Chapter 102

The moment the three guards leaped off the carriage, the originally silent Niulan Street suddenly underwent a strange change.

A roaring, whistling sound like a beast came from overhead. The three guards were instantly alert and looked up, only to see a massive stone millstone thrown from outside the alley, carrying a violent gust of wind as it smashed fiercely toward the carriage.

Judging by the size of the stone millstone, its weight was at least several thousand catties.

To be able to throw such a millstone over a courtyard wall while maintaining such speed, it must be a master of hard-body techniques with innate divine strength!

But even so, the three guards still did not show the slightest panic.

Especially the scar-faced guard, who was the tallest and most robust of the three; not only was he fearless, he even clenched his fist and smashed it toward the stone millstone with a savage grin.

"Boom!"

In an instant, the massive stone millstone burst apart with a roar, turning into countless fragments that splattered in all directions.

Stone dust rained down from the sky. The scar-faced guard stood in place, unscathed. He raised his right hand, which had just shattered the millstone, patted the stone dust off his body, and glanced at his two colleagues:

"If there's no problem, this one belongs to me!"

"..."

The two colleagues exchanged a glance. The middle-aged guard on the left with a steady temperament nodded, indicating no problem.

The long-haired youth on the right, holding his sword scabbard, chuckled and teased: "As long as Brother Fu is willing, let alone this one, even if you took on all the assassins on the street, that would be no problem at all!"

"Hmph, wanting to slack off again. I really don't know why the Young Master would take a fancy to a piece of work like you..."

The scar-faced guard snorted, then took a step and walked toward the direction from which the millstone had been thrown.

As he walked, faint blue light shone through his collar and sleeves. A closer look would reveal that it was the light emitted by the intricate patterns on his arms and torso.

This man was named Fu Hao, born with an astonishing physique and great strength. If placed in another world, he would at least be a fierce general capable of charging enemy lines.

But unfortunately, this is the Qing Yu Nian world where radioactive Qi exists, and Fu Hao was good at everything except for having extremely poor talent in Qi. No matter how hard he practiced, he was always trapped at the Rank 6 realm.

Until not long ago, Fan Xian took him in as a retainer, used the Three-Vehicle Power technique to open his Ren and Du meridians, and combined it with hard-body secret techniques and magic runes that enhanced the body, forcibly raising his strength to a terrifying level.

Now his body could be called impervious to blades and spears, and although his overall combat power could not compare to a Grandmaster, it was at least at the level of a high-tier Rank 9!

Just as Fu Hao left the vicinity of the carriage, many black shadows suddenly appeared on the courtyard walls on both sides.

Each of them had their faces covered with black cloth, drawing bows and arrows, aiming at the carriage on Niulan Street and the three guards.

"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—"

In an instant, a dense rain of arrows attacked through the air, clanging against Fu Hao's body.

Fu Hao frowned, grabbed an arrow at random, threw it back, and instantly shot apart a head that had poked out from the courtyard wall.

At the same time, the other two beside the carriage also moved.

The young swordsman was no longer lazy; the sharp sword in his hand left its scabbard like lightning, instantly tearing through the airflow of the flying arrows and scattering a brilliant, sky-filling sword light.

"Clang, clang, clang!"

In an instant, countless sharp arrows were knocked away by the sword in the young swordsman's hand.

The seemingly soft sword wind swept across the arrow shafts, easily tearing them to pieces, which drifted into the sky as wood shavings.

The middle-aged guard beside him had a cold look in his eyes. He placed his right hand on the hilt of his saber, stepped forward fiercely, and swung horizontally.

"Clang—"

Accompanied by the light ringing of the blade, the slightly curved long saber lit up with blue light, actually slashing out a solid blade aura.

The archers on the courtyard wall had not yet reacted to what had happened when their entire field of vision was occupied by that brilliant blade light, and their consciousness subsequently fell into eternal darkness.

"Thud! Thud!"

Headless bodies fell to the foot of the wall, and a large amount of blood sprayed out, raining down like a bloody downpour.

The young swordsman frowned, turned his sword, and used the airflow to block the blood, so as not to let these impurities dirty the Young Master's carriage.

"Nie Kang, protect the Young Master well!"

"If a single arrow lands on the carriage, I will definitely pull your head off and kick it like a ball!"

Fu Hao roared loudly, like a furious giant bear, sprinting toward the courtyard wall on the left.

"Boom!"

With a loud noise, Fu Hao used his shoulder as a point of impact, crashing through the brick wall in front and charging into the courtyard where the assassins were ambushed.

"Do you need to tell me?"

Nie Kang sneered, the sharp sword in his hand dancing faster and faster, seemingly merging into the sword wind.

Every swing could stir up a wisp of gale, and cyan patterns appeared on the bright sword, stirring the airflow within a three-meter radius into an airtight vortex.

Like Fu Hao, Nie Kang was also a person of ill-fated, unfulfilled potential.

He was born under a certain Rank 7 swordsman and had been known as a sword genius since childhood, but he was weak and sickly, suffered from asthma, and his body could not bear Qi, not to mention that his strength was far inferior to those fellow disciples with ordinary sword skills.

Because of this, he often suffered the cold shoulders and ridicule of those around him.

Even the master who valued him most, after repeated failed attempts to seek medical treatment, tactfully advised him to give up martial arts.

Nie Kang was unwilling, so he bid farewell to his master and came to the capital, while visiting famous doctors, he made a living by teaching sword skills.

