Bleeding

Inside the courtyard, to one side.

Li ChunJun vaulted over the wall and strode forward in great strides.

The guard captain, Sun Yongxing, likewise fixed Li ChunJun with a cold stare and met him head-on.

"Such nerve!"

Vaulting over the wall in broad daylight right before all these guards—he clearly had not taken "Hidden Sword" Sun Yongxing seriously at all!

It seemed that after serving as the Jin Family's guard captain for two years without making a move, the outside world had forgotten his fearsome name.

As he stepped forward, an elongated triangular spike was already in his hand.

The two figures rapidly closed in on each other.

Neither dodged nor yielded!

When enemies met on a narrow road!

Killing intent chilled the air!

Just as less than ten meters remained between them, the force beneath the feet of both men, striding forward in great strides, erupted at the same time.

The meticulously maintained emerald lawn was trampled to pieces, sending clods of dirt flying.

The next instant, the ten-meter gap vanished like lightning.

Coldly watching Sun Yongxing charge straight at him, he held his sword in his left hand, level with his shoulder, and thrust it out like lightning. The instant the blade pierced the air, it gave rise to a shrill sword cry.

At once, this cold Internal Strengthening Martial Artist drove his mind and awareness to their limits.

An inch longer, an inch stronger.

He held a triangular spike in his hand!

Though it was somewhat longer than an ordinary triangular spike, he was still at a disadvantage in reach against Li ChunJun's fierce sword thrust as he charged forward in great strides.

Yet there was not the slightest fear in his eyes.

His gaze locked tightly onto the point of Li ChunJun's incoming sword!

At the instant the blade was about to strike his body, he abruptly twisted aside. The frigid blade tore past, almost scraping through Sun Yongxing's clothing as the air surged around it.

But after dodging that strike, he spared it no further thought. As he sidestepped Li ChunJun's sword, he twisted his waist and borrowed its force. At the moment the two were about to pass each other, the triangular spike flashed with cold light and shot out like lightning, stabbing straight toward Li ChunJun's kidney.

Swift as rushing thunder!

Unerringly precise!

Even though Li ChunJun sensed his predicament, he had no room whatsoever to retaliate.

The disparity in their combat experience was laid bare at that moment!

Yet Li ChunJun seemed not to care about that stab in the slightest.

Carrying the momentum he had built up while striding forward, he turned his body into a weapon and rammed forward violently. His burly frame slammed hard into Sun Yongxing, even as the spike pierced through his kidney.

The savage force erupted in full at the instant of impact, like a runaway wild stallion crashing into Sun Yongxing's body.

There were no fancy tricks!

A fight to the death!

It was outright trading life for life!

Using his own life in exchange for even a single chance to strike—to kill until jade and stone burned together, until they perished together!

This fearless, suicidal style made Sun Yongxing's expression change drastically.

He had come to be a guard captain, not to throw his life away.

Still, as an Internal Strengthening Martial Artist who had experienced dozens of life-and-death battles great and small, even if he had lived comfortably for two years after becoming guard captain, he lacked none of the decisiveness or courage he should have had.

The instant his body was struck, he clenched the triangular spike embedded in Li ChunJun's waist.

As Li ChunJun's savage force hit him and sent him flying, the momentum and sharp edge of the triangular spike nearly tore half of Li ChunJun's body apart!

Rip!

Flesh and blood flew everywhere.

Not just blood, but flesh! Organs too!

This was what happened when enemies met on a narrow road!

He was sent flying, his ribs shattered, gravely wounded!

And Li ChunJun...

"Die!"

A low roar burst fiercely from Li ChunJun's mouth!

The instant he knocked Sun Yongxing away, his right hand was already clenched tight. Layer upon layer of force traveled into that fist, descending with the crushing weight of thunder.

Just as Sun Yongxing had been knocked away but had flown barely one body-length, that precise and savage blow landed squarely on his neck.

Only then did this Internal Strengthening Martial Artist suddenly realize that Li ChunJun had been using...

His left hand all along!

He had originally thought it was because Li ChunJun was left-handed!

