Chapter 115: Night of Slaughter

A group of burly men approached aggressively, their faces dark and radiating an astonishing killing aura. Yet, they all froze, completely caught off guard, by the words spoken by a youth who sat lounging in a chair, utterly unconcerned. The intense murderous intent around them diminished sharply in an instant.

Then, rage flared within their hearts. As elite warriors of the Great Green Gang, they were rarely called upon; only during critical moments were they deployed.

When they received the mission detailing their target was merely a youth, they felt deep resentment. They felt the gang leader was clearly doubting their strength. How tough could some snot-nosed brat be, even at his best?

As for Gao Shitong’s claim that the youth might possess Earth Rank strength, they scoffed. How could a brat, still wet behind the ears, be an Earth Rank Martial Artist? That was obviously just Gao Shitong trying to save face! His own strength was unremarkable, so it was no wonder they didn’t believe him.

Indeed, it was hard to imagine a youth barely twenty years old possessing Earth Rank strength.

“You,” demanded the leader of the group of tough-looking men, his gaze gloomy and filled with dense killing intent as he stared at the well-dressed youth sitting before him, “you are Qin Li?”

“Yeah, that’s me,” Qin Li deliberately curled his lip, his accent distinctively that of the Great Qi Kingdom, his face flashing with utter disdain. “You lot, I bet you’re from that dog-shit Great Green Gang? Great Green, Great Green… the sound is awfully close to the name of my family’s old mutt. Hah, seeing you confirms it – you really are just a pack of dogs!”

“Boy, looking to die!” Two men beside the leader roared. Without another word, they drew their waist sabers and charged straight at Qin Li. Not even a flicker of light shone around them.

Clearly, these two Martial Artists believed that killing an insolent youth like Qin Li didn’t require their full strength!

“Careful!” The leader suddenly saw Qin Li’s eyes narrow, an instinctive wrongness stirring within him, prompting his warning. Unfortunately, his warning came too late.

The two men had already closed the distance. Their sabers, forged from fine steel and wickedly sharp, gleamed coldly as they cleaved through the air with a howl, cutting down towards Qin Li.

Qin Li narrowed his eyes, even making out the savage, eager expressions twisting their faces.

“Is killing so much fun?” Qin Li gave a cold smile. His hands shot out like lightning, snatching the descending blades!

Ah!

The group behind him, as well as those secretly observing the scene, all widened their eyes in shock and disbelief.

These two men possessed Mysterious Rank strength. Though they weren’t using their full power, their cultivation level was undeniable. Even a high-level Mysterious Rank Martial Artist wouldn’t dare block such attacks barehanded!

But it wasn’t over. Raging fury ignited in the two men whose weapons had been caught. Both roared fiercely, green light exploding violently around their bodies as they poured all their strength downward, crushing their wrists.

Now… they were going all out!

Madness flashed in their eyes. Boy, they thought, you brought this death upon yourself. Daring to grab our blades with your bare hands?

“Die!”

They bellowed simultaneously, their roar drowning out their leader’s earlier warning.

Crack!

Two sharp snaps rang out, followed immediately by two heavy, wet thuds.

Thud! Thud!

Qin Li’s hands, like two eagle talons, snapped both weapons. Gripping the broken blades, he surged to his feet and jammed the sharp broken ends straight through the chests of the two men.

Their Protective True Qi? Their hardened bodies? Utterly useless. The broken blades pierced clean through them, front to back.

The two men crumpled limply to the ground with heavy thuds. Their wide-open eyes were filled with a dazed vacancy. Until their dying breath, they couldn’t comprehend how a youth possessed such terrifying strength to snap their own tempered steel blades.

“Boy! You dare kill my brothers!” The leader’s eyes flared bloodshot as his aura surged explosively to its peak. These men trained together, ate together, slept together, shared pleasures, killed and looted together… they were as close as brothers!

Watching two Mysterious Rank Martial Artists perish so abruptly at the hands of this boy, his heart overflowed with sky-high fury.

“I will tear you limb from limb!” With a sound like steel scraping, the enraged Great Green Gang leader drew a long, narrow sword that shimmered with cold light.

The blade was oddly shaped, only three fingers wide, perfectly straight, with a blunt tip. It resembled a straight sword, but the back was thick and heavy. The edge glinted with lethality, accentuated by a deep, wide blood groove running its length—marking it as a truly ferocious weapon!

Qin Li’s expression stiffened slightly. Unexpectedly, the Great Green Gang truly had hidden talents. This man… was actually an Earth Rank Martial Artist!

The surging waves of Prime Force radiating from him, coupled with the bizarre blade, clearly indicated he was no unknown figure.

Qin Li guessed correctly. Those present tonight were drawn from the Great Green Gang’s most elite hall—the Warblade Hall. The wielder of that strange blade bore the nickname “Swiftblade Sun Liu”!

Possessing Earth Rank, Level Two cultivation and expertly practicing his Lightning Blade Combat Technique, he was a widely feared figure within Azure Dragon City!

