Demon-Slaying!

Zhang Hu froze for a moment.

At a time like this, the first thing the kid asked about was Merit?

Before he could answer, the larger Rat Demons at the village entrance turned their heads.

The stench of blood and earth rushed toward them.

The Rat Demon Yang Xiao had just slain lay on the ground, blood pouring from its neck. It twitched a few times, then went still.

The surrounding Yamen Runners stared in disbelief.

"Is it dead?"

"That was a Body Forging 5th Layer Rat Demon!"

"Yang Xiao killed it with one strike?"

Hu Kai sat on the ground, his face ashen.

He had failed to hold it off, yet Yang Xiao had slain the Rat Demon with a single strike.

How was that possible?

Zhang Hu was the first to recover. "What are you standing around for? Kill the demons!"

The others snapped out of it, drew their sabers, and charged toward the village entrance.

One corner of the wooden palisade had been smashed open. Several villagers scrambled backward in terror.

Gray-furred Rat Demons squeezed through the gap one after another, their sharp claws screeching against the ground, their scarlet eyes fixed on the living.

Yang Xiao pushed off the ground and charged ahead of them.

"Yang Xiao, watch out!"

Zhao Qiang shouted, but Yang Xiao did not look back.

A Body Forging 3rd Layer Rat Demon lunged at him head-on, moving so fast that its jaws were already closing on his wrist.

If it sank its teeth in, most of his arm would be useless on the spot.

Yang Xiao raised his saber and slashed diagonally.

Squelch!

Half the Rat Demon's head split open, spraying blood across the ground.

Without breaking stride, he swung another strike backhanded.

The second Rat Demon had barely lunged from the side when the blade swept across its neck. The wound was small, but blood gushed from it like a spring.

It tried to struggle after landing, but collapsed before it had taken two steps, its limbs twitching.

Yang Xiao's eyes brightened. This trait was even more useful than he had imagined.

An ordinary Yamen Runner fighting a Rat Demon had to cut through its hide while guarding against its venomous fangs and sharp claws. The slightest slip could mean injury.

But Yang Xiao was different.

The Consummate Basic Blade Technique guided every strike to a vital spot, while Hundred-Refined Edge let him cut easily through a Rat Demon's hide. Once his blade struck, it was unlikely to survive.

"Fine saber work!"

Zhang Hu split the Rat Demon before him with one strike. Catching sight of Yang Xiao cutting down two more from the corner of his eye, he could not help shouting his praise.

He had thought Yang Xiao's first strike was merely a sudden burst of strength. He had not expected every move afterward to be so frighteningly steady.

There was no wasted movement. Every strike was fast, precise, and ruthless.

This was no wild hacking. It was the mastery that came only from training the Basic Blade Technique to profound depths.

"Follow Yang Xiao! Block the gap first!"

Zhang Hu gave the order at once.

Though still stunned, several Yamen Runners quickly followed.

Yang Xiao stood before the gap in the palisade, his saber angled down, his gaze sweeping over the fields outside.

Rat Demons swarmed through the wheat.

Cries rang out across the village.

An old man failed to dodge in time and was knocked to the ground by a Rat Demon. Its jaws were about to close around his throat.

Yang Xiao darted through the gap.

"Yang Xiao!"

Zhao Qiang's expression changed.

There were more Rat Demons outside the village. Charging out alone made it easy to be surrounded.

But Yang Xiao had already reached the old man.

He kicked the Rat Demon off him and brought his saber down in the same motion.

The blade split its neck bone. It did not even have time to scream.

The old man shook all over in fright, his trouser leg soaked. He looked up at Yang Xiao, his lips trembling.

"Th-thank you, sir..."

Yang Xiao gave him no more than a glance.

"Get back to the village."

With that, he turned to face three charging Rat Demons.

They lunged from the left, right, and front almost at the same time.

An ordinary Body Forging 5th Layer Yamen Runner would have been thrown into a panic.

Yang Xiao merely took half a step back.

Then his blade flashed.

The first strike cut forward.

The second sliced left.

The third swept upward on the return.

Three Rat Demons fell in succession, their blood spreading across the muddy ground.

Zhang Hu stopped dead halfway to him.

He had been rushing to save Yang Xiao.

Now it seemed he had not been needed.

"This kid..."

Not far away, Hu Kai saw it too.

He gripped his saber tightly, his face flushed, resentment filling his heart.

Until yesterday, Yang Xiao had still been the good-for-nothing he could mock at will.

How had he become a different person overnight?

"Impossible."

Hu Kai gritted his teeth and muttered, "He must be relying on that Spring Embroidery Saber!"

But he soon realized Yang Xiao was not using the Spring Embroidery Saber. It was the most ordinary Standard Saber issued by the County Yamen.

The color slowly drained from Hu Kai's face.

Just then, a piercing shriek rose from deep within the wheatfield.

"Screee—"

Every Rat Demon froze at once.

Then the wheat parted to either side.

A gray-black Rat Demon several times larger than the others slowly crawled out.

It stood nearly half a man's height. The fur on its back bristled like steel needles, its foreclaws were thick and powerful, and a cold red light gleamed in its eyes.

More disturbingly, half a torn sleeve still hung from the corner of its mouth.

A villager's sleeve.

"A Sapient Rat Demon!"

Zhang Hu's face darkened the moment he saw it.

"Yang Xiao, fall back!"

But the Sapient Rat Demon had already fixed its gaze on Yang Xiao.

A low hiss rumbled in its throat. Its hind legs drove against the ground, and its whole body became a gray blur hurtling straight at Yang Xiao's face.

It was more than twice as fast as the Rat Demons before it!

Yang Xiao's gaze sharpened.

He raised his saber across his body to block.

The rat's claws struck the blade. The force numbed his arm slightly and drove his feet half an inch into the mud.

What strength.

The Rat Demon did not pause after landing. It darted around Yang Xiao, a trace of cunning in its scarlet eyes.

It was looking for an opening.

Yang Xiao slowly exhaled and tightened his grip on the saber.

The surrounding Yamen Runners held their breath.

Hu Kai watched even more intently.

A dark hope stirred in his heart.

Bite him to death.

Bite that upstart to death.

The next instant, the Sapient Rat Demon moved again.

Instead of lunging head-on, it raced low across the ground, aiming its jaws at Yang Xiao's calf.

Yang Xiao shifted his footing and narrowly avoided it.

But the Rat Demon whipped its tail around, the thick, rigid length lashing at his waist like a whip.

"Watch out!" Zhang Hu roared.

Yang Xiao's eyes turned cold.

Rather than retreat, he stepped in. He lowered his saber and brought it down the instant the tail lashed toward him.

Squelch!

The blade bit into the rat's tail.

Hundred-Refined Edge cut through its tough hide and severed half the tail.

The Sapient Rat Demon let out a shrill scream.

Yang Xiao pressed forward, his blade flashing again and again.

One strike severed a claw.

One strike split its belly.

The final strike swept upward across the Rat Demon's throat.

Blood sprayed three feet into the air.

The Body Forging 6th Layer Sapient Rat Demon staggered a few steps, then crashed to the ground beside Yang Xiao's feet.

For an instant, the wheatfield fell silent.

Yang Xiao flicked the blood from his blade and looked up at the remaining Rat Demons.

"Next."

Zhang Hu stared at his back, no longer able to hide the shock in his eyes.

This kid...

His Basic Blade Technique has probably reached consummation!