340 Iron-handed House Steward
The man in black nodded. "Su House, Su Muyu."
The house steward narrowed his eyes. "The current Head of Su House, formerly Kui. Such an important figure of the Hidden River has already entered Heavenly Revelations?"
Su Muyu waved his left hand and plunged the entire umbrella into the ground. He tightened his grip on the thin sword and pointed it at the house steward. "Sir, you are definitely not an ordinary person."
Grand Preceptor Dong chuckled. "He’s not only famous, he’s too famous."
The house steward bowed towards the Grand Preceptor. "Old Master, please don’t say that."
Su Muyu glanced at the house steward again. He moved and had already flashed before the other two. He swung his thin sword but the blade was intercepted by the house steward.
Su Muyu could finally see clearly under the moonlight. The house steward wore a pair of scarlet gloves on his hands.
The steward flicked his hand lightly and Su Muyu pulled free his thin sword as he leapt into the air and landed back to where he was.
The Hidden River Head of Su House had just struck two consecutive sword moves, and both times, returned without success.
"Li Tian." Su Muyu said these two words in a mild voice.
But the story behind these two words was very heavy.
King of Murder Li Tian. He once occupied the top place on the martial world assassins ranking list for thirteen consecutive years, and his hands were stained with the blood of countless. Even the most mysterious Hidden River lost several of their assassins at his hands, and for a time, the entire Hidden River paled in comparison to this man. Then, one day, at Qilei Mountain, he was besieged by over ten martial experts and was severely injured. He managed to escape but nobody knew if he was dead or alive and where he was.
"Umbrella Ghost." Li Tian raised his head and looked at Su Muyu. His crooked back had straightened and he stood upright. "I regret not having a duel with you back then. Shall we make up for it today?"
"You didn't die, but you were severely injured. In fact, you haven’t fully recovered. Otherwise, your attack just now should have been more powerful." Su Muyu frowned slightly.
"That year, your Hidden River set a trap. I managed to survive that piece of hell, but how could I have come out unscathed?" Li Tian sneered.
"But you still walked out of that hell," Su Muyu said.
Li Tian jumped forward and landed right in front of Su Muyu to strike with one fist. "Because I was the hell!"
Su Muyu raised his sword and was beaten back by that fist!
Li Tian came nearer and struck with another fist.
"I heard that you’ve recreated the Su House’s Eighteen-Blade Array. I’d love to see it!" Li Tian pressed forward relentlessly.
Su Muyu retreated again and again. "You want to see my sword? The cost could be very high."
Li Tian sneered, and struck the ground in front of him with a fist. Pebbles flew up, and it was literally earth-shattering. "How dare you spout such arrogance before me."
Grand Preceptor Dong sighed softly. "Li Tian, you’re too far away from me."
Li Tian was startled and whipped his head around. "Impossible." He was the King of Murder, Li Tian. Even if he wasn’t as powerful as before due to the injuries he suffered that year, he still had a killer’s intuition. He had already confirmed earlier that there were no other assassins nearby.
But he had forgotten that the Hidden River had a Mu House. The killers of Mu House had always operated in utter silence.
A woman in white appeared next to Grand Preceptor Dong. Next to her were several paper butterflies that blinked with a fluorescent light. The woman in white had a cool voice. "My name is Mu Liangyue, greetings to Grand Preceptor Dong."
Grand Preceptor Dong replied calmly, "Greetings, Miss."
"Really, for such an important person as Grand Preceptor Dong, only the Head of Su House was worthy of taking your life," Mu Liangyue said lightly. "But now, we can’t help it. Grand Preceptor must die today."
"Must I die?" Grand Preceptor Dong asked.
Mu Liangyue nodded. "This is the Grand Preceptor’s fate."
Grand Preceptor Dong smiled and said, "You don't know that I’ve lived to this day because I, Dong Zhu, do not believe in fate."
Li Tian roared in fury and tried to return to Grand Preceptor Dong’s side, but Su Muyu stood in front of him with his sword.
When faced with the Umbrella’s Ghost’s sword power that was as dense as a drizzle of rain, nobody could escape that easily. Not even the King of Murder, Li Tian.
"Goodbye." Mu Liangyue waved her sleeves gently, and the paper butterflies flew into the wind.
"Fall!" An angry shout suddenly came from above.
The paper butterfly really fell.
"Fall! Fall! Fall!" One shout followed after another.
All the paper butterflies fell to the ground.
Even if there were a thousand paper butterflies rising in the wind, they would all be forced to the ground by this person.
Because, her name was Qianluo.
Sikong Qianluo!
Her voice fell, her spear arrived!
Sikong Qianluo wielded her long spear and smashed it down, just as the paper butterflies began to stir again, instantly sweeping them into powder.
Mu Liangyue was badly shocked. She waved her long sleeves and gathered up the Silver Moon spear.
"Just you?" Sikong Qianluo raised her eyebrows, and smacked the spear down. The sleeves were torn to pieces.
"Severed space," Mu Liangyue panted softly.
"Forget the space!" Sikong Qianluo smashed down with her spear. "My father is the Spear Immortal who broke the Hundred Ghosts Parade Severed Space Grand Array. Do you even dare to display your lame severed space array before me?"
Mu Liangyue’s back was drenched with sweat. Last year, she’d first encountered Sikong Qianluo but at the time, she had just entered the Vajra Mortal Realm. But now, the power of her spear was clearly one that only a Heavenly Realm expert would possess.
"Housemaster Su." Mu Liangyue whispered, as she sent her paper butterflies flying out of her sleeves, but they were all swept clean by Sikong Qianluo's spear.
Su Muyu felt a shiver in his heart and facing him, Li Tian’s lips curled into a cold smile. So, it was Li Tian who had entrapped him and not the other way round.
"Retreat." Su Muyu moved in a flash and backed away to where he’d left his umbrella. He sheathed his thin sword back into the umbrella.
"Retreat?" Li Tian caressed one of the scarlet gloves on his hand. "Not so easy."
"Housemaster Su!" Mu Liangyue ripped off the collar of her dress and pulled the entire dress off her body. Instantly, the white dress transformed into countless paper butterflies and they all flew towards Grand Preceptor Dong.
Sikong Qianluo waved her spear in a wild dance as she stood in front of Grand Preceptor Dong, reducing all the paper butterflies into shreds. Not a single one could fly past the wind from her spear.
Su Muyu buckled the umbrella handle lightly, and a thin blade flew out of the umbrella, aiming for Grand Preceptor Dong.
Li Tian frowned and rushed forward, but Su Muyu turned around with his oil paper umbrella, blocking his path.
"Get lost!" Li Tian kicked him aside and flashed to Grand Preceptor Dong's side. Just before the thin blade would have pierced the older man’s chest, Li Tian intercepted it with one hand. His hand moved slightly and flicked the thin blade back but its target was already gone.
Su Muyu and Mu Liangyue had seized the opportunity to escape.
Grand Preceptor Dong wiped the sweat from his forehead. "That was really quite nerve-wrecking."
The sinister expression on Li Tian's face slowly faded and he was once again, the somewhat reserved house steward. "Old Master must be joking. Such nerve-wrecking events should happen less often."
Sikong Qianluo lowered her spear. "This Hidden River has gotten too bold. How dare they even assassinate the Grand Preceptor?"
Grand Preceptor Dong smiled and said, "Indeed, they dared to come and kill me. That’s very bold of them."
The house steward nodded. "I'll get someone to investigate this. Let’s see who dared to be so bold."
Grand Preceptor Dong shook his head. "There’s no need. Since Miss Qianluo is here, then I’m certain His Highness, Yong'an Prince already knows the answer."