With a sword drawn, he laughs proudly, his martial prowess dominating the heavens!

Deng Bagong's long whip lashed the tree, and his body swung three zhang away.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Jia Bu's corpse tremble twice on the ground before falling still.

But the visitor showed no intention of taking the sword manual.

He came to kill people!

Little did Deng Bagong know that his thoughts at this moment were exactly the same as those of Yu Canghai before his death.

A dark cloud drifted across the sky, and the forest grew dark again.

He wore a straw hat and black clothes, his face covered with a black cloth, only a pair of bright, dark eyes were visible.

"Who exactly are you? Having killed a member of the Demonic Sect, why do you oppose my Songshan Sect?!"

"Good question, you'll know the answer before you die!"

Upon hearing this, Deng Bagong was startled again, realizing that the voice belonged to a young man.

A cold glint appeared, and the sword was drawn like a dragon's roar.

Li Che moved with his sword, the sword's movements unpredictable and trembling incessantly.

The sword light appeared like overlapping green mountains, dazzling and mesmerizing.

Just as Deng Bagong was about to crack his whip in response, he suddenly turned pale with shock, "Layered Green and Floating Blue! How do you know my Songshan sword techniques?!"

No one answered him!

In a moment of distraction, the enemy's sword was already five feet in front of him.

But then he suddenly twisted his wrist, channeling his power into the long whip like a snake reaching out from under a bow, the tip of the whip instantly curling up and retracting.

In the blink of an eye, the long whip became like a shield, blocking and slashing at the incoming longsword.

The whip he used was different from the steel whip of Qianjin Village; it was as soft as silk when it was soft and as hard as iron when it was hard, and it was extremely tough.

Li Che's lips curled slightly. The Dugu Nine Swords' Rope-Breaking Style says that those who use long whips and chains have an endless range of moves. Power is transmitted through the wrist, and although the variations are complex, changing moves is the easiest way to exhaust one's strength.

The whip spun like a whirlwind, its whistling sound never ceasing.

The whip tightened its grip, coiling directly towards the sword's edge.

However, Li Che changed his moves again, concealing the verdant mountains, his wrists twisting rapidly, his sword trembling like a spinning top.

"Clang!"

The sword touched the tip of the whip with just a light touch, precisely at the weakest point of the whip's force. The long whip paused, and its power immediately weakened by three-tenths.

Li Che, having gained the upper hand, pressed his sword straight up and aimed it at the man's wrist.

Deng Bagong was immediately shocked. The force and angle of this strike were just right. Could it be that this person also knows the whip techniques of our school?

In an instant, he retreated two steps, flicked his wrist again, and the long whip transformed into a sky full of whip shadows, covering the enemy from all directions.

This move, known as "Heavenly Net," is his trump card, a technique that combines real and feints with whip shadows. Originally intended to block the enemy's retreat, it is now being used to deflect the enemy's sword.

A glint flashed in Li Che's eyes; this move was indeed ingenious.

With a flick of his longsword, without any apparent movement, the tip of the sword pierced the only gap in the whip's shadow.

With a soft "hiss," the sword pierced through the wrist.

Deng Bagong let out a miserable scream, the whip's shadow instantly dissipated, and the whip handle slipped from his hand and fell to the ground.

His wrist tendons are severed; it's uncertain whether he'll be able to hold a whip in his next life.

"Who exactly are you?!"

"clatter--!"

The long sword rested on Deng Bagong's shoulder, close to his neck. A few drops of sweat slid down and dripped onto the spine of the sword, making the cloud patterns on the sword even more prominent.

"Uncle Deng, it's a pleasure to meet you!"

Li Che slightly raised his bamboo hat, looking at Deng Bagong, only to see Deng's eyes suddenly widen, the suspicion in his eyes instantly turning into terror, "You...? Li Che of Mount Hua?!"

"Remember to ask Master Zuo for a dream on the night of your return, and tell him to send some skilled assassins next time!"

"wait......"

"Zzzzt—!"

The number of the Thirteen Protectors of Mount Song has decreased by one.

Sheathing his sword, Li Che breathed a sigh of relief. Deng Bagong was the strongest martial artist among those he had killed.

