The sword energy came too quickly; the leading black-clad man sensed it before the sword energy arrived and immediately leapt onto the beam to dodge.

However, the other black-clad men weren’t so lucky.

The first to bear the brunt had just turned back when the sword energy swept past his entire body.

A streak of blood suddenly bloomed from the center of his brow, and in the blink of an eye, it spread into a line of blood. With a swoosh, as the sword energy swept through, his entire body split apart.

The other black-clad men dodged and made way frantically; those who ran fast were fine, but those who were slow had their arms or thighs sliced by the sword energy...

The sword energy went straight ahead, finally smashing into the altar with a crunch, reducing it to pieces scattered across the floor.

Even then, the sword energy hadn’t stopped.

With a hiss, the Buddha statue missing its head suddenly had a sword mark running from head to foot.

The sword mark was deep. Although it didn’t split the Buddha statue in two, it was shocking to behold.

The leading black-clad man glanced at the Buddha statue; then he turned and saw someone standing at the temple entrance.

The man was holding a sword, its blade slanted toward the ground, grinning broadly:

"Robbing the escort is one thing, but planning to kidnap people?

"Aren’t you underestimating us a bit?

"Why, do you feel uncomfortable if you aren’t completely wiped out?"

"Such powerful sword energy!"

The black-clad man looked grim:

"No wonder they call you Crossed Sword Golden Tiger; to make such a name for yourself in such a short time is not without reason.

"However, if you had honestly given up the escort goods today, that would have been it.

"Why resort to deception and use the strategy of openly repairing the plank road while secretly heading to Chencang?

"Don’t you know this will bring disaster upon yourself?"

"Vice Leader!"

The escort agents inside the temple saw this person and started calling out, their faces full of joy.

The swordsman waved a hand, cast a glance at the black-clad man, and rolled his eyes:

"Bullshit!

"Ruining people’s business and talking as if it’s natural; do you still consider yourself human?

"We used this strategy with the thought of sparing lives under heavenly virtue.

"Otherwise, could crooked people like you snatch anything from us?

"What a laughing matter!"

"How dare you!!"

The black-clad man flew into a rage:

"I’ll ask you one last time, where are the goods?"

"They’re probably already in Old Master Xing’s hands."

The swordsman smiled slightly:

"And you all, in just a moment, will be in King Yama’s hands."

"Good!!"

The black-clad man laughed from anger, said no more, and moved his toes to attack.

The swordsman laughed loudly without further words, moved swiftly, but suddenly feigned a thrust.

He dashed past the black-clad man’s side and entered the temple directly.

The black-clad man was momentarily dumbfounded and inwardly thought, ’not good.’

Upon turning back, he saw the swordsman had already started his massacre.

His swordsmanship was fierce, with immense power.

His sword, too, was specially made.

Ordinary treasure swords have thin blades with flexibility, focusing on agility.

However, although the longsword in this person’s hand was no different in length and size from ordinary treasure swords,

it was noticeably heavy.

The sword wasn’t particularly sharp, and his moves were wide and heavy, as if carrying the weight of a thousand catties.

Yet, when he wielded it, it was agile and fatal with every strike.

In just a daze’s time,

seven or eight black-clad men were already dead.

The leading black-clad man was furious:

"You want to die!!!"

The swordsman laughed aloud:

"Chen Yu, you’re injured, retreat first. Reinforcements are on the way. Have the brothers hold on for a while."

"Vice Leader, don’t worry. The power of An Jiu Palm is gone. Old Chen, although not fully recovered, isn’t easy for them to handle."

"Oh?"

The swordsman was taken aback:

"Who has such ability?"

"Thanks to Lord Wu."

Chen Yu spoke while striking, fending off the surrounding black-clad men, laughing:

"Lord Wu, passing by, saw I was injured and helped me; it was a miraculous recovery."

"So that’s how it is..."

The swordsman laughed heartily, looking at the black-clad man:

"See, this is working against you; what can you do now?"

The leading black-clad man, at this point, had murderous intent in his eyes.

He shouted: "Everyone fall back!"

The surrounding black-clad men retreated in compliance.

The leading black-clad man stepped forward, each step amplifying his momentum.

"Repairing the plank road openly, sneaking to Chencang, using a fake escort to protect the real escort.

"Brilliant strategy!

"You deliberately left these people here to wait for us to walk into a trap.

"The true escort goods have been delivered to Baisui City.

"Without this burden, you plan to annihilate us here?

"An even better plan!!

"Unfortunately... no matter how good the plan, it doesn’t help if your skills are lacking.

"You say there are reinforcements?

"Let me tell you!

"Today, no matter who comes, you are doomed to die!!!"

As he finished speaking, he turned his palm into a blade, stepping forward, and a frigid wind howled, slicing down with his hand blade.

In an instant, a thousand blade lights rippled in the air.

The swordsman’s face changed:

"Damn old man, hiding your strength?!"

The sword in his hand flicked upward, transforming into a horizontal slash.

At that moment, the thousand blade lights abruptly converged on a single point.

With a thunderous crash, it descended from the sky!

It slammed hard in front of the swordsman.

The swordsman’s face darkened; he blocked with his crossed sword and heard a crunching sound!

The ground beneath cracked open, and a burst of sharp energy shot out from the black-clad leader’s palm, forcefully pushing forward.

The pressure forced the swordsman to retreat continuously, with explosions resounding along the way.

The escort agents behind tried to support him, but as soon as they touched the swordsman’s back, they were flung away by a force.

The swordsman kept backing up, hearing a scream behind him.

He realized he had stepped on someone.

Turning around, he saw an unfamiliar face and immediately remembered Chen Yu mentioning Lord Wu, turning apologetic:

"Sorry, sorry... my bad..."

But there came a voice only he could hear:

"Your martial arts, still not much progress, have you?"

The voice reached his ears, and the swordsman was struck as if by lightning!

His eyes widened abruptly:

"You bastard!!"