Killing intent.
An unimaginable, all-encompassing killing intent descended upon everyone in that moment.
The only sensation any of them had was of a blade poised silently at their backs, its tip a hairsbreadth from piercing their hearts.
As though the slightest movement on their part would drive that point forward without hesitation, snuffing out their lives in an instant.
The roaring noise that had filled the base of the Setting Sun Wall cut off entirely. An invisible dread spread across the heavens and earth, and absolute silence fell on every side.
A resonant clash rang out.
In an instant, what sounded like the meeting of blades seemed to tear through the silence from above the Setting Sun Wall's summit, yet the killing intent blanketing the crowd did not diminish in the slightest. On the contrary, the terror in everyone's hearts grew like a spreading vine, multiplying endlessly.
In that moment, almost everyone began trembling uncontrollably. They desperately wanted to flee, but something seemed to press down on them from the void, trapping them where they stood with nowhere to go.
At the very front of the crowd, where the Dugu family contingent stood, Dugu Changkong's entire body was enveloped in a fierce sword intent. He raised his head toward the patch of sky above the Setting Sun Wall's summit that had suddenly gone dark, and his hands hanging at his sides slowly clenched into fists.
At the same time, the Hidden Kill Pavilion assassins who had come to watch were each being suppressed by the all-pervading killing intent, but their expressions showed intense excitement, and they gazed at the horizon with burning, eager eyes.
In that moment, whether it was Ghost Dwarf, the Black and White Rakshasa, Illusory Swan, or Lianxing, every one of them had their eyes fixed without blinking on the summit of the Setting Sun Wall.
To tell the truth, in all their years as Hidden Kill Pavilion assassins, this was the first time any of them had ever personally witnessed their Kill-Saint act.
One does not earn the title of Kill-Saint without cause.
It was a title carved out from mountains of corpses and rivers of blood, the absolute pinnacle of the killing path, the ultimate achievement of a martial assassin, and a way of killing refined and condensed through hundreds and thousands of brushes with the very edge of death. In this one matter of killing alone, the man had reached a state of flawless mastery and supreme perfection.
"As expected, the Kill-Saint's action is in a class of its own."
That irresistible and terrifying killing intent, that concealed presence as untraceable as an antelope in the night, that devastating strike swift as a thunderclap...
This was the pinnacle of the killing path that they had spent their lives chasing and praying for.
...
At that same moment, a raspy, ancient voice, as though drifting down from deep within the clouds, rang out across the entire Setting Sun Wall, "Not bad. If you can hold off three moves from me, I will consider you the victor."
As those words settled, in the next instant a curved blade no larger than a palm appeared above Li Musheng's head, without hesitation or delay.
Li Musheng stood at the summit, utterly unmoved by the Kill-Saint's killing intent, his gaze resting calmly on the empty air before him.
...
"Shenshu, what do you make of this?"
Below, the blue-robed Daoist and the monk Shenshu had both paused their game and stood, looking up toward the space above the Setting Sun Wall's summit along with everyone else.
But unlike those around them, neither was affected by the Kill-Saint's killing intent, and both appeared entirely composed.
Shenshu, at those words, kept his gaze on the distant figure at the summit and said, "It is difficult to say. The Hidden Kill Pavilion's Kill-Saint is truly formidable. This is the first time I have directly faced a Kill-Saint's killing intent, and while it is not beyond handling, it does give one the persistent feeling of a blade at one's back."
The blue-robed Daoist narrowed his eyes and glanced at Shenshu, saying, "What else would you expect? An assassination organization that has made its name across all five nations has foundations no weaker than your Hanguang Temple."
Shenshu, however, intoned a Buddhist name and said, "The Buddha has always embraced compassion. We do not relish rivalry and contest."
The blue-robed Daoist pursed his lips, then looked back toward the distance and said, "That Hidden Kill Pavilion Kill-Saint is genuinely formidable. But this Great Li Eighth Prince is no weakling either. Since the Kill-Saint has offered three moves, they should grow stronger with each one. The question is whether the Eighth Prince can hold all of them off."
As he said this, the blue-robed Daoist showed a flicker of interest and said on a sudden impulse, "Why not make a wager on whether the Eighth Prince can withstand all three moves?"
At those words, Shenshu shook his head, "Best not. This poor monk is decent at chess, but gambling is not something I am suited for."
The blue-robed Daoist's eyelid gave a small twitch. No wonder this monk had been so eager to play chess against him for the stakes of his disciple. He had evidently been confident the whole time.
But before he could say anything further, Li Musheng's voice drifted down from the summit of the Setting Sun Wall, audible to nearly everyone gathered below.
"Three moves is all? Fine. I will play along." Li Musheng said calmly.
