One Sword, Instant Kill—You're the Strongest Sequence, Chapter 21

"Coach Su... um, I wanted to ask, where did trainee Liu go?"

"Ever since class ended last time, I've messaged her on Feixin, but she hasn't replied to any of my messages."

The girl's voice was anxious, as though she was worried about the friend she had learned swordsmanship with.

Hearing her question, Su Xing answered in an even tone.

"Trainee Liu? She's already dropped the class. After the last lesson, I asked her parents, and they said she was planning to study abroad. Did you need her for something?"

"Study abroad? Why did she never tell me?"

"..."

Her tone was agitated at first, but she quickly calmed down. Then came a "ding-dong" as she left the online classroom.

When he saw that he was once again the only one left in the online classroom, Su Xing's impression that the Spirit Cult was truly harmful deepened once more.

If not for the Spirit Cult, Liu Shiyu might have just been an ordinary young girl. The two of them could have kept attending class happily, maintaining a simple yet beautiful friendship.

Unfortunately, there had never been any such thing as if. Su Xing had personally sent Liu Shiyu's head flying while she was intoxicated by the fantasy that the Spirit Cult would grant her extraordinary powers.

Su Xing quickly put the matter out of his mind. To him, it was only a minor interlude, and his attention returned to the system panel.

[Sword Dao Points: 6]

He had enough points now. Once Su Xing upgraded his Stance skill, it would definitely bring a huge improvement.

At that thought, Su Xing smiled from the bottom of his heart. He had taken his swordsmanship one steady step at a time, and the thrill of such improvement was unmatched by anything else.

"What are you smiling about? You look so happy."

A somewhat aged voice suddenly sounded beside Su Xing's ear, making him jolt. He quickly turned to look at the suddenly appearing sword hall master, asking in confusion.

"Master, why did you bring your sword down again?"

Li Xianyi had once again come downstairs carrying that sword with white patterns on its sheath. It was exactly like yesterday, except Su Xing had not practiced today, so there should not have been anything for him to teach.

"What? As the sword hall master, can't I practice my swordsmanship?"

Li Xianyi rolled his eyes at Su Xing, then truly drew that slender silver-glinting sword and began swinging it through the air again and again. Su Xing could tell that the master's sword technique was very rusty. He probably had not touched a sword in a very, very long time.

"Of course you can. It's just that I don't think I've ever seen you practice before."

"Heh heh, just cramming at the last minute."

The wrinkles on Li Xianyi's face suddenly spread as he revealed a kindly smile. His gaze fell upon Su Xing's face as he asked.

"Little Su, in a couple of months, I might need to go out for a trip. I'll probably be gone for over a month. When the time comes, I'll have to trouble you to look after the sword hall."

"Me, look after the sword hall?"

Su Xing looked at the master in surprise.

The master was an even bigger shut-in than Su Xing. Su Xing had almost never seen him leave the sword hall.

Whenever he needed to buy something, he either ordered delivery or had Su Xing buy it for him. Yet this time, he was actually leaving the sword hall for a month. Su Xing could not help asking curiously.

"Master, what are you going out to do for a month?"

Su Xing was already quite close with the master. The master did not mind such a casual question from him, merely shaking his head as he said.

"One of my relatives has run into some trouble and may need my help. Don't ask around about the rest."

Su Xing could tell that the master did not wish to say more about the matter, so he did not press further. He prepared to tidy up and return to his room to add points.

Just then, the wooden door at the entrance was suddenly pulled open, and a burst of extremely noisy commotion came from outside. Su Yu returned to the house amid that noise. Only after he shut the door were all those miscellaneous sounds cut off outside the sword hall.

Su Xing glanced at the bag Su Yu was carrying, filled with snacks and sanitary pads, and asked.

"Xiao Yu, what happened outside?"

"Looks like someone was killed around here again. It's pretty much the same as the people from those earlier news reports. Bro, you need to be careful too."

Hearing Su Xing's voice, Su Yu answered before hurriedly running into his room, looking extremely anxious.

Su Xing already knew what his younger brother was thinking, so he did not pay it much mind. He merely looked toward the wooden door as another thought sprang into his mind.

The Spirit Cult is fucking back.

The Spirit Cult had returned.

Su Xing's brows furrowed slightly.

He understood perfectly well that a murder case appearing nearby meant that people from the Spirit Cult had come close to the sword hall again. In order to gather contributions, they would definitely make a move against Su Yu.

The people who had come might even be stronger than before!

It really was time to go back and add points.

Su Xing withdrew his gaze and saw that the master was still training, one swing after another. It was clear that the master had recovered very quickly. He had already cast off his initial rustiness and stiffness, gradually taking on the bearing of a mature swordsman.

After briefly saying goodbye to the master,

Su Xing turned and headed toward his room. With a click of the metal handle, he reentered the room, leaned against the bed, and opened the pale-blue system panel.

[Sword Saint Profession System]

[Name: Su Xing]

[Age: 22]

[Profession: Swordsman, Sword Hall Coach]

[Profession Skills: White-Line Slash lv1 (68/2000), Thrust lv5 (687/1000), Stance lv3 (12/250), Sword Breathing lv2 (456/3000)]

[Sword Dao Points: 6]

"System, add points."

Six Sword Dao Points instantly dropped by four.

A surge of power immediately poured into [Stance]. Within a few breaths, [Stance]'s level and proficiency became blurred and distorted, while the numbers began jumping wildly!

Bzzzz! Bzzzz! Bzzzz!

One sharp sound after another appeared in Su Xing's mind.

The little figure in his mind maintained a single posture, sheathing and drawing its sword over and over. Like an unchanging stop-motion animation, it repeated the same plot and movements until the little figure finally slashed out.

The power of that slash was terrifying.

Even without using White-Line Slash,

Su Xing felt as if some force had suddenly torn through his mind. His eyes snapped open as he looked at the unchanged room before him and the system's frantic upgrade notifications.

[Congratulations! Profession Skill "Stance lv3" has been upgraded to "Stance lv4".]

[Congratulations! Profession Skill "Stance lv4" has been upgraded to "Stance lv5".]

[Congratulations! Profession Skill "Stance lv5" has been upgraded to "Stance lv6".]

[Congratulations! Profession Skill "Stance lv6" has advanced to "Draw-Sword Stance lv1".]

"Draw-Sword Stance."

Su Xing muttered the name of the brand-new skill.

He had finally brought all three fundamentals of swordsmanship into the second tier.

[White-Line Slash] [Sword Breathing] [Draw-Sword Stance]

Su Xing felt himself becoming stronger again.

He did not have time to be happy.

He quickly focused his mind and braced himself.

A massive amount of information poured continuously into Su Xing's mind. The intense pain made him smile as he shouted inwardly.

"The fucking pain is good!"

The more it hurt, the greater this improvement was!

Su Xing could clearly feel that every muscle in his body seemed to be moving irregularly, as if they wanted to repeat every sword draw the little figure had performed during this time.

With each twitch of his muscles, the feel and knowledge of drawing the sword were branded into his mind bit by bit, blending into his muscles and gradually giving rise to a sense of complete mastery.

"Whew."

Su Xing slowly opened his eyes.

At that moment, Su Xing was confident that he could instantly kill a Sequence user with a single sword strike. He would not need [White-Line Slash]; even the most ordinary draw and slash could unleash incomparable power.

Although

this skill was limited to unleashing its power only when drawing the sword,

that single slash from [Draw-Sword Stance] was terrifyingly destructive and immensely threatening.

What a pity.

It could only target a single opponent.

Su Xing slowly rose to his feet, pushing himself up from the bed with one hand.