Lived This Long and Still Didn't Know How to Improve Your Ultimate Move?

The Profound Yin Grand Hand Seal was still slowly taking shape.

He Cang's entire face had turned livid from holding his breath, all his focus locked onto his ultimate move.

From midair, Xu Jin's unhurried voice drifted down. "People still hold back while charging up ultimate moves these days? Playing the whole card-casting windup routine? That stuff went out of fashion ages ago."

"Shatter!"

With a turn of his palm, another small sword appeared in his hand. At a flick of his fingertip, a streak of white light shot forth.

"Boom—"

The giant yin-water hand, only seventy percent formed, was instantly split into pieces.

The flying sword did not lose any momentum, piercing straight through the chests of He Cang and He Chong. He Chong died on the spot.

Eyes bloodshot, He Hu lunged forward to fight for his life. Xu Jin merely twitched a finger, and the flying sword curved around, circling He Hu once. He Hu fell soundlessly to the ground.

Xie Kun had already been scared out of his wits by Xu Jin. Seeing even He Cang pierced through by a single sword, he turned and tried to burrow into the reed marsh.

With a wave of Xu Jin's finger, the flying sword became a streak of white light and tore through the air, striking Xie Kun squarely in the back.

He let out a muffled grunt, staggered forward several steps, then plunged headfirst into the river, never moving again.

Xu Jin slowly descended atop his sword and looked at He Cang. "You've lived this long and still didn't know how to improve your ultimate move? At your age, you've really lived like a dog."

The longer He Cang looked at Xu Jin, the more horrified he became.

This boy had no shortcomings whatsoever, inside or out, from head to toe.

His physical body, his flight, and that incomprehensible Flying Sword Art.

Only now did He Cang understand why Wang Defa had died at this boy's hands.

He could not fight him.

There was simply no way to fight him.

Today, he was doomed to die.

He Cang simply could not understand how a junior at the Comprehension Intent realm could be so well-rounded.

He could no longer see any hope of survival. Gritting out his last breath, he condensed a wisp of his life-bound yin Baleful Intent into a venomous needle as fine as an ox hair and silently shot it toward Wang Lei on the shore.

If he could not beat the real target, dragging a Demon Suppression Bureau man down with him would still make it worthwhile.

Wang Lei was crouched nearby, rummaging through the spoils. The instant the yin Baleful Intent stirred, his whole body went numb, and he threw himself sharply to the side.

"Clang!" The venomous needle grazed his shoulder and embedded itself in a wooden post. Black stains instantly spread through the wood chips.

"Damn! You can't afford to lose, is that it? Can't win, so you resort to a sneak attack?"

Frightened, he patted his chest. Before he could recover, Xu Jin's sword qi had already blasted out, burning He Cang's soul to nothing and leaving not even an intact corpse behind.

"You still dared to make a move against my partner. Old bastard, you didn't die unjustly." Xu Jin walked over and kicked at the ash on the ground, then glanced down at the torn fabric on Wang Lei's shoulder. "Not bad. Your reaction was pretty quick. You didn't hold me back."

The battle had completely subsided, leaving the floating platform in utter ruin.

Wang Lei crouched down and continued searching He Cang and Xie Kun's bodies. He found half an inscription-carved stone tablet, a wrinkled storage pouch, and several sheets of rough paper covered in crooked formation patterns.

He weighed the storage pouch in his hand, passed it to Xu Jin, and looked up with undisguised disdain. "That's it? An old grandmaster who lived nearly a hundred years, and his family fortune wasn't even as rich as that old monster Wang Defa's. The Canal Gang is really poor."

Xu Jin kicked He Hu's corpse at his feet. "Their skills weren't much, but their appetite was huge. They dared covet the Dan Ding inheritance with half a broken stone tablet. They didn't die unjustly."

He casually tossed the storage pouch back. "You sort it out. Keep whatever's useful, and turn in the rest later. Oh, and teach me that qi-sensing method of yours sometime. It'll come in handy when diving into tombs."

Wang Lei rolled his eyes. "So the only use my little skill has in your eyes is scouting underwater routes?"

