The Fastest Sword!

Rain pattered softly, trickling down Chu Qing's chin.

Chu Qing groggily opened his eyes and found himself beneath a great tree, a bloodstained longsword in his hand as he sat with his back against the trunk.

Not far away, a corpse hung from another tree, its heart pierced through by a long spear.

Deep forest surrounded him. A misty drizzle drifted from the sky, and the cold wind blew as though it could chill him to the bone.

Everything entered his eyes in an instant, but before he could examine it further, the world spun around him as if stars and constellations had shifted.

A violent wave of dizziness rose in his mind, giving him the urge to vomit, yet he could not bring anything up.

"What is going on? Where is this? How did I get here... and who is that dead man?"

Questions surged through his mind one after another, just as the intense dizziness in his head abruptly subsided.

At the same time, scene after scene appeared before his eyes.

After a long while, Chu Qing opened his eyes again. The muddle in them had vanished. He gently rubbed his forehead.

"So that's how it is..."

Chu Qing, nineteen years old.

The third son of the Chu Family in Heavenly Dance City... who had run away from home at the age of twelve.

The reason was that the Chu Clan had two outstanding sons: Chu Tian and Chu Fan.

The two brothers had displayed astonishing talent from childhood. Chu Tian possessed his father's bearing and was the finest candidate for the next family head, while Chu Fan had been born with divine strength and was sent to the Great Easy Sect to become the disciple of Cui Bunü, the Divine Fist of Non-Anger.

Of the three brothers, Chu Qing was the most ordinary. Thus, Chu Yunfei, the head of the Chu Family, arranged a marriage for him.

Yet Chu Qing had ambitions of his own and was unwilling to accept such an arrangement.

So, at the age of twelve, he left behind a letter declaring that he would practice his own path of chivalry and righteousness, telling his father and brothers not to seek him out.

That departure lasted seven years.

Yet during those seven years, he spent most of his time in hiding, painstakingly cultivating the Chu Family's inherited arts.

Only a year ago, when he felt his martial arts had achieved minor success, did he truly begin wandering the martial world.

Then he encountered the Mirror of Sin.

The Mirror of Sin was an assassin organization. With "acting on Heaven's behalf and using killing as punishment" as its creed, it claimed to kill only those treacherous villains of the martial world who committed every evil deed imaginable.

Such a creed naturally won Chu Qing's approval.

Thus, he joined the Mirror of Sin and became one of its assassins.

But good times did not last. In less than a year, Chu Qing discovered that the Mirror of Sin was not what it seemed.

It claimed to "act on Heaven's behalf," but in truth, it was "seeking private gain for itself."

The mission he had received this time was to assassinate Zhou Changtai, master of Zhou Family Manor on Redwood Ridge.

According to the information provided by the Mirror of Sin, Zhou Changtai preyed upon the local people and committed all manner of evil. Not only had he indulged his youngest son in abducting innocent women, but he had also beaten to death the father of one woman who had come to demand justice, then hung the corpse before his gates for three full days. His crimes were truly monstrous.

But after investigating, Chu Qing discovered that it was all utter nonsense.

Therefore, not only did he refrain from assassinating Zhou Changtai, he secretly warned Zhou Changtai to be wary of someone plotting against him.

He had intended to leave quietly, but unexpectedly, he was ambushed halfway through.

And those who ambushed him were assassins from the Mirror of Sin.

There were five of them in all. They seemed to have long known Chu Qing's route and had lain in wait, launching a surprise attack in one stroke.

Fortunately, ever since Chu Qing discovered that the Mirror of Sin was two-faced, he had remained on guard.

Thus, although the upheaval had erupted swiftly, he had not been left entirely without time to react.

He fought and retreated all the way, escaping death by a hair several times before barely managing to break free. Yet just as he was about to escape into the open sky, he was stopped by the strongest of the five.

Within the Mirror of Sin, this man bore the codename Blood Spear, and his martial arts ranked above Chu Qing's.

After a desperate battle, Chu Qing staked his life and ultimately perished together with him.

The corpse hanging from the tree opposite him, pierced through by a long spear, was Blood Spear of the Mirror of Sin.

After roughly sorting out the entire sequence of events, Chu Qing felt a little pained in the balls.

"A cringey teenage boy ran away from home, only for his grand undertaking to collapse halfway through..."

That was the conclusion he gave himself, but he could not help muttering aloud.

"But what kind of immortal big sister did I offend? How did I get transmigrated here for no good reason?"

He looked down and felt that not a single part of his body was free from pain.

Chu Qing had only reached this place after several bloody battles. The severity of his injuries was easy enough to imagine.

Still, he struggled to his feet.

His current situation was extremely dangerous. Three of those assassins were still alive. If they caught up to him in his present state, he would undoubtedly die.

But before that, there was one thing he needed to do.

This was something that had puzzled him for quite a while.

He walked over to Blood Spear's corpse and looked above Blood Spear's head.

"What exactly is that thing floating over his head?"

Ever since the dizziness in his mind had faded, he had noticed a rectangular object floating above Blood Spear's corpse.

A hazy glow radiated around it, making its details impossible to discern.

After obtaining the original owner's memories, he knew that masters capable of soaring across the martial world were as countless as crucian carp crossing a river... but none possessed command over ghosts or gods. Blood Spear surely had not cultivated to the point where his soul could leave his body and his primordial spirit could flee after death.

That made this thing rather strange.

Chu Qing pondered briefly, then leapt into the air.

Though it was his first time using lightness skill, it did not feel unfamiliar in the slightest.

It was as though it had already fused into his instincts.

He reached out and seized the object in his hand.

Then, a line of text suddenly appeared before his eyes.

Assassin System successfully activated!

Obtained one Random Martial Arts Treasure Chest.

Chu Qing froze, then naturally landed on the ground.

The thing he had just held in his hand quietly vanished.

A panel appeared before his eyes instead.

Assassin System

Host: Chu Qing

Current Commission: None

One unopened Martial Arts Treasure Chest. Open it?

Chu Qing examined it roughly and found that this system was so simple it was almost absurd.

Then, without much hesitation, he nodded directly.

"Open it."

Successfully opened. Obtained supreme art: Ah Fei's Fast Sword!

Before Chu Qing could recover from his astonishment, streams of information flooded into his mind.

At the same time, strange sensations spread through his body. His waist and back, arms, and legs all felt sore, numb, and tingling.

Yet the change came quickly and vanished just as quickly.

In the blink of an eye, it had already calmed.

At that very moment, the sound of wind being torn apart suddenly came from behind his ear.

Chu Qing's heart stirred.

"They came fast!"

Then, as if by instinct, his feet turned, and the longsword that had never left his hand suddenly rose.

This sword strike discarded all flowery embellishments, every unnecessary movement.

Simple and direct—there was only one move: a thrust.

Bzzzt!

A black-clad man wearing a painted mask heard that sound.

Yet he had no idea where it had come from.

There was a saber in his hand, but he could no longer bring it down.

Because before that, his throat had already been pierced through by a sword.

This sword... was faster than sound!