Remaining Two

His heavy body crashed to the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust.

The man's already ferocious face twisted even further.

A miserable scream burst from his mouth. He stared in terror at the approaching beggar and hurriedly said:

"Spare my life, hero!!"

In that instant just now, he had not even seen where the sword's edge was before his hand was gone.

This man's swordsmanship was like that of ghosts and gods, utterly beyond anything he could contend with.

He immediately rolled over and knelt, repeatedly saying:

"I have never met you, sir. I do not know where I offended you, brother. Please show mercy, hero, and spare this dog life of mine!"

Chu Qing carried his sword as he slowly stepped forward, saying softly as he walked:

"You and I have never met."

"..."

Those words left even one of the Seven Iron Horse Thieves, a man who had killed beyond count, speechless. With no grievance in days past and no enmity today, where had this baleful star come from, hacking off his hand the moment he appeared?

Yet none of his thoughts showed on his face.

He merely kept kowtowing.

"If that is so, then perhaps this hero cannot abide what I have done.

"Please raise your noble hand and spare me. From this day onward, I will surely turn over a new leaf and become a new man..."

As he spoke, a flash of brilliance suddenly glinted in his eyes.

Begging for mercy was only a façade. His true purpose was to seize the moment when Chu Qing let down his guard and launch a surprise attack.

A hidden arrow was concealed within his left sleeve. With a surge of inner force, at such close range, it could strike every shot without fail.

Moreover, the arrow had been steeped in poison; blood upon its edge meant death at the throat.

If it hit, this man would undoubtedly die today.

At that moment, the distance between Chu Qing and him was just right. He suddenly raised his head, his face twisted in a vicious grin, and thrust out his hand as he shouted:

"Die for me..."

Before he could finish the word "die," a silver flash streaked past.

His left arm, which he had barely managed to raise, immediately drooped limp.

Before he could trigger the mechanism, every meridian in his left arm had already been severed by that sword strike. He could no longer exert even the slightest force.

The savage grin froze on his face. Before he could say another word, a flash of cold light flickered before his eyes.

The longsword had already pierced through his heart.

"You..."

He managed one more word, but as the sword was pulled free, he could never speak the rest.

His body tilted, and his corpse fell to the ground.

Chu Qing flicked the blood from his blade and first went to retrieve the scabbard.

Only then did he come before the corpse and ponder for a moment.

"In this situation, how should I prove that I killed him?"

He turned to look at the horse circling nearby after losing its master, and Chu Qing smiled.

He drew his sword again and cut off the bandit's head.

He took a strip of cloth from the man's body, dipped it in blood, and wrote: Seven Iron Horse Thieves, their murders filled the wilds; their crimes deserved execution—Night Emperor.

"Is that title a little too cringeworthy? Was I influenced by the original owner?"

Chu Qing rubbed his chin, though he did not think much of it.

It was only a codename to begin with. Whether he would use it next time was uncertain, so it did not matter what it was.

So long as no one connected it to him.

His codename in the Mirror of Sin was Sword Ghost. Who knew what ghost had possessed him when he chose such a name?

In any case, the two codenames were as unrelated as wind and horse. Even if the people of the Mirror of Sin learned of this matter, they could not possibly link them together.

He tied the head to the horse. When the riderless horse was discovered later, people would see the message left upon it.

Once the news spread, that innkeeper would understand what had happened.

As for why he did not carry the head back to find the innkeeper?

First, parading through the streets with a head would be far too cumbersome, and the smell of blood would invite needless trouble.

Second... Chu Qing had never intended to ask that innkeeper for money in the first place.

How much money could he get from an innkeeper?

It was probably less than what he could gain from these bandits...

Besides, his true reward was the reward for the assassination mission. Unless the system later required him to settle accounts with the employer, Chu Qing had no wish to seek him out.

The less a tea-stall owner who knew no martial arts knew, the safer he would be.

Spreading the news this way, letting him know that his enemy was dead, was enough.

After finishing this, he searched the headless corpse again.

A moment later, he rose to his feet with satisfaction.

"It seems being a bandit has more prospects than being an assassin. This fellow was quite wealthy."

There was not much silver, only seven or eight taels, but there was a small handful of gold leaves.

There were only five or six of them, but each was weighty, making them a considerable fortune.

Besides that, he paid special attention to examining the man's left sleeve.

From within it, he dismantled a Sleeve Arrow.

It was exquisitely made: a calfskin sheath strapped around a finely forged brass arrow tube.

It could be fastened close against the wrist, and the mechanism could be activated by shaking it with inner force, making it quite well concealed.

Its drawback was that it held only one arrow.

Without hesitation, Chu Qing strapped it onto his left wrist.

An assassin used every means at his disposal.

With such an excellent weapon for catching people off guard, of course he accepted it with a smile.

Next, he took out a tinderbox and ignited the flammable items such as the banknotes. Finally, as the clothes caught fire, the headless corpse began burning entirely.

After finishing all this, he lightly patted the horse's rump.

As the saying went, an old horse knew the way home. Besides helping him deliver news of the killing, this fine steed that had lost its master could also help him find the remaining two targets.

With that thought, he casually opened the system's mission interface.

Mission: Assassinate the Seven Iron Horse Thieves (Remaining Two)

Chu Qing frowned.

"Something is not quite right. Chu Fan's martial arts are formidable. Though the Seven Iron Horse Thieves have no small reputation, even all six together were no match for him alone.

"He should have long since finished chasing down that bandit leader and withdrawn.

"Why is that man still not dead even now?

"Could it be... something unexpected happened?"

Yet he quickly shook his head. Chu Fan had been born with divine strength and hailed from the Great Easy Sect.

His abilities were far from ordinary.

That deadpan junior sister of his had not made a move, but she was surely no ordinary person either.

With those two joining forces, even if something had happened, it would not be a serious concern.

With those thoughts in mind, he quietly followed behind the horse.

After no more than the time it took for an incense stick to burn, the surroundings had become low-lying and damp. A stream wound through the area, and Chu Qing also heard the sounds of fighting in the distance.

Chu Qing raised his brows.

"They really have been fighting until now?"

He pondered briefly, then quickened his pace.

Within moments, he had arrived nearby. After assessing the terrain, he climbed to higher ground.

Looking down, he saw figures weaving through one another as fierce fighting raged below.

Chu Fan and the remaining two Seven Iron Horse Thieves were both there. Aside from them, there were also two women.

The Seven Iron Horse Thieves were not worth mentioning, but these two women made Chu Qing raise his brows.

They appeared young, yet their martial arts were extraordinarily formidable.

The two were skilled in a joint attack technique, and when they joined hands, its power was remarkable.

Only, the way they fought together was rather strange... one woman was tall and the other short. When they fought, the tall one grabbed the short one in her hands and swung her around like a wolf-toothed mace, their attacks roaring with force and weight.

If there had only been those two Seven Iron Horse Thieves, Chu Fan would have beaten them to death long ago.

Yet at this moment, not only had Chu Fan failed to kill the Seven Iron Horse Thieves, he was instead being driven back step by step by the two women's strange techniques.