lei Kuiliang doesn’t believe him, of course, “you, go hold onto the Sword of Inverse Springs.”

Bai Lianhua “…”

He can’t do anything else anyway, so he reluctantly walks in front of the Sword. Before he even puts his hand forward though, the Sword of Inverse Springs that was still unmoving like the puts its hilt into his palm.

Bai Lianhua “???” Now this is awkward. He can already imagine how terrible Lei Kuiliang’s expression will turn into without turning around.

Is the antagonist hurrying that much to kill him?

Bai Lianhua turns around nervously, the Sword of Inverse Springs in his hand, and looks at Lei Kuiliang. Unsurprisingly, a killing intent is written all over him, and it wouldn’t be strange if he were to pull out the sword of a random underling of his to chop him into pieces.

——That’s exactly what Lei Kuiliang is thinking about.

But his remaining rationality has stopped him. Before figuring out what’s up with Bai Lianhua, he instinctively feels he can’t kill him.

Lei Kuiliang says, with his rage suppressed, “give me the Sword.”

Bai Lianhua does as he says. To be honest, the Sword of Inverse Springs is practically a time bomb in his hands. He’d much rather give it out.

Lei Kuiliang becomes alert seeing how obedient Bai Lianhua is as he takes the Sword from his hands.

But the Sword doesn’t play tricks with them this time around, and is quietly sheathed by Lei Kuiliang.

So Lei Kuiliang’s mood improves slightly. Getting back onto his horse, he orders for Bai Lianhua to be taken away with them forcefully.

So after being rushed through the way, Bai Lianhua is taken back to the base of Lei Kuiliang.

This is truly in the vicinity of the capital——The city gates are even visible in the distance.

Bai Lianhua also understands why the elder called Lei Kuiliang arrogant earlier. With his own forces from Jianghu, he not only ordained himself general and forced the imperial court to recognise him, but he even gathered an army and stationed them right next to the capital. They’ve practically written their ambitions out for everyone to see.

With such a cancerous tumour targeting them, just waiting for an excuse to move out, it’ll be weirder if the court is still functioning properly… Then this anxiety slowly spread out to the streets, until even villages in the outbacks can feel the storms of change.

…

Bai Lianhua is locked up by Lei Kuiliang without question.

He even wanted to put him into the dungeons at first, so that they can start ‘ interrogating ‘ him. Just after ordering so, however, Lei Kuiliang can feel the Sword of Inverse Springs shaking lightly, and is gradually shaking more and more violently… So after a moment of silence, he grinds his teeth and retracts his order, and puts Bai Lianhua in solitary confinement somewhere near his residence.

——That his sword which he is so proud of would abandon him and fly towards a stranger’s hands is something that is making Lei Kuiliang highly restless.

He has always kept a secret in his heart… He knows the Sword of Inverse Springs has a mind of its own.

He can still remember he had a few conversations with the Sword. The mysterious voice in the Sword promised him that as long as the Sword was in his hands, he would be able to attain power, wealth, prestige, all of it.

If it weren’t so detailed he’d definitely have thought it was just a wild dream of his, and that it was just a hallucination… The fact is, though, that when he held the Sword in his hands, he did attain all these things. See how there’s nobody who wouldn’t know who Lei Kuiliang is?

Yet it is because of this that he’s more afraid of losing the Sword of Inverse Springs… He’s not dumb. He’s sharp and already noticed that even if the Sword is just equipped and not used, he will still become far stronger and unstoppable than usual. His power will be as if unlimited. If there’s also the sharp blade added after he unsheaths it, there’s nobody in the world who can challenge him.

But it is this Sword that refused to continue talking to him when there was a time he hesitantly asked if he could be its master. Lei Kuiliang doesn’t feel secure, and doesn’t know what the Sword means with that.

And now, the Sword suddenly approaches this nameless brat of its own volition? And even acts defensive when the brat is involved?

Lei Kuiliang starts to panic. He wants to know what is so special about Bai Lianhua that the Sword can be attracted to him.

He even interrogates Bai Lianhua up to three times a day, but he hasn’t got an answer yet.

Bai Lianhua is, in this world, just a normal person who knows a bit about sword-fighting. There’s seriously nothing else special about him. As for why he’s attracting the antagonist… Bai Lianhua would like to recommend to Lei Kuiliang that he should try a character change and also experience the route of the white lotus.

A few days later, when he still fails to obtain what he wants out of Bai Lianhua’s mouth, and the Sword of Inverse Springs intervening every time he tries to force Bai Lianhua, the boiling emotions in him have already reached a critical point. He decides he will stop this exercise in futility, and kill Bai Lianhua once and for all.

