Chapter 3: Su Yanran

“Chu Feng, even if you have a Second-Rank expert by your side today, you still will not escape death! Hand over your life!”

Zeng Hu bellowed, his tiger-like eyes wide as the large saber in his hand came crashing down. A fierce saber aura tore through the air, aiming to split the entire carriage in two.

Zeng Xiong gave a cold snort. Light as a swallow, he stamped off the ground and appeared above the carriage.

In an instant, the silver spear in his hand thrust out a hundred silver blossoms. Each blossom glimmered with a cold, vicious edge, raining down upon the carriage like a torrential storm.

There was no need to speak of the brothers’ tacit understanding. The moment they moved, it was with a killing strike, intending to force out the Second-Rank expert beside Chu Feng.

Unfortunately for them, they had been wrong from the very start. There was no Second-Rank expert inside the carriage.

There was only a Great Grandmaster!

An invisible pressure suddenly erupted from within the carriage. The air within a hundred-meter radius of the carriage abruptly rippled, as though it had gained weight.

Under the horrified gazes of the Zeng brothers, a fair hand, pale as jade, slowly extended from the carriage window and gave a light wave.

The saber aura filled with murderous force and the silver blossoms shattered at once. In the next instant, an irresistible tremendous force slammed wildly into the two brothers.

Under that force, the weapons in their hands shattered into scrap metal. Their bodies suffered a devastating blow, and they sprayed great mouthfuls of blood as they were sent flying several hundred meters before crashing to the ground, barely clinging to life.

When they looked toward the carriage again, there was nothing left in their eyes but endless terror.

With a single strike, the two of them had been severely wounded. The Zeng brothers were certain that no Second-Rank expert in this world could accomplish such a feat.

That meant the person inside the carriage was definitely not some Second-Rank expert!

He was very likely a First-Rank expert, or perhaps even...!

The two brothers swallowed nervously, their hearts churning like stormy seas. They did not dare continue that line of thought.

At that moment, the hand extending from the carriage window pointed through the air, and two streams of spiritual force shot forth, piercing through the brothers’ skulls.

After ending their lives, Chu Feng calmly withdrew his hand, a playful smile curving at the corner of his mouth.

He had only just set out, yet even Second-Rank experts had already been mobilized. He was now looking forward to this trip to the capital more and more.

The carriage set off once again, rolling over the corpses of the two brothers as it continued toward the sunset...

………

A day later, the carriage entered the territory of Gujian City, and the number of travelers on the road gradually increased.

Gujian City was one of the great cities of the Great Xuan Dynasty, with a vast population.

Its name had come from the Gujian Sect, the number one sword sect in the Great Xuan Dynasty.

Not only did the Gujian Sect produce many outstanding disciples, it also produced peerless famous swords. Half of the ten famous swords of the current age had come from the Gujian Sect.

For that very reason, Gujian City was regarded by swordsmen across the world as the foremost sacred land in their hearts. Countless people came there in admiration, all for the sake of obtaining a treasured sword.

On a rugged mountain path, a woman with a deathly pale face was running forward in frantic haste.

Her features were exquisitely delicate, and her temperament was refined and graceful. In her jade-like hand, she held a sharp sword as thin as a cicada’s wing.

However, her condition was anything but optimistic. Her green dress was stained with blood, and the three long wounds across her back were especially striking.

A hundred meters behind her, five burly men were chasing after her at an unhurried pace, their expressions leisurely.

“Miss Yanran, why must you do this?”

“What my young master took a fancy to was only the treasured sword of your family, not your body.”

“If you had obediently sold that sword to my young master, your family would not have died.” One of the men spoke in a frivolous tone, pretending to lament the matter.

Ahead of them, Su Yanran acted as though she had heard nothing. She bit her red lips tightly, her beautiful face filled with determination. Gripping the treasured sword in her hand, she continued fleeing forward.

