Although the rat infestation had been mostly brought under control, like weeds that hadn't been pulled out by the roots, a few rats still popped up now and then to remind everyone they were there. They were especially annoying during night watch: the rustling sounds and occasional dark shapes darting past were still a nuisance.
That night, it was Xu Qian's turn to stand watch during the second half.
After the initial chaos of the rat infestation, Block E had settled into a kind of weary calm. Most of the prisoners were curled up in corners, trying to snatch a little pitiful sleep amid hunger, cold, and the ever-present threat of rats. Only the crackling of torches in the distance and a muffled cough from some unknown cell broke the dead silence.
Clutching his saber, Xu Qian sat in his usual spot. Half his attention was focused on circulating his Dao Fruit to absorb Killing Intent, while the other half stayed alert. He was keeping a particularly close eye on the cell next door, E-98 (from a safe distance, of course), in case that old geezer took it into his head to start another "midnight curse radio broadcast."
As his thoughts wandered, and he wondered whether the Mad Old Man's Sword Manual diagrams concealed any other information, the corner of his eye caught a dark shape creeping along the base of the opposite wall toward a corner piled with miscellaneous junk.
It was a huge rat! It was nearly as big as a kitten, with sleek, glossy fur. It had clearly been living quite comfortably in this Heavenly Prison.
Normally, Xu Qian probably wouldn't have bothered with it. As long as it didn't pick a fight with him, they could each mind their own business.
But tonight, for some reason, a thought suddenly surfaced in his mind—over the past month, he had been studying those incomprehensible diagrams. Though he hadn't even caught a glimpse of a sword move, that faintest thread of sensation, imbued with the idea of Sharpness, which his Dao Fruit had returned to him, was undeniably real.
Could he use this sensation...?
The thought had barely appeared before it began to gnaw at him like a cat's claws.
Well, I'm just sitting around anyway. Why not try it out on that fat rat? Xu Qian was itching to give it a go. He knew the idea was ridiculous. Using something that might be "sword intent" to hit a rat was practically an insult to the very words "sword dao." But...well, the rat had walked right into his sights.
He decided to go for it!
He looked around and, once he was sure nobody was paying attention, quietly picked up a short wooden stick beside him. He had used it earlier to plug a rat hole, but it had since been discarded. The stick was about the length of an arm, made of ordinary wood, the sort you could find anywhere.
He gripped the stick tightly and held it level, pointing it at the fat rat, which was still poking its head around. At the same time, he sank his awareness into his body and carefully guided the faint, elusive sensation of Sharpness lurking deep in his meridians, trying to... attach it to the stick!
The process was harder than he had imagined. The sensation was too faint, and extremely "proud." It seemed deeply reluctant to be directed, let alone attached to a broken stick. Xu Qian struggled mightily, until sweat beaded on his forehead, before he finally managed to make that wisp of sensation coat about an inch of the stick's tip like the thinnest layer of paint.
The instant the sensation successfully attached—
Something changed!
The tip of the ordinary short stick seemed... different somehow. It wasn't a change visible to the naked eye, but something he could feel! It was as if that tiny section at the very end had been invisibly "sharpened" to an even finer edge! Even the air around it seemed to flow with the faintest sensation of being sliced apart!
The fat rat seemed to sense the danger too. It abruptly stopped and raised its head warily, its red eyes fixed on Xu Qian.
Xu Qian gave it no chance to react!
He recalled the optimal way to apply force for the "First Stab" movement deduced by his Dao Fruit. His waist and abdomen sank slightly, and his wrist suddenly drove forward!
"Whoosh!"
The short stick shot out like a venomous snake striking from its hole, carrying an unstoppable momentum as it stabbed straight at the fat rat with unerring precision!
The stab wasn't breathtakingly fast, but the movement was exceptionally simple and efficient! More importantly, in the instant the stick thrust forward, the faint sensation of Sharpness clinging to its tip seemed to be stirred into action!
There was no flash of light, no sound.
But just as the tip of the stick was about to touch the fat rat's sleek, glossy fur—
"Pfft!"
A sound so faint it was almost inaudible, like a hot knife slicing through butter, rang out!
The ordinary short stick plunged through the fat rat's relatively tough skull without the slightest resistance, like a red-hot iron rod thrust into a snowdrift!
The fat rat couldn't even let out a squeal. Its limbs stiffened violently, then it collapsed limply, blood and brains spilling across the ground. There was only a tiny, perfectly smooth, circular hole in its head!
Xu Qian froze in place, still holding the stick in the posture of a thrust.
He looked at the tip of the stick. The faint sensation of Sharpness had been completely spent, and the stick had returned to normal. Then he looked at the rat, dead beyond any doubt, and at the ghastly wound that no ordinary wooden stick could possibly have made...
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