"Ding, player Wei Yi has slain one Martial Master of the Blackwater Bandits. Cultivation experience +650." "Ding, player Wei Yi has slain one Martial Master of the Blackwater Bandits. Cultivation experience +800." "Ding, player Wei Yi has slain one Martial Master of the Blackwater Bandits. Cultivation experience +720."
A string of notifications rang out, and the cultivation experience bar on Wei Yi's system panel instantly grew by a large stretch.
He needed just under half a bar more to reach the seventh-stage Martial Master realm.
He had to admit that killing people yielded considerably more experience than hunting demonic beasts.
Although Wei Yi was no bloodthirsty killing maniac, he had already made up his mind about these Blackwater Bandit assassins who had nearly taken his life. He would not let a single one escape!
"Talk. Who exactly sent you to kill me?"
Wei Yi questioned them again.
This time, however, everyone's reaction was completely different.
Before, none of them had taken him seriously. How strong could a sixteen- or seventeen-year-old youth be? How could he possibly be their match? In their eyes, he had been nothing but a dish served up for them.
But now, the bloody facts told them that the young man before them could not be judged by the standards of ordinary youths. He was no dish, but a savage tiger choosing someone to devour. They exchanged looks, and for a moment, none dared take the lead and charge forward again.
Even Uncle Wu's eyes widened.
He had never imagined that, after a little over a year apart, his young master had not only resolved the severed-meridian problem that prevented him from cultivating, but had also become so powerful.
He immediately stepped forward, glaring at the Blackwater Bandit assassins as he roared,
"Tell us who sent you, now!"
"If you talk, you might still have a way out alive."
"If you don't, once our young master makes his move, death will be your only way out!"
Uncle Wu rather resembled a fox borrowing a tiger's might.
At the sight, Wei Yi could not help smiling inwardly, and much of his anger actually subsided.
"Don't waste words with him. I refuse to believe he can take on so many of us alone."
A black-clad leader gritted his teeth and shouted.
His shout did restore a good deal of their morale.
After all, the Blackwater Bandits were all desperadoes, accustomed to acting savagely and throwing their weight around. They had merely been cowed by Wei Yi for a moment. Now that they had recovered, a vicious gleam returned to their eyes.
"Forget the rules! Hit him with hidden weapons!"
"Don't let that old bastard off either."
Amid furious shouts, the dozen or so remaining men charged again.
Not only did their blades clash, but they also unleashed all manner of hidden weapons without restraint.
"Uncle Wu, get back!"
Wei Yi hurriedly shouted a warning. As he spoke, the Qinggang Sword danced in his hand, forming a curtain of sword light that blocked every incoming hidden weapon.
"You won't shed tears until you see the coffin!"
"Since you're courting death, this young master will oblige you."
Wei Yi no longer held anything back.
He drove the Blackwater Movement Technique to its fullest. His figure flickered left and right, impossible to pin down, and in the blink of an eye, he darted into their midst.
Many moves of the Storm Sword Technique were area attacks, and Wei Yi showed no courtesy. Driving his internal Qi at full force, he soon sent the Blackwater Bandits to gruesome deaths beneath the Qinggang Sword, one after another, while they could do nothing to him.
These Blackwater Bandits were undoubtedly considerably weaker than the instructors at the True Martial Academy. Even the academy's ordinary instructors were no match for Wei Yi, so how could these men withstand his attacks?
With his max-level Blackwater Movement Technique as well, their numbers gave them no opportunity to surround him. Instead, Wei Yi easily defeated them one by one.
In mere moments, only a handful remained of the original twenty-odd Blackwater Bandit assassins who had lain in ambush.
The survivors exchanged looks, their eyes filled with terror. However savage and overbearing they were, they could not face death head-on. And with no hope of victory in sight, they immediately took to their heels.
Unfortunately, their movement speed was too slow.
Even those among them who had practiced the Blackwater Movement Technique could not compare with Wei Yi's max-level version.
After a few darting passes, the remaining Blackwater Bandits fell to the ground one after another, dead beyond any doubt.
A system notification sounded, but this time, it was a level-up notification.
"Ding, player Wei Yi's sixth-stage Martial Master cultivation experience is full. Automatically advancing to seventh-stage Martial Master."
