I bear witness to immortality in the human world.

Chapter 40: Men are like dragons, guns are like ghosts!
Click.

A very faint sound.

Although the sound was extremely faint, it was remarkably clear in the quiet of the night.

"Who?!"

Ma Liu, who was standing in the courtyard leaning on his sword, suddenly turned his head and looked sharply at the courtyard gate, letting out a loud shout.

boom!
Almost in the next instant.

The heavy bolt snapped cleanly in the middle, and the tightly closed gate was suddenly flung open!

Outside the courtyard, under the cover of night, more than ten figures, each wielding a sharp blade, entered the courtyard in an orderly fashion. The weapons in their hands gleamed with a cold light in the moonlight, and a chilling aura quietly permeated the entire courtyard.

"you!"

Ma Liu's expression changed.

He was a worldly man, and looking at the scene before him, how could he not tell where this group of people came from? They were clearly not some nimble thieves who could scale walls and leap across rooftops, but a group of vicious and ruthless bandits, most likely the same group that had been wanted recently!
Hey, hey, hey.

And almost at the same time.

The doors on the east and west sides of the courtyard, as well as the main hall, were all pushed open from the inside, and Hu Yong, holding a ring-handled saber, Sun Wang, holding a long sword, and Wu Ming, carrying a red python spear, stepped out together.

"We may meet again someday, but could you all please make way for me tonight?"

Hu Yong's face was heavy and somber. He gripped his ring-handled sword and spoke in a deep voice to the twelve dark figures who had stepped into the courtyard.

"We need to take the goods."

"People have to die."

Among the twelve dark figures, the one at the head spoke indifferently.

Seeing this, Hu Yong, Sun Wang, Ma Liu and the others felt their hearts sink to the bottom, knowing that they were in big trouble tonight. Only because they were martial artists and had experienced some bloodshed could they barely keep their minds calm.

But with only four of them, how could they possibly withstand twelve wicked thieves?
Given the vast disparity in overall strength, these thugs had no intention of avoiding battle; instead, they aimed to kill them all to minimize the possibility of their identities being exposed.

under night.

Sixteen men stood in the courtyard, staring at each other from afar. For a moment, the atmosphere in the courtyard seemed to drop to freezing point. After a brief silence, the bandits suddenly attacked.

"Quick victory!"

Someone said in a deep voice.

Three figures among the bandits unleashed powerful blood energy, revealing themselves to be at the second stage of blood coagulation. They charged towards Hu Yong, who was wielding a ring-bladed sword, and launched a joint attack.

The remaining nine figures split into three groups, each rushing towards Sun Wang, Ma Liu, and Wu Ming respectively.

For a time,

A biting wind howled through the courtyard, and a murderous intent surged within!
When the skill levels are similar, it is extremely difficult to fight two opponents at once, and fighting three opponents at once will almost certainly result in a quick defeat. They usually cannot withstand more than a few moves before being killed on the spot.

Zhao Hong, wielding a single-edged sword, attacked Wu Ming from the front.

Looking at the young martial artist before him, whose face still looked immature and who was at most twenty years old, he seemed to see his younger self in him, but he showed no mercy when he attacked, and his heart was filled with indifference.

"Kid, you're just unlucky."

The other two attacked from the left and right, respectively, each focusing on one direction, their gazes indifferent.

Among the martial artists guarding the courtyard, Wu Ming was the youngest and therefore the easiest to deal with; he could probably be dealt with quickly in a few moves.

"Three against one, huh?"

Looking at the situation before him, Wu Ming knew that this was the first real crisis he had encountered since becoming a Blood Condensation Martial Artist. The murderous intent that filled the courtyard and the bone-chilling cold reminded him that this was a group of vicious thieves fighting for their lives!
If you can't win, you die!
Even for ordinary martial artists, who have made countless mental preparations, it is inevitable that their hearts will pound and their blood and energy will surge when they face a life-or-death crisis for the first time, stimulating their brains as if they were soaking in ice water on the hottest day of summer.

This is a human body instinct.

In severe cases, patients may experience cold hands and feet, body stiffness, sluggish movements, and even difficulty breathing.

But at this moment, Wu Ming felt only absolute calm. He knew the crisis before him; if he delayed even slightly, Sun Wang and the others would likely be either dead or seriously injured within a few moves, and he would then face a siege. The situation was dire, and there was no time to lose; he had to break the deadlock immediately!

Holding the Crimson Python Spear, he faced the attack from Zhao Hong and the other two. He immediately unleashed a "Sweeping Thousands of Troops" move, using the size advantage of the spear to force all three to retreat a step. Instead of retreating, he advanced and thrust the spear at one of them!
The spear's sharp light tore through the sky.

puff.

