Barely Satisfactory

"Grandpa Dong, they're catching up!"

The twelve- or thirteen-year-old girl looked tense as the old man carried her in his arms and raced forward at incredible speed.

But it was plain to see that the old man's not-so-aged face had gone deathly pale, and his breathing was ragged.

Behind them, four middle-aged men dressed in all sorts of clothes ran as fast as the wind, yet seemed in no hurry to catch up.

"Old man, let's see how long you can keep running!" One of them, a pale-faced, beardless middle-aged man with an iron fan tucked into his belt, let out a sinister laugh.

"Hand over that thing, and we'll let you die quickly. Otherwise, forget you—even that wretched Cui Family brat won't get an easy death!" The second man, a bald, burly fellow with thick brows and big eyes, grinned viciously.

"Old geezer, the alley ends here. There's nowhere left for you to run!" shouted the third, a burly man with messy hair and a headband.

Yet, for some reason, the old man and the girl up ahead really did stop.

Before the four middle-aged men could celebrate, they saw four young men lying at the end of the alley, blood at the corners of their mouths. They were all unconscious, or perhaps dead.

Besides them, another young man was unhurriedly searching the bodies of the four, as though looking for something.

Just then, the young man looked up.

He was a handsome young man, strikingly good-looking and exceptionally rare.

But the four middle-aged men all stopped in unison. The young man, as well as the four lying on the ground, wore the uniforms of the Qingwei Sword Sect.

'People from the Qingwei Sword Sect!' The four exchanged glances, each seeing hesitation in the others' eyes.

'Damn it. Of all the times, that old geezer and the brat had to stumble into an internal dispute between Qingwei Sword Sect disciples!'

The old man surnamed Dong, who looked to be in his seventies, reacted swiftly. He clenched his teeth, dropped to his knees before Yu Xiu with a thump, then pulled the bewildered girl down beside him. "Please, young hero of the Qingwei Sword Sect, save us. This old man is willing to offer you the treasure."

As he spoke, the old man signaled for the girl to take out a wooden box. She held it out to Yu Xiu with both hands.

The four men behind them blanched and shouted, "You old bastard, how dare you!"

Yu Xiu glanced at the wooden box in the girl's hands. 'A treasure-delivering kid?'

'What luck I've got!'

He lifted his gaze, looked past the old man and the girl, and fixed his eyes on the four men. "Looking to die?"

"Friend from the Qingwei Sword Sect, don't meddle in other people's business. We'll offer you a reward afterward," said the pale-faced, beardless man. "We're all in the Qi Sea realm. Four against one—you have no advantage."

"Besides, you injured your fellow disciples. I doubt you'd want that getting out, would you?"

'A threat?' Sometimes, a person really did laugh when they were speechless. "Do you know this city is called Qingwei City?"

Threatening a Qingwei Sword Sect disciple in Qingwei City?

This wasn't a joke. All he had to do was shout, and before three breaths had passed, those four Qi Sea realm Rogue Cultivators would be chopped into mincemeat.

If it took more than three breaths, the Qingwei Sword Sect could consider itself bankrupt.

"Precisely because this is Qingwei City, you don't dare speak up after injuring your fellow disciples," the man said, drawing a deep breath. "You have a guilty conscience. If someone saw what happened, you'd be punished under the sect rules!"

"Let's each go our own way and mind our own business. We'll even offer you a reward. What's not to like?"

Yu Xiu smiled. "You do have a point. So what if I refuse?"

The pale-faced, beardless man shook his head. "The Qingwei Sword Sect's swordsmanship is peerless. We naturally wouldn't be a match for you at the same level. But if I'm not mistaken, you've only just entered the Qi Sea realm!"

He pointed to the three men beside him. "The weakest among us is at the third level of the Qi Sea realm. How can you possibly beat us?"

'Clang!' Yu Xiu drew the long sword in his Sword-in-Hand. "Why don't you see for yourselves whether my sword is sharp?"

