One person: Starting with the Snow Drinking Blade

Chapter 113 Night Raid

It was late at night, at 2:17 a.m.

Nie Lingfeng sat cross-legged on the bed in room 309, closing his eyes and circulating the Wuqiu Yijue (a technique for cultivating inner peace). This was a habit he had developed over the past three months—nighttime was the best time for cultivation, when the "energy" of heaven and earth was most tranquil and clear.

He could now enter a state of "leveraging momentum" very naturally. His consciousness spread out like water, sensing the flow of air in the room—the gentle breeze from the air conditioner vents, the night wind seeping in from the window, the airflow created by his own breathing; sensing the vibrations downstairs—the occasional passing vehicle, the footsteps of people returning home at night, the faint rumble of machinery from the construction site in the distance; sensing the subtle swaying of the entire building—the settlement of the foundation, the expansion and contraction of the materials, the vibrations of water flowing through the pipes…

Everything was clear, like a three-dimensional, dynamic painting unfolding in his consciousness.

Suddenly, he frowned.

wrong.

It's too quiet.

Ten minutes ago, a drunkard was singing loudly in the alley downstairs, belting out a nonsensical version of "Goodbye Kiss"; in the room next to 308, a couple was arguing, with loud bangs of things being thrown around; and on the fourth floor of the building across the street, a baby was crying loudly and piercingly.

But now, all the sounds have disappeared.

It wasn't a gradual weakening, nor a slow cessation, but rather as if it were abruptly severed by an invisible hand. The singing stopped abruptly at its highest note, the argument fell silent after a "Say it again," and the crying seemed to be muffled, making two muffled sounds before... utter silence.

A deathly silence.

Even the sounds of machinery from the distant construction site have disappeared.

Nie Lingfeng opened his eyes.

In the darkness, his pupils contracted slightly, flashing a faint blue light—a sign of the Ice Heart Technique being activated to its fullest extent. He silently got out of bed, his bare feet making no sound on the carpet.

Walk to the door and listen carefully.

There were very light footsteps in the corridor. Not just one, at least five, approaching from the stairwell. The footsteps were steady and even, with almost perfectly synchronized intervals between each step—the rhythm of a well-trained soldier or assassin.

Moreover, they were deliberately controlling their breathing—their breathing was shallow and low-frequency, almost inaudible. But Nie Lingfeng could hear it because his hearing had surpassed that of ordinary people, allowing him to detect the most subtle sound wave vibrations.

The Wang family has arrived.

Moreover, this time, it wasn't the kind of probing surveillance that happened during the day; it was a real, well-prepared attack.

Nie Lingfeng's lips curled into a cold smile.

He walked to the window, but didn't turn on the light. He simply lifted a corner of the curtain and glanced outside.

Down in the narrow alley, two black vans were parked. They were ordinary models, with license plates mostly covered in mud. The engines were running, emitting a low hum, but the headlights were off. Four people stood beside the vans, dressed in dark clothes, almost blending into the night, but Nie Lingfeng could make out their positions—two at the alley entrance, one at the front of the vans, and one at the rear, subtly surrounding them and blocking all escape routes downstairs.

"A pincer attack," Nie Lingfeng muttered to himself, a hint of sarcasm in his voice. "They're quite well-prepared."

He lowered the curtains, turned around, walked to the wall next to 308, and tapped lightly on the wall with his finger.

Three taps, pause, then tap again.

This was their pre-arranged code, meaning "If something happens, don't move, wait for me."

The wall responded quickly with a knock—three knocks, a pause, and then one more. The meaning was "Received, understood."

Reassured, Nie Lingfeng walked back to the center of the room, put his hands in his pajama pockets, and waited quietly.

The footsteps in the corridor stopped outside door 309.

"Squeak—"

A very slight, almost inaudible sound of the lock turning. It wasn't a key, but a professional lock-picking tool, handled with great skill; the sound of the lock cylinder being turned was so faint it was like the flutter of a mosquito's wings.

Then, the door was slowly pushed open a crack.

An eye peered through the crack in the door—the pupil dilated slightly in the darkness, adjusting to the room's light. The eye swept across the room, landing on Nie Lingfeng standing in the center, hands in his pockets, watching him with an air of nonchalance. The eye paused, clearly taken aback.

The next second, the door was kicked open!

"Bang--!!!"

The wooden door slammed against the wall with a loud crash. Five men dressed in black combat uniforms, masked, and wielding short knives rushed in! Their movements were as swift as cheetahs, their coordination as perfect as a single unit. As soon as they entered, they quickly spread out, forming a fan shape to surround Nie Lingfeng, their blades pointed at his vital points, sealing off all space for evasion and counterattack.

