Sword Qi Annihilates Rats (Part 1)

The rat infestation had been largely suppressed, but like weeds that hadn't been uprooted, a few would always pop up from time to time, reminding everyone of their presence. Especially during night watch, the rustling sounds and the occasional dark shadow darting past remained a nuisance.

That night, it was Xu Qian's turn to take the second half of the watch.

After the initial chaos of the rat infestation, Block E had settled into a weary calm. Most prisoners huddled in corners, trying to snatch a pitiful bit of sleep amidst hunger, cold, and the lurking threat of rats. Only the crackling of distant torches and the muffled coughs from some unknown cell broke the dead silence.

Xu Qian hugged his waist knife, sitting in his usual spot, half his mind cycling his Dao Fruit to absorb Sha Qi, the other half on alert. He now paid extra attention to cell E-98 next door (from a safe distance, of course), dreading that that old man might be in a bad mood and launch another "midnight curse broadcast."

Just as his mind wandered, pondering whether the Mad Old Man's Sword Manual diagrams held any other hidden information, the corner of his eye caught a dark shadow skulking along the base of the opposite wall, sneaking toward a corner piled with clutter.

It was a big rat—nearly the size of a kitten, with sleek, glossy fur, clearly living quite comfortably in this prison.

On a normal day, Xu Qian would mostly ignore it. As long as it didn't provoke him, they'd keep to themselves.

But tonight, for some reason, a thought suddenly popped into his head—over the past month, while deducing those scribbled diagrams, he hadn't even touched the shadow of a sword move, but the Dao Fruit had fed back an extremely faint sensation of Qi, carrying an intent of "Sharpness." That was real.

Could this Qi sensation... be used?

Once the thought appeared, it scratched at his heart like a cat's claw.

[I've got nothing better to do anyway. Why not try it on this fat rat?] Xu Qian felt a surge of eagerness. He knew it was ridiculous—using something like "sword intent" to kill a rat was an insult to the very concept of the sword. But... who told the rat to run into his crosshairs?

No time like the present!

He glanced around, confirming no one was watching, then quietly picked up a short wooden stick from beside him—one previously used to plug a rat hole, now discarded there. The stick was about arm-length, ordinary material, common as dirt.

He gripped the stick, leveled it, and aimed at the fat rat still poking its head around. At the same time, he sank his awareness into his body, carefully guiding that faint, elusive "Sharpness" Qi sensation coiled deep in his meridians, trying to... attach it to the stick!

The process was harder than he'd imagined. The Qi sensation was too weak, and extremely "proud," as if unwilling to be commanded, let alone attached to a broken stick. Xu Qian strained with all his might, sweat beading on his forehead, before barely managing to coat the front inch of the stick with that Qi sensation, like the thinnest layer.

The moment the Qi sensation successfully attached—

Something changed!

The otherwise ordinary short wooden stick seemed... different at the tip? Not a visible change, but a feeling! As if that small section at the very front had been invisibly "honed" sharper! Even the surrounding air seemed to produce an extremely faint sense of being cut, a flow of separation!

The fat rat seemed to sense the danger too. It stopped abruptly, lifted its head warily, and its red-tinged eyes turned toward Xu Qian.

Xu Qian didn't give it a chance to react!

He recalled the optimal power delivery for the "First Stab" move deduced by the Dao Fruit, sinking his waist and abdomen slightly, then snapping his wrist with sudden force!

"Whoosh!"

The short wooden stick shot out like a viper from its hole, carrying an unstoppable momentum, and stabbed precisely at the fat rat!

The speed wasn't earth-shattering, but the motion was exceptionally clean and efficient! More importantly, the faint "Sharpness" Qi sensation attached to the stick's tip seemed to be triggered the moment it thrust forward!

No light. No sound.

But just as the stick's tip was about to touch the rat's sleek fur—

"Pfft!"

A sound so faint it was almost inaudible, like a hot knife cutting through butter!

That ordinary wooden stick, like a red-hot iron rod plunging into snow, pierced without resistance straight through the relatively tough skull of the fat rat!

The rat didn't even manage a squeak. Its four limbs stiffened abruptly, then it collapsed limply, red and white fluids spilling across the floor. On its head was only a small, perfectly smooth-edged round hole!

Xu Qian held the First Stab pose, frozen in place.

He looked at the stick's tip—the faint "Sharpness" Qi sensation was completely spent, the stick back to ordinary. He looked at the rat, dead beyond dead, and at that shocking wound that could never have been made by a normal wooden stick...