Chapter 2216: Heartbeat

Qu Shunhua remained silent.

Zhongshan Weisun pointed at the empty space as if inscribing something, and suddenly a statement appeared: "Today, Zhongshan Weisun goes south to seek battle, insisting on first achieving Shenlin, for both fame and personal reasons! Having betrayed Da Jing, it is difficult to continue serving Yingyang. Regardless of injury or death, it will be at my own hand, without regret or hate — no one needs to avenge me!"

With such a declaration, even if Qu Shunhua killed him on the spot, Zhongshan Yanwen could not say another word.

Zhongshan Weisun's determination was clearly shown by this gesture.

"Good!" Qu Shunhua was never one to be coy. She casually called over the commander of her personal guard: "If I die in battle, you will replace me in commanding the army. You must not delay the military opportunity, understood?"

Zhongshan Weisun had declared he could die in battle, but he still needed Qu Shunhua to protect Long Boji, so he absolutely would not kill Qu Shunhua.

Then this was an unfair fight.

Qu Shunhua should have just let the fight go, but since she planned to engage, she would absolutely not accept this unfairness. Just as Zhongshan Weisun gambled on, she had invincible confidence in Shenlin. How could she let anyone concede to her?

The personal guard commander bowed and accepted the order.

Qu Shunhua then untied the token from her waist and threw it to the personal guard: "The world is for fame; blades and swords have no emotion. If I die in battle, whoever Zhongshan Weisun wants to protect, the Qu family will protect them. This is Qu Shunhua's promise!"

Finally, she only looked back at Zhongshan Weisun: "Come on. I have already seen your courage, now let me see your strength!"

With that, she stepped up into the high sky, her hair tied through her armor, suspended above the night sky, issuing an invitation to Zhongshan Weisun — come, let's decide life and death!

This was a fight that attracted attention.

On one side was one of the four strong contenders from the Yellow River meeting's outer arena. At that moment, two of the other four strong contenders had already achieved the truth and were on the list in Taixu Pavilion. The remaining Yan Shaofei was also worthy of being called the first heavenly pride of Wei country, "content with the world, willing to be third," and was said to be on the path to seeking the truth.

On the other side was the likely first blessed land in the Taixu illusion, and after Jiang Wang, the strongest contender for the title of the world's first Shenlin, the absolute peak owner of divine power!

It wasn't just the military camp of Qu Shunhua's own department that was paying attention to this fight, nor was it just one or two people.

The main body of Da Chu's right camp, a majestic mountain shadow leaped up, covering half of the full moon.

And above the crescent moon, at some point, two figures already stood.

One was casually dressed in a green shirt, the other was distinguished in a blue robe.

Both had their hair tied with jade crowns, as if they had transformed from the bright moon.

A noble young master of the human world, a heaven sword immortal.

Qu Shunhua casually glanced in that direction, lifted her hand, indicating that everything was under control.

This jade crown style was one she personally chose, not allowing craftsmen to make another. The previous one worn by Jiang Zhenren was destroyed in Heavenly Capital City; this time a new one was sent.

Zuo Guangshu pressed his heart, made a beating gesture, bared his teeth in a wide grin, smiling very sweetly, indicating that he was moved by his elder sister's actions.

Jiang Zhenren slapped him down, telling him not to disturb the fight.

The South Dipper Hall's faith path had not yet been banned, and the Chu country gave them enough time, allowing them to openly seek help. To see who exactly would come to save them from heaven and earth, from the eight wildernesses and six directions.

So every person in the South Dipper Hall tried to find a way out, and they could all see the process of heaven collapsing — this was especially despairing.

Later, on the contrary, it was the South Dipper Hall themselves who isolated the faith path, gathered it in one place, and unified contact with the outside world.

Longsheng Jun was a true monarch with a long-standing reputation, Siming Zhenren was a true person with a wide network of connections, the six true individuals of the South Dipper each had their own abilities, each had their own friends. The South Dipper Hall had also painstakingly operated for so many years, with intertwined interests, historical origins, everything that should be there...

