The man was utterly bewildered, unable to process what he was seeing.
An unknown fear made him instinctively take two steps back.
But unexpectedly, Jiang Nian didn’t even look at him.
Instead, he lowered his head and quietly stared at the crossbow bolt that had pierced through the base of his thumb and was still clutched in his hand. After a long moment, he reached out, picked up the bloody piece of torn flesh, and put it into his mouth.
At first, it tasted like rust, and then it grew increasingly gamey.
The meat was tender—it hadn’t turned tough and sinewy from all his martial arts training.
As a first-rate martial artist, Jiang Nian could indeed catch a crossbow bolt, but his physical body wasn’t exceptionally strong. Under that intense friction, his skin had still split open.
A hair’s breadth from death!
He really had nearly bought it just now!
Sure enough, even a first-rate martial artist can’t afford to be too arrogant in the modern world—there are just too many ways to kill him.
He casually tossed aside the bolt still stuck to his palm, and a sharp, searing pain shot through him.
But Jiang Nian just laughed.
It was a chillingly soft, sinister laugh.
“Marvelous!”
“Marvelous!”
“It seems this eunuch still hasn’t mastered his craft!”
Jiang Nian shook his head, laughing in admiration.
In that moment, it was as if he had been possessed by Yu Huatian himself. His expression and movements were so spot-on, so vivid, that he perfectly recreated the character from the film Flying Swords of Dragon Gate.
Yu Huatian had stepped into reality!
“???”
Everyone present was thrown into utter confusion by his behavior.
What the hell was wrong with this guy?
Why did he suddenly start acting like that?
Only the man in sunglasses remained unfazed. He didn’t let Jiang Nian’s antics distract him. Instead, he snatched another crossbow from one of his men, aimed it at Jiang Nian, and pulled the trigger.
Whoosh—
The bolt shot forward, carrying a tremendous force as it flew straight at Jiang Nian.
In the blink of an eye—
Ten meters,
Seven meters,
Five meters—
The bolt was getting closer and closer, but Jiang Nian acted as if he hadn’t even seen it, still completely absorbed in his own world.
Until the bolt was less than three meters away, about to strike him—
Thump!
With a dull thud, Jiang Nian’s body flickered like a ghost, dodging to the side. But as he shifted, he raised his arm in an eerie, fluid motion and brought a finger down in a sharp strike!
In that instant, the bolt—thick as a finger—was snapped clean in two by that single digit. His finger was like a blade: fast and precise, splitting the bolt right down the middle.
With two soft clinks, the broken halves hit the ground.
Jiang Nian then turned his head and looked at the sunglasses-wearing man, whose face was now frozen in sheer terror. Gone was the earlier mockery in his eyes; in its place was an endless, bone-chilling coldness.
Humans are such contradictory creatures.
Even when they hold an absolute advantage over their opponent, the fear of getting hurt, of feeling pain, can still make them fight with hesitation.
But once they’re wounded—even if it’s just a scraped knee—it can instantly send them into a frenzy.
That was exactly what was happening to Jiang Nian now.
Before the bolt had torn through his thumb, he had been fighting cautiously, avoiding any risky moves and playing it safe.
But now, after getting hurt, his subconscious had switched into “Yu Huatian mode,” as if he were truly possessed.
“Don’t blame me for not giving you a chance!”
Jiang Nian muttered coldly, then suddenly lunged forward.
His presence was overwhelming, yet his movements were ethereal—he practically skimmed over the grass as he charged straight at the man in sunglasses.
“Is he human or a ghost?!”
The man was stunned!
He wanted to fight back, but he was completely at a loss—Jiang Nian was just too fast.
All he could think was how much he regretted not bringing a gun.
He’d figured a compound crossbow would be enough—after all, the organization had only just taken notice of this target. He never imagined it wouldn’t even slow Jiang Nian down.
A massive miscalculation!
The assassination mission this time had completely exceeded the projected threat level.
Fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh!
Luckily, the others snapped out of it and fired a volley of bolts in unison. But Jiang Nian, after the earlier battles, was no longer a greenhorn.
And now, in this special state—as if possessed by Yu Huatian—his combat instincts had skyrocketed.
The martial arts techniques he’d learned flowed effortlessly, incredibly smooth. His “Eight Steps to Catch the Cicada” footwork was as elusive as a wild horse’s hoofprints—impossible to track. His body flickered and weaved, dodging bolt after bolt, before closing the distance in an instant!
The man in sunglasses barely had time to register a blur before his head exploded with a dull thump, caved in by a single blow. Blood poured from his seven orifices, and all signs of life were gone.
Seeing this, the others were completely terrified. For the first time, they started thinking about abandoning the mission.
Some even turned and ran.
But against Jiang Nian in this extraordinary state, it was useless. No matter how fast they ran, they couldn’t outrun his Eight Steps.
“Once a blade is drawn, it must taste blood. And my fists and feet are no different.”
……
……
“Are we almost there?”
Meanwhile, halfway up the mountain.
After pinpointing Jiang Nian’s location at the foot of the mountain, the First-Class Police Superintendent and his team of detectives had been rushing over nonstop.
At his question, Xiao Li was just about to pull out a night-vision scope to take a look.
But before he could even grab it, the distant sound of roaring and screaming echoed from afar.
“Over there!”
Hearing the commotion, there was no need for Xiao Li to point it out—the lead superintendent had already spotted the source.
The other detectives, upon hearing the noise, reacted like sharks catching the scent of blood—they raised their guns and charged straight ahead!
They were excited at the prospect of making a big bust, but also anxious about Jiang Nian’s safety.
Moments later, they arrived at the scene and immediately raised their weapons, shining flashlights ahead. “Police! Nobody move! Hands in the air!”
But no one at the scene paid them any attention.
Sensing something off, the detectives took a closer look.
And what they saw sent chills racing down their spines.
In that clearing lay over a dozen bodies, twisted and scattered haphazardly.
Some had their skulls crushed in, others had their limbs bent at unnatural angles—not a single one looked like a normal human being.
But that wasn’t the most unsettling part.
The real shock came from the figure standing in front of them.
A man drenched in blood stood tall, one hand clasped behind his back in a poised, elegant stance.
But his other hand—holding a bloody short arrow between two fingers—was poised above the man collapsed at his feet. He looked down with a sinister grace, about to strike!
“Holy shit!”
“Stop!”
Thinking the blood-soaked man was the killer, the police immediately trained their guns on him.
Feeling the deadly threat emanating from those dark barrels,
Jiang Nian simply glanced up and let out a cold snort.
“How dare a few petty Embroidered Uniform Guards lecture me on how to do things?”
With that—
Thump!
Without any visible movement—just a slight flick of his wrist—the short arrow flew from his hand. With a muffled impact, it pierced clean through the last man’s chest.
The police: “…”
