Red Spirit Stone Marrow

They were both at the first of the Four Great Passes, the Five Viscera stage. They were both Inner Court disciples, and neither had joined the Main Sect. Naturally, neither had a cultivation method for the first pass of the Four Great Passes.

In other words, their realms were the same, and their cultivation was equal!

Yet Fang Jiming felt as though he were facing a top expert at the second or even third pass of the Four Great Passes. The crushing pressure left him gasping for breath!

He couldn't win. There was simply no way. They weren't even on the same level!

But Fang Jiming couldn't begin to explain where the gap came from!

Why... why is the difference so enormous...? Fang Jiming raged helplessly inside.

Yu Xiu casually turned the long sword in his hand and said, unhurriedly, "You said you'd spread the word that I possessed a secret treasure. That might indeed cause me some trouble, but there's one problem right now: you're about to die.

"How will you spread that news?"

Fang Jiming let out a long sigh, as if resigned to his fate. "There's something I don't understand. Could you explain it to me?"

Yu Xiu shook his head. "No."

You— Fang Jiming choked on his words. His sword trembled in his hand. "The sword I hold is forged from Black Iron Essence and Essence of Cold Iron from the North Sea. One thrust can seal a man's throat or freeze the blood in his entire body. It kills without bloodshed and leaves no trace. If properly nourished, it has the potential to become a spirit weapon."

He looked at the sword in Yu Xiu's hand. "My sword is a hundred, a thousand times better than yours. If I die today, you can take my Clear Cold Sword and nourish it until it becomes a spirit weapon."

Yu Xiu smiled. "If I kill you and then take your sword, once I return to the sect, I might as well announce to everyone that you all died at my hands.

"The enforcement seniors would probably throw me into the Earth Fire Prison at once. You're using this Clear Cold Sword as bait, hoping to make me greedy, then send me back to the sect to die.

"If I'm not mistaken, your sword must have some history. It'd be easy to recognize.

"You want to use the sword to kill me and avenge yourself. You still haven't learned your lesson, have you?"

Fang Jiming listened in silence, then sighed. "It seems I can't kill you after all!

"Very well. Fight me with swords. Let's see where your swordsmanship truly excels."

The long sword in Yu Xiu's hand suddenly trembled, ringing with a clear clang. The next instant, his figure blurred, leaving only his faint words drifting in the air. "As you wish."

What a fast sword! Fang Jiming's gaze sharpened. He drove his energy and spirit to their limits, unleashing the true qi of the first pass. It surged into Sword Qi, pouring from the Clear Cold Sword. His blade danced so densely that not even a breath of air could pass through, guarding him from head to toe.

This sword wasn't meant to kill his opponent. It was meant only to block Yu Xiu's sword, too fast to see!

But no matter how fast Fang Jiming's sword was, how could it outpace Yu Xiu's sword, empowered by Riding the Wind?

Almost the instant Yu Xiu's figure blurred, a thin line of blood appeared across Fang Jiming's throat. He didn't even notice. He kept swinging his sword.

His movements grew slower and slower, while the red line at his throat widened and darkened.

Invisible Sword Qi poured in through his throat, shattering his Five Viscera and bowels, destroying his meridians and Qi Sea, and severing every last thread of life!

His eyes showed unwillingness, then confusion. At last, he murmured, "The gap... is really this great?"

Thud! Fang Jiming stopped swinging his sword and toppled to the ground.

He was dead!

Too weak! Yu Xiu returned his sword to its scabbard.

Even though Fang Jiming was also at the Five Viscera stage, the first pass of the Four Great Passes—and had remained at that level longer—he wasn't even worthy of making Yu Xiu draw his sword.

Wind Movement: Riding the Wind!

Sword Heart: Hidden Edge!

These were the two obvious ways Yu Xiu differed from other people.

But beyond that, his lifespan and comprehension were even more unreasonable.

His lifespan of over fifteen hundred years had made his Life Spring vast and deep, his vitality seemingly boundless. In turn, his true qi was just as pure and powerful, far beyond what anyone at the same level could match.

His comprehension of 1,429 meant every sword art in his hands reached a flawless, complete level.

And once he had perfected a sword art, every time he used it, he moved according to his instincts. Countless flashes of insight raced through his mind, and even he didn't know how his next sword would strike.

His swordsmanship had long since gone beyond the bounds of swordsmanship itself. Each strike left no trace to follow, and its power surpassed that of an ordinary perfected sword form. Even when others practiced the same sword art, they couldn't see an opening in his moves, much less find a way to block them.

So even without Wind Movement or Riding the Wind, without Sword Heart or Hidden Edge, his true strength was still far beyond that of other cultivators at the same level.

To Yu Xiu, Fang Jiming was little different from a wooden dummy that couldn't move.

As for Song Yue, Pang Wei, Zhang Yun, and the others, they were even less than wooden dummies. The moment Yu Xiu drew his sword, they were already dead.

Fang Jiming had tried to use their lives to hold Yu Xiu back and buy himself time to escape. It had been completely pointless.

Yu Xiu paid no mind to Fang Jiming's corpse. He turned and went back into the thatched cottage.

Without so much as glancing at Qin Shu, Zhao Zheng, and the others sprawled across the floor, he calmly sat at the old table in the middle of the main room. "Will you come out on your own, or do I have to invite you out?"

A low voice answered, "I've been in Guiping County for a long time. Many cultivators besides you have come here, yet I've survived to this day."

Yu Xiu nodded, stood up, and drew his sword. His figure blurred once more. "I see. You're reminding me to kill you as quickly as possible."

"What do you mean, kill me as quickly as possible?" the low voice cried in alarm and anger. "I'm reminding you that I have powerful backing too. You dare—"

The words were cut short as the sword's edge flashed before its eyes.

It was a Shadow Demon occupying the body of a middle-aged man. There was no sign of demonic aura on the surface, which was why it had hidden so well.

But Yu Xiu had moved too fast, too decisively. It had no chance to react!

The sword flashed. The man's head fell. Worse still, the invisible Sword Qi followed the blade into his body, instantly cutting through the middle-aged man from head to toe—and into the Shadow Demon occupying him.

"Ah..." The Shadow Demon roared hoarsely, but to no avail.

Though Yu Xiu hadn't activated Sword Heart or Hidden Edge, his Sword Qi had been imbued with Sword Heart. It was far beyond ordinary Sword Qi, nearly impossible to dispel and incomparably sharp. Even though the Shadow Demon was formless, it couldn't escape the invisible Sword Qi slashing through it. In an instant, it became a cloud of black smoke and vanished.

Clink!

A clear sound rang out as something fell to the ground. The Shadow Demon disappeared, leaving behind an object that was neither gold nor jade.

Yu Xiu flicked a finger, and the object floated into his palm.

It felt smooth and warm, was dark red in color, and had a hard texture.

Red Spirit Stone Marrow! Yu Xiu recognized it. It was a medicinal stone used in alchemy, a fairly common spirit material, and not worth much.

Better than nothing.

Yu Xiu put it away, quickly searched Fang Jiming and the others, then casually carved a deep trench through the room. He buried them all and disappeared.