With the Blade

"Why not... give it a try?"

Deep in guilt, Cui Yuan lifted his head, his face filled with determination.

"It’s okay, I can handle it."

"...No, I can’t handle it."

Sweat began to form on Du Chengfeng’s forehead; he truly couldn’t take this.

He had bluffed before, but when people did such things, they usually approached it from a standpoint of imposing presence or pressure. Like Du Chengfeng himself, when he needed to intimidate others, he would wield his two fire knives, with flames of black and red intertwined with the light and shadow, complementing his already massive physique. Often, this would achieve the effect of subduing the enemy without a fight.

But Du Chengfeng hardly ever spoke about this—after all, boasting about one’s prowess... although it was indeed effective, it felt somewhat shameful.

As for Cui Yuan, it seemed to be the same—basically, any normal person would feel this way. When it came to fighting, you just focused on the action itself. What would one shout? Maybe nothing at all—most people weren’t the type to chat while fighting, especially about something so humiliating. Was it meant to amuse the opponent and then take advantage?

"This might not be suitable for us."

Du Chengfeng sighed.

For the first time, he admitted out loud that he couldn’t keep up with the times.

The attempt at a new technique ultimately ended in failure. None of them could bring themselves to do something so shameful, but fortunately, it was just one move they didn’t learn, which shouldn’t have much impact—after all, they knew plenty; missing one or two techniques didn’t matter much.

And so, the peaceful life continued, at least continued in Forget Sorrow Village. Everyone had their tasks and interests, and this was exactly the environment that Du Chengfeng and all the villagers wanted—a place to forget worries and troubles.

No bloody battles or chaos, just day after day of tranquil life. It might not be as exciting, but this was what living was supposed to be.

"I really hope life can always stay this way."

One morning, three months later, Du Chengfeng sighed with emotion just after waking up.

But can it really go on like this forever?

Everything was fine while brushing teeth and washing the face, but during breakfast, a sudden change occurred in Forget Sorrow Village—the village’s second strongest, the swordsmanship expert Mr. Little Cui, was carried back, covered in blood.

In the past, they might have laughed it off, since with Little Cui’s swordsmanship, the blood was mostly from others.

But this time, no one could laugh.

This blood all belonged to Cui Yuan.

"What happened?"

Du Chengfeng frowned.

"Weren’t you out wiping out bandits?"

Eliminating nearby bandits might be a big challenge for other villages, but for Du Chengfeng and Cui Yuan, it was more like a physical activity—they had already swept through all the bandit camps in Dengzhou, leaving a huge reputation. However, there would always be new bandits from afar trying to cross territories, so they’d have to go out and deal with them every once in a while.

But for these two masters of Evil Qi, it was as easy as eating or drinking. Like before, when Cui Yuan went out in the morning, usually he would be back by breakfast.

Yet, he should never have been brought back in this condition.

"What exactly happened?"

Du Chengfeng was puzzled; he knew Cui Yuan’s combat prowess.

"Was the opponent strong? Did a formidable newcomer arrive?"

"The opponent... wasn’t strong."

The weak Cui Yuan lay on the stretcher, struggling to recount what he knew.

The opponent indeed wasn’t strong. At least as Cui Yuan was cutting through them, he didn’t feel any formidable force. They were just ordinary bandits, with just three leaders having Evil Qi infusion—but when he reached their lair, preparing to take down the leaders, the boss suddenly shouted.

"Giant Axe Opening Heaven!"

The moment he heard this, Cui Yuan realized something was wrong, but never expected it to be so wrong.

Clearly just a bandit leader with Evil Qi infusion, who couldn’t even release Evil Qi, yet the momentum of that raised giant axe seemed truly capable of splitting the sky. Whether or not it could really split the sky, Cui Yuan didn’t know, but it did split his external Sword Qi, protective Sword Qi, and even the scabbard in front of him, finally striking his body.

Perhaps due to multiple defenses, that axe didn’t kill him on the spot, but such a powerful strike left a huge gash on him.

While he still had strength, Cui Yuan decisively used Sword Qi to leap away, fleeing back near Forget Sorrow Village.

Proof showed the bandits weren’t that strong—at least, they couldn’t even pursue a fleeing Evil Qi expert.

"This..."

Du Chengfeng began scratching his head.

Having listened to Cui Yuan’s account, he roughly reconstructed the battle scenario.

Cui Yuan was still using the Evil Qi system, annihilating those bandits with the power of releasing Evil Qi. However, according to Cui Yuan, the bandit chief swinging the axe was only physically strong due to Evil Qi infusion but used techniques outside the Evil Qi system.

Simply put, the high-level Cui Yuan was using powerful standard attacks to kill what appeared to be weak bandits, but one bandit had a skill—shouting an ultimate move and taking Cui Yuan down with it.

And this, perhaps, was the true significance of shouting out move names.

To distinguish a move from ordinary strikes, endowing it with unique meaning, thereby vastly increasing its power—tenfold, even a hundredfold!

"So that’s how it should be used..."

Suddenly realizing, Du Chengfeng nodded to himself.

He immediately called someone to stop Cui Yuan’s bleeding.

Until half-dead, Cui Yuan was bandaged up, only then did Du Chengfeng finally breathe a sigh of relief. He had been so preoccupied with thoughts that he nearly let Cui Yuan bleed out—fortunately, Cui Yuan’s sacrifice wasn’t meaningless, as he was prepared this time.

"Anyway, I’ll be back soon."

Saying this, Du Chengfeng casually grabbed a large saber and flew into the sky.

Finding the bandit lair wasn’t hard for him, as flying gave him a wide view—moreover, Cui Yuan had recently been there, making it a conspicuous target. After a brief search, Du Chengfeng soon hovered over the lair and directly descended onto the heads of the three bandit leaders.

Such an entrance was certainly astonishing, as even the three bandit leaders were too scared to speak.

Flying and disappearing into the ground—could this be the legendary Immortal?

"Which one of you is using the axe?"

Du Chengfeng glanced at the three people on the ground.

"Giant Axe Opening Heaven, right? Come on, chop me, hurry."

It was only then that the three bandit leaders realized this guy was here to cause trouble.

But as they were infused with Evil Qi, their minds were filled with killing intent. Even when facing a so-called Immortal, they couldn’t just sit and wait for death.

"Giant Axe Opening Heaven!"

With a loud shout, a massive phantom of a giant axe came crashing down toward Du Chengfeng mid-air.