Nightmare

Xiu Wangchou had been having a nightmare for the past 20 years.

The source of the nightmare was a shoe.

A shoe he had placed in front of a haystack.

That year, he was 12 years old. While being chased by "hunters" in the village, he came across such a scene at the corner where haystacks were piled up at the edge of the village.

An 8-year-old child was crawling into a haystack.

Seeing the 12-year-old boy, the 8-year-old child made a "hush" gesture, indicating not to let people find him.

But after the 8-year-old child had completely crawled into the haystack, Xiu Wangchou ran to the edge of the haystack and placed his own shoe in front of it.

Finally, he circumvented the haystack and escaped from the village. Although he was spotted by two other "hunters" which led to his accidental fall into the river, he survived in the end.

As for that 8-year-old child...

Xiu Wangchou didn't dare imagine. For 20 years, he didn't even dare think about it. He just kept having that nightmare over and over again.

......

......

It was dark, in a shabby bamboo forest with blood splattered all over the ground.

Despite having his sword techniques shattered, Xiu Wangchou did not give up. Propping himself up strongly, he exchanged several moves with Hei Shanke, an expert at the upper stage of the land level.

But the result was a total defeat.

His arms, abdomen and face were all injured by sword energy.

The assassins from Dark Building also noticed that Xiu Wangchou was at his last gasp. They let down their guard and watched the blood-stained swordsman in white with amusement.

The number one swordsman sect of the righteous path?

It doesn't seem to amount to much.

The intense pain caused Xiu Wangchou's eyes to glaze over slightly.

His posture was no longer upright, and even began to stagger.

Have I lost?

I have lost.

The slash across his chest had cut off his lifeline.

Xiu Wangchou gradually lowered his head, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth, dripping onto his worn-out boots.

Hei Shanke was also injured. With his inner energy almost depleted, he had clearly gained the upper hand. He walked over to Xiu Wangchou without stinting praise, "Very remarkable. To have such martial arts at just over 30 years old, you could have hoped to reach the heavenly stage in the future. But unfortunately, even if my win was unjust, I still won, because..."

Gradually raising the black blade in his hand, preparing to swing down the final blow, Hei Shanke said, "Because this is the Jianghu."

The Jianghu has never cared how you win.

The Jianghu only cares if you win or not.

But as he looked down at his old boots, Xiu Wangchou suddenly spoke.

He said, "My master said, our sect's sword techniques are all as beautiful as starlight, but stars will flicker."

Stars will flicker.

At that very moment, the sky suddenly darkened.

A Dark Building assassin heard someone shouting by his ear, "Stop him quickly!!!"

The assassin felt very puzzled. It was so dark, who could move? And how was he supposed to stop them?

But the intense pain that followed in his eyes let him understand one thing.

It wasn't that the sky had darkened, but that his eyes had been slashed by someone.

The sword was so fast it was unbelievable. He didn't even feel the pain until after his eyes were slashed.

On the verge of death, Xiu Wangchou unleashed his sword.

The Star Sea Sect's endless sword techniques, then invincible in the world. But what if the sword techniques were broken? People in the Jianghu 20 years ago understood that to break the Star Sea Sect's swordsmanship, they must first break their sword momentum. If the swords could not connect continuously, then there would be no "momentum".

This was perhaps the only flaw in the Star Sea Sect’s swordsmanship.

But 10 years later, the Star Sea Sect's formidable hero Xiu Hai created a new sword technique that could only be used when the sword momentum was disrupted. The more thoroughly the momentum was broken, the more powerful the sword technique became.

This sword technique was called Star Flicker in the Star Sea Sect’s swordsmanship.

In that instant, the eyesight of three Dark Building assassins guarding in front of Lin Nu was permanently taken away.

Xiu Wangchou’s dying blow was not meant to kill Hei Shanke, but to kill Lin Nu!

"I want you dead!!"