But as of today, the only one who truly rushed to Du E Peak to help was Zhongshan Weisun.

Although he acted very foolishly, wasn't the choice itself foolish?

Long Boji received the news in his own room. At that time, he was in a state of confusion that he himself couldn't understand. He swore to contribute everything to the sect, but the sect was already destined to perish. He vowed to resist external enemies, but he understood that whatever he did was useless. He spent the whole day in a daze, sometimes pacing back and forth, sometimes lying down motionless.

The room door suddenly opened, letting in the starlight. The messenger junior brother, with a strange, unusually excited expression, lowered his voice and suppressed his agitation with difficulty: "Senior brother! You are saved!"

Long Boji's face was a little swollen, those were palm prints that had not yet faded. After fleeing in panic from Mei Yue, he ran to question his master, why were Qisha Shishu and Tianji Shigu not in the hall? Had those two dog-fart true people already known the danger and escaped on their own, abandoning their fellow disciples?

Siming Zhenren, Fu Zhaofan, gave no explanation, only slapped him, fanning him out of the hall and leaving the mark that remained to this day.

"Me? Saved?" Long Boji looked at his junior brother strangely, grinning: "You're also crazy. Another crazy one."

"No, no, I'm serious." The messenger junior brother closed the room door and casually lit the candle stand inside the room, so the bean sprout-like candle flame just flickered and drove away the darkness.

The room changed from pitch black to dim yellow, as if retreating from night to dusk.

The messenger junior brother walked over mysteriously: "Senior brother still doesn't know? Jing country's Zhongshan Weisun is challenging Qu Shunhua now, and the bet is to protect your life!"

Zhongshan Weisun!

This name was like a sharp axe, splitting open his muddled mind.

Long Boji suddenly sat up straight, his body stiff as if electrocuted, for a moment.

Zhao Tiezhu really came to save him!

He actually didn't have much hope. He had written more than one letter. With Long Boji's name, with the name of a true transmission disciple of the South Dipper Hall, with the name of the South Dipper Hall... All had sunk into the sea.

"Really?"

"I've been in charge of the South Dipper faith path these past few days. I came to inform senior brother as soon as I received the news. Absolutely not wrong!"

Long Boji immediately put on his clothes and got up, hastily put on his boots, quickly walked two steps, then turned back to hang his sword... But finally sat down again, on the bed.

He said miserably: "What kind of person have I become..."

"Senior brother." The messenger junior brother approached further: "You don't have to go alone."

Long Boji suddenly looked at him, his eyes instantly very severe, but then relaxed: "How do you say that?"

"You have attendants!" The messenger junior brother reached for his sword: "From now on, I am your sword boy. When you leave here, who will care about one more humble servant?"

Long Boji had already sobered up by now. He knew that it was already not easy for Zhongshan Weisun to save him alone, and trying to bring anyone else would truly be asking for trouble.

But he only moved his own sword away and patted the junior brother's shoulder: "Don't spread this."

The long night had already arrived. Inside the pitch-black South Dipper Hall, only his room had a lamp lit.

Gaining the only hope in a crowd of despair would not bring blessings.

People would come seeking the light, either to share it, or... to extinguish it.

The messenger junior brother nodded vigorously: "I understand!"

But he still didn't understand enough.

Long Boji restrained his emotions and began to turn his already given up, almost rusty brain: "Zhongshan Weisun is challenging Qu Shunhua. The chance of winning is not great. Do you know the specific rules?"

The messenger junior brother said: "There seem to be no rules, life and death do not matter."

"Ah!" Long Boji suddenly stood up, but then stopped again. He murmured: "Zhongshan Weisun must have confidence to choose this way. I believe him, I should believe him."

"Of course, that's the heavenly pride of Jing country, one of the four strong of the Yellow River!" The messenger junior brother had also placed his hope on Zhongshan Weisun, his words were very fanatical, as if worshipping a god. If given a little more time, he could certainly find out all the glories in Zhongshan Weisun's life trajectory.

He could certainly use words to prove that Zhongshan Weisun was the world's first Shenlin.

