Slaying

"Master!"

Seeing the familiar face of the arriving man, Ran Min's tiger-like eyes brimmed with tears, his heart surging with overwhelming emotion.

Then, under the astonished gazes of the crowd, his mighty frame collapsed to his knees like a golden mountain toppling or a jade pillar falling:

"Master! Your disciple has been unfilial—these years I failed to attend you and fulfill my filial duties, nor did I complete the oath I swore back then to slaughter all the barbarians. Now I've let A Kakin lay siege to the city and forced you to come in person—your disciple's sins are beyond atonement even in death!"

On the city wall, Ran Min cried out in anguish, his heart recalling how, in his years of fighting the barbarians, he had rarely visited his master. And now, having failed to drive them completely out of Yan, shame flooded him, and hot tears streamed down.

"Heh, you foolish child. You've done well enough. If I were in your place, I might not have done any better."

Seeing Ran Min like this, Gu Han's aged face broke into a faint smile as he offered comfort, his tone full of satisfaction.

"But Master, I couldn't defeat A Kakin. Now he's broken through to the Legendary Realm and is attacking my city. I..."

Hearing Gu Han's reassurance, Ran Min was deeply moved, his voice choked with emotion, and for a moment he couldn't speak.

To outsiders, he might still be the "Martial Mourning Heavenly King"—unmatched in strategy, undefeated in battle, invincible under heaven—but before his master, he was always that twelve-year-old, anxious boy who vowed to become the strongest under heaven.

He had been then, he was now, and he always would be.

"Haha! Silly disciple, since your master has come here today, I naturally won't let this city fall. Since you think A Kakin's breakthrough to Legendary makes him unbeatable, I'll go now into the enemy ranks and cut him down, sending the barbarian army into chaos.

Consider it a gift from your master, after all these years apart."

Gu Han smiled calmly, then leaped from the wall, which stood over ten zhang high, like a meteor streaking across the sky. In an instant, he landed heavily on the ground, cratering it several meters wide.

"Master, no! Open the gates! Open the gates and let my master in!"

Seeing Gu Han descend alone to face the barbarian horde, Ran Min's eyes nearly split with fury as he roared.

Though his master had been strong in the past, he was now advanced in years. Whether he could even defeat A Kakin in single combat was uncertain, let alone with hundreds of thousands of troops backing him. This was practically suicide.

Ran Min's heart burned with anxiety, but across the field, A Kakin and the barbarian chieftains were stunned to see a figure leap from the distant city wall.

"Who is this old bastard? How dare he face my thousands of troops alone, as if we were nothing? Is he courting death?"

A Kakin's face showed surprise as he asked the barbarian general beside him.

A Legendary Realm expert's senses were sharp—even from over a thousand meters away, Gu Han was as clear as if he were right before his eyes.

"Your Majesty, I've never seen this man before. But with such boldness, and leaping unharmed from a wall over ten zhang high, he's no ordinary foe. I urge caution."

The barbarian general replied respectfully.

"Hah! Slin Da, you underestimate me. I am a peerless expert of the Legendary Realm—how could some random old man harm me?

Even if he has some skill, in my eyes, he's no more than an ant on the ground, crushed with a flick of my hand!"

A Kakin sneered, waving his hand. A five-foot-long, reddish-brown divine bow appeared in his grip from his horse's back.

"Take this!"

Aiming at Gu Han in the distance, A Kakin nocked an arrow, drew the bowstring taut, and in the next instant, a fiery red steel arrow, infused with his fierce Internal Qi, shot forth like a cannonball.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

Sonic booms rang out as the arrow tore through the air, sending shockwaves rippling, carrying unparalleled force toward the distant foe.

"Hmph!"

Seeing the terrifying arrow coming, Gu Han's eyes flickered with disdain. He let out a cold laugh, flipped his palm, and unleashed a surge of terrifying Half Spiritual Power. In an instant, the space around him for several chi darkened, as if he had seized the sun, moon, and stars, or captured the endless light.

At the same time, he snatched the speeding arrow out of the air!

"Sssssss..."

The fiery steel arrow screeched in Gu Han's grip, sending sparks flying.

In his hand, this arrow—capable of breaching walls and rivaling small artillery shells from his first life—struggled like a trapped beast, no matter how it thrashed or raged, unable to break free.

"What?!"

"How is that possible?!"

"Impossible!"

Gu Han's move not only terrified A Kakin, Sijada, and the other barbarians in the distance, but also shocked Ran Min and the generals on Xiongyuan City's wall, so much so that they forgot to order the gates opened.

The barbarians were famed archers, and A Kakin was the best among them, long hailed as the greatest archer under heaven. Since breaking through to the Legendary Realm yesterday, his archery was unmatched.

One arrow from him could wound even an Internal Qi Realm expert of the same level, let alone ordinary Internal Qi Great Completion or Peak experts.

But this man had taken his arrow without a scratch? What kind of monster was this?

A Kakin's heart trembled with fear, but his mind raced for a plan. Soon, he bellowed:

"Pass the order! The army advances on my command! Charge forward and kill this wretch today—no mistakes! Disobey, and you die!"

A Kakin waved his longsword to direct, but he himself retreated rapidly. From that single arrow, he knew that even as a Legendary Realm expert, he was no match for this mysterious old man. To charge in would be suicide. Only by hiding in the rear and striking by surprise might he have a chance to kill him.

A Kakin pulled back on his blood-red steed, its hooves pounding the ground as if wreathed in flames, covering dozens of meters in a single breath, flashing like lightning at an unbelievable speed.

But fast as it was, Gu Han was faster!

In the distance, after catching the arrow, Gu Han rose into the air, stepping through the void like a legendary immortal.

One of Bodhidharma's three supreme martial techniques—One Reed Crossing River.

Tap, tap, tap...

Gu Han executed his Lightness Skill, at times gliding through the air like an immortal, at others stepping on the heads of soldiers like treading on reeds to borrow momentum. With each step, Half Spiritual Power erupted instantly, claiming the lives of soldiers within a radius of nearly ten feet.

Until he arrived several dozen meters from A Kakin!

"Die!"

Upon spotting A Kakin's figure, Gu Han's aged frame accelerated further, darting like a phantom over the heads of countless barbarian soldiers.

Finally, aiming at A Kakin, he pressed down a finger!

"Boom!"

The instant Gu Han pressed down, formidable Half Spiritual Power erupted with earth-shattering terror.

In that moment, a flawless, jade-green finger, perfect as a work of art, appeared above A Kakin's head, descending like divine punishment toward his skull.

"Ah!"

Seeing this terrifying strike bearing down, A Kakin was stricken with horror. He let out a loud shout, raised both palms, and released boundless, vast Inner Qi, forming two millstone-sized palm prints in an attempt to block the fearsome blow.

"Pop!"

A sound rang through the void. Under the pressure of that jade-green finger, the two massive Inner Qi palm prints were pierced through like tofu, dissolving into endless streams of air.

And A Kakin, along with the sweat-blood steed beneath him, was shattered to pieces by the immense force of that jade-green finger, leaving not a single intact corpse!