Lu Changsheng's Sword Was Faster!

Zhao Qilei rarely drew his saber. In Nanyang Prefecture, even if he could not claim to have defeated every challenger without equal across all of Nanyang, he was not far from it. There was almost no one left who was worthy of making him draw his blade. And once he drew his saber, blood was sure to follow! At this moment, as his saber slashed out, just as he had anticipated, Li Hongzhuang could not block it at all. Though both were martial artists of the Refining Organs Realm, there were differences even among those in Refining Organs. In Zhao Qilei's eyes, even though Li Hongzhuang was in Refining Organs, she was no different from the many Tempering Bone and Strengthening Blood Realm martial artists he had slain—a single slash was enough to finish them! Just as Zhao Qilei's saber was about to strike Li Hongzhuang down, a sudden warning bell rang in his heart. He sensed the creeping presence of a great terror. With the sharpness of his five senses, under full concentration, he finally detected a faint, subtle gust of fierce wind blowing toward his flank. "Sever!" Zhao Qilei's saber technique shifted abruptly. He swung his blade horizontally toward the side. Beneath this strike, Zhao Qilei caught a faint glimpse of a fleeting crimson gleam. It seemed like qi and blood. *Chhh.* The crimson glow was severed, yet half a wisp still grazed the back of Zhao Qilei's hand. A long gash was instantly sliced open across the back of his hand. Blood welled up at once. Yet Zhao Qilei seemed not to care about the wound. Instead, he stared fixedly toward his flank and said, word by word, "Transforming qi and blood into a sword! What a magnificent feat of transforming qi and blood into a sword!" "In the jianghu, one who can externally release qi and blood and shape it into a sword is unheard of." "May I ask what I should call you, sir?" Zhao Qilei was on high alert, his mind stretched taut as though facing a formidable foe. At that moment, a figure slowly stepped out from the darkness of the night. "Li Hongzhuang, I didn't expect that when we met again, you would be in trouble once more." The newcomer was naturally Lu Changsheng. *Whoosh.* Li Hongzhuang snapped her eyes open. A familiar voice echoed in her ears—a voice she had yearned for in her dreams. She could hardly believe it, her eyes brimming with intense excitement. "It really is you..." For some reason, seeing this familiar figure brought a slight relief to Li Hongzhuang's tense nerves. "Hmph. Isn't Your Excellency ignoring me a bit too much?" Zhao Qilei let out a cold snort. This mysterious man in black did not seem to pay the slightest attention to him; he hadn't even looked him in the eye. This made Zhao Qilei somewhat irritated. He had always held himself in high esteem. Even among the Seven Sons of the Zhao clan, Zhao Qilei did not necessarily think much of the other six. And now, an unfamiliar man dressed in black dared to ignore him? Li Hongzhuang gritted her teeth and said in a heavy voice, "He is Zhao Qilei, one of the Seven Sons of the Zhao clan, known as the 'Blazing Saber.' His blade technique is renowned for its speed and ferocity. Below the Divine Strength Realm, he is practically without equal throughout all of Nanyang. You must be careful!" Though the man in black had arrived, Li Hongzhuang remained worried. The renown of "Blazing Saber" Zhao Qilei was simply too formidable. Even if the brilliance of the other six sons of the Zhao clan were combined, they could not compare to "Blazing Saber" Zhao Qilei. This was a man standing at the pinnacle of Refining Organs, someone who had even slain other top-tier Refining Organs martial artists. As strong as the man in black was, Li Hongzhuang had no certainty whether he could stop Zhao Qilei. "Blazing Saber Zhao Qilei?" Lu Changsheng's gaze fell upon his opponent. "Just who are you? With your strength, you could not possibly be an unknown in the jianghu," Zhao Qilei asked coldly. "Haven't you been looking for me all along?" Lu Changsheng gripped the short sword in his hand. Seeing the short sword, Zhao Qilei's eyes widened, a flash of realization striking his mind. "It's you?" Zhao Qilei understood everything in an instant. He had been searching all along for the swordsman who had killed the Zhao clan martial artists last time. And now, that very swordsman stood right in front of him. Recalling how the man in black had just transformed qi and blood into a sword, there was no fear in his heart; instead, excitement welled up. It had been a very long time since he had encountered a worthy opponent. Below the Divine Strength Realm, Zhao Qilei had almost come to believe he