Peerless Swordsman

Heavy snow piled deep, and the roads were hard to travel.

A deep line of footprints was left amidst the frozen world, stretching all the way from the distance.

Gao Xian rode his donkey over a mountain peak, passed through a patch of withered woods, and suddenly stopped in his tracks.

A pile of wood blocked the way ahead, which looked as though it had been set up to stop horses or carriages from passing through.

Since such a thing had appeared, however, it meant someone had deliberately set it up here, waiting to plunder passing merchant caravans or travelers.

Sure enough, five or six men rushed out howling from both sides of the dense forest, surrounding Gao Xian tightly.

The leader was a burly man wielding a broadsword; the others held sabers, swords, axes, and hammers.

This was clearly a gang of seasoned bandits rather than ordinary refugees, and to an ordinary household, sabers and swords were also wealth of considerable value.

In the eyes of these robbers, Gao Xian stood in place without moving as if frightened silly, sizing them up.

"Still a tender-skinned donkey-nosed stinking Daoist, but judging by this poverty-stricken look, he probably doesn't have much fat on him."

The leading burly man wore a somewhat shedding heavy cloak, walked closer to look at Gao Xian's appearance, and shook his head in disgust.

"The donkey is not bad, well-fed and sturdy; making donkey-meat fire-cured bread would certainly taste good." This fellow reached out to grab Gao Xian's donkey right off, wanting to knock him down to the ground, but failed to notice the donkey looking at him with a strange expression.

Gao Xian was also sizing up this gang of desperadoes to see if these fellows had money in their pockets, whether they were fat sheep or poor ghosts, and whether the result of taking action would simply be to exterminate demons and protect the Dao or additionally rob the rich to aid the poor.

Yet before Gao Xian could make a move, another person walked out once more from the mountain path behind him.

His very appearance broke the stalemate, causing the gaze of this gang of desperadoes to shift rapidly away from Gao Xian and onto him.

Because Gao Xian was merely a poor, shabby little Daoist with nothing to his name except a donkey, whereas the newcomer was tall and sturdy, and even carried a sword on his back.

It was a magnificent treasured sword, and just looking at the hilt told one that it was of considerable value.

The swordsman wore green robes and a bamboo rain hat, concealing his features.

He walked quickly, yet appeared very steady, without any sense of hurry. Instead, he presented a powerful pressure head-on, and a dense, murderous intent radiated from his body, enveloping everyone blocking the path ahead of him.

"Stop!"

"I told you to stop!"

"Did you hear me?"

The bandits roared one after another, trying to suppress the other party with their numbers and momentum, but the pace of the other party's advance did not change at all.

These men immediately formed a battle array and awaited him solemnly, each of their faces looking somewhat grave.

Even though there was only a single opponent, these six seasoned bandit desperadoes already felt a intense crisis.

The swordsman drew closer, and the first to be unable to withstand it were these bandit waylayers.

They felt ignored and humiliated, and prepared to strike first.

"Ah!"

The burly leader of the bandit group charged forward with his men, and the cohorts behind him followed along shouting at the top of their lungs, as if shouting louder could somehow make their combat prowess grow stronger accordingly.

Clang~

The sword was drawn from its scabbard.

Even most people did not see how that sword was drawn; they only heard the sound of the blade leaving the scabbard, and then the three men charging at the very front had their throats slashed by a single sword, collapsing to their knees on the ground.

Step forward, wave the sword.

Stab, a single sword piercing the heart.

Slash, a single sword sealing the throat.

The last one executed a turnaround wheel, and the sharp blade directly pierced the chest of that bandit leader from behind, the snow-white sword tip protruding from his chest.

Retract the sword, fall to the ground.

The burly man twitched a few times, then lost his breath. He killed people very dashingly, very beautifully.

He completely failed to feel like he was killing; it was more like strolling in the snow, wielding a brush on a scroll. Killing six men took only five swords, each taking the other's life with the most direct, simplest, and imaginative sword techniques.

Every single move was fatal, yet the blood that flowed out was minimal, brimming with a sense of art. More importantly, after killing the people, he did not say a word, wiped his sword, and returned it to its scabbard.

Then he straightened his bamboo hat, walked past Gao Xian's side, and strode off dashingly.

He came without a word, killed without a word, and left without a word.

It was just as if he had flicked the dust off his bamboo hat on a journey; killing people was merely a matter as easy as breathing.

It was truly too pretentious, and the lofty image of a peerless swordsman instantly solidified.

Gao Xian was full of envy.

