One Sword

Ever since killing the Seven Iron Horse Thieves, he had gone seven or eight days without a job.

As an assassin with the Assassin System, how could he grow without killing?

Had he not broken away from the Mirror of Sin, he naturally would never have lacked contracts to kill.

But now, not only had he lost his organization, he also had to evade the Mirror of Sin's pursuit. Taking on assassination jobs was truly no easy matter.

Now that such an opportunity had presented itself, he naturally had to give it a try.

If this could trigger a commission, that would be best of all.

Yet the moment those words left his mouth, not only did Wu Qianhuan's eyes widen, Xin Youhen also snorted coldly:

"Overestimating yourself."

"Do you even know what you're saying?"

Wu Qianhuan stared fixedly at Chu Qing as well.

Back in the front courtyard, she had not clearly seen Chu Qing's swordsmanship. His sword had been too fast, and all her attention at the time had been on Fake Chu Qing.

By the time she came back to her senses, Chu Qing was already standing atop the wall, putting on airs.

Hearing him say this now, she felt completely bewildered...

How could Chu Qing possibly kill Xin Youhen?

Had he gone mad?

"Decide quickly. He is already struggling to hold himself back from making a move. If you do not hire me to kill him, then with your martial arts, you will most likely die by his hand."

Chu Qing lifted his chin at Wu Qianhuan.

"But if I make a move, one sword is all it will take. This man will certainly die."

"HAHAHAHA!!!!"

Upon hearing this, Xin Youhen could not help but throw back his head and laugh.

"I, Xin, have roamed the martial world for more than ten years, and this is the first time I have met someone as arrogant as you!

"Very well. For the sake of amusing me today, I will give you one chance. You may strike one sword first, and let me see how you plan to kill me with a single blow!"

Chu Qing did not even glance at him, merely looking at Wu Qianhuan.

Wu Qianhuan took a deep breath, then suddenly smiled.

"Fine. If you truly can kill him, then I will believe that you are not that person.

"I will pay one thousand taels of patterned silver to hire you to kill him."

Commission: Kill Xin Youhen!

Accept?

Chu Qing's eyes lit up. It had really appeared.

It had merely been a spur-of-the-moment thought. Seeing that there was a client here, a target here, and an assassin here, he had casually brought it up.

He had not expected it to actually work.

But in that case, could he use this to farm treasure chests?

Later, he could have Wu Qianhuan take him to the City Lord's Mansion's dungeon, drag out those condemned to death, and commission their killings one by one?

But after thinking it over carefully, he felt that might not work.

After all, if that were possible, why would his system be called the Assassin System?

Would it not be better called the Executioner System?

Whether it worked or not, though, he would have to try it later...

With those thoughts in mind, he was already walking toward Xin Youhen with his sword in hand.

By all reason, if they truly fought, Chu Qing would be no match for Xin Youhen.

If it were an assassination, however, there was a seventy to eighty percent chance he could kill him in one strike.

But in a situation like this, he had no chance to disguise himself, hide, and suddenly rise up to kill... Fortunately, his earlier words had not been empty boasts.

When it came to killing someone, sometimes martial arts were not the only thing that mattered.

It was like the Mirror of Sin's assassination of Chu Yunfei. They had not simply found someone with higher martial arts than Chu Yunfei and beaten him to death by brute force.

Instead, they had laid out a game of chess, and with two moves, checkmated Chu Yunfei.

Had Chu Qing, a variable outside the chessboard, not appeared, the outcome would still have been uncertain.

Now that Chu Qing wanted to kill Xin Youhen, he was not relying purely on martial arts either... Though martial arts would play the decisive role, before that, he needed to secure an overwhelming advantage.

And now, he had already obtained that advantage.

It was the one sword Xin Youhen had yielded to him.

This was not coincidence... It was calculation.

From the fact that Xin Youhen had dared to barge alone into the Chu Family, openly enter Chu Fan's courtyard, and kill someone, Chu Qing could see just how wildly arrogant this man truly was.

That was why Chu Qing had deliberately claimed that he could kill Xin Youhen with one sword. How could someone who possessed absolute confidence in his own martial arts and such an overbearing temperament possibly believe that a young man could cut him down with a single strike?

That was why he had made the bold declaration of letting Chu Qing strike first.

Beyond that, Chu Qing also knew that he was injured.

Though he had concealed it well, he could not hide it from Chu Qing.

Just think: why would someone as arrogant as him resort to a sneak attack against a junior like Wu Qianhuan?

After failing to land that first blow, judging by all his conduct earlier in Chu Fan's courtyard, he should have thrown a second punch, then a third, without a second thought, until he had beaten Wu Qianhuan to death.

But he had not...

Thus, Chu Qing inferred that he had been injured while being pursued by Chu Fan, Junior Sister Wen, and those two madwomen.

That strike just now had seemed to put Wu Qianhuan at a disadvantage, but Xin Youhen himself was by no means unscathed.

The reason he had hesitated and refrained from acting was that there was now an additional swordsman in the field—one whose depth and origins he did not know.

Thus, he was seeking stability.

He had not rushed to attack because he was waiting for Chu Qing to leave.

Once Chu Qing left, he would have a guaranteed victory against Wu Qianhuan alone.

Although Chu Qing's words and Wu Qianhuan's commission had resulted in Chu Qing not only staying, but confronting him instead,

that still had not exceeded Xin Youhen's limits of acceptance.

After all, his nature remained as arrogant as ever. In a one-on-one fight, even against a swordsman whose background he did not know, he still had confidence in certain victory.

So long as he killed Chu Qing first and prevented Chu Qing and Wu Qianhuan from joining forces, he could defeat them one at a time and leave victorious.

Of course, Chu Qing did not dare guarantee that his deductions were absolutely correct.

But... as long as he was allowed to strike first, even if he could not kill him, he could still wound him and add injury upon injury.

Then, if he called for Wu Qianhuan to join forces, no matter how skilled Xin Youhen was, he would likely find death impossible to escape.

All these calculations flashed through his mind in but a single thought.

Chu Qing's hand was already resting on the sword hilt as he raised his head to look at Xin Youhen.

"Watch closely..."

The longsword slowly slid from its sheath, light falling upon its blade and scattering into a resplendent gleam.

At that very moment, Chu Qing raised his head and lightly shifted the blade. The reflected light upon it fell directly into Xin Youhen's eyes.

Xin Youhen narrowed his eyes slightly. In that very instant, the sword moved!

When had it left the sheath?

Xin Youhen felt as though his eyes had missed a moment. He had not seen the longsword emerge from its sheath.

Yet he felt a surge of killing intent!

Killing intent and sword intent intertwined, and the instant they were born, they seemed already to have pierced through the gate of his heart.

Gather qi!

Build momentum!

Launch the move!

Within that fleeting instant, Xin Youhen had already reacted.

Yet just as his hands barely rose, a whistling sword cry rang beside his ears!

Bzzzz!!

The sound was at his ear... but the sword was in his heart.

All movement came to a halt. Xin Youhen lowered his head to look at the sword in his chest, his face filled with utter disbelief.

"How... is this possible..."