Chapter 196: Killing Bai Without Mercy

The moment six crimson-gold fire dragons closed in, biting and tearing, Bai Qiliao let out a beastly roar from his throat. A colossal phantom of a golden-armored zombie materialized behind him, emanating an ancient yet ferocious aura, its body shimmering with golden light.

The six fire dragons, carrying a world-destroying momentum, collided with the golden-armored zombie phantom with a thunderous impact.

In that instant, the air seemed to rip apart, letting out a sharp howl. Only the grating sound of shattering glass could be heard—spiderweb cracks instantly covered the phantom's surface, and the next moment, it exploded into a shower of golden rain!

The fire dragons continued their momentum, coiling around Bai Qiliao's true body. Their scales scraped against his golden armor, sending thousands of sparks flying. The entire cliff face suddenly trembled. Ancient pines on the cliff, centuries old, were torn from their roots, and dark blue-black rock layers looked as if they were forcibly ripped apart by an invisible giant hand. The hundred-zhang-high cliff peak slid down at an angle, and massive boulders, shrouded in dust, crashed into the deep valley, startling a sky-darkening flock of gray sparrows, as if half an inkstone of thick ink had been spilled across the heavens.

Dragon roars raged across the land, as if to shatter everything in the world. Under this impact, the surrounding cliffs began to tremble violently, and large chunks of rock broke away from the cliff faces, crashing downwards.

Black blood seeped from the cracks in Bai Qiliao's golden armor, and crimson-gold flames flickered within each fissure. When the last piece of rock hit the ground, he was embedded in the pile of rubble like a scorched bronze artifact. His fangs were shattered, and beneath the peeling golden skin, stark white bones were exposed.

"You..."

Bai Qiliao struggled to his feet from the ruins, staring incredulously at Gu Mo, who was approaching. His ancient eyes were filled with disbelief as he said, "You... how could you... My perfected Golden Body, how could you possibly break it? You must have used some despicable means, it's impossible..."

At that moment, flickering flames still lingered on Bai Qiliao's body. His shriveled, golden-armored body, as if it had been thrown into a sword forge for tempering, began to melt and flow like liquid.

Gu Mo wasted no words. He raised his fist and slammed it forward. At that moment, the surrounding temperature seemed to rise by several degrees. He struck Bai Qiliao's chest with a single punch. In that instant, Bai Qiliao's chest exploded, and the scorching heat directly melted his incredibly tough internal organs.

"Impossible... impossible..." Bai Qiliao muttered incoherently as he collapsed to the ground with a thud. His body instantly began to melt, and soon, his internal organs turned into a puddle of black liquid.

Just then, a system notification sound rang in Gu Mo's mind:

"Five-star wanted criminal eliminated.Five-star reward received: Max-level Eight Heavenly Blade Arts.Would you like to claim it?"

The moment he claimed it, a mysterious light suddenly bloomed within Gu Mo's Sea of Consciousness, and the system's clear notification sound rang out again.

In a flash, a profound and immense power surged forth from the depths of his soul. His will was now filled with an incomparably sharp blade light. The profound principles of the Eight Heavenly Blade Arts flooded into his mind like a tide. Every move, every variation, was as clear as if etched directly onto his soul.

At this moment, a commotion erupted in the distance near the cliff.

Lin Duanyun even burst out laughing, running over as if possessed. He then knelt down and frantically pounded Bai Qiliao's corpse with a stone.

"Old geezer... Hahaha... Serves you right, serves you right! You deserve to die... You deserve to die with your eyes wide open, you dog!"

"I had no life of my own, but how were you any better than me? You old fool stuck in a well! Hahahaha... Claiming to be the strongest in the world... among the top five... with a perfected Golden Body. Your decades of scheming were just a joke, a monumental joke you took far too seriously... You deserved it!"

At this moment, Gu Chundong and Zhuo Qingfeng also walked over.

Zhuo Qingfeng gave a thumbs-up and said, "Brother Gu, indeed, there isn't a single wanted criminal in this world who can escape from you!"

Gu Chundong also exclaimed, "Brother, no wonder you didn't use the Gouchen Blade. You had absolute confidence!"

Gu Mo gave an embarrassed smile and shook his head slightly, saying, "That's not how it was at all!"

He didn't use the Demonic Gouchen Blade precisely because he wasn't absolutely confident. Although he was also skilled in blade arts, his previous expertise lay in the Profound Void Blade Art and the Exterminating Cross Blade Art. These two blade arts were far inferior to the Yi Swordplay.

While the Demonic Gouchen Blade was powerful, forcing himself to use it would actually restrict his performance. After all, he could perfectly combine the Six Meridian Divine Sword with the Yi Swordplay, an effect far superior to pairing the Demonic Gouchen Blade with the Exterminating Cross Blade Art.

So, his not using a blade earlier wasn't because he was confident, but rather because Bai Qiliao had bluffed him.

Strictly speaking, he had been bluffed by Lu Canyang.

After Bai Qiliao's true identity was revealed today, his first thought was of Lu Canyang, who had also hidden for decades. Back then, during the battle at Divine Weapon Manor, Lu Canyang had left an overwhelmingly strong impression on him.

While today's Bai Qiliao was slightly less arrogant than Lu Canyang, his self-confidence in his words, combined with his decades of planning and the perfected Golden Body of the improved Zombie Art, had once made Gu Mo believe that Bai Qiliao was another master on Lu Canyang's level. He even considered the possibility that Bai Qiliao might be stronger than Lu Canyang.

So, for the first half of the fight, Gu Mo hadn't dared to use his trump cards: Yi Swordplay and the Fiery Sun Divine Art. He was worried that using his ultimate moves too early would make them ineffective and wanted to save them for a fatal blow at a crucial moment.

