A Youth's First Kill

The east wind does not blow away sorrow, but the spring day only lengthens hatred.

In the small courtyard under the chilly spring night, the fierce collision lasted for only a breath before the victor was decided. The cold night wind blew past, as if stirring up lingering resentment.

This resentment naturally came from Hu Jingang, who lay on the ground. He resented the noble who had summoned him to kill the youth, and the coachman outside the alley.

From the moment the youth's fetal respiration and spirit manifested, and his chopsticks flew like swords, a shadow fell upon his heart, bringing a bad premonition.

The intelligence was flawed, making him angry, but fighting against fetal respiration with perfected Blood Essence was not impossible.

However, when the youth, who had been sitting quietly, rose and suddenly transformed into a fierce tiger, the Blood Essence surging beneath his skin and meridians was even stronger than his own, and his aura more imposing. Hu Jingang felt like cursing his mother.

What kind of trash intelligence is this, trying to kill people without paying the price!

With the youth's perfected Blood Essence and his tiger-like aura, Hu Jingang was defeated in an instant. This showed that the Body Forging technique the youth practiced must be of extremely high grade, far beyond what he had learned.

Spirit Refinement and Fetal Respiration, Body Forging, all at perfected Blood Essence, but his cultivation technique was of a higher grade. How could he possibly kill him?

With a single move, Hu Jingang was sent flying backward, his back sliding against the ground. However, being experienced, he quickly sprang back to his feet with a carp flip.

The youth attacked him with the Bird Style!

The Five Animals Body Forging, the Tiger Style fierce, the Bear Style steady, the Deer Style and Ape Style agile, and the Bird Style like a sword, perfectly matching Luo Qingchen, who now possessed the Dao Fruit of an Innate Swordsman.

Although he had no sword in hand, the Bird Style attack felt as if he wielded a sword!

Blood Essence surged through his meridians, generating power. Hu Jingang, who had just stood up, hadn't even reacted before Luo Qingchen, with the agility of the Deer Style, closed in on him. His sword-like palm struck his chest repeatedly.

Hu Jingang was sent flying again, crashing heavily onto the ground. His skin and flesh were bloody and mangled, several ribs were broken, and the organs protected by his bones seemed to be cracked. Blood flowed from the corners of his mouth, and his complexion turned ashen. He had lost all ability to resist.

Luo Qingchen concluded with the Bird Style, calmly looking at Hu Jingang as the excitement in his heart slowly subsided.

The battle was a complete annihilation. With the addition of fifteen strands of Time Qi, the Five Animals Tiger Pounce's power greatly increased. Coupled with his perfected Blood Essence, his strike was as powerful and fierce as that of a white-browed tiger with a glaring eye, nearly killing Hu Jingang.

Further aided by the sword-like consecutive attacks of the Bird Style, Hu Jingang was completely dominated like a sandbag.

Luo Qingchen understood that even with perfected Blood Essence, there was a gap between them, a gap that stemmed from their cultivation techniques.

It was like Hu Jingang using a watered-down version of the common "Zhao Ancestor Long Fist" against Luo Qingchen's "Five Animals Body Tempering Technique." It was no wonder he was beaten.

The leaves of the large locust tree rustled in the cold spring night wind.

Luo Qingchen picked up the heavy broadsword on the ground, which Hu Jingang had used as a hidden weapon. The sword was quite heavy, but with Luo Qingchen's current Blood Essence and strength, lifting it was not difficult.

"Little brother, can you spare my life?"

Hu Jingang said, spitting blood.

Luo Qingchen dragged the sword and walked up to him, looking down at the fallen Hu Jingang.

"Reason." Luo Qingchen said.

"I'll give you all my fortune, eighteen Primordial Spirit Treasures in total, hidden in a secret place. If I live, I can retrieve them for you," Hu Jingang said slowly, enduring the pain of his broken bones.

"Only eighteen? You pauper. A painting for the Lin Manor earns me ten Primordial Spirit Treasures in consultation fees,"

Luo Qingchen leaned on the sword and glanced at him, delivering a soul-piercing remark.

Hu Jingang fell silent.

Suddenly, his eyes widened in fury. He bit his tongue, and the Blood Essence in his body surged. He sprang from the ground and charged at Luo Qingchen like lightning, intending to make a desperate gamble while Luo Qingchen was off guard.

Chh!

However, Luo Qingchen's fetal respiration and spirit were tense, and he was already prepared. He kicked the broadsword he was leaning on, sending it spinning in a meteoric arc. A large head, accompanied by gushing Blood Essence, flew towards the sky!

Blood splattered onto Luo Qingchen's white robes, causing his cold and composed face to tremble slightly.

This was his first kill, but it would not be his last.

Hu Jingang's head landed on the ground, and his suddenly upright body lost its momentum, falling back stiffly, its thud echoing in the spring night.

Blood flowed throughout the small courtyard, mingling with Luo Qingchen's slight panting, creating a somber atmosphere.

Qingbo Street remained silent. The few lit lamps had all been extinguished, and people had entered their dreams.

There were no pedestrians on the street, not even a single cat that liked to walk alone in the night.

The carriage was parked quietly, and the coachman, sitting on the carriage, slowly opened his eyes. The wind blowing from the alley carried a pungent smell of blood.

The coachman's face, hidden beneath his bamboo hat, was obscured by darkness, making it impossible to discern his expression or emotions.

His spiritual sense had been impacted by the powerful Blood Essence of the two individuals when he entered the alley, preventing him from observing clearly.

He was quite strong in Body Forging, having stepped into the Inner Core realm, but in Spirit Refinement, he was only at Fetal Respiration.

