One-Shotting a Zhuqi Realm Martial Artist

"Is it someone from the Blood Fiend Devil Sect? Or perhaps sent by the Blood Wolf Gang?"

Chen Xuan pondered.

He did not have many enemies in Tiannan Prefecture.

The Blood Wolf Gang was one.

The branch in Baishui Town had been wiped out by him, so Qin Sihai was definitely the first person who wanted him dead. Another enemy was Liu Feng, an inner sect disciple of the Blood Fiend Devil Sect.

Liu Feng's younger brother, Liu Lie, had died at his hands. Previously, Liu Feng had even hired Zhou Kang, an outer sect disciple who had reached the Ninth Stage of Body Tempering, but Liu Feng himself had never appeared. Perhaps this person tonight was him.

At this moment, on the roof.

Lei Hu was dressed in black night-traveling clothes, his face covered by a black cloth, revealing only his eyes. Those eyes flickered with cold killing intent, like a viper lurking in the shadows. He crouched on the roof to observe for a moment, then bypassed the patrolling gang members and leaped down.

He gripped a heavy broadsword in his hand; the blade was wide and thick, its edge gleaming with a chilling, cold light under the moonlight.

The hilt was about two feet long, the blade about three feet long, and the entire weapon weighed several dozen catties, yet it felt as light as a feather in his grip.

Lei Hu's footsteps were light, making almost no sound upon landing, but every step carried killing intent as he walked toward Chen Xuan's room.

Ten steps.

Five steps.

Three steps.

The man in black stopped outside the door, gripped the broadsword with both hands, and kicked the door open with a violent force, simultaneously swinging the blade in a silver arc toward the bed.

"Go to hell!"

The wind whistled as true qi surged into the blade; the power of this strike was enough to split a thousand-catty boulder in two.

However, the moment the blade descended.

Lei Hu's expression changed.

He saw Chen Xuan standing before him with a calm face. Facing the silver blade light, he did not dodge, but simply raised his right hand, pressing his index and middle fingers together to meet the edge.

"Clang!"

The blade was caught between two fingers.

Lei Hu's full-force strike was as fragile as a child's toy between Chen Xuan's fingers.

"How is this possible..."

Lei Hu's voice trembled, his eyes filled with horror.

His full-force strike, imbued with true qi, had actually been caught by the opponent using only two fingers?

The Vajra Technique was a top-tier cultivation method, but even if the opponent had reached the Ninth Stage of Body Tempering, Huajin Realm, capable of rivaling an ordinary First Stage Zhuqi Realm martial artist, the technique he himself practiced was also a superior martial art.

The reason he had been confident enough to come, believing he could kill Chen Xuan, was because the old sect master of the Vajra Sect who had died at his hands had reached the Ninth Stage of Body Tempering at ninety years old and had even met the founder of the Vajra Sect.

But this scene before him now exceeded his understanding.

If Chen Xuan's cultivation were only at the Ninth Stage of Body Tempering, he could not have caught his full-force strike so easily, unless the opponent had reached the Zhuqi Realm—and having broken through to the Zhuqi Realm with a top-tier technique, he would have opened thirty-six vital qi meridians at the first stage.

"Your swordsmanship is decent, but your strength is lacking." Chen Xuan looked at him and said indifferently, "Speak, who sent you?"

"Run!"

Lei Hu immediately let go of the blade and turned to flee.

At this very moment, he felt immense regret.

He knew he had been used as a pawn by Qin Sihai of the Blood Wolf Gang.

Qin Sihai had sent people to tell him that Chen Xuan practiced the Vajra Technique and had reached the Ninth Stage of Body Tempering, Huajin Realm.

But this was no Ninth Stage of Body Tempering; this was clearly the Zhuqi Realm.

However, just as Lei Hu ran two steps, he felt a sharp sword qi coming from behind him.

He looked back, his pupils shrinking.

Chen Xuan had drawn his sword.

It was a slender longsword, its blade gleaming with a cold, clear light under the moonlight. On the blade, golden true qi surged like flowing water, emitting a heart-stopping aura.

"Nine Shadow Killing Sword."

Chen Xuan flicked his wrist and thrust the sword out.

Sshhh—

The sound of the air being torn apart rang out.

Forty-five sword shadows appeared simultaneously, like a blooming golden lotus unfolding in the night sky.

Each sword shadow was as solid as a real blade, radiating biting killing intent that shrouded the area for several yards ahead.

