The thin boss signaled to the others, and another person understood, taking a large saber and kicking open the door.
But upon entering the room, they found no one on the bed.
Before they could react, a silver light flashed, and the burly man with a scarred face dropped his saber, clutching his throat tightly, but blood still gushed uncontrollably through his fingers.
Then his eyes immediately filled with blood, and he fell to the ground with a thud.
The people next to him finally reacted.
The thin boss roared furiously, “Boy, how dare you kill my second brother!
I’ll butcher you!
Brothers, attack!”
Xiao Jian flicked his sword, as if shaking off non-existent blood, and sneered, “How ridiculous!”
He then raised his twin swords and fought the few people.
The thin shopkeeper, holding a sword, with Dou Qi materialized into a gauze, clashed swords with Xiao Jian.
Others were also attacking him, but Xiao Jian didn’t care.
Ants could kill an elephant, but they were not numerous enough.
Every few swings of Xiao Jian’s sword, someone would fall, yet he himself didn’t have a single wound.
“What kind of monster is this?
How old is he to have such cultivation?”
The thin boss grew more and more terrified as he fought.
He had been in this line of work for over ten years, and with his Three-Star Dou Master cultivation, he had never failed.
But this time, he had to admit he was in trouble.
Even with a dozen people attacking, he hadn’t gained any advantage, and his own men were constantly dying.
What was even more terrifying was that he couldn’t stop it.
Every one of his swords was so fast, so powerful, and those two swords—his subordinates’ weapons basically couldn’t withstand one strike, and then the second strike would be fatal.
Finally, after all his subordinates had died, he couldn’t hold on any longer.
He resisted one sword with all his might.
Then, with a thud, he knelt down, shouting, “Mercy!”
“Oh!
Give me a reason!” Xiao Jian’s sword stopped above his head.
“I!
I!
I!
I’m willing to give you everything and recognize you as my master!
I’ll be loyal to you forever!” He was afraid of death; he didn’t want to die.
“Interesting!
Do people like you also feel fear?” Xiao Jian showed a playful smile.
Hearing Xiao Jian speak, the thin shopkeeper also showed a hint of relief, just about to speak again.
But the next second, he no longer had the chance to speak.
“If I kill you, these things will still be mine.
Besides, you don’t want to die, and the people you harmed before also thought the same.” These guys clearly weren’t good people; their deaths were not to be regretted.
Slowly sheathing his sword, Xiao Jian took off the storage ring from the thin shopkeeper’s hand and looked inside.
Oh, nothing good: two unregistered cards, some gold coins, a little medicinal herbs and pills, but none of high grade.
There was also a scroll of Yellow-tier cultivation technique and two Dou Techniques.
Xiao Jian glanced at them, and they all turned into skill points.
Skill Points: 389
“Not bad, gained sixty skill points.”
Holding his sword, Xiao Jian walked out of the inn.
Ugh!
Ugh!
The contents of his stomach came up, and his hands began to tremble a little.
This was his first time killing, but it definitely wouldn’t be the last.
Taking a gulp of water, Xiao Jian slung his sword over his back and walked into the distance.
Finding a tree, Xiao Jian leaned against its trunk with one hand, closing his eyes.
He replayed everything that happened tonight.
He had vomited, his hands trembled constantly, he felt a bit nauseous, but this was a world of killing.
Opening his eyes, he looked at the sword in his hand, drew it, and lightly swung it at a nearby rock.
The rock instantly split into two.
Sheathing his sword, Xiao Jian murmured, “Is this Sword Intent?
A sword is a weapon of destruction.
Seeing one’s own heart, and swinging the sword—is that the meaning of that ‘heart’ character?
The freedom I felt when I left Wutan City, combined with tonight’s sword swings—did that become Sword Intent?”
Xiao Jian loved freedom, both in his previous life and this one.
And now, he would use the sword in his hand to carve out his freedom.
Gripping the sword tightly, Xiao Jian began to practice, wanting to carefully experience this feeling and master the Sword Intent.
Sword Intent is a profound thing; you can’t explain what it is or why it appears, but it simply exists.
Xiao Jian’s current Sword Intent was still very small, so he needed to work harder.
He found a cave; he needed to stay there for a few days to master his Sword Intent.
Caves weren’t that easy to find, but Xiao Jian had Dou Qi.
Thinking about it that way, it became much easier to find.
…Dividing Line
On the peak of the Cloud Mist Sect’s back mountain, clouds and mist swirled, like a fairyland.
On a protruding black rock at the edge of the cliff, a woman in a moon-white dress was forming cultivation hand seals, meditating with her eyes closed.
With each breath, a perfect cycle was formed.
Between each cycle’s alternation, faint streams of green energy would emanate from the rich surrounding air.
These streams swirled around the woman, then were continuously absorbed into her body, refined, and stored.
When the last wisp of green energy was absorbed into her body, the young woman slowly opened her eyes.
A faint green glow flashed through them, and her shoulder-length green hair instantly moved without wind, gently fluttering.
“Senior Sister Nalan, the Sect Master has returned and wants to see you.”
“Master is back!
Quickly take me to see her!” Stopping her cultivation, Nalan Yanran excitedly headed towards the Cloud Mist Sect’s main hall.
Inside the main hall, a woman was waiting for her.
The woman wore a green dress, her long hair reaching her waist, her figure and face exquisitely beautiful.
Without any makeup, she was already incredibly stunning.
This person was none other than the Cloud Mist Sect Master, Yun Yun.
“Master!
You’re back!
