The old man bared his broken yellow teeth, looking as though he had Su Yu in the palm of his hand.
The corner of Su Yu's mouth twitched.
He smiled.
Only, his smile was rather savage.
"Face?"
Boom!
The great dragon of his spine suddenly snapped taut, a string of cracking bones ringing out like iron beans bouncing violently on a steel plate.
The muscles of his sword-wielding arms instantly swelled with blood, stretching his sleeves nearly to bursting.
"What can you do if I refuse?"
Those words left no room for compromise. They were more like a horn declaring war.
The smile froze on the old man's face, his brown age spots turning purple as blood rushed to them.
This brat refused face when it was offered.
"You're courting death!"
The old man flicked his left hand, sending a pill that gave off a bitter smell flying behind him.
Yue Rao caught it in her mouth and swallowed. Before their very eyes, the hideous wound on her neck stopped bleeding, and granulation tissue writhed and grew wildly, forcibly reconnecting her severed meridians.
Su Yu did not even glance at her. The bluestone slab beneath his feet suddenly exploded, and he charged straight at the old man like an out-of-control heavy war chariot, carrying a violent blast of wind.
The old man snorted.
His figure became elusive and unpredictable.
The pitch-black, serpentine short sword in his hand thrust out silently at a vicious, treacherous angle, stabbing straight at Su Yu's groin.
Su Yu did not dodge. His black-and-gold saber swept out with the force to rout an army.
Clang!
Sparks scattered everywhere.
A cold, hidden force burrowed along the hilt into his palm, trying to tear apart Su Yu's meridians.
The Prison-Suppressing Demon-Subduing Art circulated with overwhelming force. His blood and Qi burned like a furnace, instantly incinerating that foreign force.
"Decent strength, but too slow!"
The old man's voice was hoarse.
Using the force of the collision, his body folded at an uncanny angle in midair, instantly circling behind Su Yu's flank.
The short sword flicked out like a venomous snake's tongue, stabbing toward his heart from behind. This strike was extremely fast.
A ninth-layer martial artist's control over muscles and airflow was far beyond that of the Mortal Realm Seventh Layer.
Although Su Yu's body was formidable, he was indeed at a disadvantage in agility.
His saber could not return to defend in time.
Rip!
The clothes across his back split open, and a white mark appeared on his skin.
Had his skin membrane not reached major accomplishment, that strike would have pierced his heart.
"Let's see how many moves you can last!"
The old man unleashed his movement technique to the fullest, transforming into a gray whirlwind as he circled Su Yu in a frenzy of lethal attacks.
Every thrust went straight for a vital point.
Su Yu stood his ground, swinging his saber in a defense so tight that not even wind could pass through, yet he remained on the back foot, taking attacks.
Hope flared in Liu Ying's eyes nearby. She had already learned of the Liu Family's cooperation with the Ghost Shadow Sect. As long as the old man could kill Su Yu, this mission would still be perfect.
As for Yue Rao's escape, they could simply pin all the blame on Su Yu afterward.
Su Yu's face remained expressionless. With a thought, he put all his Slaughter Points into Wandering Dragon Steps.
[Consuming 160 Slaughter Points to begin extrapolating Wandering Dragon Steps] [Wandering Dragon Steps (Mortal), high-grade movement technique: perfection]
Boom!
The 160 Slaughter Points were instantly emptied, and an immense torrent of heat poured into his legs out of nowhere.
Muscle fibers tore and reformed wildly, becoming denser and more explosive.
The profound footwork that had once been obscure and difficult to grasp now felt like instinct engraved into his marrow.
The old man closed in again, a cruel smile hanging at the corner of his mouth.
His short sword became nine afterimages, sealing every escape route above, below, left, and right of Su Yu.
A certain kill.
However.
Su Yu moved.
He neither retreated nor blocked.
His body shifted half a foot sideways in apparent defiance of physics.
By a hair's breadth, he evaded the killing thrust.
The old man's pupils contracted sharply. How was that possible?
He clearly hadn't possessed this reaction speed just now!
Su Yu did not counterattack the old man.
In the instant the old man froze in shock, Su Yu became a streak of black lightning and charged straight out of their battle.
His target-Liu Ying!
"Stop him! Hurry!"
Liu Ying screamed, her voice cracking with extreme terror, and violently shoved the Demon Suppression Guard beside her.
The guard saw only a blur before a black-and-gold blade flash filled his entire vision.
Splat!
His head shot into the air, and the column of blood from his severed neck sprayed Liu Ying's face.
