The darkness of the night settled down like water, as the time drew near to midnight. The wind whistled through, causing the dust and sand to swirl up, being scattered in the air much like mist or fog.

This silent street was only lit by the cold moonbeams. Not far ahead, the Smoky Thea Tower was still ablaze with lit lanterns, as the indistinct sound of musical instruments travelled from there. This made the street even more cheerless.

Following the sound of drunken hiccups, as well as slurred speech, a procession of people walked closer in twos and threes. The troops of a hundred-odd people walked slowly in an undisciplined fas.h.i.+on, causing the entire squad to be delayed.

After indulging in good food and wine, NanGong Le and the Yang Family's brothers brought their guards with them, as they sat unsteadily on horseback discussing some unknown topic on their way back. Every now and then, an obscene laughter would sound out from one of them.

They came closer, even closer.

Finally, the silhouette of a horse’s front could be seen clopping into the quiet and long street.

A silhouette flashed past like a spectre. It shot down from the rooftops of the buildings beside the road, without any warning whatsoever. A hand wielding a longsword shone with a chilly light as it drifted without sound nor warning, stabbing towards NanGong Le who was in front of the Yang Family's brothers!

The busily engrossed NanGong Le, who was still in the midst of discussion with Yang Wei, suddenly stiffened as he felt killing intent and hurriedly lay down flat on his horse’s back! The two bodyguards behind him sprang forth, swords at the ready. A third guard even threw himself on NanGong Le, willing to sacrifice himself in order to block a sword for NanGong Le.

The ghostly figure seemed to warp and twist in the air, the sword flas.h.i.+ng like electricity. It pierced through the rib of the bodyguard in front of NanGong Le, conveniently stabbing viciously into the chest of the panicked NanGong Le.

Blood splattered in all directions as NanGong Le let out a shrill of fear. A thin stream of blood fountained out of his chest, jetting out at least three feet in length. His body slipped from the top of his horse weakly, his status unknown.

That a.s.sailant calmly retracted the sword, and with two ‘dang dang’ sounds, deflected the offending swords that the two bodyguards jabbed in its direction. The sword flashed past the guards’ necks, and they only felt a coldness around that area before both of them fell to the ground like broken sacks, warm blood spurting out from their necks.

The masked man in black seemed to smile coldly as he kicked out with a leg, taking the chance in which the guard protecting NanGong Le had not retrieved his sword to kick him in the crotch. The guard flailed as he flew through the air, a suppressed whine coming out from his mouth, blood flowing out from all five holes on his face. Before he even landed, he had already stopped breathing. With another kick from the black robed man, all his organs and meridians were destroyed!

The horse received a shock, tossing its head upwards and neighing.

What conspired at NanGong’s area had already badly frightened the three Yang Brothers. With a sweep of his sword, the black robed man then knocked aside all the weapons coming towards him. Lifting his right leg, ‘pop pop pop’ sounds were heard as the Yang brothers were kicked off their steeds, flying a distance before hitting the ground. The three of them hit the ground hard, screaming in pain.

The Yang Family’s bodyguards collectively heaved a sigh of relief — from the pained cries, one could hear that their three young masters’ lives were not in trouble, seeing how resonant their screams were. However, the same could not be said for NanGong Le who had ceased to make any sounds after being stabbed once.

The hundred-odd guards saw red as they charged towards the black robed man, as though they were possessed.

The latter did not avoid or escape, his body lightly flitting through the crowd of guards. With a resplendent flash of his sword, four heads separated from the body, shooting upwards into the sky and leaving four blood pillars spewing on the ground. Before the heads landed, another six took a sword in their throats, their bodies splayed in all directions as they fell like mowed gra.s.s. Arrows of blood could be seen flying everywhere.

The black robed man moved unceasingly around, like a tiger placed among a flock of sheeps. From the start until now, the black robed man had not uttered a single word. But, he had already reaped the lives of ten over man, like how one would chop their vegetables and fruits!

The various guards all felt a chill across their bodies.

The black robed man was just like a devil! He did not have any hesitation whatsoever in killing people. Once his blade appears, at least one life would be snuffed out. This was like the meaning of ‘one strike, one kill’, there was no middle ground! In a blink of an eye, corpses littered the ground surrounding the black robed man, as a sense of dread rose in the rest of the guards. This was the first time they felt death so near to them!

