Chapter 6: Flawless!

Watching the figure hurtle toward them, the black-clad clerks felt a sense of the utterly absurd and ridiculous.

What was wrong with the world, that a three-year-old child dared to charge at grown men—where did such outrageous courage come from?

Fortunately, Han Laoba, their leader, was a man of the world; recovering quickly, he gnashed his teeth and spat, "There is definitely something wrong with that little brat! Catch him alive—I want him flayed and sinewed!"

At that very moment, his right eye was still pooling with blood, his face and hair streaked with crimson, while broken shards of pottery continually scraped against his eyeball, the excruciating pain causing his entire face to twitch violently.

Without immediate medical attention, that right eye would be completely ruined.

Under these circumstances, though Han Laoba wished nothing more than to string Li Chang'an up and burn him like a sky-lantern immediately, he was certainly unwilling to move a finger himself, and could only dispatch his subordinates to do the deed.

Upon hearing the command, the remaining three black-clad clerks finally snapped out of their daze, gripping their long sabers tightly as they rushed toward Li Chang'an with ferocious expressions.

Though they did not know by what underhanded trick this child had ambushed their comrades, when all was said and done, he was merely a toddler whose hair hadn't even grown in.

Now that they were fully on guard, the effectiveness of hidden weapons would be drastically reduced; a single greenhorn youth was hardly enough to make them overly wary.

Yet they soon realized they were wrong, and monstrously so.

Li Chang'an ran at a breathtaking speed, the inner energy beneath his dantian circulating rapidly through his body, providing an explosive force that far exceeded his age.

Hoping to take him alive, the three black-clad clerks had not even exerted their full strength at the start.

Consequently, in the very first clash, Li Chang'an effortlessly snatched a long saber from their grasp, and as his silhouette pivoted, the vital energy within him surged, causing his speed to skyrocket once more.

One step, two steps, three steps...

At this moment, Li Chang'an was like a peregrine falcon suddenly accelerating through the rain, moving so swiftly that his form blurred.

*Squelch!*

The sound of a blade slicing through flesh snapped everyone's wandering thoughts back to reality.

With a single stroke, Li Chang'an slit the throat of the clerk closest to him, swiftly breaking through the encirclement of the other two.

The Shadowless Step!

Because the movement was too swift, the onlookers saw only a dark shadow flash past; the next second, blood began to fountain uncontrollably from the neck of one of the three clerks.

Even in his dying throes, that clerk never figured out exactly how he had died.

The field fell into a deathly silence.

Everyone, including Han Laoba, stood dumbfounded.

Had they not witnessed everything with their own eyes, they would never have believed such a bizarre thing could exist in this world, no matter how much others swore to it.

Li Chang'an had no intention of stopping.

His current state was sustained at the cost of a rapid depletion of his inner energy; once it was entirely spent, he would be no different from an ordinary three-year-old child, and anyone present would be capable of slaughtering him with ease.

Therefore, he had to make short work of them, ending everything before his energy ran dry.

With one clerk dead, only two remained besides Han Laoba; without hesitation, Li Chang'an turned and lunged back, wielding a long saber nearly as tall as himself.

Seeing him strike again, the remaining two clerks finally felt a bone-chilling dread creep from head to toe.

By now, they understood completely—how was this boy merely a little strange?

He was a living, breathing monster!

In this life-or-death crisis, the two could no longer care about keeping him alive; swinging their long sabers in wide arcs, they hacked down furiously toward the direction of Li Chang'an's charge.

Though their minds were in tumultuous upheaval, the hands holding their weapons remained steady.

From this, it was clear that Han Laoba's gang possessed some genuine skill to tyrannize the countryside and prey upon the populace; at the very least, their swordsmanship and combat training were systematic.

They were by no means comparable to a rabble of disorganized stragglers.

The blows from the two men carried immense weight; if they connected, let alone a three-year-old toddler like Li Chang'an, even a lesser demon of the forests would lose half its life.

