The firewood carrier had barely uttered the word "heart" when Su Yun withdrew his backward-kicking foot. At the same time, his right hand swept forward toward the other goat-horned man's sword.
His five fingers danced through the air as though they had turned into Flood Dragons.
The fingers of his right hand shifted and battled within that tiny space, lifelike beyond belief. They struck the other goat-horned man's sword spine in rapid succession, ringing out with a string of sharp clangs.
Dragon Fights in the Field!
If this move were performed in full, it required incomparable coordination throughout the body, like a Crocodile Dragon fighting another Crocodile Dragon across the wilderness. Among Crocodile Dragon's Roar's six moves, it possessed the greatest variety of attacks.
Su Yun had extracted thirty-six Unbound Moves from Crocodile Dragon's Roar, then transformed Crocodile Dragon's Roar into the more powerful Flood Dragon's Chant. Every one of his fingers was actually performing an Unbound Move from Dragon Fights in the Field!
Unbound Moves did not require a complete technique, nor did they need to mobilize every muscle in the body, so they could be unleashed even faster!
Five Unbound Moves in succession knocked the sword from the goat-horned man's hand.
With a clang, the treasured sword embedded itself in the cliffside. More than half its blade sank into the rock, while its hilt buzzed and trembled without end.
The goat-horned man's sword had flown free, and his tiger's mouth had split open. Lowering his head, he rammed forward with his horns.
Su Yun gripped both horns in his hands and, almost without thinking, sprang into the air to unleash Flood Dragon's Roll!
Flood Dragon's Roll was even more dangerous than Crocodile Dragon's Roll, spinning faster and more violently. The goat-horned man's feet remained planted on the ground, but his body spun helplessly with Su Yun. By the third rotation, all seven bones in his neck had already been twisted out of place. By the time Su Yun landed, his neck had long since snapped!
Unbound Moves were ever-changing and unfathomable, but complete moves were more powerful!
Su Yun landed steadily on the narrow stone bridge. Behind him, the firewood carrier swung his long blade, sweeping away the dry firewood Su Yun had kicked flying. Seeing the scene before him, his heart turned ice-cold.
In that brief instant, like a hare taking flight and a falcon diving, two of his brothers had been killed or injured. One had his arm twisted off and dropped his long blade onto the ground; the other had his neck twisted apart, his corpse sliding off the bridge.
At last, the goat-horned man's corpse fell limply into the abyss.
The firewood carrier's eyes split wide with fury. With a fierce shout, he drove his qi and blood with all his strength. A crimson edge abruptly emerged along the surface of his long blade—his qi and blood had spilled from his body, adding a blade of qi and blood to his weapon!
When bestowed upon a saber, it was called Blade Aura; when bestowed upon a sword, it was called Sword Aura!
Anyone capable of this had attained the third achievement: Qi-Blood Manifestation!
The moment he raised his qi and blood to its peak, Su Yun strode in to kill him. In just a few steps, he gave him the illusion of a Flood Dragon coiling around the stone bridge, twisting its body as it pounced!
Qi and blood spilled from Su Yun's legs and feet, transforming into dragon claws. With each step, those dragon claws gripped the bridge surface and dug into the stone, allowing him to move freely across the bridge!
The reason the firewood carrier thought Su Yun had become a Flood Dragon winding around the stone bridge was that Su Yun was not charging straight at him. At times he ran along the bridge's left side, his body parallel to the ground; at times he moved to the right side; and at times he stood beneath the bridge, head down and feet up!
This bizarre and unpredictable movement technique left him unable to tell which direction Su Yun would attack from. He had no choice but to retreat again and again with his blade in hand!
Just then, Su Yun retreated from beneath the bridge and appeared behind the one-armed goat-horned man.
"Watch out!"
The firewood carrier had barely shouted those words when Su Yun used two Flood Dragon's Chant Unbound Moves to break the goat-horned man's remaining arm, sending him tumbling off the stone bridge.
A long scream rose from beneath the stone bridge. Only after a while came the sound of something heavy striking the ground.
Su Yun bent down and picked up the long blade lying on the bridge. He flicked it with a finger, and the blade gave a clear, resonant ring.
This was the blade that had belonged to the one-armed goat-horned man. Su Yun had shaken it from his hand, and it had been twisted into a fried dough twist by Flood Dragon's Roll.
But when Su Yun flicked it, his force flowed through the blade. The twisted blade immediately unfurled with a series of swishes, restoring itself to its original shape.
The firewood carrier roared and charged forward, swinging his blade. He shouted sharply, "When enemies meet on a narrow road, the brave prevail! Upon this narrow bridge, in this space no larger than a palm, only one of us can leave alive!"