"What else?" Xu Jin raised an eyebrow. "It's not like I can send you up to fight people. With your Body Tempering realm cultivation, if that venomous needle had hit you just now, you'd be lying down already."

The two sorted through the spoils while casually trading barbs. The bloody stench and taut tension from moments before vanished in an instant, as though they had not just slain a grandmaster and broken a killing move.

Seeing that the battle had truly ended, Daoist Yun Feng and Patron Zhao, who had been hiding behind the reeds on the eastern bank, hurriedly straightened their robes and approached. They cupped their hands in salute toward Xu Jin, bowing deeply.

"Patrol Officer Xu's divine might is unmatched. To slay a grandmaster with one sword is truly a blessing for Green-Mud Ferry!"

"We had been watching the battle from the side just now and had intended to lend a hand, but feared interfering with the patrol officer's official duties. The Canal Gang is an outside martial force. They secretly investigated ancient ruins and obstructed the court's law enforcement, so they thoroughly deserved their fate. They have not the slightest connection to our three registered local factions."

Patron Zhao hastily joined in, smooth and accommodating. "If the patrol officer needs boats, manpower, or underwater supplies for tomb exploration, just say the word. The River Merchants Guild will cooperate fully, without a second word."

Xu Jin swept his gaze over the two men. "You were only observing. It's no concern. So long as you behave yourselves in the future and cooperate with the Demon Suppression Bureau's duties, this patrol officer naturally will not hold you accountable without cause."

"Yes, yes, the patrol officer is right." The two nodded repeatedly, exchanged a few more pleasantries, and only then bowed and took their leave.

After they had gone a considerable distance and were sure no sound could reach them, both of them let out a sigh of relief.

Daoist Yun Feng stroked his goatee, lingering fear still in his heart. "Slaying a grandmaster with one sword... This boy's ruthlessness and talent far surpass anything we imagined. Those fools from the Canal Gang really brought a Baleful Intent star back to Green-Mud Ferry."

Patron Zhao wiped the sweat from his brow. "Prepare generous gifts when we return. We'll pay him a visit first thing tomorrow morning. From now on, all the ferry's rules will follow the Demon Suppression Bureau's lead. Opposing someone like him is nothing but courting death."

Elsewhere, within Reed-Blossom Stronghold.

After hearing the panicked report from the underling who had come tumbling in, Zhou Biao smashed the wine bowl in his hand to the floor with a "crash."

His face went deathly pale as he shouted for his third brother, Zhou Hou. "Quick! Go dig out that hundred-year water ganoderma from the storeroom, and prepare three hundred taels of silver! Tomorrow morning, I'll personally go to the patrol officer's station to apologize! As for that talk about causing trouble underwater, whoever dares mention another word of it, I'll skin him alive first!"

"With that kind of strength, the whole stronghold put together wouldn't be enough for one slash of his sword, and you still want to pick a fight? Go seek death instead!"

Having cleared away the Canal Gang nuisance, Xu Jin and Wang Lei changed into water-repelling garments, gathered their supplies, and went straight underwater.

After diving along the underwater tomb passage for two quarters of an hour, the entrance to the main burial chamber finally appeared ahead.

The bronze stone doors stood over ten feet tall, covered in intricate runes.

Xu Jin raised his hand and fired two streams of sword qi, but they left only two shallow scorch marks on the doors, unable even to break the outer seal.

"Brute force won't work. This is a seal left by ancient Han Dynasty cultivators, made specifically to counter yin evil."

Wang Lei crouched beside the stone doors, using the light of a firestarter to carefully trace the runic patterns. He then took out the half inscription-carved stone tablet they had just found and compared it against them. His eyes drew closer and closer, gradually lighting up.

"Brother Xu! I think I have a way!"

He took out a charcoal pencil and began sketching on the rough paper he carried with him.

"This is a Han Dynasty Solar Flame Nine-Palace Formation. I've seen similar seal formations in the Demon Suppression Bureau archives before. We need to find nine formation-eye nodes and activate them in sequence with pure yang astral qi. Then we can undo the seal!"