Because Bai Lianhua seems to have some strange power over the Sword of Inverse Springs, so Lei Kuiliang unequips the Sword that he would usually always carry by his side at noon when the Sun is the strongest. He fixes it in a corner of the house, and just in case, he even wraps a heavy metal chain around it, almost burying it in metal. He’s just afraid that when the time comes the Sword will intervene again and it will be hard to deal with.

——Because of the specialness of the Sword, Lei Kuiliang doesn’t order any underling here either.

He is extremely anxious when doing all this, afraid the Sword will start resisting. He’s so anxious that there’s sweat all over his head… Fortunately, from the beginning to the end, the Sword kept quiet, as if it’s just the normalest of swords.

Lei Kuiliang sighs in relief. He is convinced this specific time he picked turned out useful. Even the Sword of Inverse Springs couldn’t break through.

Before he left the room, he ensured everything is as it should be. Then, he picks up another great sword he had collected, and walks into the separate annexe that held Bai Lianhua.

Without the psychological pressure that the Sword causes on him, Lei Kuiliang does not mask his bloodthirsty nature towards Bai Lianhua at all. He kicks the door open and quickly approaches Bai Lianhua, and prepares to eliminate this potential risk forever.

He is even quite entertained when seeing Bai Lianhua’s shock on his face.

Yet the moment Lei Kuiliang poised to attack, a sound tears through the air, and the Sword of Inverse Springs which he least wanted to see at this moment breaks through the window and enters. The Sword slants to an angle that blocks off Lei Kuiliang’s attack.

And thanks to the Sword’s unusual sharpness, the great sword that is itself excellent in make that Lei Kuiliang held in his hand gets cut in two… without dampening the force of the Sword at all. It continues to strike at Lei Kuiliang.

Unable to dodge, Lei Kuiliang’s vitals are struck.

He appears to be both in pain yet still savage, with a great amount of disbelief in his expression. He looks at the Sword of Inverse Springs, gradually withdrawing from his chest, and asks, “why?”

“A famous sword should pick the strong to be its master. If I am the strongest in this world, why would you betray me? Betray me for this useless brat who I can squish dead with this palm?”

Zhong Xiutang’s silhouette appears in from the sword and lands next to Bai Lianhua. It’s hard to tell if he’s smiling, “true. He’s weak. Not just you, perhaps every single person in this military camp is stronger than him… The catch, though, is that he’s the only master I have ever recognised since the beginning.”

Scaring Bai Lianhua a bit is already enough as his revenge; there’s no way Zhong Xiutang would ever let him actually lay his hands on him. Even if Zhong Xiutang also hates him so much he can’t bring himself to harm him either.

Lei Kuiliang’s eyes widen, staring dead at Zhong Xiutang… He never even knew that the mysterious voice in the Sword of Inverse Springs can turn into a human!

He’s almost had the Sword for a decade, yet he has never been truly recognised by the Sword!

The expression on Lei Kuiliang’s face doesn’t change, his eyes continue to stay wide open even after his breathing has stopped.

Bai Lianhua is truly spooked by this appearance. So he can’t help but take a step back.

Zhong Xiutang smirks, “don’t tell me you feel pity for him? Lei Kuiliang isn’t some kind soul, you know.”

Bai Lianhua shakes his head, “I know he deserves this.”

Of course, he knew Lei Kuiliang is a bad person at core. If he really made his way to the throne, God save the world. The person on the throne right now might be a bit weak and effeminate, but he’s much better compared to Lei Kuiliang, saintly, even.

Thinking like that, Lei Kuiliang’s death is quite the good news.

With his death, his underlings will definitely start infighting for the leadership position… Lei Kuiliang is someone that hated capable and skilled people, so there’s nobody among his underlings that has the ability to take over his position. So now they’ve turned into a disorganised mob, and the forces will naturally disperse. The imperial court will have some time for rest and also have time to look for opportunities to take care of them.

Given Lei Kuiliang died in his own camp too, and not somewhere in the wilds, then if his underlings had the mind they could even accuse each other of murdering Lei Kuiliang, and the situation will become even more chaotic.

Lei Kuiliang’s subordinates who definitely didn’t have much loyalty to begin with will never care how Lei Kuiliang actually died or how suspicious the whole thing seemed. They’ll only maximise their potential gains and throw the wok onto somebody else.

Bai Lianhua’s eyes glimmer for a moment.

Read only at Travis Translations