Ye Zhanqing stared at Wen Qingkong in disbelief, her eyes filled with utter incredulity.
She had given it everything she had, pushing the Forty-One Styles of Water Splitting Swordplay to its limit, yet she had merely pierced the young man's coarse cloth shirt.
What kind of martial art was this?
"What a shame."
"This was a new outfit I made this year."
Wen Qingkong grabbed his shirt with his right hand and ripped it completely apart, revealing his muscular upper body.
"Now that you've had your fill, it's my turn."
With a stomp of his right foot, Wen Qingkong shot forward like a cannonball, kicking up a cloud of dust from the ground.
"What profound external hardening skill!"
King Runner gripped his sword hilt tightly. He had come today to capture Drizzle, only to unexpectedly encounter such a troublesome opponent.
But no matter how troublesome he was, he had to die!
Whoosh—
A somewhat piercing howl rang in everyone's ears.
It was the sound of Wen Qingkong moving so fast that he tore through the air.
Ye Zhanqing's heart tightened. The Watersplitter Sword abruptly unfurled streak after streak of sword light as she thrust forward on instinct.
She could not see Wen Qingkong's movements at all.
Fortunately!
She had hit him!
Ye Zhanqing saw her sword pierce through Wen Qingkong's chest.
But the joy on her face swiftly froze.
There was no sensation of resistance from piercing a human body. Instead, her sword passed through Wen Qingkong without the slightest obstruction.
"Afterimage!"
King Runner's heart shook. He had not expected this young man's speed to have reached the point of producing afterimages.
"Lei Bin, Lian Sheng!"
Knowing Ye Zhanqing was no match for Wen Qingkong, King Runner immediately ordered Black Stone's two veteran assassins to attack.
Lei Bin flicked both sleeves, sending two silver needles flying out.
Lian Sheng swung his short blade, and flames sprang up across it. Then, sword light wrapped in fire swept toward Wen Qingkong like a flaming dragon.
"Too late!"
Wen Qingkong shouted and threw a punch!
Whoosh—whoosh—
A shrill whistling rose. Ye Zhanqing's pupils abruptly dilated as her entire vision filled with that fist!
Splat!
Ye Zhanqing's beautiful face exploded like a watermelon beneath the incomparably fierce force of the punch. White, yellow, and red matter mixed together and splattered across the ground.
By then, Lei Bin's silver needles and Lian Sheng's flaming blade had arrived.
Wen Qingkong seized Ye Zhanqing's headless corpse with both hands and flung it sideways through the air. The silver needles and fire-wreathed blade light all struck Ye Zhanqing's headless body.
"Take it back!"
Wen Qingkong kicked Ye Zhanqing's headless corpse straight at King Runner.
At last, anger rose on King Runner's perpetually inscrutable face.
Whoosh!
His longsword left its sheath with a piercing cry like a whistle.
Then sword light flickered, like the endless misty rain of Jiangnan. Ye Zhanqing's corpse was shredded into pieces and scattered across the ground.
Anyone who witnessed such a gruesome sight would likely vomit.
Yet King Runner felt nothing. His cold, indifferent eyes, like ice that had frozen for a thousand years, locked onto Wen Qingkong.
"Good!"
"Very good!"
"Great heroes hide among common folk, and great masters hide among the wilderness!"
"I'd like to see whether you can survive today."
"Kill!"
At King Runner's command, he lunged forward, his sword thrusting directly at Wen Qingkong.
Lei Bin and Lian Sheng attacked Wen Qingkong from the left and right.
Lei Bin's silver needles relied on surprise. In this spacious courtyard, with nothing to obstruct them, he could make even better use of them.
Like a venomous snake poised to strike, he waited only for Wen Qingkong to reveal the slightest opening before delivering a fatal blow!
The Magician, Lian Sheng, covered King Runner's flank. Flames coiled around his short blade, flashy and flamboyant, yet intimidating. The swirling orange flames were even more terrifying than blade aura.
