The more he fought, the more the broad-nosed man's heart sank.
When he ran into Duan Rong on Antique Street, he had already tested Duan Rong's stance, and Duan Rong's inner strength was indeed far inferior to his!
He thought he had Duan Rong in the palm of his hand!
But he never expected Duan Rong's martial arts skills to be so profound!
Relying on exquisite saber techniques, completely suppressing him in the fight!
Failing to make progress after prolonged assault, the broad-nosed man began to panic, and his formation gradually fell into disarray!
Duan Rong seized the opportunity, suddenly striking a successful blow!
Piercing through the broad-nosed man's right leg, blood gushed out instantly!
With his right leg injured, the broad-nosed man's movements slowed, making him an even easier target!
In just a few more moves, Duan Rong again wounded his shoulder!
At the other end of the alley, the lanky man holding a shield was filled with panic.
Originally, the broad-nosed man instructed them to hold the shield to block Duan Rong's path, but now seeing the broad-nosed man already injured, they could no longer stay there motionless, allowing Duan Rong to defeat them one by one!
Although the lanky man was terrified, he still held the fork and said to the person beside him, "Let's go help!"
The two gripped their pointed forks tightly and charged towards Duan Rong from behind.
Hearing footsteps behind him, Duan Rong's heart tightened slightly, but his hands moved even faster!
With an icy gaze, Duan Rong twisted his wrist, his Cow Tail Saber glinting coldly, almost brushing against the edge of the Broad-faced Ghost Head Saber, and pierced through the broad-nosed man's right wrist with a single stroke.
The broad-nosed man yelped in pain, and the Broad-faced Ghost Head Saber in his hand clattered to the ground.
Duan Rong seized the moment and kicked the broad-nosed man in the crotch, causing him to yowl in pain and kneel down.
Duan Rong spun his body, grabbed the broad-nosed man's shoulder, and placed the saber against his neck.
The lanky man and his companion rushed in holding pointed forks, only to see Duan Rong with a cold gaze, holding the saber in his right hand, slicing through the broad-nosed man's neck like water.
The flesh parted and blood spurted out!
This was Duan Rong's first time killing someone, and also the first time he heard the sound of a person's blood spurting from their veins.
A few drops of fresh blood splattered onto his face, yet he remained expressionless, his eyes cold as ice!
Though Duan Rong had traversed to this place some time ago, it was only now that he fully realized how different this world was from his previous life.
If it weren't for devouring the Artifact Spirit two days earlier, absorbing the experience of the master-level Five Tigers and Sheep Saber.
In this alley, the one dead would be him!
This world demands slaughter!
Either you kill others, or they kill you!
The broad-nosed man clutched his neck, kneeling on the ground, blood continuously gushing out from the gaps in his fingers!
His eyes filled with intense unwillingness and bitterness!
The broad-nosed man had the best martial arts skills among the three of them, and yet he was killed just like that!
The lanky man's face turned pale instantly, his eyes deep with fear!
Duan Rong flashed past, crossing over the broad-nosed man lying in a pool of blood, and swiftly swung his saber, striking at the throats of the two men.
The two, having barely trained in martial arts, were in a state of extreme terror and had no power to fight back before Duan Rong.
Their throats each bore a bloody hole.
They fell backward, emitting muffled sounds from deep within their throats.
Duan Rong thought he was calm, but suddenly realized his hands were shaking!
Deep inside his heart, remnants of habits from his previous life still lingered! A faint, subconscious resistance to killing!
Killing is not an easy task!
When the short man with a long beard saw Duan Rong standing alone in the alley, with a face cold and covered in splashes of blood, his legs went weak.
He turned and fled towards the other end of the alley.
Duan Rong suddenly raised his right hand, and with a swishing sound!
The Cow Tail Saber flew from Duan Rong's hand, piercing into the short man's back, and the bloody tip emerged from his chest!
Bone-chilling cold!
The short man suddenly felt chest pain, and the legs, which were already weak, failed to muster strength and were pushed forward by a force...
This throw from Duan Rong was infused with his inner breath!
When the short man saw the saber tip emerging from his chest, his eyes darkened... and in the next moment, he fell...
Duan Rong strode over in several steps, retrieving the saber from the short man lying in a pool of blood.
Circulating his inner breath in his right arm, Duan Rong fiercely swung the saber, and the blood on the blade splattered like raindrops against the alley's wall, leaving a dense spray of blood marks.
Duan Rong sheathed the saber, picked up the bundle of miscellaneous books that had fallen by the wall, and hastily fled the alley. He dared not look back at the corpses, as his whole body was shivering uncontrollably... a massive wave of nausea enveloped him...
Behind him in the alley lay four corpses, their deaths gruesome!
Wiping away the blood on his face with the back of his hand, Duan Rong sprinted out of the alley, blending into the crowd!
Duan Rong's face was pale, his lips trembling, trying hard to calm himself, yet the bloody alley with its four bodies kept haunting him like a nightmare!
What Duan Rong couldn't forget were their eyes at the moment of death.
Only those gazed upon by the dead know what that feels like!
Duan Rong suddenly squatted by the wall and threw up violently!
He almost vomited his bile, tears and snot streaming down his face.
After vomiting, Duan Rong felt a slight relief of emotion, stood up, and walked back to the Yuan Shun Escort Agency.
When Duan Rong returned to the Yuan Shun Escort Agency, twilight had set in. He didn't go to the cafeteria for dinner or to the martial arts arena for practice. Instead, he went straight back to the dormitory courtyard.
Duan Rong locked himself in his single dorm room. No lights were on, and he stayed alone in the deep darkness...
Duan Rong sat blankly on his bed, imagining that there were four bodies lying on the dark floor in front of him.
In terrible deaths, killed by blade, with slit throats!
Duan Rong felt his nostrils overwhelmed with the smell of blood... he never expected that killing would feel like this...
Thus, Duan Rong sat alone in the dark for one night, experiencing something unknown.
But the next morning, he washed his body with the courtyard's well water naked, dressed, then looked up with a clear smile at the rising sun before stepping out of the dormitory courtyard. It seemed he had digested the events of the previous day.
Duan Rong first went to a shop not far from the Yuan Shun Escort Agency entrance, ate two donkey meat burgers, and drank a large bowl of sour-spicy soup.
Feeling warmth in his stomach, he got up and walked towards the herbal shop at the street corner.
In the herbal shop, he bought ten slices of top-grade deer antler slices.
These deer antler slices, of a quality better than those distributed by the Escort Agency, were evident from their appearance; they showed a rich purplish-red color, often referred to as Blood Deer Antler, the finest among deer antlers.
Holding the parcel of paper-wrapped, ten slices of Blood Deer Antler, Duan Rong painfully left the herbal shop.
These ten slices of Blood Deer Antler cost him over ten taels of silver.
And he was only practicing the First Level of Inner Breath.
The so-called step by step is like a new realm each time; the expenses for future cultivation can be seen from this.
Even if he had eight hundred taels, sitting and consuming resources would not last long!
"It seems that the so-called top-tier talent is just piles and piles of resources stacked up. If you have no background, no resources, even if you are a natural talent, you're only slightly better than trash."
Duan Rong suddenly realized that this world and his past life, though different in situations, had strikingly similar underlying logic.
"Let's focus on mastering the First Level first."
With the paper-wrapped herbs, Duan Rong briskly walked back to the Yuan Shun Escort Agency.
The battle in the alley yesterday had given him a deep sense of crisis!
In an eerily similar way to his past life, in his previous world, Duan Rong believed that investing in oneself was the best investment.
The same applies to this world; personal martial strength is the foundation of everything!