But how could Li Chang'an be hit so easily?

—As a supreme martial art born from his heaven-defying comprehension, the uniqueness of the *Shadowless Step* lay not only in its ultimate speed and the afterimages that filled the air at its mastery.

It also possessed an almost flawless agility.

Watching the two great blades hack down, one after the other, from left and right, Li Chang'an neither dodged nor blinked; relying entirely on his small, frail frame, he slipped directly through the seemingly impossible gap between them.

*Squelch!*

*Squelch!!*

Two more sounds of steel parting flesh rang out.

Clutching their bleeding throats with faces full of disbelief, the two clerks staggered and struggled on the spot for a long moment before finally collapsing to the ground in bitter resentment.

Li Chang'an's breath was somewhat ragged, yet his stance remained steady.

He turned around, fixing his icy gaze upon Han Laoba behind him.

Targeted by that stare, Han Laoba's face had long since turned grimly dark; after staring back at Li Chang'an with his single eye for a good while, he finally spoke: "Who on earth are you? Are you possessed by an evil spirit, or are you a demon yourself?"

He could not fathom how a impoverished, remote mountain ravine like Li Family Village could produce such a monster, the likes of which could scarcely be found even on the frontier battlefields.

Li Chang'an flicked his saber, sending a string of steaming blood droplets flying; as he advanced with the weapon drawn, he said nonchalantly, "Who do you think I am? Feel free to guess boldly!"

He neither denied nor admitted it.

His sole purpose was to distract Han Laoba.

And this tactic was clearly successful; Han Laoba was visibly affected, his expression shifting from pale to flushed, before he finally spoke with a touch of wariness: "Sir, I think we can sit down and talk..."

Evidently, he had concluded that Li Chang'an was a demon hiding beneath a human skin, and had lost all desire to fight or resist.

One could hardly blame his misjudgment.

Given the combat prowess displayed by someone of Li Chang'an's age.

If this wasn't a demon masquerading as a human, Han Laoba would gladly eat filth on the spot.

The murderous intent in Li Chang'an's heart did not diminish, yet a smile played on his lips as he replied, "Oh? You think you still have the qualifications to sit down and negotiate with me?"

His words were harsh, yet Han Laoba felt a surge of joy, catching the underlying implication.

Promptly, his mind raced as he weighed his words carefully: "Your Excellency hides here for only two possible reasons: either your true form is injured and you are recuperating here, or you are plotting something, or perhaps wary of something!"

"If your true form is injured, you must surely require nourishment; not only will I keep your whereabouts a secret, but I can also help you round up the villagers—as you have seen, that is my specialty!"

"If you are plotting or wary of something, I am the Chief Clerk of Sanhuang County with official standing, and I have two brothers who run martial arts academies in the neighboring county; we can establish an intelligence network to gather news for you!"

It had to be said that as a ruthless man who had climbed up from the bottom, Han Laoba was not only bold, but also dared to think and act.

In a matter of mere seconds, he had not only perfectly demonstrated his utility to Li Chang'an, but had even sensed a potential opportunity hidden within this crisis.

Had he not guessed Li Chang'an's identity wrong from the very beginning, his performance would have been flawless.

Cooperating with the act, Li Chang'an halted his steps, a playful smile appearing on his face as he said softly, "A fine performance. You have successfully persuaded me."

Hearing this, Han Laoba breathed a heavy sigh of relief, followed by overwhelming elation.

He believed he had successfully preserved his life and fortune, and had hitched his wagon to a deeply unfathomable master.

However, before he could open his mouth to speak, a sudden pain pierced his chest; looking down, he discovered that the long saber in Li Chang'an's hand had already left his grip at some unknown moment, buried straight into his breast.

The smile slowly vanished from Li Chang'an's face as he said coldly, "But unfortunately, you guessed the most important point wrong. I am human, not a demon."

...