Barely Satisfactory

"Grandpa Dong, they've caught up!"

The twelve or thirteen-year-old girl looked terrified, held tightly in the old man's arms as he sprinted at breakneck speed.

Yet, it was plain to see that the old man's face, though not particularly aged, had turned deathly pale, his breathing ragged and shallow.

Behind them, four middle-aged men in mismatched attire moved with swift, rhythmic strides, though they didn't seem in any hurry to close the distance.

"Old man, let's see how much longer you can run!" one of the men, a clean-shaven fellow with a sinister smile, remarked while tapping the iron fan tucked into his waistband.

"Hand over that item and we'll grant you a quick death. Otherwise, not only will you suffer, but that little bastard of the Cui Family won't have it easy either!" a second man, a burly, thick-browed brute with a shaved head, sneered.

"Old geezer, the alley ends here. You have nowhere left to run," the third man, disheveled and wearing a headband, shouted.

For reasons unknown, the old man and the girl actually came to a halt.

Before the four men could celebrate, they saw four youths lying at the end of the alley, blood trickling from their mouths, their fates unknown.

Beyond them, another youth was calmly rummaging through the belongings of the four unconscious boys.

At that moment, the youth looked up.

He was a remarkably handsome boy, possessing a rare and striking appearance.

Yet, the four men froze in their tracks. Both the youth and the four boys on the ground were wearing the robes of the Qingwei Sword Sect.

Qingwei Sword Sect disciples! The four men exchanged glances, each seeing the hesitation in the other's eyes.

Damn it, this old geezer and the brat had to run right into an internal dispute of the Qingwei Sword Sect!

The old man, surnamed Dong, who looked to be in his seventies, reacted with lightning speed. He gritted his teeth, dropped to his knees before Yu Xiu with a heavy thud, and pulled the bewildered girl down with him. "I beg the young hero of the Qingwei Sword Sect to save us! This old man is willing to offer up the treasure."

As he spoke, the old man signaled the girl to produce a wooden box, which she held up to Yu Xiu with both hands.

The four men behind them changed expressions, shouting in fury, "Old thief, how dare you!"

Yu Xiu glanced at the box in the girl's hands. A gift-bearing child?

To think I'd have such luck!

He raised his eyelids, his gaze sweeping past the old man and the girl to settle on the four men. "Do you wish to die?"

"Friend from the Qingwei Sword Sect, stay out of this business and there will be rewards for you later," the clean-shaven man said. "We are all in the Qi Sea Realm. Four against one, you have no advantage."

"Besides, young hero, you've already injured your own sect members. I doubt you'd want word of this to get out, would you?"

A threat? When a person is truly speechless, they really do find it amusing. "Do you know what this city is called? It's called Qingwei City."

Threatening a disciple of the Qingwei Sword Sect inside Qingwei City?

He wasn't joking; if he shouted once, these four loose cultivators in the Qi Sea Realm would be hacked into mincemeat within three breaths.

If it took longer than three breaths, it would be a failure of the Qingwei Sword Sect.

"It is precisely because it is Qingwei City that you wouldn't dare make a scene after wounding your own sect members," the man said, taking a deep breath. "You have a guilty conscience. If others see this, you'll hardly escape the sect's discipline!"

"Let's each take a step back. We'll mind our own business, and we still have rewards to offer you. Why not?"

Yu Xiu smiled. "That does have some logic to it. So, what if I refuse?"

The clean-shaven man shook his head. "The sword arts of the Qingwei Sword Sect are peerless. In the same realm, we naturally cannot compete, but if I'm not mistaken, you have only just entered the Qi Sea Realm!"

He gestured to the three men beside him. "We are all at least at the third level of the Qi Sea Realm. How could you possibly win?"

Clang! Yu Xiu drew his long sword. "Why not test whether my sword is sharp?"

