Coming at me? Come on, try to kill me!

From the moment they'd finished gearing up and left the city, the more Li Xian thought about it, the more something seemed off.

The main thing was that everything had gone far too smoothly. They'd found the bandits' hideout unbelievably quickly.

The way they'd navigated there had felt as familiar as the road back home.

Li Xian keenly sensed that there had to be a traitor in the Escort Agency.

And that traitor was very likely Uncle Qin.

"So it really was you, Uncle Qin. Why would you do this? Why betray the Escort Agency? The men who died were once your brothers." Li Xian spoke with a look of profound anguish.

After a brief moment of shock, Uncle Qin quickly recovered. He said coldly,

"Hmph. Back then, Li Lantian and I built this escort agency's reputation together. But now it bears the Li name. What do you think?"

"So that's why." Li Xian understood.

When all was said and done, it was still about profit.

"You saw through my plan, Second Young Master. Looks like you're not quite the useless wastrel you pretend to be," Uncle Qin said.

Li Xian ignored him and looked at Chun Xiao, unconscious on the ground. "How is Third Sister?"

"She's fine. It was only a little knockout powder. She'll wake up once it wears off," Uncle Qin said.

Li Xian breathed a sigh of relief. "Uncle Qin, good thing you still have a little conscience. That way, I can leave your corpse intact later."

"Hahaha..."

At that, the few bandits standing behind Uncle Qin, looking thoroughly nonchalant, burst into laughter.

"You're so weak you look like a stiff breeze could blow you over, and you dare say that?"

"Look at that soft, tender skin. He's obviously just a rich brat who knows a few fancy moves. I could kill two of him with one punch."

"Haha... Look at him acting all high and mighty. I thought some master had shown up. This is hilarious."

"Come on, come on, hit me!"

A yellow-faced man grinned broadly and waved the ax in his hand. Then he pointed at his own forehead and taunted him.

"Kid, you look pretty tough. Go on, I'll stand here and let you chop me. Aim right here! Right here!"

"Your daddy's standing right here, not moving. Let's see you—"

Shing!

In an instant, a streak of silver light flashed past.

The long saber in Li Xian's hand became a light, graceful gust of wind. It crossed several meters in a flash and sliced straight across the yellow-faced man's neck.

A head shot into the air.

Blood splashed across the ground.

The entire courtyard fell silent.

Uncle Qin gripped his Wild Goose Feather Saber, staring in stunned disbelief.

The bandits behind him gaped. They looked at the head rolling across the ground, then at Li Xian, standing where he was with a faint smile.

The autumn wind rustled, sending a wisp of fine dust curling over the ground.

For a moment, no one in the courtyard spoke.

The Li Family's Returning Wind Willow Saber Technique hinged on one thing: speed!

And Li Xian had already mastered the technique completely. Even if an ancestor of the Li Family rose from the dead and stood before him, there was no guarantee they could outmatch him.

The bandits' legs began to tremble.

Uncle Qin had never imagined that the saber strike just now could have come from Li Xian, the wastrel who'd once known nothing but eating, drinking, and making merry.

"Good, good, good!"

He suddenly burst into laughter, but there was a hint of viciousness in his smile.

"I never thought you'd been hiding your skills so—"

A flash of saber light, and another head soared into the sky.

Li Xian's figure swept past a bandit. Another spray of blood burst out.

The bandit who'd just been mocking him was now missing his head too.

The hideous, ugly head rolled a few times before hitting a pile of yellow earth and coming to a stop.

Li Xian flicked his saber, flinging the blood onto the ground.

"So this is what killing feels like. So this is what it feels like to have power? It really is... wonderful."

Li Xian gripped the long saber tightly, struggling to suppress the excitement surging inside him.

A faint, peculiar feeling welled up in his heart.

Just now, he'd felt as if this body had truly come alive at last—as if only then had he really begun to breathe the air of this world.

"So this is the real me!"

An indescribable fervor blazed within him, burning hotter and hotter.

Li Xian loved this feeling far too much.

His eyes reddened slightly. He licked his dry lips, held the long saber, and walked toward Uncle Qin one step at a time.

"Hahahaha..."

Uncle Qin laughed in anger. Clapping as he roared with laughter, he said, "I never thought it. I really never thought it. I was blind all these years. So you were the one the Li Family hid deepest. I admit I underestimated you, Second Young Master!"

"You talk too much."

Li Xian raised his Wild Goose Feather Saber and pointed it at Uncle Qin.

"Come on. Let me see if your skills are any good."

"How arrogant!"

Uncle Qin shouted and drew his saber, bringing it down in a slash.

The sound of air splitting returned as Li Xian's saber shot out once more at blinding speed.

Metal rang against metal. Uncle Qin blocked the strike.

"Hehehe... Willow Wind again. I'm sorry to tell you, but I know the Li Family's saber technique too!"

Uncle Qin laughed smugly.

In the end, he was just a young man. When it came to fighting experience, he didn't even know the first thing about it.

Thinking this, Uncle Qin put force behind his arms and knocked Li Xian's long saber aside.

Li Xian let his saber turn with the momentum, then swept it upward from below, aiming for Uncle Qin's neck.

"Rolling Willow Style!"

Uncle Qin's eyelid twitched. He held his saber crosswise and blocked Li Xian's strike once more, by the narrowest of margins.

Uncle Qin's saber was heavy and powerful, but Li Xian's was faster and more forceful. One strike followed another like a raging storm.

In fewer than ten moves, the over-fifty Uncle Qin was already struggling to hold his ground under Li Xian's assault, teetering on the brink of defeat.

Li Xian saw it too. Watching Uncle Qin's face grow more and more panicked, he let his smile turn increasingly cruel and savage.

At last.

After the fifteenth clash, Uncle Qin ran out of strength, and Li Xian's saber cut into his neck.

"You..."

Uncle Qin stared wide-eyed at Li Xian, his face full of disbelief.

But the outcome had already been decided. What could he do now?

Before ten breaths had passed after Uncle Qin fell, Li Xian had taken care of the remaining bandits.

The attendants he'd brought along hadn't even had a chance to help.