The NanGong Family had a few guards that risked their life to rush into the killzone. In an instant, three of them fell to the black robed man’s sword but one of them managed to grab the unconscious NanGong Le to one side. Checking his vital signs, an incredibly weak breath could be found coming from him, as though he could die at any point. The guard could not help but feel panicked, even though he was overjoyed at this unexpected news. He shouted out, "The Young Master is not dead yet! Hurry and block his way, I’ll save the Young Master first!" The other 70 to 80 of them split into half, one portion guarding and escorting the three Yang Brothers as well as NanGong Le, and the rest mobbed the black robed man as though they did not want to live any longer. This was the sorrow of being part of an aristocratic family — the master’s life was precious beyond anything, while the guards and servants were sacrificial tools.

The eyes of the black robed man let out a trace of ridicule. With a light sound coming from his mouth, his body flitted — much like a b.u.t.terfly amongst the men — and his sword suddenly shot out thousands of brilliantly cold beams. With another flip, the ten men closest to him started bleeding while retreating. All of them had a similar tiny wound on the neck and ran out of time, returning to the darkness before they could even manage a wail.

The remaining bodyguards knew that they had no road of survival to speak of. A certain hulking figure, upon realising that he would not walk out alive, raised his blade and charged fiercely towards the black robed man. He mustered the rest of his strength, grabbing the black robed man in a bear hug the moment his throat was pierced. If he succeeds, the surrounding guards would able to hack the black robed man to pieces.

The eyes of the black robed man remained impa.s.sive and cold throughout. With a ‘shua shua’ sound, both of the arms of the big guy were cut off. At the same time, a foot landed squarely on his stomach, causing the heavyweight to be lifted off the ground. The big guy then collided with all the people behind him. At that moment, the guards behind were not able to retract their swords in time, causing three or four of them to be buried deep into him. The big guy then smashed onto those behind, squis.h.i.+ng them like pancakes. Before they could even get back on their feet, a coldness shot through their neck and they could no longer feel anything.

The sword in the black robed man’s hands became faster and faster. Facing a tidal wave-like siege from all directions, he appeared like a boulder that withstood the weathering of a thousand years, standing stably without moving. Ray after ray of sword light flashed past, leaving only warm corpses in its wake.

The cold and dark street was turned into h.e.l.l in this short period of time. As for the black robed man, he was the death reaper who presided over this h.e.l.l!

After one round of killing, there were not many guards left. On the other hand, the group tasked with escorting NanGong Le as well as the three Yang brothers had not even left the streets yet. From this, one could see how ruthless the black robed man was, to kill with such speed. The faces of all present turned pale in panic and no one dared to look back to witness the h.e.l.lish scene. All present only felt their scalps turn numb and their legs soften.

With a whistle, the black robed man’s sword made another round around his body and eight more people dropped under his blade! Ownerless limbs flew all around and destroyed body parts were strewn all over the ground. The final ten-odd guards all knew what was going to happen next and revealed expressions of despair in their eyes. All of them rushed forward in a flurry, hoping to use the method of sacrificing oneself to bring the black robed man down. However, the black robed man only jumped up, his sword letting out a sprinkle of silvery light around him, before borrowing the force to leap up towards the sky. Airborne, he somersaulted and propelled himself in the sky towards the escaping group like a meteor!

Behind him, the eleven bodyguards stood stock still as their throats let out weird gurgling sounds. Slowly, the swords in their hands clattered on the ground as they all fell backwards, simultaneously shooting out blood arrows from their slit throats.

From the start until now, the 67 guards who had surrounded black robes had fallen in battle, fresh blood painting the scene, without a single one left alive! Such speed, such killing intent! The killing intent shot up into the night, tyrannical beyond words!

The figure of the black robed man bobbed up and down, as he used the fastest speed possible to catch up to the escaping group. At this point, the last one in the line of guards suddenly halted in his steps, bellowing out as he raised his blade and slashed down in an overhead chop! The wind was cut by the blade, a signal of the strength behind it!

The black robed man, whose soaring speed was gradually decreasing due to the lack of external force to support, suddenly dived down and crossed his sword with the guard’s blade, much like a comet cras.h.i.+ng down to Earth. Using this newfound support, the black robed man leaped over the man, stepping on his head and using it as a kickboard!

With a ‘pa’ sound, the guard’s head suddenly burst apart, akin to a 8kg hammer being smashed on a watermelon! Blood and brain matter littered the area!