Seeking good fortune and avoiding misfortune: Starting with death row inmates

The masked warrior opposite him felt a chill run down his spine as he looked at Shen Chen, who was covered in blood, but he quickly regained his composure: "You're already at your limit, yet you dare to spout such nonsense?"

"Die!" He made a decisive move, attacking Shen Chen with his blade aimed directly at Shen Chen's head, his killing intent palpable.

Shen Chen suddenly raised his hand, sending a cloud of dust into the martial artist's eyes, then turned and ran!

As that man said, he was already at his limit, and he would undoubtedly lose if he fought head-on again!

The martial artist, his face covered in dust, immediately squinted and sheathed his sword to defend himself. Taking advantage of this brief moment, Shen Chen had already run a distance away.

"What a low-level tactic!" The martial artist laughed in anger and immediately caught up with Shen Chen.

Shen Chen turned around and threw a cloth bag, but the martial artist was prepared and slashed it away with a knife.

"Sizzle!" The cloth bag suddenly burst open, releasing a strange odor into the air.

"What is this?" Alarm bells rang in the martial artist's mind.

The next second, a bear's roar suddenly rang out from behind.

He turned around, looked at the black bear that had suddenly appeared, and realized: "He just threw out bear bait."

The black bear extended its claws and teeth, sniffing the scent as it moved toward the assassin. The two fought for a while, and finally the black bear was beheaded by the warrior.

Shen Chen seized the time to circulate the Extreme Yang Breathing Technique to recover his strength. At this critical moment, he had pushed this breathing technique to an extremely terrifying level. Shen Chen vaguely seemed to see the image of a blazing sun.

At this moment, he felt as if his whole body was on fire, his blood and qi were exceptionally active, repeatedly nourishing his damaged flesh and bones, and trying his best to boost his fighting power.

The warrior who came to kill him wouldn't give him time to rest. He gripped the hilt of his sword with both hands, leaped up, and slammed it down on Shen Chen's head.

Shen Chen thrust his sword with all his might, the blades clashing violently. The internal forces clashed fiercely, and then the two swords suddenly exploded from the tips of their blades, turning into pieces of iron that flew out.

In an instant, all that remained in their hands were the hilts of their knives.

"Such refined internal energy. This person is like me, probably already touching the threshold of the True Qi Realm." The assassin was secretly shocked. He immediately dropped the hilt of his knife, stepped forward, and punched Shen Chen in the groin with both hands.

Shen Chen reacted in the same way, and the two engaged in close combat, their punches flying and the sounds of their bodies colliding echoing through the forest.

The assassin had clearly been immersed in martial arts for many years. He was skilled in archery, had excellent knife skills, and was equally outstanding in fist and foot techniques. Every punch he threw was extremely powerful, and his movements were clean and beautiful. He was at the same level as Wang Er, who had taught Shen Chen the fist techniques.

"Thousand Cloud Hands!" Shen Chen gritted his teeth and unleashed the Thousand Cloud Hands.

In an instant, Shen Chen seemed to have grown eight more hands. He moved his palms like the wind, not only parrying all the assassin's fist techniques, but also counterattacking the assassin's chest, ribs, and lower body.

"What superb palm technique!" The assassin's pupils suddenly contracted. He never expected that Shen Chen would have such a hidden skill. Several vital points were immediately hit by Shen Chen, and his blood and qi stagnated.

Almost the instant his blood and qi stopped flowing, Shen Chen moved again. He turned his palm into a fist, concentrated all his strength, and punched the assassin in the chest.

The assassin instinctively covered his chest with both hands in defense, but in that instant, he suddenly realized that his blood and energy had stagnated.

He couldn't defend against that punch at all!

The ear-piercing sound of wrist bones breaking rang out. Shen Chen punched and bent the assassin's hands, then his fist slammed into the assassin's chest.

The man's sternum was caved in deeply, like the ground struck by a meteorite. His face turned red, and he suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood mixed with lung tissue.

He stared blankly at Shen Chen, whose face was deathly pale, and uttered three words: "Impressive skill."

"Thump!" The assassin's body crashed to the ground, lifeless.

Shen Chen's legs went weak, and he instantly knelt on the ground. He looked up and gasped for breath, seeing stars before his eyes.

There were two corpses beside him, two more headless corpses a hundred meters away, and a corpse with an arrow in its forehead in the woods.

He killed all five Refinement Realm martial artists by himself!

After catching his breath for a while, Shen Chen finally came to his senses. He almost crawled back to Zhang Xiaolong's body.

Zhang Xiaolong was covered in blood, but even so, he was still breathing.

Hearing the noise, Zhang Xiaolong opened his eyes and, seeing that Shen Chen was unharmed, his expression relaxed.

He opened his mouth, his voice low: "Master Shen, please take good care of my good-for-nothing brother in the future."

Shen Chen glanced at the arrow in Zhang Xiaolong's chest and knew he was beyond saving. He immediately grasped Zhang Xiaolong's cold hand and said, "Don't worry."

"Tell Master Qin, I'll still be with him in my next life..." Before he could finish speaking, one of his eyes lost its light, and he breathed his last.

In the evening, Shen Chen dragged a straw mat back to the village.

The villagers looked at the disheveled Shen Chen with curiosity. His face was covered in bruises and his body was covered in wounds, as if he had rolled around on a bed of nails three times.

"Master Shen, where have you been? How did you get yourself into this state?" Wang Er asked hurriedly when he saw Shen Chen's appearance.

Shen Chen said, "I'm looking for Brother Qin."

His voice trembled slightly, filled with intense resentment.

"Maybe he got beaten up outside and is looking for Master Qin to stand up for him..." Wang Er thought to himself. He casually glanced at the straw mat behind Shen Chen, and his gaze suddenly sharpened.

Several pairs of human feet appeared to be peeking out from the end of the straw mat.

Wang Er immediately replied, "Okay, I'll go find Master Qin right away."

A moment later, Shen Chen told Qin Pi everything about how he had been surrounded and attacked.

Upon hearing this, Qin Pi flew into a rage: "Who? Who dares to kill my man? I'll skin him alive!"

He lifted the straw mat and examined each of the assassins' faces, only to find that he didn't recognize any of them: "Strange, if these aren't bandits, where did they come from?"

Upon learning of Zhang Xiaolong's death, Qin Pi paused for a moment, then said in a hoarse voice, "What a pity, what a pity for this child."

Shen Chen relayed Zhang Xiaolong's last words to Qin Pi, after which Qin Pi covered his eyes and said, "Brother Shen, why don't you go out for a bit?"

When Shen Chen came in again, Qin Pi's eyes were already red all around.

"Brother Shen, you're smarter than me. Who do you think attacked you?" Qin Pi's words revealed an barely suppressed ferocity. "I'm going to go and teach him a lesson right now."

Shen Chen frowned slightly.

Who did I offend recently? That they would go to such lengths to take my life?

"...Bear Ridge, so many people are there. Did the mastermind predict I would go hunting at Bear Ridge?"

Shen Chen's eyes flashed, as if he had grasped some key point: "Speaking of which, why did I go hunting at Bear Ridge?"

"Because I was selected to participate in the hunting ceremony!"