The night wind grew stronger and stronger, and a fine drizzle began falling from the sky. The leaves of the towering roadside trees surged with a shhh—shhh— like ocean waves.
Xie Ying Jie’s convoy stopped outside his villa, where more than a dozen private security guards were already waiting. Surrounded by them, he got out of the car and entered the courtyard. Several more guards put on raincoats and began patrolling outside.
Far away beneath the shadows of the trees, in the corner of a narrow alley, Xia Liu Yi slowly emerged. Holsters hung from his shoulder and thigh, and the pair of Azure Dragon blades were strapped across his back. His fierce, wolfish gaze settled on the two patrolling guards who were drawing closer.
…
A security guard stationed in the living room heard the doorbell ring at the front gate. He pressed the video intercom. On the screen appeared the rain-soaked face of one of the guards patrolling outside, his wet hair plastered messily across his brow and eyes.
“What is it?”
“The wind blew our raincoats away. Bring us two umbrellas.” The man’s voice was mixed with the howl of the wind and difficult to hear clearly.
The guard inside asked warily, “Aren’t there umbrellas in the car?”
“Those blew away too.”
“All right. Wait there.”
The guard switched off the screen and exchanged a look with the other three men inside. All three gathered around and drew their handguns. The guard nearest the entrance cautiously pulled open the door—and the thick stench of blood rushed into their faces. Their colleague was standing upright outside, his throat split open by a huge gash and blood still pouring from it. A brick phone set to speaker mode hung against his blood-drenched chest. Suddenly, a piercing vibration erupted from it. Brrrrrrm—!
The guards opened fire at once. Bullets shot from their suppressors and tore into the corpse, blasting flesh apart in an instant. Blood burst again and again across the entryway like fireworks. The final bullet blew apart the dead man’s skull, splattering the nearest guard’s face with brain matter.
When the gunsmoke cleared, the corpse, now riddled with bullets and its clothes torn to shreds, toppled from the clothes rack that had been holding it upright. The damaged brick phone hit the floor, still giving off intermittent brr… rrrm… sounds. But there was no one outside the door. Only several indistinct figures could be seen lying along the street beyond the courtyard gate.
The guards raised their guns warily and leaned out to scan the surroundings. At that moment, several sharp cracks came from the floor-to-ceiling windows behind them. Bullets pierced the glass and curtains and shot into the living room. None hit anyone, but several spiderweb-shaped impact marks appeared across the glass. From the brick phone on the floor came the sudden roar of a motorcycle accelerating. VROOOOM—!
Then came an earth-shaking CRASH—!! A motorcycle launched through the air, smashed through the floor-to-ceiling windows, and came hurtling into the living room behind them. In midair, Xia Liu Yi kicked himself away from the motorcycle and fired several shots before he had even landed. Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
The two guards still near the door dropped immediately. The other two spun around and began firing at Xia Liu Yi. Xia Liu Yi landed on the sofa, rolled, then overturned it and dropped behind its base. The bullets that followed tore through the thick padding of the European-style sofa, sending wood chips and feathers flying everywhere.
Pinned behind the sofa by the barrage, Xia Liu Yi could not raise his head. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught the guards’ reflections on the nearby television. He drew one Azure Dragon blade from his back, rolled toward the edge of the sofa, and slashed hard. The long blade flew from his hand, skimming just above the carpet in a brilliant streak of light before severing both of one guard’s ankles in the blink of an eye.
Blood sprayed amid a piercing scream as the wounded guard crashed to the floor and stared in horror at his severed feet pumping blood. The agony destroyed his senses, and he screamed as he clawed at his companion’s trouser leg. His companion was shaken by the gruesome sight as well. He tossed aside his empty gun and hurriedly drew another, but in that instant Xia Liu Yi burst from behind the sofa and shot him in the head, then fired another bullet into the wounded man on the floor to put him out of his misery.
Xia Liu Yi strode forward, retrieved the Azure Dragon blade, and slid it back behind his shoulders. Before he could even turn around, fresh gunfire erupted behind him. Seven or eight guards patrolling elsewhere on the ground floor had heard the commotion and rushed over. Xia Liu Yi ducked behind the nearest grandfather-clock cabinet. Bullets struck the brass clock face behind him with crisp clang! clang! sounds.
He raised his left hand and fired several shots into the enormous crystal chandelier hanging over the living room. The two-meter-wide chandelier came crashing down, plunging the room abruptly into darkness. CRASH—! The enormous fixture shattered across the floor, spraying fragments everywhere, and the guards instinctively raised their arms to shield their faces.
