No Repeats

Unfortunate bastard

"No! You monster," Bai Ye shouted hoarsely when he saw their heads fly off their bodies with swift movement. Mustering up all the strength he had left, Bai Ye struggled towards Yu Li, dragging his sword along the rocky path and oblivious to the bloody droplets falling from his open wounds which were painting a brilliant red trail behind him.

The supreme leader of Wulin, the man who appeared in dashing white clothes and singlehandedly destroyed thousands of men and women just a few hours ago is now reduced to a walking corpse, bloodied, and beaten.

"Bai Ye, you should have known better than try to oppose me. I gave you chances to quietly rule your corner of the world, but you refused to stay put and tried to trespass onto my patch. You deserve to die," said Yu Li coldly.

"Yu Li, since I returned back to my sect, I have faced trials after trials, opponents and enemies at every twist and turn. Was it all your scheme? Did you have Xan Tao already on your side and this whole thing was your trap from the very beginning?" asked Bai Ye weakly as he tried to focus despite his blurring vision.

"Xan Tao is but an insignificant pawn. He is too greedy for his own good. Wulin has its uses but you are a stubborn man who refuses to submit to me or the empire. How can I let you continue to lead the Wulin and its hundreds of thousands of disciples if we don't see eye to eye? Once you are gone, the next supreme leader of Wulin will be friendlier towards the empire," said Yu Li.

"You mean that he would be your puppet. Yu Li, I never opposed you for the sake of opposing you. No, I fight for the jianghu's way of life, our own methods of justice and rewards. People of the Wulin can never be suppressed by an imperial power. You understand, the opposition of imperial power was the reason Wulin exists," argued Bai Ye hoarsely as his energy got drained by every word.

"I do not understand. It is people's nature to choose the way forward that gives them the most benefits, security to feed their families comfortably and path of least resistance. Under my rule, Wulin will experience a golden age and they will see that there is no longer a need to maintain their resistance and assimilate with the rest of the population. You people are not special or unique, its just a way of life and I will show you that things can be different and better," said Yu Li calmly.

"It will never be better," sneered Bai Ye as he spat out a mouthful of blood.

"This is now a moot point. Even if you wanted to join me, your very existence threatens my happiness so you should just die," said Yu Li coldly before lifting his sword and swung at the approaching man.

His movements are fast and precise, not giving the heavily injured man a chance to defend as it horizontally sliced Bai Ye's stomach while chopping off his left arm with fluid move.

Shu Mei arrived at scene just as Bai Ye's arm was tossed up in the air haphazardly due to the force of the sword and blood sprayed from his stomach. She screamed as she saw Yu Li calmly wipe his sword before putting it back in its sleeve and turned to look at her direction calmly as if he was not in the middle of killing someone.

She shuddered when she looked directly into his cold and ruthless eyes burning with turbulent emotions. At that point something inside her snapped and she screamed with pure hatred.

At that moment, Shu Mei realised that she hated Yu Li from the bottom of her heart, the pain she felt in the last life compounded by the shock of seeing the slaughter of Bai Ye made her see very clearly.  This was a punch in the guts, and she lost all reason.

Her scream merged into controllable tears and frustration that she longed to rip out her hair and scratch her face. She had tried so hard to accept things when he kidnapped her and sent her to arduous training.

She had tried to look at that positive side of life and poured all her efforts into her training and never gave herself a moment to think and miss her family. She hardened her heart and chose to believe that he would keep his words and will let her go soon.

All these years she never let herself dwell on the fact that he had detained her for no valid reason apart from his psychotic need to possess and she never allowed herself to hate him. Even in her previous life, despite all the pain and suffering she went through, she always had an excuse for him.

Disappointment, sadness, depression, and pain were feelings she was familiar with, but never hate towards him.

But before Shu Mei's very eyes, the magnificent and powerful Bai Ye who had acquiesced to her every word and whim had fallen face first onto the ground into a puddle of blood. The man who killed him looked on calmly as if he just squashed a cockroach and not a human being.

This scene is forever embedded in her mind and she felt like a cold hand had reached inside her chest, grabbed her heart, and yanked it right out of her body as she saw Bai Ye fall onto the ground.

Shu Mei slowly steadied herself and with one hand wiped away her tears while the other clenched tightly to the handle of her sword.

"Shu Mei, listen to me, it is not what it seems," said Yu Li as he slowly walked towards her like a stalking panther, afraid that she would take her own life if he made any sudden movements.

Yu Li did not miss the obvious bright red cut on her slender white neck and felt himself burn with jealously all over again.

"General, you are truly a man with no honour and a coward. Captain Lu Tai had made a promise to release them and yet you have launched a sneak attack. Bai Ye temporarily lost his powers so you could easily defeat him, but a true man would have waited until he was at his peak again to have a true bloody good fight. But no, coward General cannot risk being defeated by the good man," sneered Shu Mei as she started to unsheathe her sword and aimed at Yu Li.

"Shu Mei do not test me!" shouted Yu Li with clenched fists. His heart is now twisting in anger and jealously when he heard her bitter words and saw the disgust in her eyes.

"Will you kill me as well? You might as well have killed me, after all, its just the next step after kidnapping and hiding someone away from my family and friends. You are a liar, now I know, I could not possibly have any connections to issues of national security...unless...oh my god, it was for Bai Ye? Because somehow, I am related to Bai Ye, you have detained me?" asked incredulously.

She looked at Yu Li in disbelief as her mind made up the connections and narrative on its own. Lost in her thoughts, she started to mutter to herself as her eyes darted towards Bai Ye.

"Did Bai Ye die because of me?" she asked with tears in her eyes as she looked at the man on the ground.

Seeing the tenderness in Shu Mei's eyes when she looked at the fallen man, the twist of jealously and possessiveness blinded Yu Li and all that he wanted to do at that point was to block her sight from seeing the man. Her eyes and mind should only be filled with images of him!

Shu Mei frowned when she saw the red puddle around Bai Ye grew larger and knew that she had no more time to waste. If she doesn't get medical help for him now, he would die off blood loss very soon.

Now that she had settled her feelings towards Yu Li, in her eyes the man is more disgusting than a leech and no matter how powerful he is, she would rather die here than to submit to him again.

She cannot let Bai Ye die like this and time is of the essence, so immediately Shu Mei launched herself forward with her sharp and flexible sword directly pointed at Yu Li, ready for her final showdown.

Yu Li laughed bitterly at the determined look on her face as his heart twisted in anger.

While Shu Mei's intentions were clear, the gap between her martial arts and Yu Li's is like heaven and earth. With a sad sigh Yu Li disappeared from Shu Mei's sight in a flash and before she got a chance to register, he had flown behind her back and hit her on the back of her neck. Instantly the world before Shu Mei went pitch black as she fainted into Yu Li's arms.

"Deal with this mess," said Yu Li coldly as he scooped Shu Mei into his arms and flew back to his base.

From a distance away Lu Tai came flying to the scene after hearing Yu Li's words and shook his head. There is no doubt about it, the General is just too cruel and ruthless. Lu Tai bent down next to the motionless man on the ground and said aloud, "you unfortunate bastard".