Under One Person: Starting from the Inheritance of Gods

Chapter 397 Those are my brothers, not some bodyguards! [Please subscribe, please vote!]

"Lie down and don't move!"

Fan Xian let out a low shout, and his figure flashed out like a ghost.

Teng Zijing had already drawn his dagger in preparation, but as a seventh-rank official, he was clearly no match for the thick arrows that were being shot at him, and could only choose to dodge.

"Assassins! Protect the young master!" Guo Baokun's followers finally reacted and were thrown into chaos, but in no time they were pierced by the crossbow bolts.

In an instant, blood gushed out, spraying onto the stunned face of Guo Baokun.

After pulling Guo Baokun aside, Fan Xian's eyes flashed with cold light. He lightly touched the ground with his toes and leaped onto the roof like a roc spreading its wings.

He saw seven or eight men in black loading their crossbows for the second round. As soon as he approached, they drew their long swords from their waists.

"Who sent you?"

Fan Xian asked in a cold voice, while simultaneously flashing to avoid the blade slashing towards him.

He formed his right hand into a claw and precisely gripped the wrist of an assassin. With a "crack," the assassin screamed and fell to the ground. Seeing this, the other assassins tacitly formed a battle formation and launched a siege.

Fan Xian remained calm and composed, circulating his internal energy and using the movement techniques from the Nine Yang Divine Skill to move freely amidst the flashing swords.

On the street below, Guo Baokun was smart enough to know to curry favor with someone powerful. In the midst of the chaos, he could only lower his head and follow behind Teng Zijing.

"Fan...Fan Xian...?"

Guo Baokun's voice trembled as he stared incredulously at the agile figure on the roof. It was hard to imagine that a country boy could have such skill.

Although Teng Zijing wanted to get rid of Guo Baokun, she knew in her heart that if Guo Baokun died here, his father Guo Youzhi was the Minister of Rites, which would definitely cause trouble for Fan Xian afterward.

So they had no choice but to fight and retreat with Guo Baokun.

Before long, Fan Xian had crippled all the men in black who had fired the crossbows. The men in black were extremely decisive; seeing that things were not going well, they chose to end their own lives.

Fan Xian's pupils immediately contracted: "An assassin?!"

But before Fan Xian could react, the second wave of attacks came again.

Four white figures drifted down from the eaves like snowflakes. All four were women, dressed in white, each wielding a long sword and performing a set of sword techniques. They seemed to form a sword formation, attacking from all sides.

The person before me had a dot of vermilion between his eyebrows, and seemed to be the leader of the four.

The woman with cinnabar stabbed Fan Xian straight in the face with her long sword.

Almost simultaneously, the women on the left and right sides also drew their swords, but the last woman strangely took a half step back, with the tip of her sword pointing diagonally at the ground.

The four longswords wove a net within a small space, seemingly four people with four swords, but in reality, it was as if one person was observing all four sides at the same time, with their sword moves complementing each other and leaving no flaws.

The green tiles on the eaves shattered under the surge of sword energy. Fan Xian retreated rapidly, his back already touching the beast head on the roof ridge. In a flash, he reached for his waist with his left hand, and a slender, willow-leaf-like short knife slid into his palm.

"Ding!"

The short sword precisely parried the cinnabar woman's longsword, but Fan Xian's right hand suddenly changed from a palm to a claw, grabbing the woman's wrist on the right. The woman remained calm and composed, turning her sword and slashing at Fan Xian's five fingers as if she had expected it.

Fan Xian hastily withdrew his attack, sweeping his left leg across his lower body. Little did he know that the woman behind him had been waiting with her sword tip, aiming straight for his Weizhong acupoint behind his knee.

The four women worked together seamlessly, as if they could predict his every move.

Fan Xian's heart sank slightly. He thought to himself, "Gu Qian, Gu Hou, Gu Zuo, Gu You, each of them only cultivates one style of swordsmanship, forging ahead without hesitation. These are the disciples of the Grandmaster Si Gu Jian. But why are they here to kill me?"

