"Was it someone from the Blood Fiend Devil Sect? Or someone sent by the Blood Wolf Gang?"
Chen Xuan pondered.
He did not have many enemies in Tiannan Prefecture.
The Blood Wolf Gang counted as one.
He had destroyed the Baishui Town Branch, and Qin Sihai was undoubtedly the first to want him dead. His other enemy was Liu Feng, an inner disciple of the Blood Fiend Devil Sect.
Liu Feng's younger brother, Liu Lie, had died at his hands. Previously, Liu Feng had even sent Zhou Kang, an outer disciple who had reached the Ninth Layer of Body Tempering. Liu Feng himself had never appeared, so perhaps he was tonight's intruder.
At this moment, on the rooftop.
Lei Hu wore black night clothes, his face covered with black cloth, leaving only his eyes exposed. Those eyes flickered with cold killing intent, like a venomous snake lurking in the shadows. After lying on the roof and observing for a while, he evaded the patrolling gang members and leaped down from the rooftop.
He gripped a heavy broadsword in his hand. Its blade was broad and thick, its edge gleaming with an eerie, cold light beneath the moon.
The hilt was about two feet long, and the blade about three feet. The entire sword weighed dozens of pounds, yet in his hand, it was as light as nothing.
Lei Hu's footsteps were light, making almost no sound when he landed. Yet every step carried killing intent as he headed 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 fierce thrust of his foot. At the same time, his broadsword turned into a streak of silver light and cleaved toward the bed.
"Die!"
The blade wind howled as true qi flooded into the sword. The power of this strike was enough to split a thousand-pound boulder in two.
Yet at the instant the blade came down.
Lei Hu's expression changed.
He saw Chen Xuan standing before him with a calm expression. Faced with the silver blade light descending upon him, Chen Xuan did not dodge. He merely raised his right hand slightly, pressed his index and middle fingers together, and met the blade.
Clang!
The blade was caught between two fingers.
Lei Hu's full-powered strike was as fragile as a child's toy between Chen Xuan's two fingers.
"How is that possible..."
Lei Hu's voice trembled slightly, his eyes filled with horror.
His all-out strike, a blow containing true qi, had been caught by the other party with two fingers?
The Vajra Technique was a top-tier cultivation method. Even if Chen Xuan had reached the Ninth Stage of Body Tempering, Huajin Realm, allowing him to rival an ordinary First Layer of Qi Casting martial artist, the technique Lei Hu cultivated was still a superior martial art.
The reason he had come with confidence, believing he could kill Chen Xuan, was because the former old sect master of the Vajra Sect who had died at his hands had reached the Ninth Layer of Body Tempering. That man had lived to ninety and had even met the Vajra Sect's patriarch.
But what he saw now had surpassed his understanding.
If Chen Xuan's cultivation were at the Ninth Layer of Body Tempering, he could not possibly have caught his full-powered strike so easily. Unless Chen Xuan had reached the Zhuqi Realm. With a top-tier cultivation method, the First Layer of Qi Casting opened thirty-six qi meridians.
"Your blade technique is not bad, but your strength is lacking." Chen Xuan looked at him and said calmly, "Speak. Who sent you?"
"Run!"
Lei Hu immediately let go, turned around, and fled.
At this moment, regret flooded his heart.
He knew that Qin Sihai of the Blood Wolf Gang had used him as a gun.
Qin Sihai had sent someone to tell him that Chen Xuan cultivated the Vajra Technique and had reached the Ninth Stage of Body Tempering, Huajin Realm.
But this was not the Ninth Layer of Body Tempering. This was clearly the Zhuqi Realm.
However, just as Lei Hu ran two steps, he felt a fierce Sword Qi coming from behind him.
He turned around, and his pupils suddenly shrank.
Chen Xuan had drawn his sword.
It was a slender longsword, its blade glimmering with a cold radiance under the moonlight. Golden true qi flowed across the blade like running water, emanating an aura that made one's heart palpitate.
"Nine Shadow Killing Sword."
Chen Xuan flicked his wrist and thrust out with his sword.
Ssh—
The sound of air being torn apart rang out.
Forty-five sword shadows appeared at once, like a blooming golden lotus unfolding in the night sky.
Every sword shadow was solid as a real sword, radiating sharp killing intent as they shrouded the space several yards ahead.
