Assassination

"Rich people really stay in standalone villas just to step out for a while!"

Baili Qingfeng arrived at Villa Four and, looking at the villa with its Small Courtyard, muttered under his breath.

No wonder he had listened to the wall for an hour from the lodging building without hearing a thing...

They simply did not stay in ordinary guest rooms.

Poverty had limited his imagination.

Baili Qingfeng came to the outside of the villa and focused his attention on listening.

Soon, a voice came from inside: "Senior Brother, I just received a call. The two elders and the Sect Leader can arrive around midnight."

"They're finally coming."

Baili Qingfeng still remembered the voice replying. It belonged to Hong Lie, whom he had seriously wounded.

They had finally entered the proper opening mode.

Sure enough, the rumor that eavesdropping could yield the information one wanted was grounded in fact.

Baili Qingfeng immediately held his breath and lay in silent ambush.

"The two elders and the Sect Leader are coming together. Aren't they taking him a little too seriously?"

"A lion uses all its strength even when pouncing on a rabbit, let alone against Baili Qingfeng, who is absolutely no weakling. His physique and strength are no inferior to those of a Level 3 Warrior, and Ran Tianchi swore that he had cultivated Fist Intent. A Level 3 Warrior who has cultivated Fist Intent could capsize in the gutter with the slightest care... The Sect Leader summoned the two elders before coming. The three of them joining forces to surround and kill him is the right choice."

Hong Lie's voice rang out once more.

The voices inside the room fell silent for a moment.

After a while, another voice rang out again: "Tell me... if we obtained the great secret hidden within Baili Qingfeng, would we have any hope of breaking through to War-level?"

"War-level... that's another level entirely... Even ten peak Spirit-Nourishing experts might not produce a single person capable of breaking through successfully."

Hong Lie's voice carried a hint of hesitation. Only after a moment did he continue, "But this is an unknown. According to Elder Wang, he saw this person half a year ago. One palm nearly beat him to death. At that time, he was nothing more than an ordinary man in good health at most—not even a warrior. Yet now, after only half a year, he has actually transformed from an ordinary man into a martial arts master equivalent to the Spirit-Nourishing level, and he may even have cultivated Fist Intent. The depth of his fortune and the enormity of his secrets are unimaginable... If we could truly unearth this secret and make it our own, War-level... might not be entirely beyond hope..."

"War-level, huh..."

The other voice sighed and fell silent.

Hong Lie also said nothing more.

Baili Qingfeng remained hidden in silence, but his heart sank.

"Sure enough, I'd guessed it long ago. The sects of the martial world have always been connected by sinew and bone—when one prospers, all prosper; when one falls, all fall. Beat the young, and the old come running. Yet I still clung to a fluke, thinking that after I defeated Hong Lie, he would back down. I truly underestimated the treachery of the martial world. Hong Lie contacted his sect immediately after I defeated him. Now, the two elders and one Sect Leader of the Iron Sword Sect are all coming. I have to face three top experts!"

Baili Qingfeng's expression was tense and solemn.

Facing three Level 3 experts at once...

The pressure on him was immense.

Fortunately, things had not yet reached their worst.

If he had known nothing about the entire matter and had been ambushed by Hong Lie and the three experts of the Iron Sword Sect, and if they had even captured his family to threaten him, that would have been true everlasting doom.

For the safety of his family, for the sake of surviving this deadly calamity before him...

Fight!

He could only fight!

Fight with his life on the line!

"The Iron Sword Sect is vicious by nature. Although I don't wish to provoke martial-world sects or commit wanton slaughter, I, Baili Qingfeng, have my own principles of conduct: if others do not offend me, I do not offend them! Now that you've bullied your way to my doorstep, if I don't resist, you'll beat me to death. Even ants and insects cling to life, let alone humans!? In the end, even if I have to give up this life of mine, this crippled life, I'll still tear a chunk of flesh from the Iron Sword Sect and make you feel the pain, make the Iron Sword Sect bleed!"

Cold light flashed in Baili Qingfeng's eyes.

Even a cornered dog would leap over a wall.

Even the most honest man would lose his temper when pushed to the limit.

When the Son of Heaven grew angry, a million corpses fell; when an ordinary man grew angry, blood splashed five paces!

His martial arts had not been practiced for nothing. Tonight, he was going to kill!

He immediately left this villa, exited Green Water Manor, and arrived on a road three hundred meters outside Green Water Manor.

