Separated by no more than ten feet, the thirty-odd poisoned crossbow bolts were terrifyingly fast, and the power they carried was also quite astonishing. No one could imagine that anyone could dodge such a dense and sudden attack.

Even a god sitting at that table couldn't evade it.

So he didn't dodge at all. Without any visible movement, a pair of chopsticks disappeared from the chopstick holder on the table. He held the chopsticks steadily in his hand, then danced them freely in the air, as if to catch a few delicacies from the void to eat.

The soft bamboo chopsticks whistled in the air, as if they were not a pair of chopsticks, but an ancient divine weapon imbued with infinite true qi.

*Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding*, like the rapid drumming of rain on banana leaves.

...

...

A dense series of tapping sounds arose. All the crossbow bolts, in the process of their rapid flight, were lightly picked and diverted by the pair of chopsticks. In an impossible state, all were deflected by mere fractions of an inch, deviating slightly from their imagined trajectories, brushing past the bodies of the two beside the table, and embedding themselves into the wooden planks and walls of the Embrace Moon Pavilion!

The crossbow bolts shot powerfully into the wood, leaving only the fletchings trembling slightly. In an instant, the thirty bolts made the room look as if it had sprouted some wild grass, yet they did not harm the man in the slightest.

The swordsmen of the Sixth Bureau of the Overwatch Council, watching the scene before them, felt a chill rise in their hearts, taking over their entire bodies.

To be able to deflect such rapidly fired crossbow bolts with just a pair of chopsticks at such close range—such speed, such vision, such power, such...

The opponent was not human.

The opponent was definitely not human.

...

...

The Overwatch Council was the strongest institution of the Qing Kingdom court, and its officials were the most resolute people in the Qing Kingdom. But they were still, after all, human. When they realized that the enemy they faced today seemed to have subtly transcended the category of 'human'... they would still feel fear, a sense of helplessness.

The triple-shot crossbows of the Third Bureau could only fire three shots in succession. Now it was too late to reload, and all the hands of the Sixth Bureau swordsmen were trembling, staring incredulously at the table, at the person beside the table, seemingly forgetting their next move.

And as that volley of crossbow bolts flew, seven Tiger Guards, like seven ferocious tigers descending the mountain, under the cover of the bolts, brandishing long sabers, transformed into seven streaks of bright light, slashing towards the table!

While the saber lights were still in the air, Fan Xian, behind the Tiger Guards, had already shouted sharply, "Retreat!"

With that shout, he rose to his full height, his entire body leaping up!

...

...

At the sound of "retreat," the six Tiger Guards, except for Gao Da, forcefully reversed their true qi, awkwardly holding their sabers horizontally in front of their chests in mid-air. Four feet away from the table, they forcefully stopped, shifted their toes, and retreated backward as ordered.

But Gao Da's martial skills were the strongest, his reaction the fastest. As the sharp point of the wedge formation, he had already reached the table. Facing the mysterious figure wearing the bamboo hat, his heart felt a slight chill, but he could no longer retreat. He had no choice but to roar, channeling the true qi in his body to its peak, his hands twisting at the tiger's mouth, and bringing his saber down with a forceful overhead slash!

Gao Da suddenly felt his ankle behind him tighten. His body was pulled backward by an overwhelming, immense true qi.

But the saber had already been swung down.

The saber light flashed before the table. Because he was pulled back by the person behind him, the saber did not strike the bamboo-hatted guest, but rather slashed into the floor in front of the table.

With a sharp tearing sound, the thick solid wood floor was sliced open like thin paper by the long saber in Gao Da's hand, creating a huge opening. A slight amount of dust rose, and wood chips scattered. Through the opening, one could see the tables on the second floor of the Embrace Moon Pavilion!

At the instant Gao Da struck with his saber, the bamboo-hatted guest gently placed the pair of chopsticks he held in his hand back onto the table.

It was only then that everyone noticed a sword beside the table leg.

A sword of the utmost simplicity, with no sharp light exuding from it, wrapped in thick rough cloth.

Then, as the bamboo chopsticks landed on the table, the ordinary sword suddenly burst forth with a great light. With a *zheng* sound, the sword hilt trembled in the wind, leaping upward excitedly, tearing through the rough cloth that bound the scabbard, and forcefully drawing out half of its snow-bright blade.

A cold, otherworldly sword intent of absolute lethality was released by that half-exposed blade!

The sword intent burrowed into the floorboards, and at the instant Gao Da's long saber touched the floorboards, it extended out. As the long saber broke open the large opening in the floorboards, countless extremely fine lines appeared on the floorboards above along the edge of that saber cut, quickly spreading outward.