"How many people know about this matter?" Long Boji asked.

The messenger junior brother only realized the problem at this point, his face showing difficulty: "I'm not the only one guarding the faith path."

"We can't stay here." Long Boji immediately got up.

"Where are we going?" the messenger junior brother asked.

"Go to Siming Hall, no, go to the frontline!" Long Boji made a decision: "Right, we'll go support the frontline!"

"This way it'll be more convenient for Zhongshan Weisun to pick us up!" The messenger junior brother was full of joy and diligently went to open the door.

Creak.

The room door was pushed open, and the candle light from the room also spilled out.

The view was very crowded, and the candle light couldn't break through the siege — the courtyard was full of people.

They were all senior and junior brothers of the South Dipper Hall, and they all looked at Long Boji.

What kind of eyes were those?

In the endless night of despair, people crawling on the ground waiting to die saw only one lamp that was flying, a lamp that might be able to fly out of here.

Was that eagerness and hope?

No.

Because everyone knew that the lamp would only shine on himself, and only take away himself.

"Senior brother." The first person to speak was a true transmission disciple of Tian Tong Hall. He looked at Long Boji, his expression very subtle: "Do you want to leave?"

"Where am I going?" Long Boji gripped his sword without a trace, trying to speak steadily: "I'm just going to the frontline to bathe in blood for the sect!"

"I heard someone wants to save you." The true transmission disciple of Tian Tong Hall said.

"Is that so? Where did you get the news?" A gap quietly opened in the thick clouds, and there was rare moonlight in the courtyard. Long Boji said: "Don't have unrealistic fantasies anymore. We can only rely on ourselves, we can only save ourselves."

The true transmission disciple of Tian Tong Hall lifted his chin towards the junior brother behind him: "Didn't this junior brother guarding the faith path tell you?"

"Ha, you mean the matter about Zhongshan Weisun? I just heard it. Do you take it seriously?" Long Boji shook his head: "He can't beat Qu Shunhua. I have no expectations."

"But there's also hope of winning, right?" The true transmission disciple of Tian Tong Hall asked.

There were rustling sounds in the night.

Those were restless hearts.

"Hope" is too beautiful a word. Within the insurmountable high wall of despair, it is also too cruel.

Looking at the densely packed familiar faces in the courtyard, looking at those strange eyes... Those jumping strange lights made Long Boji feel a little cold.

He knew there was a better way to handle this now. He wasn't someone who didn't know how to weigh the situation, but for some reason, his heart beat violently twice. His originally calmed mood suddenly became very irritable.

He tried to suppress his emotions: "Winning or losing, it's not that simple. It's very late, junior brothers. Let's not waste each other's time. I don't want to discuss this now. I'm going to the frontline to kill the enemy."

But the crowd did not make way for him, the great senior brother of the South Dipper.

"My master died, killed by Dou Zhao. Saying this is very disrespectful — but I think he deserved to die. He escaped to outside heaven on his own, not caring about me." The true transmission disciple of Tian Tong Hall said: "Senior brother, you should not go."

His heart beat faster and faster. Long Boji was momentarily confused: "I don't know what you want to say. What going or not going? Make way!"

Instead, the crowd gathered closer.

Those familiar faces spun and shook in his vision.

"Senior brother, you are the head of the next generation of South Dipper Hall, how can you abandon us?"

"Senior brother, you must stay and resist together with us."

"Senior brother..."

"Enough!" Long Boji suddenly drew his sword: "All of you, enough! Do you think I can't see your filthy thoughts? Resist together with you, ha! Die together with you?!!"

"Senior brother! I just can't understand these words!" The true transmission disciple of Tian Tong Hall said coldly: "You are not willing to die together with us? How are you not a person of the South Dipper Hall?"

God and bright it, god and bright it, see god not in!

The four seas of his body surged violently, his heart pounded like thunder, Long Boji felt waves of nausea, his head ached as if it would split. He lifted his sword and suddenly swung it: "Get away, all of you!"

