True Solution of the Sword Dao

Some local residents gathered around the perimeter to watch the excitement, chatting to each other in Filipino about the situation.

Others were tourists who had been turned back. These people had different skin colors—Asians, Caucasians, and Africans—all could be found among them, with Asians naturally being the most numerous.

Yuan Yicheng and his group were mixed in with them. They watched from afar as these Africans were stuck here, manning the checkpoint. A large wooden sign was planted on the side, with "No Trespassing" written on it in English.

"Boss, if they dare to set up a checkpoint here so brazenly, they must have local government permission and support. It’s just not clear which side’s power is behind this," the African House whispered to Yuan Yicheng. "Our guys have already scoped it out from above. There are members of Li Fang and Glans, and there are also seven or eight smaller mercenary groups like ours. But they all got turned back by these guys."

Yuan Yicheng nodded.

"Have Aurora come over."

House nodded and retreated into the crowd behind them.

Soon, a blond woman approached Yuan Yicheng. Her skin was fair and delicate, quite unlike the poor skin of Caucasian women. She looked exceptionally refined, even though she was dressed simply in a white shirt and jeans.

Yuan Yicheng had just recently taken over this Mercenary Corps and wasn’t too familiar with the background information of the members. However, this Aurora was the first one to swear allegiance to him. The girl was only twenty-two years old this year; her father had been a university music professor, and her mother a corporate executive. But after her family underwent great changes, and through a series of experiences, she eventually ended up on the path of a mercenary, a dangerous way of life. Now she was just a freshly-minted F-class elite.

But Yuan Yicheng valued her because of her strong potential. Her stealth and sniping talents were high, making her very suitable for reconnaissance and assassination missions. This made Aurora extremely grateful.

She looked at Yuan Yicheng with a hint of nervousness.

"Chief, do you have a mission for me?"

She was very aware that as a mercenary like her, she was a dime a dozen in the mercenary world. This kind of opportunity to be noticed by those above was undoubtedly very precious to her.

"You have the best stealth ability in the group. Take your signal device and your treasure; we need accurate and timely information on the movements of the Mercenary Corps who came for this mission," Yuan Yicheng instructed.

"Understood!"

***************

In a forest halfway up the mountain

After a faint crackling of electricity, a blood-soaked, brawny bald man appeared in the flickering lights, supported by a pale-faced Caucasian.

"Three times already..." Niqi said with a raspy voice. "I can use my ability one last time. This is already the limit of the secret technique."

"It’s enough," Li Fang said, his face equally pale from a serious loss of blood, and also because of the constant rapid transfers, some of his wounds had begun to reopen and bleed again. "It’s been more than a minute; he must have given up the chase."

Suddenly, a beeping sound emitted from Niqi’s waist. He took out the signal device from his waist pack and glanced at the display. His face became even uglier to look at.

"The other three teams... they’re all dead."

Li Fang felt a chill over his entire body.

"How... how is that possible?!"

"Their signals have completely disappeared. Everyone’s infrared personal sensors have all gone out. I told them, never to take off the sensor unless it’s the last resort. And now that the signals are gone, the only explanation is..." Niqi struggled to say, "They’re all dead."

***************

At the top of the mountain, by the volcanic crater lake

"There are intense energy fluctuations nearby. It must be Li Fang’s people clashing with someone else."

A man dressed in GLZ’s standard camouflage uniform was seated cross-legged on the ground, his hands tapping rapidly on a laptop perched on his knees.

Around him were four or five others, among them a woman with a scar across her face.

"Glans, the group leader, shall we continue to wait?" the deep-set eyed Caucasian man asked in a deep voice.

"Wait a little longer; we’re missing two keys, and without everyone here, no one can enter," Glans said lightly as he touched the scar on his face. "How is the evacuation on the other side going?"

"We have the support of the local government and have set up a checkpoint at the foot of the mountain on the lower side. That should stop most of the intruders, but we can’t do much about the stronger ones," a female mercenary beside him replied.

"Doesn’t matter, this is just a pre-selection, to avoid anyone trying to stir things up," Glans said as he took a cigarette from his upper pocket, put it to his lips, and snapped his fingers. A small burst of flame ignited at the tip of the cigarette, lighting it automatically.

Glans took a deep breath and blew out a smoke ring.

"I didn’t expect Li Fang to be held up by someone. But no matter what, only those who get the keys and come here have the right to partake in the rewards of this mission. Whoever they may be."

"What if it’s not someone from our Australia?" the Caucasian asked.

Glans glanced at him.

"This mission was not only released to the Australian mercenary community. You should be clear about this. Although we were the first batch to undertake the mission, that doesn’t mean we’re necessarily going to be the fastest."

***************

Ping City, City No. 3 Middle School

PM sharp

"Lin You! You’ve arrived so early again."

In the empty classroom, Lin You lay alone at a desk in the center, his face weary.

