“I'll ask you one more time.”
Zhao Hanqiu’s voice echoed from within the sword light.
“The Sword Manual—will you hand it over or not?”
Chen Zui reached out to grasp his spear shaft and let out a yawn.
“I told you I don't have it, but you just won't believe me. Since you don't believe me, then let's fight.”
He sighed and pulled the long spear from the crack in the bluestone pavement. With a light twirl of the weapon, he shook off the debris clinging to it.
As soon as he finished speaking, Zhao Hanqiu and Meng Ping moved simultaneously.
Two streaks of sword light—one left, one right, one high, one low—sealed off all of Chen Zui’s paths of retreat.
The sword lights intersected, weaving into a dense, airtight net.
This was the most fierce combined strike within the Taixu Sword Sect’s sword formation.
However...
Just as the sword lights were about to land on Chen Zui, his figure suddenly vanished.
It wasn't just speed.
It was a nearly eerie erraticness.
His figure flickered slightly, and in the next instant, he slipped through the gap between the two sword lights.
His movement technique was indescribably strange; it clearly didn't look fast, yet it made it impossible to pinpoint his exact location.
Zhao Hanqiu’s pupils constricted.
He was already at the peak of the Inquiry Realm, at a stage where his own bottleneck was on the verge of breaking.
In that brief moment just now, he had vaguely caught an unusual aura.
The momentum coming from this man was not that of an early stage Inquiry Realm, nor was it the peak of the Inquiry Realm.
It was the Mountain-Viewing Realm!
This man had already stepped into the Second Rank Earthly Realm!
“Junior Brother Meng, watch out!”
Zhao Hanqiu shouted sharply.
But his warning was a step too late.
Chen Zui’s figure had already appeared beside Meng Ping, and the long spear in his hand gave a light shake.
【Wind and Snow Night Return Spear Fourth Form: Cold River Evening Snow.】
When the spear tip thrust out, even the air seemed to freeze.
A biting coldness spread across the street, and the water stains on the bluestone pavement instantly turned into thin ice.
Meng Ping only felt a blur before his eyes; his vision was filled with spear shadows dancing like falling snow!
Every spear shadow carried a bone-chilling frost intent, descending upon him like an overwhelming shroud.
He did his best to swing his sword and block.
But his sword momentum disintegrated inch by inch before this frost spear intent, which was as heavy as a curtain!
The long sword flew from his hand!
The spear shaft followed immediately after, striking him across the waist and sending him flying. He crashed heavily beside Li Qing.
The two of them were piled on top of each other in a pathetic mess.
Zhao Hanqiu was horrified, but he didn't have time to check on his junior brother's injuries.
Because...
Chen Zui’s gaze had already landed on him.
“You still have the mind to look at others?”
The corners of Chen Zui’s mouth curled up slightly as the momentum of his spear suddenly shifted.
The frost on the spear was replaced in an instant by a layer of thick black mist. The black mist surged relentlessly, carrying an aura that was cold and eerie, yet not quite evil.
【Thirteen Ghost Shadow Spears Fourth Form: Hundred Ghosts Night Walk.】
Spear shadows covered the sky.
Zhao Hanqiu swung his sword desperately to block, the veins on his forehead bulging as he pushed his lifelong cultivation to the limit.
But for every inch his sword thrust out, the spear shadows grew three times denser.
He took one step back, and the spear tip advanced ten feet.
He blocked one strike, and ten more spear shadows appeared.
In less than ten moves, his sword momentum was completely suppressed.
By the twentieth move, Chen Zui’s spear tip tapped lightly against Zhao Hanqiu’s sword blade.
A cold force surged along the blade and into his arm. His entire right arm went numb instantly, and his long sword hit the ground with a clang.
The spear tip rested against Zhao Hanqiu’s throat, and the black mist on the spear slowly dissipated.
The battle was over.
From start to finish, only a few dozen breaths had passed.
Zhao Hanqiu, the strongest of the three, was pinned against the wall by a spear to his throat, not daring to move an inch.
The other two were lying haphazardly among the rotten vegetable leaves, covered in bruises and unable to even stand up.
Li Qing’s face was deathly pale, and his lips trembled as he looked at the scene before him in disbelief.
“Impossible... The news in the martial world said... said you were only at the early stage of the Inquiry Realm.”
“News is a mix of truth and lies.”
Chen Zui glanced at him, his tone carrying a hint of genuine confusion.
“Your Taixu Sword Sect is at least a proper sect.
How could you believe such rumors that are clearly made up to fool idiots?
And claiming I have some Sword Manual on me.
Why would I, a spearman, want a Sword Manual?”
Chen Zui looked away, the spear tip still resting against Zhao Hanqiu’s throat.
Zhao Hanqiu’s face fluctuated between green and white. After a moment of silence, he slowly spoke.
“The news didn't come from some Unaffiliated Wanderer in the martial world, so of course we believed it.”
“Oh? What do you mean?” Chen Zui’s brow furrowed slightly.
“The source of the news is Zhizhou Tower. How could news from Zhizhou Tower be false?”
Chen Zui narrowed his eyes.
Zhizhou Tower.
The Zhizhou Tower that claimed to be “all-knowing of all things to aid the world”?
When did he ever have a grievance with Zhizhou Tower?
“Interesting,” Chen Zui muttered to himself. He withdrew the long spear and planted it on the ground.
“Scram.”
Zhao Hanqiu was stunned. “You... You're not going to kill us?”
“I, Chen Zui, can't bring myself to do something like killing to silence witnesses.”
Chen Zui glanced at Li Qing, who was still lying in the pile of vegetable leaves, and his tone suddenly grew several degrees colder.
“As for him, he hit Old Sun. It's not too much for me to break one of his arms, is it?”
Upon hearing this, Li Qing’s face turned as white as paper.
Ignoring the surging blood in his chest, he struggled to crawl out of the rotten vegetable leaves, his whole body shaking uncontrollably.
Breaking an arm.
To a swordsman, this would be more cruel than death.
He had held a sword since he was five and entered the Taixu Sword Sect at ten; for over a decade, the sword had never left his hand.
Now, the sword was a part of his body.
If his right arm was ruined, he would never be able to lift a sword again for the rest of his life, and he would never be a swordsman again.
“No... you can't...”
Li Qing’s voice was shaking, his lips trembling. The overbearing arrogance he had shown earlier was gone, replaced by a bone-deep terror.
Zhao Hanqiu’s expression changed drastically, and he gave Chen Zui a deep bow.
“Young Hero Chen!
Junior Brother Li was young and arrogant; it was his fault for hurting someone, and the Taixu Sword Sect is willing to offer an apology!
Any amount of silver will do!
I only ask that you show mercy and spare his arm!”
Chen Zui’s expression didn't change, and his footsteps didn't stop.
“When he was stepping on Old Sun’s fingers, did he ever think about showing mercy?”
Zhao Hanqiu was left speechless by these words, cold sweat dripping down his face.
As the head of the third-generation disciples of the Taixu Sword Sect, he usually had the final say in the sect and was respected wherever he went.
But facing this spearman, who was several years younger than himself, he felt powerless for the first time.
Chen Zui walked up to Li Qing and looked down at him.
Li Qing slumped on the ground and looked up at those eyes, which were so calm they were almost indifferent, his body shaking even harder.
The red-tasseled spear rested diagonally on Chen Zui’s shoulder, its tip glinting with a cold light in the morning sun.
Chen Zui slowly raised his hand.
“Kid Chen, wait.”
Right then.
A hand pressed down on Chen Zui’s wrist.
The hand was thin and withered.
The knuckles were still swollen and purple from being stepped on.
It was Old Sun.
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