He had originally intended to end things in a single move and be done with it, but with this many people having come to watch, he figured he might as well draw things out a little and put on a somewhat longer show. It was also a matter of leaving the Hidden Kill Pavilion some face.
After all, however one looked at it, the Hidden Kill Pavilion would be his from now on. He should preserve a little dignity for himself as well.
With those words settled, the curved blade above his head, formed entirely of condensed killing intent, was casually pinched between two of Li Musheng's fingers.
Then with a slight flick, that killing intent blade, capable of slaying a person without leaving a trace, exploded and scattered, vanishing from between his fingers.
"Too weak."
Li Musheng raised an eyebrow and said this toward the empty air before him.
Coming at him with this level of power? Who were they looking down on?
Anyone who did not know better might think he could not even hold off a Kill-Saint's opening move.
At those words, the darkened void ahead of him seemed to give a faint, startled pause.
At the same time, the spectators at the foot of the Setting Sun Wall had naturally heard Li Musheng's words.
Though they were still suppressed by the Kill-Saint's killing intent and could not move or speak, this did nothing to stop them from being thoroughly shocked by what Li Musheng had just said.
After all, they could feel firsthand at this very moment just how formidable the Kill-Saint was, an existence so terrifying it was entirely beyond their ability to resist.
And yet Li Musheng still thought such an existence was weak?
"Interesting," the blue-robed Daoist said, stroking his beard.
The monk Shenshu's eyes gave a quiet flicker, but he said nothing.
Not far away, Huo Shan, with Huo Qifeng's assistance channeling true qi, had just barely managed to hold off enough of the Kill-Saint's killing intent to be able to speak.
He looked up at Li Musheng's figure on the summit and murmured quietly, "I have no idea how high that cousin prince of mine has actually risen in cultivation, but that invincible bearing of his... even if a Martial God were to descend, I imagine it would not be much different."
At those words, Huo Qifeng let out a quiet sigh, his gaze fixed in the distance, "I suppose that is the gap between a person like him and the rest of us."
...
Meanwhile, the Hidden Kill Pavilion assassins, having heard Li Musheng's completely unembarrassed words, all showed expressions that were rather unpleasant.
They knew Li Musheng was formidable. But that was a Kill-Saint, the absolute pinnacle of the killing path that they spent their entire lives pursuing.
"The Kill-Saint was obviously holding back, which is why he is being mocked," Ghost Dwarf said slowly, clearly rather unhappy.
Illusory Swan gave a nod and said, "I do understand the Pavilion's desire to have this Eighth Prince take over as the next Pavilion Master. But under these circumstances, I still think some degree of prestige needs to be established first. We should not let him look down on us and underestimate the Hidden Kill Pavilion's true strength."
At those words, the Black and White Rakshasa both nodded, while Lianxing fixed her gaze on the young figure at the summit, her expression shifting subtly. She had called Li Musheng arrogant and brazen just moments ago, but now said nothing at all, lost in whatever she was thinking.
And at that moment, the scene above suddenly transformed. The entire summit of the Setting Sun Wall was swallowed by gusts of ghostly wind, and shadows began flickering and shifting through the dimness. A sound like the rolling of war drums shook through the air. Fleeting images of mountains of corpses and seas of blood flashed in and out of sight, and in an instant a layer of pale, drifting mist rose to envelop Li Musheng at the summit.
"This mist is called the Slaughter Fog. Each strand within it is equivalent to a killing blade with the intent of a hundred lives upon it. Thousands upon thousands of strands interweave into a Slaughter Blade Array, and as long as the killing intent does not die, the array does not break. You may be able to hold off one blade, ten blades, a hundred blades, but can you hold off a thousand? Ten thousand? Even a hundred thousand..."
"If you cannot endure it, say the word, and this old man can withdraw the Slaughter Fog for you."
The Kill-Saint's voice drifted out slowly, and at the same time, the entire summit of the Setting Sun Wall vanished from the crowd's sight.
All the spectators below could see was a churning mass of bloody light, ghostly shadows, and howling grey mist swallowing the summit whole.
Within that grey mist, a terrible killing intent raged skyward, many times more powerful than even what had been pressing down on the crowd below.
The very space around the summit seemed to freeze and solidify, the Kill-Saint's power forming an invisible set of shackles sealing off every direction.
But then, in the instant the Kill-Saint's words fell, the grey mist blanketing the summit dissolved in a moment. The surging killing intent collapsed into nothing.
Li Musheng's figure reappeared in everyone's sight.
He stood at the summit, completely unharmed, as though the Slaughter Fog had not affected him in the slightest.
"Still too weak."