It was true that he had only just entered the Qi Sea Realm, but the internal energy cultivated by the sword-wielding branch of the Qingwei Sword Sect was Sword Qi, and their techniques were seamlessly integrated with their swordplay. Their sword arts were peerless.

More importantly, he possessed a Sword Heart, and his Sword Intent had already manifested.

Compared to these loose cultivators, a disciple of the Qingwei Sword Sect was vastly superior in every way.

Before the words had even faded, Yu Xiu moved with his blade, striking in an instant.

The Cloud Sway Sword Art and the Flying Rainbow Sword were both master-class techniques.

"You..." The four men were startled, feeling a cold light envelop them. A chill ran down their spines, as if an invisible frost were piercing through every pore of their bodies, straight into their marrow!

Even their minds felt frozen and eroded, becoming sluggish and dull!

"Sword Intent! He has cultivated Sword Intent!" another man screamed, his soul nearly leaving his body in terror.

Before the blade even arrived, the Sword Intent had already reached them, invading their limbs, bones, and even their consciousness. Before the fight had truly begun, their combat strength had been slashed by more than thirty percent. How could they fight this?

More importantly, a Qingwei Sword Sect disciple who had mastered Sword Intent was surely a figure of great importance. His background must be terrifying. Setting aside whether they could win, who would dare to strike?

If they killed Yu Xiu today, the Sword Sect's Sword Qi would likely descend tomorrow to raze the ancestral graves of their eighteen generations!

That old thief was truly lucky to have such a person backing him!

"To hell with his Sword Intent! If he wants to kill me, I'll kill him!" the third man roared, his expression twisted as he drew his blade, whipping up a storm of steel...

Yet, the sword light arrived faster and was far more elusive. Though the blade appeared to be in the center, before his own strike could intercept it, the sword had already appeared above him, piercing through his throat.

The gap... how can it be this vast...

The man's eyes widened, but he could not utter another sound before collapsing to the ground.

Yet Yu Xiu's sword did not pause for even a fraction of a second; the sword light flashed, then struck out once more.

The remaining three men felt their scalps tingle. One drew a short spear, another pulled out an iron whip, and the third whipped out an iron fan.

As they channeled their internal energy, the three attacked in unison. The spear tip glimmered like starlight, the iron whip descended like a mountain-cleaving strike, and the iron fan snapped open, slashing out like a blade, all directed at Yu Xiu.

But Yu Xiu's sword was too fast, too swift; it managed to envelop all three of them simultaneously.

He doesn't have three heads and six arms, how could he possibly strike so many times? It must be an illusion, a feint! the middle-aged man with the iron fan thought, though he still retracted his blade-like fan and spread it out to shield his front.

In the next instant, a point of cold light pierced through the ribs of the fan, vanishing in a blink.

Yet a sword wound had already appeared on the middle-aged man's throat, followed by a wild gush of blood. His eyes widened in shock, His sword... it really is this fast!

The man wielding the iron whip felt only layers of sword light before his eyes, unable to discern where they originated. He broke into a cold sweat, so frantic that he did not even notice his companion had already fallen.

"Pfft!" A spray of blood bloomed. Even though he had danced his iron whip into an impenetrable defense, he still failed to block the heavy shadows of the blade, and his throat was pierced through.

Where on earth is this sword coming from? He could no longer distinguish the truth, and with that, he collapsed to the ground, never to rise again.

The last man, holding the short spear, retreated again and again, yet he could never shake off the sword light before him.

This sword was too profound and too sharp. Before he could truly discern the reality from the illusion, the longsword had already passed through the center of his brow and exited from the back of his head.

The longsword was retracted, and as the last man fell to the ground, Yu Xiu remained calm.

He had learned too many perfected sword arts, and with a Sword Heart hiding its edge and the reinforcement of Sword Intent, these men—whose realms were even higher than his own—couldn't even force him to exert his full strength.

Barely satisfactory, Yu Xiu critiqued inwardly.