Those lines had no discernible pattern, yet they seemed so beautiful, a beauty devoid of life.

...

...

The lines rapidly invaded Gao Da's long saber. The long saber of the Tiger Guard began to tremble uncontrollably. The sharp, thick saber surface, as if being carved by an invisible hand holding a diamond-sharp stone, revealed countless deep etchings!

Gao Da's hands also began to tremble. He was horrified, helpless, and tried to withdraw his saber.

The long saber shattered into pieces, like a weathered stone surface.

The terrifying sword intent only reached the saber hilt, but the aftershock leaped upward. Gao Da groaned, his chest feeling constricted, and a mouthful of blood spurted out. At the same time, a cracking sound came from his right wrist, as the joint was shattered by the shock!

——————————————————————

It was only a matter of three breaths. The crossbow bolts plus the seven long sabers of the Tiger Guards were for the bamboo-hatted guest as simple as picking up a pair of chopsticks and putting them down.

At their first encounter, the Overwatch Council suffered a crushing defeat.

At this point, those protecting Fan Xian naturally knew that what the other party had said earlier was not an empty boast. With such transcendent and masterful skill, if the bamboo-hatted guest wanted to kill the Imperial Envoy, even if all of them died, they wouldn't be able to stop him.

Transcendent and masterful!

Besides the four Grandmasters, who else in the world possessed such skill?

Gao Da, with blood flowing from the corner of his lips, his eyes filled with horror, knelt on one knee on the ground, staring at the bamboo-hatted guest not far away, saying each word with difficulty, "Si Gu Jian!"

As a Tiger Guard, an inner guard of the Qing Kingdom court, Gao Da had never feared anyone. But he spoke these three words with such weakness, such despair.

In the hearts of the people, the Four Grandmasters had long ceased to be in the realm of ordinary humans. All the legends had almost become mythological stories. In the hearts of the people, their feelings towards the Four Grandmasters were only awe.

Reverence and fear, nothing else.

No one dared to act against the Four Grandmasters. Even those who wanted to commit suicide would not choose this path.

Gao Da stared at the bamboo-hatted guest with eyes that were about to split, unable to understand why Si Gu Jian, who should have been far away in Dongyi City, had come to Jiangnan!

And only now did he feel the gentle release of his ankle.

If it hadn't been for that person using his powerful force to grab his ankle and pull him back earlier, when Gao Da's saber struck, the bamboo-hatted guest's sword intent would have been unleashed, and what would have been shattered into strips of cloth would not have been just the long saber, but also his own body.

Gao Da now felt boundless fear after the event. Subconsciously, he looked back and saw Fan Xian's right hand trembling, gently wiping it on his long robe.

...

...

Fan Xian's hands were completely covered in cold sweat, wet and a mess. He knew that if he hadn't been quick-witted and shouted quickly, all seven of the Tiger Guards would have been lost at the hands of that bamboo-hatted guest today.

But his expression remained calm. Although his pupils were slightly constricted and his right hand, hidden behind his back, was trembling slightly, he remained calm. Facing such a transcendent and peerless expert, he had to remain calm.

The opponent was a Grandmaster.

Fan Xian was not an ordinary person. He had lived with a Grandmaster who was not listed among the Grandmasters since he was a child. He had been taught by Uncle Wu Zhu, so facing the bamboo-hatted guest opposite him, he wasn't as horrified as everyone else in the building, unable to even speak.

But he was still horrified, and even began to feel some bitterness and astringency in his mouth.

Wu Zhu had once spoken of the concept of Real Force. Wu Zhu, without a trace of true qi, possessed an extraordinary and supreme force, but he was, after all, Fan Xian's closest family member. When Fan Xian faced a Grandmaster for the first time today, he discovered that under the oppressive force of the other party's Real Force, he... had no possibility of fighting back.

Fan Xian was a meticulous person who knew himself and others. He knew that with his current strength of the Ninth Rank, even ten of him couldn't defeat Uncle Wu Zhu.

By the same logic, ten of him couldn't defeat the old fellow wearing the bamboo hat opposite him.

Especially what he had seen and felt earlier, made Fan Xian believe even more in what Uncle Wu Zhu had once said:

"A First Rank can kill a Ninth Rank, as long as their luck is good. But if you're facing those few guys... don't talk about luck."

Martial artists in the world progress from low to high. Reaching the top of the Ninth Rank is the strongest level. Then, the difference between each rank is not an insurmountable gap. Otherwise, Fan Xian would not have been able to kill in all directions on Niu Lan Street, nor would he have been able to play with Lang Tao and He Daoren in the capital of Northern Qi.