Li Musheng looked at the empty air before him and shook his head slowly. Then he said with a mild note of suggestion, "You have one more chance. I recommend you give it everything you have. Otherwise I am going to start feeling like you have not really moved at all."
At those words, the dimming void ahead of him began to churn and tremble violently.
After a moment, that raspy, ancient voice rang out once more, "Very well. Very well. Very well."
The Kill-Saint spoke those three words in succession, and the sound shook the entire heavens and earth.
Li Musheng's brow creased slightly at the sight.
He had been intending to let the Hidden Kill Pavilion keep some face. After all, they would be his people from now on.
But somehow, without quite being able to stop himself just now, he had let a couple of cutting remarks slip out. They were not exactly trash talk, more of a taunt at most, but judging by the old man's reaction, he had clearly made the elder furious.
And at that moment, the very aura of the heavens and earth shifted without warning.
The boundless killing intent radiating from the Kill-Saint, which had been still until now, began to move. The killing intent that had been pressing down on the spectators gathered at the foot of the cliff abruptly reversed, sweeping upward into the sky.
The crowd below immediately felt the pressure ease, and in that instant every single person could move again, and one by one they all let out long, relieved breaths.
At the same time, above the Setting Sun Wall's summit, the very air seemed to freeze solid. A bone-cutting, life-extinguishing killing intent of staggering power descended from above, blanketing everything.
Every single thing in heaven and earth seemed to slow to an imperceptible crawl. Space itself appeared to warp and distort. Then a withered, skeletal hand materialized above Li Musheng's head out of thin air, descending in complete silence, carrying with it the force of collapsing mountains and sundering seas, slowly falling.
No howling wind came with it, and yet as the hand continued to descend, the rocks at the summit crumbled soundlessly to powder. The ancient trees and grasses withered in an instant, collapsing into ash.
The entire Setting Sun Wall seemed unable to bear the overflowing force. The mountain body shuddered and split apart, as though it might collapse entirely at any moment.
Beyond that, everything around the Setting Sun Wall fell into deathly stillness. Not a sound remained. Only stone crumbling to dust, and all living things stripped of life. It was as though even sound and light themselves had been swallowed completely by that single palm.
...
"A will that moves to kill, and heaven and earth lose their voice," the monk Shenshu said, watching the palm descending above the summit. He pressed his palms together and intoned a Buddhist name in a pained voice.
Within that palm he seemed to see mountains of corpses and seas of blood blotting out the sky, countless heads rolling, numberless bleached bones heaped into hills.
Across from him, the blue-robed Daoist could not help sighing with feeling, "No wonder such a person is called a Kill-Saint. It is a title well and truly deserved."
"Whether or not this is his most powerful killing strike, how many people in the world could hold this off?"
At the same time, the Hidden Kill Pavilion assassins in the crowd all fell completely silent, watching the Kill-Saint's descending palm above the summit.
Every one of them felt their pupils contract sharply, and an expression of overwhelming shock spread across each face. This was why they had come all this way to Shangyang City.
They had come here for this one palm.
To witness the Kill-Saint act with their own eyes, to see this single, terrifying killing strike that made the very heavens and earth pale, had made the entire journey worthwhile.
Yet at the same moment, a question rose in their minds.
Could that Great Li Eighth Prince truly hold off a palm of this staggering, terrifying power?
And at that moment, not only the Hidden Kill Pavilion assassins but every single person gathered around the Setting Sun Wall held that same question.
At the Dugu family's position, Dugu Changkong stood frozen in place, staring from a distance at the scene unfolding above the summit.
His hand closed involuntarily into a tight fist, and his sword intent surged so violently through his whole body that even his breathing became ragged.
Li Musheng had clearly infuriated the Kill-Saint, and Dugu Changkong was hoping that this terrifying palm, even if it could not take Li Musheng's life, would at least deal him serious injuries.
Otherwise, given the formidable strength Li Musheng had already displayed, and that bearing of absolute invincibility, he honestly did not know whether he would ever find any chance to take his revenge in this lifetime.
At the same time, at the summit of the Setting Sun Wall.
Li Musheng watched in silence as that withered palm continued to fall toward him from above. Then he raised a hand toward it and flicked a single finger.
In that instant, the entire world went completely still, as though in one moment time had halted and every frame had frozen in place.
And in the next moment, that withered palm, packed with overwhelming killing intent and a devastating aura of annihilation, shot rapidly backward and in the blink of an eye retreated into the dim void and vanished from sight.
In the same moment, the Setting Sun Wall, which had been on the verge of total collapse, came to a sudden halt. The boundless killing intent dissipated. The crumpled, distorted space was smoothed flat.
Everything returned to normal. Li Musheng stood quietly at the summit as before, and the dark void ahead of him was fading rapidly, growing clear and bright once more.