Assassination, Ironhide Body-Tempering Art

Watching Lu Yuan's departing figure, Chen Kuang secretly gave Dou Chu a meaningful look.

Night fell, and Lu Yuan walked alone along a secluded path back to Green Mountain Village.

Normally, Lu Yuan would never have taken such an out-of-the-way road.

But today, he had noticed shadows trailing behind him.

"Didn't expect Chen Kuang to move so quickly."

Lu Yuan muttered.

Then, he summoned the system panel.

He directly spent 50 experience points.

[Ding! Consumed 50 experience points. Carefree Steps has been raised to Minor Mastery!]

A profound memory of footwork

flowed into his mind.

And as Lu Yuan walked,

his steps began to slowly move

along the circulation path of Carefree Steps.

Originally, Lu Yuan had merely been walking normally.

But now, his footwork had gained a certain rhythm.

"Brothers, this kid has killed several demon beasts. Be careful."

Dou Chu gave a cautious reminder.

"This guy isn't even a Grade Entry martial artist. What threat could he possibly be?"

"Are you looking down on us brothers?"

"Shut your mouth. Just collect the corpse later."

A man in black spoke.

Dou Chu was left speechless by those words, yet he did not dare to flare up.

"Has this kid sped up?"

A shadow behind them muttered.

"Cut the nonsense. Our pace matches his exactly; the distance hasn't widened at all."

"If our speed hasn't changed, how could he have sped up?"

The leading man in black shot him a glare.

"Green Mountain Village is just ahead. Stop him."

Dou Chu looked toward the road ahead.

This place was close to the outskirts of Azure Cloud Mountain.

Once Lu Yuan was dead, they could conveniently pin the blame on demon beasts.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!!!

As soon as Dou Chu finished speaking,

four black-clad men wielding sharp blades

charged out of the darkness.

They blocked Lu Yuan's path.

"So eager to make your move?"

"Looks like your ties to those demon beasts run deep!"

Lu Yuan looked at Dou Chu, who was hiding behind the four men.

He could not help speaking up.

"You're already at death's door. What's the point of saying any of that?"

Dou Chu stared at Lu Yuan with a frown.

This time, the captain had requested people from above and borrowed four great experts, every one of them a First-Rank Upper Martial Artist.

In his eyes, Lu Yuan was dead beyond doubt this time.

"Could killing demons be wrong? As constables, don't we have a duty to protect the villagers?"

"Even ordinary people and demons stand as irreconcilable as fire and water."

"Was I wrong?"

Lu Yuan spoke.

He only wanted to ask that one question.

"Of course you weren't wrong, but those above have better arrangements."

"You were destined to be a sacrifice."

Dou Chu laughed.

He laughed at Lu Yuan for overestimating himself.

One person, daring to talk about protecting the villagers.

Could demons ever be completely killed?

"Kid, don't be so stubborn in your next life. You're not from the Demon Suppression Office."

"There are some demons you aren't allowed to kill."

As the leading man in black spoke,

the iron sword in his hand stabbed toward Lu Yuan.

"If I can't kill demons, then I'll kill beasts first!"

Lu Yuan's body flickered. Carefree Steps at Minor Mastery activated, and he darted through the blade-light like a ghost.

Clang!

The rusty saber left its sheath, and the tyrannical bloody aura of the Blood-Baleful Demon-Slaying Saber erupted.

Splat! Splat!

Saber-light swept past like blood-red lightning.

The four men in black did not even have time to scream.

They clutched their throats and fell to the ground.

Dou Chu's eyes widened.

He too was an Entry Realm martial artist, though only a First-Rank Lower Martial Adept.

Yet to ordinary people, he still counted as an expert.

But just now, he had not even seen Lu Yuan's movements clearly.

But how could Dou Chu have known

that with the enhancement of Carefree Steps, the Blood-Baleful Demon-Slaying Saber's power had become something even First-Rank Upper Martial Artists could hardly withstand?

Slash!!!

In the instant Dou Chu froze in shock,

Lu Yuan had already closed in on him.

Saber-light flashed.

Dou Chu's hamstrings were severed at once.

With a thud,

Dou Chu dropped to his knees before Lu Yuan.

Lu Yuan kicked out, planting his foot on Dou Chu's chest.

"Impossible... How could you be this strong?"

Dou Chu was utterly stunned.

Martial artists were not something one could find all over the streets.

First-Rank Martial Artists tempered their skin. A First-Rank Upper Martial Adept was even a powerhouse capable of unleashing eight hundred jin of force with one punch.

Their skin had already been tempered to the point of withstanding ordinary weapons.

They would not be harmed even by impacts from heavy objects.

Yet beneath Lu Yuan's saber, those four First-Rank Upper Martial Adepts

had been sliced apart like carrots.

How could Dou Chu not be terrified?

"Did you think those demon beasts were all moved by my words?"

"That they stretched out their necks to await slaughter, letting me kill them?"

Seeing Dou Chu's expression,

Lu Yuan found it somewhat amusing.

Still, if their positions were reversed,

he reckoned he would be the same.

"No more nonsense. Tell me where Chen Kuang usually goes."

Lu Yuan wanted to pry some useful information from Dou Chu.

"His private residence outside Willow Alley, in the south of the city."

Dou Chu's entire body convulsed beneath Lu Yuan's foot.

He honestly confessed.

He simply had not expected Lu Yuan to dare inquire about the captain's whereabouts.

Was he planning to go trouble the captain?

Even better. He was simply courting death.

"What backing does Chen Kuang have?"

Lu Yuan did not believe Chen Kuang had become so utterly heartless and outrageously bold as to collude with demon creatures

entirely on his own.

Moreover, those four First-Rank Upper Martial Artists in black robes today

were not people a squad captain from a county yamen could afford to keep.

"I don't know. The captain handled all contact himself."

"But I advise you not to ask around. That is an existence before whom you must crawl on the ground, kneel, and kowtow in apology."

Dou Chu warned Lu Yuan.

"If I die here today, you'll be in terrible trouble. Your friends and family will all be implicated."

At this moment, Dou Chu also began to borrow the tiger's might.

"All useless information."

Lu Yuan raised his saber and brought it down, directly chopping off Dou Chu's head.

"What a poor bastard."

After searching them, Lu Yuan gathered three taels of silver

as well as a booklet from the leading man in black.

He could not help shaking his head.

At the same time, he took out a piece of dried meat he carried with him.

He crushed the dried meat, wetted it with water, and scattered it over the bodies.

In this age where meat was scarce,

he believed these corpses would soon be gnawed clean by wild beasts.

The reason he did not light the men on fire with a tinderbox

was entirely because such a small fire could not burn the corpses completely.

Better to let these people

become wild beast droppings.

After finishing all this, Lu Yuan left the place.

He returned to Green Mountain Village.

It was already late at night. Lu Yuan did not disturb his family, instead climbing over the wall and crawling through the window.

He returned to his room.

The first thing Lu Yuan did was take out

the booklet he had found earlier on the leading man in black.

The words Ironhide Body-Tempering Art entered Lu Yuan's sight.

After flipping through it, Lu Yuan's eyes lit up.

This was a low-grade cultivation art specifically for tempering the body.

Though this cultivation art was only low-grade, it was something Lu Yuan desperately needed.