The out-of-control sword energy whistled, cutting a disciple into two sections.

"I'm not —" Long Boji suddenly retreated a step. In his fear, a moment of clarity struggled out. He tried to suppress his chaotic power: "I didn't mean to!"

An angry tide suddenly erupted within the crowd: "He wants us to die, and he lives alone!"

"Can't let him go! Take his sword!"

"Let him pay with his life, pay with his life!"

Thump thump thump thump, his heart beat like a drum.

Countless hands, countless faces, countless swords... Everything surged over!

The human tide was like a sea.

The tide retreated again.

"Huff huff... Huff huff..."

Long Boji held the long sword that he no longer swung in his hand, kneeling on the ground, panting violently.

"Huff huff..."

Five swords were stuck in his body, the most fatal one being the one in his heart.

He felt his heart beating very fast, as if it wanted to jump out of his chest, but he carefully observed the sword; this sword did not tremble with it.

All this, why?

Long Boji knelt straight in front of the room door, knelt in the middle of his own courtyard. He tried to lift his head, tried to open his eyes and look forward, everything before his eyes became dark and heavy, all very blurry.

Blurry figures swayed.

The sounds in his ears also suddenly became distant and then close again —

"He betrayed! Betrayed us!"

"He was the first to attack! We were only forced to retaliate!"

"He also killed people! Murdered fellow disciples!"

"He's an inside spy for the Chu country! They colluded early!"

"Good! We killed the traitor!"

The messenger junior brother, the Tian Tong Hall junior brother, the junior brother he killed with a single sword, the junior brother who stabbed a sword into his own heart... Long Boji couldn't recall any of these people's names.

The long sword in his hand fell to the ground, making a lonely sound. It was especially lonely amidst the noise.

What were their names?

Long Boji tried hard to think, slowly, slowly lowering his head.

"Senior brother, how are you?" The Tian Tong Hall junior brother half-knelt in front, supporting him.

At this instant, this junior brother's face suddenly became very clear, and this junior brother's voice also transmitted to his ears word by word, sounding very clear.

Long Boji looked at him blankly. Through the arm that was touching him, he felt this junior brother's heartbeat, so chaotic and strong —

Thump thump! Thump thump!

Long Boji seemed to understand something. In the last moment of his life, he grinned.

Many years ago, one peaceful afternoon.

There weren't too many people in the Taixu illusion yet, and pedestrians were sparse in the Hongmong space.

"This Dugu Wudi is definitely an old antique!" Jia Fugui said fiercely.

"He's definitely two or three hundred years old, look at that body, that old man smell," Zhao Tiezhu pouted.

"Everyone still needs to be a little objective." Shangguan analyzed as if he was a model: "The name Dugu Wudi was very popular fifty years ago. Also, his dress style is really rustic, like a grandfather's generation. He should be around fifty or sixty years old."

Jia Fugui clapped his hands in praise: "Shangguan brother is still objective! With reason and evidence!"

"Ah, this broken illusion, why are old men also accepted?" Zhao Tiezhu cursed: "Supposedly for cultivating heavenly pride? Fifty or sixty year olds also qualify, what the heck are they, Jiazi Taisui!"

"Ha ha ha ha, Jiazi Taisui!" Shangguan laughed until his stomach hurt: "Too wonderful, Tiezhu brother!"

Jia Fugui gripped his fist: "Wait until I challenge the blessed land, I will definitely beat this Jiazi Taisui down. His grandma's, still dare to call himself Dugu Wudi, I hate these pig-nosed old things inserting green onions the most!"

"Two brothers, it's rare for us to be so congenial." Zhao Tiezhu grinned: "Why don't we find a place to sit down, sit and discuss the dao?"

"Good wow!" Jia Fugui raised both hands in agreement.

Shangguan waved his hand: "I have something to do first."

He walked a few steps and then added: "But I will still come tomorrow."

"Then, see you tomorrow!"

"See you tomorrow!"

Thank you to book friend "Chen Bo" for becoming the alliance master of this book! This is for Chixin Patrol Heaven's 712th alliance!