The Startling Swan Blade Appears, Heads Hit the Ground!

Silence!

The entire dense forest sank into deathly stillness.

Old Kite, who had roamed the bandit lands for over a decade, had just been beheaded with a single slash?

That strike just now had been far too fast.

No one had even seen when he drew his blade, much less when he cut off Old Kite's head.

It was as though he had never moved at all, yet Old Kite's head had already struck the ground.

"Black robes, a bamboo hat, a long blade... his blade flashes like a startled swan..."

"There's no mistake. You're Ji Qing, the Startling Swan Blade..."

The Zhou Family martial artists' voices trembled.

Ji Qing, the Startling Swan Blade!

Fifth on the Villain Ranking! A great villain whose name shook the Jianghu!

His Startling Swan Blade had reached a miraculous level.

He never needed a second strike to kill!

Not long ago, he had even beheaded Du Chen, Green Province's finest constable, the Wind Chasing Blade, in the street!

Ji Qing was currently the hottest name in the Jianghu.

His attire, the characteristics of his martial arts, and everything else about him were known to all in the Jianghu!

"When the Startling Swan Blade appears, heads hit the ground! His reputation is truly well deserved..."

Though Zhou Ru was not of the Jianghu, she had also heard of the renowned Ji Qing, the "Startling Swan Blade."

She took a deep breath, stepped forward, and gave Ji Qing a graceful bow. "Zhou Ru of East Mausoleum Prefecture pays her respects to Hero Ji!"

No matter what Ji Qing's reputation was like, he had just killed Old Kite and removed a future threat to the Zhou Family.

Thus, Zhou Ru's tone and manner were naturally exceedingly polite.

Besides, with that strike Ji Qing had just displayed, who in the Zhou Family could possibly stop him?

Zhou Ru did not dare be anything but polite!

Ji Qing swept his gaze over the scene.

He saw the corpses of horse bandits scattered across the ground.

Their deaths were miserable. At a glance, it was clear they had been poisoned by some deadly toxin.

Ji Qing's eyes narrowed slightly.

"I'm looking for an Old Beggar! Is he within your Zhou Family caravan?"

The moment Ji Qing spoke, Miss Zhou's expression changed instantly.

Not only Miss Zhou, but the remaining Zhou Family members also subconsciously looked toward a carriage at the rear.

Ji Qing understood at once.

He dismounted and walked step by step toward the Zhou Family convoy.

"Hero Ji, is there some misunderstanding? That senior also drove off the horse bandits just now and saved the lives of everyone in our Zhou Family..."

Miss Zhou stepped forward, attempting to stop him.

Ji Qing abruptly gripped the hilt of his blade.

Boom!

A terrifying blade intent erupted from Ji Qing in an instant.

At that moment, in everyone's eyes, Ji Qing seemed to vanish.

He became a blade, its edge laid bare!

It seemed that merely looking at it would make one feel as if they were being sliced apart by its edge.

"I am only looking for Poison Demon Ouyang Bo! Whoever blocks my path, dies!"

Ji Qing's voice echoed beside everyone's ears.

At some point, Ji Qing had already released the hilt.

Miss Zhou was drenched in sweat. She no longer dared block his way or say another word, instead stepping aside to clear a path.

Ji Qing strode forward.

Miss Zhou's body went limp, and she had to be supported by the Maidservant.

In that moment just now, Miss Zhou had truly thought she was going to die.

Only now did she seem to snap awake.

Ji Qing, the "Startling Swan Blade," was no righteous hero of the Jianghu. He was a blood-soaked killer who slaughtered villages and exterminated families, a great villain ranked fifth on the Villain Ranking.

She had no idea where she had found the courage to step forward and block his path just now.

Ji Qing had not killed her; she could count herself lucky to have gotten her life back!

"Miss, we should keep our distance. Everyone in the Jianghu knows that Ji Qing is hunting Poison Demon Ouyang Bo. Ouyang Bo is extremely dangerous as well—at the slightest provocation, he poisons entire families to death. Those horse bandits all died of poison, so that Old Beggar is very likely Poison Demon Ouyang Bo!"

"Whether it's Ji Qing of the Startling Swan Blade or Poison Demon Ouyang Bo, neither is someone we can afford to provoke!"

A Zhou Family martial artist quietly warned Miss Zhou.

Miss Zhou had come back to her senses by now.

She also understood that if they were drawn into the conflict between Ji Qing and Ouyang Bo, then even the vast Zhou Family would be little stronger than an ant.

"Retreat!"

