A Clash of Styles, the Heavy Sword Shows Its Might!

The silver magic core on one side of the Heavy Sword's guard suddenly lit up, unleashing a surge of dense silver energy into the blade!

In an instant!

Silver radiance blazed from the blade! Arcs of electricity seemed to flicker within it! Dazzling and brilliant, it cleaved through the air with terrifying force, slashing straight at the Black-Clad Man's head!

Buzz!

The air boomed. The black-clad leader had not expected Zhou Changqing to move so quickly and could only hastily raise his saber to block!

Swish!

The instant the Heavy Sword met the saber, it sliced the latter in two without the slightest resistance, then crashed down on the black-clad leader's head with the unstoppable force of crushing rotten wood!

Slice!

With a faint sound of steel cutting into flesh, the Heavy Sword slammed into the ground, its tip plunging more than three inches into the earth!

"..."

Silence. Utter silence.

Almost all the black-clad men abruptly stopped charging, their eyes widening as they stared at Zhou Changqing and the spot where their leader had stood!

What black-clad leader remained there now? There was only blood and entrails strewn across the ground, along with a corpse cleaved in two!

Shocking. Far too shocking!

The horrifying sight left the black-clad men struggling to process what had happened.

Where did our big, hulking leader go?

How was he gone in the blink of an eye?

He was a fucking Six-Star Dou Shi!

Were Magic Core Weapons really that powerful?

What kind of joke was this?!

To ensure they would not be at a disadvantage in weaponry, their superiors had issued each of their six leaders a Treasure Weapon!

No matter how powerful Magic Core Armaments were, they should not have been able to sever a Treasure Weapon in a single blow!

What they did not know, however, was that the Magic Core Armaments Zhou Changqing had auctioned off were all his worst work. Not only were their materials a grade inferior, their toughness and sharpness were only slightly better than those of ordinary Iron-Cleaving Mortal Weapons.

Even the Artifact Patterns within them were few, with only a single function: a ranged attack that released a blade of weapon radiance.

How could weapons like those compare to the magic core Heavy Sword in his hands? Ordinary Iron-Cleaving Mortal Weapons were even further beneath it.

Naturally, he kept the best things for himself and only auctioned off the inferior ones.

Was that not precisely why Zhou Changqing had done this—to prevent others from turning weapons he had forged against him?

"Everyone, be careful! Don't clash with him head-on! Look for an opening to ambush him!"

Fortunately, one of the black-clad leaders was a seasoned veteran. He reacted swiftly, forcibly suppressing his shock as he shouted a warning!

That brought all the black-clad men back to their senses. They tightened their grips on their weapons warily, watching Zhou Changqing's every move.

Zhou Changqing had not intended to launch another surprise attack anyway. One was enough. His opponents were not fools who would give him a second chance.

"No matter who you are, I'll give you one chance now. Tell me who sent you, and I'll let you leave. How about it?"

Zhou Changqing pulled out the Heavy Sword, flicked the blood from it, and smiled at the men.

The sight sent an inexplicable chill through the black-clad men's hearts.

After all, an extraordinarily handsome young man in white, with an ethereal, otherworldly air, holding a Heavy Sword nearly as large as himself looked jarring no matter how they viewed it!

And that was before considering how he could calmly say such words with a smile after literally cleaving a man in half!

He was the perfect fusion of graceful beauty and bloody violence!

The fucking contrast was too much!

"Gulp."

"Gulp."

No one knew who swallowed first, but soon the sounds of gulping rose one after another.

"You little bastard! When I started killing people, you were still in your mother's fucking belly! You think you can scare me?"

"Everyone, attack! The higher-ups promised a Profound Tier Low Grade Dou Technique to whoever captures this little bastard! If we can't take him alive, killing him will still earn a Yellow Tier High Grade Dou Technique!"

Seeing their resolve begin to crumble, the black-clad leader with the strongest aura immediately stepped forward and shouted!

At the same time, he led by example, becoming the first to charge at Zhou Changqing!

With a rich enough reward, brave men would always emerge!

At those words, the other black-clad men stared at Zhou Changqing with burning eyes, the greed in their hearts stirred into a frenzy.

"Kill!"

"Kill!"

"Kill!"

As the strongest black-clad leader charged out, all the others erupted in murderous cries and rushed at Zhou Changqing!

Seeing this, Zhou Changqing knew further words were pointless. In any case, he had never intended to spare everyone present.

Then let's do this!

Heavy Sword in hand, Zhou Changqing met the charging black-clad men!

"Condense!"

Almost simultaneously, dense fluctuations of Dou Qi radiated from the five remaining black-clad leaders. Then the Dou Qi Veils that marked them as Dou Shi condensed around their bodies!

