The Fastest Sword!

Rain pattered down, dripping from Chu Qing's chin.

Chu Qing opened his eyes, dazed, and found himself under a large tree, holding a bloodstained longsword, sitting with his back against the trunk.

Not far away, a corpse was impaled through the heart by a spear and hung on a tree.

All around was a deep forest, a fine mist of rain drifted from the sky, and a cold wind blew, seemingly chilling him to the bone.

All of this registered instantly, but before he could observe further, he felt a sudden dizziness, as if the stars themselves were shifting.

A strong sense of vertigo washed over him, making him feel nauseous and want to vomit, yet nothing came up.

"What's going on? Where is this? How did I get here... Who is that dead person?"

One question after another flooded his mind, just as the intense dizziness subsided.

At the same time, a series of images appeared before his eyes.

After a long while, Chu Qing opened his eyes again, the daze gone from them. 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... but he ran away from home at the age of twelve.

The reason was that the Chu Clan had two prodigies, Chu Tian and Chu Fan.

The two brothers had shown astonishing talent since childhood. Chu Tian had his father's demeanor and was the best candidate for the next family head, while Chu Fan was born with divine strength and was therefore sent to the Great Easy Sect, where he became a disciple under Cui Bunü, the Divine Fist of Non-Anger.

Among the three brothers, Chu Qing was the most ordinary, so the Chu Family head, Chu Yunfei, arranged a marriage for Chu Qing.

But Chu Qing had his own aspirations and was unwilling to accept such an arrangement.

Therefore, at the age of twelve, he left a letter stating that he was going to pursue his path of chivalry and asked his father and brothers not to look for him.

He had been gone for seven years.

However, during most of these seven years, he had been in hiding, diligently practicing the family's unique martial arts.

It wasn't until a year ago, when he felt his martial arts had achieved some success, that he truly began to travel the martial world.

Then he encountered the Mirror of Sin.

The Mirror of Sin was an assassin organization. Their motto was 'Acting on behalf of heaven, using killing as punishment,' claiming to specialize in killing wicked and evil martial artists.

Such a motto naturally resonated with Chu Qing.

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

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

They claimed to be 'acting on behalf of heaven' but were actually 'acting for their own selfish gain.'

This time, the mission he received was to assassinate Zhou Changtai, the master of the Zhou Family Manor in Redwood Ridge.

According to the information provided by the Mirror of Sin, Zhou Changtai oppressed the villagers and committed evil deeds. He not only condoned his youngest son's forceful abduction of women but also beat the father of one of the women to death when he came to reason with him, hanging his corpse at the gate for three days. He was truly heinous.

But after investigating, Chu Qing discovered that this was completely fabricated.

Therefore, he not only did not assassinate Zhou Changtai but instead secretly warned him to be careful of someone who might plot against him.

He had intended to leave quietly but didn't expect to be ambushed midway.

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

There were five of them, and it seemed they had long known Chu Qing's route, setting up an ambush and launching a surprise attack.

Fortunately, Chu Qing had been wary ever since he discovered the Mirror of Sin's true nature.

So, although the change happened quickly, he wasn't completely without time to react.

He fought and retreated all the way, narrowly escaping death several times, and finally managed to break free. However, he didn't expect that just as he was about to escape, he would be stopped by the person with the highest martial arts among the five.

This person's codename in the Mirror of Sin was Blood Spear, and his ranking and martial arts were both above Chu Qing's.

In a fierce battle, Chu Qing sacrificed his own life, ultimately perishing together with the opponent.

The corpse hanging on the tree opposite, pierced by a spear, was precisely Blood Spear from the Mirror of Sin.

After roughly sorting out the whole sequence of events, Chu Qing felt a bit annoyed.

"A chuunibyou teenager ran away from home, and his entrepreneurial journey collapsed halfway..."

He summarized it in his mind but couldn't help but mutter to himself:

"But which immortal sister did I offend? Why did I transmigrate here out of the blue?"

He looked down and felt pain everywhere on his body.

Chu Qing had reached this place after several bloody battles, so his injuries were understandable.

But he still struggled to stand up.

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

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

This matter had been perplexing him for a long time.

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

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

Ever since the dizzy feeling in his head subsided, he had noticed a rectangular object floating above Blood Spear's corpse.

It emitted a faint, hazy glow that made it impossible to see the details clearly.

After he acquired the original owner's memories, he knew that experts in the martial world were as numerous as carp crossing a river... but they didn't dabble in ghosts or spirits. He figured Blood Spear hadn't cultivated to the point of soul separation, where his spirit could escape after death.

That made this thing a bit strange.

Chu Qing mused for a moment, then leaped up.

Although it was his first time using lightness skill, it didn't feel unfamiliar at all.

It was as if it had become instinctual.

He reached out and grabbed the object.

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

Assassin System activated successfully!

Obtained one 'Random Martial Arts Treasure Chest'.

Chu Qing was startled, and his body naturally landed.

The object he had just grabbed had quietly disappeared.

However, a panel popped up before his eyes.

Assassin System

Host: Chu Qing

Current Commission: None

One unopened Martial Arts Treasure Chest. Open now?

Chu Qing examined it briefly and found the system to be ridiculously simple.

Without much hesitation, he nodded directly.

"Open."

Opening successful, obtained ultimate skill: Ah Fei's Fast Sword!

Before Chu Qing could be surprised, streams of information flooded into his mind.

At the same time, his body felt various strange sensations, a soreness and numbness in his waist, back, arms, and legs.

But this change came and went quickly.

In just a moment, it had subsided.

Just then, the sound of air being cut suddenly came from behind his ear.

Chu Qing's heart stirred.

"So fast!"

Then, as if by instinct, he pivoted his foot, and the long sword that had never left his hand suddenly rose.

This sword strike omitted all formalities, all unnecessary movements.

It was simple, just one move—a thrust.

Buzz!

A black-clothed figure wearing a mask heard this sound.

But he didn't know where the sound came from.

He had a saber in his hand, but he couldn't bring it down.

Because before he could, his throat had already been pierced by the sword.

This sword... was faster than sound!