The leader was bald, with a hideous scar running diagonally from his brow bone to his chin, and a piece missing from his left ear—he was one of the twelve top talents he had met in Biyou Village during the day, named "Scarface Liu." He carried his signature machete, twice as wide and thick as an ordinary knife, its blade gleaming with a ghostly blue light, shimmering like snake scales in the dim room—clearly, it was also coated with a potent poison.

"Nie Lingfeng," Scarface Liu grinned maliciously, his scars twisting on his face like a centipede crawling, "let's see where you run this time!"

Nie Lingfeng raised an eyebrow, without even taking his hand out of his pocket: "Why would I run?"

"Still talking tough even when death is imminent!" Scarface Liu waved his hand, his voice hoarse like sandpaper scraping. "Go! Leave him alive, the old master wants to deal with him himself! But don't let him have it too easy—sever his tendons and cripple his dantian!"

The four men in black moved at the same time!

Their movements were almost synchronized, like a precise killing machine. Two men pounced from the front, one wielding a short knife to the left and the other to the right, aiming straight for Nie Lingfeng's shoulder blades—the key points controlling the movement of his arms; another rolled in from the side, his blade sweeping towards his ankles; and yet another leaped up, thrusting his blade downwards, the tip aimed straight for the Baihui acupoint on the top of his head!

Four knives, four directions, four deadly angles, coordinated perfectly. The blades slicing through the air with a sharp whistling sound, tearing the air apart, and instantly filling the entire room with murderous intent!

This is the real killing move, leaving no room for doubt, not seeking to test the waters, but aiming to kill in one strike—or rather, cripple someone in one blow.

Nie Lingfeng didn't even move.

He simply lifted his foot lightly and stomped lightly on the carpet.

"Bang--!!!"

It wasn't a loud bang, but a dull tremor, as if it came from deep underground. The synthetic carpet beneath his feet instantly shattered, sending fragments flying everywhere! An invisible yet visible shockwave exploded outwards from him, like a circular shockwave that swept across the entire room in an instant!

Where the blast wave passed, the water glass on the table shattered with a "crack," the curtains were torn and rattled, and the television screen exploded with spiderweb-like cracks! The four men in black felt an irresistible force slam into their chests. The force wasn't a "push," but a "crush," as if they had been hit head-on by a speeding heavy truck!

"puff--!!!"

Four mouthfuls of blood spurted out simultaneously, blooming into four blood flowers in the air. The four men in black were sent flying like kites with broken strings, crashing heavily into the four walls!

"Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump!"

A series of dull thuds echoed. The walls shook, and dust fell in a flurry. The four men slid off the wall and collapsed limply to the ground, their combat uniforms caved in at the chest, countless ribs broken. Blood and foam billowed from their mouths, their eyes rolled back, and they passed out on the spot before they could even scream.

The whole process takes less than a second.

From the moment the four men attacked until they fell to the ground, Nie Lingfeng didn't even take his hands out of his pockets.

The sinister smile on Scarface Liu's face froze completely.

His eyes widened, almost bulging out of their sockets. He stared at his four men lying on the ground—his "Shadow Blade Squad," whom he had meticulously trained for three years. Each member was a top-tier fighter, their seamless teamwork capable of taking down renowned experts with years of experience. But now, they lay on the ground like four dead dogs, not even touching the hem of Nie Lingfeng's clothes.

He slowly turned his head again to look at Nie Lingfeng, who was standing in the center of the room. The young man was still standing with his hands in his pockets, his breathing was perfectly steady, and his eyes were as calm as if he were watching a boring performance.

"You...you..." Scarface Liu's voice trembled, not from fear, but from extreme shock and disbelief. "What kind of kung fu is this?!"

"Guess." Nie Lingfeng finally took his hand out of his pocket and casually patted off imaginary dust from his pajama bottoms. "But there's no prize if you guess right."

Scarface Liu gritted his teeth, the scars on his face turning blood red from the tension in his muscles. He knew he had kicked a hornet's nest today, and a red-hot, meter-thick steel plate at that. But he couldn't back down—backing down meant certain death, and the Wang family's methods of dealing with losers were more terrifying than death itself.

Fight!

He suddenly pulled a small wooden box from his pocket—the box was made of sandalwood, carved with eerie runes, and exuded a chilling aura. He opened the lid, and inside lay a palm-sized, jet-black scorpion.

This is no ordinary scorpion. It has six eyes on its carapace, arranged in pairs of three, with blood-red pupils; its tail is forked, with two stingers, one dark green and the other purplish-black; its eight legs are covered with fine barbs that gleam like metal under the light.

"Six-Eyed Ghost Scorpion..." Scarface Liu stared at Nie Lingfeng, a glint of malice flashing in his eyes. "I've been raising my natal Gu for ten years, today I'll let you taste its power!"

He bit his tongue and spat a mouthful of blood onto the scorpion!

