Why Force My Hand

In the gloomy forest, Li Qiming sprinted along the winding mountain path!

With the minor mastery of Swallow Skimming Grass beneath his feet, he pushed his speed to the limit, erupting with all his might!

He did not hesitate in the slightest, his heart set solely on escaping this dangerous valley!

"These people are terrifyingly strong; staying here is far too dangerous!"

Li Qiming's expression was resolute; his strength was low, and he could play no role here.

"You certainly run fast..." A cold, chilling voice suddenly rang out from behind him.

It was Shadow Blade, who had caught up!

Li Qiming was terrified, a sense of crisis rising behind him, so he hurriedly turned and drew his Seven Taels steel blade to desperately parry!

This steel blade was one he had purchased from the Blacksmith Hall at the martial arts school for seven taels of silver, hence the name, Seven Taels.

In the darkness, the masked Shadow Blade was like a ghost pressed right against him; the two crescent-moon daggers in his hands collided with Li Qiming's steel blade, striking sparks!

"Hmph." Shadow Blade sneered, applying a bit of force.

The next moment, the Seven Taels steel blade in Li Qiming's hand actually shattered, breaking directly into several pieces!

Li Qiming's heart sank.

The quality of this blade was too poor!

No, it must be that the opponent's blades were of superior quality!

They were weapons of entirely different tiers!

"It's over." Shadow Blade said coldly, as if stating a heartless fact.

The opponent's blade was broken, his cultivation realm was lower, and he had no weapon—what could he use to fight?

He had no habit of wasting time and immediately raised his hand to kill Li Qiming.

Whoosh—

Li Qiming threw the broken blade with all his might, using it like a hidden weapon as it shot toward Shadow Blade's face!

Shadow Blade paused, raising his dagger to deflect it.

Such a petty trick could naturally never harm him.

But in that split second of delay, Li Qiming seized the chance to turn and, without a moment's hesitation, took off running down the mountain!

Run!

The moment they clashed, the opponent's blood energy—at the Great Perfection of Blood Refining—had shaken Li Qiming so hard he nearly vomited blood!

He was absolutely no match for him!

"Heh. A wasted effort!" Shadow Blade watched the figure sprinting rapidly down the mountain, frowning slightly as he shook his head in disdain.

He was a killer raised from childhood by the Demon Sect, and an excellent assassin at that.

Competing with an assassin in speed? In short-distance bursts?

Since he was young, there had been a hundred killer candidates like him, but now, those ninety-nine candidates were all dead.

Dead under his blade.

He was able to stand out partly because his talent for the blade was once in a century! And partly because he had a unique understanding of movement techniques!

Watching Li Qiming's figure about to vanish into the darkness, Shadow Blade suddenly stepped forward.

Boom!

The ground beneath his feet cracked, and Shadow Blade's body, like a ghost, launched forward, chasing fiercely along the winding mountain path!

Li Qiming looked back, only to see the opponent's body moving across the winding path as if it were flat ground!

At many sharp, right-angled turns, the opponent's body didn't slow down or buffer at all! With a simple leap, he twisted his body and continued to chase him in a straight line!

Bang, bang, bang!

Shadow Blade's feet exploded with sound! It was as if he had some kind of propulsion missile strapped to his feet!

The explosive power in the opponent's legs ignored the inertia of physics; no turn could reduce his speed by even a fraction!

In fact, Shadow Blade's speed was increasing in a straight line!

"How is this possible?!" Li Qiming never imagined there could be such a terrifying movement technique in this world!

One had to know that on one side of these turns lay a bottomless abyss! Falling down meant being smashed to pieces!

Boom!

Shadow Blade caught up in the blink of an eye and slashed at his back.

At the critical moment, Li Qiming mobilized a sliver of the Flood Dragon Bloodline power within his dantian!

Boom!

His speed suddenly doubled, narrowly dodging that lethal strike!

"I can't beat him on the turns; if I want to survive, I have to run in a straight line!" Li Qiming knew his own strengths and weaknesses well!