Accompanying Xiu Wangchou’s roar was an extremely swift and undefendable sword, even if Lin Nu was a mid-stage expert of the land level. He felt that death was inevitable in the face of this blow.

"Ah!!" Lin Nu let out an extremely painful shriek.

At that moment, a black bamboo fell, as if symbolizing the end of this story.

The immortal statue in the small temple still looked the same as before, quietly gazing at the outside of the temple, as if nothing had happened.

Lin Nu did not die.

Xiu Wangchou's sword had deviated, only piercing Lin Nu’s left shoulder. Although the inner energy on the sword was enough to cripple Lin Nu’s entire left arm, Lin Nu ultimately did not die.

But why did it deviate?

Xiu Wangchou lowered his head to look at the black iron arrow pierced through his right shoulder.

Why did this arrow come so fast?

Looking back, Xiu Wangchou found the answer upon seeing the archer beside Hei Shanke and Hei Shanke’s throwing posture. He understood everything.

Damn......

Father, mother...the child is useless.

Gradually losing strength, Xiu Wangchou knelt on the ground.

The group of assassins and Hei Shanke behind him closed in step by step.

Death would come in the next moment.

At this time, a great wind suddenly rose in the bamboo forest, blowing up dust. On instinct, everyone raised their sleeves to block the wind.

The wind came fast and fiercely, but soon died down.

A masked man in white accompanied the gust of wind into the bamboo forest.

Hei Shanke halted his steps. Having seen much in the Jianghu, this white-clothed man’s extraordinary qinggong nevertheless astonished him!

“Such handsome movement skill! It has nothing to do with the great wind just now. When he appeared, there was not the slightest sound.” Hei Shanke muttered to himself.

Besides some great thieves in the Jianghu, few people would have such incredible qinggong but poor martial arts. Therefore, those with superb qinggong usually also excelled in martial arts.

Hei Shanke measured the white-clothed man and noticed something strange.

The right sleeve of the white-clothed man was exposed and the mask on his face appeared to have been ripped from that sleeve and used as a makeshift mask.

“Milord...”

Hei Shanke cautiously tried to probe the other’s skill level.

But before he could even finish speaking, the white-clothed man scooped up Xiu Wangchou and prepared to leave immediately.

“You want to run!” Hei Shanke angrily shouted. His body lunged forward as he swung down a heavy chop!

Dark Building’s Black Blade: Chop!

But an astonishing scene occured.

The white-clothed man simply raised his exposed right arm to meet Hei Shanke’s heavy blade and formidable chop momentum head on.

Yet when the blade collided with his flesh and blood arm, only sparks flew!

The white-clothed man had actually blocked a heavy blade infused with the inner energy of a land level upper stage expert using just his arm!

Hei Shanke’s furious thoughts: What kind of martial arts is this!

Just as Hei Shanke and the remaining assassins who could still see were shocked beyond themselves.

The white-clothed man growled softly. Parrying Hei Shanke’s heavy blade, Hei Shanke had already exhausted most of his inner energy from the previous fight with Xiu Wangchou. Coupled with his shock in that moment, he was shoved back several steps by the white-clothed man.

Somersaulting up into the air, the white-clothed man carried Xiu Wangchou away as lightly and agilely as ever, landing on the black bamboo where he began trampling the bamboo leaves, flying away gracefully like a white crane.

The dense bamboo obstructed arrows. Just as several assassins were about to give chase, Hei Shanke stopped them.

Hei Shanke angrily said, "With your skills, you can't catch up to them. I've used up most of my inner energy so I probably can't either. But their direction leads to Xiaoyun County. Lin Nu, let's head back together!"

Hei Shanke's expression was very unsightly. They could have definitely killed Xiu Wangchou, yet now a white-clothed man had inexplicably appeared and rescued him away. How could he not feel furious?

As for the severely injured Lin Nu, seeing Hei Shanke's expression, he did not dare refute at all. After some simple medical treatment and bandaging, the group of Dark Building assassins immediately set out right away.