Heaven-Stealing Sun-Swapping, Passing the Fake Off as Real (Third Update, Please Keep Reading)

"Young Master Wan, have a seat."

Chen Xuan's voice pulled Wan Guiyun back from his thoughts.

Wan Guiyun came to his senses and sat down in the chair across from the desk.

"Young Master Wan, what brings you here at this hour?"

Chen Xuan lifted his teacup and took a slow sip.

"I..." Wan Guiyun opened his mouth, drew a deep breath, and tried his best to calm himself. "I came to report for duty."

"Report for duty?"

Chen Xuan frowned.

"After Master Wan and Gang Leader Sun discussed it, they decided to have me serve as the deputy branch leader in Baishui Town, assisting Branch Leader Chen in managing the medicinal fields." Wan Guiyun explained, "I should have come during the day, but something delayed me at the last minute, so I arrived late."

"Deputy branch leader?" Chen Xuan glanced at him. "A direct disciple of Ten Thousand Sword Villa, coming here to be a deputy branch leader?"

"This was the master's arrangement." Wan Guiyun lowered his head. "I... had no room to refuse."

Chen Xuan said nothing.

He raised his teacup and drank again, his gaze lingering on Wan Guiyun for a moment.

He could more or less guess what Wan Guiyun was thinking.

What master's arrangement? It was nothing but an excuse. Wan Guiyun had simply been unwilling to accept losing to him in their previous match and wanted another chance to compete, to win back his face.

But now...

"You saw it just now?"

Chen Xuan set down his teacup and spoke calmly.

Wan Guiyun's body stiffened.

After a moment of silence, he slowly nodded. "I saw it."

"And you still dare appear before me?"

Chen Xuan's tone was even, revealing neither joy nor anger.

"Why wouldn't I dare?" Wan Guiyun raised his head and looked Chen Xuan straight in the eye. "You are not from the demonic path. You would not kill me for no reason."

"Well said." Chen Xuan smiled faintly. "Wan Guiyun, your talent in the sword path is indeed impressive, but you have one fatal weakness."

Wan Guiyun frowned. "What weakness?"

"You are too obsessed with victory and defeat," Chen Xuan said. "You lost to me once and immediately wanted to win it back. That mindset will keep you from going far on the sword path."

Wan Guiyun fell silent.

He wanted to argue, but when he opened his mouth, he found himself speechless.

Because Chen Xuan was telling the truth.

He truly was too obsessed with victory and defeat.

Ever since he began learning the sword at seven, he had never lost.

Among those of his generation, no one could last more than ten moves beneath his sword.

He was accustomed to victory, accustomed to being looked up to, accustomed to standing at the summit.

That was why he had been so shocked and so unwilling when Chen Xuan caught his Ultimate Art sword technique with two fingers.

He had indeed come here looking for an opportunity to compete again.

But now...

"You are only seventeen, and becoming an externally assigned disciple of the Guiyuan Sect means your innate aptitude cannot be particularly outstanding. So why has your cultivation... improved so quickly?"

Wan Guiyun could not help asking.

"Fortuitous opportunity," Chen Xuan said calmly. "Everyone has opportunities that belong to them alone. You need not inquire into mine, and even if you did, you would not find out."

"I was presumptuous."

Wan Guiyun nodded and did not press further.

Inquiring into another person's fortuitous opportunities was indeed rather rude. Their relationship had not reached that point.

Besides, even blood brothers could turn against each other for profit.

Wan Guiyun stood and cupped his hands toward Chen Xuan. "Branch Leader Chen, thank you for your guidance. From now on, I will fulfill my duties as deputy branch leader and will not cause you trouble."

"Good." Chen Xuan nodded. "I will have someone arrange your lodging. Go rest first. Tomorrow, I'll have someone familiarize you with Baishui Town's affairs."

"Thank you, Branch Leader Chen."

Wan Guiyun cupped his hands once more, then turned and left the study.

"Wan Guiyun..."

Watching his back vanish from sight, Chen Xuan withdrew his gaze and murmured the name softly.

This direct disciple of Ten Thousand Sword Villa had a decent temperament.

He accepted defeat when he lost, and once he accepted it, he corrected himself. He neither pestered endlessly nor harbored resentment.

Such a person was worth befriending.

However, there was something more important at hand.

The Blood Fiend Devil Sect steward, Qin Sihai, leader of the Blood Wolf Gang—after letting him live for so long, it was time to settle the score.

Baishui Town was eighty li from Lianshan City. With Chen Xuan's current cultivation, riding there took less than half an hour.

On his way to Lianshan City, Chen Xuan encountered Blood Wolf Gang scouts and casually dealt with them.

He did not enter the city directly. Instead, when he was nearing Lianshan City, he stopped in a stretch of forest.

"Huanri Technique."

Chen Xuan dismounted, tied his horse to a tree, then circulated the Huanri True Qi within him. The muscles and bones of his face slowly began to shift.

His brow ridge lowered, his cheekbones protruded, his jaw lengthened, and the bridge of his nose widened...