A ruthless glint flashed through the man’s eyes as he snorted. “You brought this upon yourself. You cannot blame anyone else!”

“Brothers, stop holding back. Hurry up and seize the treasured sword so we can deliver it to the young master. As for this woman, I will leave her to you all to deal with!”

At those words, the other four all revealed lustful looks and cheered, “Thank you, Big Brother!”

The five men’s speed suddenly surged as they rapidly closed in on Su Yanran.

Seeing this, a trace of despair appeared in Su Yanran’s almond eyes. Could it be that she truly could not escape today?

When the corner of her eye caught the five men drawing ever closer from behind, Su Yanran resolutely drew her sword and slashed it toward her own fair neck.

Even if she had to kill herself, she would never allow herself to fall into the hands of such people!

At that very moment, a carriage turned around the bend in the dirt road, and Chu Feng inside the carriage happened to witness the scene.

Chu Feng’s expression sharpened.

Another trap meant to assassinate me? It does not look like one.

The woman ahead and the five men behind her were only at the Fourth Rank.

If they had truly been sent to kill him, then whoever was behind it must have lost his mind.

It was probably just a coincidence...

At that moment, when the five men saw a carriage intrude into the scene, four of them immediately burst forward and charged straight at it.

This matter of murder and treasure-snatching absolutely could not be allowed to spread!

Seeing that, Su Yanran immediately turned toward the carriage and shouted, “Leave this place at once!”

She did not want to implicate anyone else and cost them their life.

“Heh, Miss Yanran, you should worry about yourself instead.” The remaining man approached Su Yanran with a savage grin, killing intent surging from his body.

At first, Chu Feng had not intended to interfere in this matter. But when he saw that even after falling into danger herself, the woman still did not forget to warn him—and when he saw that they even intended to kill him to silence him—his gaze turned cold.

A detached voice sounded from inside the carriage.

“Lend me your sword!”

The instant the words fell, Su Yanran’s sword flew out of its scabbard with a sharp hiss. The cicada-wing-thin blade flashed like lightning, tracing a beautiful arc through the air.

Before Su Yanran could even react, the sword had already returned to its sheath.

Yet the man standing before Su Yanran, together with the four rushing toward the carriage, all froze where they stood, their eyes bulging like bronze bells.

Under Su Yanran’s stunned gaze, a thin line of blood slowly appeared across all five of their throats. Then blood began pouring out uncontrollably, and the five men collapsed dead.

Killing by controlling a weapon from afar?!

That was an ability only an Innate expert possessed!

She had actually encountered an Innate expert!

Su Yanran only felt a slight chill at her neck as she gazed toward the carriage in fear, incomparably grateful that her warning given in kindness had saved her life.

But very soon, her expression grew tense again, and she quietly hid the sword in her hand behind her back.

Inside the carriage, Chu Feng smiled calmly and immediately guessed what Su Yanran was thinking. In a soft voice, he said, “The sword in your hand is quite good, but do not worry. I have no interest in it.”

Chu Feng was not lying.

Now that he had reached the Great Grandmaster realm, whether it was a peerless treasured sword or a blade of grass, they were all the same in his eyes.

They were merely vessels, all of which could become his weapon.

Still, what did surprise Chu Feng somewhat was that the quality of the sword in Su Yanran’s hand was extremely high. Though it could not compare to the ten famous swords, it fell short by only the slightest margin.

After all, an ordinary man is innocent, but carrying a treasure invites disaster.

Holding such a sword while possessing such weak strength—if that did not attract the covetous eyes of others, that would be the truly strange thing.

But that was not something Chu Feng needed to concern himself with.

As he drove the carriage past Su Yanran, a stream of spiritual qi flowed out from within and entered her body.

Su Yanran’s whole body turned warm. All the injuries on her body healed at once, and under the nourishing wash of that spiritual qi, her strength even broke through from the middle stage of the Fourth Rank to the late stage!