His momentum was ferocious, and his qi and blood formed the shape of a firebird pouncing behind him.
The aura of this life-and-death struggle was tragic beyond measure!
Su Yun stood quietly at the bridgehead with his blade in hand, and the vision of that Immortal Sword flying toward him surfaced in his mind once more.
He shook the long blade in his hand, using the blade as a sword, and thrust out with one strike.
This sword thrust drove straight through the firewood carrier's dense curtain of blade light without meeting the slightest resistance. With a hiss, it pierced his throat.
The firewood carrier's blade technique was superb, yet he had not touched even the slightest bit of Su Yun's sword strike. His throat pierced through, bewilderment rose in his eyes.
Thud.
His corpse fell, and at the same time, the stone bridge trembled lightly as its far end settled onto the opposite bank.
From the stone bridge sinking toward the opposite shore to its landing there, only a few breaths passed. In that brief span, weapons had clashed on the bridge, and life and death had been decided.
From the moment Su Yun stepped forward to lure the three into attacking and exposing themselves, to their successive deaths, it had all happened in the brief interval between the bridge rising and falling.
"Still, no one could take that sword strike..."
Su Yun's expression darkened. He sighed inwardly, turned, pulled out the long blade, and hurled it downward with force.
The long blade embedded itself beside the last goat-horned man's feet on the opposite bank, its hilt buzzing and shaking.
The goat-horned man did not dare move in the slightest.
Su Yun stepped down from the stone bridge and came before him, separated from him by that long blade.
The youth raised his right hand beneath his nose and sniffed it, frowning slightly. He smelled a trace of blood; evidently, some blood had splashed onto his hand just now.
It was a drop of blood, crystalline and ruby-red, resting on the back of his hand.
Su Yun reached out, seized the goat-horned man by the collar, and tugged him closer.
The goat-horned man's face was full of terror. He did not dare move.
Su Yun vigorously wiped his hand on the goat-horned man's clothes, rubbing away the bloodstain before finally releasing him.
"I'm blind. I don't want the people in town to see blood on me when I return. They'll worry."
Su Yun said unhurriedly, "I'm still a child. I've always worked hard to be a normal teenager—at the very least, normal in other people's eyes. You came from the city?"
Cold sweat covered the goat-horned man's forehead. He hurriedly nodded.
He suddenly remembered that Su Yun could not see and quickly said, "Yes! We came from Shuofang City. Actually, we were originally from Tianshiyuan as well. A few years ago, we went to the city to make a living. At first, we studied at the official academy and learned a few skills..."
"No wonder."
Su Yun came to a realization. "Your use of cultivation techniques and moves was very crude. Clearly, you left school too early and never received guidance from a famous teacher, so you do not understand the subtle wonders of how techniques and methods are used. The Tong Family hired you to kill me?"
The goat-horned man forced a smile. "It was the Tong Family."
"How much did they give you?" Su Yun asked.
"One hundred Five Zhu Coins as a deposit. They promised another two hundred after the job was done."
"Hand it over."
The goat-horned man took out a money pouch, and Su Yun accepted it and counted the coins.
"There's too much."
He took out a dozen or so Five Zhu Coins and returned them to the goat-horned man. "The Tong Family used this money to buy you off to kill me, so the money belongs to me. That is only fair; it does not count as me robbing you. I do not want the extra. As for the remaining two hundred Five Zhu Coins, I will visit the Tong Family myself and collect them in person."
He put away the money pouch and headed toward Tianmen Town.
The goat-horned man stood dazed for a moment, clutching the Five Zhu Coins in his palm tightly. Then he suddenly shouted, "How did you see through us?"
Su Yun did not stop walking. His voice drifted back. "There is no Lijia Village east of Tianping Bridge, nor is there anyone surnamed Li. I have crossed Tianping Bridge many times, so I know how many people it takes to weigh down the bridgehead. When I reached the middle of the bridge, I knew there were more than two people on it."
His voice grew ever more distant. "More importantly, I do not need my eyes to see. You hid yourselves well, but your qi and blood were still flowing, and you cultivated the same technique. That was why I could sense you and expose you. You had too many flaws."
"Too many flaws?"
The goat-horned man muttered, "In the past, we had never failed before. Yet now, three skilled men had fallen in such a short time... Is that Little Blind Person really blind? He is still just a child... A monster! He is a monster!"
Zhai Zhu: Monday... ah, another day for craving your bodies... ptooey, ptooey, I mean craving your votes. Throw all your recommendation votes at Walking the Abyss!
Before you continue