In just a few breaths, he transformed from a seventeen-year-old youth into an ordinary-looking middle-aged man in his thirties.

He took out a set of gray cloth clothes he had prepared beforehand and changed into them, then wrapped the Hanfeng Sword in strips of cloth and carried it on his back.

He had no bronze mirror at hand, but Chen Xuan touched his face. It felt completely real, with no trace of disguise.

That was the marvel of the Huanri Technique.

It was not disguise, but genuine change.

He strode out of the forest and headed toward Lianshan City's northern gate.

By then, the city gates had already closed.

But martial artists naturally had their own methods of entering and leaving.

Chen Xuan came beneath the city wall, exerted force through his feet, and lightly flipped over it like a civet cat, landing inside the city.

Beicheng, the Blood Wolf Gang's main headquarters.

It was an enormous manor. Two stone wolf statues stood at its entrance with bared fangs and snarling muzzles, radiating a fierce and savage air.

Four guards stood outside the gate, armed with blades and swords, their gazes alert.

Chen Xuan did not use the main entrance.

He circled to the side of the manor and climbed over the wall.

At that moment, the Huanri Technique's ability to conceal one's aura was displayed in all its splendor.

He reined in his aura to the utmost limit. His heartbeat slowed, his blood and qi fell still, and his entire body became like a walking stone.

Ma Wen, who was only in the Body Tempering Realm, had to remain completely motionless to fully conceal his aura and avoid detection.

But Chen Xuan had reached the Zhuqi Realm. Even while moving, he could perfectly conceal all his aura.

Even when Chen Xuan mingled among the patrolling gang members, not a single person noticed that there was already one more man in their ranks.

Chen Xuan proceeded without obstruction and arrived at the rear courtyard of the main headquarters.

That was Qin Sihai's residence.

The lights blazed brightly.

Chen Xuan leaped onto the roof, lay flat against the tiles, and looked down through a skylight.

Inside the main hall, Qin Sihai sat in a tiger-skin chair, rolling two iron balls in his hand.

He was waiting.

Waiting for news from Liu Feng.

When Liu Feng entered Lianshan City's territory, Qin Sihai had received word. However, all the scouts in Baishui Town had been cleaned out by Chen Xuan, so he could not immediately receive news that Liu Feng had been slain.

If Qin Sihai knew that Liu Feng, at the Third Layer of Qi Casting, had been killed by Chen Xuan in a single strike, he would never have been so calm.

"Someone," Qin Sihai called, then asked his confidant, "Has there still been no news from Baishui Town?"

"N-no." The confidant answered, "All our scouts in Baishui Town have been cleared out, and inspections there are extremely strict. Any unfamiliar person is repeatedly interrogated. There are also Red Sun Gang members patrolling near Baishui Town, so our scouts are stationed farther away. News will not reach us so quickly."

"Useless. A pack of useless fools, and you cannot even handle such a trivial matter."

Qin Sihai shouted furiously.

A shadow passed through his eyes, and an ill foreboding faintly rose in his heart.

The confidant lowered his head and did not dare speak.

"What are you still standing here for?" Qin Sihai barked. "Send people out of the city to investigate at once. I want to know what happened in Baishui Town."

"Yes."

The confidant rose and was about to turn away.

Just then, a faint sound came from the roof.

"Who is it?"

Qin Sihai abruptly looked up, his gaze shooting toward the roof like that of a hawk.

He was at the Fourth Layer of Qi Casting, his five senses sharp. Though the sound had been subtle, it could not escape his ears.

Chen Xuan stopped hiding.

He leaped down from the roof and landed in the courtyard.

Qin Sihai immediately rushed out of the main hall and faced Chen Xuan from across the courtyard.

"Who are you?"

Qin Sihai sized Chen Xuan up and down, his brows tightly furrowed.

The man before him appeared to be in his thirties, with an ordinary face, gray cloth clothes, and a long sword wrapped in strips of cloth on his back. His aura was utterly unremarkable, making him seem like an ordinary wanderer of the martial world.

But an ordinary person could not possibly sneak into the Blood Wolf Gang's main headquarters in the dead of night.

"Who I am is not important."

Chen Xuan spoke.

Even his voice had changed. It was no longer the clear voice of a youth, but deep and hoarse, carrying a touch of age and weariness.

"What matters is that Gang Leader Qin will die tonight."

As the words fell, Chen Xuan reached behind him with his right hand, gripped the hilt, and violently drew the Hanfeng Sword.

The cloth strips shattered, and the blade gleamed with a cold, clear light beneath the moon.

Blood-colored true qi surged from within him and gathered over the sword blade. This was not the Vajra True Qi he cultivated.

When Chen Xuan fought Liu Feng, he had come into contact with the Blood Origin Technique's true qi, allowing him to seize a thread of it. Thus, by circulating the Huanri True Qi, he could imitate the true qi of the Blood Origin Technique.

Heaven-Stealing Sun-Swapping, passing the fake off as real.