42: Chapter 42 You're brave enough not to run away from me?

In a side room of the Prefecture Governors Estate,

Qin Muyuan sat inside a bathtub, washing the bloodstains off his body with hot water.

[Mad Killing Sword Technique Level 4 (68%) → Mad Killing Sword Technique Level 5 (Perfection)]

[Congratulations! Through your diligent Cultivation, you have Cultivated the white-tier Mad Killing Sword Technique to Level 5 Perfection!]

[Mad Killing Sword Technique Level 5 (Perfection): You have mastered the knack of Mad Killing Sword Technique, allowing you to infuse your own Killing Intent and blood Qi into your weapon, greatly increasing its sharpness. At the same time, you also possess the ability to burst forth with Killing Intent to deter other enemies.]

"Enhancing weapon damage and mental deterrence capabilities... Not bad."

Qin Muyuan nodded slightly.

As the saying goes, different maps come with different worlds. Back in Qinghua County, his pure nail could deal with a brat in a single sword strike.

Encountering enemies wielding sabers and swords, relying on the buffs given by the little girl Shi Yan, he could also directly slice them in half.

Upon arriving in Hongyan Prefecture, the strength of these enemies' sabers and swords was clearly up a notch.

Two strikes from the pure nail could only chop their swords into pits and dents, unable to directly slice them through.

Now that he had elevated Mad Killing Sword Technique to Perfection, he could imbue his weapon with Killing Intent and blood Qi, returning to the Realm of cleaving through both the person and the weapon in a single strike as before.

Furthermore,

Qin Muyuan raised his hand in a summon, and the internal force within his body burst forth, flying half a zhang into mid-air before rapidly dissipating.

"First-class Martial Artist's internal force projection... It's a bit trashy, no wonder that old man didn't use it in battle."

Qin Muyuan shook his head.

Internal force projection was the hallmark of a first-class Martial Artist.

Previously, he thought it was very strong, but after using it, he discovered that once the internal force projected outward from the body, its power would rapidly decay, getting completely exhausted in less than half a zhang.

It wasn't even as good as the usage without projection.

Turning off the panel, Qin Muyuan washed off the bloodstains on his body and thought again:

"Getting stained with fresh blood in less than an hour, keeping on like this is not a solution."

At Qin Muyuan's frequency of action, the bloodstains from killing people earlier wouldn't even be dry before fresh blood stained him anew from behind.

Continuing like this, his body would always be sticky. Surely he couldn't take a bath every single hour, right?

Looking at the mall points on his panel, he opened the game mall panel and searched.

Very quickly, he found his target:

[Leon's Shirt (Ancient Costume Edition)]

[Quality: White]

[Effect: Provides basic defense, particularly focusing on reducing damage received to the back. At the same time, it possesses a cleansing trait, preventing bloodstains or blemishes from adhering after being worn.]

"This is the effect I want!"

Qin Muyuan's expression flickered with joy, and he directly used mall points to secure this [Leon's Shirt (Ancient Costume Edition)].

As for defense and the like, he didn't care much.

What he cared about was the effect of avoiding blood contamination.

After wearing this equipment, he wouldn't need to laboriously take a bath to wash off bloodstains after killing people.

Having finished bathing, Qin Muyuan put on this ancient-style shirt.

Subsequently, he found a bronze mirror in the side room to check his appearance.

In the bronze mirror, a young man with black hair and black eyes wore an indifferent expression, dressed in a blue ancient-style long robe, looking quite presentable.

"Not bad, the avatar I created is simply identical to my real self!"

Tidying up a bit, Qin Muyuan walked out of the side room.

Outside the side room, Wangcai, covered in wolf fur, was already so hot it was lying on the ground panting with its tongue out.

Just moments ago, it had used its wolf paws to fetch water, transported buckets to the kitchen to boil water, and delivered the boiled water to the side room.

These chores weren't tiring per se, but doing them with wolf paws was quite torturous.

Especially when adding firewood to start the fire, it even scorched a few tufts of fur on its butt.

"Good job."

Qin Muyuan originally wanted to rub Wangcai's dog head, but finding that its wolf fur was stained with fresh blood, he held back and only offered a verbal comfort.

Leading Wangcai out of the Prefecture Governors Estate, the outside was still strewn with corpses.