Zhou Changqing did the same. His lightning attribute Dou Qi instantly withdrew, and his metal attribute Dou Qi circulated, forming a pale golden veil that clung tightly to his clothes!

The black-clad men were startled at the sight, but quickly recovered and continued their charge.

Since they had been assigned to help capture this brat, they naturally knew his details.

A High-Rank Dou Zhe—even a Nine-Star Dou Zhe—could only condense a partial Dou Qi Veil, even if he barely managed to form one.

That membrane resembling a Dou Qi Veil had to be the work of Magic Core Inner Armor!

The black-clad leader who had charged first was the first to clash with Zhou Changqing!

Shing!

Their weapons collided, and once again, the black-clad leader's saber was sliced cleanly in two!

The black-clad leader had anticipated this and prepared accordingly. The instant they exchanged blows, he dodged the Heavy Sword as it severed his weapon and swept toward him.

By then, two other black-clad leaders had reached Zhou Changqing from behind and thrust their weapons at his back!

Instead of continuing to attack the strongest black-clad leader, Zhou Changqing swiftly turned and swept his sword horizontally, blocking the two attacks and slicing through both weapons!

Two more Treasure Weapons were ruined!

The black-clad men could hardly imagine how sharp this heavy sword had to be to sever Treasure Weapons so easily, one after another!

With such sharpness, surely it could inflict considerable damage even on a One-Star Great Dou Master's Dou Qi Armor?

"Die!"

As Zhou Changqing turned to attack, he left his back wide open, giving the black-clad leader behind him a perfect opportunity!

Seizing that opening, the black-clad leader's eyes flashed with delight. Without hesitation, he circulated his Dou Qi, unleashed a Dou Technique, and leaped into a kick!

An even brighter fiery-red glow shone over the veil around his thigh. Fire attribute Dou Qi gathered furiously, and his kick slammed into Zhou Changqing's waist with tremendous force and heat fierce enough to scald flesh!

Clang!

A dull metallic impact rang out as the black-clad leader stared in disbelief!

At the same time, with his back still facing his opponent, the corners of Zhou Changqing's mouth curled slightly upward.

Swish!

Without giving the black-clad leader a chance to react, Zhou Changqing twisted at the waist as though he had prepared for this beforehand. While his opponent was still airborne, he used the momentum of his previous horizontal slash to swing the Heavy Sword at the leg that had kicked his waist and had yet to fall!

Slash!

Wreathed in a dark golden haze, the Heavy Sword struck his opponent's thigh with terrifying sharpness and immense force!

In an instant, flesh and bone were severed alike. The cut was so smooth that blood did not even have time to spurt out immediately!

Thud!

"Aaaah!!!"

After a brief delay, excruciating pain swept over the black-clad leader who had fallen to the ground, making him scream like a pig being slaughtered!

Fast! Far too fast!

Everything had happened between a flash of lightning and a spark from flint!

The two black-clad leaders whose weapons had been severed had no time to stop it!

"Steward Xun!"

"You little bastard! Die!"

Fortunately, both reacted quickly and immediately attacked again!

Holding their broken blades, they thrust together at Zhou Changqing's left ribs, which now faced them as he twisted at the waist!

Steward Xun was the strongest among them, a full-fledged Nine-Star Dou Shi. If he fell, those remaining would likely have no hope of completing their mission, and their own fates would certainly be no better!

Yet Zhou Changqing did not even glance at them. The Heavy Sword moved again, sweeping across the neck of the black-clad leader whose leg he had severed!

Clang!

The two broken Treasure Weapons struck the pale golden membrane over Zhou Changqing's left ribs. Rather than slicing through it as easily as the two men had expected, their broken blades produced a piercing screech of grinding metal!

"How is this possible?!"

"It's fake! It has to be fake!"

Both cried out in horror at the sight!

Although Treasure Weapons could indeed breach a Dou Qi Veil, the same was true of the defensive membrane activated by Magic Core Inner Armor.

But they did not know that their Treasure Weapons were not among the finest of their kind. Against the Dou Qi Veil of a nine-star Dou Shi, they would need several full-force slashes to break through.

The quality of Zhou Changqing's own inner armor went without saying. Inlaid with two top-grade second-rank metal attribute magic core fragments, it generated a defensive membrane that could rival the Dou Qi Veil of a peak nine-star Dou Shi with metal attribute Dou Qi!

That was also why the strongest black-clad leader's earlier Dou Technique had failed to breach his defenses!

Swish!

The Heavy Sword swept toward the two men's necks!

One barely managed to react and dodge the strike, but the other was not so fortunate.

The Dou Qi Veil around his neck was instantly sliced open. Blood sprayed, and he collapsed to the ground, never to breathe again.

(End of chapter)