Only Killing

Blade light and sword shadows flickered endlessly beneath the gloomy sky, every collision bursting with blinding sparks.

War cries and screams intertwined, pounding painfully against the ears.

The Black-Clad Men were agile and decisive, weaving through the chaos like black phantoms, the weapons in their hands gleaming with chilling light.

Though the overseers held the advantage in numbers, the protective advantage of the iron armor worn by the Black-Clad Men gradually put them at a disadvantage. Overseers fell wounded from time to time, groaning in agony.

Xu Yunfan carefully threaded his way through the fighting, his steps as light as a civet cat's. His wary gaze swept his surroundings, afraid that one careless move would drag him into this mad whirlpool of slaughter.

His heart rose to his throat, fine beads of sweat seeping from his brow. In this cold-weapons melee where someone could die at any moment, only by being doubly cautious could he find a sliver of survival.

Half crawling and half rolling his way to the edge of the battlefield, Xu Yunfan spotted Zhou Feng not far away at a glance. The man was closely following a tall, fair-skinned figure, his expression tense as he shadowed him step for step, not daring to stray even slightly.

He quickly withdrew his gaze. Yet in that brief pause, an overseer noticed him and rushed over.

He remembered this overseer. He was the very one in the mine tunnel who had tossed the flatbread around like garbage.

Carrying Li Haomiao on his back was bound to draw attention.

Li Haomiao felt Xu Yunfan's heart begin to pound violently and his blood qi surge. He said in a low voice, "That overseer has only just entered the martial path. In martial arts, first comes courage, second strength, third skill. If you do not even have courage, then even if your divine arts are unmatched beneath heaven, the slightest setback will shatter your state of mind, and you will make no further progress on the martial path."

"Valiant and Vigorous Progress, charge forward without turning back, and maintain the momentum of a single drumbeat! This is a battlefield! Retreat means only death—kill your way out!"

Xu Yunfan forcibly suppressed his roiling emotions and silently recited the Highest Good is Like Water Heart Mantra. Though he had not yet entered the threshold of the Lin Character Secret, it still allowed him to calm down swiftly.

He hesitated no longer. One quick step led to another, wind rising beneath his feet as he charged straight at the overseer. With Fleet Foot pushed to its limits, his body whipped up a fierce gale.

At the sight, a savage grin instantly twisted onto the overseer's face, his fleshy features warping like those of an evil ghost.

He violently swung his long saber. A cold flash ran across its blade as it carved a frigid arc through the air, wrapped in a howling wind as it slashed down at Xu Yunfan's head.

Xu Yunfan's entire body tensed, every muscle like a fully drawn bow, poised to strike.

Just as the long saber, carrying its howling force, was about to split him in two at that critical instant—

Power suddenly erupted beneath his feet. It was as though an invisible force tugged between the soles of his feet and the ground. Then his ankle twisted sharply, his waist and hips turning as he sidestepped.

The motion was light and fluid, flowing like drifting clouds and running water, as though he had practiced it thousands of times. He easily evaded the fierce, life-taking blow.

Was that overseer too weak to lift his saber, or had my reactions become faster?

His reactions had become faster!

The thought flashed through his mind. Xu Yunfan's gaze burned like torches as he faced the overseer's still-savage expression and eyes widened in shock. The overseer had missed with his slash and was just about to draw back his saber.

Xu Yunfan let out a furious roar and swung his arm.

The crude Iron Pickaxe in his hand now seemed like an unparalleled warhammer. It tore through the heavy air with a howl, producing a piercing whooo.

The Iron Pickaxe thrust forward like lightning, carrying an unstoppable force.

The overseer was terrified. He hurriedly raised his hand to block, but it was already too late.

The pickaxe tip shot forth like an arrow, carving an arc through the air from back to front, unstoppable as bamboo splitting before the wind.

With a muffled pfft, it pierced through the overseer's neck.