His mind raced, and he deliberately created an opening by slightly lowering his right shoulder.

Sure enough, the woman in front of him immediately thrust her sword straight at his right shoulder, but just as the sword was about to strike his body, Fan Xian spun around the blade like a willow catkin, instantly cutting into the inner circle.

"boom!"

An elbow strike landed heavily on the woman in vermilion, causing her to groan and stagger backward. The sword formation momentarily became chaotic. Fan Xian would not let such a good opportunity pass by. His short sword, like a venomous snake, struck the wrists of the two women on the left and right in succession.

Then, the short knife in his hand suddenly flew out, aiming straight for the vermilion woman's throat. At the same time, he sprang up, channeling Nine Yang True Qi into his right palm, and struck at the vermilion woman's crown.

The woman with vermilion hair raised her sword to parry, but Fan Xian suddenly changed direction midway through his palm strike, turning it into a finger strike, pointing it at the web of her thumb and forefinger where she was gripping the sword. The longsword clattered to the ground, and Fan Xian seized the opportunity to grab her by the throat: "Speak! Who ordered you to..."

Before she could finish speaking, black blood suddenly spilled from the corner of the vermilion-spotted woman's mouth, and her body went limp and collapsed.

Fan Xian hurriedly checked and found that she had bitten open the poison sac in her mouth. Looking at the other three women, he realized that they had also committed suicide by taking poison at the same time.

"Another suicide squad..."

Fan Xian's face darkened when he suddenly heard a loud crash from the street below.

On Niulan Street, Teng Zijing slammed his back against the wall, spitting out a mouthful of blood. The dagger in his hand was now only half intact. Standing in front of him was a giant man as tall as an iron tower, none other than Cheng Jushu, an eighth-rank master from Northern Qi.

A giant man, nine feet tall, walked slowly, leaving deep footprints on the bluestone slabs with each step.

"Cheng...Cheng Jushu?"

Teng Zijing felt a bitter taste in his throat. This monster was a famous eighth-rank master of external martial arts in Northern Qi, who was said to be able to tear tigers and leopards apart alive.

Guo Baokun huddled behind Teng Zijing, the hem of his official robe already soaked with sweat. He trembled as he tugged at Teng Zijing's sleeve, "Brother Teng... Brother Teng, my father is the Minister of Rites, please save me and I'll protect you..."

"Shut up!" Teng Zijing roared.

In that instant, Cheng Jushu suddenly accelerated and charged forward, his fist, as big as a bowl, aimed straight at Teng Zijing's face. Teng Zijing barely managed to turn his head to dodge, but the brick wall behind him was shattered by the force of the punch.

Amidst the flying debris, Guo Baokun suddenly did something astonishing: he grabbed half a brick from the ground, closed his eyes, and threw it at Cheng Jushu's crotch, yelling, "I'll smash you to death, you bastard!"

The brick hit the target accurately, but it was like hitting a piece of leather.

All I can say is: it's not very harmful, but extremely insulting!
Cheng Jushu looked down at his crotch, then roared as if he were going mad, followed by a sweeping motion of his giant hand, which was about to smash Guo Baokun's head.

Teng Zijing gritted his teeth and lunged forward, stabbing Cheng Jushu's armpit with his broken dagger. Even a master of external martial arts cannot be without flaws; certain private areas are often his hidden openings.

To everyone's surprise, Cheng Jushu neither dodged nor avoided the attack. With a clang, the dagger snapped into several pieces as if piercing refined steel.

"puff!"

Teng Zijing was sent flying backward, coughing up blood, and crashed into a hitching post by the roadside. He struggled to stand up, only to find his right leg bent at an odd angle. Cheng Jushu strode over and stomped down on Teng's chest.

"Whoosh!"

A streak of silver light pierced through the air and precisely pierced Cheng Jushu's palm. The giant man cried out in pain and pulled his hand back, only to find that it was just an ordinary short knife. Looking up, he saw Fan Xian, his white clothes stained with blood, floating down from the roof.

