Chapter 4 – Kill
"Brother, don’t—don’t be reckless..."
Gu Chudong was horrified. She hadn’t expected Gu Mo to make such a move. In fact, everything he had done just now was completely outside her expectations.
She knew Gu Mo’s martial skills had always been far superior to hers, and after st night, his inner strength had clearly improved. But his eyes—he was blind. No amount of inner strength could change that, right?
She wanted to stop him, but it was already too te.
Gu Mo had drawn his bde.
He carried a long Tang bde, one he usually used as a walking stick due to his blindness. But at this moment, that same bde swept through the air and felled one of the Broadsaber Gang fighters with a single strike.
The bde art he used was a family technique—Mysterious Void Bde Art—passed down from his adoptive father in this life.
Both of his parents had been martial artists and taught the siblings since they were young. This bde art was refined, one of quality in the jianghu, consisting of seventy-two techniques. The original Gu Mo had only learned forty-eight before becoming a rising star in the Linjiang region. The final twenty-four were the most exquisite—but he never mastered them.
Until st night.
With his Nine Yang Divine Skill fully awakened, Gu Mo’s martial comprehension had leapt to near-perfection. Empowered by the nature of that divine art, he had instantly mastered the entire Mysterious Void Bde Art—every st one of the seventy-two forms.
The final twenty-four were especially intricate, and the art’s name was no lie: it was all about illusions.
Xuan, the profound. Unfathomable and mysterious. Xu, the void. Faint, illusory, impossible to grasp. Combined, they described a technique of deceptive fluidity—feints within feints, attacks within defenses, always a step ahead.
The Broadsaber thugs surged forward like ravenous wolves. Bdes cshed, shadows danced. The entire inn shook with the chaos.
Yet Gu Mo moved calmly.
Though blindfolded, he tracked every attacker by the slightest breath, footstep, or wind shift.
He spun, bde gleaming like a silver serpent. A single cut, and the first man colpsed with a gurgle.
He didn’t stop.
"That was the 50th move: ‘Falling Star Fades.’"
"Now the 63rd: ‘Blossoms Before Buddha.’"
"Next, the 57th: ‘Butterfly Dream on the River.’"
...
Amid screams and steel, Gu Mo danced through them like a phantom.
His bde was a wheel of light, carving through the gang like a god of war. Within moments, the floor was scattered with bodies, blood streaming across the floorboards.
“Scatter! Scatter!”
Zhang Xiong was sweating bullets. He had thought taking down a blind man would be easy. Now he was regretting every decision he made.
He cursed the Longwind Escort Agency to hell and back.
The only reason he’d dared to come grab Gu Mo’s silver so btantly was because he’d done his homework: Gu Mo, a blind, disgraced escort, driven out by his former agency. His sister, Gu Chudong, couldn’t even qualify to be a proper escort herself.
One feeble girl, one disabled man.
What could go wrong?
“Damn it! Even blind, this guy could’ve stayed a top escort! Longwind’s full of morons!”
Raging and desperate, Zhang Xiong yelled, “He’s blind! Scatter and throw everything you can! Break his hearing!”
The gang got the idea quickly.
Gu Mo relied on hearing. So the thugs started hurling stools, bowls, bottles—anything to create chaos and noise.
It worked.
His senses were overwhelmed. His responses slowed. But Gu Chudong helped by calling out cues, keeping him aware.
Zhang Xiong seized the moment. “Pin the girl down!”
A few thugs broke off and charged Gu Chudong.
Without her help, Gu Mo became visibly disadvantaged. He stumbled, breathing quickening.
Zhang Xiong saw his opening. He lunged from behind, broadsaber raised high—
This is it! he thought. One good ssh and it’s over!
But in the next instant—
Gu Mo moved.
He dodged with eerie ease and countered, slicing upward in a fsh. Zhang Xiong’s arm flew through the air.
“ARGHH!”
The gang leader shrieked as blood spurted from his stump.
“You—you can see?! You’ve been faking?!”
Gu Mo said nothing.
He just swung once more—clean, fast.
Zhang Xiong’s head flew into the air. His eyes still wide in disbelief.
Gu Mo hadn’t been pretending to be blind. He’d just pretended to be disoriented.
Zhang Xiong’s pn was decent—but he underestimated the Nine Yang-enhanced awareness.
Inside that inn, Gu Mo could sense every corner, every motion. The racket meant nothing.
He let them think they had him.
And baited Zhang Xiong into overconfidence.
With their boss dead, the Broadsaber thugs scattered like rats. No one wanted to stick around.
Gu Mo sheathed his bde, standing tall, unstained by blood. Cold and calm.
The bde still dripped quietly onto the floor.
“To the few of you still watching outside…” he said toward the door. “The silver’s here. Feel free to come try your luck.”
“Brother, there’s more of them?” Gu Chudong whispered.
Gu Mo nodded. Then after a moment: “They’re gone now. I guess they decided I’m qualified to keep this silver.”
“They all left?”
“Yep.”
“Phew, thank goodness!”
Gu Chudong quickly went to loot the bodies—finding over forty taels.
The inn was dead silent now. The other guests had long since fled. Only two figures huddled behind the counter remained.
Gu Mo couldn’t tell who the innkeeper was, but he spoke toward them. “Innkeeper, I’m sorry for the mess. Here’s twenty taels for the damages...”
The innkeeper stammered, “M-Master Gu, please, no need... Just—just let us close up early tonight. That’s all I ask.”
Gu Mo understood.
Killing a Broadsaber lieutenant meant the gang would want revenge. If he stayed, the inn would be dragged into it.
“Little sister, give the man twenty taels. Let’s go.”
Obediently, Gu Chudong left two silver ingots on the counter and helped Gu Mo out.
The innkeeper and his assistant both let out long sighs of relief.
“What now, boss?”
“Go to the yamen, of course. Let them deal with this mess. We’ll close shop for a few days.”
“This is such a pain...”
“Be grateful,” the innkeeper said. “That Gu fellow’s righteous—he let the guests escape before he fought and even paid for damages. If it were some hotheaded maniac, we might be dead. Hmph... No hero’s reputation is built without a pile of innocent corpses behind it.”
(End of Chapter)