While Azure Dragon City housed numerous Heaven Rank Martial Artists, they tended to be either ancestral figures of powerful clans or palace retainers. Who amongst them would bother with mundane, worldly matters?

Take Murong Tian, killed by Qin Li—if not lured by that spiritual medicine, why would he personally act against a fallen minor noble?

Therefore, warriors like Swiftblade Sun Liu held significant martial prestige within Azure Dragon City!

This was also the source of the Warblade Hall fighters’ discontent today. Their leader, Leng Ping, had mobilized the Hall’s entire elite force, ordering them to sever the head of that fallen Great Qi Kingdom noble, promising great rewards afterward.

Yet, to these members of the Warblade Hall, no reward outweighed their pride as Martial Artists. Mobilizing dozens of Mysterious Rank warriors, plus an Earth Rank Hall Master, against a single boy felt like an insult!

Now, they understood how justified the gang leader’s order was. Two Mysterious Rank Martial Artists had just been slain within moments, failing to even land a single strike against the boy.

The name Swiftblade Sun Liu came from one terrifying truth: his blade lived up to its lightning name.

Since his debut, the lives claimed by his blade numbered in the hundreds! Most of these fallen Martial Artists never survived his first, lightning-fast strike!

Not only was his blade fast, but at the critical moment of an attack, it would erupt with a blinding flash of intense light—the core essence of the Lightning Blade Combat Technique!

If an opponent’s focus wavered just a fraction, even for the briefest moment… it almost always doomed them.

Sun Liu had even slain opponents whose strength surpassed his own by one or two levels, solely because they underestimated his technique and blinked instinctively when the searing light flash struck their eyes.

“Boy!” Sun Liu declared as he advanced, “Dying under the sword of Swiftblade Sun Liu? Count it a favor! Among all I’ve slain over the years, you’re the youngest!” He dragged his sword behind him with one hand, each step intensifying his fierce momentum. When still over forty feet away, he exploded forward with shocking acceleration, shooting towards Qin Li like a meteor.

He closed the gap instantly, leapt into the air, and simultaneously swung the strange sword he’d been dragging. Like a War Deva descending, he executed a simple, devastating overhand chop—Cleaving the Mountain—the sheer force and speed warping the air with a boom.

Simultaneously, the long blade blazed with light! Like a miniature sun suddenly flaring in the pitch-black night, radiating dazzling, blinding radiance!

“DIE!”

No one saw the sword materialize in Qin Li’s hand. None saw how Qin Li thrust that blade precisely into Sun Liu’s chest through the blinding radiance.

All they knew was within that blinding flash, neither Qin Li nor those watching behind could perceive what truly unfolded. Only when the blaze dimmed did they see Swiftblade Sun Liu standing before Qin Li, the tip of the sword protruding almost a foot clear through his back.

The icy cold radiating from that sword shaft, like ten-thousand-year frost, chilled their hearts from vast distances.

Sun Liu’s eyes were wide open—a true display of Earth Rank vitality. Pierced through the heart, yet not instantly dead. He felt his lifeblood coursing uncontrollably towards the blade embedded in his chest.

A savage, ironic smile twisted Sun Liu’s lips. “This… this is the taste of death? You… were faster.”

His body went limp. Qin Li’s wrist flicked, and the Drinker of Blood Sword slid back into his grip. Not a single droplet stained the blade! Yet Qin Li knew precisely how much of Sun Liu’s blood it had drunk; blood only began trickling onto the ground from Sun Liu’s corpse several moments later. Even clearer to Qin Li was the fierce, predatory excitement vibrating through the sword handle.

A demonic sword! Qin Li thought grimly. He narrowed his eyes, scanning the remaining men frozen like carved wood statues. His voice dropped to an icy whisper, “What’s wrong? Still waiting around for me to claim your dog-shit lives?”

“Big Brother!” At Qin Li’s voice, the men snapped out of their horrified paralysis. Instantly, more than a dozen charged out, swinging their battle blades. A violent surge of green light pulsed fiercely within the group.

“AVENGE BIG BROTHER!”

Someone’s roar ignited the others. They charged Qin Li like frenzied beasts.

A flicker of respect passed through Qin Li’s eyes—but then vanished, replaced by frozen resolve. I can respect their brotherhood… but I cannot tolerate them attacking me.

Come on then! Qin Li silently roared his battle cry inside. Show me! Show me the true prowess of the first layer of the Sovereign of All Battle Skill! Show me the limits of its technique and might! Sword raised, he surged to meet their charging tide.

To deal with these, he didn’t require the second layer of the Sovereign of All Battle Skill—the fearsome pressure of raw spirit.

The dark night. The long street.

A heart-stopping massacre unfolded, yet it barely lasted fifteen minutes.

Virtually all those who got the news and came to observe in secret found the thick, coppery stench cloying the street unbearable and retreated early.

They understood one thing clearly: the seemingly invincible Great Green Gang had finally kicked a truly iron-hard plate.

Starting tomorrow, one of their most elite halls, the Warblade Hall, would be stricken from the rolls.