It was true that he had only just entered the Qi Sea realm. But the inner energy cultivated by the Qingwei Sword Sect's Sword-in-Hand lineage was Sword Qi, and their cultivation method was integrated with their sword techniques. Their swordsmanship was peerless.

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

Compared with these Rogue Cultivators, Qingwei Sword Sect disciples were all a cut above.

Before the words had even left his mouth, Yu Xiu moved with his sword and shot forward in an instant.

The Cloud Sway Sword Art and the Flying Rainbow Sword—both were sword techniques.

"You..." The four men jolted in shock. They felt a cold gleam engulf them, and their backs turned clammy. An invisible chill seemed to pierce them through the 180,000 pores of their bodies, burrowing straight inside!

Even their minds seemed frozen and eroded by the chill, turning sluggish and dull!

"Sword Intent! He's mastered Sword Intent!" another man cried, so horrified his soul nearly fled his body.

Before the sword even reached them, its Sword Intent had already invaded their limbs and bones, even their minds. They hadn't fought yet, and their strength had already been cut by at least thirty percent. How were they supposed to fight?

More importantly, a Qingwei Sword Sect disciple who had mastered Sword Intent had to be an important figure in the Sword Sect, with an astonishing background. Never mind whether they could beat him—even if they could, who would dare?

If they killed Yu Xiu today, the Sword Sect's Sword Qi would probably cut down the ancestral graves of their eighteen generations tomorrow!

That old bastard really was lucky to have run into someone like this backing him up!

"Who cares about his Sword Intent? If he wants to kill me, I'll kill him first!" the third man snarled, abruptly drawing his saber and sending waves of saber light crashing forth...

But the sword light came even faster, and was far more elusive. The sword clearly seemed to be in the center, yet before his saber could intercept it, it appeared above him and pierced his throat.

'How... how can the gap be so huge?'

The man's eyes widened, but he couldn't make a sound. He collapsed to the ground.

But Yu Xiu's sword didn't pause for even an instant. A flash of sword light passed, and it darted forth again.

The other three men felt their scalps prickle. One pulled out a short spear, one drew an iron whip, and one produced an iron fan.

They channeled their inner energy and attacked together. The spear flashed like a star, the iron whip struck like a mountain-splitting blow, and the iron fan snapped open and slashed like a blade. All three attacks struck at Yu Xiu.

But Yu Xiu's sword was too fast, too swift. It enveloped all three of them at once.

'He's not three-headed or six-armed. How could he strike with so many swords? They must be phantom swords, feints!' the middle-aged man with the iron fan thought. Even so, he drew back the fan that had slashed out and spread it open again, holding it before himself.

In the next instant, a glint of cold light pierced through the fan's ribs and vanished in a flash.

But a sword wound had already appeared in the middle-aged man's throat. Blood gushed out, and his eyes widened. 'His sword really is that fast!'

The man with the iron whip saw nothing but layers upon layers of sword light. He couldn't tell where it was coming from, and was sweating profusely with anxiety. He didn't even notice that the companion beside him had already died.

"Pfft!" A streak of blood shot through the air. Though he had swung his iron whip in a dense, impenetrable wall, it still failed to stop the overlapping sword shadows. His throat was pierced.

'Where on earth did that sword come from?' He could no longer make sense of it. He fell to the ground and didn't get up again.

The last man, the one with the short spear, retreated again and again, but he still couldn't escape the sword light before him.

The sword was too mysterious, too keen. Before he could make out its true form, the long sword had already pierced his brow and burst out through the back of his head.

Yu Xiu withdrew his sword. The last man fell to the ground, yet Yu Xiu remained calm.

He had learned too many sword techniques to perfection. With his Sword Heart tempered by Hidden Edge and Sword Intent bolstering him, these men—though their realms were higher than his—couldn't make him give his all.

'Not too bad.' Yu Xiu offered his verdict inwardly.