Repugnant Gateway

Chapter 19

When Aunty Ye saw An Zongqi pluck the wine flag, her eyes were filled with complex emotions.

There was an indescribable sadness in her expression, a stark contrast to her pretty face.

It was a type of grief that could cause anyone who saw it to be infected.

It was like snow on a distant mountain, but it weighed down on one’s heart even though it was far away.

An Xuan turned around and glanced at Kou Ba, who had been split in half by him.

At this moment, Auntie Ye hid all the emotions in her eyes.

She walked out of the tavern with a straight face, then grabbed the wine flag from An Zeng’s hand and said, “You can leave now. Don’t come again.”

She snatched back the wine flag, and like a pilgrim, with both hands holding the wine flag, she returned to the original place.

The wine flag still swayed gently in the breeze, but it seemed to lose some of its luster.

For some reason, An Zhe seemed to hear someone sigh.

“That sword could have slayed Immortals, but you killed an ant … What a pity, what a pity.”

An Zaiyue didn’t know if this was an illusion, but in that instant, he had no other choice.

He lowered his head and clasped his hands. “I’m sorry.”

Auntie Ye did not turn around. “It’s not your fault, but you don’t need to come back.”

An Zaiyue knew that the sword that had hurt Aunty Ye was not the one borrowed from the wine flag, but someone who had placed the sword on top of the wine flag.

Although An Zaiyue’s cultivation base wasn’t high, his eyesight was still there. He knew how powerful the sword intent was, and if he met a stronger opponent, he would definitely be strong.

That sword had a faintly discernible hint of immortal qi that transcended the mortal world.

And the most frightening thing was that the sword was not the only thing on the banner.

Therefore, the person who had secretly sent the voice into An Zaiyue’s ears was wrong. That strike was not a solitary product.

The sword was still above the wine flag, but the person thought that the wine flag contained only a strand of sword intent. He didn’t know that the wine flag contained the sword spirit of a person cultivating in the sword.

On the corner of Nanshan Street, a scholar in a cloth robe was walking with his hands behind his back.

His back was somewhat lonely, somewhat depressed.

An Zaiyue did not know who it was, but he was certain that the person who spoke to him just now was a scholar.

“That sword should have been able to slay Immortals.”

These words still echoed in An Zhe’s mind.

Immortal?

An Zeng sighed in his heart … Is there really an immortal in this world?

Someone once said that there were exiled immortals above the Heavenly Realm.

To the Nine Heavens World, it was immortal and indestructible.

One could pluck the stars with every move of his hand.

However, in this Greater Thousand World, no one had ever heard of someone who was able to cultivate to the peak of the Greater Heaven stage.

An Zhe had already reached the ninth level of the Lesser Heaven stage, just a step away from the Great Heaven stage. However, that was already his bottleneck, making it difficult for him to take even half a step forward.

It was said that the Saint King of the Great Xi Empire had already reached the Great Heaven Realm, but that was only a legend.

An Zhan had never seen the Saint King act before, so he had no way to determine just how powerful he was.

It was also said that the great sage with the word ‘Xi’ in his name who founded the Great Xi Empire was perhaps the only peerless expert in the entire world who had reached the peak of the Great Heaven Realm.

But in the end, he too had died. He hadn’t been able to live forever.

An Zaiyue didn’t know if there were any Immortals, nor did he know where even Immortals were.

He only knew that even if there was an immortal in this world, that immortal was a cold-blooded person.

There were many injustices and evils in the world, and that immortal had never cared about them.

If he obtained the Immortal Fruit and transcended the outside world, An Zhe felt that this immortal was nothing more than a selfish villain. He didn’t have the magnanimity that a great cultivator should have.

Killing Kou VIII was something that An Zhe did not expect.

He knew that the Great Kou Tang and the Chen family had already reached the point of falling out with each other, and he also knew why Chen Shaobai was hiding in the courtyard and not coming out.

But he never imagined that the people from the Great Kou Tang would actually be able to force the Chen Clan to such a state.