Forty-five sword shadows struck the man in black's forty-five vital points simultaneously—throat, heart, dantian, eyes, temples, spine, knees, wrists... There was no sequence, no distinction between real and fake; every sword shadow was physical, and every sword shadow was lethal.

Lei Hu wanted to dodge, but he realized there was nowhere to hide.

Forty-five sword shadows sealed off all his paths of retreat; no matter which direction he dodged, he would collide with the blades.

He wanted to block, but found his hands empty; when he chose to flee just moments ago, he had already abandoned his blade.

For a swordsman to lose his blade is equivalent to severing his own arm.

Regret surged in the heart of Lei Hu, but there was no time to dwell on it; the True Qi within his body circulated frantically, attempting to condense a defense before him.

However, the speed of Chen Xuan's sword shadows was too fast; the moment Lei Hu's True Qi erupted, the sky-filling shadows tore his defense to shreds.

"No—"

Lei Hu only had time to let out half a scream.

Forty-five sword shadows pierced his body simultaneously.

The sword shadows dissipated, and Lei Hu's body froze in place; there were no bloodstains on him because the shadows were too fast—so fast that before the blood could even flow out, the wounds had already been sealed by True Qi.

Then, his body began to collapse.

It did not fall; it crumbled, his frame falling apart like a stack of building blocks.

The forty-five sword shadows had sliced his body into forty-six pieces, each one uniform and the cuts as smooth as a mirror.

As Lei Hu's body collapsed, blood gushed out, staining the bluestone slabs of the inner courtyard; a thick, bloody stench permeated the air, slowly spreading into the night breeze.

Chen Xuan sheathed his sword, the sound of the blade rubbing against the scabbard ringing out crisply, exceptionally clear in the silent night; he stood at the edge of the pool of blood, looking down at the pile of flesh with a calm expression.

He spotted a token on the ground.

The characters "Tyrant Blade" were inscribed on the token, making the identity of his assailant obvious; the man before him was none other than Lei Hu, the master of the Tyrant Blade Sect.

Lei Hu, a first-level Zhuqi Realm expert, could not even withstand a single move from him.

With the Nine Shadow Killing Sword mastered to the second level, one strike produced forty-five shadows, each condensed with pure golden Vajra True Qi, a power far beyond any sword technique of the Body Tempering realm.

Lei Hu's cultivation was already inferior to his, and by abandoning his blade to flee, he had effectively crippled himself; it was only natural that he could not block a single strike.

Even if Lei Hu had not abandoned his blade, it would have been useless.

"Tyrant Blade Sect!"

Learning that the assassin was Lei Hu, Chen Xuan felt both surprised and yet found it within reason.

After all, when he first arrived in Lianshan City, he had encountered disciples of the Tyrant Blade Sect hunting down disciples of the Vajra Sect, and the Vajra Sect itself had been destroyed by the Tyrant Blade Sect.

Since he had saved the Vajra Sect disciples and achieved success in cultivating the Vajra Technique, it was logical that once word reached the Tyrant Blade Sect, Lei Hu would strike at him to prevent the resurgence of the Vajra Sect and any future reckoning against his own sect.

It was just a pity that Lei Hu had miscalculated Chen Xuan's strength.

Chen Xuan turned around, intending to return to his room.

Suddenly, his footsteps faltered.

A strange sensation rose from the depths of his heart, as if something were watching him from the shadows.

He detected an extremely faint aura.

Chen Xuan had not sensed this aura before; it only appeared abruptly after he had slain the Tyrant Blade Sect master, Lei Hu, as if the observer had been so shocked by the scene that their aura had fluctuated unsteadily.

It was precisely this fluctuation that Chen Xuan had captured; he closed his eyes, expanding his perception to its limit.

The night wind blew, causing the osmanthus trees in the courtyard to rustle.

In the distant herb fields, insects chirped.

In the rooms of the branch's outer courtyard, the gang members breathed in steady, rhythmic patterns.

Everything seemed perfectly normal.

But that faint aura definitely existed.

To the southeast.

Outside the courtyard wall, about thirty zhang away.

That was a small alley in Baishui Town, flanked by low-lying houses; by day, vendors set up stalls there, but at night, it was completely deserted.

But now, there was someone there.

"You hide quite deep."

Chen Xuan sneered in his heart and darted rapidly toward the southeast.