[Killed a Mortal Realm Fifth Layer martial artist. Slaughter Points +50]
Su Yu never stopped moving. His perfected Wandering Dragon Steps made him like a slippery loach, weaving through the crowd.
Wherever his blade flashed, severed limbs flew.
It was a massacre.
"Interesting!"
A strange look flickered through the old man's eyes behind him. Had he not promised the Liu Family he would eliminate this brat, he would not have minded watching the show.
Pushing off the ground with both feet, he pursued Su Yu.
But he soon discovered, to his horror, that the Ghost Shadow Movement Technique he took such pride in could not catch this young man carrying a large saber on his back!
Whenever he was about to reach Su Yu's back, Su Yu changed direction at an extraordinarily uncanny angle, making him slash empty air.
Squelch!
With a backhand slash, Su Yu cut a Liu Family deathsworn attempting a sneak attack in half at the waist.
Blood splashed.
[Slaughter Points +60]
Ten breaths.
Just ten breaths.
The dozen or so elite guards who had surrounded Liu Ying were all reduced to chunks of flesh on the ground.
Only Liu Ying remained in the clearing, along with a young man who had wet himself in terror, and Tang Shan, who stood rigid nearby with his saber in hand.
Su Yu stopped before Liu Ying.
His black robes were soaked in blood, and the heavy reek of it made him look like an asura that had crawled out of hell.
Liu Ying collapsed and scrambled backward on her hands and feet.
"L-Lord Su..."
Trembling, she unfastened the clasps of the soft armor at her collar, exposing a large expanse of snow-white skin.
"I was forced into it. Really."
"I'm from the Liu Family's direct line. As long as you don't kill me."
"I have money. I have resources."
"You can have me, too... I'm still a virgin..."
Tears and snot streamed down her face, her eyes full of pleading.
At that moment, neither dignity nor her Lineage could compare with staying alive.
Su Yu looked down, his gaze as cold as though he were looking at a lump of rotting meat.
"Filthy."
Just one word.
His blade flashed.
Liu Ying's voice stopped abruptly.
She clutched her throat with both hands, blood pouring wildly between her fingers.
Her eyes were filled with disbelief.
This man had not hesitated for even a single second.
[Killed a Mortal Realm Sixth Stage martial artist. Slaughter Points +60] [Current Slaughter Points: 310]
"Enough!"
The people Liu Ying had brought were all agents the Liu Family had planted in the Demon Suppression Bureau. Following the Liu Family, their hands had long since been stained with untold amounts of blood. Killing them was no different from carrying out Heaven's justice.
Su Yu slowly turned. Behind him, the old man had descended into madness.
The Liu Family's people were dead, their cooperation had gone completely down the drain, and he would not escape punishment either.
"I'll tear your corpse into ten thousand pieces!"
The old man's blood and Qi burned.
He drove his Mortal Realm Ninth Layer internal force to its utmost, and even the serpentine short sword whined, unable to withstand that power.
This strike was his pinnacle. Even a martial artist of the same level would have to avoid its edge.
Su Yu stood where he was.
He did not dodge.
He issued one final command in his mind.
System, put points into cultivation.
Rumble!
It was as though an ancient beast had awakened within him. Thunderous tremors erupted deep in his marrow.
Two hundred Slaughter Points burned away instantly, and his physical strength, which had already reached a bottleneck, broke through its limits once more.
His blood and Qi were like mercury, so heavy they were suffocating.
Mortal Realm Eighth Layer!
Facing the old man's lethal thrust.
Su Yu's expression remained calm as he gripped his black-and-gold saber.
Wild delight flashed in the old man's eyes.
Idiot!
How dare you look down on me like this!
So what if you've broken through to the Mortal Realm Eighth Layer? I'm at the ninth layer!
Yet, in the next second!
Clang-!
The teeth-grating shriek of twisting metal rang through the woods. Time seemed to freeze at that moment.
The old man's expression instantly changed from wild delight to horror.
His sword had stopped, blocked by a black-and-gold saber!
No matter how hard he drove his internal force, the short sword did not budge!
"You..."
The old man felt a terrifying force travel along his blade, plunging him into despair.
This was absolutely no ordinary eighth-layer martial artist!
The sheer depth of that strength reminded him of the fear he felt before the elders of his sect.
Su Yu leaned forward slightly, bringing his face close to the old man's.
There was no emotion in those eyes, only pure killing intent.
"Old dog."
"You said you wanted face?"
"I can give it to you. Unfortunately, you won't live to take it!"