Starting with The Eagle Shooting Heroes: I gain a year's worth of skill every day.

The rain stopped for a moment.

Only the sound of raindrops hitting the bluestone slabs remained in the world, mixed with the blood flowing from 150 corpses, and the red stream meandered towards the drainage ditches on both sides of the street.

The entire street was so quiet you couldn't even hear someone breathing.

Han Tuo sat astride his horse, which pawed restlessly and snorted. The commander of the Palace Guards' hands trembled, and the command flag hung in the air, unable to be waved.

That's a divine crossbow.

One hundred and fifty crossbow bolts capable of piercing iron armor were bounced back as if shooed away flies.

"Sorcery... Demonic arts!"

Someone shouted, and the formation of the three thousand Imperial Guards began to stir. The soldiers in the front ranks instinctively took a step back, their shields clashing together with a series of muffled thuds.

Gu Zhen's face turned ashen.

He stared at the young Taoist priest at the bottom of the steps—Shen Mo had an invisible barrier of energy around him, keeping out the torrential rain, and his cloth shoes were spotless, without a speck of mud on them.

This scene is despairing.

"Don't panic!" Gu Zhen suddenly drew his sword, pointing the blade at Shen Mo, and roared, "He's alone! That last move must have exhausted his inner strength! It was just a trick! Attack!"

He turned to look at the men in plain clothes with sinister expressions beside him.

The Imperial City Guard has been training these experts for many years, specializing in dealing with tough guys in the martial arts world; they are commonly known as "Imperial Palace Attendants."

"An army is raised for a thousand days, but used for only one." Gu Zhen gritted his teeth. "Whoever can take this evil Taoist's head will be rewarded with ten thousand taels of gold and granted the title of Marquis of Ten Thousand Households!"

Under the reward, there must be a brave man.

These worshippers, who were usually arrogant, were stunned by Shen Mo's move, but they were more willing to believe Gu Zhen's judgment—human strength has its limits, and such methods could never be used continuously.

"superior!"

An elderly man in black, wielding a judge's pen made of fine iron, was the first to make a move.

He stomped his foot on the horse's back and lunged at Shen Mo, the tip of his judge's pen piercing the rain, aiming straight for his throat.

This move, "King Yama's Sign-in," was his signature skill, and countless martial arts masters died under his pen.

Following closely behind were two burly men wielding twin swords, one on the left and one on the right, their blades blocking all of Shen Mo's escape routes.

There were also three women skilled in using concealed weapons, hidden behind the crowd, their poisoned needles ready to be fired.

Six top experts, working in perfect harmony, enveloped the blue-clad figure with murderous intent.

Shen Mo stood still, without moving an inch.

He slightly raised his eyelids, watching the judge's pen getting closer and closer.

"Too slow."

The moment he uttered those two words, he held up two fingers.

There were no extra movements, just a simple clamping motion.

Ding!

The iron judge's pen was held between two fingers.

The old man's pupils constricted sharply, as if the pen had been plunged into a mountain, completely immovable. He desperately channeled his inner strength, his face turning red, trying to pull the pen back, or even to push it in another inch.

Can't do it.

Shen Mo looked into the old man's terrified eyes, a cold smile playing on his lips.

"To aid and abet evildoers."

Click.

Two fingers gently crossed.

The judge's pen, crafted from fine steel, broke in two. Shen Mo casually picked up the broken tip and made a stroke.

puff.

A thin line of blood appeared on the old man's throat.

He collapsed, clutching his neck, disbelief still lingering in his eyes.

At this moment, the two swords on either side had already slashed at Shen Mo's neck and waist.

A look of delight flashed in the eyes of the two burly men—this Taoist priest was so arrogant, he didn't even try to dodge!

Clang! Clang!

Two crisp sounds rang out, and sparks flew everywhere.

The hundred-refined steel blade struck Shen Mo, creating two large gashes that caused both of them to bleed profusely from their hands.

Innate true energy protects the body like a golden shield.

Let alone a knife, even a crossbow firing in close-range bursts cannot penetrate it if Shen Mo doesn't want it to.

"What... what kind of hard skill is this?!" The burly man on the left was horrified and turned to run away.

"Did I let you leave?"

Shen Mo slapped him across the face.

The palm strike was light and effortless, without even a sound.

Snapped!

The burly man's head spun three times on his neck, and he flew more than ten feet away, crashing into a roadside shop without even letting out a scream.

The remaining burly man with the knife went weak in the knees, and the knife in his hand fell to the ground with a clatter.