It may seem like just a few simple moves, but it's actually quite clever.

If it were a head-on confrontation, he could probably win, but his long whip allows him to switch between offense and defense with ease, so getting close would probably take some effort.

The Dugu Nine Swords are full of mysteries. Li Che has great talent, but he has only been immersed in swordsmanship for a few months. Otherwise, he would not have been so restrained in his battles with Feng Lao.

So... I need to practice more!

Li Che was thinking about something, but his hands were still moving quickly.

He bent down, reached out, and touched the corpse; the entire sequence of movements was fluid and graceful.

"what?"

He pulled out a booklet, and in the moonlight, the cover had five large characters: "Songyang's Twin Whips"!

I glanced through the pages briefly and happened to see Deng Bagong's "Heavenly Net" move at the very end.

"It turns out that this whip technique uses a long and a short whip, with the long whip being the main attack and the short whip being the surprise attack. Unfortunately, Uncle Deng was defeated before he could use the short whip."

What a kind person!

Li, feeling triumphant, dragged his uncle's corpse back to Jia Bu's body.

Reaching out again, but finding nothing...

He didn't touch the half of the fake sword manual, but instead looked up at the sky.

There were about three hours left until dawn.

After quickly determining the direction, he gently pressed down his straw hat and slipped away towards the northwest.

Before we had gone ten miles, we could already hear voices around us.

On the mountain path ahead, there were thirty or forty figures gathered together. Li Che was in a higher position, and he could see that three or five of them were squatting down, as if they were being interrogated.

He tiptoed closer to within ten zhang, his ears filled with foul language.

"Damn it, those six bastards are just here to cause trouble. The sword manual, which was originally divided into four parts, has been torn into six more pieces by them."

I wish I could tear them apart alive!

"Hey Sha, where were you before? You're all bravado now that the guy's gone. Even Zhong Zhen from the Songshan Sect couldn't get his hands on him. What, are you even more powerful than the Songshan Taibao?"

"Stop arguing, all of you. We're here to grab some bargains, not to die. There are a few living sword manuals right here."

"I think we should go straight to the Qingcheng Sect. Who knows, that guy surnamed Yu might have even created a new instance!"

"Great idea! But how do we divide it if we find it?"

"Then let's see who has the best skills!"

"Bullshit! I came up with the idea, so I have to make a copy first!"

"You think anyone else could come up with such an idea?"

"Say that again, you fucking idiot!"

"..."

A group of people were arguing incessantly, and it looked like they were about to fight.

Suddenly, someone said, "Hou Renying, is that right? I heard you're the leader of the Four Heroes of Qingcheng. Tell me, did your master ever make a copy of the sword manual? And where is it hidden?"

It turned out that these people were actually disciples of Qingcheng.

"Speak up, are you mute?!"

Hou Renying was so frightened that she trembled and couldn't utter a single word for a long time.

Overnight, everything changed, and Qingcheng was destroyed.

When they left Qingcheng Mountain, the fellow disciples plotted to obtain the Lin family sword manual and seize their family business. The rise of the Qingcheng Sect was just around the corner.

Before they even reached Fuzhou, their master died, leaving only a few of them as fellow disciples. It seemed that Songfeng Temple was also doomed.

“Pah!”

Someone slapped him across the face, finally bringing him back to his senses.

"Gentlemen... my master... my master has a sword manual, but he has never told us disciples about it."

My master only said... only said that the sword manual was at the Fuwei Escort Agency in Fuzhou, and we really don't know anything else.

As for those sword techniques, they were passed down from our patriarch, Changqingzi.

He spoke more and more urgently, and his speech became smoother and smoother. He continued, "It was no exaggeration for our ancestor to have been defeated by Lin Yuantu of the Fuwei Escort Agency. Are there any people from Fuzhou among you?"

Have you ever seen the Lin family sword technique?

His family had a great reputation, and his master was certain that they must have a matching sword technique passed down in the family, which is why he rushed all the way to Fuzhou...

"Damn it, are they trying to fool us with rumors again?!"

"Wait a minute! What if we've all been tricked?!"

......