This was the most common strategy in master duels.

Generally, no one would use their ultimate moves right from the start, unless it was a situation where combatants with similar martial wills decided the victor in one move. Otherwise, everyone would keep their trump cards hidden and use various moves to probe for weaknesses before unleashing their ultimate killing blow.

Otherwise, if an ultimate move was used right at the beginning, when the opponent had no openings and their physical condition was at its peak, if it was blocked, it would mean the ultimate move might be seen through or even fully deciphered, or at least exposed, making the opponent wary. In such a scenario, the effectiveness of the ultimate move would be greatly reduced.

Unless it was a guaranteed crushing victory, probing attacks were always made first.

Gu Mo was no different today. He used various probing attacks with the Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palms, and Bai Qiliao responded blow for blow.

Gu Mo had almost concluded that Bai Qiliao was a formidable opponent.

However, Bai Qiliao's compliments on the Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palms and Lingbo Weibu, delivered to show off, made Gu Mo suddenly realize there might be a miscommunication. The moment Bai Qiliao claimed to be among the top five in the world, Gu Mo understood. He had thought they were still in the probing stage, but Bai Qiliao had already used his ultimate trump card.

It was at that moment that he realized his perception of reality was fundamentally skewed. Bai Qiliao's confidence stemmed from having spent his entire life in the small region of Mobei, and thus surely hadn't encountered many true masters. In Bai Qiliao's eyes, He Changqing back then already represented the highest level of martial arts in the world. Bai Qiliao's unwavering confidence was solely because He Changqing had been his benchmark from beginning to end.

For a moment, Gu Mo found himself torn between laughter and tears. Mobei truly was an interesting place.

When he first arrived, he had witnessed it once before: a few young disciples from Tongshan Sect dared to openly shelter a wanted criminal in front of the Six Gates, and even attacked Six Gates constables for the sake of the criminal.

This was sheer audacity, but also a clear example of being a frog in a well.

And now, after all this roundabout development, a decades-long saga of jianghu grievances had turned out to be another story of someone stuck in a well.

Gu Mo felt a mix of emotions, but at the same time, he couldn't help but ask himself. Bai Qiliao had always holed up in Mobei, hence his limited perspective, but was he himself also a frog in a well?

After all, the world was vast. When he mocked Bai Qiliao, was he perhaps doing the same thing himself?

The Qiongshan Sect incident concluded here, and all truths were revealed.

Zhuo Qingfeng directly set up an official tribunal at the Qiongshan Sect site. Under the witness of numerous martial arts sects, he presided over Lin Duanyun's trial.

It had to be said, the Zombie Art still had its merits. At the very least, its vitality was truly tenacious. Lin Duanyun, whose chest had been pierced by Gu Chundong's blade earlier, had somehow endured until now.

However, it wasn't powerful enough to grant immortality. Immediately after the trial, before he could even be beheaded, Lin Duanyun gave out. Like Bai Qiliao before him, his internal organs melted, and he died.

At the same time, with testimony from highly respected veterans of Mobei martial arts, such as Master Jingkong and Yang Tingyun, the zombie case that had spanned three decades was finally concluded, and it was announced to the martial arts world that Bai Qiliao was the true zombie.

Afterward, Zhuo Qingfeng left a team at Qiongshan Sect to handle the aftermath. He himself returned to Changling County with the corpses of Bai Qiliao and Lin Duanyun. The Qiongshan Sect zombie case seemed to be over, but for the Six Gates, it was only the beginning of true busyness.

The series of events today was a major blow to the Mobei martial arts world. Qiongshan Sect, the foremost sect, had its reputation ruined and couldn't avoid collapse. The Six Gates could seize this opportunity to intervene in Qiongshan Sect's territory.

With Qiongshan Sect fallen, and the Eight Great Sects either annihilated or severely damaged, the Mobei martial arts world would inevitably face continuous internal strife. All factions would be reshuffled. This was an excellent opportunity for the Mobei Six Gates to fully control the Mobei region.

Zhuo Qingfeng naturally needed to return to Changling County to oversee the situation.

Gu Mo and Gu Chundong also left with the Six Gates.

Amidst the vast desert sands, Gu Chundong, Gu Mo, and Zhuo Qingfeng rode their horses side by side.

Gu Chundong suddenly asked, "Brother Zhuo, brother, do you think if Bai Qiliao had been able to control his thirst for blood back then and hadn't caused the zombie incident, would the Mobei martial arts world be very prosperous today? And would they have become two grandmasters, deep brothers, and a celebrated legend in the jianghu?"

"No," Zhuo Qingfeng said. "Even if Bai Qiliao hadn't caused the zombie incident, or even if the Zombie Art wasn't an evil art but a righteous cultivation method that didn't require blood absorption at all, the moment He Changqing chose to share his martial arts with Bai Qiliao, it was destined that only one of them would survive."

"Why?" Gu Chundong asked, puzzled.

"Because of human nature," Zhuo Qingfeng replied. "One can be strong, the other stronger; one can be weak, the other weaker; or both can be weak. But two individuals can absolutely not be equally matched within the same jianghu. The jianghu is a place of fame and fortune. No matter how close brothers or friends might be, once they are equally matched, they can never escape the fate of turning against each other in the end. Brother Gu, what do you think?"

Gu Mo chuckled softly and said, "The jianghu is vast and romantic. But upon closer inspection, where isn't it full of petty trivialities?"

The vast desert stretched into the distance, endless yellow sands stained orange-red by the setting sun. A gust of wind rose, stirring up fine grains of sand, casting long shadows on the dunes. The yellow sand then covered the discarded weapons on the ground, layer upon layer.