One Sword, Six Shadows

Baishui Town lay silent, every household's lights extinguished. Only the Blood Wolf Gang's Baishui Town Branch in the center of town still had a few lanterns burning.

Chen Xuan crouched on a rooftop some distance away, using the moonlight to study the branch's layout.

The Blood Wolf Gang's Baishui Town Branch covered an enormous area, five or six times the size of an ordinary residence. Its outer perimeter was enclosed by a bluestone wall more than a zhang high, its top embedded with shards of porcelain that gleamed with an icy, sinister light beneath the moon. A watchtower stood at each of the four corners, with shadowy figures faintly moving within.

The branch's interior was divided into an outer courtyard and an inner courtyard.

The outer courtyard housed the gang members and the discussion hall, while the inner courtyard contained the storerooms and Branch Master Han Tieshan's residence.

"The defenses are quite tight."

Chen Xuan muttered inwardly.

It seemed impossible to sneak silently into the Baishui Town Branch. Since that was the case, he would simply kill his way in openly.

Host: Chen Xuan

Fate: Zhaoxi Bizheng

Realm: Ninth Layer of Body Tempering (Huajin)

Martial Arts: Giant Whale Body Refining Technique / Ninth Layer, Mountain Crushing Fist / Mastery, Vajra Technique / Fourth Layer (Opening the Qi Meridians: 1/36), Nine Shadow Killing Sword / Not Yet Initiated

Zhaoxi Value: 7

Chen Xuan opened the panel for a glance and decided to spend one Zhaoxi Value to improve the Nine Shadow Killing Sword.

One Zhaoxi Value meant a year of arduous cultivation. That was enough.

Since he was going to kill his way in and face the joint assault of so many martial artists, mastering the Nine Shadow Killing Sword would allow him to end the battle faster.

He carried the longsword Zhou Kang had used.

That sword could withstand his full-force strike without breaking; there was not even a crack on its blade. It was a rare treasured sword.

"Consume one Zhaoxi Value to improve the Nine Shadow Killing Sword!"

Chen Xuan silently recited in his heart.

Buzz—

In an instant, scenes of cultivating the Nine Shadow Killing Sword flashed through Chen Xuan's mind. Spring, summer, autumn, winter; day and night—he trained relentlessly, never knowing fatigue.

Nine Shadow Killing Sword / First Layer Mastery.

One year of arduous cultivation.

Chen Xuan had cultivated the Nine Shadow Killing Sword to mastery of its first layer.

The Nine Shadow Killing Sword had only two layers. The first belonged to the Body Tempering Realm, while the second was a martial skill of the Zhuqi Realm.

Having reached mastery in the first layer of the Nine Shadow Killing Sword, Chen Xuan could now achieve One Sword, Six Shadows. He leaped down from the rooftop and headed toward the street where the branch stood.

"Who goes there?!"

In the middle of the night, the two guards at the Baishui Town Branch entrance immediately became alert when they spotted a black-clad, masked man appear in the street. Their hands went to their sword hilts as they shouted sharply.

Chen Xuan did not answer and strode toward the entrance.

"Stop! Take another step forward, and don't blame me for—"

Before he could finish, Chen Xuan's body flashed, and he was already in front of him.

His five fingers clenched into a fist and struck out.

Bang!

The guard did not even have time to scream before he flew backward, crashing into the vermilion-lacquered gate behind him. The gate burst open in response.

The other guard's face changed drastically. He drew his blade and slashed down.

Chen Xuan neither dodged nor evaded. He reached out and seized the blade directly, then twisted hard. The sword instantly bent into the shape of a twisted hemp rope. The guard felt searing pain in the web between his thumb and forefinger, and his weapon fell from his grasp. Chen Xuan followed with a kick that landed squarely on his chest, sending him flying backward like a kite with its string snapped. He crashed heavily to the ground, blood spraying endlessly from his mouth, unable to rise again.

Chen Xuan stepped over the threshold and entered the branch's outer courtyard.

"Enemy attack! Enemy attack!"

The patrolling gang members in the courtyard saw this and erupted into chaos. They drew their swords and sabers one after another, surrounding Chen Xuan.

At that moment, Chen Xuan also drew the longsword from his back.

He moved.

The instant the sword left its sheath, a cold sword gleam tore through the night sky like a startled swan beneath the moon.

The three Blood Wolf Gang members charging at the front only saw a blur before thin lines of blood appeared across their throats.

