Two Remaining

His body hit the ground hard, kicking up a cloud of dust.

The already ferocious-looking man's face twisted even more.

A scream burst from his mouth. He stared in terror at the beggar drawing closer and hurriedly cried:

"Great Hero, spare me!!"

In that instant, he hadn't even seen where the sword's edge was before his palm was gone.

This man's swordsmanship was like that of ghosts and gods; he was no match for him.

He immediately rolled over and fell to his knees, pleading over and over:

"I have never met you before, sir. I don't know how I've offended you, brother, but I beg you, Great Hero, show mercy and spare my worthless life!"

Chu Qing walked forward slowly, sword in hand, speaking softly as he went:

"You and I have never met."

"..."

Even the Iron Horse Seven Bandits, who had killed countless people, were left speechless by this. They had no old grudges and no new enmity—where had this baleful star come from, to sever his hand the moment he showed up?

Yet not a trace of what he was thinking showed on his face.

He only kept kowtowing:

"If that's the case, then I suppose you must disapprove of my conduct, Great Hero.

"Please, Great Hero, spare me. From this day forth, I'll mend my ways and start afresh..."

As he spoke, a sharp glint suddenly flashed through his eyes.

His pleas for mercy were only a front. His real aim was to catch Chu Qing off guard and kill him with a sneak attack.

A Hidden Arrow was concealed in his left sleeve. With just a surge of Internal Energy, he could fire it at close range with unfailing accuracy.

The arrow was also coated in poison—See Blood Seal Throat.

If it hit, this man would surely die today.

At that moment, the distance between Chu Qing and him was just right. He suddenly lifted his head, grinned savagely, thrust out his hand, and shouted:

"Die..."

He had only gotten halfway through the word "die" when a flash of silver light flickered.

His left arm, just raised, immediately slumped down.

Before he could trigger the mechanism, this sword had already severed every meridian in his left arm. Now he couldn't muster the slightest strength in it.

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

The long sword had already pierced his heart.

"You..."

He managed to utter one more word, but when the sword was pulled free, no more words would come.

His body tipped sideways, and his corpse fell to the ground.

Chu Qing flicked the blood from his sword, then went to retrieve its scabbard.

Only then did he approach the corpse and pause in thought.

"In this situation, how am I supposed to prove I killed him?"

He glanced back at the horse circling nearby, now without its master, and smiled.

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

Taking a piece of cloth from the man, he dipped it in blood and wrote: [The Iron Horse Seven Bandits have slaughtered the land; their crimes deserve death—Night Emperor].

"Is that title a little too chūnibyō? Did the original owner rub off on me?"

Chu Qing rubbed his chin, but didn't think much of it.

It was just an alias. He might not even use it next time, so it didn't matter what it was.

As long as no one connected it to him.

His alias in the Sin Mirror Platform was "Sword Ghost." He had no idea what ghost had possessed them to give him such a name.

In any case, the two aliases had nothing to do with each other. Even if someone from the Sin Mirror Platform heard about this, they couldn't possibly link them.

He tied the head to the horse. When people later found the horse without its master, they would see the message on it.

The news would spread on its own, and when the teahouse keeper heard it, he would understand what had happened.

Why not take the head with him and go back to ask the keeper for money?

For one thing, carrying a head around in plain sight was an awful burden, and the smell of blood would attract unnecessary trouble.

For another... Chu Qing had never planned to go ask the keeper for money.

How much money could he get from that keeper?

Probably not as much as he could get from these Great Thieves...

Besides, his real reward was the assassination mission's payout. Unless the system later told him to collect payment from the employer, Chu Qing didn't want to go looking for him.

The less a teahouse keeper who couldn't use martial arts knew, the safer he would be.

Sending the message this way, so he would know his enemy was dead, was enough.

After finishing this, Chu Qing searched the headless corpse.

A moment later, he stood up, satisfied.

"Looks like being a Great Thief has better prospects than being an assassin. This guy was worth a pretty penny."

There wasn't much silver, just seven or eight taels, but he had a small handful of Gold Leaves.

There were only five or six of them, but each one was substantial. They made for quite a fortune.

Besides that, Chu Qing carefully checked the man's left sleeve.

He took a Sleeve Arrow apart and pulled it out.

It was finely made, with a small cowhide sheath and an arrow tube forged from refined copper.

It could be strapped close to the wrist and triggered by vibrating the mechanism with Internal Energy. It was quite well concealed.

Its drawback was that it held only one arrow.

Chu Qing didn't hesitate. He strapped it to his left wrist.

An assassin would use every means available.

When he had a fine little weapon that could catch people off guard, naturally he would gladly accept it.

Next, he took out the Fire Starter and set fire to the Silver Notes and other flammable things. In the end, as his clothes caught fire, the headless corpse burned up completely.

After that, he reached out and gave the horse a light slap on its rump.

They said an old horse knew the way. Now that it had lost its master, the Divine Steed could do more than carry the message about the killing—it could also help him find the two remaining targets.

With that in mind, he casually opened the system's commission panel.

[Commission: Assassinate the Iron Horse Seven Bandits (Two Remaining)]

Chu Qing frowned.

"Something's not right. Chu Fan is skilled, and although the Iron Horse Seven Bandits have quite a reputation, all six of them together still couldn't beat him.

"He's been chasing the bandit leader all this way. He should have finished the job and gone home long ago.

"Why is that man still alive?

"Could something... have gone wrong?"

But he soon shook his head. Chu Fan was born with divine strength and had come from the Taiyi Sect.

His skills were extraordinary.

His stone-faced junior sister hadn't made a move, but she probably wasn't ordinary either.

The two of them together should be able to handle even an unexpected turn of events.

Thinking this, he followed quietly behind the horse.

After no more than the time it took to burn a stick of incense, the ground around them had become low and damp, and a stream wound its way through. At the same time, Chu Qing heard the sounds of fighting in the distance.

Chu Qing raised his brows.

"They're still fighting?"

He pondered for a moment, then quickened his pace.

In a short while, he reached the scene. After taking stock of the terrain, he made his way to a high spot.

He peered down and saw figures clashing; a fierce battle was underway below.

Chu Fan and the two remaining Iron Horse Seven Bandits were there, but there were also two women.

The Iron Horse Seven Bandits were nothing to worry about, but the two women made Chu Qing's brows lift.

They looked young, yet their martial arts were formidable.

The two were skilled in a Combined Attack Technique, and when they joined forces, their power was astonishing.

It was just that their way of fighting was a little strange... One woman was tall and the other short. When they fought, the taller one grabbed the shorter one and swung her around like a Wolf Tooth Club, each strike fierce and heavy.

If only those two Iron Horse Seven Bandits had been there, Chu Fan would have killed them long ago.

But at that moment, Chu Fan hadn't just failed to kill the Iron Horse Seven Bandits; he was actually being driven back step by step by the two women's bizarre moves.