Blood spurted out, splashing through the air.

Xu Yunfan yanked and pulled in one smooth motion. The overseer's neck instantly became a bloody mess. Before he could even scream, he crashed to the ground, breathless.

In an instant, the stench of blood filled the air, pungent and sickening.

Li Haomiao clicked his tongue.

"So ruthless!"

So his strength had already reached this level.

The overseers who had once made him lower his head and fear to meet their eyes could not even last a single exchange before him now.

In that instant, the pent-up frustration Xu Yunfan had accumulated since crossing into this world was fully released. A fiercely satisfying feeling churned in his chest.

As the various hormones within him surged rapidly, his blood qi roiled, swiftly bringing his Essence, Qi, and Spirit to their current peak state.

The crude Iron Pickaxe spun lightly around his fingers. Xu Yunfan did not hesitate. He swept his eyes over the surroundings. When several overseers not far away saw this, their feet faltered, and they hesitated for a moment, exchanging glances before ultimately charging at him together.

That strike from Xu Yunfan was enough to show that he had not merely entered the martial path. It was highly likely that he had already achieved minor success in externally training a martial art.

In a one-on-one fight, they would absolutely be no match for him.

Naturally, Xu Yunfan would not allow these overseers to encircle him. After clearing away the overseer blocking his path ahead, he drove Fleet Foot to its utmost limit.

Seeing an overseer charge toward his flank, his gaze turned icy. He raised the Iron Pickaxe in his hand. As the muscles in his arm bulged and veins throbbed, his waist and hips sank with them.

His body was the bow, his arms the bowstring. The Iron Pickaxe in his hand fell like a heavy hammer, swift and heavy, splitting the air with a whooo.

The overseer's expression filled with horror. He truly had not expected Xu Yunfan's attack to be so fast and fierce. His weapon had only risen halfway when the pickaxe tip sank into his skull, killing him on the spot.

"It would be nice if I had a hammer."

Xu Yunfan sighed. Wielding a pickaxe always felt somewhat unsatisfactory. The Crimson Flame Copper Body Art was a hammer technique and should have been a prerequisite for some sort of hammer-based martial art.

He scanned the battlefield, only to find that not a single person was using a hammer-type weapon.

Partway along, Xu Yunfan's eyes flickered when he saw Yang Gan not far away wielding an iron whip. It danced like a snake in his hands, keeping four or five Black-Clad Men from coming near him for the moment. With one strike of the whip, he smashed the ground hard enough to send dirt and stones flying.

With the slightest carelessness, a Black-Clad Man would be struck down by the whip, lying on the ground with a bloody wound so deep that bone showed through.

Xu Yunfan immediately changed direction upon seeing this. That man had achieved Great Accomplishment in Skin Tempering, specialized in tough-body training, and bore him no small amount of ill will. If Xu Yunfan ran headlong into him, the odds would be grim.

Xu Yunfan fixed his eyes on Fang Mushan, who was racing ahead. Seeing the other man quicken his pace, he had no choice but to speed up as well.

Fortunately, he had Fleet Foot. Though the name did sound rather cheap, it excelled at long-distance dashes. Each time he took a step, the core muscle groups in his legs pulled taut, as though a force rose from the soles of his feet and propelled him forward like a spring.

Before long, after one running ahead and the other behind, they reached the foot of a ridge far from the battlefield. Then an overseer suddenly leaped out ahead, holding a long whip. He raised his hand toward Fang Mushan and flicked his wrist.

The long whip split the air like a venomous snake, letting out a whooo as it shot toward Fang Mushan.

Fang Mushan's expression did not change. He raised a hand and firmly caught the whip.

Under Xu Yunfan's gaze, Fang Mushan's arm muscles bulged slightly. He pulled backward, and the overseer seemed to have been seized by a rampaging bear. A force of a thousand jun bore down on him, wrenching his whole body out of shape and dragging him stumbling toward Fang Mushan.