I missed you so much!” Nalan Yanran ran over to the woman as soon as she saw her and threw herself into Yun Yun’s embrace, even rubbing against her prominent chest.
This made Yun Yun blush a little.
Patting Nalan Yanran’s head, she said, “Alright, let go!
I already know everything.”
Nalan Yanran then let go of Yun Yun.
She said, “Mm!
Master, they bullied me!”
Yun Yun smiled gently and comforted her, “Alright, didn’t you go to break off the engagement yourself?
…By the way, that Xiao Jian—did he really catch your sword?”
She was very clear about her disciple’s strength.
It wasn’t difficult for someone to catch her sword, but if it was as Ge Ye said—if someone of the same age caught her sword in that manner—then that person’s talent would be very high.
“Master, I…
I was just careless at the time!
Next time!
Next time I…!” Nalan Yanran stammered, her face red, when she heard Yun Yun ask this.
As if she vowed to pierce Xiao Jian to death with a sword next time.
Hearing her disciple’s stammering, Yun Yun roughly understood.
What Ge Ye said should be true, which meant that person’s talent was extraordinary.
*Should I go and abduct this person to the Cloud Mist Sect?* She looked at her disciple’s expression and immediately gave up.
Forget it, just a talented kid.
In a small place like Wutan City, his future would probably be just so.
As for Xiao Yan, she heard his talent had recovered.
Yun Yun frowned.
“Yanran, for that three-year agreement, are you confident?”
“Master, even you don’t believe me!” It seemed that many people already knew about this matter and had said many unpleasant things during this time.
And Yun Yun, though she believed in her disciple, still had a faint worry.
This matter had developed to this extent; it was no longer just about two people.
Besides, even if Xiao Yan couldn’t defeat Yanran, what if that Xiao Jian intervened?
They were of the same age—could the great Cloud Mist Sect really avoid a fight?
Once they lost, the Cloud Mist Sect’s reputation would be ruined.
So, Yanran must have the strength to defeat that Xiao Jian.
It seemed Gu He’s method had to be brought forward.
Yun Yun thought.
“How could Master not believe you?
Alright, Master has some business with Elder Gu He and needs to go there.
You go back first.”
Nalan Yanran pouted unhappily and said, “You’re leaving again—you just came back!”
Yun Yun stroked the little girl’s head and said, “Alright, Master really has something important to do.
I’ll spend time with you next time.”
“Oh!
Alright!”
In the Cloud Mist Sect, Yun Yun, as the Sect Master and a woman, had no one around her, so ever since she took Nalan Yanran as her disciple, she spoiled her immensely.
This led to the disciple being more like a sister to her than a student.
Shaking her head, she no longer paid attention to her and headed towards Pill King Gu He.
…Three days later.
Standing opposite Xiao Jian was a tiger over three meters tall.
“Second-tier Magical Beast!
Back-Striped Tiger!”
Xiao Jian gripped his twin swords; milky white Dou Qi entwined around them.
Without high-level cultivation techniques and Dou Techniques, magical beasts of the same tier had stronger combat power than humans.
This was unavoidable, after all, magical beasts’ bodies were much stronger than humans’.
If an ordinary low-tier Dou Master encountered this magical beast, they would probably die under its claws.
Unfortunately, Xiao Jian was not an ordinary person.
Even though he hadn’t broken through to Dou Master yet.
“Come on, beast!”
Xiao Jian was honing his Sword Intent, and these thick-skinned magical beasts were undoubtedly very suitable targets.
He had killed many magical beasts these past two days, but only obtained three Magic Cores.
All of them were second-tier; he was too lazy to kill first-tier magical beasts—it was pointless.
The magical beast opposite him also fell into a rage.
It wanted to kill this human who dared to provoke it, and then eat it.
Human flesh also had a considerable effect on it.
The tiger fiercely pounced on Xiao Jian, its pair of tiger claws aimed directly at Xiao Jian’s heart.
Xiao Jian swung his twin swords, fiercely slashing at the tiger’s claws, and the two clashed, emitting a piercing sound.
“Didn’t cut it off?
You’re really tough, little kitty.”
Missing its strike, the tiger immediately leaped far away.
That had just been a mutual test between the man and the tiger; now that they roughly knew each other’s strength, the battle could officially begin.
The tiger suddenly pounced on Xiao Jian again, but Xiao Jian dodged by jumping to the left, and as he jumped away, he swung his sword fiercely, leaving two deep wounds on the tiger’s back.
Injured, the tiger became even more frenzied, trying to attack Xiao Jian again and again.
But Xiao Jian was not a sitting duck.
He tried his best not to confront the beast head-on, but rather relied on his agility to inflict more wounds on the creature again and again, only occasionally clashing head-on when there was no other way to dodge.
He flexed his slightly trembling fingers.
“Beast, it’s time to end this.”
Xiao Jian channeled his Dou Qi, wrapping it around the white sword in his left hand according to specific meridians.
When the Dou Qi reached the sword, it transformed into a white dragon coiling around the white sword.
Then, the white dragon roared past, piercing through the tiger’s head.
Blood gushed out.
Sheathing his sword, Xiao Jian took out a dagger and skillfully retrieved a Magic Core from the tiger’s head.
This was the fourth Magic Core.
Cutting off a tiger leg for dinner, he would continue his journey to Qingshan Town tomorrow.
Roasting the tiger leg, Xiao Jian looked at the white moon in the sky, smiled faintly, and said, “Sorry, Xiao Yan, the Purple Cloud Wings are mine.”