Killing and Plundering

Wind poured into the alley, whipping up the dust on the ground. The sky gradually darkened, as though autumn rain were on its way.

"You... who the hell are you putting on an act for?!"

Chen Jue released the cloth sack in his hand, abruptly drew his saber, and kicked off the ground. Like a leopard, he became a faint red blur and crashed toward the youth blocking the way ahead.

A bunch of small fry dared to swagger before him. He only needed three strokes to kill them—one more would be womanly mercy!

Swish! The blade flashed like a bolt of silk, cleaving through the autumn wind in the alley.

The young martial artist who had been smiling arrogantly moments ago underwent a drastic change in expression and hastily drew his sword to block.

Clang!

The two weapons collided with the ring of a bronze bell.

Holding his sword one-handed, how could the youth withstand the ten-pound saber hacking down with all its momentum?

His tiger's mouth split open, and his longsword flew from his grip in an instant.

"You!"

The youth's eyes went wide. The arrogance on his face vanished, replaced by boundless shock and terror.

In his experience, those who came to scour the small black markets of the outer city for gold were either servants of powerful clans or impoverished commoner martial artists.

Most of them lacked talent and remained in the early stages of the True Qi Realm. Crushing them to death was like crushing ants.

Yet the voice of the gray-clothed man before him was clearly even younger than his own!

"Don't kill me!"

Before the blade fell, the young martial artist was utterly terrified and cried out for mercy.

However, in a fight to the death, Chen Jue's horse-slaying saber, cleaving down from above, would not pause in the slightest because of a single plea.

Those who kill shall forever be killed; blame no one but yourself!

Pfft!

Blood burst forth in the old alley.

Chen Jue split a man as though chopping firewood, cleaving him from head to crotch and dividing him into two halves.

Behind him, the saber-wielding martial artist in fitted clothes saw this, his pupils contracting sharply. He kicked off the ground and accelerated, thrusting his single saber forward to stab straight at Chen Jue's heart from behind.

Without even turning his head, Chen Jue sidestepped to the right, evading the fitted-clothes martial artist's sudden attack. His saber switched from his right hand to his left, and its hilt, like a hammer, smashed directly into the martial artist's neck.

Bang! Crack!

A scalp-numbing dull thud rang out in the old alley, accompanied by the sound of shattering bones.

The fitted-clothes martial artist who had lunged at Chen Jue with his saber suddenly froze. His neck had been punched through by the saber hilt and folded leftward at a grotesque angle.

Then his body went limp like noodles and collapsed. Blood streamed from his seven orifices—he had died on the spot.

Thud!

Only then did the martial artist on the rooftop land, utterly out of sync with the moment.

But compared to the confidence he had radiated before jumping down, after witnessing two companions perish in the blink of an eye, he was already regretting ever appearing in this alley.

He looked at Chen Jue as though he had seen a demon. The instant he landed, rather than thinking of avenging his two companions, he turned and ran.

But it was already too late!

Chen Jue's saber left his hand in an instant, kicking up a violent gale.

The rooftop martial artist was focused solely on fleeing. How could he have expected Chen Jue to be so devoid of martial virtue as to wound someone with a hidden attack?

By the time he heard the fierce wind whistling behind him, the saber had already pierced through his chest, its bloodstained blade protruding a long way out.

Step! Step! Step!

Chen Jue walked unhurriedly toward the saber he had just bought.

"Wu Clan... won't... let you... go..."

The Wu Clan martial artist spat blood as he issued his final threat before dying.

Chen Jue coldly pulled out the saber, leaped up with a stomp, ran up the crumbling wall, and vaulted onto the roof without offering the slightest response.

He was wearing both a hat and a mask.

If they could still identify him after that, what harm would there be in him kowtowing to the Wu Clan?

Chen Jue raced across the rooftops with his head lowered, pursuing the direction in which the conical-hat man had disappeared.

That man apparently believed the vermin tailing him were surely dead, so he did not leave quickly. In more than three minutes, he had only passed two alley turns.

Whoosh!

Like an eagle pouncing on a rabbit, Chen Jue leaped straight down from the low rooftops of the alley.