Swallow Skimming Grass only achieves its maximum effect in a straight line; on winding mountain paths, it cannot be fully utilized!

He pivoted his feet, abandoning his flight down the mountain, and bolted directly toward the dense forest on the side of the mountain slope!

Although the dense forest was obstructed by trees, he could always find gaps to run in a straight line!

There were large amounts of barbed thorns within, which scraped against his body, shredding his robes and tearing his skin open!

His entire body burned with searing pain!

But at this moment, Li Qiming could not care about such things!

He ran with his head down!

Boom, boom, boom!

Shadow Blade was like a maggot on a rotting bone, chasing Li Qiming at near point-blank range!

Both figures had reached their respective limits within the dense forest!

"Heh, I don't believe you can hold on for much longer!" Sweat beaded on Shadow Blade's forehead, yet he remained confident!

Although this movement technique was unreasonable, the consumption it placed on every aspect of the body was also astonishing!

It was simply impossible to maintain this extreme speed for a long time.

However, he was, after all, at the Great Perfection of the Blood Refining Realm; how could he possibly be outdone by a piece of trash at the mid-stage of the Blood Refining Realm?!

In the blink of an eye, half an hour passed.

Shadow Blade's face was deathly pale, and he could not help but pant for breath.

By now, his own body was inevitably covered in scratches from the thorns in the jungle.

After all, without the protective energy of the Bone Refining Realm, he was ultimately just flesh and blood.

Shadow Blade's previous confidence gradually vanished, leaving him looking thoroughly disheveled.

His physical strength and blood energy had also faintly reached their limit!

Shadow Blade had never imagined that one day, he would be competing with someone in a test of long-distance endurance.

His training since childhood had always been about seeking a one-hit kill!

He was an exceptionally talented assassin.

Endurance, ambush, assassination—he was born for these things.

Every mission he had ever taken on had never failed.

Yet.

Looking at Li Qiming, who was a mere ten feet ahead, Shadow Blade could not help but feel dazed.

Why was this guy so good at running?!

Every time Shadow Blade felt the opponent was about to exhaust his physical strength and blood energy, this kid would always manage to persist once more.

After this happened several times.

Shadow Blade even began to consider giving up.

But whenever such a thought arose, Li Qiming's speed would slowly drop by a fraction, as if he could finally catch up if he just persisted a little longer!

Soon.

Shadow Blade stopped in his tracks, bracing his hands on his knees, his entire body soaked through with sweat; he finally realized that something was wrong!

The kid in front of him was not right!

It seemed as if he were intentionally stringing him along!

How could a mid-stage Blood Refining Realm existence persist for so long?

He was at the Great Perfection of the Blood Refining Realm and had long since reached the limits of his body; by what right could this guy persist longer than him?!

Just at this moment.

Li Qiming, who had been fleeing in a disheveled state, slowly came to a halt.

He also braced his knees, gasping for air.

Compared to Shadow Blade, he was even more wretched!

His gray robes had been shredded into strips by the thorns, his body was covered in bloody gashes, and his skin was torn open!

The sweat felt like salt being rubbed into his wounds.

His whole body ached to the point of cramping.

He had indeed reached his limit.

If not for the trace of the Flood Dragon Bloodline within his body taking effect, helping him continuously recover his physical strength and blood energy, he would likely have long since become a ghost under the other man's blade!

Li Qiming turned his head to look at Shadow Blade, the weakness, fear, and helplessness that had previously been in his eyes completely gone!

"I just wanted to live, why did you have to chase me?!"

"Why force my hand?"

As he spoke, Li Qiming slowly straightened his body.

Under the terrified gaze of Shadow Blade.

His aura gradually rose, all the wounds on his body healed completely, and a large amount of sweat evaporated from his skin.

His stamina and blood energy were instantly restored to their peak.

"Die!"

Li Qiming suddenly lunged forward instead of retreating, pouncing fiercely toward Shadow Blade!