Watching the figure pounce toward them, the black-clad Clerks found the sight both absurd and preposterous.
'What was wrong with this world? Since when did three-year-olds have the guts to charge at grown men?'
Luckily, their leader, Han the Eighth, was a man of the world and reacted quickly. He gritted his teeth and snarled, "There's definitely something wrong with that little bastard! Get him! I want him alive. I'm going to flay him alive and pull out his tendons!"
At that moment, his right eye was still gushing blood. His face and hair were streaked with it. Shards of pottery continuously irritated his eyeball, the pain causing his entire face to twitch.
If he didn't get medical attention soon, his right eye would be completely ruined!
Under the circumstances, although Han the Eighth wanted nothing more than to capture Li Chang'an and burn him alive, he certainly wasn't going to do it himself. Thus, he could only order his subordinates to act in his stead.
Hearing the command, the remaining three black-clad Clerks finally snapped out of their stupor. They all tightened their grip on their long blades and charged at Li Chang'an, their faces filled with malice.
They didn't know what methods this child had used to ambush their companions, but no matter what, he was still just a brat who hadn't even finished teething.
Now that they were all on guard, hidden weapons would be far less effective. A mere little boy was not enough to make them truly fearful!
But they soon discovered they were wrong. Horribly wrong.
Li Chang'an ran with extreme speed. The Qi from below his Dantian coursed through his body, providing him with an explosive power that far exceeded his age.
To capture him alive, the three black-clad Clerks didn't even use their full strength at first.
Thus, in a single exchange, Li Chang'an easily snatched a long blade from one of their hands. As his body swerved, the Qi within him surged, and his speed abruptly skyrocketed again!
One step, two steps, three steps…
At this moment, Li Chang'an was like a peregrine falcon suddenly accelerating in the rain, so fast his figure became a blur.
"SCHLICK!"
The sound of the long blade slicing through flesh pulled everyone back to their senses.
Li Chang'an had slit the throat of the nearest black-clad Clerk and swiftly broken free of the other two's encirclement.
Shadowless Step!
Because he was so fast, everyone present only saw a Black Shadow dart past. The next second, blood began to gush uncontrollably from the neck of one of the three black-clad Clerks.
As he died, the black-clad Clerk still hadn't figured out how he had been killed.
The scene fell silent.
Everyone, including Han the Eighth, was completely dumbfounded.
If they hadn't seen what had just happened with their own eyes, they wouldn't have believed such a bizarre thing could exist in this world, no matter what anyone said.
Li Chang'an had no intention of stopping.
His current state was maintained at the cost of rapidly consuming his Qi. Once his Qi was depleted, he would be no different from an ordinary three-year-old, and anyone present could easily slaughter him.
Therefore, he had to end this fight quickly, before his Qi ran out.
After killing one black-clad Clerk, only the last two Clerks remained, aside from Han the Eighth. Without hesitation, Li Chang'an turned and flew back at them, wielding the long blade that was nearly as tall as he was.
Seeing him attack again, the two remaining Clerks finally felt a bone-chilling cold creep over them.
Now they understood completely. This kid wasn't just 'a little strange'.
He was clearly a living, breathing Demon!
At this life-or-death moment, the two could no longer afford to worry about taking him alive. They swung their long blades in wide arcs, hacking swiftly in the direction of Li Chang'an's charge.
Although their minds were in turmoil, their hands gripping the blades were still steady.
This showed that Han the Eighth's men, who terrorized the countryside and preyed on the common folk, had some real skill. At the very least, their bladework and combat were systematically trained.
They were a far cry from some disorganized mob of stragglers.
The two men's strikes were powerful and heavy. If they landed, forget a three-year-old child like Li Chang'an—even some lesser Demon Fiends from the mountain forests would lose half their lives.
But how could Li Chang'an possibly be hit so easily?
—As the first Martial Dao Ultimate Technique he grasped with his Heaven-defying Comprehension, the uniqueness of the Shadowless Step lay not in its extreme speed, nor in the sky full of afterimages it produced upon reaching Great Success.
It also lay in its almost flawless agility!
Seeing the two great blades hacking at him—one from the front, one from behind, one from the left, one from the right—Li Chang'an didn't dodge or evade. Without so much as blinking, he relied on his short, slender frame to burst through the nearly impossible gap between them!
"SCHLICK!"
"SCHLICK!!"
Again, the sound of long blades slicing through flesh.
The two Clerks clutched their bleeding throats, their faces filled with disbelief. They staggered and struggled for a moment before finally collapsing, unwilling to accept their fate.
Li Chang'an's breathing was a little ragged, but his posture remained steady.
He turned and fixed his cold gaze on Han the Eighth behind him.
Han the Eighth, the target of his stare, was already grim-faced. After staring at Li Chang'an with his one good eye for a long moment, he finally spoke. "What in the world are you? Are you possessed by an evil spirit, or are you a Demon Fiend yourself?"
He couldn't understand it. Li Family Village was just some poor, remote mountain hamlet. How could it produce a Demon like this, the kind of creature rarely seen even on the battlefields beyond the frontier?
Li Chang'an flicked the long blade in his hand, sending a spray of still-steaming blood flying. He approached, blade in hand, and said lightly, "Who do you think I am? Go on, make a wild guess."
He neither confirmed nor denied it.
His goal was to distract Han the Eighth.
And his gambit was clearly successful. Han the Eighth was visibly affected, his expression shifting from pale to livid. After a moment, he spoke with a trace of fear, "Sir, I think we can sit down and talk..."
Evidently, he had already decided Li Chang'an was a Demon Fiend hiding beneath human skin and had lost all desire to fight or resist.
It was no wonder he'd misjudged.
Considering the combat prowess Li Chang'an displayed at his age…
If this wasn't a creature impersonating a human, he, Han the Eighth, would eat shit on the spot!
The killing intent in Li Chang'an's heart did not diminish, but he replied with a smile, "Oh? You think you still have the right to sit down and negotiate with me?"
His words were blunt, but Han the Eighth's heart leaped with joy. He had heard the unspoken meaning.
His thoughts raced, and he chose his words carefully. "You're hiding here for one of two reasons. One, your true body is injured, and you're here to recuperate. Two, you're plotting something, or you fear something!"
"If your true body is injured, you must need to feed to recover. Not only will I not reveal your whereabouts, but I can also help you round up common folk. As you've seen, that's my specialty!"
"If you're plotting or fear something, I am the Chief Clerk of Sanhuang County. I have an official position. What's more, I have two brothers who run martial arts dojos in the next county. We can build an intelligence network to gather information for you!"
It had to be said, as a ruthless man who had clawed his way up from the bottom, Han the Eighth was not only bold but also dared to think and act.
In just a few seconds, he had not only perfectly demonstrated his value to Li Chang'an but had even smelled the potential opportunity hidden within this situation.
If he hadn't guessed Li Chang'an's identity wrong from the very beginning, his performance would have been flawless.
Li Chang'an played along and stopped walking. A playful smile appeared on his face as he said lightly, "A fine performance. You've successfully convinced me!"
Hearing this, Han the Eighth let out a heavy sigh of relief, which was immediately followed by overwhelming joy.
He believed he had successfully saved his own skin and latched onto an unfathomably powerful backer.
However, before he could open his mouth to say anything, he felt a sharp pain in his chest. Looking down, he discovered that the long blade from Li Chang'an's hand had, at some unknown moment, left his grasp and plunged straight into his torso.
Li Chang'an's smile slowly vanished as he said coldly, "But unfortunately, you guessed the most important thing wrong. I'm human, not a Demon Fiend!"
...