But unfortunately, his practical combat ability was poor; he could not handle challengers from his peers, his business was dismal, and he was often ridiculed, eventually falling to the point of only being able to teach children.

Even so, Nie Kang was still not defeated.

Regarding those cold shoulders and ridicule, he learned to turn a blind eye and ignored them all with a lazy, self-abandoning attitude.

Fan Xian valued his temperament and talent in swordsmanship, so he cured his asthma, opened his Ren and Du meridians, and gifted him a wind-attribute treasure sword enchanted by Lin Yu, making him leap into becoming a true sword master.

In terms of strength alone, Nie Kang was the weakest of the three.

But if this enchanted treasure sword was added, even Fu Hao might not necessarily be his opponent!

At the same time, the middle-aged saber-wielder stepped on the ground, leaped five meters high, and landed inside the courtyard wall in front.

The next second, brilliant blade light lit up inside the courtyard wall.

Countless broken limbs and arms danced in the sky with the blade light, dyeing the entire courtyard a glaring scarlet.

"Ah!"

The miserable wails of the assassins lingered in his ears, but the middle-aged saber-wielder remained unmoved, still coldly swinging his long saber, slaughtering every living person he could see in his field of vision.

This man was named Shi Hanwu, a veteran of the Qing Kingdom who had retired from the front lines.

Unlike Fu Hao and Nie Kang, the first half of his life was fairly smooth, and he had earned quite a bit of military merit on the border, until he became disabled later, and only then did he finally see the warmth and coldness of human relationships.

To be honest, the Qing Kingdom was actually quite good to veterans, but unfortunately, he had lost a hand and a foot, making movement inconvenient and making it difficult to make a living.

And the wife he had married through an introduction was also a snobbish person; seeing her life plummet, she left the capital with an out-of-town merchant one afternoon.

After Fan Xian took a fancy to this disabled veteran, he bought a healing scroll from Lin Yu to heal his body and reshape his flesh.

Afterward, Fan Xian followed the procedure to open Shi Hanwu's Ren and Du meridians.

But after Shi Hanwu obtained Qi, Fan Xian was surprised to find that this guy's Qi could actually resonate with his saber!

After questioning, Fan Xian finally learned that this long saber had been passed down from his ancestors; roughly estimated, it had been passed down for at least three generations!

And the Shi family had been in the military for generations; the long saber had followed their three generations of ancestors and descendants to fight on the battlefield, and it had long since merged with their bloodline, producing a certain spirituality, which was particularly suitable for the method of object-binding.

Without hesitation, Fan Xian immediately taught the method of object-binding to Shi Hanwu.

Shi Hanwu also lived up to expectations; as soon as he got started, he was able to slash out blade aura with his ancestral treasure saber, which could be called a heaven-sent talent.

Among the three, Shi Hanwu's loyalty to Fan Xian was the highest. He was a soldier by origin and was used to serving others. Now that he had received Fan Xian's grace of rebirth, he naturally handed over his own life.

"Swoosh—"

Accompanied by the sound of the blade cutting through flesh, Shi Hanwu swung his blade light, quickly slaughtering the assassins in front of him.

In the shadows of a corner, two figures were quietly lurking there, looking at the middle-aged guard who was on a killing spree in the courtyard with shock on their faces.

Judging from this guy's current performance, he was at least a Rank 9 master!

This level of master was extremely rare in the entire world.

Fan Xian was merely a bastard; where did he get so many masters around him?!

The two in the shadows were extremely puzzled, but regardless, a mission was a mission; even if they died, they had to try.

The two exchanged a glance and, taking advantage of the middle-aged guard's back being turned to them, launched a fierce attack.

"Swoosh—"

Two slight sounds of wind came from behind his head.

The middle-aged guard's expression did not change; he drew power from the ground, twisted his waist and hips, and slashed a blade aura toward the two who were attacking from behind.

But just at this moment, he suddenly saw the figures of the two; although they had black cloth covering their faces, their graceful postures still revealed their identity as women.

"It's the female swordsmen the Young Master mentioned!"

Shi Hanwu frowned and shifted the blade without hesitation, letting the blade aura graze over the heads of the two women.

Seeing this scene, the two female swordsmen were somewhat puzzled.

But as assassins, they did not mind taking advantage of this small 'mistake'.

In an instant, the two women's figures accelerated again, the thin swords in their hands turning into ghostly light, like two pitch-black poisonous snakes, stabbing toward the middle-aged guard's neck and temple from left and right.

But just as the sword tips were about to touch his skin, the long saber in the middle-aged guard's hand lit up with blue light.

The blue light spread across his body surface like a tide, covering his entire body in the blink of an eye.

"Clang!"

The next second, the poison-coated sword tips stabbed into the amber-like blue Qi light.

The hard sensation shocked both female swordsmen. Before they could withdraw and retreat, they saw the middle-aged guard raise his right leg, like two blue bolts of lightning, instantly kicking the two women in the lower abdomen.

"Bang!"

Two muffled sounds came almost at the same time, and the two women's figures flew backward, crashing fiercely into the wall like cannonballs.

"Surrender!"

The middle-aged guard's body surface bloomed with blue light, and he waved the long saber in his hand, pointing at the two female swordsmen with blood overflowing from the corners of their mouths, saying indifferently: "The Young Master is benevolent and willing to spare your lives. I hope you two will consider carefully and not ruin yourselves, making it difficult for me to report..."

(End of chapter)