"Fan Xian!"

Guo Baokun, as if seeing a savior, scrambled to hide behind him, shouting, "This barbarian is going to kill us!"

Teng Zijing coughed up blood, but forced himself to get up and warned, "He is Cheng Jushu, an eighth-rank master of external martial arts from Northern Qi. Be careful!"

Seeing Teng Zijing beaten like this, Fan Xian was furious. He immediately channeled his Nine Yang True Qi into his palm, causing the air to become scorched and distorted.

Fan Xian's eyes flashed with a cold light, and the Nine Yang True Qi condensed into a blazing white ball of light in his palm. Cheng Jushu roared and swung his fist, the force of the punch creating a sonic boom.

"court death!"

Fan Xian's figure suddenly blurred, and just as the giant fist was about to hit him, he shifted half a step to the side, his right palm cutting into the opponent's armpit like a knife.

As the Nine Yang True Qi flowed into his meridians, Cheng Jushu's copper-skinned, iron-boned body suddenly trembled violently. The extremely powerful and yang True Qi was tearing at every muscle and tendon within his body.

"puff!"

Blood mist exploded from every pore of Cheng Jushu's body, and the nine-foot-tall giant collapsed to his knees, his eyes still frozen in disbelief. Fan Xian withdrew his hand and turned around, and the giant's body collapsed like a sandcastle.

"Teng Zijing!"

Fan Xian rushed forward to support the swaying Teng Zijing. The moment his fingertips touched her pulse, he was shocked. Three of her ribs were broken, her right leg was comminuted, and most critically, there was blood stasis spreading near her heart.

Suddenly, a bamboo leaf drifted down onto the blood-stained bluestone slab.

Fan Xian felt a chill run down his spine and retreated three zhang while holding Teng Zijing.

Almost simultaneously, a green bamboo sword pierced through the stone slab where he had just stood. The bamboo sword pierced out without warning, and Fan Xian only felt a lightness in his arms as Teng Zijing's throat blossomed with blood.

The sword was so fast that even his ninth-grade eyesight could only catch a fleeting afterimage.

"you!"

Xian's eyes were bloodshot, and the Nine Yang True Qi roared like molten lava surging through his meridians. Shadow gently shook the bamboo sword, and Teng Zijing's blood dripped down the blade.

Fan Xian watched as Teng Zijing lay in a pool of blood, his throat pierced by a sword, blood gushing out and staining the bluestone ground red.

His pupils suddenly contracted, his heart felt as if it were being gripped tightly by an invisible hand, and his breathing became sluggish.

"Teng Zijing!" he growled, reaching out to check his pulse, only to find it ice-cold.

The opponent's sword was too fast.

It happened so fast that he didn't even have time to stop it.

The person who came was none other than Shadow!

To be precise, it was the shadow of the calligraphy left by Meng Fan that he had studied!

Guo Baokun stared at the scene with a blank look mixed with countless fears, and then ran away from Niulan Street in a panic.

The shadow, however, made no attempt to stop them.

After all, who would care about a piece of junk food?

Fan Xian slowly raised his head, his eyes surging with murderous intent. He stared at the man in front of him wearing a black mask, his voice as cold as if it came from the depths of hell: "You...you're courting death!"

The shadow did not speak, but simply flicked the bamboo sword in its hand again, and a drop of blood fell from the tip of the sword, splashing into a bewitching blood flower on the ground.

Fan Xian stopped talking nonsense and began to circulate his Nine Yang True Qi wildly within his body, distorting the surrounding air due to the high temperature.

He took a step forward, and the bluestone beneath his feet instantly shattered. He shot off like an arrow, heading straight for the shadow.

The shadow flickered and vanished like a ghost, reappearing behind Fan Xian, the bamboo sword silently piercing his back.

"clang--!"

Fan Xian countered with a backhand chop, his Nine Yang True Qi condensing into a blade-like edge, forcefully deflecting the bamboo sword. The two streams of true energy collided, creating a powerful gust of wind that caused the surrounding walls to collapse with a deafening roar.

