I am not a bloodthirsty person

"..."

Seeing their headman blinded in an instant and their comrade's spine snapped, the remaining samurai froze again for a split second after processing what had happened.

And in that instant—

Smack!!

The swinging fist scattered the rain in midair, shattering it into fragments with a sharp crack.

Yun Chuan's figure, defying all logic, swooped down from the air like an eagle in a sudden dive.

Samurai, honed by meditation and the draw of the blade, were not slow to react—especially after witnessing their comrade's grotesque death, they dared not underestimate him. Driven by instinct, they sidestepped Yun Chuan's punch.

But, unfortunately...

"I'm not some brute who only throws punches."

Yun Chuan's voice, laced with amusement, reached the samurai's ears, and the fist that had just dodged suddenly gleamed with a cold light.

Pshh!!

In that instant, the two samurai who had sidestepped the punch failed to evade the broken blade in his grip.

Armor that could withstand ninja tools and even jutsu couldn't stop that single slash—the blade carved two sprays of blood across the weak points of their throats.

The fourth and fifth samurai charged from front and back, but before they could even launch their attacks, Yun Chuan was already kneeling on another samurai's shoulder.

"Like this, you're no proper samurai."

Facing the frantic, savage yet chaotic and fearful slashes of the samurai before him, Yun Chuan narrowed his eyes with a light chuckle and spotted the wide-open flaw in his stance.

Bang!!

His clenched fist, with only the knuckle of his middle finger exposed, stabbed out like a blade—vicious, decisive, and ruthless—slamming into the samurai's throat!

—A jab, also known as "Impaling Strike."

Among the combat techniques provided by the [Bullseye] template, it was a skill that balanced speed and power.

If the strike landed on a vulnerable spot, it could kill in one blow, and the force of Yun Chuan's punch was evident from the sound of air splitting alone.

After the Impaling Strike, he twisted sharply and looked behind him.

Crack! Crack!!

Two crisp sounds of bone breaking rang out almost simultaneously, and the two samurai—one beneath him, one in front—froze in place.

The head twisted one hundred and eighty degrees toward the samurai behind Yun Chuan, stirring an uncontrollable fear even in these iron-willed warriors.

In the ninja world, aside from the Five Great Nations with their transcendent status and small buffer states like the Land of Rain, there were a few neutral nations that maintained special diplomatic relations with various countries and held unique positions.

For example, the homeland of these samurai.

—The Land of Iron.

This nation remained neutral, never invaded or annexed by others, partly due to its harsh, cold geography—located along the coast and bordering no great powers.

On the other hand, the most important reason was actually "political factors."

The Land of Iron had no ninja; it was guarded by samurai clans, possessing a unique culture, authority, and combat strength.

The era of the samurai had gradually faded with the rise of ninja, but they were still favored by nobles who distrusted ninja.

Especially the ancient education samurai received from childhood, which kept them steadfast in their honor and loyalty, willing to sacrifice their lives for the interests of nobles.

It was precisely this special status that allowed samurai to spread across the ninja world's nations and kept the Land of Iron "neutral."

And now, the samurai standing before Yun Chuan were the personal guards of the Land of Rain's Lord—the most fearless among their kind.

But at this moment, he tasted fear deeply!

"Ah! Die!!" The samurai let out a roar, as if to reclaim his courage, his hands gripping the katana so hard they turned white.

In contrast, Yun Chuan's movements showed no pause at all. The broken blade in his hand whipped through the rain curtain with a thunderous crack.

Unlike the earlier situation where he had no foothold in midair, the moment the shard shot into the samurai's visor slit, it sent the entire head and body flying backward, pinning him to the ground like a mosquito, unable to move.

"Damn it! Damn it! Where?!"

The Samurai Headman trembled, turning his head toward the sounds of his men's deaths, but his bloodied eyes now saw only an abyss of endless darkness.

He had never felt so helpless.

In his perception, there was no trace of Yun Chuan.

All he could sense was the rain falling harder, the wind blowing colder.

No.

That was Yun Chuan's figure flitting among the samurai.

That was the broken blade in his hand stirring up a gale of blood and rain.

Flesh flew, the scene was bloody, and screams cut to the bone.

Before Yun Chuan, the samurai in their heavy armor were utterly clumsy, like oversized dolls being dismantled at will.

But from the gaps, what spilled out wasn't cotton—it was crimson, sticky blood!

"Ugh!!"

"Demon! A demon!"

"Run! Get out of the way! Don't block me!"

This scene was nothing short of a mass slaughter. The distant civilians couldn't help but vomit, scrambling away on all fours in sheer terror, desperate to put distance between themselves and him.

With such brutal, horrifying killing methods, no one dared to treat Yun Chuan as the gentle child those earlier refugees had seen.

"Ah!!"

The helpless Samurai Headman could only swing his blade blindly, but his knees were stomped and snapped backward in a single blow.

He let out a miserable howl as he dropped to one knee, and then consciousness finally faded into darkness.

"To be honest, I'm not a bloodthirsty person."

Yun Chuan lightly flicked his palm, sending droplets of blood splattering from his knuckles to the ground. His gaze fell on the girl clutching her younger brother tightly behind her, and his tone was gentle as he asked, "Do you believe me?"

Behind him, a fine line of blood appeared on the Samurai Headman's neck, slowly spreading...

Thud!

His head rolled to the ground with a dull sound, and his stiff corpse collapsed heavily.

The muffled noise of the body falling struck the ears like a weight slamming into everyone's hearts.

—That was the weight of a life extinguished.

"..."

The girl was covered in mud. She looked up at Yun Chuan's face and, in the end, nodded. "You are a good person."

Even though she had just felt a chill at her own neck.

Clearly, he had marked her life, because she had stood in his way earlier.

But if he had truly wanted to kill her, she would already be dead, with no room for negotiation—she wouldn't even have had the chance to beg for mercy.

In other words, he had saved her and her brother, and then spared her life.

So, the girl could draw a conclusion.

—He was a good person.

"A good person?"

In the distance, everyone felt as if their throats were being squeezed. Yahiko, his face pale, couldn't utter a single sound. Hearing their exchange, he didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

It sounded like a joke.

But this joke wasn't funny at all!

Yet Yun Chuan could see that the girl meant what she said.

As long as he saved her and her brother, he was a good person. The lives and deaths of others were completely irrelevant?

"Compared to that naive, childish brat, you're a truly pragmatic one... but I like kids like you."

As if he'd heard a joke, Yun Chuan couldn't help but chuckle softly. Then he said in a low voice, "What I mean is, instead of selling yourself to that incompetent Lord, how about finding a better buyer for your soul?"

Selling your soul to a demon wasn't the tragedy. The real tragedy was not getting a fair price for it.

The girl felt that the man before her, who looked more like a demon, might offer a better deal.