Becoming a Saint From the Iron Armor Skill

SHHICK...

Lou Hui’s throat was sliced wide open. Blood sprayed out, still gushing from the fatal wound.

Chen Cheng followed up with another swift strike, instantly severing Lou Hui’s head, which rolled across the ground.

This wasn’t an act of cruelty. The strike he had just delivered was a Perfect Level Saber Technique, and a keen observer could easily have deduced from the markings on the wound that Chen Cheng’s Saber Technique had reached Perfection.

Decapitating Lou Hui was the only way to hide the traces of that last strike.

Not far away, Mu Chuan was leaning against a courtyard wall, using his Constable’s Saber for support. He was panting heavily. Turning his head, he saw the exact moment Chen Cheng beheaded Lou Hui, and his heart pounded with absolute terror.

"B-Brother Cheng, you... you actually killed Lou Hui?"

Mu Chuan’s eyes widened like saucers. After the shock, a wave of ecstatic relief at having survived washed over him. With no strength left, he slumped down against the courtyard wall, a smile creeping onto his lips.

Even now, the night’s events felt like a terrible nightmare.

The South City Thirteen Thieves had suddenly appeared. Their leader, Bo Qi, had failed in his scheme against Chen Cheng and was killed by him instead.

Then, the second-in-command, Lou Hui, had furiously pursued the two of them. With Lou Hui’s Perfect Saber Technique and his cultivation at Great Success in Skin Grinding Realm, their deaths should have been certain.

They had relied on a very tricky fighting style. Mu Chuan, especially, had exhausted all his strength and used every trick in the book. It was already a stroke of immense luck that he had survived dozens of rounds against Lou Hui’s all-out attacks.

Afterward, Chen Cheng had dragged Mu Chuan away as they fled. With Mu Chuan’s Small Success in Skin Grinding Realm cultivation, and in his exhausted state, how could he possibly have outrun Lou Hui?

He hadn’t thought much of it during their desperate flight. But looking back now, it seemed Chen Cheng had been dragging him along, and they had moved as fast as the wind, always maintaining a certain distance from Lou Hui.

Then he was dazedly pulled into this alley, and only then did Chen Cheng let him go. At that time, he was in a panic, focused only on escaping, and hadn’t seen clearly how Chen Cheng had killed Lou Hui.

This was one of the infamous South City Thirteen Thieves, a Great Success Martial Artist of the Skin Grinding Realm with a Perfect Saber Technique. Forget about constables like them; even if Chief Constable Su Chenglin had come personally, he might not have been able to kill Lou Hui.

And now, Lou Hui had been well and truly killed by Chen Cheng—his body and head separated, deader than dead. It was all too incredible!

"I managed to throw lime in this bastard’s eyes. It was pure luck that I could kill him," Chen Cheng said lightly. He then glanced around, saw no movement, and began to search Lou Hui’s corpse.

The art of looting corpses was his specialty; he couldn’t have been more practiced. In just a few breaths’ time, Chen Cheng found a Money Bag on Lou Hui. He weighed it in his hand; it felt heavy, so it likely contained a good amount of silver coins.

"This bastard had a bit of money on him. How about we two brothers split it?" Chen Cheng looked at Mu Chuan and asked with a smile.

Mu Chuan felt incredibly fortunate just to be alive; how could he dare ask for a share of the money? He waved his hands repeatedly and said, "N-No, it’s fine! You keep it, Brother Cheng!"

"Alright." Chen Cheng wasn’t one for false modesty and tucked the Money Bag into his robes.

"Brother Cheng, what should we do now?" Mu Chuan had wanted to suggest they hurry back to the City Guard Department, but the words felt wrong as he was about to say them, so he changed his phrasing.

Chen Cheng observed their surroundings, then walked into the shadow of a courtyard wall and said, "The signal for reinforcements has already been sent. Captain Su and the others should be here with men soon. We just have to wait."

"Okay." Mu Chuan nodded. Seeing Chen Cheng fall silent in thought, he struggled to his feet and dutifully went to the mouth of the alley, standing guard with his saber at the ready.

With his strength, Chen Cheng could have easily killed Lou Hui within three moves. He had dragged the fight out precisely to guard against the possibility of a more powerful expert lurking behind Lou Hui.

And Chen Cheng had indeed guessed correctly. Besides the South City Thirteen Thieves, there was also an assassin from the so-called Wind and Rain Tower, Ding Mo.

Ding Mo was likely a Perfect Martial Artist of the Skin Grinding Realm, whose Swordsmanship had also been cultivated to the Perfect Level.

If Chen Cheng had revealed his full strength and killed Lou Hui right from the start, Ding Mo would have likely made his move much earlier. At that point, Yan Jian probably wouldn’t have arrived yet.

Though he had only caught a brief glimpse of Ding Mo and Yan Jian’s battle, Chen Cheng could still tell that even if he couldn’t defeat Ding Mo, he would have no problem protecting himself.

However, there was no need for him to confront the assassin. Doing so would only expose his own strength for no gain.

In these chaotic times, while Chen Cheng didn’t believe in cowering to survive, he knew that to live a stable life, it was essential to keep most of his strength hidden. Hiding seven-tenths and revealing only three-tenths was absolutely necessary.

He had always done this, and it had saved him from a great deal of trouble.

As for being like that Yan Jian, who showed off his full capabilities, that was simply not wise. After all, as the old sayings go, great beauties often meet tragic ends, and the heavens are jealous of brilliant talents, who tend to die young. Chen Cheng wanted to live a bit longer.

Hiding seven-tenths and revealing three-tenths had indeed achieved the desired effect.

Back in the assessment competition, when Chen Cheng killed Zhou Fang—who was at Great Success in Skin Grinding Realm with Great Success in Swordsmanship—the strength he displayed was merely Great Success in Saber Technique and Great Success in Skin Grinding Realm.

And yet, Zhou Xu had sent two members of the South City Thirteen Thieves, including one with a Perfect Saber Technique.

Not only that, but he had also added Ding Mo, an assassin from the Wind and Rain Tower who was a Perfect Martial Artist of the Skin Grinding Realm with Sword Technique Perfection. To send such a lineup to assassinate Chen Cheng was like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut. Zhou Xu’s methods were meticulous to the extreme.

Faced with such an assassination attempt, Chen Cheng should have had no chance of survival.

However, for all his meticulous planning, Zhou Xu could never have calculated that Chen Cheng was hiding his strength so deeply, possessing the true combat power of a martial artist who had reached both Skin Grinding Realm Perfection and Saber Technique Perfection.