A bead of blood slid slowly down the corpse's cheek. Exposed tendons quivered in the air, a gruesome, unnatural sight.
The guards were stunned by the carnage before them. They instinctively wanted to look away, but it was as though some invisible, grotesque thing had seized their gaze and fixed it on the horrifying scene.
Plip. Plip.
Round drops of blood gathered at the tip of the corpse's chin, then fell one by one into the pool below, sending out ripples. Xia Lun's nose twitched. Beneath the sickeningly strong smell of iron lay faint traces of bitter almond, along with the fresh scent of grass.
His eyes shifted toward the young woman beside him.
Her face twitched and her eyes trembled. Her cracked lips parted as though she wanted to speak, but no words came. She merely tightened her grip on her curved blade and stepped toward the room.
Click.
Amid the guards' heavy, uneven breathing, the faint rattle of a chain suddenly sounded.
Something moved!
The instant the young woman neared the threshold, a shriveled hand swung an iron chain straight at her forehead! She looked up in shock as the bloodstained chain swelled rapidly in her vision!
Hum.
At the last possible moment, a clear, cold hum cut through the chain's dull rush!
Somehow, Xia Lun had appeared beside her like a ghost. He raised his wrist and swept his sword upward in one effortless motion. The blade moved with incredible speed, tracing a graceful arc that left no opening, like Antelope-Hanging Horn!
Clang! Slash!
Sparks burst forth as his sword knocked the heavy chain aside. The blade met a moment's resistance, then cut through. Bones cracked inside the shriveled hand!
The hand was severed!
His blade came to a steady stop. With a slight flick of his