Killing a Houtian Martial Artist

This time, Shi Mu didn't draw his blade to meet the sword shadows. Instead, he suddenly bent both knees, lowering himself by half a body's height. A black glove had appeared on his other hand at some point, and he drove a punch viciously into the air.

"Looking for death!"

Wu Tong burst out laughing. The descending sword shadows abruptly scattered, dodging the incoming fist. The long sword they transformed into flashed with a cold gleam, stabbing into Shi Mu's shoulder from a strange angle.

With a ripping sound, the tip of the sword didn't actually pierce his flesh. It merely slid across his shoulder, slicing open a several-inch gash in his clothes and revealing the gleaming golden armor beneath.

"Golden Silk Armor!"

Wu Tong exclaimed at the sight. Now, without any rebound force to help him, he couldn't take to the air again.

Shi Mu had already anticipated this. He reached back and grabbed the blade with the five fingers of his gloved hand. The seemingly razor-sharp edge cut right through the glove, leaving his fingers slick with blood, but he acted as if he hadn't noticed and cried out excitedly,

"I've finally caught you! Let's see where you'll run this time!"

A cold glint flashed in Wu Tong's eyes. Without a word, he flicked his wrist, ready to use the soft sword in his hand to slice off Shi Mu's fingers.

Shi Mu suddenly let out a loud shout. The Sun and Moon Blades in his other hand suddenly conjured nine blade shadows that swept out in a flurry, moving far faster than any of his previous strikes.

"Nine-Slash Breath! Your blade art has reached mastery!"

Wu Tong gave a strange cry. He no longer cared about the soft sword in his hand and abruptly let go. Then he flipped backward three zhang and landed on the ground.

By his estimate, a distance this great would be enough to get him completely outside the range of the blade shadows.

But before Wu Tong had even steadied himself, a cold flash appeared before him. The nine blade shadows had reached him like maggots clinging to bone.

"Oh no!"

Wu Tong was truly taken aback. It was already too late to dodge, so he could only draw in a breath. A layer of blue suddenly appeared across both his arms, and he swung them in rapid succession against the oncoming blade shadows.

Thud! Thud! Several muffled impacts rang out.

The blade shadows scattered!

The man managed to smash most of the blade shadows apart with his bare hands. But after a flash of cold light, the Sun and Moon Blades still struck one of his arms solidly. They didn't sever it, only barely breaking through the layer of blue covering it, but they cut several inches deep.

The brocade-robed man was overjoyed. Just as he was about to retreat again despite his pain, a jingling sound came from the hilt of the Sun and Moon Blades. The blade that had sunk into his arm suddenly sprang up, flashed with cold light, and swept across his neck.

A line of blood appeared on Wu Tong's neck. His eyes bulged as he stared fixedly at the sharp blade embedded in the dirt beside him.

Only then did he notice the black, slender chain attached to the back of the hilt. In the darkness, he hadn't noticed it at all!

"I still had other methods... If not for the Golden Silk Armor... If not for that chain... If I'd known your blade art..."

Wu Tong desperately clutched his neck as blood gushed out. He muttered a few words through bloodied lips, then his head tilted to one side. In the end, it rolled right off his neck.

The enormous head landed in the dirt, its eyes still open, as if it couldn't rest in peace.

The slender chain on the Moon Blade suddenly quivered. The weapon spun through the air and flew back, landing steadily in the hand of the young man several zhang away.

Only then did Shi Mu slump to the ground with a thump, panting heavily.

Although the fight had been brief, the pressure this Houtian Martial Artist had put on him was several times greater than that of the Wu Family riders he'd faced earlier. If he hadn't deliberately used the Golden Silk Armor to take his opponent's sword strike and seize the opening, then followed up with the Let-Go Blade Technique and the little trick built into the Sun and Moon Blades, he might really have been cut down by his opponent.

But a moment later, Shi Mu suddenly burst into wild laughter.

"I can't believe I really killed a Houtian Martial Artist! Wu Tong was only the weakest sort of early-stage Houtian Martial Artist, and the whole fight was a bit of a fluke, but a Houtian Martial Artist is still a Houtian Martial Artist! I wonder if the Pulse-Seeking Envoy from Kaiyuan Martial Academy will think more highly of me when he hears about this."

After finishing his self-mocking monologue, Shi Mu pulled a small bottle from his clothes. He scooped out some salve and applied it to the wounds on his hand and the shallow cut on his face. Then, feeling refreshed, he stood and walked over to Wu Tong's corpse.

A moment later, Shi Mu had a jade box and an exquisitely designed belt in his hands.

The belt was naturally the soft sword Wu Tong had used earlier. When Shi Mu opened the jade box, he found a thick stack of silver notes inside, worth seventy or eighty thousand taels.

Without hesitation, Shi Mu put both items away. Then he looked at the corpses strewn haphazardly nearby, sighed, and turned to leave.

A short while later, at the edge of the woods.

"Big Brother Shi, I'm so glad you're all right."

Zhong Xiu clung tightly to the young man before her, her delicate body pressed against him without the slightest reserve. She looked so overjoyed that she was on the verge of tears.

"Miss Zhong, don't worry. It's all over now..."

Shi Mu stood stiffly, feeling the faint, delicate fragrance coming from the girl and unsure what to do with himself.

"Sorry, I got a little carried away. Big Brother Shi, what should we do now?" The girl quickly came to her senses and hurriedly let go, taking half a step back. Her cheeks flushed as she asked him.

"It's simple. We'll go back the way we came," Shi Mu said without hesitation.

On the other side of the woods, Wu Hua was leaning against the carriage, absentmindedly thinking about something.

The two Wu Family riders who had stayed behind were standing nearby on guard, doing their duty diligently.

A short distance from the three of them, more than a dozen Green Wind Colts were lowering their heads to graze on the grass.

Suddenly, two sharp whooshes rang out.

The two Wu Family riders were caught completely off guard. Two arrows pierced their foreheads, sending them flying backward before they crashed heavily to the ground, lifeless.

"Oh no!"

The arrogant young man leaning against the carriage reacted quickly. He shouted and immediately charged toward the herd of Green Wind Colts.

But he had only taken a few steps when a third arrow pierced straight through his back and pinned him firmly to the ground.

Wu Hua let out a scream and desperately reached behind himself with both hands, trying to pull out the arrow in his back. But it seemed to have grown right into the ground and wouldn't budge at all.

Just then, footsteps sounded in the woods. Shi Mu walked out holding the Purple Steel Bow, with Zhong Xiu close behind him.

"It's you! Impossible! How did you evade Third Uncle and the others? Don't kill me! If you take me hostage, my Third Uncle will let you go!" Wu Hua managed to turn his head and recognize Shi Mu and Zhong Xiu. His courage broke, and he cried out in panic.