Joy of Life: Me, the Second Prince? Summon Yuan Tiangang!

"Whoosh whoosh-"

What responded to them was not arrows, but countless invisible sword energies, so fine they were almost imperceptible, yet so sharp they were almost imperceptible.

In the darkness, there were no fires, no shouts of battle, only a chilling sound that cut through the air, like the whisper of death.

"ah--!"

A piercing scream shattered the tranquility of Sunset Valley. The elite members of the Observation Bureau who were at the forefront didn't even see the enemy before their throats were severed by the invisible sword energy. Blood gushed from the cuts in their necks like fountains, turning into pristine, bloody mists under the cold moonlight.

"Enemy attack! Form ranks! Fire arrows!"

The seventh-rank escort officer, his eyes bloodshot, roared hoarsely. He drew his long sword from his waist, his inner energy surging, trying to locate the attacker in the darkness.

The fifty elite members of the Forensic Academy were, after all, well-trained killing machines. After a brief moment of panic, they quickly used the carriage as cover and pulled the triggers of their crossbows.

"Buzzing—"

A dense barrage of crossbow bolts rained down on the surrounding forests like locusts, emitting muffled thuds. However, apart from the sounds of bolts striking trees and rocks, no heavy objects fell to the ground.

The enemy seemed to exist without a trace.

"Over there!" a sharp-eyed spy suddenly exclaimed, pointing to the cliff on the right.

Everyone looked in the direction he pointed, and felt a chill run down their spines.

On the steep cliff face, six ghostly figures appeared out of nowhere. They were dressed in matching dark red outfits and wore masks of varying designs, yet all equally menacing. Without the aid of any ropes, they lay like six real spiders, silently lurking on the vertical rock face, coldly watching their prey below.

The Net, top-tier assassins, the Six Sword Slaves!

True Steel, Water Cutting, Divine Chaos, Demons and Monsters, Soul Transformation, Soul Destruction!

"kill!"

Without further ado, Zhen Gang, one of the Six Sword Slaves, issued a low, hoarse command.

In the next instant, six figures, like six black lightning bolts, swooped down from the cliff and crashed directly into the Observation Bureau's defensive formation.

This was a one-sided massacre with no suspense whatsoever, or rather, a brilliantly crafted performance of the art of killing.

The Six Sword Slaves were six experts of the lower or even middle rank of the ninth grade. They were of one mind and coordinated perfectly. Their swordsmanship was devoid of any fancy moves; every strike was aimed at reaping lives as quickly and effectively as possible.

The True Steel Sword was powerful and unparalleled, cleaving a man and his shield in two with a single strike; the Water-Severing Sword was invisible, and the blindfolded old man moved through the crowd like a ghost, his sword flashing as heads flew into the air; the Chaotic God Sword was ferocious and bloodthirsty, each swing bringing a shower of blood; the Wraith Twin Swords were nimble and unpredictable, specifically targeting gaps in armor for a fatal blow; and the twin sisters, Soul-Turning and Soul-Extinguishing, used their chain-like longswords, like venomous snakes, to tightly bind and grind the fleeing spies into mincemeat.

"Demon! Prepare to die!"

The seventh-rank escort officer watched helplessly as his men fell like wheat being harvested. Overwhelmed with grief and anger, he roared and poured all his true energy into his longsword, transforming it into a streak of sword light that slashed straight at Zhen Gang at the front.

This strike embodied his life's work and even hinted at the power to break through to the eighth rank.

However, Zhen Gang merely glanced at him coldly, neither dodging nor avoiding, and swung his Zhen Gang Greatsword fiercely against the blade's edge.

"clang--!"

A deafening clang of metal clashing echoed through the valley.

The escort officer felt an overwhelming, terrifying force surge into his body through the hilt of his knife—your private mobile library, accessible anytime. His prized inner strength was as fragile as paper before this power.

With a crisp "crack," the hundred-refined steel blade in his hand shattered into pieces. Immediately afterward, the greatsword, its momentum undiminished, struck him directly in the chest.

"puff--"

The escort officer coughed up a mouthful of blood mixed with fragments of internal organs, and his body flew backward like a kite with a broken string, crashing heavily onto a horse-drawn carriage full of gunpowder, dying instantly.

The battle lasted for less than half an incense stick's time.

Fifty elite members of the Forensic Service were completely wiped out, with not a single survivor.

The valley was filled with the pungent stench of blood and the nauseating smell of entrails. The Six Sword Slaves stood silently in the center of the corpses, blood dripping from the blades of their famous swords, forming rivers of blood.

The demon walked to the carriage full of gunpowder and casually tossed a tinderbox inside.

"Boom—!!!"

A deafening explosion echoed through Sunset Valley, and towering flames illuminated half the night sky as if it were daytime. Precious poisonous herbs, refined iron, and gunpowder were reduced to ashes in the raging fire.

In the flames of the explosion, the figure of the Six Sword Slaves gradually disappeared, leaving only a huge, ferocious web spider painted with the blood of the dead on the cliff face.

……

……

The explosion in Sunset Valley was just the tip of the iceberg of this bloody night.

This night was a true nightmare for the underworld of Daqing and Kyoto, and for the powerful Censorate.

Hidden in Kyoto's eastern district, a clandestine underground bank serves as a secret hideout for the Bureau of Investigation's Second Division, used for raising funds and money laundering.

"Who goes there?!" The guard at the gate had just drawn his sword when he was blinded by a red sword light as dazzling as the blazing sun.

The net of Heaven, of the highest rank, can obscure the sun!

As Yan Ri drew his sword, it seemed to devour even the moonlight. Within the vast underground bank, over thirty accountants and guards from the second division were slaughtered in a mere ten breaths. The blinding sword light not only severed their bodies but also shattered their mental defenses. Blood stained chests of gold and silver, and Yan Ri, stepping on the gold bricks scattered on the floor, carved a spider on the vault door.

In the western part of Kyoto, there is a seemingly ordinary blacksmith shop. This is actually a secret workshop housing three workshops researching and developing new types of concealed weapons.

Dozens of assassins from the Luo Wang (Net of Heaven) and Jue (Top Rank) levels surged in like a black tide. The traps and mechanisms within the blacksmith shop were rendered useless by these skilled assassins. Poison gas, hidden darts, and trapdoors were all easily bypassed. What followed was a brutal hand-to-hand combat. Although the craftsmen from the three workshops were adept at the mechanisms, their martial arts skills were mediocre. Under the cold blades of the Luo Wang assassins, they could only let out desperate cries.

A secret contact point in the northern part of Kyoto...

On the outskirts of Kyoto, at one of the five hidden sentry posts...

The killings unfolded in every dark corner of Kyoto.

The Bureau of Investigation's moles, intelligence stations, and liaison points seemed to be tightly covered by an invisible net. No matter how well they hid or how well they disguised themselves, the assassins of the Net could always find them accurately and then give them the coldest and most thorough destruction.

Occasionally, one or two red signal flares from the Censorate, signifying the highest level of danger, would rise into the night sky. Their piercing light was so blinding against the darkness, yet so utterly powerless. For often, the moment the flare ascended, the person who fired it was already a lifeless corpse.

The investigation team, which was supposed to rush to provide support immediately, was ambushed by assassins from the Luo Wang organization on the way, suffering heavy casualties and unable to make any progress.

The entire underground world of Kyoto was torn open with a huge wound by the Net using the purest and most extreme violence.

……