Feeling the internal Qi in his dantian grow stronger, Wei Yi could not help smiling.
Not a loss this time.
Not only had he suffered no real harm, but he had also reaped considerable gains and smoothly advanced to the seventh-stage Martial Master realm. These Blackwater Bandits could even be said to have delivered experience from a thousand miles away. They really were good people.
"Uncle Wu, clean up the battlefield," Wei Yi instructed.
"No problem, Young Master. Just leave this to your old servant." Uncle Wu gladly agreed.
But just then, Wei Yi suddenly frowned and stopped him. "Uncle Wu, wait a moment."
As he spoke, Wei Yi walked up to the corpse of a black-clad man and narrowed his eyes slightly. Then, without another word, he hurled the Qinggang Sword straight at the man's heart.
Whoosh!
With a piercing whistle, the Qinggang Sword plunged into the dirt.
The black-clad man who should have been lying there abruptly sprang up. Without the slightest hesitation, he moved as nimbly as a fleeing hare and sprinted away.
Clearly, the fellow had been playing dead all along.
"Where do you think you're going!"
Wei Yi activated the Blackwater Movement Technique and immediately pursued him without a second thought.
But halfway through the pursuit, the black-clad man unexpectedly spun around. Curling both hands into claws, he viciously grabbed at Wei Yi's chest and throat.
"Die, brat!"
His cultivation erupted. He was actually a tenth-stage Martial Master!
His eyes brimmed with vicious malice, and a sly, cold sneer appeared at the corner of his mouth. So what if Wei Yi was a genius? Without his most proficient weapon in hand, wouldn't he still die at his hands?
At this thought, he struck even more ruthlessly, clawing at Wei Yi with a hundred and twenty percent of his strength.
"You're the one who'll die!"
Wei Yi roared. Without the Qinggang Sword in hand, he immediately unleashed the Heart-Crushing Palm.
Powerful internal Qi flowed into his palm and transformed into a strange force. Just before the black-clad man's hands could seize him, Wei Yi slammed his palm into the man's chest. Terrifying internal force penetrated his body and instantly injured his internal organs. He spewed a mouthful of blood and was sent flying backward.
The black-clad man stared at Wei Yi with wide eyes. After a long moment, his head lolled to one side, and he finally died for good.
An unmistakable trace of pallor also appeared on Wei Yi's face.
That exchange had indeed been perilous in the extreme. Both the black-clad man's cunning and his strength were astonishing. Although Wei Yi had not directly taken his opponent's martial technique, a strange cold Qi had still seeped into his body. Clearly, the martial technique the man had spent so long preparing was anything but ordinary. Had Wei Yi truly taken it head-on, even if he survived, he would probably have shed a layer of skin.
Fortunately, the Purple Cloud Art could dissolve foreign True Qi. Wei Yi immediately circulated the Purple Cloud Art and suppressed the cold Qi that had seeped into his body.
"Ding, player Wei Yi has slain Martial Master Sun Tianci. Cultivation experience +900. Heart-Crushing Palm skill experience +700."
At that moment, the game system's notification sounded as well.
Wei Yi could not help freezing for a moment.
Sun Tianci?
It seemed this black-clad man's identity was somewhat different from that of the other Blackwater Bandits.
"Young Master, are you all right?"
Just then, Uncle Wu hurried over in a panic, his eyes full of worry.
"It's all this old servant's fault for having dim old eyes and failing to see clearly. Otherwise, I wouldn't have let you suffer such a fright..."
"Uncle Wu, it's not your fault. This man had planned ahead. Even I nearly fell into his trap."
"Young Master, do you know who they are? Could the three elders have arranged this? Otherwise, other people wouldn't necessarily know our whereabouts." Uncle Wu speculated with no lack of malice.
"The three elders?"
Wei Yi suddenly seemed to recall something and shook his head. "It probably wasn't the three elders. We didn't conceal our movements. Anyone paying a little attention could have gotten the news."
"I have a rough idea who's behind this."
"Some people just love courting their own deaths."
Looking in the direction of the True Martial Academy, a trace of icy killing intent appeared in Wei Yi's eyes.