The Second Sword

At the instant of hearing Mù Qīngyǔ’s words, Ren Qi was momentarily stunned.

He then re-examined the enemy before him.

‘She seemed… different.’

Qín Yuè, who had always possessed a mature countenance, now had a trace of childishness in her features.

Her height, too, seemed to have shrunk, making her formerly well-fitting clothes appear loose and baggy, as if she had simply grabbed two random garments from a closet and pulled them on.

Most striking, however, was her hair.

Her once raven-black tresses were now interspersed with distinct white strands, creating a black-and-white blend that looked utterly incongruous.

She had regressed from an adult woman in her twenties to a young girl barely out of her teens, and this trend of regression showed no signs of stopping.

Mù Qīngyǔ, too, picked up a strand of her black-and-white hair, frowned briefly, and then released it.

‘Well, it was too late now.’

‘There was no need to hide anymore.’

She completely shed her disguise, revealing her true face for the first time in Wufeng City.

She was no longer the mature, alluring woman, but a youthful maiden with flowing white hair, a somewhat petite stature, and a proudly prominent bosom.

Seeing her instantly transform into the appearance of a sixteen or seventeen-year-old girl, Ren Qi’s eyes widened.

“You, you fiend…”

‘For a Spirit Wielder, changing one’s body and face was hardly uncommon.’

Having infiltrated the Heaven’s Will Bureau, Ren Qi naturally understood the implication of her words.

Among the numerous criminals apprehended by the bureau, many had deliberately used false identities.

However, he had never imagined that Qín Yuè would be such a person.

Furthermore, her true appearance was even younger than her usual disguise, resembling nothing more than a high school girl.

White hair.

Yet, this snowy white hair, coupled with those sharp crimson eyes, struck Ren Qi as eerily familiar.

He felt as though he had seen her somewhere before.

Rolling up the sleeves of her now-loose garments, Mù Qīngyǔ’s fair palm glowed, and a sheathed longsword materialized.

She swiftly drew the blade from its sheath.

The crisp hum that reverberated through the hall caused Ren Qi’s heart to skip a beat.

‘What kind of weapon is this?’

Merely gazing at the azure blade, Ren Qi felt an ominous premonition.

His intuition told him this sword was not to be underestimated; it was certainly not comparable to the ordinary, standard-issue longswords found on the ground.

Still, a glimmer of hope flickered within him.

‘Perhaps my self-healing ability can withstand this?’ he thought.

This fleeting thought persisted only until Mù Qīngyǔ moved.

The girl, having fully unleashed her true state, vanished silently from her spot.

Ren Qi’s pupils constricted.

Instinctively, he raised his recently healed arm to block the surge of killing intent.

However, Mù Qīngyǔ, who had arrived before him without a sound, did not bring the Green Fish Sword down in a chop.

Instead, she thrust it straight forward.

The blade passed beneath his explosively muscular, black-furred arm, piercing directly into Ren Qi’s abdomen.

Had it been a standard-issue longsword, it would have merely shattered upon impact with his hardened skin.

But the Green Fish Sword was a treasured blade personally gifted to Mù Qīngyǔ by her father.

Its unparalleled sharpness tore through Ren Qi’s skin and flesh with ease.

Most of the azure blade buried itself in his body, and the powerful thrust sent Ren Qi stumbling backward until his back collided with the wall.

In pain, Ren Qi reached out to grasp the Green Fish Sword’s blade, but Mù Qīngyǔ withdrew it preemptively, leaving him clutching at empty air.

Her initial strike was merely a test, an assessment of the Green Fish Sword’s potential damage against Ren Qi.

Having obtained the desired result, she swiftly retreated.

From the outcome, the Green Fish Sword’s sharpness was far more terrifying than she had imagined.

While the standard-issue longswords issued to Heaven’s Will Bureau agents could injure Ren Qi, they would be rendered useless in the process.

Yet, the Green Fish Sword effortlessly tore through Ren Qi’s flesh without suffering any damage.

This meant that before the Green Fish Sword, Ren Qi was akin to an ordinary person facing a common longsword, utterly devoid of defensive capabilities.

His greatest advantage had been nullified.

‘But it’s still not enough.’

Mù Qīngyǔ gripped the longsword with both hands and closed her eyes.

Simply swinging the sword wildly was insufficient to kill the monster before her.

His self-healing ability remained a troublesome factor.

Unless she could deliver an attack powerful enough to end him in a single blow.

As it happened, Mù Qīngyǔ possessed just such a method.

While she couldn’t sustain a prolonged battle, she had absolute confidence in her burst potential.

She held her breath, concentrating all her strength into a single point.

The Green Fish Sword emitted a faint glow, seemingly in response to its master’s thoughts.

Ren Qi had no idea what she was doing, but he instinctively sensed the killing intent gathering around her.

The next attack would be far more than a mere test.

“I’ll kill you!”

Despite acquiring new power, he had been cornered so miserably.

Ren Qi’s rage surged to its peak.

The ground beneath his feet cracked as he hunched, coiling his strength.

It shattered completely as he shot forward like a cannonball.

Ren Qi intended to twist her head off before Mù Qīngyǔ could even strike!

But he was ultimately a step too late.

Before his claw could touch the maiden’s cheek, her eyes snapped open.

The close proximity ironically saved her the time of needing to rush forward.

The girl swung her sword with all her might, directly cleaving into the black monster’s body.

The sword light was chilling, piercing through the monster’s body, then through the building’s wall, until it soared above the street and vanished into the sky.

–What day is it today?

–Is that a firework?

–I don’t know.

–So cool, that’s the second sword energy.

The sword light, admired by pedestrians on the street, nearly cleaved Ren Qi’s body in two.

His consciousness almost dissipated, but light slowly re-coalesced in his murky red eyes.

‘This one sword isn’t enough to take him down? Victory has been decided!’

Ren Qi knew this strike had drained Mù Qīngyǔ of all her strength.

She had nowhere left to run!

Just as Ren Qi was about to celebrate prematurely, Mù Qīngyǔ redirected the blade and swung it again from another direction.

‘What?!’

Ren Qi didn’t even have time to scream before he was once again engulfed by sword light.

–Wow, a third time!

–Whoa, that’s really cool.

–You can say that again.

The third sword light, cheered by onlookers, intersected with the previous one, forming a large ‘X’ across the black monster’s body.

Ren Qi had never dreamed that Mù Qīngyǔ could unleash a second sword strike under such circumstances.

“Return to the Void One-Strike Decapitation can indeed only unleash one strike.”
“But that’s under normal circumstances.”
“You’re terribly unlucky to have encountered someone abnormal like me.”

Mù Qīngyǔ sheathed the Green Fish Sword, a smile on her face as if to say, ‘Just average, just average,’ though a corner of her clothes was slightly soiled.

As she extended a slender finger and lightly tapped the ‘frozen’ monster before her, its colossal body instantly collapsed to the ground, shattering into countless pieces of flesh.

The duration of her power boost had just ended.

She felt as though she were some kind of giant of light.