One Sword, Six Shadows

Baishui Town was quiet, with every household having extinguished their lamps; only the Blood Wolf Gang branch in the center of town still had a few lanterns lit.

Chen Xuan crouched on a nearby rooftop, using the moonlight to study the architectural layout of the branch.

The Blood Wolf Gang Baishui Town branch occupied a vast area, easily five or six times the size of an ordinary residence. Its perimeter was enclosed by a bluestone wall over ten feet high, topped with jagged porcelain shards that glinted with a chilling light under the moon. At each of the four corners of the wall stood a watchtower, where figures could be vaguely seen moving about.

The interior of the branch was divided into an outer courtyard and an inner courtyard.

The outer courtyard housed the gang members' quarters and the meeting hall, while the inner courtyard contained the storehouse and the residence of the branch leader, Han Tieshan.

The defenses are indeed tight.

Chen Xuan thought to himself.

It seemed impossible to sneak into the Baishui Town branch without making a sound; since that was the case, he would simply charge in openly.

Host: Chen Xuan

Fate: Zhaoxi Bizheng

Realm: Body Tempering 9th Layer (Huajin)

Martial Arts: Giant Whale Body Refining Technique/9th Layer, Mountain Crushing Fist/Great Success, Vajra Technique/4th Layer (Qi Meridian Connection: 1/36), Nine Shadow Killing Sword/Not Yet Initiated

Zhaoxi Value: 7

Chen Xuan opened the panel for a glance and decided to expend one Zhaoxi Value to upgrade the Nine Shadow Killing Sword technique.

One Zhaoxi Value was equivalent to a year of bitter cultivation, which was enough.

Since he intended to charge in and face the siege of a crowd of martial artists, learning the Nine Shadow Killing Sword would allow him to resolve the battle more quickly.

He carried the longsword that Zhou Kang had used.

This longsword could withstand his full-force strike without breaking; there wasn't even a crack on the blade, making it a rare treasure.

"Expend one Zhaoxi Value to upgrade Nine Shadow Killing Sword!"

Chen Xuan recited silently in his heart.

Hum~~~

In an instant, scenes of practicing the Nine Shadow Killing Sword flashed through Chen Xuan's mind—spring, summer, autumn, and winter, day and night, all spent in tireless, bitter cultivation.

Nine Shadow Killing Sword/1st Layer Great Success.

One year of bitter cultivation.

Chen Xuan had brought the Nine Shadow Killing Sword to the Great Success stage of the first layer.

The Nine Shadow Killing Sword only had two layers in total; the first layer was a Body Tempering realm martial art, while the second layer was a Zhuqi Realm martial art.

With the Nine Shadow Killing Sword at the first layer's Great Success, Chen Xuan could produce six shadows with a single strike. He leaped down from the rooftop and walked toward the street where the branch was located.

"Who goes there!"

Seeing a masked man in black suddenly appear on the street in the middle of the night, the two guards at the entrance of the Baishui Town branch immediately grew alert, their hands pressing against their sword hilts as they shouted sternly.

Chen Xuan did not answer, striding toward the entrance.

"Stop right there! Take one more step and don't blame me for..."

Before the words could finish, Chen Xuan's body flickered, and he was already before them.

He clenched his five fingers into a fist and blasted it out.

"Bang!"

The guard didn't even have time to scream before he was sent flying backward, crashing into the vermilion gate behind him, which swung open with a loud thud.

The other guard's expression changed drastically, and he drew his blade to hack down.

Chen Xuan did not dodge or evade; he reached out a large hand, grabbed the blade directly, and twisted hard. The blade instantly bent into a twisted shape. The guard felt a sharp pain in the web of his hand, and the longsword slipped from his grasp. Chen Xuan followed up with a kick that landed squarely on the guard's chest, sending him flying like a kite with a broken string. He crashed heavily to the ground, vomiting blood incessantly, unable to climb back up.

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

"Enemy attack! Enemy attack!"

The patrolling gang members in the courtyard saw this scene and erupted into an uproar, drawing their blades and swords one after another to surround Chen Xuan.

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

He moved.

The moment the longsword left its scabbard, a cold, clear sword light slashed through the night sky, like a startled swan under the moon.

