Chapter 59 - 60: Without That Blade, I Still Have Another!

Chapter 59: Chapter 60: Without That Blade, I Still Have Another!

"You... you’re so treacherous!" Wei Jie used his inner power to staunch his flowing blood, but the DRIP DRIP DRIP of escaping drops still echoed. He pursed his lips and gritted his teeth, his face turning deathly pale from blood loss. Staring at Su Chen’s calm expression, he managed to choke out those words, practically dripping with his anger and resentment.

"How could there be such a despicable and shameless person in this world?" he thought. "Faking a severed arm is one thing, but he actually hid a short blade in his sleeve? I’ve never seen anyone this brazen in my entire life!"

Facing Wei Jie’s curses, Su Chen’s expression remained normal. Without bothering to retort, he launched another attack, wanting to finish off his opponent completely.

He had originally thought that using the Sleeve Saber as his trump card would allow him to kill with a single strike. However, the current situation showed him that it would be somewhat difficult for the Sleeve Saber to instantly kill a Power Training Martial Artist of Wei Jie’s caliber. When he struck, he had drawn the blade at maximum speed. Unfortunately, he fell short by a hair, only managing to sever one of Wei Jie’s arms.

But now was not the time to dwell on the flaws of the Sleeve Saber. His top priority was to finish off Wei Jie as quickly as possible. He hadn’t forgotten that Wei Jie had two accomplices, and the strength of one of them was something even he couldn’t see through.

Seeing Su Chen charging at him, Wei Jie’s eyes narrowed. Ignoring his severed arm on the ground, he turned and fled.

"Damn it!" he thought. "If I manage to escape this time, I swear I will kill this man!"

The bitterness in Wei Jie’s heart was indescribable. Fortunately, his leg techniques were astonishing; losing an arm didn’t completely cut off his path as a Martial Artist. Otherwise, his life would truly be worse than death!

SWISH SWISH SWISH.

Two figures darted rapidly through the forest, chasing one another in a deadly game of cat and mouse. Although Wei Jie was fast, his injuries prevented him from shaking Su Chen off immediately. Furthermore, as time passed, his inner power would inevitably fail to suppress his wounds. When that happened, even if Su Chen didn’t catch him, he would bleed to death.

Faced with Su Chen’s relentless pursuit, a look of anxiety surfaced on Wei Jie’s face, and his breathing grew chaotic.

"Hold on, I’m almost at Zhu Hu’s location!" he told himself.

Wei Jie gritted his teeth and pushed forward, his willpower refined to its absolute limit. In this life-or-death moment, he erupted with an intense desire to survive.

Suddenly, Wei Jie stumbled. Losing his balance, he crashed heavily to the ground. This misstep threw him into an immediate panic. Ignoring the immense pain, he scrambled to get back on his feet. However, in the brief moment it took him to fall, Su Chen had already caught up to him.

"Strange, why is my vision blurring..." he thought.

Wei Jie could see Su Chen’s silhouette, but he suddenly realized he couldn’t make out the man’s facial features. In an instant, it felt as though a thin veil had been draped over the entire world. Su Chen walked toward him, step by step. Wei Jie knew perfectly well that if he didn’t run now, doom was imminent. Yet, his entire body had grown weak and limp. It was as if every ounce of strength had been drained from him.

"The blade was poisoned!" His remaining shreds of rationality allowed Wei Jie to realize the truth. He pointed at a tree next to Su Chen—mistaking it for his attacker—and cried out in shock.

SLASH!

The only response he received was a merciless swing of Su Chen’s blade. Faced with this lightning-fast strike, Wei Jie didn’t even have time to dodge before he was instantly killed.

"Even without that blade, I’d still kill you," Su Chen’s calm voice rang out, becoming the very last sound Wei Jie heard in this world.

With a heavy THUMP, Wei Jie’s life sank away into the abyss alongside his consciousness, never to awaken again.

