Wuxia: Starting Off With 60 Years of Inner Strength

”Oh?”

Scholar Jingtan thought for a moment but couldn’t place the name. He didn’t press the issue, however, and simply nodded.

”I see. But this isn’t the time to reminisce. First, we kill these scoundrels from the Death Building!”

”Yes!”

Chi Lin had thought the same. He had pushed deep into their territory, intending to capture the leader to break the group.

But he never expected to be completely unable to intervene.

So, he could only lead his disciples to first kill these Assassins from the Death Building.

Meanwhile, the actor, the courtesan, and the woodcutter all advanced to meet them.

”Thunderbolt Hall sticks its nose where it doesn’t belong. It’s only fitting you die here today!”

”Killing for free is so dreadfully dull. But getting in the way of my business is like murdering my parents. Surely you understand that principle!”

The woodcutter, however, remained silent. With a simple wood-chopping axe, he stirred the very air and swung down with the force of a mountain splitting apart.

Scholar Jingtan’s eyes darkened. He was about to meet the axe head-on when he suddenly heard a dragon’s cry from the side.

He snorted coldly without even glancing at the woodcutter. With a sweep of his hands, a golden hairpin appeared in his palm, which he flicked straight toward the courtesan.

CLINK!

The axe that Scholar Jingtan had disdained was caught by a longsword. The blade’s light coiled like a dragon, and the two opposing forces erupted outward.

As the resulting shockwave spread, Gu Xizhi let out a sound of surprise. ”Hm?”

”The Death Building has sent out quite a few masters. Your axe technique has hints of the old ’Mountain-Opening Axe’s’ Thirty-six Heavenly Dipper Axe style, yet it’s not quite the same.

”Not bad, not bad. My hands were getting itchy for a fight anyway. I’ll test my new moves on you. It’s certainly better than fighting that uninteresting fellow.”

As he spoke, the axe-wielding woodcutter’s expression changed.

Before he could react, the dragon-like sword light came thundering toward him.

Gu Xizhi was known as the Celestial Dragon Divine Sword precisely because of this Celestial Dragon Swordsmanship.

His sword moved like a dragon. Unlike typical Swordsmanship, which valued grace and agility, every single one of his moves was crushingly heavy. Yet, his strikes were never slow; instead, they moved with the boundless agility of a proud Divine Dragon.

The woodcutter’s heart clenched. He gripped the axe with both hands, coiled his body, and swung with all his might.

But then—CLINK.

He looked down. The tip of the sword had stopped his axe dead in its tracks, preventing it from moving another inch!

The next moment, Gu Xizhi turned his sword, and with a flick of the blade against the axehead, he sent the weapon flying from the woodcutter’s grasp to clatter on the ground.

Seeing this, the woodcutter turned to flee.

Gu Xizhi’s brow furrowed. ’Killing a man from behind is not the way of a gentleman...’

’But these are men from the Death Building.’

He hesitated for a moment, just as he raised his sword to cut the man down.

A flash of a blade materialized high in the air.

He looked up, stunned.

”The Great Transformation Divine Blade?”

Without a second thought, he beat a hasty retreat.

This blade technique, the Great Transformation Divine Blade, was both famous and notoriously difficult to counter.

Even a non-lethal blow was pure torture.

No one wanted to be on the receiving end of a strike like that.

But the light of the blade had already completely enveloped the fleeing woodcutter.

The woodcutter screamed in agony as hundreds of bloody gashes burst open all over his body. In the next instant, he was torn in two, his death a shattered, gory mess.

Tang Huayi landed. Looking up, he saw a figure fall to the ground not far from him.

It was a seductively dressed woman.

Her appearance, however, was far from lovely. Half of her head had been caved in by a palm strike. No matter how beautiful someone was, an injury like that was never a good look.

Tang Huayi’s gaze swept over her, and he struck with his blade out of pure instinct.

One slash severed her head from her body.

He then turned and walked toward Jiang Ran and Greed Poison.

Greed Poison watched his companions being brutally slaughtered, but he remained motionless, locked in a contest of Inner Strength with Jiang Ran.

When Tang Huayi reached the vortex of churning energy created by their struggle, he extended a finger to test it. He was immediately repelled.

He shook his head slightly. ’Just as I thought...’

”Brother Li!”

Ruan Yuqing, who had been standing guard over Jiang Ran, called out anxiously when she saw Tang Huayi return.

”Young Hero Jiang seems to be in a tough spot. You know him best. Is there anything we can do to help him?”

”A tough spot...”

Tang Huayi shook his head slightly. But just as he was about to speak, Jiang Ran, whose eyes had been tightly shut, opened them.

The grave expression on his face had, at some point, quietly vanished.

Seeing this, Tang Huayi smiled.

”Made a discovery, have we?”

Jiang Ran sighed.

”After fighting for this long, all my years of training would have been for nothing if I still hadn’t figured it out.”

Ruan Yuqing listened to their exchange, confused.

”What’s going on?”

”The martial art Greed Poison cultivates appears to be the Five Poison World-penetrating Scripture, passed down personally by the master of the Silent Tower.

”This Cultivation Technique seems to have five volumes in total.

”The one he practices is the ’Greed’ volume.

”It allows him to covet another’s Inner Strength and absorb it as his own...”

Tang Huayi calmly recounted what he had heard from Duoming.

Greed Poison’s brow twitched.

”How do you know that?”

”A good friend told me, of course.”

Tang Huayi pointed to the side of the street, where Gu Xizhi had placed Duoming. ”Thanks to him, I knew Greed Poison himself was hidden in the crowd. A pity my arrow didn’t kill you just now...”

”Outrageous!”

Greed Poison’s face contorted with fury.

”After I kill this brat, I’ll kill that traitor. None of you will leave Death Town alive!”

”That’s a big boast. I’m afraid you won’t be able to back it up.”

Tang Huayi laughed. ”Now that he’s seen through the mystery of your Cultivation Technique, he’s about to beat you to a pulp.”

”HAHAHAHA!!!”

Greed Poison roared with laughter.

”Since you already know my Cultivation Technique allows me to covet another’s Inner Strength and make it my own...