The woodshed had been beaten to pieces. The escorts from the agency managed to hold Abbess Kuye at bay for a short time through their coordinated efforts, but obviously, they were struggling. Even though the fight had just begun, the escorts were already showing vulnerabilities.
Abbess Kuye was a veteran of the martial world who could immediately spot the weaknesses of those escorts. Although they worked well together, their martial skills were quite ordinary. If just one of them fell injured, their coordination would instantly collapse.
Therefore, Abbess Kuye targeted the youngest escort. Her sword technique wasn't particularly elegant, but her moves were vicious, each strike aimed at vital points. Within three or four moves, she found an opening in the young escort's defense.
Abbess Kuye thrust her sword toward the young escort's throat.
This strike was both fast and deadly.
The other escorts watched in horror as the young escort, in that instant, saw his entire life flash before his eyes as his death countdown began.
"Whoosh!"
However,
at that moment,
a burning piece of firewood flew through the air, striking Abbess Kuye's wrist. With a "clang," the sword fell to the ground. She turned around hastily and saw Xia Ci and Xia Xiayin, the brother and sister she had overlooked.
"A skilled expert!"
Abbess Kuye's gaze flickered between Xia Xiayin and Xia Ci before fixing on Xia Ci. Although Xia Ci was blind, his calm demeanor convinced her that he was the one who had interfered.
In a flash, Abbess Kuye pulled out a flexible sword from her waist. It danced in the air like a silver snake. Her footwork became erratic as she employed a peculiar stepping technique, moving like a phantom, darting here and there.
Xia Ci frowned slightly, tilting his head.
He heightened his perception and hearing to their limits.
But he had to admit that Abbess Kuye's footwork was truly extraordinary and her speed extremely fast. Xia Ci could hear sounds of Abbess Kuye coming from several locations simultaneously.
"Brother, to your left!"
Xia Xiayin's warning came at the perfect moment.
Xia Ci stomped his foot slightly, causing firewood to fly up from the bonfire. With a wave of his hand, he sent all of it flying to the left, instantly creating what looked like a sea of fire surging forward.
In the next instant,
Abbess Kuye burst through the wall of fire. Her flexible sword transformed into countless sword shadows in a flash, forming what seemed like a dense sword net that spread out, cutting through the sparks and flames.
"Clang..."
A crisp sound rang out as Xia Ci drew his sword.
One sword thrust pierced Abbess Kuye's chest.
Still maintaining her forward-thrusting posture while holding the flexible sword, Abbess Kuye looked at the Tang sword in her chest with disbelief. Blood spurted from her mouth as she shouted, "Thief monk... run quickly, there's a skilled expert..."
Xia Ci immediately withdrew his sword.
Abbess Kuye collapsed to the ground, lifeless.
At the same time,
a system notification sounded in Xia Ci's mind:
[Killed 1★ Wanted Criminal]
[Received 1★ Reward—Minor Restoration Pill×1]
[Claim Now?]
...
Xia Ci ignored the system and instead gripped his sword with both hands, tilted his head slightly to listen, and then ran out.
At that moment, in the forest outside the house,
Qu Heng was fighting for his life against Xuanqi. In the pouring rain, a large number of trees had been knocked down.
Suddenly,
Xuanqi heard Abbess Kuye's voice from inside the house and was startled. He shouted, "Evil nun, what happened to you!"
Receiving no response,
Xuanqi didn't follow Abbess Kuye's advice to run quickly. Instead, he hurriedly rushed toward the small wooden house. Seeing this, Qu Heng was determined not to let Xuanqi leave.
Though he wasn't clear what had happened in the wooden house, he knew something had gone wrong—Abbess Kuye had failed, and he couldn't allow Xuanqi to go back and help.
Immediately, Qu Heng swung his sword.
Xuanqi, worried about Abbess Kuye, had no patience to tangle with Qu Heng. He became extremely violent, his monk's staff wielding even greater power than before. After several consecutive moves, Qu Heng was overwhelmed, feeling as if his internal organs had been displaced.
And at this precise moment,
Qu Heng saw Xia Ci charging over with his sword drawn. Thinking Xia Ci had run in the wrong direction because of his blindness, Qu Heng shouted in fear, "Xia Ci, don't come over here!"
With Qu Heng's momentary distraction,
Xuanqi seized the opportunity, knocked Qu Heng back with one strike, and ran toward the wooden house with his staff, shouting, "Master! Master, what happened to you... Blind man, get out of my way!"
The already violent Xuanqi found himself coincidentally blocked by that blind man as he ran, which instantly infuriated him. He swung his palm, intending to kill Xia Ci with one blow.
But at that very moment,
Xia Ci also struck out with his palm.
With a loud "boom,"
Xuanqi was sent flying backward, crashing through a tree as thick as a bucket. He lay on the ground, his life force fading, and said in disbelief, "Who... are you? Such... profound inner strength!"
Xia Ci hadn't expected things to go so smoothly.
He never thought that as soon as he came out, Xuanqi would challenge him to a contest of inner strength.
"You... you... blind man, nun..."
Xuanqi pointed at Xia Ci, stuttering incoherently. His chest tightened, a mouthful of blood gushed out, and he lay dead on the ground.
When he had just exchanged palm strikes with Xia Ci,
Neither had used any special palm techniques. Xuanqi hadn't taken Xia Ci seriously, merely channeling his inner strength to casually kill him with one palm strike. Xia Ci, not knowing any palm techniques either, had also struck casually, relying purely on the explosive power of his inner strength.
But with Xia Ci's mastery of the Nine Yang Divine Skill,
This single palm strike
Had shattered all of Xuanqi's internal organs.
[Killed 2★ Wanted Criminal]
[Received 2★ Reward—SSS-level Mastered Dragon Capturing Skill]
[Claim Now?]
...
As the heavy rain poured down, Qu Heng, who was rushing over in a panic, was shocked.
Having just fought with Xuanqi for so long, he knew how profound Xuanqi's martial skills were. He couldn't imagine how such a powerful expert could be killed by a single palm strike from Xia Ci.
"Xia Ci, you..."
Xia Ci slowly said, "After experiencing such dramatic ups and downs, I had a moment of enlightenment and made a small breakthrough in my martial arts."
Qu Heng took a deep breath and said, "Your small breakthrough... makes me feel like I've wasted my entire life practicing martial arts!"
"Brother..."
At this moment, Xia Xiayin ran over with her sword.
Xia Ci said, "Cut off their heads. Iron Arhat and Abbess Kuye are both wanted criminals, they should be worth one or two hundred taels."
The system's criteria for ranking wanted criminals wasn't based solely on martial prowess but mainly on the severity of their crimes.
Since these two were ranked one star and two stars, it meant their crimes weren't as severe as Zhou Tong, the rapist bandit they had killed earlier. Therefore, the government bounty probably wouldn't be very high.
"Got it!"
Xia Xiayin first searched the bodies, then quickly cut off the heads and wrapped them up.
"What are you two doing?"
"We're now bounty hunters!"