The three Blood Wolf Gang members charging at the front only felt a blur before their eyes, and then a thin line of blood appeared across their necks.

Their feet carried them forward for two more steps out of inertia before they collapsed with a thud, dying without ever seeing how Chen Xuan had struck.

The sword moves of the Nine Shadow Killing Sword were not complex; they had only one characteristic.

That was speed!

Speed to the extreme, so fast that the enemy didn't even have time to react.

"Kill him! Everyone, attack together!"

Seeing their three companions fall, the dozens of gang members surrounding them did not retreat; instead, they swarmed forward even more frantically.

Chen Xuan did not retreat but advanced, his figure darting into the crowd like a phantom.

The sword light rose once more.

This time, six sword shadows appeared in the void.

After a year of bitter training, Chen Xuan had carved the essence of this sword technique into his very bones; the angle, force, and speed of his strikes had all reached a state of perfection.

One sword, six shadows.

Every single sword shadow was real.

The six gang members at the very front did not even have time to react before their chests were pierced, and they flew backward, screaming.

His feet never stopped, and the sword light in his hand never ceased.

Every time he struck, he claimed at least four or five lives, and at most, six at once.

In the blink of an eye, more than half of the dozens of Blood Wolf Gang members surrounding him had fallen, and the remaining ones completely collapsed, their will to fight shattered as they scrambled and crawled toward the inner courtyard.

"Quick... quickly go get Helmsman Han!"

"A powerful enemy is attacking, a powerful enemy who uses a sword."

Someone shrieked, their voice filled with fear and despair.

Chen Xuan held his long sword pointed diagonally at the ground, walking toward the inner courtyard step by step, not a single drop of blood staining the blade.

It was too fast.

With one sword and six shadows, the blade moved so quickly that by the time it sliced through the enemy's flesh, the sword had already been retracted before the blood could even seep out.

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

Chen Xuan looked at the sword in his hand and couldn't help but smile.

Although both the Mountain Crushing Fist and the first level of the Nine Shadow Killing Sword belonged to the Body Tempering realm, weapons undoubtedly played a much greater role.

A weapon is an extension of the arm, a sharp tool for slaughter; once the sword is drawn, no one can get within ten paces.

Chen Xuan carried his sword and walked toward the inner courtyard.

At this moment, inside the branch courtyard.

Han Tieshan had just finished auditing all the accounts.

The fifteenth of every month was the day each branch office consolidated their silver; the storeroom was piled high with silver ingots and banknotes, and he needed to verify them one by one before escorting them back to the Beicheng headquarters early tomorrow morning.

Besides him.

There was one other person in the room.

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

Han Tieshan handed a cup of tea with both hands to the man over sixty sitting before him, his tone carrying a hint of respect.

The old man before him was named Zhao Hanjiang, also a rogue cultivator by origin. Twenty-some years ago, Zhao Hanjiang had been a renowned figure in Tiannan Prefecture, his hidden weapon skill, the Flying Star Life-Taking Needle, reaching a supernatural level.

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

Since then, Zhao Hanjiang had lived under an assumed name, becoming a blade in the hands of Qin Sihai, though officially, he held no position within the Blood Wolf Gang.

Although Zhao Hanjiang's cultivation had fallen from the Zhuqi Realm due to severe injuries that damaged his qi channels, he was still stronger than an ordinary Body Tempering ninth-stage martial artist, and if he were truly forced to fight for his life, he could still barely manage to unleash a wisp of true qi.

The Baishui Town branch was extremely important to the Blood Wolf Gang, so every time the silver was escorted back to headquarters, Han Tieshan led the team openly while Zhao Hanjiang followed in the shadows—one in the light, one in the dark, two peak Body Tempering ninth-stage experts. If anyone dared to covet this silver, they would definitely suffer the consequences.

Of course, if they encountered a Zhuqi Realm expert robbing the silver.

They would have no choice but to obediently hand it over.

"Helmsman, Helmsman, it's bad!" A gang member scrambled in, his face deathly pale, his voice distorted: "Someone... someone has broken in, and more than half of the brothers in the outer courtyard are dead or injured."