“Thud!”
Wei Yile’s head tumbled and rolled outside the martial arts training ground, his face bearing that perpetual smile along with a trace of surprise.
The smile was innate.
The shock came from seeing Jun Changxiao dragging afterimages behind him, evading his own attack.
A martial artist at the Meridian Opening level possessing such speed—could his eyes have been playing tricks on him?
This was the thought that arose in Wei Yile’s mind before death. Immediately after, his head was severed, his consciousness extinguished, and he departed without enduring much suffering.
The most outrageous part?
After killing him, Jun Changxiao said: “Elder Wei, is this blade real or not?”
The blade was very real!
Unfortunately, the thoroughly dead Wei Yile could no longer hear it, could no longer provide an answer.
“Thud!”
The headless corpse first knelt on the ground, then toppled over with a crash, blood spraying out to form a small pool.
“Third Brother!”
Wei Yiai screamed with heart-rending anguish, his thoughts instantly consumed by rage. He summoned his long spear and gathered his power to thrust forward.
“Whoosh! Whoosh!”
The spearhead, infused with spiritual power, came charging forward with unstoppable momentum.
Jun Changxiao smiled coldly, stepped to the side to evade, once again dragging out layers of phantom images.
He had clearly slowed his speed—in fact, when killing Wei Yile, he hadn’t fully unleashed his speed either, because with City Lord Xie present, being seen would have been too shocking and extraordinary.
More importantly.
If his performance was too exaggerated, the other person definitely wouldn’t have the courage to attack.
“Die!”
Before Jun Changxiao, who had just dodged the attack, could steady himself, Wei Yiai thrust forward with a technique called Spear Emerges Like Dragon, the spiritual power gathered at the spearhead incredibly explosive.
If this struck his chest, it would definitely leave a gaping hole!
Jun Changxiao shifted his footwork, controlling his speed within a manageable range, circled to the left side, and suddenly swung the Azure Dragon Crescent Blade in a sweeping horizontal slash.
“Bang!”
Wei Yiai, with quick eyes and nimble hands, held his spear horizontally before him, but the spear shaft was directly severed.
There was no time for him to feel heartache over his weapon. He hastily retreated several steps, barely avoiding the blade’s continuing horizontal sweep.
If you asked Wei Yiai now whether the Azure Dragon Crescent Blade was real or not, he would definitely say it was real—after all, the long spear was of extraordinary quality and reinforced with spiritual power, yet it was still cut through with a single slash!
Jun Changxiao pressed his advantage relentlessly. He stepped forward, arms swinging forcefully, the blade rising diagonally upward from below, once again dragging out blade shadows.
“Not good!”
Wei Yiai’s heart filled with dread.
The thought had just formed when heart-rending pain came from his neck, and his head flew off his body with a “whoosh.”
This was… among all martial arts in the world, only speed is unbeatable!
“Thud.”
Wei Yiai’s head fell to the ground, landing coincidentally near Wei Yile’s position, his face frozen in a savage expression, clearly having experienced brief suffering before death.
Jun Changxiao stood before the headless corpse, his blood-stained long blade resting against the ground, saying coldly: “Those who kill me, I kill them.”
Six simple words, combined with his overwhelming killing intent, were exceptionally sinister.
Standing at the main hall entrance, City Lord Xie’s expression froze, clearly unable to anticipate that the two Martial Disciple-ranked elders from Lingquan Sect would be slain one by one beneath Jun Changxiao’s blade!
“City Lord, according to our investigation, the cause of death for Zhou Tianba and the two hundred mountain bandits was mostly decapitation by sharp blades.”
This was a subordinate’s earlier investigation report. Recalling it now, City Lord Xie couldn’t help but think darkly: “Could it be that Black Wind Stronghold was truly destroyed by him?”
“Thud.”
Wei Yiai’s headless corpse fell to the ground, blood gushing out like a fountain.
Jun Changxiao stored his long blade in his spatial ring and said: “My apologies, the blood from those two has dirtied the martial arts training ground.”
“Sect Leader Jun.”
City Lord Xie asked curiously: “What footwork technique did you just employ? How could it be so mysteriously unpredictable?”
Jun Changxiao replied: “Phantom Shadow Steps.”
“Phantom Shadow Steps? How is it that I’ve never heard of this?”
City Lord Xie muttered to himself, completely adopting an attitude of indifference toward the deaths of the Wei brothers.
Blades and swords have no eyes; injuries and deaths are at one’s own risk.
This had been stated clearly and plainly before the battle began, so naturally he wouldn’t be concerned.
Having received the reward money and having the enemies who wanted to kill him counter-killed instead, Jun Changxiao clasped his fists and said: “City Lord Xie, my sect still has matters to handle, so Jun shall take his leave first.”
