I was told I'd be a late bloomer, but I was born with the potential to achieve great things!

Ridicule, mockery!

His ferocious gaze was as if he were looking at an ant that he could easily crush.

This is good.

Zhou An's blood and qi surged, and a powerful force erupted from his arm as he spun the crimson wooden sword in his hand.

"Swish, swish, swish!"

In an instant, Zhong Wei's pupils contracted.

Three crimson afterimages appeared before their eyes, followed by sword energy that resembled blades and swords bursting forth from the crimson wooden sword.

Sword energy.

It was actually sword energy.

How could a martial artist who has at most reached the Skin-Refining Realm possibly unleash sword energy... Could it be that the opponent also has a human skin pasted on their face like me?

Zhong Wei was puzzled, and various thoughts flashed through his mind.

"How is that possible?"

Although his brain briefly stopped functioning, his well-trained body reacted extremely quickly in this critical moment.

The instant the sword energy struck from afar, the muscles in his right hand tensed and bulged, and the black iron-colored blade on his right fist went straight for the oncoming sword energy.

"Bang!"

As their fists clashed, Zhong Wei's expression changed. He felt a strange spiraling sword energy sweeping through the black iron, and his right arm flew uncontrollably backward, leaving his center wide open.

"not good!"

Zhong Wei's heart pounded with alarm bells, and he quickly swung his left hand to blast at the second sword energy coming from the opposite direction.

"Pfft!"

As his fist was halfway through its swing, Zhong Wei's body came to an abrupt halt, and he seemed to faintly hear the sound of a sharp blade cutting through flesh.

He subconsciously looked down.

The moment the pair of astonished eyes caught sight of the gray shirt on the chest, a stream of bright red blood spurted out.

The blood splattered quickly, but Zhong Wei's dimming eyes saw Zhou An retreat even faster.

The figure in blue, as if punched away, staggered backward at an extremely fast speed.

The difference was that Zhou An's eyes no longer held the panic he had shown when facing him before; instead, they held a mocking look as he bumped into the burly man with the stick behind him.

That look seemed to say... Who says a wooden sword can't kill?

Two Bone Forging Realm cultivators were besieging a Skin Polishing Realm martial artist in an alley.

Easy peasy?

"Good timing!"

Just before Zhong Wei's consciousness completely faded into darkness, he heard the burly man with the stick's voice filled with surprise.

"Yes, it's good that you've come!"

Almost as soon as the words of surprise came crashing down from behind him along with the howling wind pressure, Zhou An slammed his left hand onto the cold ground.

"Snapped!"

A muffled thud came from the ground. Zhou An staggered and flew backward, his body flipping along the ground. Sword energy, like an arc blade, burst out and slashed upward.

"Bang!"

The burly man's eyelids twitched, and he saw a muffled thud as the long staff in his hand was cleaved in two by the sword energy.

"You're not a skin-smoothing warrior!"

The burly man with the stick was taken aback and let out a gasp.

He retreated swiftly, the broken stick in his right hand flying towards Zhou An like a heavy hammer.

But before he could even throw the stick, a crimson sword tip rapidly enlarged before his eyes.

Before the wooden sword even reached him, a straight stream of sword energy shot out from the sword, piercing his throat and emerging from the back of his neck, with blood flowing from the hole.

But Zhou An didn't stop. He quickly stepped on the ground with both feet and turned into a blur as he rushed towards a house.

That was where Zhong Wei had previously hidden.

Since he had already taken action, he couldn't leave any survivors; this was Zhou An's code of conduct.

Zhou An leaped over the foot-high threshold in one bound.

As soon as Zhou An arrived in the courtyard, he saw a young man in gray clothes running hurriedly towards the courtyard next to him.

"Young hero, spare my life! Please listen to me! I was coerced..."

Upon seeing Zhou An chasing after him, the young man turned pale and nearly collapsed to the ground, explaining in a panic.

Zhou An remained silent, but simply raised his right hand, and sword energy shot out from the crimson wooden sword.

Soon, the gray-clad youth collapsed into a pool of blood.

Zhou An remained unmoved and continued searching the house.

"It seems that the old man living in this house was either disposed of beforehand or the house was sold to them."

A moment later, Zhou An came out of the house with a few taels of silver in his pocket. He glanced at the gray-clad youth lying in a pool of blood before leaving the courtyard.

This gray-clad youth had an ordinary appearance, but his eyes held a shrewd, worldly-wise look... Besides, if he had truly been coerced, how could he have remained unscathed in front of that towering man?

As for the gray-clad youth's corpse, Zhou An did not touch it.

Because he was in a hurry to eliminate all his accomplices, when he came out, his clothes were completely stained with blood.

"I need to hurry, the constables should be here soon."

Soon, Zhou An returned to the alley.

Two pools of bright red blood had already flowed from beneath the two burly men, spreading like water stains.

"Um?"

Just then, Zhou An's eyes flickered.

He strode forward and stood before the towering, black man.

With a light touch of the sword tip, a piece of human skin fell off the face.

"This is... a human skin mask."

Looking at the peeling dough, a look of surprise flashed in Zhou An's eyes. He stared at it again.

That towering, black man was none other than Zhong Wei, who had fought in the arena that day.

"No wonder this person looked familiar... Someone's coming."

As Zhou An was speaking, his ears suddenly twitched, and he ran back the way he came at an extremely fast speed, like a gust of wind.

The afterimage had just disappeared at the alley entrance when a series of hurried footsteps rushed into the alley.

"It smells bloody!"

"Oh no, someone's dead."

"The houses here have also been opened... and someone died inside."

Soon, gasps of surprise echoed through the alley.

"It's Zhong Wei. He was a retainer of Chen's shop in the Black Tiger Gang. I never expected him to die here."

Such a sharp sword mark! If I'm not mistaken, Zhong Wei must have died from someone's sword energy.

As for the other person... they look familiar, like I've heard of them somewhere before, but I can't quite place them.

"Brother Zhao, now is not the time to investigate the cause of death."

Seeing Zhao, the head constable, examining the body back and forth, a hint of urgency flashed in Li Shanming's eyes.

"The Black Tiger Gang suddenly lured us away, and their target is most likely Zhou An of my Seven Mysteries Sect."

"You stay here and guard the body. The rest of you come with me."

Upon hearing this, Constable Zhao waved to the two constables and immediately left the alley with Li Shanming and the people from the Seven Mysteries Sect.

Soon, led by the two, a group of people arrived at Zhou An's courtyard.

"Brother Zhou..."

With Liu Shuqing's shout, the courtyard gate opened.

Everyone looked in that direction and saw Zhou An practicing his swordsmanship in the courtyard, holding a gleaming, fine iron longsword.

"Brother Liu..."

Just as Zhou An opened his mouth, he looked at Li Shanming and the group of officers led by Constable Zhao, who were following closely behind, and asked with a surprised expression.

"Greetings, Steward Li and Constable Zhao. What brings you here?"

"Have you been practicing your sword in the courtyard? Have you heard any noise?"

The head constable, Zhao Ji, glanced at the fine iron longsword in Zhou An's hand, his eyes flickered slightly, and he subconsciously asked a question.

……