Their momentum carried them two more steps forward before they crashed to the ground. Until their deaths, they never saw how Chen Xuan had drawn his sword.

The moves of the Nine Shadow Killing Sword were not complicated. It had only one defining trait.

Speed!

Speed taken to the extreme, so fast the enemy had no time to react.

"Kill him! Everyone attack together!"

Seeing their three companions fall, the several dozen gang members around them did not retreat. Instead, they surged forward even more crazily.

Rather than retreating, Chen Xuan advanced, his figure slipping into the crowd like a ghost.

Sword light rose again.

This time, six sword shadows appeared directly in the air.

After a year of arduous cultivation, Chen Xuan had carved the essence of this sword art into his bones. The angle, force, and speed of every strike had reached the point of consummate perfection.

One Sword, Six Shadows.

Every sword shadow was real.

Before the six gang members at the front could react, swords had already pierced their chests. They screamed as they flew backward.

His feet did not stop, nor did the sword light in his hand.

With every strike, he took at least four or five lives. At most, he took six at once.

Of the several dozen Blood Wolf Gang members around him, more than half fell in the blink of an eye. The remaining gang members collapsed completely, all will to fight gone. Scrambling and crawling, they fled toward the inner courtyard.

"Quick... quickly invite Branch Master Han!"

"A powerful enemy has attacked! A powerful enemy who uses a sword!"

Someone screamed hoarsely, their voice brimming with terror and despair.

Chen Xuan held his longsword angled toward the ground and walked step by step toward the inner courtyard. Not a single drop of blood stained the blade.

It was too fast.

One Sword, Six Shadows—the blade was so swift that when it sliced through the enemy's flesh, the blood had not yet seeped out before the sword had already been withdrawn.

"A powerful enemy who uses a sword..."

Chen Xuan looked at the sword in his hand and could not help smiling.

Though Mountain Crushing Fist and the first layer of the Nine Shadow Killing Sword both belonged to Body Tempering Realm martial artists, weapons could undoubtedly exert far greater power.

A weapon was an extension of the arm, a sharp instrument of slaughter. Once a sword was drawn, no one within ten paces could approach.

Chen Xuan carried his sword toward the inner courtyard.

At this moment, in the branch's inner courtyard.

Han Tieshan had just finished checking all the accounts.

The fifteenth of every month was the day when the various branch offices consolidated their silver. The storeroom was piled full of silver ingots and banknotes, and he needed to verify every item before escorting them back to the Beicheng main branch at dawn tomorrow.

Besides that.

There was another person in the room.

"Elder Zhao, I've troubled you to make another trip."

Han Tieshan held a cup of tea in both hands and offered it to an elderly man over sixty before him, his tone carrying a measure of respect.

This elder was named Zhao Hanjiang. He, too, had come from the ranks of Rogue Cultivators. More than twenty years ago, Zhao Hanjiang had been a renowned figure in Tiannan Prefecture, his concealed weapon art, the Flying Star Life-Taking Needle, unfathomably masterful.

More importantly, Zhao Hanjiang had been a Zhuqi Realm martial artist more than twenty years ago. However, after killing someone from Ten Thousand Sword Villa, he had been hunted down and forced to flee to Lianshan City, where Qin Sihai had saved his life.

From then on, Zhao Hanjiang concealed his identity and became the blade in Qin Sihai's hand. Yet on the surface, Zhao Hanjiang held no position whatsoever in the Blood Wolf Gang.

Although Zhao Hanjiang had suffered grievous injuries that damaged his qi meridians and caused his cultivation to fall from the Zhuqi Realm, he was still stronger than ordinary Ninth Layer Body Tempering Huajin martial artists. And if he truly had to stake his life on it, he could barely mobilize a wisp of true qi.

The Baishui Town Branch was extremely important to the Blood Wolf Gang. Thus, whenever the silver was escorted back to the main branch, Han Tieshan led the convoy openly while Zhao Hanjiang followed in secret. One in the light, one in the dark—two peak Ninth Layer Body Tempering experts. If anyone dared set their sights on this silver, they would absolutely be unable to bear the consequences.

Of course, if a Zhuqi Realm expert came to rob the silver.

Then they could only obediently hand it over.

"Branch Master, Branch Master, this is bad!" A gang member scrambled and crawled into the room, his face deathly pale and even his voice distorted. "S-someone has fought their way in. More than half the brothers in the outer courtyard are already dead or wounded."