Chapter 287: The Third Blade [Volume 4 – Perpetual Conflict]

The young man’s hands had been bent into odd angles. He could no longer speak clearly and was only capable of rolling on the ground while crying out in misery.

The group at the entrance of the alleyway witnessed this scene and were immediately upset.

Their leader, a thin man in brightly colored clothing, roared angrily, “You dare touch someone from our big blade gang! Everyone, attack! Chop him up!”

The group of thugs drew their machetes, flocked toward Qianye, and covered him with slashes. Their machetes were all of the same style—over half a meter long with a thick back and a straight edge. This kind of weight and sharpness was enough to lop off one’s head with a single slash.

The thugs wore sinister expressions and had apparently exerted lethal force behind their blows as numerous machetes whistled toward Qianye. It almost seemed as if they couldn’t wait to hack him into several pieces.

Qianye responded with relative ease. With a slight shift of his body, he had passed through the gap between two machetes and grabbed the skinny leader. Then, with a full swing of his arms, he sent the man directly into the wall on one side of the alley.

With a muffled bang, a human-shaped defect appeared in the red brick wall wherein the skinny man was completely embedded—he had been knocked out cold.

At the same time, Qianye stepped sideways and kicked an incoming thug flying over ten meters away. Afterwards, he performed a backhand slap which sent another hooligan into the air. He spun several times before falling back to the ground with a mixture of teeth and fresh blood splashing onto the nearby wall.

In the blink of an eye, only one was left from the group of thugs. This burly man was also one of the most ruthless in his attacks. It was just that despite going all out with his slashes, the man had failed to even touch the corners of Qianye’s clothes. The latter casually grabbed onto the burly man’s wrist—with a twist and a push, he easily turned the man’s shank-sized arm around and pushed the machete into his abdomen.

In no time at all, no one in the alley, apart from Qianye, was left standing.

His frown hadn’t dispersed because his instincts were telling him that the matter wasn’t as simple as it seemed on the surface.

Qianye turned around and saw a bald man full of tattoos rushing out from the alleyway behind him. He was surging with killing intent as he aimed a large caliber origin gun at Qianye and pulled the trigger.

The trigger hadn’t even reached its base when Qianye stomped firmly on the ground, sending a wave of vibrations through the ground and toward the burly man’s feet, sending him flying into the air. As for that shot, it had long since blasted toward some other direction.

The bald, burly man slammed heavily onto the ground and even his origin gun had flown out of his hands. Qianye had appeared beside him at some point—his right hand reached out and caught the falling weapon firmly.

The bald, burly man wanted to flip over, but no longer dared to move after realizing that the hot muzzle was pressed against his temple.

His Adam’s apple moved up and down as he begged, “D-Don’t kill me! I’m only following orders. I had no other choice!”

Qianye paid him no heed and gradually raised his head.

A sinister looking man almost two meters in height was walking into the small alleyway at the moment. He opened his jacket to reveal a strong chest filled with black hair and three eye-catching combat blades, one long and two short, hanging at his waist.

The man walked over to a point ten meters from Qianye and said while pointing at himself with his thumb, “Your daddy here is called Ma Zuo. All the brothers in my line of work call me Triblade Ma. However, in the recent years, there aren’t many people left who are qualified to see my third blade.”

Qianye sized up this Triblade Ma—the man’s nine origin nodes lit up radiantly under his True Sight. His aura was exuberant, but the activity of his origin nodes wasn’t uniform. Some were overactive, while others were deficient, and there was even a fair amount of impurities mixed into them.

Apparently, this self-proclaimed Triblade Ma was a rank-nine fighter and one who had stagnated here for a considerable length of time. It was just that his foundation wasn’t optimal, and his origin power was impure despite its abundance, making it difficult for him to advance to champion rank.

Triblade Ma frowned. He felt extremely uneasy before Qianye’s eyes which had suddenly turned a deep blue. It felt as if he had suddenly turned naked from inside out and was being read like a book.

He spat somewhat angrily. Then, he unsheathed his sword and shouted while pointing toward Qianye, “Brat, this can be considered your misfortune. Someone paid me a large sum to take your worthless life. Let go of the bald head and hand over the goods obediently. I promise you a clean death!”

Qianye replied indifferently, “I don’t have a habit of releasing people I plan to kill.”

With that, he immediately pulled the trigger and blasted the man’s brains out with a boom.

“Bald head!!!” Triblade Ma roared madly. His expression turned ashen as he glared at Qianye with flaming eyes. “Well done! It’s been many years since I’ve seen such a reckless brat! It seems I've been so quiet lately that no one remembers Triblade Ma anymore. Little bastard, you can rest assured. After you die, I’ll put in the effort to find your family and have them accompany you. Die, brat!”

Triblade Ma leapt up and immediately rushed toward Qianye. His sword, accompanied by fierce winds, slashed toward Qianye’s head.

Within Qianye’s eyes, he could already see the affected origin power fluctuations even before Triblade Ma’s sword swung down. A ripple had formed before the blade’s edge, clearly denoting the blade’s lethal trajectory.

