Chapter 516: Assassinated in the Dark!
"Alright, kid. Since I have already told you this much, you can at least become a well-informed ghost after death. Now, depart in peace."
The blood-masked man was clearly extremely conceited, and he did not take Li Yun seriously at all. He curled his lip in disdain, and a blood-colored longsword appeared in his hand. In the next moment, he raised the sword and thrust it down through the air.
A streak of blood-colored Sword Qi tore across the sky, and overwhelming blood-qi spread in every direction. Within that sword strike, endless resentment seemed to churn like a sea of grudges, and countless shrill cries could vaguely be heard echoing from within it. The blood-red Sword Qi was not merely an attack. It contained dense Blood Intent that sought to corrupt the mind, invade the soul, and drag a cultivator’s thoughts into madness.
However, Li Yun only sneered at the approaching blood-red Sword Qi.
He did not dodge.
He did not defend.
He simply stood where he was and allowed the attack to land on his body.
The blood-red Sword Qi struck him directly, and violent blood light exploded around him. The surrounding ground cracked, and a strong wave of blood-qi swept outward. Yet when the bloody radiance gradually faded, Li Yun was still standing in the same place.
His clothes were untouched.
His body was unharmed.
Even his expression had not changed in the slightest.
"Impossible!"
The blood-masked man shouted in shock, and his pupils contracted violently. "How could you not be affected by that attack?"
He stared at Li Yun as though he had seen something completely unreasonable.
"Normally, that Sword Qi would drive a person insane. Their mind would be corrupted, their soul would be filled with the urge to kill, and their martial heart would collapse under the blood resentment. How are you not affected at all?"
Li Yun looked at him calmly, and a faint smile appeared on his face.
"This is your bad luck, I suppose."
The blood-masked man’s expression darkened, but before he could speak again, the aura around Li Yun suddenly changed.
A terrifying Slaughter Sword Intent erupted from Li Yun’s body.
It was not released little by little, nor did it spread gradually. In an instant, Li Yun fully unleashed his One Hundred Percent Slaughter Sword Intent, and the entire area seemed to fall into a crimson abyss.
The blood-masked man’s Blood Intent, which had seemed sinister and terrifying only moments earlier, was instantly suppressed. It trembled under Li Yun’s Slaughter Sword Intent like a weak flame before a blazing sun. The resentment, madness, and killing will hidden within the Blood Intent were crushed without the slightest resistance.
The blood-masked man staggered backward, and his eyes widened in disbelief.
His Blood Intent had been cultivated through countless assassinations. He had used it to shatter the minds of many enemies, and once his blood-red Sword Qi entered a person’s body, their thoughts would usually be dragged into madness. Yet now, before Li Yun’s Slaughter Sword Intent, his Blood Intent seemed childish and crude.
It was like comparing muddy water to an endless sea of blood.
Li Yun looked at him with emotionless eyes.
"You call that killing intent?"
The moment those words fell, the pressure around him became even more terrifying. The Slaughter Sword Intent swept forward like an unstoppable tide, and the blood-masked man suddenly felt as though the world before him had changed.
The forest disappeared.
The ground disappeared.
Even Li Yun’s figure seemed to vanish from his sight.
In the assassin’s eyes, he was suddenly standing in the middle of an endless battlefield. The sky above him was dark red, the earth beneath his feet was soaked in blood, and mountains of corpses stretched as far as the eye could see. Broken swords, shattered spears, severed limbs, and crushed armor were scattered everywhere, while countless resentful souls wailed in despair around him.
The blood-masked man’s breathing became rough.
He had killed many people before. He had taken lives with his own hands, and he had long believed that he understood death better than most cultivators. But at this moment, under Li Yun’s Slaughter Sword Intent, he finally realized that the killing intent he had always been so proud of was nothing more than a shallow imitation.
This was the true meaning of killing.
It was cold, absolute, and terrifyingly pure.
It did not rely on hatred, madness, resentment, or excitement. It was the pure will to slaughter, a terrifying Sword Intent that viewed all life as something that could be severed with a single blade.
The blood-masked man clutched his head as his body began to tremble uncontrollably. The Blood Intent inside him was being crushed, devoured, and erased by Li Yun’s Slaughter Sword Intent. His thoughts became chaotic, his eyes turned bloodshot, and the countless screams echoing inside his mind grew louder and louder until they nearly tore his soul apart.
"No, stop it!"
He staggered backward again and again, but he could not escape the crimson world pressing down on his mind. His proud assassin’s will collapsed piece by piece, and the fear he had forced countless victims to experience now flooded into his own heart.
Li Yun slowly raised his sword.
"Ten Thousand Slaughter Sword Art."
The blood-masked man’s body stiffened the moment he heard those words. His instincts screamed for him to run, but his legs refused to move. Under the full suppression of the One Hundred Percent Slaughter Sword Intent, even the circulation of his qi had become sluggish.
"Hundred Slaughter Reigns."
Crimson Slaughter Sword Qi gathered around Li Yun with astonishing speed. One blood-red sword appeared beside him, followed by another, and then another. Within a single breath, dozens of crimson swords had formed in the air around him. Each sword contained terrifying killing power, and every blade radiated a sharpness that seemed capable of cutting through flesh, qi, intent, and soul at the same time.
The blood-masked man let out a hoarse roar and tried to forcefully break free from the suppression. Blood light erupted from his body, and he raised his blood-colored longsword with trembling hands. However, the Blood Intent around him had already been crushed to the point where it could barely take shape.
Li Yun pointed his sword forward.
"Go."
The crimson swords shot out together.
The blood-masked man desperately swung his longsword, releasing several blood-red sword lights in an attempt to block them. However, his attacks shattered the instant they touched Li Yun’s Slaughter Sword Qi.
The first crimson sword pierced through his shoulder and nailed him backward.
The second pierced through his thigh, and the third shattered the blood-colored longsword in his hand.
Before he could scream, the remaining swords descended.
One sword pierced his chest.
Another tore through his dantian.
A final crimson sword flashed across the air and passed cleanly through his throat.
The blood-masked man froze in place. His bloodshot eyes were still filled with madness and terror, but the life within them quickly faded. His body collapsed heavily to the ground, and the Blood Intent around him scattered like smoke beneath the lingering pressure of Li Yun’s Slaughter Sword Intent.
Li Yun slowly lowered his sword.
The crimson swords dissolved into strands of Slaughter Sword Qi before fading into the air. The terrifying pressure gradually receded, but the surrounding forest remained deathly silent.
Li Yun looked at the corpse of the blood-masked man with calm eyes.
"A killer who does not understand slaughter still dares to speak of death before me."
After saying that, he turned away without another glance.