"Tsk tsk, he's pretty fast!"
"Old Seventh, has your archery gotten worse? You couldn't even kill the target from that close. Truly pathetic!"
The men chatted brazenly as they walked, paying Jiang Chen no mind whatsoever.
Old Seventh, the one with the bow, stared at Jiang Chen with a dark expression. He scoffed, a corner of his mouth twisting up. "It's not that my archery sucks. The kid's just too damn fast; he managed to dodge it."
"Haha, don't make excuses!" the others continued to taunt.
From the very beginning, they never even deigned to look Jiang Chen in the eye.
Jiang Chen's eyes narrowed, fury blazing within him. 'If I hadn't dodged in time, that arrow would have killed me.'
Yet these men showed no remorse at all. Instead, they were brazenly lamenting their failure to kill him with a single shot.
'This is utterly outrageous!'
A cold glint shone in Jiang Chen's eyes. Like an enraged lone wolf, he stared intently at the five men before him. A single glance was all it took to roughly assess their strength: three at the Martial Arts Fifth Stage, and two at the Martial Arts Fifth Stage Peak!
"Third Brother, look! The kid's staring at us!" Old Seventh, the archer, said with a grin.
Third Brother was a bald man with a hideous scar across his face. He glanced at Jiang Chen, chin tilted up and a corner of his lip curled in disdain. "Kid, you dare look at me like that again? Believe me, I'll gouge your eyes out right now. If you know what's good for you, get on your knees, beg for mercy, and hand over the Purple Crowned Golden Ring Snake. Otherwise, this day next year will be the anniversary of your death!"
Jiang Chen's pupils constricted slightly, a frigid chill filling his gaze.
'I've never even met these people, yet from the very start, their only goal was to kill me.'
'Now, not only do they show no remorse, they're actually disappointed they didn't kill me. And with their first words, they demand the prize I fought so hard for. Unforgivable!'
Jiang Chen took a deep breath, his eyes narrowing as he spoke in an icy tone, "Gouge out my eyes? I'm afraid you're not capable enough."
"Well, well, the kid's got a big mouth!" the bald man sneered. "I was thinking that if you just knelt, begged for mercy, and handed over the Purple Crowned Golden Ring Snake, we'd merely cripple your cultivation and spare your life. But since you're so determined to die, don't blame us for obliging!"
"Heh heh heh... When you get to Hell, don't forget the name of the man who killed you: Liu Mo of the Tiger Fang Squad!" sneered Liu Mo, a man with a weaselly, monkey-like face.
His cultivation had reached the Fifth Stage of Martial Arts. Wielding a blood-red Long Spear and using the exquisite Illusionary Steps, he instantly appeared before Jiang Chen, moving in for the kill.
He raised his arm, the blood-red Long Spear becoming a seamless extension of it as he thrust it toward Jiang Chen's heart.
This was the mark of a Demon Hunter who had walked the razor's edge of death for years—when he attacked, it was always with a killing blow!
No wasted movements.
"Tsk tsk, Old Liu is actually using his Spiritual Snake Kill? He's perfected that move. Even a Martial Artist at the Martial Arts Fifth Stage Peak would struggle to dodge it. The kid's a dead man!" The bald man's eyes lit up as he commented.
Old Seventh folded his arms across his chest, cradling his large bow. He nodded. "The Spiritual Snake Kill is incredibly fast, and every thrust aims for a vital point. The kid won't be able to stop it."
"How boring. Old Liu is finishing him off so quickly, and I haven't even had my fun yet..." the last member, a weaselly-looking middle-aged man, said with a look of regret.
However, the smug smiles and carefree expressions on the faces of the three onlookers soon crumbled.
Just as the blood-red Long Spear, writhing like a Spiritual Snake, was about to pierce Jiang Chen's heart, his body abruptly arched backward.
He had narrowly and ingeniously dodged the fatal blow!
A flash of astonishment crossed Liu Mo's eyes, quickly replaced by a sneer. "Fast reflexes. A pity you still can't escape my Spiritual Snake Kill!"
He flicked his wrist, swinging the thrusting blood-red Long Spear down to smash against Jiang Chen's chest.
But this time, the force from his wrist never reached the Long Spear. In the instant he exerted his strength, his pupils contracted violently.
Jiang Chen, who had been right up against the blood-red Long Spear, had somehow sidestepped and closed the distance with lightning speed. The sword in his hand—was drawn!
SWISH—
A bewitching crimson arc flew through the air.
Liu Mo felt a numbness in his wrist. A line of blood appeared on his bronze-colored skin, spreading rapidly before a spray of crimson erupted with a SQUIRT. The hand gripping the blood-red Long Spear was severed, falling away.
"Ah... My hand..."
Liu Mo's face contorted. Instincts honed from countless struggles on the brink of death forced him to endure the excruciating pain and retreat.
But he was a step too slow.
PFFT!
A silver gleam of sword light flashed from nowhere, zipping across his neck.
Liu Mo's body continued to stumble back a few steps, but his head was already tumbling to the ground. Blood erupted from his severed neck like a fountain.
*Hiss!*
"Old Liu's dead?"
"That last strike... Such fast Swordsmanship... so exquisite..."
The gazes of the remaining three men, now fixed on Jiang Chen, turned grave.
Jiang Chen's last strike had been simply breathtaking!
After the brief shock, the three men's gazes fell upon Liu Mo's headless body. A tripartite wave of terrifying killing intent washed over Jiang Chen. "You dare kill a member of our Tiger Fang Squad? You're courting death! Today, not even the Celestial King himself could save you!"
Jiang Chen held his blood-stained Fine Steel Long Sword, his icy gaze sweeping over the three men. "He who kills will be killed. I, Jiang Chen, have never wronged you. Yet you tried to take my life from the very beginning. If you die by my hand, you have no one to blame but yourselves!"
"What? You're Jiang Chen?" the bald man blurted out, stunned.
Seventh Brother also stared at Jiang Chen in astonishment, his gaze suddenly turning fervent.
Jiang Chen frowned. He noticed the men's attitudes had shifted the moment they heard his name. "I am who I say I am: Jiang Chen," he said in a low voice. "What of it? Do you know me?"
"Hahaha! To think we'd look high and low for you, only for you to fall right into our laps! Over twenty of us from the Tiger Fang Squad have been searching the Bluestone Mountain Range for you for nearly a month, and we just happen to run into you here!" the bald man roared with laughter. His face flushed with excitement, and his killing intent intensified.
Seventh Brother and the other man were also staring at Jiang Chen with feverish eyes, as if gazing upon their prey.
Jiang Chen's heart sank. A terrible premonition washed over him. 'Looking for me for half a month? Who on earth are these people? What do they want with me...'
The bald man grinned menacingly. "Brothers, the boss said there's a 100,000 silver reward for finding this kid, dead or alive. Don't even think about trying to take it from me!"
"Third Brother, anyone who's here gets a share. Trying to keep it all for yourself isn't a good look," Seventh Brother said teasingly.
The other man chimed in, "Third Brother, Seventh Brother... this kid killed Liu Mo in a single strike. He's no simpleton. We can't afford to get careless and fail at the last step. I say we join forces to kill him and split the reward!"
The bald man frowned, then said in a low voice, "You're right. Better safe than sorry. The three of us will take this kid down together. I'll take forty thousand of the reward, and the two of you can split the rest. How about it?"
After all, he was at the Martial Arts Fifth Stage Peak—the strongest of the three.
Seventh Brother and the other man exchanged a look and agreed.
The three men immediately fanned out, forming a Sword Edge Array to surround Jiang Chen. Like three vicious wolves, they closed in, their eyes filled with predatory hunger...