Chapter 43: Chapter 41: The Knife Falls, and the Head Drops! The Man in Green with the Pale Face!_l
Translator: 549690339
All three men harbored ill intentions; it was clear they were set on robbing Su Changkong, and they had been targeting him for a while.
“Free goods? I’ve never been fond of conflict in my life, so I can only send you off for free… to the afterlife!”
Su Changkong’s face was expressionless, a cold light flashing in his eyes.
“Thinking of making a move? I am but half a step into the Internal Strength Realm’s heights…”
The horse-faced masked man sensed Su Changkong’s intent to kill and let out a cold snort, ready for the possibility of Su Changkong striking unexpectedly; yet his pupils suddenly constricted.
Su Changkong’s palm rested on the hilt of his sword, and his aura transformed abruptly. He had been concealing his presence, but now he was like an unsheathed blade!
“Clang!”
Amid the friction between blade and sheath, the Iron-Cutting Sword flashed like a silvery crescent moon, gone in an instant.
“Blockit!”
The horse-faced masked man was horrified; despite being prepared for Su Changkong to strike, his nerves and body simply couldn’t keep up. This attack, which far exceeded his limits, left him with no room to resist or retaliate—he could only await his execution!
“Tssk!”
A head tumbled backward, crashing to the ground, blood spouting from the severed neck like a fountain and splashing onto the branches of a nearby tree, dripping down as if lashed by rain and wind!
“How… how is this possible?”
The headless corpse of the horse-faced masked man collapsed limply to the ground, while the remaining two, the bull-faced masked men, stared aghast at the body, drawing a sharp breath in disbelief.
How could it be possible that the horse-faced masked man, who had been at the Strength Refinement Realm for years and was not far from stepping into the Internal Strength Realm, capable of fighting multiple opponents, couldn’t even dodge a single strike from Su Changkong despite being prepared?
The two men were stunned and terrified, but Su Changkong didn’t pause for a moment. His figure flashed, closing in on the black-faced masked man to his right. His sword moved with his body, unleashing a straightforward Horizontal Chop—a fusion of speed and technique!
“Dodge it!”
The black-faced masked man was panic-stricken, hastily trying to dodge, but his movements were sluggish compared to Su Changkong of the Divine Strength Realm.
“Pfft!”
Clean and swift, as though slicing through a large spring onion, the black-faced masked man followed in his companion’s footsteps, unable to even scream before his head hit the ground and his body slumped over, the spilt blood staining the earth red.
With the infusion of the Waist Strike Style, the Iron Cutting Blade Technique had ascended a tier in power. Against these Martial Artists who were merely at the Strength Refinement Realm, it was no different from chopping vegetables!
Su Changkong turned to the last surviving bull-faced masked man. He said nothing, but the man trembled, the pungent scent of blood making his heart pound!
To flee… was certain death!
“Thump!”
The bull-faced masked man’s legs gave out, and he found himself kneeling on the ground, sobbing and pleading with snot and tears running down his face, “Don’t… don’t kill me… I was blinded by greed! Spare my life… I’ll do anything you ask!”
Su Changkong was somewhat surprised; this bull-faced masked man was one of the few he had seen forsake their dignity to kneel and beg for mercy the moment they faced adversity.
Su Changkong paid no mind to the kneeling bull-faced masked man. Turning his head slightly, he spoke indifferently, “Have you seen enough, sir?” “Excellent blade technique! Impressive!”
An approving voice sounded, and from behind a large tree emerged a towering figure clad in green, his face concealed behind a pale mask without any pattern.
“This person… is extraordinary. Only when I took action to kill did I sense a slight fluctuation in his presence,”
Su Changkong inwardly marveled. This man in the green attire and pale mask was certainly no ordinary Martial Artist; even with Su Changkong’s keen senses, he had initially failed to detect his presence.
“Do you have any advice to share?”
With vigilance in his heart, Su Changkong unobtrusively made his inquiry.
“I’m quite interested in the crossbow you’re selling, just not sure about its quality.”
The man in the green robe with a mask spoke up, surprisingly for the sole purpose of Su Changkong’s crossbow sale.
In the Ghost Market, this man with a white mask hadn’t come to ask about the price of Su Changkong’s crossbow at first, waiting until Su Changkong left before silently following him, his true intentions unknown. However, perhaps after seeing Su Changkong cleanly dispatch two Strength Refinement Realm experts, he grew wary!
“Interested in buying a crossbow? Sure thing!”
Upon hearing the purpose of the man, Su Changkong felt a stir in his heart; he had been busy all night, and because he had been targeted by those three martial artists, he hadn’t been able to sell the crossbow. Now that someone was inquiring, he, of course, felt joy.
“You have three breaths’ time to escape with your life!”
Su Changkong’s gaze turned to the man in the ox mask kneeling on the ground who didn’t dare to move, and he spoke without the slightest fluctuation in his tone.
The man with the ox mask trembled, realizing what was coming, and, with a fierce bite of his teeth, he knew this was his only chance to escape. He quickly scrambled up from the ground and, with a burst of strength in his legs, shot nearly ten feet away, fleeing in the opposite direction.
The man with the ox mask was also a martial artist who had been in the Strength Refinement Realm for many years. His speed was at the pinnacle of what a normal person could achieve. In just two or three breaths, he had already fled more than thirty feet away.
At this very moment, Su Changkong had already taken out a crossbow, with the arrow nocked and aimed at the fleeing man in the horse mask. He pulled the trigger, and with his acute senses, everything seemed to him as if in slow motion!
“Bang!”
Amidst the sound of the mechanism, the crossbow string snapped back and the arrow, driven by a strong kinetic force, tore through the air, shooting out at nearly a hundred meters per second!
“Thud!”
The man with the ox mask, who had fled more than thirty feet, felt a sudden pain at the back of his neck. The arrow arrived in the blink of an eye, stabbing into his neck from behind and piercing through his throat.
The man with the ox mask’s eyes were filled with pain and unwillingness. Carried by inertia, he took a few more steps forward before falling helplessly to the ground.
“Good! The power of this crossbow is quite formidable. Although it’s not as powerful as a longbow, it has the advantage of being easy to use and simple to handle!”
The man in the green robe with the white mask exclaimed in admiration.
Archery depends on the basic skills of the user. If one has astonishing arm strength and is highly skilled in archery, then of course the killing power of a bow and arrows is extremely terrifying, with a very high upper limit. However, for an untrained, ordinary person, they might not even be able to fully draw a bowstring.
But a crossbow, even for a child or a teenager, as long as they know how to aim and pull the trigger, can pose a significant threat!
“What do you say? Would you like to make a purchase?”
Su Changkong asked, looking at the man in green attire.
If this man in green wasn’t interested in buying the crossbow, it would mean that his following Su Changkong was purely with ill intentions.
“I’ll buy! I’ll take them all!”
The man in green said without any hesitation.
“You’ll buy them all?”
Upon hearing this, Su Changkong’s heart leapt with joy. One for eighty taels, so for three that would be two hundred forty taels!
“However, I have one condition,” the man in green took a different tone.
Su Changkong didn’t respond, listening to the man in green speak.
The man in green spoke in a grave voice, “If you have more crossbows to sell in the future, you can sell them all to me. I am willing to purchase each for one hundred taels of silver!”
The words of the man in green took Su Changkong aback.
The man in green had proactively raised the price, and in exchange, Su Changkong was to sell all his crossbows exclusively to him!