Spring nights in Lin'an Prefecture were not the most pleasant. Compared with summer nights, the evening breeze of spring carried a little more chill. Those with frailer constitutions could easily catch a cold because of it.
On Qingbo Street, as the sunset faded into darkness, the entire street quieted down.
Although Great Zhao had no curfew and its night markets were quite prosperous, with decadent lights and dazzling splendor, that was limited to Imperial Street and the main thoroughfares. Those were the places where vendors were willing to endure the night wind and cold to set up their stalls.
Qingbo Street was ultimately rather out of the way. Setting up a night stall here meant swallowing a whole night of cold wind for only a few coins.
Thus, once night fell, the entire street became hushed.
A carriage stood parked there. The fine horse neighed softly, breathing out hot vapor. The driver sat upright on the carriage shaft, his burly frame covered by a bamboo hat.
His old bamboo hat had been cleaved in two by one of Madam Hua's Spring Rain pellets, forcing him to replace it with a new one.
Seated on the carriage shaft, his qi and blood churned within him like a hidden furnace, contained but ready to erupt. He extended his not-so-proficient spiritual power toward the slaughter that was about to break out in Imperial Ancestral Temple Alley.
He needed to "see with his own eyes" the youth's death. Only then could he ensure there would be no mistakes when he reported back to his master.
Still, he believed this matter was already ten parts certain.
The youth had only completed his cultivation initiation a few days ago. He had just opened his qi and blood and barely entered stillness. A newcomer like that naturally had no power to resist a ruthless figure like Hu Jingang, whose hands were stained with fresh blood.
Hu Jingang's qi and blood had already reached perfection. He was not far from using qi and blood as a furnace to forge a spirit bone within his body. Facing a youth who had barely begun cultivating, there should be no surprises.
The driver raised his head and gazed at the pitch-black Imperial Ancestral Temple Alley. He could not help recalling that day beneath the drizzling spring rain, when the youth had faced his master's pressure yet still stood tall, like a lone green pine, like a proud plum defying frost.
The youth's resilience was truly admirable.
It was common for newly initiated cultivators to lower their brows and bend their waists beneath Mr. Luo's pressure.
To have a fierce tiger in one's chest and pride in one's heart, to withstand that pressure—such people were rare.
But no matter how strong his resilience, if his strength fell short, he would still die.
Suddenly, the driver's eyes narrowed slightly beneath his bamboo hat. A sharp gust drifted out from the alley, carrying a trace of scorching qi and blood.
"It has begun."
Inside the courtyard.
An Le had long since finished cultivating the "Five Animals Body Tempering Technique" and was now visualizing the "Sword Waterfall Diagram." Fifteen strands of Time Qi had been invested in the Five Animals Body Forging; of the remaining four strands, An Le chose to invest them in the "Sword Waterfall Diagram."
The blessing of Time Qi deepened An Le's visualization of the "Sword Waterfall Diagram." Originally, he could only visualize the first page of the diagram. After his Spirit Refining Realm stepped into Embryonic Breathing, he could visualize the second page.
The second page of the Sword Waterfall Diagram depicted two intertwined swords. At first glance, the swords in the painting seemed unremarkable, but when visualized with spiritual power, they emitted boundless sharpness!
He had only just entered Embryonic Breathing, so he still needed to stabilize it repeatedly. If he visualized it recklessly, he could easily be injured by the sword intent within the Sword Waterfall Diagram.
But after investing Time Qi, that concern vanished. Visualizing the second page posed no pressure at all.
The silver moon hung like a disk, and starlight stretched for ten thousand miles.
It spilled over the white-robed youth in the courtyard, making his handsome features seem ever more transcendent.
Abruptly, An Le, who had been visualizing the Sword Waterfall Diagram with Embryonic Breathing spiritual power boiling around him, opened his eyes and calmly looked beyond the courtyard gate.
It was as though some man-eating monster lurked within the darkness.
The sound of straw sandals scraping and stepping across the bluestone paving of the alley slowly drew closer.
Under An Le's spiritual perception, a scorching surge of qi and blood gradually erupted.
Moonlight fell, revealing a figure. It was a man in a bamboo hat, thin rather than brawny, carrying a broad-backed saber over his shoulder. He looked rather strange.
An Le glanced at the newcomer without panic. He remained seated on his small stool and poured himself a cup of Old Yellow Wine, chilled by the spring evening breeze.
A cup of yellow wine went down his throat, its fragrance lingering on his lips.
"The biting spring chill kills most easily. Rather than warming wine at home, you carry a saber through my gate. I presume... you have come for my life."
An Le spoke blandly, picked up a piece of pig head meat, and chewed it slowly.
The saber-bearing figure removed his bamboo hat and casually tossed it onto the ground. He lifted a face that did not appear especially vicious and looked teasingly at the youth beneath the moonlight, drinking wine and eating meat.
"Do you recognize me?"
Hu Jingang asked with a smile.
An Le took another sip of Old Yellow Wine and cast Hu Jingang a glance, a flicker of surprise passing through his eyes.
