Chapter 2459: Chapter 2459
Ye Liuyun stood in the courtyard, having already sized them up thoroughly.
"Only a handful of you? You’re really underestimating me! All dressed up like proper gentlemen, but none of you seem particularly impressive!"
After sweeping his gaze across the group, Ye Liuyun concluded that only the middle-aged man at the end was somewhat capable—though still no match for him.
Without waiting for them to step into the courtyard, he strode out first, unwilling to risk damaging the defensive formations inside that would require repairs later. Only after he was outside did he activate the barrier.
This move clearly took everyone by surprise.
"What’s the meaning of this? Does he actually intend to face Liu Pei, the Light-Extinguishing Sword?"
"Liu Pei is a renowned swordsman! This guy’s just asking for death!"
Whispers of disbelief rippled through the crowd.
Just then, the contingent from Divine Sword Manor arrived.
Liu Pei, leading the group, turned to the guild steward who had guided them. "Is that him?"
The steward shot a glance at Ye Liuyun, who was smiling at him with an amused glint in his eyes. A pang of guilt flickered in the steward’s chest for having snitched, but then he remembered—Divine Sword Manor would never let Ye Liuyun off the hook. Bolstered by that thought, he mustered his courage and confirmed, "That’s him, no mistake!"
Liu Pei ignored the steward and instead addressed Ye Liuyun directly.
"You’re Yao Hui?"
Ye Liuyun remained nonchalant. "Just an alias."
"An alias? Then what’s your real name?" Liu Pei pressed.
Ye Liuyun glanced at him, thinking these sword-obsessed fools had lost their wits. He’d already made it clear he wasn’t giving his real name, yet this guy just wouldn’t let it go.
"You’re not worthy of knowing," he replied coolly.
"So you’re here to pick a fight, is that it?" Liu Pei’s brow furrowed as he tightened his grip on his sword.
"Just passing through. Saw your Divine Sword Manor thugs bullying others and couldn’t resist teaching them a lesson," Ye Liuyun said, still relaxed.
"Then you admit to killing our men?" Liu Pei’s blade flashed into his hand.
Ye Liuyun unsheathed his Demon Slayer with a smirk. "Obviously. Why ask when you already know? Let’s get this over with—I’ve got a meal waiting."
"You’ve got some nerve!" Liu Pei’s sword trembled as his killing intent surged.
"Senior Brother, no need to dirty your blade on this loudmouth. Let me handle him," one of Liu Pei’s disciples volunteered eagerly.
"Fine."
Liu Pei figured it wouldn’t hurt to let someone else test Ye Liuyun’s strength first.
"Just come at me together. I can’t be bothered cutting down trash one by one."
Ye Liuyun rested his blade on his shoulder, oozing disdain.
"Damn! This guy’s got a death wish—talking to the Annihilating Light Sword like that!"
"Exactly! He’s asking for death by provoking the Radiant Slayer!"
"I’ve seen plenty of fools like him. His junior brother alone could finish him off—no need for the Radiant Slayer to even lift a finger!"
Before the disciples of Divine Sword Manor could respond, the surrounding crowd had already taken offense on their behalf.
Liu Pei, hearing the jeers, smirked arrogantly at Ye Liuyun. "You hear what they’re saying?"
His junior brother, who had earlier volunteered for the fight, stepped forward, closing in on Ye Liuyun with deliberate strides.
"Killing you isn’t even worth my senior brother’s effort," he sneered. "Today, even a hundred lives wouldn’t be enough to pay for your insolence!"
Ye Liuyun merely raised a single finger, his lips curling into a faint smile.
"What’s that supposed to mean?" the disciple snapped, baffled.
"One strike is all it’ll take to kill you," Ye Liuyun replied casually.
"Insolent bastard!" The disciple’s face twisted in fury.
"Damn right! This brat’s got a death wish—just end him already!"
The onlookers were equally incensed. Ye Liuyun’s blatant disrespect toward Divine Sword Manor was nothing short of sacrilege in their eyes.
Ye Liuyun didn’t bother with another word. He simply rested his blade on his shoulder, staring the disciple down with undisguised contempt.
Done with words, the disciple lunged without hesitation, his sword thrusting forward in a flash.
But instead of scattering, the sword light condensed into a single, deadly point—streaking straight toward Ye Liuyun’s heart.
"Death Ray Sword! Liu Pei’s signature move!"
Someone recognized it instantly.
Liu Pei, standing at the back, gave an approving nod at his junior brother’s strike.
Yet in the next moment, Ye Liuyun’s Demon-Slaying Blade, resting casually on his shoulder, swept downward in a dark arc, swallowing the glinting point of the disciple’s sword before cleaving straight through his body.
With a sickening *thud*, the disciple was split clean in two, his gruesome death sending a wave of horrified gasps through the crowd.
Unfazed, Ye Liuyun hoisted the massive blade back onto his shoulder and sneered at the Divine Sword Manor disciples. "I *told* you to come at me together. But no—you had to send out this pathetic weakling to die."
The faces of the Divine Sword Manor disciples darkened. None had expected such a brutal end for their comrade.
Liu Pei, who had just taken pride in his junior brother’s near-perfect execution of the technique, now watched in disbelief as the young man was slaughtered in an instant. His composure shattered.
With a furious leap, he lunged forward.
"Let me show you what a *real* Death Ray Sword looks like!"
His blade flashed, all its brilliance converging into a single, deadly point.
"Tch. All flash, no substance." Ye Liuyun scoffed, lazily raising a finger as if measuring the strike before casually swinging his blade once more.
"Look out!"
The middle-aged man standing at the back could no longer hold back and shouted a warning.
But before his voice even faded, Liu Pei’s sword flashed like a streak of light, darting forward.
Yet, Ye Liuyun’s blade was faster—though it moved later, it struck first. By the time the warning had fully left the man’s lips, Ye Liuyun’s slash had already cleaved through Liu Pei’s body once more.
The corpse split in two and was flung aside, the metallic tang of blood instantly filling the air.
"This..."
Everyone was stunned.
"Another single strike?"
"The Sword of Annihilation... is dead?"
The onlookers seemed unable to process what had just happened.
The middle-aged man at the rear of the group drew his own longsword, his expression grim. He now realized that Ye Liuyun was far more formidable than they had anticipated.
"Senior Brother Liu Pei!"
"Avenge him!"
The disciples of Divine Sword Manor, witnessing Liu Pei’s gruesome death, abandoned all pretense of fairness. Swords gleaming, they charged at Ye Liuyun in a frenzy.
Meanwhile, the middle-aged man gathered his sword intent, his entire body radiating lethal energy as he prepared to deliver a single, decisive strike.
"I told you to come at me together!"
Ye Liuyun stood with a single finger raised, a faint smile playing on his lips.
Just as the sword energies surged toward him, his figure vanished without a trace. In the next instant, flashes of blade light erupted from all directions.
Five streaks of dark light sliced through the air—and then Ye Liuyun was already standing before the middle-aged man.
Behind him, the five disciples of the Divine Sword Manor lay in grotesque heaps. Some had been decapitated, others cleaved at the waist, and one had even been split cleanly down the middle.
Yet Ye Liuyun remained utterly composed, his gaze fixed on the middle-aged man with eerie calm.
The man instinctively took a step back.
Ye Liuyun’s speed wasn’t just blinding—there hadn’t been the slightest ripple of spatial disturbance. This level of power was clearly beyond him.
But as a swordsman, he couldn’t simply flee without a fight. To lack even the courage to draw his blade would be a disgrace to the Divine Sword Manor.
