Warrior

He was hidden exceptionally well, undetected, and had not even ramped up his source energy surge to attack... yet Rocher died in an instant. The bullet traced an arc into the dense, tangled thicket, skimming the ground to strike his head—a fatal blow in a single shot. A top combatant, snuffed out in the blink of an eye. Watching this, Zhe Shouzhao was completely dazed. In all of Voyage, they possessed only four experts of that caliber. At the same time, down below, Wen Jifei peered through his sniper scope, just as bewildered. "When it comes to marksmanship, he's supposed to be awful, seriously... that guy... even I didn't notice he was there just now." As for the others scattered across the heights and hollows of the battlefield: Only when Rocher's corpse was sent airborne by the immense kinetic force of the source energy dead iron bullet, slammed onto the ground, and rolled through mud and grit as it slowly slid down the mountainside— —did they finally realize that a top combatant had been lurking there. And only then did they finally comprehend Han Qingyu's terrifying perception and his miraculous marksmanship. Han Qingyu himself had only just realized it too... Yet he had no time to feel proud. "Whoosh!" The sound of a heavy object tearing through the air came whistling in, violently compressing the surrounding air in an instant, followed by the metallic clink of an uncoiling chain. The Qu clan seemed very fond of chained weapons. Qu Zongxing's weapon had been a heavy teapot tethered to an iron chain—possessing both weight and a sharp spout suited for stabbing. But Qu Zongyan, who was far more powerful, had abandoned even the sharp edges; from his sleeve extended a dead iron chain, bearing at its far end a massive piece of iron shaped like a great seal. It resembled an imperial jade seal. These birdbrained fools really seemed to fancy themselves emperors. In truth, Qu Zongyan's mindset was not one of fearlessness. Upon seeing Han Qingyu take the shot and instantly kill the ambusher lurking on the flank, Qu Zongyan had thought: *He actually had the presence of mind to kill the person beside him first?! Is he that confident?!* Terrifying marksmanship, terrifying bullet, terrifying composure, and even that momentary disregard of him—all this filled Qu Zongyan with regret, wishing he could reverse course midair and retreat at once. But he knew it was too late. He was already too close. He could only strike. In truth, if things were open to negotiation, Han Qingyu would have happily let him go. Yet it was too late for words. The massive, ponderous iron seal hurtled head-on. There was no line of fire to shoot again, let alone time to cast aside the rifle and draw his blade. Han Qingyu could only raise the rifle horizontally to take the impact head-on. "Boom!" The great iron seal smashed into the rifle. The muffled roar of colliding source energy drowned out even the sharp clang of metal. The sniper rifle in Han Qingyu's grip took the full blow, was driven backward, and slammed into his chest. "Pfft!" It was not flying back—the word "flying" was no longer remotely appropriate. Under the brutal impact, Han Qingyu was hammered straight down like a cannonball, striking the earth with a resounding crash that sent soil and stone flying. This was the source energy onslaught of a super combatant! Blood did not just erupt from his mouth; it also seeped through the battered skin of his chest, quickly soaking through Han Qingyu's clothes. Swaying on his feet, he raised a hand and tossed the sniper rifle to Wen Jifei, who was sprinting toward him. Then Han Qingyu looked up at Qu Zongyan above. Coughing violently, he wrenched the war blade from behind his shoulder. Clang—hummm... "Senior, watch out!" Zhe Shouzhao shouted a sudden warning. For at that moment, a blue starlight column sword was silently stabbing toward Qu Zongyan from behind. "Whoosh!" Amid the warning shout, the column sword accelerated. Yet—"Clang!" Qu Zongyan swung the iron seal, whirling violently backward, knocking the blue-glowing column sword aside less than a meter from his back. "Scumbag!" Wen Jifei cursed in frustration. Slapping Iris across his back, he shifted sideways holding Elegy of the Square, scanning to pin down Zhe Shouzhao's position and wait for him to show his face. But—"Run," Han Qingyu murmured. Beside him stood the battered He Tangtang, then Rusty Sister, and Wen Jifei. "Run." They couldn't win. Grievously wounded, his trump cards exhausted, Han Qingyu knew his condition better than anyone. The current disparity in combat power could not be bridged. He had no lingering wildcards to rely on; continuing to fight would only see him grow weaker and weaker. Tonight was true mortal peril. If it were just the four of them—him, Rusty Sister, Wu Xu, and Plague Chicken—ganging up to kill Qu Zongyan, they might still stand a chance. But right now, the enemy possessed superior numbers and far more high-level combatants. Voyage had lost one top combatant, but the hidden clans arriving on the scene held more—two, perhaps three of them. "Quick! Cut them off, they're trying to run! Hurry, get in close and pin down the gunman!" Zhe Shouzhao shouted from behind a boulder, urging the hidden clansmen who had just arrived. No one moved. Qu Zongyan stood atop an overhanging rock on the cliff face and waved a hand forward. The crowd surged down. Hundreds poured down the mountainside. "Run," Han Qingyu said for the third time, not waiting for Wen Jifei and the others to respond. Then came the thunderous roar of erupting source energy. With his left arm hanging limp, his right hand leveling his war blade horizontally, and his torso leaning slightly forward, he charged silently toward the swarm of enemies pouring down the cliff. *Attending the Qu clan summit was my decision.