As the one who had drawn Hu Jingang's true appearance, how could he fail to recognize him? His surprise came from the fact that Hu Jingang had actually come to kill him.
Because of the wanted portrait he had drawn?
"That portrait you made for the Black Office truly caused me no end of trouble. I was nearly captured. I hate you to the bone, so I came to kill you."
"Do you admit it?"
Hu Jingang lowered the saber from his shoulder. The qi and blood in his body began to surge and grow, and the aura of perfected Opening Qi and Blood made even the biting spring chill ripple with heat.
An Le savored his Old Yellow Wine. "You came to kill me over a drawing?"
"Someone must have specifically sent you here, intending to borrow the saber in your hand to kill me. Otherwise, how could a rat like you, chased by the Black Office until you were running around with your head in your arms, locate my new residence so precisely and come kill me so openly?"
Hu Jingang narrowed his eyes. Though An Le had struck the truth, he showed little reaction. In his eyes, An Le was already a dead man.
He had just opened his qi and blood and had only recently entered stillness. Though he counted as a cultivator, he posed no threat whatsoever.
Hu Jingang planted the tip of his saber three inches into the ground. "Boy, since you know this, why do you not flee?"
An Le set down his wine cup and pinched a chopstick between two fingers.
He calmly watched Hu Jingang. "This is my home. Why should I flee?"
"Such courage. What a pity—I prefer the terror and despair that show on your face before you die. It makes killing you all the more satisfying." Hu Jingang laughed loudly. The next instant, his eyes flew wide in fury, and his qi and blood crashed forth like waves!
The broad-backed saber embedded in the courtyard ground was violently wrenched upward.
Shattered stones torn apart by the broad-backed saber shot outward like sharp arrows. Hu Jingang, wrapped in qi and blood, followed close behind, swinging at An Le. The heavy saber carried a powerful force, and the wind it raised wailed like ghosts crying!
An Le remained seated, his expression gradually turning solemn. This was the first battle against a cultivator he had encountered so far.
The time at Quiet Street Entrance, when he had faced two ordinary jianghu thugs, naturally did not count. They were not cultivators and could not give An Le any pressure.
Yet An Le felt neither fear nor timidity. All he felt was excitement and exhilaration.
The fierce tiger in his chest seemed ready to burst free.
The only threat was that Hu Jingang wielded a weapon while he had none. In a direct clash, he would naturally be at a disadvantage.
But in the Spirit Refining Realm, An Le surpassed Hu Jingang. In truth, that was enough.
Facing Hu Jingang's descending broad-backed saber, An Le lightly thrust forward with the chopstick pinched between two fingers, his hand shaped like a sword finger.
That chopstick sprang from the table at incredible speed. Stained with the grease of pig head meat, it became a dusky streak of light, tearing through the darkness of the biting spring night as it stabbed straight for Hu Jingang's throat.
Embryonic Breathing spiritual power wrapped around the chopstick as it raced forth like sword light.
Hu Jingang's hairs stood on end. He immediately withdrew his saber and raised it before his throat. The chopstick stabbed toward him like a flying sword, and the leaking Embryonic Breathing spiritual power made Hu Jingang's mind tremble!
"Second Spirit Refining Realm... Embryonic Breathing?!"
"No, the first two realms of Spirit Refining—Entering Stillness and Embryonic Breathing—are weak in killing power. Only after Transcending Worldliness, when spiritual power can be released outward, does Spirit Refining become terrifying. This boy is only at Embryonic Breathing, so why is the pressure he gives me so immense?!"
Cold sweat instantly seeped from Hu Jingang. If he had not blocked it just now, that chopstick would have pierced his throat.
Anger rose in his heart. That noble... what kind of bullshit intelligence was this!
This was called having just entered stillness?
But Hu Jingang was ruthless and battle-hardened, after all. His Opening Qi and Blood had reached perfection. If he closed in on a Spirit Refinement Fetal Respiration cultivator, he still had a chance!
With that thought.
Hu Jingang did not hesitate. He hurled the broad-backed saber in his hand like a hidden weapon, while his body shot out close behind it, closing in on An Le.
Watching the saber fly toward him and Hu Jingang pounce after it, a flash of Battle Intent crossed An Le's eyes.
"Come!"
His body instantly rose from the chair, twisting aside to evade the saber.
Then he lunged forward like a fierce tiger descending the mountain—the tiger form of the Five Animals Body Forging!
How magnificent was Yu Tu, proud and mighty, its savage vigor unlike that of any common beast!
An Le's perfected qi and blood erupted with it like a mountain flood!
Hu Jingang, who had just lunged forward, felt only that the youth had instantly transformed into a striped tiger. Surging qi and blood, no weaker than his own, crashed into him head-on, and his heart abruptly sank into the abyss.
The next instant, terrifying force slammed into Hu Jingang. He felt only pain.
Then, trailing blood and bewilderment through the spring night, his entire body traced an elegant parabola across the small courtyard, reflecting the stars above.
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