"hiss--!!!"

The scorpion let out a sharp, piercing hiss, and all six eyes on its carapace lit up with a bloody light! It leaped out of the box and spread its wings in the air—not the membranous wings of an insect, but four thin, bony wings covered with blood-red patterns!

Its bony wings vibrated, emitting a high-frequency buzzing sound that pierced the eardrums. The scorpion transformed into a black lightning bolt, lunging straight at Nie Lingfeng's face! Its two stingers retracted, poised to strike, and emerald green and purplish-black venom condensed at their tips, dripping onto the carpet and instantly corroding two small, smoking holes!

It moves so fast that its trajectory is almost invisible! It's so poisonous that contact with it is fatal!

This is Scarface Liu's trump card, a move that will shorten his lifespan by three years with each use, but its power is enough to poison an opponent whose cultivation is a whole major realm higher than his! He has used this move to kill three enemies stronger than him, and it has never failed!

Nie Lingfeng looked at the approaching scorpion, a hint of amusement flashing in his eyes, along with a trace of...pity?

He raised his right hand, palm up, fingers slightly spread.

"puff."

A soft sound.

It wasn't an explosion, nor was it a fire; it was just the most ordinary sound, like striking a match or lighting a candle.

A wisp of flame ignited in his palm.

The flame was small, only about the size of a candle, flickering quietly. But its color was extremely strange—not orange-red, not golden, but a crimson red with molten gold-like patterns flowing within it, like the blood of a living creature pulsating within the flame. The core of the flame was almost pure white, radiating terrifying heat. The surrounding air was violently distorted by the intense heat, and light, filtering through the distorted air, cast eerie, flickering shadows on the walls.

The temperature in the room instantly soared by twenty degrees! The curtains moved on their own without any wind, the carpet began to curl and turn yellow, and the paint on the walls crackled and popped!

The scorpion, flying towards the flames, suddenly let out an extremely shrill screech when it was still three feet away from the fire!

The screech was filled with fear, despair, and an instinctive tremor as if it had encountered a natural enemy! It desperately flapped its bony wings, trying to retreat, to turn around, to escape! But the momentum was too strong, the distance too close, and it couldn't stop at all, like a moth drawn to a flame, crashing headlong into that wisp of crimson-gold flame.

"laugh--!!!"

It wasn't the sound of burning, but rather the sound of something being instantly vaporized and annihilated. Faint, yet clear.

The scorpion disappeared.

Not even ashes remained, and even the venom was evaporated completely. Only a faint, sweet, and fishy smell lingered in the air—the residual "qi" energy after the Gu worms were completely destroyed.

The color drained completely from Scarface Liu's face in an instant.

He opened his mouth wide, as if to say something, but no sound came out. He looked down at the empty wooden box, then up at the quietly flickering flame in Nie Lingfeng's palm, and finally at his own hands, which had turned pale rapidly after spitting out blood essence. He felt as if his bones had been removed, staggered back two steps, and crashed into the wall.

"What...what kind of fire is this?!" His voice trembled, his whole body shook. "Samadhi True Fire? Nanming Li Fire? Or...or the legendary..."

"Guess." Nie Lingfeng smiled, flipped his hand, and the flames vanished. The high temperature in the room instantly dropped, as if nothing had happened. He beckoned to Scarface Liu, "Come on, let me see what other tricks the Wang family has up their sleeve. Don't tell me that's all you've got."

Scarface Liu gritted his teeth, a desperate madness flashing in his eyes. He knew he was doomed to die today, but even in death, he would bite off a piece of his opponent's flesh!

He gripped the knife with both hands, and his entire body's "Qi" erupted with a roar! It wasn't a normal operation, but a frenzied surge that burned his life essence and overdrawn his life force! The scars on his face turned purplish-black from the congestion, his eyes were bloodshot, the veins on his temples bulged, and his whole body looked like it was about to explode!

"—The Night Parade of One Hundred Demons Slashes!!!"

He unleashed a slash!

It wasn't an ordinary slash, but a bizarre, twisted sword technique that seemed to come from the deepest hell! The blade shone with an intense blue light, instantly splitting into dozens, even hundreds, of ghostly blue shadows! These shadows bared their fangs and claws, their faces contorted in a ferocious grimace, emitting mournful howls, like demons crawling out of hell, as they pounced on Nie Lingfeng!

Wherever the ghostly figure passed, the air froze, the walls frosted, and the temperature plummeted to below zero! White ice crystals condensed on the floor, the windowpanes cracked with a "crack," and the moisture in the room instantly turned into icy fog! The lights became dim and flickering, like candles in the wind!

This was Scarface Liu's final strike, a power so great it could freeze all living things within a ten-meter radius, even their souls would be frozen and torn apart!