In a single exchange, He An cleanly dispatched one man, cowing everyone present.
The heavy snow had just cleared. Sunlight spilled through gaps in the clouds, casting broad patches of light across the endless snowy peaks, light and shadow interweaving like an immense ink-wash scroll.
The mountain wind had also died down. Even the jackdaws that usually chattered incessantly had vanished somewhere. Between heaven and earth, only a vast, suffocating silence remained.
Daoist Qingxuan drew a deep breath, pressed his hand to his sword hilt, and slowly pushed the guard outward. The rasp of metal was especially grating in the silence. He looked He An up and down, his gaze appraising him like merchandise awaiting a buyer. After a moment, he stroked his beard and smiled. "Good, very good. A disciple of the Knowledge and Practice Institute-you certainly haven't disappointed me."
His tone made it sound as though He An was already in his pocket.
"The Knowledge and Practice Institute?"
The richly dressed Lu Shifang frowned at this and blurted out, "I've long admired Master Li Xingzhi. Had I known he was a disciple of the Knowledge and Practice Institute, I wouldn't have accepted this job."
There was a deeper meaning in his words: it was not that he dared not kill, but that he did not wish to offend.
"What's there to fear?"
Sun Hu looked vicious as he tightened his grip on the gold-threaded flexible whip at his waist. He sneered, "The Knowledge and Practice Institute these days... a plucked phoenix is worse off than a chicken. Let's all go at him together and butcher him first!"
Before he finished speaking, Daoist Qingxuan moved.
His sword struck like thunder.
The instant the longsword studded with seven gemstones left its sheath, it erupted with a dazzling cold gleam. Wrapped