After killing Wei Jie, Su Chen quickly knelt beside the corpse and searched it thoroughly. He soon found several dozen taels of silver, which he tucked into his robes. He patted the body down again, but after a moment, his brows furrowed slightly. Suddenly, as if remembering something, Su Chen shifted his gaze to Wei Jie’s feet. After a quick inspection, he found exactly what he was looking for: a secret manual hidden inside the lining of one of the boots.

RUSTLE RUSTLE.

Just as Su Chen was about to open the manual, a flurry of footsteps approached from nearby. It was the two men in black from earlier; they had likely heard the commotion and rushed over to investigate.

"With my current strength, I can handle one of them, but fighting two might not end well," Su Chen thought. "Wei Jie is dead anyway, so I should retreat for now."

Stowing the manual away, Su Chen took Wei Jie’s severed head and left without hesitation, vanishing into the bushes in the blink of an eye.

A moment later, a voice rang out in the clearing where Wei Jie had died.

"Boss, look!"

Upon seeing Wei Jie’s corpse, the two men in black froze. They exchanged a glance, a hint of shock flashing in their eyes.

"It’s Wei Jie. He’s dead!" The man addressed as ’Boss’ stared at the headless body with a dark expression. "That one-armed Yang Guo did this!"

"Boss, what do we do now?" the other man asked grimly. With Wei Jie dead, all their plans had been thrown into chaos.

Hearing this, the leader pondered for a moment before replying, "Let’s leave first. Take his body with us. We’ll let Protector Sun handle this!"

"Understood!"

Far away from the site of Wei Jie’s death, Su Chen returned to the location of their initial clash to retrieve his steel saber. He then did some basic cleaning on Wei Jie’s severed head to prevent the trailing blood from attracting enemies. Although the forest was pitch black, there was no guarantee that those men wouldn’t scour the woods like madmen once they realized Wei Jie was dead.

After finishing his preparations, Su Chen quietly slipped out of the mountain forest. On his way back, just as he had expected, Wei Jie’s death caused quite a stir. Several people were marching through the trees with torches, frantically searching for his tracks. Unfortunately for them, since they were in the open while he remained in the shadows, their efforts were entirely futile. Su Chen easily shook them off and departed.

Worried that the Rebirth Sect would track him down, Su Chen didn’t linger and headed straight back to White Stone City.

By the time he arrived at White Stone City, the eastern sky was turning white. A ray of sunlight pierced through the clouds to illuminate the earth, and the morning glow draped over his shoulders, bringing a comforting warmth to his heart.

The City Guards didn’t question Su Chen’s attire too much. After paying the toll, he made his way unimpeded to the County Magistrate’s Office.

At this hour, the on-duty personnel had only just arrived. When they saw Su Chen, they were visibly taken aback.

"Please wait a moment, warrior."

The guards’ gazes had immediately shifted from Su Chen to the bundle he was carrying in his hand. Traces of blood seeped through the knots of the fabric, making their hearts clench in alarm. One of them immediately spoke with utmost respect.

Su Chen nodded. He didn’t have to wait by the door for long before that Governmental Constable returned. Bowing slightly, the man said, "Warrior, please follow me."

He led Su Chen through the compound and into the main hall. However, neither Tao Wenxuan nor his Advisor was present; they were likely still asleep.

Seeing Su Chen’s arrival, a maidservant picked up a teapot and poured him a cup of water. Su Chen didn’t pay it much mind, simply taking a seat and resting his eyes.

"Yang the Warrior!" The first to arrive was the Advisor. Upon seeing Su Chen, his expression froze for a second before he called out a greeting.

As he stepped into the main hall, the Advisor immediately spotted the bundle in Su Chen’s hands. His heart skipped a beat. Could this bundle contain Wei Jie’s severed head?

"The County Magistrate is currently occupied. Please wait a moment, Yang the Warrior, he will be here shortly."

Noticing Su Chen looking at him, the Advisor hurriedly added to his statement. He then began making small talk. For the most part, the Advisor rambled on while Su Chen simply listened.

"I was just wondering why I heard magpies singing so early in the morning, and it turns out Yang the Warrior has arrived!"

The voice arrived before the person. Accompanied by a hearty laugh, a slightly disheveled and hurried figure strode into the room. It was Tao Wenxuan.