Besides them, the Black Stone assassins rushed into the room. Black Stone had been established for quite some time and had encountered skilled fighters before; they already knew how to coordinate.
Wen Qingkong's martial arts were formidable, but the mother and daughter by his side might not be.
"Stop!"
Seeing the Black Stone assassins rush toward Li Lan and her daughter inside the room, Zeng Jing leaped out. She casually grabbed the Watersplitter Sword Wen Qingkong had driven into the ground, shifted her stance, and struck several times in rapid succession, blocking the Black Stone assassins.
Noticing this from the corner of his eye, Wen Qingkong's desire to kill Zeng Jing faded somewhat.
King Runner had indeed possessed extraordinary martial arts to establish Black Stone. He had likely already stepped into the realm of a Martial Arts Grandmaster. His swordsmanship was sharp yet nimble, at times like a gentle spring breeze and fine rain, without a trace of worldly air; at others like a violent storm, waves rolling through the nine heavens, filling every inch of space around Wen Qingkong.
Under King Runner's powerful swordsmanship, Lei Bin and Lian Sheng had far more room to act.
The flames on Lian Sheng's short blade grew fiercer, like a roaring fire dragon as they attacked Wen Qingkong.
"If you're practicing martial arts, then practice martial arts!"
"Why insist on mixing it with stage tricks until your blade work doesn't look like blade work and your tricks don't look like tricks?"
Wen Qingkong punched King Runner's longsword aside, then twisted his body, completely exposing his left side to Lei Bin as he darted straight into the flames.
Lian Sheng was startled.
Seizing the opportunity, Lei Bin fired four silver needles in succession, swift and precise, aimed directly at Wen Qingkong's vital points.
Wen Qingkong burst through the flames. With the Vigorous Eagle Claw Skill, his left hand clamped down on the back of the blade while his right hand swept out like an eagle's talon.
Rip!
All the flesh and bone in Lian Sheng's throat were torn apart by Wen Qingkong's eagle claw.
He made choking noises like an old, broken bellows leaking air, then collapsed and died.
The silver needles had arrived.
Wen Qingkong activated the Shaolin Golden Bell Shield and Thirteen Iron Bodyguards. His entire body became like steel. Clang, clang, clang, clang—the silver needles struck his skin and all fell to the ground.
King Runner's sword light arrived, aimed at Wen Qingkong's eyes.
He had already seen that Wen Qingkong's external hardening skill was formidable. In all of Mingzhou, there were only a handful who could compare with him.
But practitioners of external hardening arts also had weaknesses—areas difficult to cultivate, such as the eyes and groin.
King Runner intended to take Wen Qingkong's eyes.
Facing that fierce sword strike, Wen Qingkong did not panic. He circulated the fourth revolution of the Nine Revolutions Golden Body Art.
Clang!
King Runner's sharp sword aura, capable of piercing ten layers of armor, struck Wen Qingkong's eyes and actually produced the sound of metal clashing against metal!
As the White Lotus Sect's supreme external art, the Nine Revolutions Golden Body Art had only one flaw: it took an extremely long time to cultivate. Aside from that, it was all advantages!
Weak points?
They did not exist!
Wen Qingkong lashed out with a whip kick at King Runner's jaw, fierce and powerful.
King Runner bent backward to evade the kick while sweeping his longsword downward through the air.
Wen Qingkong was about to change moves and strike King Runner's waist with both fists, but the sword forced him to retreat.
At that very moment, Lei Bin attacked again, short spike in hand as he stabbed rapidly at Wen Qingkong.
Wen Qingkong changed his fists into claws and unleashed the Vigorous Eagle Claw Skill. Fierce and domineering, claw shadows swept through the air, truly like a great eagle spreading its wings and striking the sky!
Clang! Clang! Clang!
A pair of flesh-and-blood claws clashed with the short spike, yet they produced the ringing sound of metal striking metal.
Sparks burst from every collision, their deadly brilliance blooming in the night like fireworks!
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