At that moment, Xia Liu Yi put on a pair of protective goggles, bit open a flare, and threw it into the room. Blinding white light exploded across the darkness. He drew both pistols and strode into the center of the hall, raising his left arm as he walked. Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Once the left-hand pistol was empty, he threw it aside, transferred the gun from his right hand to his left, and fired again. Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!…
By the time the white smoke dispersed, he had already charged up the stairs. Behind him, bodies covered the living room floor. The dead and wounded struggled in pools of blood as crimson soaked deep into the thick carpet.
…
…
Xia Liu Yi charged onto the second floor. As he neared the top of the stairs, he suddenly ducked, narrowly avoiding a bullet that grazed past the tips of his hair. His return fire immediately forced the guard who had shot at him back behind the wall. The guard’s gun hand trembled with tension as his eyes remained fixed on the corner. Suddenly, the edge of a coat flashed past the wall. The guard roared and emptied his entire magazine into it—only for a shredded coat to collapse onto the floor. Worse, it belonged to one of his dead companions.
Xia Liu Yi swept around the wall in the next instant. Shing—! The Azure Dragon blade cleaved into the wall panel, its tip reflecting the corridor light overhead. Along the gleaming edge of the blade rested a severed head, its eyes still wide open, while the bloody headless body beneath it slowly slid to the floor.
“Aah—!” A middle-aged woman screamed in terror from farther down the corridor.
Xia Liu Yi raised his cold gaze toward the male and female servants hiding at the far end. He wiped a spray of blood from his face and pulled the bloodied blade free of the wall with one hand. With an eerie expression like an Asura risen from hell, he walked toward the two servants one step at a time.
The male servant put himself in front of the woman. Both were trembling violently with fear. But Xia Liu Yi merely stopped beside them, glanced at the pair, and then looked through the open door of the room next to them.
“Where is Xie Ying Jie?” Xia Liu Yi asked coldly.
The two kept their lips tightly shut. The icy tip of the blade immediately pressed against the man’s throat. The female servant hiding behind him screamed, “Don’t! Don’t! Master is upstairs in the study! In the study!”
Xia Liu Yi withdrew the blade and turned away. He had taken only a few steps when he heard the rush of air behind him. He dodged sharply to one side. A fruit knife sliced across his waist, drawing several drops of blood. He caught the attacker’s wrist and slammed it against the wall, sending the knife clattering to the floor.
His sneak attack having failed, the male servant roared and threw his entire body at Xia Liu Yi, tackling him to the ground. They struggled for no more than a few seconds before the man’s voice abruptly stopped. The fruit knife was buried in his chest. Xia Liu Yi rolled him aside, and his head dropped limply.
Seeing her husband killed, the female servant let out an even sharper scream. She rushed at Xia Liu Yi and clawed wildly at him, then sank her teeth into his arm. Pain shot through him and he shoved her away. Her footing failed. In the blink of an eye, she tumbled down the staircase. Several heavy impacts followed, then silence.
Xia Liu Yi rushed to the stairwell and looked down. Her bloodied body lay limp at the bottom. Breathing heavily, he lowered his gaze to the ragged bite mark she had left in his arm, the flesh torn and curling outward.
Xie Ying Jie was waiting for him in the study on the third floor. Xia Liu Yi kicked the door open with his gun raised. Behind the desk, a chair stood facing away from him toward the window. Wind and rain battered the glass with rattling blows. Xia Liu Yi warily scanned every corner of the room. Slowly, Xie Ying Jie turned around, both hands resting on the chair arms, his expression calm and indifferent. “Come in. There’s no one else here.”
Xia Liu Yi stepped slowly into the room, keeping the gun trained on Xie Ying Jie’s head the entire time. Xie Ying Jie stood, walked around the desk, and approached him. “You’re Xia Liu Yi.”
Xia Liu Yi frowned deeply but did not answer.
“You killed everyone downstairs by yourself. As expected of the Blood Asura.”
“Cut the bullshit, Old Shopkeeper!” Xia Liu Yi said coldly. “Where is He Chu San?”
“What is he to you? Oh. No wonder. He had no grudge against me, yet he was determined to destroy me. He did it for you…”
Before Xie Ying Jie could finish rambling, Xia Liu Yi raised the gun and pressed it against his forehead. Xie Ying Jie’s expression did not change in the slightest. An icy, strange light shone from his gray eyes. “I don’t have a gun. Killing me like this would hardly be an honorable victory, and it goes against the rules of the underworld. Why don’t we fight properly instead?” He gestured toward the twin blades on Xia Liu Yi’s back.
Xia Liu Yi ground the muzzle hard against his forehead. “Cut the fucking bullshit! You’re not worthy of touching them.”
“Beat me, and I’ll tell you where He Chu San is. Kill me, and you’ll never find him.”
