Wu Long was experienced enough to know that the people who tried to stop him from approaching the area were not going to just let him through even if he tried to talk things out and pass amicably. He was not docile enough to patiently wait until he was allowed to pass and he could not be bothered to speak words that were unnecessary since the result would be the same. Thus his actions were only natural from his point of view.
The people surrounding him, regardless which side, however, saw something inhuman in his indifference and tranquility after what he did.
Even if the world of cultivation was cruel, there would still be emotions associated with killing a person, much less so many of them. But from him, they sensed none.
Even Liu Li who was most familiar with him was dumbfounded. But for some reason she was not scared like the sect elders and protectors around her were, she was merely surprised by how strong he was. After all, all the people he killed were Qi Condensation Realm practitioners, and not with empty cultivation bases but with high combat power. But he harvested their lives like cabbages.
And the swordplay he displayed had a different flavor, one she didn’t see in his sword before.
“Y-you think you can just kill our men and quit when you want?” one of the people he talked to shouted.
Although the power Wu Long displayed was terrifying, he was still in the Body Transformation Realm. There were Qi Manifestation Realm and even some Revolving Qi Realm practitioners in the group attacking the inn on the opposite side of the road, not to mention their high numbers.
The leap of power from the Qi Condensation Realm to the Qi Manifestation Realm was great since in Qi Manifestation Realm practitioners could manifest Spiritual Qi outside the body and depending on its usage it became a powerful force that anyone below Qi Manifestation could not oppose.
And Revolving Qi was the elder level for the Yin Yang Unity Palace. Though, as he recently learned from his conversation with Liu Li and Hua Ziyan, while being small in numbers and quite new, the sect’s cultivation levels were not that low comparatively.
The bigger sects still had Revolving Qi Realm as elders. It was the highest realm with numerous practitioners in this world as there were only a few thousands of people above that realm in the whole world collectively.
And to his bewilderment at the time when he heard it, there were even lower level sects with Qi Manifestation Realm as the elder realm.
So the Revolving Qi Realm was the pinnacle of the common practitioners of this world, the rest being elites not seen going around lightly and more often than not in lofty positions of sect leaders for normal sects and elders for the most powerful sects.
And as these attackers had several of the pinnacle of common practitioners, they believed that they still held the advantage, so they were not as afraid of Wu Long.
“Are you sure you want to focus on me? Your front lines are falling like flies now that you’re splitting the focus and not pressing forward” Wu Long said as he pointed behind their backs where the siege of the inn was failing exactly like he told them. “As I said, I do not plan to interfere in your matters, I only killed them since they prevented me returning to my inn. If you do pursue this issue with me, I will guarantee that your mission fails”
They clenched their teeth as they really could not afford to deal with him, as when they do, they would be entangled with the ones behind him in addition, and even if they could kill them all, by that time they would have completely failed their main mission.
“No worries, we will deal with this arrogant idiot, you guys concentrate on the target” there was a voice and three people walked out.
They were in the Qi Manifestation Realm, and unlike the ones Wu Long saw before in this realm, they were experienced fighters.
When they came out, the rest did not bother with Wu Long anymore, as they saw him as a dead man, turning back to focus on their main target.
Only two Revolving Qi Realm practitioners came out with the three before and coldly looked at the people behind Wu Long. It could be seen that they wanted to solve this problem as quickly as possible.
“If you intervene, you will all die here today. He was just too arrogant, you can only blame him for his death” they said to them.
Liu Li unsheathed her sword, ready to fight, but Wu Long merely raised his free hand, gesturing her to stop.
“These three should be doable for me, you don’t have to worry” he said, while raising his left hand with the sheathed sword, and gripping the handle with the right hand that he raised earlier to stop Liu Li.
She stopped, and for some reason his words sounded as trustworthy to her, although logically it didn’t make sense, she now believed there would be no problem. She couldn’t explain if someone asked her, but deep down in her heart she saw him as a reliable man, who would hold up the heavens if he said he could.
The same could not be said of the other two elders and the sect protectors, who also looked at him as a dead man. Though there was no worry for him in their eyes, as they would gladly give him up if they could avoid conflict this way.
Wu Long stepped out unsheathing the sword, and stashing the sheath into the storage ring.
“Haa, you chose wrong. I expected a wiser choice from you but since you decided to pursue this matter, your mission will fail today” he said, as he was lamenting that there were always people who did not think straight.
Now that they have decided to make an enemy out of him because of a bunch of low level henchmen and pride, he would have to retaliate, inadvertently interfering in the situation he had no intention of interfering with, and helping the people reside on the opposite side of the road he had no intention of helping.
In fact Wu Long’s thinking was only valid if they really were professional killers like their clothes suggested, as they would have been able to keep their cool heads and prioritize their mission without poking a dangerous unknown factor into making a move even if they had to eat some loss and humiliation.
These, however, were apparently people who just disguised themselves because of their sensitive identities or because they could not deal with repercussions of attacking their target. So their pride did not allow them to just let it go to pursue the main mission.