But once one transcends the Ninth Rank and enters the realm of Heaven and Man, like that bald-headed Ku He, like the old fellow in front of him... they are already in a completely different realm. This difference in strength is like a bottomless ravine, which cannot be filled or compensated for by any schemes.

The top floor of the Embrace Moon Pavilion was quiet, and below it had already become a chaotic mess. Although Gao Da's saber strike had been in the air, it had terrified countless people, creating a noisy scene. But after a brief pause, it quieted down again. It should be the guards and Shi Sang who were standing guard downstairs who were handling the situation.

The bamboo-hatted guest beside the table remained quiet, as if waiting for Fan Xian to make a decision.

There was no light on his body, but at this moment, in the eyes of everyone, his thin cloth robe seemed to be plated with heavenly light, making it impossible to look directly at him.

In comparison, Mr. Zhou, whom Fan Xian had been trying to catch, sat timidly beside the bamboo-hatted guest, and no one noticed him.

A simple person, yet he overshadowed all the light in the world.

...

...

Fan Xian still held the fan in his left hand, gripping it tightly. He looked at the bamboo-hatted guest beside the table, and didn't speak for a long time.

The top floor of the Embrace Moon Pavilion was quiet, deathly quiet. The atmosphere was very oppressive.

The bamboo-hatted guest looked at Fan Xian's calm face and said with a smile, "Your reaction, your strength... seem to be even stronger than the rumors suggest."

He was talking about the moment Gao Da's saber struck just now. Fan Xian had reacted extremely quickly, calling back the six men and throwing himself into the air in a flash of lightning. In that brief moment in the air, he had used the Great Coffin Cleaver to explosively increase the strength of his right arm, and then used a small trick to forcefully pinch Gao Da's ankle, dragging Gao Da back, saving Gao Da's life.

In such a short moment, Fan Xian was able to do all of this, and had even done it perfectly. This caused the bamboo-hatted guest to reveal a trace of appreciation.

Fan Xian didn't answer this question. Instead, contrary to everyone's expectations, he slowly walked to the railing, not looking at the bamboo-hatted guest again.

All the guards, including Gao Da, were stunned. How brave the Commissioner was! Facing a Grandmaster whom ten thousand people revered and feared, he was able to be so natural, to dare not look at the other party.

Fan Xian walked to the railing, facing the bustling city of Suzhou, the sparse air above Suzhou, and the lingering scent of firecrackers in the air. He took a deep breath, his expression changing slightly, but immediately returning to normal, not knowing what he was thinking about.

Footsteps came from the stairs.

Shi Chanli, with a face full of shock, and Miss Sang Wen, opening her big mouth, revealing her worry amidst her gentleness, glanced at the table surrounded by the Overwatch Council men, and immediately turned their questioning gazes to Fan Xian at the railing.

"Everyone go downstairs."

Fan Xian leaned against the railing, not turning his head, and ordered in a cold voice. He gripped the fan in his hand tighter and tighter, and the fan paper was somewhat deformed. It seemed that he had made a decision.

When the Tiger Guards launched their attack earlier, Fan Xian's shout had allowed everyone to retreat without regard for their own lives. This showed that all the guards had no objections to his orders and carried them out very thoroughly. But today, when he issued the order for everyone to go downstairs, everyone, including the Tiger Guards, expressed their opposition with silence.

With a Grandmaster about to kill someone, no one dared to leave Fan Xian alone in the building at this time.

Fan Xian turned around, looked at Gao Da with a smile, and said, "Could it be that my orders are no longer effective?"

...

...

Gao Da's heart skipped a beat. Looking at the familiar gentle smile on the Commissioner's face, and the encouraging meaning in the smile, his mind was in chaos for a moment. He knew Fan Xian. Whenever Fan Xian revealed that charming smile, it was often when he was truly angry, and also when he was confident.

Fan Xian continued, "Without my orders, no one is allowed to set foot on this floor. In addition, immediately evacuate the nearby neighborhoods, to avoid accidental injury."

Gao Da exhaled a mouthful of turbid air, wiped the blood from the corner of his lips, groaned, and led everyone downstairs, pushing Shi Chanli, who was standing at the entrance of the stairs and refused to go down, downstairs as well.

And when Fan Xian's personal guards went downstairs, they saw a scene that they would always remember later, a scene that terrified them at the time.

Fan Xian walked slowly towards the table, step by step, step by step.

He walked with that strange smile on his face, opening the deformed fan in his hand again, fanning himself as he walked towards the table.

He walked with extreme stability, extremely freely and dashingly.

...

...

In fact, the distance from that table to this table was only ten or so steps, but these ten or so steps made Fan Xian feel as if he was walking through the gates of hell.