Xia Liu Yi’s vicious gaze sawed across Xie Ying Jie’s face as though cutting that hypocritical mask into thousands upon thousands of pieces. After a moment, he withdrew the gun, took two steps back, drew one of the blades, and threw it to him.
“That’s more like it. Such an obedient boy.” Xie Ying Jie stretched the skin around his mouth into a stiff, cold smile. He weighed the blade in his hand. “Good blade…” Before the words had even finished leaving his mouth, the air shrieked. Xia Liu Yi was already stabbing straight at him.
Xie Ying Jie brought his blade across to block. The edges collided with a vicious metallic shriek. The two men swept past each other, their blades carving twin arcs of light through the air before colliding again with a clang—! and grinding violently against one another.
A shallow cut appeared across Xie Ying Jie’s gray-green face. Feeling the sting, he gave another smile that did not reach his eyes. “Heh. No formal training.”
Xia Liu Yi roared and advanced several steps in succession, forcing him back against the desk. Clang—! The locked blades suddenly separated. Xie Ying Jie rolled over the desktop and dropped behind it. Xia Liu Yi’s pursuing slash struck the chair instead, and when he ripped his blade free, a cloud of feathers burst into the air.
The white feathers had not even had time to settle before the violent wind created by their movements tore them back upward. Xia Liu Yi struck again and again, every slash swift and vicious. Xie Ying Jie repeatedly evaded him, then suddenly found an opening and counterattacked. Their bodies spun past each other. A fresh wound tore open across Xia Liu Yi’s waist, blood soaking through his clothes and dripping onto the floor.
Xia Liu Yi retreated two steps, drew a harsh breath, and once again raised his blade into position. “Neither do you,” he sneered without even glancing at the wound.
Xie Ying Jie chuckled. Strangely, his voice seemed to seep in through the cracks around the window, carrying the whisper of the wind and a bone-piercing chill. “Neither of our blades was ever meant for performing pretty techniques. We both carved our way out of mountains of blades and seas of blood one cut at a time. We were born in places of bitter hardship, on roads so narrow there was no light to be seen. Everyone blocking the way was a jackal or a rat. If you don’t cast aside your humanity, if you don’t walk through blood, how can you carve out a new world for yourself?”
“Enough bullshit!” Xia Liu Yi shouted. “Take this!”
Blade-light and blood-light crossed within the cramped room. Xie Ying Jie moved around Xia Liu Yi like a whirlwind as he laughed. “Neither of us had any road to choose from when we were born. Take one wrong road, and you have to keep walking it. Do one wrong thing, and you have to do countless more to cover it up. If you want to wash the blood from your hands, you have to drain every drop of blood from your own body. If you want to break out of the cocoon and become a butterfly, you have to throw away the caterpillar you once were. If you want to save one person, you can only trade yourself for him. Can you do that? Can you bear to do it?”
Xia Liu Yi let out a furious roar and finally forced him hard against the desk with his blade. Veins bulged across both men’s foreheads as they pushed with all their strength against the locked weapons. The gleaming edge of Xia Liu Yi’s blade was only a hair’s breadth from Xie Ying Jie’s throat.
“Where is He Chu San?!” Xia Liu Yi roared.
“Yes. Yes, that’s it.” Xie Ying Jie smiled into his eyes, which were burning with murderous madness. “If I refuse to tell you, will you kill me? You’ve already killed everyone in this building. What makes you any different from me? Oh, that’s right. I’m a police officer, while you’re a gangster. You’ve done so many filthy things—you’re far dirtier than I am. What gives you the right to question me? What gives you the right to take revenge on me? Didn’t Azure Dragon deserve to die? Don’t you deserve to die? Doesn’t He Chu San, who betrayed his conscience by loving you, deserve to die?”
With a wild roar, Xia Liu Yi pressed the blade toward Xie Ying Jie’s throat. Its edge squeezed into the flesh until a thin thread of dark blood seeped out. Xia Liu Yi watched that strange line of blood creep upward along the blade like a vine. Reflected in the steel were his face and Xie Ying Jie’s—two equally savage, bloodthirsty faces. Gradually, the two reflections seemed to merge into the crimson stain and transform into demons.
In that instant, Xia Liu Yi felt as though he had been plunged into an ice cavern. A freezing demonic chill rising from the deepest part of his heart shackled his hands and feet. Xie Ying Jie seized the opportunity to twist away and bring his blade down toward Xia Liu Yi’s head. Xia Liu Yi snapped back to himself and violently raised his own weapon to block.
CLANG—! Both blades flew from their hands into the air. Xia Liu Yi roared and lunged forward, grappling barehanded with Xie Ying Jie. They clutched and slammed into each other, tearing and wrestling, until a tremendous CRASH! sounded and both men smashed through the window and fell from the height together.
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