The road had been built atop a pond embankment, with ponds on both sides. Vehicles could only move forward or backward. This simple terrain greatly reduced the enemy's chances of fleeing after realizing they were outmatched.

After choosing his spot, Baili Qingfeng sat down beside an ancient tree near the pond and waited in silence.

The ancient tree was over a century old, with a trunk a meter in diameter. Combined with the angle at which he sat and the cover of the night, no one could detect him at the first opportunity. Moreover, to ensure that he could seize the initiative in the upcoming battle against three opponents, he had placed a large rock in the middle of the road, intending to force their vehicle to stop at the critical moment.

Only after finishing all this did he take a deep breath.

"Either you die, or my entire family perishes!"

Baili Qingfeng laid the sword across his knees. As he stroked its edge, he adjusted his aura and prepared to welcome the most perilous battle since he had entered the martial world.

Time passed, and midnight soon approached.

Suddenly, the sound of a car traveling over the road came from afar. In the distance, he saw headlights cutting through the Black Night.

A car...

There were two.

Two cars. From this alone, he could infer that his opponents numbered more than three.

Perhaps six, perhaps eight, or even...

Ten!

He was not afraid of fighting alone. He could face ten...

Baili Qingfeng's breath hitched slightly.

He slowly closed his eyes and once again calmed his slightly quickened heartbeat.

"The matter has come to this. There's no road left to retreat on. I can only stake my life in battle."

Baili Qingfeng narrowed his eyes and quietly waited for the vehicles to approach, waiting for the moment they noticed the large rock in the middle of the road and stopped.

The two cars soon saw the rock by the light of their headlights, and immediately stopped.

A man with powerful Qi and Blood got out of one of the cars and cursed loudly, "Which immoral bastard put a rock in the middle of the road in the dead of night?"

He shouted as he walked over to move the rock, without giving it much thought.

Their operation was secret. Aside from themselves, no one knew why they had come here, so there was no need to worry about danger.

Just as the vehicles stopped, Baili Qingfeng, who had been concealed behind the ancient tree all along, suddenly opened his eyes.

He moved!

He drew his sword!

The Qi and Blood that had been held in reserve were suddenly roused upon sensing the two strongest auras. As he twisted his foot, the strength throughout his body surged and roared into the sword. In the next instant, he became Heaven and Man as One with the Sword. The sharp blade in his hand was like a ray of light piercing the Black Night, tearing through the air at an unimaginable speed. Carrying a shrill whistle like rolling thunder, it stabbed toward the strongest Level 3 Warrior he sensed.

"Whoosh!"

The warrior, provoked by Baili Qingfeng's killing intent, suddenly opened his eyes. A terrifying flash of light seemed to burst from them, shaking the soul!

"Who!?"

Unfortunately...

It was useless.

Fast!

Baili Qingfeng's sword was fast!

Unparalleled in speed!

He had accumulated strength for two whole hours and had rehearsed this sword countless times in his mind. Now that it erupted with ferocity, he drew and stabbed in one motion, truly like a white rainbow piercing the sun, earth-shattering and heaven-shaking!

"Pfft!"

The sharp blade pierced through the car window in an instant, as swift as lightning, and plunged into the Level 3 Warrior's throat. It passed straight through, emerging bloodied from the back of his neck.

One sword, one kill!

Relying on his ferocious surprise attack to assassinate one of them, Baili Qingfeng's blade did not pause for even a moment. It swept toward the other person in the seat.

But that warrior reacted extremely quickly.

"Bastard!"

With a low roar, the Qi and Blood within his body churned like a boiling furnace. His strength exploded, and he struck the car door with his palm. As he left a palm print in the door, he blasted the entire door away, sending it crashing violently toward Baili Qingfeng, who was stabbing from outside the car.

"Bang!"

Baili Qingfeng raised his left arm horizontally and blocked the tremendous force of the flying car door, but the impact still shook him backward involuntarily.

As he flew backward, his strength surged into his spine. He twisted his body like a hawk striking the sky, and the sharp sword in his hand stabbed past the side of the burly man who had originally gone to move the rock...

Sword Light flashed, and blood sprayed!

The burly man suddenly clutched his throat, but blood still flowed uncontrollably through the gaps between his fingers.

"Sect Leader!?"

Only then did a roar burst from inside the car, grief mixed with fury: "He killed the Sect Leader!"