Shen Mo didn't even look at him, and flicked his finger.

A drop of rain, imbued with true energy, pierced through the man's brow.

puff.

Red and white things splashed.

At that moment, the poisoned needles from the three women behind them arrived.

The sky was filled with countless fine needles, gleaming with a ghostly blue light, clearly coated with deadly poison.

Shen Mo sighed.

"They even resort to such tricks."

He waved his sleeve.

boom!

A violent shockwave rose from the ground, and the countless poisonous needles were swept back at an even faster speed.

Puff puff puff!

The three women were instantly impaled like hedgehogs, rolling on the ground screaming in agony. Within moments, they turned into a pool of pus and blood, their bones turning black.

In the blink of an eye, all six of the Imperial City Guard's top retainers were wiped out.

The remaining dozens of so-called experts were stuck in place, unable to advance or retreat.

This isn't a human being.

This is clearly a monster in human skin!

Shen Mo patted his sleeves and glanced at the remaining crowd.

[Ding! Six Imperial Guards have been killed, for a total reward of 22000 Good/Evil Points. Current Good/Evil Points: 22700.]

"Who else?"

Shen Mo spoke, his voice not loud, but it carried clearly throughout the room.

No one dared to answer.

Even Gu Zhen subconsciously turned his horse around, wanting to back away.

In a teahouse in the distance.

Huang Rong covered her mouth, her eyes wide open.

"Father, he...he killed so quickly."

Huang Yaoshi didn't speak, but kept his eyes fixed on Shen Mo.

He had seen murder, and had killed many people with his own hands, but he had never seen murder like this—without the slightest hesitation, without the slightest emotional fluctuation, as if it were a task being completed.

Such a person is either a demon, or...

"This young man has a path in his heart," Huang Yaoshi said slowly, "but this path is too sharp."

Hong Qigong frowned.

He frowned not because Shen Mo's methods were brutal, but because he could see that when Shen Mo killed these people, there was no murderous intent in his eyes, only calmness.

But that's the scariest part.

A ruthless killer will have madness in his eyes.

But Shen Mo did not.

He was simply carrying out what he felt was "deserving of death."

"This young Taoist priest..." Hong Qigong muttered to himself, "What exactly did he go through?"

on the street.

Shen Mo looked at the three thousand imperial guards and slowly spoke:

"How many of you came here voluntarily?"

No one answered.

"And how many of them were forced into it?"

Still, no one answered.

Shen Mo smiled.

"Very well, I won't ask any further."

He took a deep breath.

With this single breath, all the air within a radius of a hundred feet was sucked out.

The windows on the second floor of the teahouse suddenly caved inward, and the water from the street flowed upward, converging towards his chest.

A chilling sense of oppression instantly enveloped the entire venue.

Huang Yaoshi, who was hiding in a teahouse in the distance, suddenly changed his expression.

"Oh no! Cover your ears!"

He shouted and quickly pressed his hands against Huang Rong's ears, while simultaneously channeling his inner strength to protect his entire body.

Hong Qigong reacted quickly, pressing Guo Jing to the ground and covering his ears tightly with both hands.

next moment.

Shen Mo opened his mouth.

"roar--!!!"

This is not a human roar.

This is the roar of a dragon, the howl of a tiger, and the thunder from the heavens!

The terrifying sound waves mixed with the powerful innate true energy, transforming into a visible white wave of energy that spread wildly in a fan shape from Shen Mo's center.

Rumble!

The doors and windows of shops on both sides of the street shattered instantly, and wood chips flew everywhere.

The first few dozen Imperial City Guard experts didn't even have time to scream before their blood vessels burst, blood spurted from their seven orifices, and they collapsed limply.

Next came the Imperial Guards.

Three thousand imperial guards fell in droves under the impact of this terrifying sonic wave.

The warhorse neighed, foaming at the mouth, and collapsed to its knees.

The soldiers rolled on the ground, covering their ears, blood gushing out from between their fingers. Some even had their internal organs shattered and died on the spot.

Gu Zhen was the closest.

He felt a loud "buzz" explode in his head.

His eyes bulged out and became bloodshot, his eardrums ruptured instantly, and two jets of blood gushed out of his ears.

He opened his mouth wide to shout, but found that he could not hear any sound, and could not even maintain his balance.

Gu Zhen fell headfirst off the horse and convulsed in the mud.

In his dying moments, only one thought flashed through his mind:

I shouldn't have come...