At the classroom doorway, a girl with a ponytail called out cheerfully.

Lin You lifted his head, his eyes bleary, and glanced at the girl.

"Xiaoyu, why are you here so early today?" she said weakly. In yesterday’s battle, Crim, in the end, died. He perished on his own spikes of ice, perhaps never having harbored any expectation of survival from the start. She didn’t understand why Crim chose to impale himself on the icicles. But the relief and ease in his eyes just before death were something she would never forget.

Even now, she could vividly recall that moment.

This was her first real killing. Those words she had said were less about Crim than about herself. Or perhaps, they were to break through the fear deep within her subconscious. She had always thought she could accept everything, no matter how cruel, how difficult. But it wasn’t until now that she realized how immature and childish she used to be, always so self-centered.

"The world doesn’t revolve around anyone. Without me, Earth would still keep spinning." This concrete realization still lingered in Lin You’s heart. She suddenly felt that she had matured. As if she had grown up a lot overnight.

Xiaoyu closed the classroom door, walked to Lin You’s side, and put down her backpack. She had been sitting next to Lin You all along. So the two were quite close, close enough to be considered dear friends.

"What’s wrong, Xiaoyou? You look out of sorts."

"It’s nothing," Lin You shook her head, straightened up, and began fixing her hair. "I’ve just realized that in reality, I am not nearly as important as I thought."

"Since when did you become so sentimental, Xiaoyou?" Xiaoyu asked, puzzled, "Did something happen to upset you?"

Lin You shook her head, smiled, and didn’t reply. Suddenly, her gaze fell on the pink cell phone on the desk. For some reason, she really wanted to know if someone else would have the same answer as herself.

Picking up the phone, Lin You hesitated for a moment, but then opened the contacts list anyway.

Names swiftly scrolled by under the bright backlight of the phone.

"Xiaoyu, I want to ask you something," but she got no response.

Lin You looked up and saw that Xiaoyu had put on her earbuds and was nodding her head to the music.

With a helpless shake of her head, Lin You looked down again at her contacts. Then, a name caught her eye.

She hesitated for a moment. But ultimately, she did not press the call button.

The whole classroom was quiet, save for the faint sound of music leaking from Xiaoyu’s earbuds. That guy had started to flip through his math textbook to preview the lesson content.

"By the way, Xiaoyou." Xiaoyu removed her earbuds.

"Have you ever seen a turtle nod its head?"

Lin You shook her head.

"Then have you heard the story about the idiot who said yes, the moron who said no, and the retard who kept quiet?"

Lin You: "...."

"Pfft!" Xiaoyu couldn’t help but burst into laughter.

"That’s mean, you’re tricking me on purpose!" Lin You soon caught on and lunged at her, flustered and annoyed.

***************

Huff! Huff! Huff!

The sound of heavy breathing permeated the surrounding woods.

Fang was panting heavily.

By his side, Niqi was also pale, sweat sticking his hair to his forehead, his whole body exhausted.

"What do we do now?"

The sweat mixed with blood on Fang’s face kept trickling down his cheeks. Sweat entering his wounds provoked a burning sting that assaulted his nerves repeatedly. In the stifling heat of the woods, Fang even felt dizzy.

"Keep going!" he gritted his teeth and said, "I can... be sure that the person is not after the key. He didn’t even ask us if we had the key!"

"Give it up," Niqi was already at his limit, his face devoid of color. "Discard the key. Let’s get out of here! Avril and the rest are still there; we, Fang, are not yet out of options."

Suddenly, his eyes seemed to spot something through the trees, revealing a hint of joy.

"It’s Black Bee! Damn it! Quick! Heal Fang, and name your price! Whatever you want, it’s yours!" Niqi exclaimed ecstatically, supporting Fang and shouting.

From the opposite side of the woods, a black figure staggered out. Upon hearing Niqi’s words, the black man showed a bitter smile.

"You guys are being hunted too," he said hoarsely.

"Uh," Niqi and Fang were taken aback.

From behind the trees, a familiar figure emerged. Lin Fei, with a smile tugging at the corner of her mouth, pointed the Black Demon Sword at the ground. She walked forward step by step. Faint blue flames began to burn quietly on her body, the flames filled with countless screaming ghostly faces, as if they were desperate to break free from their restraints and devour everything.

On the other side of the woods.

Black Bee looked ashen, his whole body in utter disarray.

Another handsome man emerged slowly, casually shaking out his right fist, his hands clad in black boxing gloves. A vast, immense aura moved slowly with him.

Almost instantly, the man and Lin Fei both looked at each other.

Boom!!

Two massive auras collided suddenly.

The air around them seemed to twist and contort.

"The one who will possess the key will be me alone!" The man’s eyes suddenly brightened with a faint golden glow. (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to recommend, and vote for Monthly Ticket at qidian.com. Your support is my greatest motivation.)