A massive shadow descended over him. The conical-hat man, who had been walking ahead, was startled and spun around, drawing his sword in one sweeping slash.

However, Chen Jue had never intended to pounce on him. He landed steadily a full ten feet away, causing the conical-hat man's sword stroke to cut nothing but air.

"Brother, no need to be nervous. I only thirst for knowledge; I don't kill people."

Chen Jue was still reasonable. He had taken a liking to the USB drive the conical-hat man was selling and hoped the man would sell it to him cheaply—preferably for free.

The conical-hat man's gaze narrowed as it fell upon the saber in Chen Jue's hand, still dripping blood.

"I can explain this. They struck first. I was forced into legitimate self-defense..."

With an earnest gaze, Chen Jue took two steps toward the conical-hat man.

The conical-hat man did not believe a single word from Chen Jue's mouth. Seeing the other man pressing toward him, he shuddered inwardly and instinctively retreated three steps. He opened with the Cloud Veiling the Moon Form of the Flowing Cloud Sword Technique, holding his sword across his chest in a defensive stance.

Chen Jue could not help but fall silent at the sight.

"Brother, since you are so stingy with possessions outside the body, the two of us can only have a bout..."

Chen Jue gripped his saber with both hands and stepped forward, like a fierce tiger crouched atop a boulder, its body taut as it gathered strength to strike.

In his senses, the conical-hat man's outward display of vitality and blood was far from weak. He was at least several levels stronger than the three lackeys Chen Jue had casually dealt with just now.

If those three had been at the fourth level of True Qi, then the conical-hat man before him was at least at the fifth level—perhaps even the sixth.

Facing such a formidable enemy, Chen Jue could hardly refrain from going all out.

"Forgive me!"

Chen Jue's voice cracked like thunder and snapped strings, exploding through the narrow alley. The vitality and blood throughout his body ignited and boiled in an instant, raising his already formidable strength by another tenth. A faint red glow seemed to coil around his body.

Whoosh!

The blue bricks beneath his feet cracked. The pale red figure shot forward like an arrow released from the bowstring, saber raised, flying straight at the conical-hat man.

You've even burned your vitality and blood, yet you still say you don't want to kill anyone?!

A warning blared in the conical-hat man's heart, sending chills down his spine. He could not spare a thought for how hard-won the True Qi within him was. His riverlike True Qi erupted from his body and poured into the longsword in his hand as he swept it sideways to block.

Clang!

Saber and sword collided, producing the ringing clash of metal, evenly matched in force.

The conical-hat man was indeed no weakling. The moment he deflected Chen Jue's descending saber, his sword tip darted forth like a snake from its hole, shooting toward Chen Jue's chest at lightning speed.

Chen Jue twisted aside to evade the thrust, stamped his foot, and instantly transformed into a speeding dump truck as he rammed into the conical-hat man's chest.

The conical-hat man's pupils shook violently.

He had seen Chen Jue use this move at the black market and knew full well how tyrannical it was. He hastily turned sideways to brace himself, closing the distance between them in an instant and denying Chen Jue any room to keep accelerating.

Bang!

Their shoulders collided, and both men staggered several steps backward.

Chen Jue only felt as if his shoulder had been poisoned—cold and numb. When he glanced over, he was startled to find frost covering his shoulder. An ice-attributed aberrant True Qi was attempting to invade his flesh.

The conical-hat man was no better off. The True Qi throughout his body churned violently, and his bones felt as though they were about to be scattered apart by the impact. His left shoulder drooped slightly. It was not fractured, but the pain was almost unbearable.

"Brother, there is no grudge between us. I truly cannot bear to slaughter the innocent indiscriminately. Hand over your possessions outside the body, and I'll compensate you with fifty thousand in cash."

Having tested the conical-hat man's capabilities in two exchanges, Chen Jue leaned forward again, gripping his saber with both hands. Using the intensely oppressive Windward Cleaving Blade Form, he delivered his final ultimatum.

He, Chen, truly could not become a demon who killed without blinking.

Yet this world had kept forcing him to become an outlaw who committed every evil imaginable.