According to An Zhe’s speculations, the Chen family should be much stronger than the Great Kou Tang.

Now that Chen Shaobai was hiding in the market, and Kou Ba was blatantly blocking off the fight in the main street, letting An Zhan kill Chen Shaobai, he was not afraid of the Chen family at all … It was obvious that the trouble the Chen family encountered was much bigger than they had expected.

An Zaiyue pondered as he walked, finally understanding … Right, how could the Chen family’s enemy be the Great Kou Tang?

The Great Kou Tang only existed on the surface, but the people who truly wanted to exterminate the Chen family were those people that couldn’t be seen.

The Chen family owned a much bigger business than the Great Kou Tang.

Thus, if the Great Kou Clan was destroyed, the Chen Clan’s assets would become even larger.

However, if the Chen family was exterminated, then the Great Kou Tang still wouldn’t be worth mentioning, and those people would be able to take away many benefits from the exterminated Chen family.

The Great Kou Tang was only a blade, and not sharp at that.

The real sharp ones were the people hiding in the shadows.

If An Zaiyue killed Kou Ba, then the Great Kou Tang wouldn’t be able to tolerate him.

Thus, the person who had wanted to take him as his disciple, Kou Liu, would most likely make his move the next time he saw this fight.

Kou Liu came faster than he expected, so fast that even though he had already seen the main gate of the Gathering Merchant House, An Zeng still hadn’t reached it.

At the entrance of the courtyard, the two attendants were still standing there, looking straight ahead.

It was as if Kou Liu standing in the middle of the street was air and would not attract their attention in the slightest.

In fact, this was why a page like them could receive so much money in a month.

They knew very well that as long as it did not involve the Gathering Merchant House, no matter who died or who lived, it had nothing to do with them.

“Mr. Sixth.”

An Xuan bent over and saluted, just like when he saluted Kou Ba, he couldn’t find any fault with Kou Ba.

“You surprised me and opened my eyes.”

Kou Liu stood there, looking at An Zeng with a calm expression. “I really didn’t expect that the disciples that my academy had meticulously taught would be trash compared to you.”

And you’ve been hiding under my nose for so long, I didn’t even notice that you were a piece of unpolished jade.

“This is what I regret the most. If I had discovered you earlier, you would have already been polished into a jade in the Great Kou Tang, dazzling in splendor.”

An Zhan shook his head. “The Great Kou Hall can’t polish me. If you can polish me, that would be destroying me.”

Kou Liu was stunned for a moment, then clapped his hands: “Good ambition!”

An Zhan asked, “Sixth Mister wants to kill me too?”

Kou Liu shook his head. “I’m here to kill Chen Shaobai.”

An Zaixian sighed, “So Sixth Mister was also an arrow that was shot out. He was not able to kill his target, but he could have been cut in half by someone else.”

Kou Liu laughed, rather carefree: “I am indeed an arrow that has already been shot out, there is no turning back.”

You’re not stupid. You should know that at this point in time, the Great Kou Tang can no longer control it.

“Just as you said, the Great Kou Tang is too weak … There’s a hand behind me that has drawn its bow and is using everyone in the Great Kou Tang as arrows. One by one, they are shot and the arrows are never fired back.”

“So, I don’t want to kill you.”

Kou said: “I felt sorry for myself and felt that the world was unfair to me.

Why are some people born to practice and I can’t?

I’ve put my life on the line to cultivate, but I’m only at the small success stage of body transformation.

“There’s a saying that says, the heart is higher than the sky … I guess that’s how it is with me.”

He looked at An Zhe. “You say, I’m not as hardworking as others?”

Since I was six years old, I have been cultivating every day without the sun rising. By the time I was sixteen, twenty-seven of the stakes had been broken.

My father told me that people are not born high and low, and that they were all a starting point when they were born.

Therefore, even if they were poor, as long as they were willing to work hard and double the amount of children from large clans, they would succeed.

If you can’t double it, then double it.

If he could not do it twice, then he would have to do it four times.