The spiritual sense of Fetal Respiration could barely perceive externally, but like a ghostly imp, it feared things of the sun. The further it spread, the weaker its control became, and the easier it was to disperse.

"Is he dead?"

The coachman sniffed the smell of blood in the air. Was it the youth's blood?

He looked towards the dark alley, which was not graced by starlight or moonlight.

The sound of a knife scraping against the ground echoed from the alley, accompanied by footsteps.

The coachman's burly frame slowly straightened. He tilted his head slightly, his face gradually becoming clear beneath the bamboo hat. He looked towards the alley, awaiting Hu Jingang's return.

If Hu Jingang killed the young man, he would still have to escort Hu Jingang out of Lin'an Prefecture. He couldn't afford to lose his Master's reputation.

Suddenly, the coachman's grip on the reins froze abruptly, a flicker of disbelief flashing in his pupils.

Because the one slowly pushing through the darkness of the alley was not Hu Jingang!

It was a young man dressed in blood-stained white.

He dragged a saber in one hand and held a head with eyes wide open in death in the other.

Ink-black blood dripped drop by drop from the severed neck. The young man stepped out, step by step, from the thick, pervasive darkness of the alley.

"Do not say the west wind is so bleak, everywhere along the road are yellow flowers!"

At this moment, the young man carried a chilling killing intent, like a three-inch blade unsheathed, blooming with cold light.

The coachman's eyes beneath his bamboo hat widened slightly, his breathing quickening.

The young man stood there at the entrance of the Imperial Ancestral Temple alley, a smile on his lips, his white clothes stained with a few crimson plum-like bloodstains. He looked at the familiar, burly coachman seated at the front of the ornate carriage.

"As expected..."

An Le seemed to realize something, a hint of mockery in his voice.

Hu Jingang coming to kill him was no accident. This criminal, who should have been arrested by the Black Yamen constables, was saved by a certain noble, and then transformed into a blade wielded by that noble to kill him.

To make Hu Jingang willing to kill, some promise must have been made.

Perhaps it was his life as a young Juren scholar exchanged for the life of this criminal, whose hands were stained with the blood of hundreds.

However, this time, the young man, with his own strength, had slain this criminal and broken the blade offered by the noble. The situation was much better than last time.

Plink.

The young man tossed the head he was carrying. The head arced through the air, landing in front of the carriage. It rolled a few times on the ground, bumping against the carriage wheel hub before coming to a stop.

The coachman didn't even glance at the head on the ground. He stared at the young man from a distance, seeing the mockery and killing intent in his eyes.

The scene from that day in the spring rain, the young man's spine as straight as bamboo, standing proudly in the world, unable to be bowed even by his Master's pressure, resurfaced in the coachman's mind.

His constricted pupils slowly relaxed, and a chilling killing intent erupted from the coachman's eyes.

He desperately wanted to kill the young man right then and there to eliminate any future trouble.

However, the coachman dared not.

Madam Hua, that day, had gathered three thousand drops of spring rain. A single drop had shattered his bamboo hat. Perhaps shattering his head would only require adding another drop of rain.

His Master had said that Madam Hua would be the young man's protector. With a protector, his bullying would not be in accordance with the rules. If he were beaten to death, his Master would not even seek justice for him.

An Le looked at the burly coachman seated on the carriage shaft. Luo Qingchen's coachman slowly raised the thick-backed saber in his hand. The Blood Essence power within him surged, his mind stirred. The artistic conception of the "Sword Waterfall Diagram" he visualized flowed before his eyes, and the saber in his hand seemed to transform into a sword.

He suddenly flung it. The saber shot forward with a straight trajectory, whistling towards the carriage.

Seeing the saber whistling towards him, the coachman's skin felt a surge of heat. His Blood Essence circulated, like a furnace igniting, refining a precious Blood Essence pill!

He clenched his five fingers, catching the saber An Le had thrown, and heavily slammed it onto the carriage shaft. The coachman exhaled a breath of turbid air and no longer looked at the young man.

He cracked the reins, and with a "hiss," the red date-colored horse lifted its hooves and pulled the carriage forward. The wheels ruthlessly crushed the head, and the carriage slowly disappeared into the dark, quiet night of Qingbo Street.

An Le watched the carriage depart, then turned and returned to his courtyard.

After the carriage had driven out of Qingbo Street.

The coachman suddenly felt completely drained and collapsed onto the carriage shaft, deep fear in his eyes.

Just now, if he had truly attacked and killed An Le, he would have been instantly annihilated by a sword intent. That sword intent was constant, pressing against his throat. Only after leaving Qingbo Street did that sword intent dissipate.

"That sword intent, was it Madam Hua of Lin Manor? It could only be Madam Hua... I never imagined Madam Hua would actually value this young man so much..."

"What Master said is indeed true. I must report back immediately and report in detail."

The chilly spring breeze woke him from his wine, leaving him slightly cold.

On the silent, ink-dark Qingbo Street, an old man in plain clothes stood still, holding a bamboo staff. He squinted at the direction the carriage had departed.

"It's good that you, coachman, were sensible. If you had dared to use your Inner Core Blood Essence to bully my young friend, there would have been another head on the ground."

The old man's long eyebrows fluttered in the wind. He stroked his beard, turned, and slowly walked towards the distant, dimly lit Imperial Ancestral Temple.

In the cold night spring breeze, an old man chuckled lightly.

"Through a thousand trials and tribulations, still firm and strong, letting you come and go from east, west, south, and north winds..."

"For young friend An to reach this realm, tsk, the road is long and arduous."

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