Knife Light Collision!

He was certain he had never heard that voice before.

Yet there was something familiar about the other man's tone.

That familiarity felt deeply out of place, leaving Zhou An perplexed.

Zhou An temporarily set the thought aside. After running it through his mind once, he continued observing the situation in the alley.

After the masked man in black said those words, the man holding twin hooks revealed a disdainful smile.

"Elder? You were indeed an Elder of the Blood Shadow Gate. If you still held that position, I'd have to bow to you. But times have changed. You're nothing more than a rat scurrying through the streets."

"We know your saber techniques are exquisite, effortless and perfectly controlled. But the five of us have formed an array that happens to restrain you."

"I'll say it again. Hand over what you stole, and we can return to report our mission. We'll even spare your life."

After saying that, the man with the twin hooks gave a signal.

The other four were slowly closing in.

"Hahaha!"

The masked man in black threw back his head and laughed. "How can five pieces of trash do anything to me?"

The man holding twin hooks sneered. "Then don't blame me. Attack!"

As his words fell, the other four launched another attack.

This attack was even fiercer than the first.

The masked man in black swung his long saber so tightly that not a drop of water could slip through, blocking all four attacks.

But he could no longer counterattack.

Because the man with the twin hooks had also joined the battle.

His twin hooks were wielded with consummate skill, every strike targeting the weakest point of the long saber.

If the other four had powerful offensives, then the twin hooks were venomous snakes, made to strike at weaknesses.

"Sssht!"

Weapons swept through the night sky, leaving several wounds on the masked man in black.

A wall stood behind the masked man in black. There was nowhere left for him to retreat.

Five weapons, carrying piercing winds, attacked from all directions and sealed off every escape route.

Joy appeared in the eyes of the man with the twin hooks.

They did not intend to kill the masked man in black. They wanted to cripple him first, then force him to reveal what he had stolen before taking it back to report their mission.

If this attack landed, the masked man in black would be crippled in an instant. Then they could do whatever they wanted.

But just as the blades were about to strike him, the masked man in black moved.

The long saber in his hand looked utterly ordinary.

But as the masked man in black swept the saber horizontally, a fierce aura filled the entire alley.

"Blade Slices Injustice!"

The masked man in black shouted, and the long saber descended from above with blazing knife light. In an instant, it split apart and blanketed the whole alley.

"Ghosts and Gods Alike are Startled!"

The masked man in black gave another low shout. With a turn of his wrist, all the knife light began to converge.

The knife light passed through their bodies without a sound.

All five men, including the man holding twin hooks, froze in place.

A gust of wind passed through.

The night was cold as water.

Dense bloodlines appeared over the five men, as though someone had used a brush dipped in vermilion to paint them onto their bodies.

Blood sprayed everywhere, and they collapsed to the ground.

In the blink of an eye, the five men who had been so lively moments ago had become five corpses.

Zhou An had been hiding nearby and watching the entire time. When he saw the masked man in black's saber technique, his brow twitched slightly.

An expert!

Now that his saber proficiency had reached level three, he could already see what was extraordinary about it.

The masked man in black had not only used Knife Light Forms a Line, but had even controlled the direction of the knife light.

When the first slash was unleashed, the knife light scattered throughout the surroundings.

After the second slash turned the saber, the knife light seemed to be drawn together by some force, converging and creating immense destructive power.

Such control could be described as effortless and perfectly measured.

Zhou An suddenly realized something.

This guy seems to be just a little stronger than me.

After his proficiency reached level three, he too could wield his blade effortlessly and with perfect control.

But he was still rather unpracticed.

Controlling knife light like the masked man in black did was not yet realistic for him.

Still...

Not a big problem.

Zhou An watched the masked man in black sway, his eyes shining.

Those two slashes just now seemed to have consumed a tremendous amount of energy.

The masked man in black's body swayed. Only by bracing himself against the wall did he slowly steady himself.

From the rise and fall of his chest, it was clear that he was breathing heavily.

Zhou An considered himself neither a bad person nor a gentleman.

He had come prepared to play the mantis stalking the cicada, and now it seemed the time had come.

"Huff."

The masked man in black let out a long breath. Once he steadied himself, he prepared to leave.

He did not even want to deal with the corpses on the ground.

But just as he took two steps, the sound of wind came from behind him.

The masked man in black instinctively looked up and saw a man wearing Zi Clothes standing at the corner of the wall.

The sudden sight made him freeze.

Zhou An held his long saber and slowly approached.

"Sorry, but you're not leaving."

The qi within his body surged wildly, spreading across his entire body in an instant.

The masked man in black had no intention of speaking with Zhou An. He did not attack either, instead placing a hand against the wall and preparing to flee.

But before he could move, Zhou An swung the long saber in his hand.

The masked man in black had not intended to look behind him at all, but the instant the saber swung, an intense sense of danger rose in his heart.

That sense of danger had saved his life in moments of life and death before, so he chose to trust it without hesitation.

The man in black instinctively dodged to the side, only to see a streak of white knife light sweep past him and carve a deep mark into the wall behind him.

With only a gust of wind, the wall behind him collapsed.

"Knife Light Forms a Line? How could you possibly know such a technique?" the masked man in black said hoarsely.

Zhou An raised an eyebrow. "Looks like you know me."

There had been clear astonishment in the masked man in black's words just now.

If he did not know Zhou An, he would never have said that.

Only someone who knew him and regarded him as an ordinary person could react this way after seeing him reveal such a move.

The masked man in black remained silent.

"If you won't speak, I'll take that as an admission." Zhou An raised his long saber again.

At that moment, the masked man in black suddenly lifted his left hand.

"Don't attack yet. I'll come find you later and give you an answer that satisfies you. How about it?"

It sounded as though he was yielding.

Zhou An shook his head. "I choose to beat you up first."

After saying that, his aura rose to its peak.

He spun the long saber in his hand in a flourish, then swept it horizontally.

The formidable strength of the Butchering Ox Technique—plus two speed and plus one precision—was displayed to the fullest.

The moment he slashed, he went all out, leaving no room to hold back.

More than thirty streaks of knife light shot into the air, gathering in midair like brilliant silver frost.

The masked man in black stared wide-eyed. "That many?"

Before his words had even faded, the knife light was already upon him.

The masked man in black had nowhere to evade and could only raise his long saber.

The same knife light appeared in the alley.

The knife lights of both sides collided, filling the alley with blade marks.