Chapter Twenty-Seven: The Final Curtain

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Gu Xian, dressed in a blue robe, stood out conspicuously atop the city wall.

Sword aura coiled around the long sword in his hand. Wherever it passed, the demonic cultivators were cleaved in two.

For a time, not a single one dared to challenge his edge.

Just then, Gu Xian’s pupils suddenly contracted. Not far away, a burly man wielding a bow was shooting down orthodox cultivators.

It was the very same man who had launched a sneak attack on Gu Xian from the city wall earlier.

The man’s heart gave a sudden lurch, as though he had been targeted by some primordial beast.

In the next instant, Gu Xian lightly touched the ground with his toes and accelerated toward him.

Seeing the blue-robed man charging straight at him, the archer was horrified. The hairs on his back stood on end.

He hastily drew his bow and nocked an arrow. His breathing grew deep and steady, and the incised runes on the arrowhead suddenly lit up.

“Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh…”

He fired more than ten arrows in rapid succession, then turned and fled for his life without looking back.

Gu Xian struck repeatedly. Fierce sword aura filled the air, deflecting every arrow.

Then he raced after the fleeing man.

Before long, the two left the city wall, one pursuing the other. The archer glanced back and saw that Gu Xian was still close behind.

Sweat broke out across his forehead, and he increased his speed once more.

They raced along the streets and rooftops of the city.

Soon, they entered a residential district.

The archer steeled himself, leapt onto a roof, and Gu Xian followed close behind.

The two figures darted across the rooftops. Tiles shattered beneath their feet, but before the fragments could fall, they had already appeared more than thirty feet away.

Watching the man’s back, Gu Xian circulated the spiritual energy within him to its limits.

Yet whenever he was about to catch up, the archer would suddenly accelerate and leave him far behind.

Seeing the faint red glow emerge across the man’s body, the blue-robed swordsman understood.

It seemed he really had driven his opponent into a desperate corner. The man had already begun burning his vital essence.

At that thought, Gu Xian stopped pursuing him at full speed. He merely followed from a distance. Once the man had burned through his vital essence, death would be inevitable.

Before long, the archer seemed to realize Gu Xian’s intention. He suddenly turned and fired an arrow.

The arrow moved with astonishing speed and arrived before Gu Xian in an instant.

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The blue-robed man abruptly halted his forward momentum and threw himself backward.

The arrow skimmed past his chest without losing any speed, finally embedding itself in the bluestone street a short distance behind him.

At the instant the man had fired, Gu Xian’s heartbeat had even slowed for a moment.

He had thought his opponent was already at the end of his strength, like a dying fish struggling on a butcher’s block, while he himself was the executioner gripping the knife.

But now it seemed that this was a vicious fish that could still bite.

After firing the arrow, the archer hurriedly leapt from the wall and began fleeing wildly through the shadowy, winding alleys.

Coming back to himself, Gu Xian’s eyes flashed with determination.

His speed suddenly increased. He continued gliding across the rooftops, his figure graceful and ethereal, like an immortal descending to earth.

Even while fleeing, the archer did not forget to look back and check whether that murderous fiend was still pursuing him.

He was truly full of grievances. Had he not merely fired one sneak attack at the man earlier? Was there really any need to chase him so relentlessly?

He looked back several times in succession but saw no sign of his pursuer.

“Whew…”

The archer could not help but let out a long sigh of relief. Secretly congratulating himself, he muttered, “I finally shook that murderous fiend off.”

At that moment, a mocking voice suddenly came from ahead.

“Did you?”

The archer jerked his head up. A blue-robed man holding a long sword stood not far in front of him, his expression full of ridicule.

The archer’s face twisted with bitterness. He could not help asking, “Can’t you spare my life?”

Gu Xian gave him a half-smile. “What do you think?”

The man knew that he was unlikely to survive this time. After all, many orthodox cultivators had died by his hand during the battle that day. Instead, he relaxed, seemingly prepared to face death calmly.

Gu Xian walked toward him step by step. His heavy footsteps echoed through the secluded alley like a ghostly song heralding death.

When the blue-robed man was only ten paces away, the archer’s face suddenly contorted with madness.

“If you refuse to let me go, then we’ll die together!”

A black talisman appeared in his palm. Its glow flared brilliantly, and a terrifying aura spread through the narrow alley.

Before the talisman could be fully activated, the archer saw a razor-thin streak of light flash across it and then pass straight through his body.

In the next instant, the radiance faded from the talisman. It fell to the ground in two pieces.

The archer’s body was likewise cleaved in two.

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Gu Xian walked past without a glance at the corpse lying on the ground, already dead beyond any possibility of revival.

He picked up the two halves of the black talisman, then retrieved the man’s longbow. Finally, he discovered several hundred arrows inside the man’s storage artifact.

The blue-robed man swept every valuable item into his Cosmos Pouch.

Then he turned and left with easy grace.

Before long, a blue-robed man wielding a longbow appeared on battlefields throughout the city. Every time he loosed an arrow, a demonic cultivator fell.

It was Gu Xian. After obtaining the man’s bow and arrows, he had begun using them to kill his enemies.

He chose only targets at the Sea of Qi Realm. With his golden spiritual energy clinging to the arrows, he was virtually unstoppable.

As more and more demonic cultivators fell, the others noticed him.

Yet before any demonic cultivator could close in, Gu Xian would shoot him dead.

Throughout Phoenix Sun City, fierce battles raged in every direction. The orthodox cultivators despised the demonic cultivators for their brutal deeds, while the demonic cultivators had lost even their Ninth Tower Master, who had fled. Trapped inside the city with no avenue of retreat, they could only fight to the death, hoping to find a slim chance of survival.

For a time, cries of slaughter shook the heavens, and spiritual energy surged like a raging tide.

The common people, who had suffered in the city for many days, huddled inside their homes, trembling in fear. Not a single person dared venture outside to investigate.

The fighting continued throughout the entire night, without pausing for even a moment across all of Phoenix Sun City.

It was not until dawn the next day that the sounds of battle gradually subsided.

Another two hours passed before the bolder residents ventured out of their homes to look around.

The instant they opened their doors, they saw that the streets outside were drenched in blood.

After a night of slaughter, the entire city seemed to have been dyed red. The stench of blood rose straight into the heavens.

Before long, however, someone discovered notices posted by the county office throughout the streets and alleys.

The notice stated, in essence:

Most of the demonic cultivators in the city have been eliminated, but a small number have disguised themselves and infiltrated ordinary households. From this point onward, the Demon-Slaying Office will conduct a citywide investigation.

For the first time in many days, emotion appeared on the people’s numb faces.

Some felt as though they had awakened from another lifetime. Some could not help bursting into tears. Others walked with light steps, hurrying through the streets and alleys to spread the news.

It was over.

At last, everything was over.

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