Blood splashes!
Zhao Hong gripped his single-edged sword, his eyes widening as he stared intently at Wu Ming, a hint of disbelief in his gaze.

He stumbled back several steps, his right hand instinctively reaching for his throat, but all he touched was a warm, damp patch of blood that had gushed out, instantly staining his clothes red and leaving plum blossom-like marks on the blue stone tiles under the night sky.

"how come……"

Zhao Hong couldn't understand it.

He had already parried with his sword and dodged to the side at the first moment, but the spear seemed to follow him like a shadow, making his parrying and dodging useless. It was as if a single spear thrust had pierced through his throat along the path he was trying to avoid!

This marksmanship should be the Falling Leaf Marksmanship, but how could it be used so strangely, almost like a ghost!
He had never seen such an opponent in his life, nor had he ever seen such bizarre marksmanship. And the person who wielded this marksmanship was just a young man who looked to be no more than twenty years old and had just begun to explore the art of martial arts!

Having engaged in murder and robbery, living a life of constant danger, he had long anticipated his own death, but he never imagined he would die here, so easily, so abruptly, so incomprehensibly.

"Old Zhao!"

"This……"

This sudden turn of events caused the other two who were also attacking Wu Ming to change their expressions drastically, revealing disbelief.

Wu Ming's blood energy level was only at the first stage of blood condensation. Even if a second-stage blood condensation expert joined forces to attack, it would be impossible for the three of them to kill one of them in a short gap. That shot just now was simply unbelievable!
but.

Both were ruthless bandits who had lived by the sword, and despite the sudden turn of events, their actions and reactions were still swift and decisive. They immediately brandished their weapons and attacked Wu Ming from the left and right.

Although Wu Ming had just pierced Zhao Hong's throat with a strange shot, the shot was forced out through an opening, leaving both sides wide open and full of flaws.

however.

Despite being attacked from both sides by the two notorious bandits, Wu Ming's expression remained calm, and his eyes showed no emotion whatsoever, as if he were not facing a life-or-death crisis, but merely engaging in a routine sparring match.

Amidst the combined attack of two blades, he leaped into the air, gripping the Crimson Python Spear. With his body aligned with the spear, he executed a strange and agile spin, almost brushing past the gap, to evade both the blade strike and the sword shadow that had been slashing down from above.

Spinning halfway in mid-air to avoid the two attacks, Wu Ming was still in mid-air before landing, but his spear had already been retracted. At this moment, he used his waist strength to thrust forward, channeling the force into the spear shaft, and thrust it out diagonally.

This is a 'direct strike' move, which is originally performed standing upright, but he managed to thrust it out from the gap while spinning and dodging in mid-air, clearly demonstrating his integrated and comprehensive spear technique.

"not good."

The bandit locked onto by Wu Ming's spear felt a chill run through his body.

As soon as the combined attack missed its mark, he knew things were going badly. Now, facing Wu Ming's counterattack with a spear while he dodged, he could only change his moves immediately, swinging his sword down and leaping off the ground to unleash the move 'Mount Tai Pressing Down'.

This evasion was perfectly legitimate, showcasing a level of swordsmanship honed through countless battles. In theory, one should have been able to dodge Wu Ming's spear strike no matter what.

but.

Just the next moment.

As if he had expected it, Wu Ming's gaze was extremely calm. He was still thrusting his spear forward when he stretched out his right arm and pulled his left hand inward. He used the momentum of the opponent's overwhelming blade to make his spear tremble and change the angle of the thrust from a horizontal thrust to an upward curve.

puff.

Blood splattered again.

Wu Ming and the bandit landed at the same time. However, Wu Ming rolled on the ground and sprang up nimbly, while the bandit fell heavily to the ground, clutching his throat with his right hand, blood gushing from between his fingers, his eyes filled with disbelief.

What kind of move is this?!
Despite not being stronger than him in terms of strength, and not showing any particular depth in his moves, at most only at the level of mastery, not at all at the level of unity, he changed his moves midway based on his resistance, forcibly tearing through his defenses at an incredibly strange angle!
He clutched his throat and collapsed into a pool of blood, his life gradually fading away. The light in his eyes disappeared, and the scene that kept flashing through his mind before he died was still that strange, slanted spear.

The man is like a dragon, the gun like a demon.

Two shots were fired, and two people died!
The third man remaining, who was besieging Wu Ming, watched this scene with trepidation and finally shuddered, saying in horror:

"Someone come here! Something's wrong with this kid!"

(End of this chapter)