Poof.
The man blocked the blade with one hand and swept his right leg sideways.
At almost the same moment, Lin Sheng raised his leg and struck.
Their legs collided. Lin Sheng grunted and quickly retreated.
"Glance Slash!"
Lin Sheng drew his sword back and paused for a moment.
In an instant, a silver streak shot out, slashing toward the man's neck at a speed far beyond his previous attacks.
"Not bad."
The man quickly took a step back, just barely avoiding the slash.
"Elephant Tower!!"
As Lin Sheng's sword form lost momentum, the man stepped forward and stamped his right foot hard on the ground, sending a powerful tremor through it. He surged forward, channeling force through his entire body, and slammed his shoulder toward Lin Sheng.
Bang!
Lin Sheng dodged the blow, and the man crashed hard into the concrete wall beside the road.
A large section of loosened concrete collapsed from the impact, scattering fine dust everywhere.
Some small chunks of rubble flew off and struck the arm of a girl nearby. She cried out in pain.
Only then did the several girls who had been watching realize this was a real fight. Seeing Lin Sheng and the man clash, they turned pale with fright and hurriedly jogged away.
Lin Sheng gripped his sword with both hands, his expression icy as he rapidly unleashed slash after slash.
He had faced many opponents in his dreams, all of them with murderous intent. The man before him was no more formidable than those he had fought there.
He simply hadn't yet adapted to this style of fighting, which relied on bare fists and open-handed techniques instead of weapons.
Sword flashes clashed repeatedly with fists and palms, producing alternating sharp and muffled sounds.
Above them, cars sped across the overpass, their rumbling conveniently drowning out the sounds of their fight.
Bang!!
A muffled impact rang out.
Lin Sheng rapidly retreated several steps, the hand gripping his sword trembling violently.
Across from him, a thin line of blood slowly appeared on the man's wrist.
"Interesting." The man lowered his eyes to his wrist. "When it comes to swordsmanship alone, it's been a long time since I've faced someone at your level."
"Are you crazy, or is something wrong with your head?" Lin Sheng's expression remained cold as he quickly steadied his shaking hands, careful not to show weakness.
As far as he knew, he hadn't offended anyone.
If the White Card Gang was behind this, they wouldn't have made such a spectacle of attacking him in broad daylight.
The man before him seemed a little unstable, but there was no denying his skill. He was a genuine expert.
Since he had begun learning swordsmanship in his nightmares, this was the first time Lin Sheng had met someone in real life who could stand against him in martial skill.
"Heh. Playing dumb? If the price is right and the opponent is worth it, I take the job."
The man lowered his hand and relaxed his fingers. "That's enough for today. I didn't expect to find such a pleasant surprise just by stopping by."
"You mean someone put out a hit on me?" Lin Sheng's heart jolted.
"Yeah. The pay wasn't much—two hundred thousand. Still, better than nothing." The man grinned.
"If the job posting hadn't said you could use a sword to take down five people in five seconds, I wouldn't have accepted such a small job."
"What about now?" Lin Sheng stood straight. Though the man no longer appeared ready to attack, he stayed on guard.
"Now, I'm giving up. Do as you please." The man spread his arms, looking perfectly at ease.
"You're not going to use the gun?" Lin Sheng asked, startled. He glanced at the handgun resting on the railing above.
"Are you insulting me?!" The man's face hardened, and his gaze shifted. "Looks like your teacher never taught you the rules of our kind."
He gave Lin Sheng one last look, then turned and grabbed the concrete wall. With a few leaps, he reached the overpass in a second.
He picked up the handgun, put on his jacket, and turned away without a word. Before long, he had disappeared from Lin Sheng's sight.
Lin Sheng stood beneath the bridge and waited in silence for a while. Once he was sure the man wouldn't return, he slowly walked over to the sword case lying on the ground.
One side of the black case had been crushed. The scabbard had rolled out and landed some distance away.
Lin Sheng looked over and saw that one of the girls from earlier was holding it.
The girl was pale, her forehead beaded with cold sweat. She held the scabbard in both hands, trembling.
When she saw Lin Sheng approach, she hurriedly stood up and held it out to him with both hands.
"Your, your things." She could feel her voice shaking.
"Thanks." Lin Sheng took it, gently slid the blade—still smeared with a little blood—into the scabbard, and put it back in the case.
He slung the case onto his back and quickly walked away.
The girl stared blankly at his back, too afraid to move until he had vanished from sight.
"My leg's swollen."
Lin Sheng calmly held an ice pack against his lower leg.
He examined it closely. The injury had come from the clash of their legs during his fight with the mysterious man.
If not for the protection provided by the Gray Seal rune, that single collision would have broken his lower leg.
"But then again, if it weren't for the Gray Seal rune, I wouldn't have tried to block his leg with my own in the first place. When all's said and done, I'm still too weak and out of shape."
Lin Sheng thought back over the fight.
He was far slower and weaker than his opponent. Each time they clashed, he had to rely on more skill and finesse to deflect the man's brute force.
That had also limited the power of his Black Feather Swordsmanship.
Sitting in the washroom at home, Lin Sheng took away the ice pack and checked the swollen area. The injured spot already felt somewhat numb.
"The bleeding's mostly stopped."
He picked up a bottle of medicated oil from nearby, dabbed some onto his fingers, and quickly rubbed it over the injury.
As soon as he applied it, the strong medicinal smell filled the washroom.
After applying the medicine, Lin Sheng pulled down his pant leg and put everything back where it belonged.
"Good thing I keep medicine for bruises and sprains at home. Otherwise, I'd have to go out and buy some."
His trip out had taken an unexpected turn, but at least his opponent seemed to follow some kind of code and hadn't used the gun.
"I've meditated on the Gray Seal rune for so long, and its effect has only improved a little since the last test at the park. It hasn't progressed at all since then. Looks like I've hit the limit."
Lin Sheng let out a breath and returned to his bedroom.
"If I really got shot with a handgun, there's no way I could block it. I'd still die."
He had tested it again afterward. At best, the effect of the Gray Seal rune on his body was like having a several-hundred-page textbook between him and an attack.
Since he had nothing else to use as a reference, he had used a textbook to test and compare its protection.
"The key now is figuring out who put out a hit on me. The White Card Gang?" Lin Sheng furrowed his brow.
"I haven't offended anyone. Why would someone target me? If it's just because of the amateur swordsmanship tournament, is a spot in an HH City competition really worth going this far?"
He had no way of knowing.
What he didn't know was that the White Card Gang's thugs had initially only planned to beat up his father.
They hadn't intended to break any bones or leave him crippled—just give him minor injuries to scare him.
They hadn't expected to provoke the wolf that was Lin Sheng. He had taken them all out in one go, and even forced the gang's young leader to reveal the handgun he kept hidden on him.
"I have absolutely no information. I don't even know where to start looking. This is so frustrating!" Lin Sheng felt a surge of irritation.
Even if he wanted revenge, he had to know who his target was.
The problem was, he didn't even know who was after him.
Before you continue