Forty-five sword shadows simultaneously stabbed toward forty-five vital points on the man in black—his throat, heart, dantian, eyes, temples, spine, knees, wrists... There was no order of precedence, no distinction between real and false. Every sword shadow was real, and every sword shadow was deadly.
Lei Hu wanted to dodge, but he discovered that there was nowhere for him to evade.
The forty-five sword shadows sealed off all his paths of retreat. No matter which direction he tried to dodge toward, he would crash into a sword shadow.
He wanted to block, only to find his hands empty. When he had chosen to flee just now, he had already discarded the sword in his hand.
For a swordsman to lose his sword was equivalent to cutting off one of his own arms.
A wave of regret surged through Lei Hu's heart, but he had no time to think further. The true qi within his body circulated madly as he tried to form a defense before himself.
However, Chen Xuan's sword shadows were too fast. Just as Lei Hu's true qi erupted, the sky full of sword shadows tore it apart.
"No—"
Lei Hu only managed to let out half a scream.
All forty-five sword shadows pierced through his body at once.
The sword shadows dissipated, and Lei Hu's body froze in place. There was no blood on him, because the sword shadows had been too fast—so fast that before the blood could flow out, the wounds had already been sealed by true qi.
Then, his body began to collapse.
He did not fall. He collapsed, his body coming apart like building blocks.
The forty-five sword shadows had cut his body into forty-six pieces. Every piece was perfectly even, and every cut was smooth as a mirror.
Lei Hu's body collapsed, blood gushing out and staining the Bluestone slabs of the inner courtyard red. A thick scent of blood filled the air, slowly spreading on the night wind.
Chen Xuan sheathed his sword. The blade scraping against the scabbard produced a crisp sound that was especially clear in the silent night. He stood at the edge of the pool of blood, looking at the pile of flesh and blood on the ground with a calm expression.
He saw a token on the ground.
The token bore the two words "Tyrant Blade." The other party's identity was already obvious. The man before him was Lei Hu, sect master of the Tyrant Blade Sect.
Lei Hu, at the First Layer of Qi Casting, had not even been able to withstand one move before him.
With mastery of the Second Layer of Nine Shadow Killing Sword, one sword produced forty-five shadows. Each sword shadow condensed pure golden Vajra True Qi, its power far beyond any sword technique of the Body Tempering Realm.
Lei Hu's cultivation had already been inferior to his, and he had discarded his weapon to flee, which was no different from crippling himself. It was only natural that he could not block a single sword strike.
Even if Lei Hu had not discarded his sword, it would have been useless.
"Tyrant Blade Sect!"
Upon learning that the assassin was Lei Hu, Chen Xuan was surprised, yet he also found it reasonable.
After all, when he had first arrived in Lianshan City, he had encountered disciples of the Tyrant Blade Sect hunting down disciples of the Vajra Sect. Moreover, the Vajra Sect had also been destroyed by the Tyrant Blade Sect.
He had saved Vajra Sect disciples and successfully cultivated the Vajra Technique. If word of this had reached the Tyrant Blade Sect, it made sense that Lei Hu would act against him in order to prevent the Vajra Sect from reviving and settling accounts with the Tyrant Blade Sect in the future.
Unfortunately, Lei Hu had misjudged Chen Xuan's strength.
Chen Xuan turned around and was about to return to his room.
Suddenly, his steps halted.
A strange sensation rose from the depths of his heart, as though something were watching him from the shadows.
He sensed an extremely faint aura.
Chen Xuan had not noticed this aura before. It had only suddenly appeared after he had slain Lei Hu, the sect master of the Tyrant Blade Sect, with one sword strike. It was as if its owner had been shocked by what had just happened, causing a trace of unstable aura fluctuation to emerge.
It was precisely this trace of aura fluctuation that Chen Xuan caught. He closed his eyes and expanded his senses to their limit.
The night wind swept past, making the osmanthus tree in the courtyard rustle.
In the medicinal fields in the distance came the chirping of insects.
From the side rooms in the branch's outer courtyard came the steady breathing of the gang members.
Everything was normal.
But that faint aura truly existed.
Southeast.
Outside the courtyard wall, around thirty yards away.
That was an alley in Baishui Town. Low residences stood on both sides. During the day, vendors set up stalls there, but at night, it was empty.
But now, someone was there.
"You've hidden yourself quite deeply."
Chen Xuan sneered inwardly and swiftly darted toward the southeast.
Before you continue