At Miss Zhou's command, the Zhou Family members did not even care about the more than thirty carts of goods. They hurried far away, terrified of being caught in the crossfire.

Ji Qing's gaze was fixed firmly on that carriage.

At the same time, he held his breath.

He knew that Ouyang Bo was skilled with poison.

Moreover, his methods of poisoning emerged one after another. One could be struck by deadly poison without ever realizing it.

Ji Qing had his own way of dealing with it.

He would not touch, breathe, or approach!

No matter how miraculous Ouyang Bo's poison techniques were, what could they do?

"Ji Qing, this old man bears no grudge against you. Wasn't it merely a Great Huai Village? Those ignorant villagers were dead once they were dead. Was there any need for you to keep hounding this old man over them?"

An aged voice suddenly came from within the carriage.

Ji Qing did not respond. Instead, he took a step forward.

"Ji Qing, you and I are both ranked near the top of the Villain Ranking. We are both demons everyone in the Jianghu wants to beat to death. Don't tell me you want to imitate those ignorant people and play the righteous hero? Besides, you rank even higher than this old man. You too are a demon who massacred villages and slaughtered families. You will never earn those people's recognition. You can never become a great hero!"

Yet Ji Qing acted as though he had heard nothing and took a second step.

Ouyang Bo seemed somewhat angered.

"Ji Qing, don't push people too far! This old man is no pushover either. If you truly anger this old man, then your relatives—anyone connected to you—this old man will poison every last one of them!"

Ouyang Bo said viciously.

However, Ouyang Bo quickly remembered Ji Qing's identity.

Ji Qing had killed his father and mother, slaughtering everyone in the Ji residence. He was even more ruthless than Ouyang Bo himself.

Would threatening Ji Qing with his relatives work?

Ouyang Bo now understood just how troublesome "Ji Qing" was.

Every demon on the Villain Ranking was difficult to deal with.

Presumably, those who wanted to deal with Ouyang Bo were suffering the same headache Ouyang Bo was at this moment.

Ji Qing was like a hedgehog covered from head to toe in sharp spines, leaving Ouyang Bo nowhere to sink his teeth into.

A demon with no weaknesses was far too troublesome!

Just as Ouyang Bo flew into a rage out of shame, Ji Qing had already taken three steps.

After those three steps, Ji Qing narrowed his eyes slightly, his hand slowly settling on the hilt of his blade.

Boom.

Blade intent erupted.

Ji Qing knew very well that no one could ignore his blade intent.

With his blade intent unleashed, Ji Qing could clearly sense that someone inside the carriage had suddenly fallen into disordered breathing.

Even if they forcibly suppressed it, how could the impact of blade intent be so easily suppressed?

Clang.

Ji Qing drew his blade.

A dazzling blade gleam tore through the air.

Driven by pure inner force, the power of this strike was astonishing as well.

The blade gleam instantly fell upon the carriage.

Rumble.

The carriage was cleaved in two.

However, a figure suddenly shot out from within the carriage.

The instant this figure appeared, concealed weapons filled the sky.

Dense as flowers scattered by a celestial maiden.

Ji Qing swung his blade once more.

This strike transformed into countless blade shadows, precisely splitting apart every concealed weapon before him.

Not a single hidden weapon could get close to him.

"Drip."

Drops of blood fell to the ground.

Ji Qing looked up and saw an Old Beggar standing opposite him.

However, the Old Beggar looked utterly wretched.

A piece of flesh had been sliced from his face by the blade's gleam, leaving it a bloody mess and making him look savage and terrifying.

Ouyang Bo's eyes widened, fury and shock mingling within them.

"What a Startling Swan Blade! When the Startling Swan Blade appears, heads fall to the ground. This old man has finally witnessed it today!"

He had come within a hair's breadth of truly dying beneath Ji Qing's blade.

Ji Qing said nothing.

He stared at Ouyang Bo, his eyes filled with nothing but icy coldness.

The other man was the first person not to die after he unleashed the Startling Swan Blade!

A man's name was like a tree's shadow.

Eighth on the Villain Ranking—he would not be so easy to kill!

"Whew..."

A cold wind swept past.

Yet it could not blow away the killing intent hanging in the air.

Neither of them moved. They stared fixedly at each other.

Only their killing intent continued to climb.

Suddenly, the circulation of Ji Qing's inner force faltered slightly.

"Hmm?"

Ji Qing abruptly raised his head.

"Poison?"

"When?"

Countless thoughts flashed through Ji Qing's mind in an instant.

He had already been careful enough.

No close contact, no breathing, no touching.

So why had he still been poisoned?