* "Slash!" The horizontal blade sliced through two men at the waist in rapid succession. Soaked in blood, Han Qingyu waded upstream against the tidal onslaught of enemies, carving out a path of blood... then broke sharply to the flank. The charging horde grew hesitant and disorganized in that instant. Even top combatants did not dare rush forward to intercept that swaying silhouette. Rusty Sister, Wen Jifei, and He Tangtang did not leave. They tried to plunge forward together... but two top combatants from the hidden clans led their men forward to bar their path. Rusty Sister surged ahead, taking on two at once—a clash between top-tiers. The chaotic melee erupted once more. This time, Wen Jifei did not even have the chance to stand his ground; more often than not, he had to use his sniper rifle just to parry blows. "Whoosh!" Mid-duel, Wu Xu darted laterally and burst forward with sudden speed, not hesitating to expose his back to an incoming spear. He had to reach Qingzi. Yet his opponent thrust that three-meter Greek spear forward, barring his way. The state of the battlefield was unmistakably clear: the enemy top-tiers and every other fighter were focused entirely on interception, cutting off all possible rescue attempts for Han Qingyu, waiting for him to collapse before moving in for the kill. Right then, over on Han Qingyu's side, the chain in Qu Zongyan's left hand pulled taut. Cleaving the air, the iron seal swept around from behind, hurtling straight toward Han Qingyu's temple. "Hah!" A collective, heavy intake of breath rippled across the battlefield. He was dead. Before their eyes, the doomed Han Qingyu suddenly fell backward, actively accelerating into a rapid backward drop. "Shing!" In a move that stunned and terrified everyone, as he plummeted toward the earth, he drew a blade with his left hand, slashing like lightning toward Qu Zongyan's outstretched arm! His left arm was supposed to be ruined! By all rights, it should have been useless! Earlier, he had genuinely appeared incapacitated! He had tried to raise that arm before and failed. He had possessed prime opportunities to strike with a left-handed blade, yet had not. Even when he brought the rifle across to block Qu Zongyan's iron seal just moments ago, his left hand had remained motionless. He had been waiting for this chance all along. More accurately, he had been deliberately orchestrating it—at any cost, indifferent to compounding his wounds. In truth, the fact that his left arm was virtually ruined was likely true as well. "This guy is so cunning!" "Yeah, vicious and sneaky! When he wounded Shouzhao and Rocher earlier, wasn't that through underhanded trickery too?!" "He's... actually terrifyingly resilient, isn't he?" "Cruel is the word. Cruel even to himself..." "He might be the finest warrior alive." Such were the thoughts racing through the enemies' minds. Qu Zongyan wanted to dodge, but his left hand was gripping the chain, reaching forward while dragging inward... doing so meant his left arm was practically thrusting itself onto Han Qingyu's edge. Clatter-clatter-clink! Qu Zongyan chose to let go. The chain slipped free of his palm, and the massive iron seal, trailing the abandoned length of links, swept over Han Qingyu's body and crashed into his own ranks, crushing four men to death on the spot. Having released his hold, Qu Zongyan forcibly reversed his momentum, jerking his left hand in the opposite direction. "Slash!" The blade's tip grazed his wrist, and blood welled up. Only a shallow wound. He had nearly lost a hand! Qu Zongyan breathed a sigh of relief; absolute advantage was still his. "Whoosh!" A faint sound came from behind him. Qu Zongyan dodged sideways in panic. The blue starlight column sword was back! Qu Zongyan could not clear it completely. The column sword lunged forward, shearing across his back, shoulder, arm, and palm. The umbrella-like flared blades ripped away large chunks of flesh and blood. "Aargh!" A wretched scream tore from his throat—steeped in pain, fury, and even more bitter regret at his own carelessness. Qu Zongyan was wounded. Cut by a dying bastard whose strength wasn't even close to being in the same league. *What kind of warrior is this?! What kind of monster is he?!* "Whoosh!" Han Qingyu's left arm hung completely limp. His right hand caught the blue starlight column sword as he surged forward, bringing it down in a vertical chop toward Qu Zongyan. He was attacking! Weaponless, Qu Zongyan had no choice but to kick off the ground and launch himself backward to avoid the strike, simultaneously snatching a war blade from a nearby subordinate... He raised it overhead to parry. Because Han Qingyu was relentlessly hacking after him. "Clang!" The second strike. The colossal blue-glowing column sword was wielded entirely like a saber, crashing straight down in a clean vertical cleave. Qu Zongyan retreated. Pushing his speed to the absolute limit, Han Qingyu leapt to strike again. "Clang!" The third strike. "Crack!" The fourth strike—the blade in Qu Zongyan's hand shattered. Anyone watching this fell into utter shock. Yet his own companions understood: Qingzi's condition was dire. If it were a healthy Qingzi, that blade wouldn't have withstood a single blow. Even Ye Jian's ordinary dead iron war blade had once broken beneath Han Qingyu's strikes with the blue starlight column sword. Han Qingyu lunged forward, hacking down with a fifth strike. With his weapon shattered, Qu Zongyan scrambled backward, caught another war blade tossed by a subordinate, and blocked upward once more. "Clang!" Parrying another blow, Qu Zongyan was granted not a fraction of a second to catch his breath. Han Qingyu continued to press forward, hacking out a seventh strike, an eighth, a ninth... The fourteenth strike. Just like that—strike after strike after strike—he drove Qu Zongyan back, pursuing him for over three hundred meters. Nobody could comprehend how he was doing this! Never mind that Qu Zongyan had lost his weapon! Even without his weapon, how could a dying man who had just been stumbling on his feet chase down a super combatant and hammer him with fourteen consecutive strikes?! "Yet he's already at the end of his tether." "He has been for a long time."