"Ninth rank?" The shadow finally spoke, its voice hoarse and deep, "No, your true energy is even more profound than the upper ninth rank."

Fan Xian sneered: "Killing you is enough."

Before he finished speaking, he moved again. This time, he was even faster than before. His fists and palms clashed, and each strike was filled with the violent power of the Nine Yang True Qi. The air was torn apart and emitted a piercing shriek.

Shadow dared not meet the attack head-on, and could only dodge with ghostly movements, his bamboo sword moving like a serpent, searching for Fan Xian's weaknesses.

However, Fan Xian's offensive grew increasingly fierce, and his Nine Yang True Qi burned like a raging fire, forcing Shadow to retreat step by step.

"boom--!"

Finally, Fan Xian seized an opportunity and slapped Shadow in the chest.

"Crack!"

The shadow's mask shattered, revealing a pale and cold face. A trickle of blood escaped from the corner of his mouth, but his eyes remained icy.

“You are strong,” the shadow whispered, “but not enough.”

Suddenly, the bamboo sword in his hand trembled slightly. At the same time, sandstone rose into the air with a rustling sound, and countless fine lines appeared on the sword in his hand, as if the veins of bamboo were breathing.

Fan Xian's pupils contracted, and a sense of alarm suddenly arose in his heart!

The shadow's sword intent changed in the next instant.

It is no longer a cold and treacherous assassination sword, but... a sword that shatters the heavens!
"Bamboo shoots are buried deep underground, for ten years or a hundred years, just to break through the soil and pierce the sky one day."

The shadow slowly raised its bamboo sword, the tip pointing straight to the sky. "I have lived in anonymity for decades, single-mindedly pursuing the martial arts. Today... I have finally become a Grandmaster!"

"boom--!"

An unprecedented sword intent soared into the sky, causing the bluestone slabs of the entire street to crack inch by inch. Countless true qi, resembling towering bamboo, burst forth from the ground, as if the earth itself was responding to his sword intent.

Fan Xian's expression was solemn. He knew that the other party was no longer a peak ninth-rank assassin, but a true grandmaster.

"Come!"

Fan Xian let out a low shout, pushing his Nine Yang True Qi to its limit. His body shone with a brilliant crimson-gold light, and his true qi radiated like a blazing sun. Feather-like patterns faintly appeared within, outlining the silhouette of a bird.

The shadow moved.

This sword is no longer a sword for assassination, but a sword for shattering the heavens!

The sword flashed like a rainbow, aiming straight for Fan Xian's brow!
Fan Xian reached out like a claw, his Nine Yang True Qi condensing into a golden, sharp light in front of him, directly clashing with the sword.

"boom--!"

The two forces collided, and the entire street was instantly leveled, with dust billowing into the sky!

As the dust settled, Fan Xian knelt on one knee, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth, while Shadow still stood holding his sword, only his bamboo sword... was broken.

"You win." Fan Xian collapsed to the ground, his killing intent undiminished.

The shadow looked down at the broken bamboo sword and suddenly smiled: "No, you didn't lose."

"While it is true that I have just broken through to the Grandmaster level, you broke my bamboo sword with your ninth-rank strength, so you won this battle without losing."

"And also, your guard..."

The shadow turned its head to look behind Fan Xian.

Fan Xian was startled, then turned around abruptly, only to find that Teng Zijing, who had been lying in a pool of blood, had vanished!

"Where did Teng Zijing go?" Fan Xian's pupils shrank suddenly.

The shadow said calmly, "After today, there will be no more Teng Zijing in this world."

Having said that, the shadow turned to leave.

Fan Xian struggled to his feet, swaying as he stood up, and shouted, "Where is Teng Zijing's body? Explain yourself!"

"It was just a guard who died, why did it have to happen?" Shadow turned around and frowned, seemingly not understanding.

Fan Xian's eyes were bloodshot and red as he shouted, "Those are my brothers, not some damn guards!"

(End of this chapter)