The flying giant axe cut one of the Demonic Night March’s men into two, and with a searing sound, flew back to its owner like a boomerang. A thin figure leaped out from behind a stele and caught the spinning giant axe by its handle. He landed on top of the stele steadily, then looked at the Demonic Night March rushing toward him. With his sharp pitched voice, he yelled, “What are you doing? Is the Demon King rebelling…?”
The person who had killed the man from the Demonic Night March with his giant flying axe was extremely petite, as he was the size of an eleven or twelve-year-old child. He stood only a little more than a meter tall and seemed like a midget because he was quite old. His face was wrinkled, his hair all gray, and he sported a set of crooked teeth.
The hideous old man had a ruthless expression on his face. The most memorable thing about him was probably the fact that his giant axe weighed at least two or three hundred jin and was about the same height as him. It was certainly a sight to see someone so petite holding such a giant axe while standing on a stele among the snow.
It was his size that allowed him to completely hide behind a stele and land a deadly ambush against an expert from the Demonic Night March.
The two men that Yan Liqiang was following earlier suddenly jumped to the front and flanked the old man who was standing a few meters away on the stele. “Guan Tiesheng, His Holiness has ordered us to seize the traitor. We respect that you, the Axe Guardian Warrior of the Eight Guardian Warriors, were one of our comrades and we respect all the contributions you have made over the years. As long as you see the errors of your way and take down the traitor with us, I’m sure His Holiness will look past your mistakes…!”
One of the people Yan Liqiang followed was a scholarly-looking man. He was dressed in green and held a black folding fan. The other man was a bald burly man who had taken out a long whip from his waist. The person who spoke to the old man with the giant axe was none other than the person with the whip.
“Pft. Situ Fei, Lu Tianxing. Both of you are still shameless enough to speak about His Holiness? You are the ones who betrayed the White Lotus Society!” The old man berated them while pointing at the scholarly-looking man with his axe.
“Back then, both of you acted like lap dogs to His Holiness, even to the extent that you would lick the soles of his shoes! Now that His Holiness has just passed away, both of you switched sides and are now after the Sacred Maiden’s life! Before His Holiness passed away, everyone in the White Lotus Cavern witnessed his holy decree which was for the holy scripture to be passed on to the Sacred Maiden and not that demon! I’m sure all of you remember that! Now that the demon has seized the throne, you dare to come for the Sacred Maiden’s life?! Both of you are the real traitors! Situ Fei! Don’t you remember it was His Holiness who saved you back when you fell into Qi deviation? Is this how you repay him…?!”
Before the man with the whip could even speak, he was interrupted by the man with the folding fan. “Don’t waste your breath on him! He’s buying time for the people in Chenghuang Temple to call the Law Enforcers…!”
He then turned to the masked experts beside him, “We will keep him occupied here. All of you, make haste to Chenghuang Temple. Don’t let the target escape! When the Demon King arrives, you will be rewarded for your great merits…!”
When the Demonic Night March heard his words, they continued rushing toward Chenghuang Temple in the distance without any hesitation. The old man with the giant axe was about to move, but was stopped by the searing crack of a whip. He was able to leap in time, but the stele beneath his feet was instantly reduced into shambles by the bald man’s whip.
The old man bellowed in rage, then flung his axe at the scholar in midair. The giant axe cut through the snowy wind and flew toward the scholar at lightning speed. The scholar seemed to have known how impressive the spinning giant axe was, so he didn’t try to take it on with brute force. Instead, he lowered his body like a snake until he was nearly on the floor and evaded it by the breadth of a hair. He then sent a slicing whirlwind he created with his fan at the old man’s throat.
The old man didn’t falter either as he struck out his fist and created a gust of burning wind. The moment he did, his frail body seemed like it was on fire. The snowflakes that fell in front of his fist instantly evaporated.
The bald man went in to charge at the old man with his long whip. However, the giant axe made a turnin the air and flew toward his legs. The whip clashed against the axe with a loud clunk, but the axe suddenly spun faster toward him like a spinning top gaining momentum…
In the end, the giant axe flew under the bald man’s feet and returned to the strange old man’s grip. In just the blink of an eye, the battle grew more intense in the stele forest while most of the Demonic Night March had barged into Chenghuang Temple.
Meanwhile, Yan Liqiang was stunned when he heard the conversation between the trio: Guan Tiesheng, Situ Fei, and Lu Tianxing. These were important figures in the White Lotus Society that the imperial court had issued arrest warrants on. They were three of the Eight Guardian Warriors. Guan Tiesheng was nicknamed the Axe Guardian Warrior for his weapon, while Situ Fei and Lu Tian Xing were known as the Fan Guardian Warrior and Whip Guardian Warrior, respectively. They were all ruthless individuals.
Why were they fighting each other even though they were all from the White Lotus Society? Yan Liqiang was filled with questions. After listening to their conversation, there seemed to be an internal strife within the White Lotus Society.
As the battle raged on, sounds of weapons clashing against each other were also coming from the pine forest behind Chenghuang Temple. It appeared that the Demonic Night March had started fighting the person they were looking for…
Yan Liqiang pondered for a moment, before leaping away from the tall pine tree he was on. He avoided the stele forest where the three Guardian Warriors were fighting intensely and opted to approach the pine forest behind Chenghuang Temple from the other side of Yuhua Pavilion.
The Demonic Night March had surrounded and were attacking two people inside the pine forest relentlessly…
The two people seemed to be women from the way they dressed. One of them was a hot thirty-year-old figure clad in red. She was holding a pair of hooks. When Yan Liqiang got there, he saw the woman in red cut off one of the men’s heads from his neck, causing blood to splatter across the white snow.
The other woman was dressed in white and wearing a white face veil. She had a longsword in hand that gleamed sharply.
“Hurry, Lady! If the Demon King comes, we won’t be able to escape…!” The woman fought intensely against the Demonic Night March with her dual hooks as she yelled anxiously.
The other woman remained silent. With a sword flash, she had cleanly chopped off an expert’s arm.
The expert from the Demonic Night March, however, only groaned after losing an arm, and then pounced on her.
When Yan Liqiang saw the woman with the sword, he was once again stunned. Although her face was covered by a veil, Yan Liqiang could identify her through her figure. She was one of Yan Liqiang’s ‘acquaintances’— Sword Fairy Hua Ruxue!