“If that doesn’t work, then I won’t eat or sleep. I can always make up for it.”

“But then I learned that my father had lied to me.

“No matter how hard you try the day after tomorrow, it won’t work.”

He pointed to his heart and said, “When I was young, I wanted to become a general. I wanted to lead a hundred elite soldiers to sweep the world clean and seek justice.”

Later on, I discovered that the ways of the world were not that simple.

When I was young, I wanted to become a chivalrous hero, travelling with the sword, killing thousands of people.

“Later on, I became a villain … to fight for peace. There wasn’t a single great bandit in the Great Kou Hall, just a villain. The word ‘great bandit’ is merely a lie.”

He turned around and walked towards the market yard.

“Do you regret your sins?” he asked from behind him.

Kou Liu shook his head. “I don’t regret it, I just hate myself for not being evil enough.”

Anjou did not say a word.

Kou Liu walked to the entrance of the courtyard and turned back to look at An Zhe. “To call yourself a bandit is actually only the last foundling of someone else’s chess piece.”

According to the legends, as long as there were twelve spirit stones, in addition to the help of a powerful Xumi realm expert, he would be able to wash his marrow and change his cultivation path.

I don’t have a chance anymore. You’re still young, An Zui. You have a chance.

“Remember, if you can cultivate, it doesn’t matter even if you betray the world.”

“I am not you,” he said, “and do not entrust your unfinished business to me.”

Kou Liu’s complexion changed, and he no longer spoke.

“The Great Kou Tang paid a loyal visit to the Gathering Shang Manor.”

Kou Liu shouted towards the main gate of the courtyard with clasped fists.

An Zeng stood far away and watched quietly.

“What do you want?”

Someone from the courtyard asked.

Kou Liu replied loudly, “Kill Chen Shaobai.”

A voice said from the courtyard, “Those who enter the courtyard are the people from the courtyard.”

Your martial arts affairs are outside the door.

If you want to go in and kill people, you will not kill your enemies, but the name of the Gathering Shang Yuan.

“Therefore, I advise you to be patient and wait. Wait until the person you want to kill leaves this place, then you can kill him.”

“May I ask when he will be coming out?”

“I don’t know. We’ll leave whenever our guests leave.”

“As long as you can enter the main gate of the Merchant House, the Merchant House will not rush out.”

“Then I can’t wait. I have a wife and a concubine in the hands of others,” said Kou.

“I’ll wait, they won’t wait.”

The people from the market academy replied, “This has nothing to do with the people from the market. If you don’t wait, you will die if you enter.”

“Then I’m sorry, forgive me for offending you.”

He took out the knife from his back. The knife was made of steel and looked cold and cold.

He started to walk towards the entrance of the Gathering Merchant House.

The two attendants who were greeting the guests stood there with furrowed brows.

Kou Liu took the first step, and nothing happened.

He felt a little more at ease, and then he continued forward with large strides.

The second step was that nothing happened.

With the third step, he stepped on the threshold of the gate and a blue light flew out from the gate like a crescent moon.

With a flash of blue light, Kou Liu lost both of his legs.

The blue light had cut off his thigh from the roots, so he looked suddenly much shorter.

Kou Liu grunted, put the steel knife in his hand to his mouth, and crawled forward with both hands.

As soon as his hand touched the threshold of the yard, blue light appeared again and his arms were cut off in unison.

Kou Liu’s teeth left a row of teeth marks on the steel knife. He had lost all his four limbs and was lying there like a big bloody worm.

He let out a roar from his throat, his chin pressed against the ground, and then he pulled his lower body forward.

“Why?”

Someone in the courtyard sighed, then the blue light flew out again and pierced through Kou Liu’s skull.

With a dang sound, Kou Liu’s blade fell to the ground with a crisp sound.

The blue light floated motionless, suspended in the doorway.

When the blue light dissipated, a very small object fell beside Kou Liu’s corpse.

When he got closer, he saw that it was a toothpick with blood on it.