Starting with a blind date with a female constable, you acquire the Nine Swords of Dugu.

Meanwhile, on the other side,

While Gu Guanqi and Miss Chang were fighting

Yan Jingchen also made a move.

His weapon was a long whip, its blade jet black, made of some unknown material, gleaming with a cold, eerie light in the sunlight. A copper bell was tied to the tip of the whip, ringing out with a tinkling sound when he swung it, disturbing the mind.

The long whip, like a venomous snake spitting its tongue, coils around the heart.

Fang Cunxin flicked his spear, the tip of which met the whip tip.

"Snap—"

The whip tip wrapped around the gun barrel, and the copper bell jingled crisply.

Yan Jingchen flicked his wrist, tightening the whip and binding Fang Cunxin's spear tightly. A confident smile appeared on his lips as he struck out with his left hand, the palm wind fierce, aiming straight for Fang Cunxin's chest.

This palm strike used seventy percent of his strength, the wind howling and carrying a chilling aura.

My heart did not waver.

Having become entangled with the spear, she simply let go of it, clenched her right fist, and threw a punch.

Fist and palm meet.

"boom--"

A muffled thud.

Yan Jingchen's expression changed drastically.

He felt an overwhelming force surge from the opponent's fist, his entire left arm went numb instantly, and his body involuntarily flew backward, taking seven or eight steps before he could barely regain his balance.

His left hand hung at his side, trembling slightly.

"You..." Yan Jingchen raised his head, looking at Fang Cunxin with astonishment in his eyes. "I've never heard of your Fang family having such a powerful fist technique. Fang Shiyang, you've been holding back this trick?"

Fang Cunxin also looked completely bewildered.

She looked at her fists, then at Yan Jingchen, and shook her head: "I don't know any martial arts."

Yan Jingchen's expression turned even uglier.

"Then what kind of punch is that?"

"I didn't use any fist techniques," Fang Cunxin scratched his head. "I'm just a little strong."

Yan Jingchen fell silent.

He looked down at his numb arm, then at Fang Cunxin's innocent expression, and his lips twitched slightly.

"...You're really strong, aren't you?"

Fang Cunxin nodded, her face serious: "Yes, I've been incredibly strong since I was a child. I never lost an arm wrestling match when I was a kid."

Yan Jingchen: "..."

He took a deep breath, turned to look at the lifeless body of Miss Chang on the ground, and couldn't help but curse, "Useless!"

Then he turned and left.

With a leap, he darted several feet away and disappeared into the dense forest.

"Chief Yan, since you're already here, why are you in such a hurry to leave?"

Gu Guanqi shouted and immediately used the Golden Goose Skill, his body soaring up like a wild goose. He touched the tree trunk with his toes, used the momentum to rise again, and took several steps in the air to chase after Yan Jingchen.

At the same time, he flicked his fingers repeatedly with his left hand.

Three steel balls shot out of the air, forming a triangular pattern as they aimed at Yan Jingchen's back, back of the head, and back of the heart.

Hearing the sound of something cutting through the air, Yan Jingchen had no choice but to stop and turn around to wield his whip.

"Clap clap clap—"

The three steel balls shattered the whip in an instant.

Yan Jingchen frantically dodged two bullets, but the third still pierced his shoulder.

Blood splattered, and Yan Jingchen staggered, almost falling to the ground.

In that instant, Gu Guanqi had caught up to him.

The Autumn Water Sword was drawn from its sheath, its light as sharp as a bolt of lightning, aimed straight for Yan Jingchen's throat.

Yan Jingchen flicked his long whip, the whip moving like a snake, coiling towards Gu Guanqi's sword.

Gu Guanqi maintained his sword stance, slightly turned his wrist, and used the tip of his sword to avoid the whip tip.

Dugu Nine Swords, Whip-Breaking Style.

Yan Jingchen felt a jolt in the whip, and an extremely subtle force traveled through the handle, making his hand go numb and almost causing him to drop the whip.

He quickly put away his whip and retreated, but Gu Guanqi's sword was already following him like a shadow.

A flash of sword light.

Yan Jingchen felt a chill in his chest, and then he could feel nothing at all.

His body froze on the spot, the long whip in his hand slowly slipped down and fell to the ground with a clang.

A thin line of blood appeared on his chest, and the blood slowly seeped out, gleaming dark red in the sunlight.

Yan Jingchen stared wide-eyed at Miss Chang's corpse and roared, "You slut, you've killed me..."

Then, his body fell straight backward, crashing to the ground with a thud, kicking up a cloud of dust.

The forest returned to silence.

Gu Guanqi sheathed his sword, turned around, walked to the group of Heavenly Demon Cult members whose tendons had been severed, squatted down, and took out several silver needles from the inside of his belt.

"You've probably heard of the Six Doors' Thousand Needles Technique," Gu Guanqi said calmly, twirling a silver needle. "I haven't tried this technique on a living person yet. Who wants to give it a try?"

The believers looked at each other, their faces turning pale.

immediately,

Gu Guanqi randomly selected someone to begin administering acupuncture.

