The Fastest Sword!

The rain pattered down, trickling from Chu Qing's chin.

Chu Qing blinked groggily and found himself sitting beneath a great tree, his back against its trunk and a bloodstained long sword in his hand.

Not far away, a corpse hung from a tree, a long spear thrust through its heart.

Deep woods surrounded him. A fine drizzle drifted from the sky, and the cold wind cut through him, chilling him to the bone.

He took it all in at a glance, but before he could look around further, the world spun beneath him, as if the stars had wheeled across the sky.

A powerful wave of dizziness washed over him. He felt as if he might vomit, yet somehow couldn't bring anything up.

"What's going on? Where is this? How did I end up here...? Who's that dead man?"

One question after another rose in his mind, and the violent dizziness in his head finally subsided.

At the same time, a series of images appeared before his eyes.

After a while, Chu Qing opened his eyes again. The dazed look in them was gone. He rubbed his forehead lightly.

"I see..."

Chu Qing, nineteen years old.

The third son of the Chu Family of Heavenly Dance City... who had run away from home at twelve.

The reason was the Chu Gate Twin Prodigies: Chu Tian and Chu Fan.

The brothers had shown astonishing talent from a young age. Chu Tian took after his father and was the best candidate to become the next family head, while Chu Fan was born with immense strength and had been sent to Taiyi Sect to study under Cui Buno, the Wrathful God Fist.

Of the three brothers, Chu Qing was the most mediocre. So Chu Yunfei, head of the Chu Family, had arranged a marriage for him.

But Chu Qing had ambitions of his own and refused to accept such an arrangement.

So at twelve, he left a letter behind, declaring that he would follow his own code of chivalry and telling his father and brothers not to look for him.

He was gone for seven years.

For most of those seven years, he had kept himself hidden and trained hard in the family's Ultimate Skill.

A year ago, he finally felt that his martial arts had reached a respectable level, and began to venture into the jianghu in earnest.

Then he encountered the Sin Mirror Platform.

The Sin Mirror Platform was an organization of assassins. Its creed was "to act in Heaven's name, and punish through killing." It claimed to target only treacherous scoundrels who committed every sort of evil.

Chu Qing naturally approved of such a creed.

So he joined the Sin Mirror Platform and became one of its assassins.

But it wasn't long before Chu Qing discovered the truth: the Sin Mirror Platform was nothing like it claimed.

It spoke of "acting in Heaven's name," but in reality, it was "serving its own interests."

His latest assignment had been to assassinate Zhou Changtai, the master of Zhou Family Manor on Red Tree Ridge.

According to the information provided by the Sin Mirror Platform, Zhou Changtai tyrannized the locals and committed all manner of wicked deeds. Not only had he allowed his youngest son to abduct women by force, he had also beaten to death the father of one who came to demand justice, then hung his corpse outside the manor gate for three whole days. He was, in short, utterly vile.

But after investigating, Chu Qing discovered that the whole story was fabricated.

So instead of assassinating Zhou Changtai, he secretly warned him that someone might be coming after him.

Chu Qing had meant to slip away quietly, but he was ambushed along the way.

The ones who attacked him were assassins from the Sin Mirror Platform.

There were five of them. They seemed to have known Chu Qing's route in advance and had laid an ambush, striking all at once.

Fortunately, ever since discovering that the Sin Mirror Platform was not what it seemed, Chu Qing had remained on his guard.

The ambush came swiftly, but he still had time to react.

He fought as he retreated, coming within a hair's breadth of death several times before barely escaping. Just as he thought he was about to get away, the strongest of the five intercepted him.

The man's codename in the Sin Mirror Platform was Blood Spear. His ranking and martial arts both surpassed Chu Qing's.

In the ensuing fight, Chu Qing staked his life and ultimately took his opponent down with him.

The corpse hanging from the tree across from him, pierced through by a long spear, was none other than Blood Spear of the Sin Mirror Platform.

Once he had pieced together the general course of events, Chu Qing felt a little sick to his stomach.

"An edgy young man runs away from home, only to die halfway through building his career..."

He summed it up to himself, then couldn't help muttering:

"But which goddess did I offend? How did I end up transmigrating here out of nowhere?"

He looked down and realized that there wasn't a single part of his body that didn't hurt.

Chu Qing had made it here only after several bloody battles. It was no wonder he was covered in injuries.

Still, he struggled to his feet.

His situation was extremely dangerous. Three of the assassins were still alive, and in his current state, he would be dead if they caught up with him.

But first, there was something he had to do.

It had been bothering him for a while.

He went over to Blood Spear's corpse and stared above his head.

"What's that thing floating over him...?"

Ever since the dizziness in his head had cleared, he had noticed a rectangular object floating above Blood Spear's corpse.

A hazy glow shimmered around it, making its details hard to see.

After gaining the original owner's memories, he knew that the jianghu was full of countless masters who could leap across rooftops and soar over walls... but they had nothing to do with ghosts and spirits. Blood Spear surely hadn't mastered the art of leaving his body, escaping as a soul after death.

That made this thing pretty strange.

After a brief moment's thought, Chu Qing sprang into the air.

It was his first time using lightness skill, yet the movement felt utterly familiar.

As if it had become second nature.

He reached out and snatched the thing from the air.

At once, a line of text appeared before his eyes.

[Assassin System activated!]

[Received one 'Random Martial Arts Treasure Chest.']

Chu Qing froze, then naturally landed on the ground.

The object he had just grabbed had vanished without a trace.

A panel appeared before him.

[Assassin System]

[Host: Chu Qing]

[Current commission: None]

[One unopened Martial Arts Treasure Chest. Open it?]

Chu Qing took a cursory look and found the system astonishingly bare-bones.

Then, without much hesitation, he nodded.

"Open it."

[Opened successfully. Obtained Ultimate Skill: Swift Flying Sword!]

Before Chu Qing could react, a stream of information flooded into his mind.

At the same time, strange sensations rippled through his body. His waist and back, arms, and legs all tingled with a dull, aching numbness.

But the change came and went quickly.

In moments, it had subsided.

At that very instant, the sound of something cutting through the air came from behind him.

Chu Qing's heart stirred.

"Here already?"

Then, as if acting on instinct, he pivoted on one foot and raised the long sword that had never left his hand.

The sword dispensed with all frills and every unnecessary movement.

Simple and direct. Just one move—thrust.

Whirr!

A black-clothed man wearing a mask heard the sound.

But he had no idea where it had come from.

He had a saber in his hand, but he could no longer bring it down.

Because before he could, a sword had already pierced his throat.

That sword... was faster than sound!