But the strange thing was, the closer he got to the table where the bamboo-hatted guest was, the more peaceful Fan Xian's heart became, and the clearer his mind became.

Walking to the table, Fan Xian stared into the bamboo-hatted guest's eyes, staring at the other party very impolitely, seemingly not afraid at all that the other party could kill him with a simple wave of his hand.

The bamboo-hatted guest seemed to think that this Imperial Envoy of Jiangnan Road was somewhat interestingly bold, and smiled back at him.

————————————————————————

Gao Da went downstairs and immediately rearranged the defenses. At the same time, according to the Commissioner's orders, he evacuated the neighboring citizens, and ordered his men to quickly go to the Governor's Mansion to mobilize troops. Although he knew that these measures would not have the slightest effect on the peerless expert in the building, it was at least doing everything humanly possible.

Then he went to the top floor of a building adjacent to the Embrace Moon Pavilion, climbed onto the roof, and carefully hid his figure, watching every move in the Embrace Moon Pavilion across the street, ready to bet his life at any time.

Gao Da lay behind the roof tile beast, his eyes watching the top floor of the Embrace Moon Pavilion. He couldn't hear what the people inside were saying, but just watching what he was seeing was enough to shock him.

...

...

The building was empty, leaving only Fan Xian and the bamboo-hatted guest facing each other, one sitting at the table, and the other standing beside the table.

As for that Mr. Zhou, although he didn't count as a person in Fan Xian's eyes, he was still a bit of an eyesore, so he waved his hand, signaling Mr. Zhou to get to the side.

Mr. Zhou, the accountant of the Junshan Association, who was already quite frightened, was stunned for a moment, but immediately obediently left his seat and squatted in the corner by the railing.

A chair was vacated.

So Fan Xian lifted the front of his robe and sat down casually, in a grand and domineering manner.

At this time, he was no more than half a body's distance away from the bamboo-hatted guest, intimately, dangerously, and terrifyingly beyond compare.

Gao Da, watching from afar, was almost scared to death, but Fan Xian in the building still wore a faint smile.

He put away the deformed paper fan he was holding in his left hand, and slowly picked up the chopsticks that the bamboo-hatted guest had placed on the table, reinserting them into the chopstick holder. He performed these three actions very carefully, very slowly, very cautiously. After the chopsticks were inserted, he sighed happily, and clapped his hands, as if he had accomplished a very great task.

The bamboo-hatted guest didn't kill him, which meant that everything was negotiable.

"You have guts." The bamboo-hatted guest smiled and looked at Fan Xian and said, "Among the younger generation, you are the best."

A word from a Grandmaster, if spread out, would surely solidify Fan Xian's unbreakable position. However, Fan Xian did not feel any comfort because of these words, and said with a gentle smile, "So what? If you want to kill me, isn't it just a matter of minutes?"

The bamboo-hatted guest said calmly, "What I said before still stands. If you withdraw the Black Knights, I won't kill you."

...

...

Fan Xian suddenly raised his head, a hint of sarcasm and contempt flowing in those eyes.

In this world, it had been many years since someone had dared to look at the bamboo-hatted guest with such a gaze. So even though the bamboo-hatted guest was a top figure in the world, he still couldn't help but feel a slight anger.

"Is this your request?"

"A dignified Grandmaster, actually reduced to this state?"

"You don't want this old face anymore, but our Qing Dynasty still cares about face."

Fan Xian suddenly opened his mouth, and countless sarcastic words gushed out, as if the person in front of him was not an unfathomable Grandmaster, but a subordinate he would casually grab by the ear and scold in the Overwatch Council.

The bamboo-hatted guest was stunned. Obviously, no one had ever scolded him like this before, so for a moment, he couldn't react.

Fan Xian slammed the table, staring at the bamboo-hatted guest's strange face, and said word by word, "Are you senile? This is the matter of the Junshan Association. What business is it of yours that I mobilize the Black Knights to kill people... Could it be that there are filial sons and virtuous grandsons of yours in that manor? You just rushed up like this, put a knife to my neck, and I have to listen to you? Even if I really listen to you, what will happen in the future? Don't tell me those filial sons and virtuous grandsons of yours won't die? I'm afraid... they'll die even faster!"

Fan Xian's voice became shrill, mixed with boundless contempt and ridicule, pointing his finger at the bamboo-hatted guest's nose and scolding, "I beg you to wake up, what era is this now? It's long past the era when you can run rampant with a sword, who do you think you are? Do you think you're a Sword Immortal? It's still a dead end, damn it!"

...

...