Hearing his words further infuriated them as he dismissed them too lightly and on top of that was saying that his intervention will blow up all of their chances of success.
“You fart! Die!” One of them could not hold it in and leaped forward with his one bladed greatsword raised high.
Wu Long went forward, meeting his attack with a stroke of his sword. The great sword’s trajectory deviated and it headed to the ground, while Wu Long kept going forward as he was raising the sword upward and to horizontal position, but he had to make a swiveling motion to the side as a spear of the second attacker pierced the air in the spot his chest was a moment ago.
He then striked the sword of the third one to his right that was slashing at him horizontally and deflected its trajectory upwards while his left hand landed a palm strike on the shaft of the spear not far from the spearhead, sending the spear left of him, towards the first attacker with the greatsword.
His deflection of the third attacker’s sword was done with a sword that was also nearly horizontal but with the tip slightly lower than the opponent’s sword blade, which he then manipulated to turn up with the turning and pressure on a specific spot of the sword. Thus his blade’s tip was actually now on the other side of the attacker’s sword while it was pointing up.
While the greatsword user and spearman were dealing with the attack Wu Long sent with the palm on the spear, his sword flicked downwards cutting a gash on the sword wielder’s wrist and retreating. .
As they recovered their battle stances he could safely retreat.
When they were looking at him now there was horror in their eyes.
The greatsword user had a deep cut on his neck from his left side which he held with his left hand. He would have lost his head in the first exchange if not for the spearman’s interference, as his spear strike forced Wu Long to deviate from his forward trajectory and his sword touching the neck with only the tip instead of the center of the blade.
The spearman was not injured but nearly lost control of his spear as the strike came at the exact moment his spear was the least in his control and at the precise spot the center of gravity of the spear was disbalanced at the moment.
The swordsman has a deep gash on his sword wielding wrist, and would have trouble fighting a prolonged battle.
The two Revolving Qi practitioners who threatened the others also lost their cool.
Wu Long was not faster or stronger than the three men he was fighting, he was in fact inferior in both speed and strength, he was just that vastly skilled and experienced.
His hand was slightly numb from the two times his sword made contact with their weapons even if his exquisite technique alleviated most of the force and he did not meet them head on and the strike he sent towards the spear at that precision should have at least made a slight injury on the greatsword user. The strength a Qi Manifestation Realm practitioner could exhibit could not be underestimated, and the Spiritual Qi flowing through their weapons ensured not only that they were more durable and could cut sharper, but also that there was force invading his weapon even if the two weapons just touched.
He had to be thankful that they did not have exquisite control over the Spiritual Qi they could release outside their bodies, otherwise he really wouldn’t be their opponent no matter how skillful or experienced he was.
There was also a thin film of Spiritual Qi that covered their bodies, reducing damage done, otherwise he would have given them even greater injuries.
‘Around 3-5 Qi Manifestation Realm people is about the limit, huh’ Wu Long thought to himself. Considering he was only in Body Transformation Realm it was an amazing feat but he was not happy, instead just quietly analyzing his own strength and the limits of his current fighting prowess.
“Hmm, I see, I’m done with you so I should get along and clean this mess up…”
Wu Long first nodded, seeming to have confirmed something, and then in the same voice he spoke from the beginning, declared their end. As he spoke, a sharp aura rose, enveloping all of the surroundings.
“This is… s-sword intent?!?!”
“A… a s-swordmaster!!!!!!”
“I-i-impos… how can this be?!?!?”
The three in front of him cried out loud at the same time he was talking, and the rest of the attackers also felt the suffocation and pressure this aura brought.
“…don’t blame me, since it was your decision to provoke me further…”
The sharp light in Wu Long’s eyes looked at this group without any hint of mercy or pity, but also without hatred, anger or any other emotions that usually make people kill other people.
“L-let’s talk this out”
“We’ll back off like you wanted!”
“You said you would not interfere right, we can…”
Most of the attackers turned this way now and shouted out words of reconciliation while stuttering and sweating so much their clothes all instantly got soaking wet.
“… although I don’t really care about whether you blame me…”
However, no matter how they asked, Wu Long’s sharp aura nailed them to their spots and they could already feel pierced by a sharp sword pressed to each of their foreheads. The last words he said while already raising his sword horizontally to his left.
“W-Wait-!!!!! … ”
“Stop!”
“Please!”
And as the last cries went out, moonlight flickered on Wu Long’s sword as it was already on his right side, stretched out horizontally. The sounds of their pleading as well as any other sounds instantly disappeared, and the color the moonlight brought to the world slightly dimmed, almost making anything that it or the lights on the street brought light upon look in various shades of gray color. Wind or any movement stopped, like a still picture.
The moment passed, and Wu Long turned around, sheathing the sword into the sheath he took out of the spatial ring again, the space around returned to normal, as close to a hundred heads rolled to the ground along with the bodies that started falling seconds later. There were also sharp sounds of weapons that were cleanly split in various places that coincided with the necks of their owners at the time of the strike, falling to the ground in two separate pieces.