Qianye immediately performed a sidestep and easily allowed the blade to brush past his body.

Triblade Ma was greatly astonished. Actually, he wouldn’t have been so shocked if Qianye had merely blocked the sword. At his level, although he still couldn’t draw upon the might of the heaven and earth, he could already affect an area with his attack. An ordinary opponent absolutely wouldn’t dare to brush past his blade edge in such a calm fashion. But not only did Qianye do this, he was also completely unscathed.

But although Triblade Ma was astonished, his hand didn’t pause in the least. He borrowed the momentum to rush forward, drew his dagger, and performed a backhand slash at Qianye’s flank.

The angle of this blade was extremely tricky. The origin power projected from the blade was over half a meter long and could tear through flesh just like a direct cut from the blade’s edge.

However, Qianye didn’t even step away and only retracted his abdomen, effectively evading Triblade Ma’s killing move.

This time, the man was truly shocked. He pointed his sword at Qianye and said while clenching his teeth, “Little bastard, you’re unexpectedly quite slippery! Your daddy here will let you see my third blade!”

With that, Triblade Ma’s left hand reached toward the third blade at his waist. However, there was already a dagger in his left hand. Could it be that he was planning to hold two blades in one hand?

Qianye noticed origin power fluctuations suddenly appearing on the sword in Triblade Ma’s right hand as a beam shot straight at Qianye’s chest.

Qianye’s heart trembled. He immediately drew the Scarlet Edge and, with a wave of his hand, produced a beam of bright light before his body.

It was at this time that Triblade Ma let out a loud cry. His sword vibrated as the tip of the blade left its body and shot out at lightning speed toward Qianye’s heart. As it turned out, this was his third blade!

At this moment, his Scarlet Edge had formed a swirling barrier of light. Triblade Ma’s sword edge ran into it and was immediately knocked far away.

So it’s like this! Qianye was immediately enlightened. His True Sight allowed him to see the flow of origin power, and with that, he was able to judge the opponent’s route of attack. Although it was just a brief prediction, this small advantage was enough to impact the outcome in a melee battle where changes occurred rapidly and constantly.

Qianye reached toward his waist and, drawing the Bloody Datura with his left hand, aimed it directly at Triblade Ma.

Triblade Ma suddenly felt an extremely strong sense of danger. It was the kind of terror when death was just within reach. But knowing that the might an origin gun could display in melee combat was fairly limited, the man roared loudly and lunged toward Qianye.

Both parties entered melee range within the blink of an eye. At this point, origin guns had lost their value. But Qianye didn’t pull back and, instead, flipped his right hand over to perform a backhand stab at Triblade Ma’s abdomen.

The man let out an odd cry as he crossed his blades to entangle Qianye’s dagger. But for some reason, Qianye’s strike became slower and slower. Triblade Ma’s blades arrived first despite having started out late and clamped down on the Scarlet Edge.

Just as the three blades came into contact, Triblade Ma felt as if he were struck by lightning. His two blades flew out while the Scarlet Edge pierced deep into his abdomen without the slightest pause.

Qianye exerted some force through his hands, sending Triblade Ma flying backwards and crashing into a courtyard wall on the side of the alley.

Qianye walked toward Triblade Ma. “Now, tell me. Who is it that wants my life? If you’re straightforward and my mood improves, I might let you off. It’s fine if you’re unwilling. We’ll just have to see whether you’re stronger than they are.”

With that, Qianye brought out a series of odd little instruments resembling metal threads of various shapes and sizes. Triblade Ma’s expression immediately changed after recognizing the set of specialized torture instruments. These little things, in the hands of a professional, were even more terrifying than whips and branding irons.

Triblade Ma couldn’t help but tremble after seeing Qianye approach and shouted hurriedly, “Wait! I have something to say! You’ve provoked someone you absolutely can’t afford to. It’s best if you put down the goods and leave immediately!”

“Can’t afford to provoke? How so?” Qianye took a step forward.

At this time, Qianye suddenly became aware of the peculiarity in his surroundings. In his ears, he seemingly heard an odd whistle. The sound was very soft but exceptionally clear. This went to show that the surroundings were too quiet.

Qianye halted his steps and a blue hue once again emerged in this eyes. The bunch of jingling instruments had disappeared and his hand was now on the holster at his waist.

At this moment, the sun was high in the sky, showering the world with scorching light, and the sounds of crickets could be heard in the distance. Ignoring the half-dead hooligan brat, the only ones alive in the alley were Qianye and Triblade Ma.

It was too quiet.

It was currently daytime and this alleyway was still located at the city center despite being at its edge. How could there not be a single person at the entrance? Where was everyone?

On the ground, Triblade Ma was covering the wound on his abdomen and gasping for air. The terror on his face gradually intensified as beads of sweat began to appear on his forehead.

The silence was suddenly broken by the roar of an engine as an armed jeep barged into the alley and screeched to a stop.

Several soldiers jumped down from the car and pointed their guns this way. Their uniforms and insignias clearly indicated that they belonged to the Zhao clan’s private army—quite surprisingly, it was the city defense force.