Qin Muyuan walked through several streets outside the Prefecture Governors Estate, but the roadside remained completely empty, without a single commoner in sight.

"It seems everyone has run away, but... that so-called Prefect hasn't fled yet..."

Within his field of view, the position and distance of the sole remaining quest target had not changed much.

This showed that the Prefect named Yang Zhaoting, upon learning that he had killed Shang Youcai, not only did not run away, but instead sat and waited in place.

"Waiting for me to come knocking? A bit interesting."

Qin Muyuan flicked out the pure nail, executed the Wind-Treading Step, and dashed rapidly along the arrows in his field of view.

On the other side,

Yang Zhaoting, the Prefect of Hongyan Prefecture, sat in the courtyard with a calm expression.

He had already heard the news that Prefecture Governor Shang Youcai had been slain by a fiend.

However, he still wasn't worried.

Because it was Shang Youcai who had a grudge with the fiend named Qin Muyuan, not himself. Why would Qin Muyuan come looking for him?

Even though he, Yang Zhaoting, indeed wanted to send people in private to assassinate Qin Muyuan and do Shang Youcai a favor along the way,

didn't he not end up sending anyone?

How could Qin Muyuan know what was on his mind? After killing Shang Youcai, would he directly come knocking to kill him too?

Besides, even if Qin Muyuan came knocking, he was completely unafraid.

Because he was the Prefect of an entire prefecture, and he had collected plenty of treasures.

No matter what Qin Muyuan wanted, as long as it wasn't too excessive, he could afford to give it.

Money makes the mare go, and he didn't believe Qin Muyuan looked down on treasures and wealth.

And furthermore.

"If that Qin Muyuan really comes knocking and dares to break into my courtyard, I can use my methods to pluck off his head and trade it for a reward from the imperial court."

Yang Zhaoting patted his pampered wife who was forty years younger than him beside him, and said:

"So, you don't need to worry, everything will be fine."

Hearing his words, that pampered wife's heart instantly settled down quite a bit, leaning into Yang Zhaoting's embrace.

As for Yang Zhaoting, he continued to maintain his calm expression, raising the fragrant tea on the tea table to leisurely taste it——

"My Lord! This is bad, that fiend surnamed Qin has already reached outside the street!"

Right at this moment, panicked shouts from a servant came from outside, causing Yang Zhaoting's wrist to involuntarily tremble, spilling the fragrant tea all over his robes.

Seeing this scene, the pampered wife by his side hurriedly began wiping it off for Yang Zhaoting.

Meanwhile, the original calm on Yang Zhaoting's face turned into terror.

"He actually came knocking?"

Yang Zhaoting thought with a trace of terror in his heart, which immediately turned into anger:

"Very well! Daring to break into my Prefect's Estate, I will definitely make sure he never returns!"

Finished speaking, Yang Zhaoting stood up and came to a side room built of white ironstone deep within the courtyard.

He patted the seamless floor of the side room, found a small gap, and then probed his finger into the small gap, lifting it upward.

The box hidden beneath the floor instantly revealed itself.

There were many objects inside the box, and Yang Zhaoting took one out from among them.

That was an object as long as a forearm, wider at the tail, and narrow and long like a bamboo tube at the head.

"My Lord, what is this?"

The pampered wife beside him was stunned for a moment. She had never seen such an object before, so she asked.

"Good stuff."

Yang Zhaoting picked up that object and tucked it into his robes.

After that, he hugged the box, returned to the courtyard, and arranged things further.

"Everything is ready. If Qin Muyuan dares to come, I will definitely blast him into smithereens!"

Yang Zhaoting sneered, waiting for Qin Muyuan's arrival.

A moment later.

"The fiend is here——Ugh ah!"

"Flee! Hurry and flee!"

"Don't block me! If you want to die, go die by yourself! Don't block!"

With a bang, the courtyard gate was knocked open by a servant who stumbled in:

"My Lord, the fiend has already broken in——"

Rip!

Sword light flashed, and the servant's voice abruptly stopped.

A figure slowly walked into the courtyard, gazing at Yang Zhaoting who stood up from the courtyard, and said:

"Yo-ho, seeing me come and still not fleeing, you've got some nerve?"