The bamboo-hatted guest looked at Fan Xian as if he were an idiot, and suddenly felt that he was also an idiot. He had traveled the world, respected by all people. Even the ruler of a country was courteous to him. It was difficult to find someone who disrespected him, let alone someone like this handsome young man in front of him... pointing his finger at him and scolding him!

But after all, he was a Grandmaster. After a brief daze, he regained his composure, and instead looked at Fan Xian and laughed, laughing so happily.

"It has been many years since anyone has dared to speak to this old man like this."

As he spoke, the bamboo-hatted guest's tone sank, and he said coldly, "I will count to three. If you don't order a withdrawal, I will have no choice but to kill you."

Those steady hands slowly rested on the table.

Fan Xian's gaze lowered slightly, looking at those hands that should have been old, but didn't have a single extra wrinkle.

...

...

The sword under the table, drawn by the powerful qi, made a dragon's roar. Amidst the buzzing, the sword hilt slowly rose, and the half-exposed snow-bright blade illuminated the building.

"Three."

The bamboo-hatted guest began to count down coldly.

Fan Xian narrowed his eyes, glanced at him, and said directly, "One."

After saying these words, he punched down next to him.

This punch was mixed with his nearly twenty years of night and day of meditation and hard training, mixed with the overbearing true qi in the nameless cultivation method, mixed with the Great Coffin Cleaver qi channeling method he had learned from the Ye family, mixed with the Supreme Mind Technique of the Heavenly One Path he had learned from Haitang, qi followed his will, instantly breaking through ten thousand barriers, killing intent exiting his meridians, channeling to his fist, and slamming down fiercely!

The fist slammed onto the sword hilt!

The air in the building undulated for no reason, and the air outside the railing seemed to tremble, making the scenery on the periphery somewhat distorted.

With a *zheng* sound, the ordinary long sword was smashed back down by Fan Xian's punch, and the dragon's roar stopped!

Mr. Zhou by the railing had already been stunned by this earth-shattering tremor and fainted, falling miserably beside the railing.

...

...

Fan Xian swallowed the mouthful of blood that was surging up in his chest and abdomen, and stared fiercely and stubbornly into the bamboo-hatted guest's eyes, suddenly opening his mouth and shouting, "Deng Ziyue, listen to my order!"

This shout, mixed with true qi, spread out, instantly echoing throughout the entire street. Gao Da, lurking across the street, was startled, and subconsciously stood up. And Deng Ziyue, who had been guarding in the street, didn't know what had happened, and answered in a trembling voice, "Your subordinate is here."

Fan Xian continued to stare into the bamboo-hatted guest's eyes, and said fiercely, "Send the signal flares, the Black Knights enter the garden, and if they encounter resistance... kill without mercy!"

Kill without mercy!

...

...

After what seemed like a long time, a sigh filled with complex emotions finally rang out from the quiet top floor of the Embrace Moon Pavilion, "You're right. I shouldn't have entered the human world again. But the person you want to kill, the person you want to arrest, is someone I care about. What can I do?"

The bamboo-hatted guest gently grasped the sword hilt beside the table, held it upside down, and murmured softly, "Then I will carry my long sword out of the Eastern Mountain..."

The sword momentum gradually spread.

It would be a lie to say that Fan Xian wasn't afraid, and it would be even more of a lie to say that he wasn't nervous. But he used his powerful mind to control the trembling of every muscle on his face, stared intently at the bamboo-hatted guest's face, and said one sentence.

"You don't dare to kill me."

...

...

A moment of silence.

"Why wouldn't I dare to kill you?"

"Because you're not Si Gu Jian, that idiot."

Fan Xian clutched the broken fan on the table again, and said, "Of the Four Grandmasters, as long as they're not Si Gu Jian, that heartless and soulless idiot, no one dares to kill me."

The bamboo-hatted guest's hand remained steadily holding the sword hilt.

Fan Xian believed that as long as the other party drew this sword, he would definitely be in two separate pieces.

So he suppressed the fear in the depths of his heart, and said word by word, "So I really don't understand why you would appear here. In my heart, you should be that noble scholar who rides on half a broken boat, singing lightly across the world, free and unfettered, with sleeves that don't touch the flowing clouds."

"Instead of a martial artist who is troubled by matters and makes such foolish moves."

The bamboo-hatted guest's eyes showed a different color. Fan Xian didn't know if he was seeing things, but he actually saw a trace of appreciation in the other party's eyes.

...

...

"The waves only bloom for a moment, but they are no different from thousand-year stones... you are also like this, sir." Fan Xian stared at the other party fiercely and said, "If you were Ye Liuyun, how would you dare to kill me?"