The previous generation's master of Cloud Heaven Monastery possessed numerous secrets himself, and had recounted to Gao Xian's predecessor the cultivation methods of martial artists. Martial artists in this world practiced Breathing and Qi Circulation Techniques and Body Tempering Arts, and while there was no such thing as Internal Energy, training to the extreme could also surpass ordinary human capabilities. Top-tier martial artists possessed the ability to match a hundred men, which was also the reason why Martial Dao Sects flourished in this world.

However, this person's sword dao already possessed a flavor of blending with willpower and momentum, having already broken out of the realm of purely training the body and practicing swordsmanship.

What Gao Xian did not expect, however, was that the green-robed swordsman had walked away very hurriedly, yet returned even more hurriedly.

As the setting sun sank in the west, Gao Xian marched forward with his back to the setting sun descending the mountain, watching that green-robed swordsman who had hurriedly departed earlier suddenly come flying back.

Stepping on shooting stars, he flew across the snow amidst the heavy snow. Moreover, he looked utterly flustered, covered in wounds, with his left arm hanging downward, looking as though he had been bitten quite severely by something. He did not retain half of his previous demeanor of an expert, as if something was chasing him from behind, leaving him panting and fleeing for his life.

Seeing Gao Xian, the other party immediately shouted loudly, "Run quickly, there is a Wolf Demon behind!"

"Awoo~"

A pack of wolves rushed out from the forest in the distance, snow swirling amidst the frozen world with the bearing of a thousand troops and horses.

Although the green-robed swordsman ran very fast, the alpha wolf charging at the very front ran even faster, and in the blink of an eye it had caught up to the green-robed swordsman like a bolt of lightning.

With no other choice, the green-robed swordsman could only turn around.

"Kill!"

A sword left its scabbard, and an icy, despairing killing intent permeated from his blade. An ordinary person encountering this sword would probably be unable to even twitch, left only to bare their neck for execution.

Yet that alpha wolf was nearly a full zhang in length and as cunning as a fox, indeed going a bit too far.

To ordinary people, it could indeed be called monstrous, but in Gao Xian's eyes, if it could not speak and could not take human form, what sort of monster could it be called?

Facing the swordsman at this moment, this fierce wolf unexpectedly displayed extreme ferocity and craftiness, stubbornly meeting the sword head-on and trading injury for injury as it opened its blood-fed maw to bite the green-robed swordsman.

Before the swordsman could stab its vital point, however, the alpha wolf's eyes burst with green light, capturing the swordsman's spirit.

The swordsman's pupils instantly turned dull, and by the time he recovered his wits, those wolf jaws were already pressed against his neck, a thousand thoughts turning over in his heart in an instant as he deemed his death certain.

He felt somewhat regretful; having come from thousands of li away to keep an appointment, he had never expected to die just like this in the desolate wilderness outside Gongzhou City.

There was no grand fanfare, no renown throughout the world; the sole witness was a little Daoist, who would furthermore soon accompany him to be buried in a wolf's belly.

A gust of wild wind, however, brushed past the green-robed swordsman's side, kicking up patches of snow flakes as the wolf's body, over two meters long, froze instantly mid-air.

An aura akin to a great demon emanated from a donkey, staring fixedly at that wolf pack. The pack of wolves and the swordsman were clearly wide-eyed, yet utterly unable to move.

Thump~ thump~ thump~ thump~

The sound of the donkey's hooves stepping across the snowy ground rang out.

Then it raised a donkey hoof and delivered a single kick carrying the force of ten thousand jun, sending the ferocious starving wolf flying out like a rag doll.

It kicked the alpha wolf to death right then and there. As the aura dissipated, the swordsman and the pack of wolves finally felt their consciousness return bit by bit.

The green-robed swordsman stood frozen in the snow, looking at the wolf corpse ahead. The wolf pack simultaneously halted because of it, whimpering as they retreated one by one, and then fled in a wild dash.

The mountain hollow grew quiet in an instant.

Meanwhile, the Daoist rode upon the donkey's back, passing by the green-robed swordsman's side and heading up the mountain ridge facing the setting sun.

The green-robed swordsman looked at Gao Xian, speechless, his eyes filled with shock and astonishment.

Even at the moment they brushed past each other, Gao Xian could sense the deep embarrassment lingering in the depths of the green-robed swordsman's heart.

The Daoist stood stalwart at the highest point of the mountain ridge, bathing in the setting sun, while a respectful inquiry rang out from behind him.

"This humble one is Lu Canghai. Might the Immortal Elder favor me with his name?"

"Cloud Heaven Monastery of Mount Lao."

"Kongchenzi."