Now it seemed that it had been a trap from the start!

Using himself as bait to lure him into driving the spike through his waist, forcing them close together, disrupting the force he had gathered with the collision, and using his own body to restrict Sun Yongxing's weapon—so that his right-handed punch could deliver the killing blow!

This was not a fighting technique!

It was a killing technique!

No matter the cost, kill the enemy!

Even if the price...

Was himself!

Crack!

The force of the punch exploded!

Sun Yongxing's entire neck was smashed grotesquely out of shape!

His cervical vertebrae, atlas, axis, vertebral artery, and nerve roots all snapped at once!

Sun Yongxing's eyes flew wide open, nearly popping from their sockets!

At that moment, indescribable fear and regret filled his heart.

He regretted being so arrogant and underestimating his opponent, insisting on acting personally in hopes of putting on a good show before Madam.

But even greater was his fear!

Fear that the man he had faced was such a vicious fiend, someone who had intended from the very beginning to stake his life on a one-for-one exchange!

Fear of that ruthless savagery that cast life and death aside, seeking only to kill him!

And even more, fear of the death rapidly swallowing him as his broken neck left his body gradually numb.

Unfortunately...

With every bone and nerve in his neck severed, he could no longer utter another word.

In this battle, he had lost in the end.

Lost his life.

Crash!

President Song had witnessed that very scene. He had just sat down when fright made him spring abruptly to his feet.

Even his chair was knocked over onto the ground.

In a single exchange, Sun Yongxing, the Jin Family's accomplished Internal Strengthening guard captain, had been violently killed by the charging Li ChunJun!

The shrill whistle of that frigid sword blade piercing the air, the fearless life-for-life struggle, the savage brutality of trading life for life—all of it made President Song, who had been calmly prepared to watch the show a moment ago, feel his scalp tingle.

"How could this be!?"

Martial Artists!

Though he was not a pure martial practitioner, he had heard some things about Guangzhou City's Martial Artist circles.

In that circle, there were fewer than a thousand martial practitioners who had reached Outer Refinement Great Accomplishment in total, and every one of them counted as high-end talent in the field.

There were barely over a hundred Martial Artists who had reached Internal Strengthening of the lungs and organs.

They were all figures of standing throughout Guangzhou City.

And Sun Yongxing, the Jin Family's guard captain, had been quite famous even among Internal Strengthening Martial Artists.

Aside from those experts within the local government's violent enforcement agencies, Sun Yongxing would absolutely have ranked among the top ten in civilian circles!

Yet an Internal Strengthening Martial Artist ranked among the civilian top ten had been punched to death in a single exchange!?

President Song was not the only one. A flicker of panic also crossed the eyes of the elegant, luxurious woman.

But when she clearly saw Li ChunJun, who had nearly lost half his life killing Sun Yongxing, she quickly regained her composure.

"President Song, please remain calm."

After saying that, she turned to her assistant and said coldly, "Our guest has been frightened. This is a slap in the face of our Jin Family."

Understanding the woman's meaning, the assistant immediately strode forward and sternly rebuked the three men below. "Zhou Que, what are you still standing around for!? He committed murder with a weapon—blood must answer blood! Hurry up and deal with him! Do you want the blood on his body to stain the floor as well!?"

Zhou Que and the other two shuddered at the rebuke, instantly snapping out of the horrifying sight of their captain being killed in a single exchange.

They sharply caught the key point in the assistant's words.

Did they want the blood on his body to stain the floor?

That was right!

This Li ChunJun... was injured!

And gravely so!

Their captain had stabbed through his kidney with one strike, then pulled as his body retreated, nearly ripping open half his waist!

An injury like that...

Zhou Que and the other two immediately brightened.

"Kill him!"

"You dare come to our Jin Family to murder someone!? You've turned the heavens upside down!"

"Rest assured, Madam, we definitely will not let his blood stain the ground again!"

The three responded with eager, impassioned declarations.

They swiftly drew their weapons—a saber, a sword, and a triangular spike—and charged at Li ChunJun in an encircling formation.