"I'll tell you everything you want to know..." The man could only hold on for five breaths before he couldn't take it anymore and hurriedly said, "Take the needles out, take them out quickly!"

Gu Guanqi put away his needles and asked, "Why did you kidnap Fang Cunxin?"

The man swallowed hard and said, "It's to force Fang Shiyang to hand over the Heavenly Crafting Stone."

"Heavenly Crafting Stone? What's that?" Gu Guanqi asked in confusion.

The man quickly replied, "It is the most solid and rare stone in the world, an important material for forging divine weapons. More than half of the world's top ten divine weapons use the Heavenly Crafting Stone as their core material. It is extremely rare and its value is immeasurable."

Fang Cunxin asked, puzzled, "Where did my father get such a rare treasure?"

The man said, "I don't know. Our leader only learned about this by chance. He only knows that Fang Shiyang is going to take the Heavenly Crafting Stone to the Xiao family and contact Xiao Changliu's sect, the Hanyue Sect, in exchange for offering the Heavenly Crafting Stone. In return, he will give you the opportunity to join the Hanyue Sect and become the sect leader's personal disciple."

"Huh?" Fang Cun exclaimed in surprise, "How come I didn't know about this? And, the Heavenly Crafting Stone can really make me an apprentice of the Headmaster of the Hanyue Sect?"

The man said, "You underestimate the value of the Heavenly Crafting Stone, especially now that the Hanyue Sect's inherited divine weapon is damaged and they are in dire need of the Heavenly Crafting Stone, it is not unreasonable to use it to exchange for an opportunity to become the sect leader."

After learning about the Heavenly Crafting Stone, our leader sent men to seize it.

However, Fang Shiyang was experienced in the martial arts world. Our leader was deceived and failed to catch him. The others who chased after Fang Shiyang were no match for him and ended up killing many of them. Meanwhile, Fang Shiyang successfully escaped to the Xiao family.

The Xiao family's power is not to be underestimated, so we dared not launch a direct attack. Our leader devised a roundabout plan, sending men to Qingyang County to kidnap you, but that failed.

Gu Guanqi asked, "Then the letter we received in Zhenwu County was forged by you?"

"Yes," the man said.

Fang Cunxin asked in surprise, "How is that possible? Handwriting can be imitated, but how did you know the special marks I used in my letters with my father?"

The man said, "The markings you and your daughter use aren't very complicated. If we get two or three letters from you, and find someone who knows the difference, it's easy to figure out the pattern in your markings."

Fang Cunxin was slightly taken aback, and said, "That's true," then she realized what she meant and asked, "Is my father alright?"

The man said, "He's missing!"

Fang Cunxin was shocked and said, "Didn't you say my father was at the Xiao family's house? How could he have disappeared?"

The man said, "We sent people to Qingyang County to kidnap you, but we failed. However, in order to gain merit in front of the Holy Son, the leader decided that he must obtain the Heavenly Crafting Stone before the Holy Son arrives. Therefore, he decided to launch a strong attack on the Xiao family."

We originally planned to storm the Xiao family and kidnap some important figures to force your father to hand over the Heavenly Crafting Stone, but we never expected that day to go so smoothly. The poison we used actually took effect, and the Xiao family was completely unprepared. Most of their experts were poisoned.

In that battle, we actually wiped out the entire Xiao family, even Xiao Changliu was killed. To be honest, the results of that battle were unbelievable even to ourselves. However, the only pity is that your father escaped, and we didn't find the Heavenly Crafting Stone in the Xiao family.

After searching for several days without finding any clues about Fang Shiyang, we decided to kidnap you to lure your father out. However… we miscalculated again. We didn’t expect Gu Guanqi to be so capable.

Fang Cunxin took a deep breath to calm herself down and said, "So, my father is still alive, but he's hiding?"

"Yes," the man said, "at least, neither our Holy Church nor the Six Doors have been able to find him."

Fang Cunxin breathed a slight sigh of relief.

At this moment, Gu Guanqi asked again, "And what's the deal with your Holy Son?"

The man said, "It is said that the Holy Son has collected many precious materials to forge a divine weapon that is most suitable for him. Our leader is competing for the Heavenly Crafting Stone to give to the Holy Son. The Holy Son is worried about something going wrong, so he has decided to come and take the Heavenly Crafting Stone away in person."

Where is he now?

"I wouldn't know that. Even the leader of the guild wouldn't know the Holy Son's whereabouts!"

Gu Guanqi looked at Fang Cunxin and asked, "Cunxin, is there anything else you want to ask?"

Fang Cunxin shook her head.

Gu Guanqi nodded slightly and said, "Alright then..."

Before he finished speaking, he raised his longsword and swiftly thrust out several swords, killing all the survivors.

Then, looking at Fang Cunxin who seemed somewhat lost, he said, "Don't panic. Your father's disappearance is actually good news, it means he's still alive. We need to hurry to Changqing County to find out more."

"Yes, yes, let's go to Changqing County right away!"

The two then rode their horses at full speed, heading west along the official road, passing through the continuous mountains of Linzhong County.