City Lord Xie glanced at the corpses of the Wei brothers and said: “Sect Leader Jun has killed two elders from Lingquan Sect. This enmity could be considered irreconcilable.”
“They provoked me first,” Jun Changxiao said.
City Lord Xie shook his head. “Lingquan Sect, backed by Holy Spring Sect, won’t debate right and wrong with you or reason things out.”
Jun Changxiao shrugged his shoulders, saying indifferently: “Jun is not one who fears trouble. If they dare provoke me again, I will certainly repay them tooth for tooth.”
As he spoke the four words “tooth for tooth,” his eyes radiated with intense killing intent.
“Farewell.”
Jun Changxiao clasped his fists, turned, and departed.
Watching the gradually receding figure, City Lord Xie stroked his chin and said: “This young fellow is no easy prey.”
“Judging from the miraculous footwork technique he just displayed, if he possessed a high-quality weapon, destroying Black Wind Stronghold would indeed be very possible.”
Why did Jun Changxiao complete the side quest?
It wasn’t because City Lord Xie believed his nonsense, but rather because after seeing the Azure Dragon Crescent Blade, he had formed a preliminary judgment through deliberation.
City Lord Xie believed that Jun Changxiao couldn’t possibly have arrived ahead of time after Black Wind Stronghold was destroyed, because no one could have known the mountain bandits had been annihilated—going up there would undoubtedly be going to one’s death.
That left only the second hypothesis.
When Black Wind Stronghold was destroyed, Jun Changxiao was present, and if the bandit-slayer was someone else, they must certainly be acquainted with him!
It was precisely this hypothesis from City Lord Xie that met the task completion conditions.
Now, having also witnessed Jun Changxiao employing Phantom Shadow Steps, he firmly believed that the mountain bandits must have been destroyed by him.
“Little fellow.”
City Lord Xie shook his head with a smile and said: “To avoid exposing your true strength, you fabricated this story about ancestral heroic spirits possessing you—do you really take this City Lord for a three-year-old child?”
“But then again.”
“This youth possesses such miraculous movement techniques, and his sect originating from ancient times may not necessarily be false.”
Alas.
When lies are told often enough, there will always be one that gets believed as truth.
One couldn’t blame City Lord Xie for his intelligence going offline.
It was still because Jun Changxiao’s speed earlier was too fast, and he had made up this “Phantom Shadow Steps” story, making him certain that unless it was a sect with deep heritage, there was absolutely no way to possess such footwork techniques.
Even Lu Qianqian, after cultivating the Muscle-Tendon Transformation Classic, had once speculated that Tiegu Sect might truly have originated from ancient times.
“No matter what.”
“This young fellow who’s so decisive in killing—it’s better not to provoke him.”
City Lord Xie didn’t fear Jun Changxiao, but was extremely curious—if Tiegu Sect truly was an ancient sect, could it rise again to prominence under his leadership?
…
After leaving the City Lord’s Manor, Jun Changxiao didn’t immediately depart from Qingyang City, but instead entered a trading house to exchange all the jewelry and precious jade stones obtained from Black Wind Stronghold’s treasury into bank notes.
Initially, he had estimated these jewels were worth approximately ten thousand taels. Who would have known that after the exchange, he actually received thirty thousand taels!
And this was just the jewelry and precious stones—there was still quite a bit of gold remaining in his spatial ring.
Jun Changxiao thought to himself: “Including the reward money obtained from the City Lord’s Manor, I should now have fifty thousand taels.”
Fifty thousand taels of silver wasn’t much to wealthy families with established businesses, but for Tiegu Sect, poor and starting from scratch, it was absolutely a huge sum of money.
“Ah.”
After exiting the trading house, Jun Changxiao stretched lazily and laughed: “Having money feels so refreshing!”
“Swish!”
Suddenly, a petite young girl rushed past him in a panic, nearly bumping into him.
Jun Changxiao instinctively touched his pocket, discovering nothing was missing, and said: “Running so fast, are you rushing to reincarnate or something?”
Screech!
The girl stopped abruptly and came back, her face full of delight: “Sect Leader Jun!”
Jun Changxiao said: “You know me?”
“Swish!”
“Swish!”
Just then, several martial artists in fitted clothing charged out from the street corner, quickly surrounding the two of them. The burly man in the lead cursed loudly: “Damn it, why don’t you keep running! And you, kid—if you don’t want to die, hurry up and scram to the side…”
His voice came to an abrupt halt!
Because a long blade rested on his shoulder, the blade’s edge pressed against his neck.
Jun Changxiao said with a smile on his face: “Friend, speaking with such crude language is very impolite, moreover, one must always maintain courtesy when dealing with ladies.”
“Right, right!”
The burly man with the blade at his neck instantly transformed his angry expression, hurriedly putting on a trembling smile: “Must be polite, must have courtesy!”