was invincible. Only when he saw the wounds on the Zhao clan martial artists' corpses last time did he faintly realize that the person who killed them possessed an unfathomably fast sword technique, which finally piqued his interest. "Your sword is very fast!" "However, my saber is not slow either." "Today, let us see whether your sword is fast, or my saber is faster!" The aura around Zhao Qilei climbed steadily; his entire being seemed to turn into a saber, sharp and unyielding. Lu Changsheng's expression remained utterly calm. He had seen many top-tier Refining Organs martial artists. "Blade-Trailing Heavenly King" Li Ji, "Ghost Face" Chen Sanjiu, and Left Emissary Zhao Xing of the Myriad Poison Cult—these three could even be called near-invincible beneath the Divine Strength Realm, yet all of them had been slain by Lu Changsheng. Now, perhaps one more would be added to the count: "Blazing Saber" Zhao Qilei. However, when it came to the sheer speed of saber or sword techniques, Lu Changsheng had practically never encountered a martial artist faster than himself. "As you wish." Lu Changsheng placed his hand upon the hilt of his sword. *Clang.* Lu Changsheng's sword cleared its scabbard, yet there was no dazzling white light. Not even the shadow of the blade could be seen. At the same time, Zhao Qilei drew his saber. Zhao Qilei's saber was truly fast, even faster than when he had attacked Li Hongzhuang a moment ago. Even Li Hongzhuang, watching from the side, could only catch a faint afterimage of the blade, which showed just how extraordinarily fast Zhao Qilei's saber was. Confronted with such a strike, Li Hongzhuang found it hard to imagine what could possibly block it. Yet Lu Changsheng made no move to parry the strike. He simply drew his sword and sheathed it. Even his figure did nothing more than sway ever so slightly. It was as though he had never moved at all. If Li Hongzhuang could still discern the faint trace of Zhao Qilei's saber, she saw no trace whatsoever of Lu Changsheng's sword. Even though she stared with wide, attentive eyes, Li Hongzhuang could not be certain whether Lu Changsheng had even made a move. *Chhh.* With a soft sound, Zhao Qilei's saber came to a halt. A mere three inches before Lu Changsheng. Yet those three inches were like an impassable chasm, impossible to cross. Shock and astonishment dawned on Zhao Qilei's face. "I began practicing the saber at six, killed my first man with a blade at ten, mastered the fast saber at thirteen, shook all of Nanyang with my name at eighteen, reached Refining Organs at twenty-eight, and stood without equal across Nanyang below the Divine Strength Realm!" "To this day, I had never seen any martial art faster than my saber." "And today, I have seen it." "Your sword is faster than my saber!" In Zhao Qilei's eyes, there was no fear, no regret—only pleasant surprise and profound release. At last, he had witnessed a sword faster than his own! As for that strike, he asked himself whether, even if he trained for another hundred years, he could ever reach such speed; the answer was likely no. To hear the Dao in the morning and die in the evening content. In his heart, the fast saber or the fast sword was the entire meaning of his existence! *Splurt.* A bloody line across Zhao Qilei's neck split open in an instant. Blood spurted forth at once. With a heavy thud, Zhao Qilei collapsed to the ground. The renowned "Blazing Saber," unmatched throughout all of Nanyang, had now fallen beneath a sword technique faster than his own. A worthy death! Watching this scene unfold, Li Hongzhuang seemed unable to believe her eyes. "Zhao Qilei... he's dead?" Li Hongzhuang looked at Zhao Qilei lying in a pool of blood. The bloody line across his throat was shocking to behold. Yet to Lu Changsheng, this seemed utterly commonplace. The sword in his hand had already claimed who knew how many top-tier Refining Organs martial artists. This "Blazing Saber" Zhao Qilei was nothing particularly special. Lu Changsheng crouched down and searched Zhao Qilei's corpse for a while. The man was, after all, one of the Seven Sons of the Zhao clan, possessing an exalted status; perhaps he carried a Divine Strength Realm martial art. Unfortunately, on Zhao Qilei's corpse were only a few pieces of broken silver, with no martial arts manuals whatsoever. Lu Changsheng stood up, and his gaze fell back onto Li Hongzhuang. "Didn't you leave Nanyang Prefecture? Why have you returned?" Lu Changsheng asked. Li Hongzhuang glanced at Zhao Qilei's corpse on the ground, a faint light flickering in her eyes. Afterward, the look in her eyes as she gazed at Lu Changsheng faintly grew hotter and hotter.