The Speedrun Begins with Choosing Hunter

THUD...

Han Tie could no longer hold on, finally collapsing to the ground. His face had turned a deathly purple, a clear sign the poison had invaded his vitals. He was beyond saving.

"You... you deserve to die!"

He glared furiously at the slowly approaching Liu Hanshan, his teeth clenched in a snarl.

Han Tie knew he had no chance of escaping, so he just leaned against a large tree and unleashed a torrent of curses.

A cold sneer played on Liu Hanshan’s lips. He couldn’t care less about Han Tie’s profanity-laced tirade.

’He’s a dead man walking. It’s only fair to let him get a few curses in.’

But just as he raised his Long Sword to reap Han Tie’s life—

The figure of a young man emerged from the darkness.

An absurdly large Firewood Cutting Saber struck first, landing on Han Tie’s body.

Enhancement Points +87

Han Tie’s entire chest was cleaved open. With his last sliver of life, he forced his eyes open to look upon Bai Yuan’s face.

"Fuck... why you?"

His head lolled to the side, his breathing ceasing completely.

Liu Hanshan didn’t care that Han Tie had been killed. His gaze was fixed on Bai Yuan, his expression wary.

He didn’t care who killed Han Tie, so long as the man was dead. But this youth who’d appeared out of nowhere was completely unexpected.

"Who are you?"

The Long Sword in Liu Hanshan’s right hand was already drawn. He watched Bai Yuan guardedly, as did the eight Liu Family experts behind him.

Bai Yuan mused aloud, "Should be around two hundred points. Not bad." 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

"Two hundred points? Not bad?"

Liu Hanshan frowned, failing to understand what the youth’s cryptic words meant.

’Interesting.’

A cruel smile touched his lips. No matter who this person was, there was no hiding the fact that he was barely twenty. Unless he was some age-defying immortal, there was no way he could be a match for them.

SWOOSH!

A nearly inaudible sound came from Liu Hanshan’s sleeve—it was the same kind of poisoned silver needle that had taken down Han Tie.

But to his astonishment, at the very moment he launched the needle, his vision was enveloped by a cloud of white mist.

"Enchanting Powder!"

Liu Hanshan was a poison expert himself, and he instantly identified the white mist.

He gave a great wave of his right sleeve, and a gust of wind dispersed the white mist before him, leaving him completely unaffected.

On the other side, Bai Yuan had already dodged Liu Hanshan’s treacherous flying needle.

With his keen perception, he had of course already noticed the move Liu Hanshan thought was undetectable.

Liu Hanshan looked at the unharmed Bai Yuan and sneered repeatedly. He hadn’t expected this youth to have had the same idea as him.

’He’s got the makings of a good assassin. A pity.’

The fate of most old assassins is to die at the hands of younger ones.

He was an old assassin, and old assassins only thought of crushing new ones to death. No matter how promising the talent, he would never be moved to take on an apprentice.

"But a low-grade trick like Enchanting Powder is nothing to look at."

On the surface, he was an Elder of the Liu Family, but in reality, he had another identity: a Ghost Messenger of the Soul-Chasing Tower.

The Soul-Chasing Tower had a strict internal hierarchy. The so-called Soul-Grabbing Little Ghosts spoken of by the world were merely the lowest-ranking assassins. Above the Soul-Grabbing Little Ghosts were the Ghost Messengers, and only an Yijin Martial Master was qualified to be a Ghost Messenger-class Assassin.

Every Ghost Messenger was an expert in the use of poisons. He knew at least a hundred ways to counteract Enchanting Powder.

Bai Yuan’s lips curved up slightly. "Are you sure?"

Hearing this, Liu Hanshan frowned. He felt the world around him grow hazy, and his eyes began to sting and burn.

"What trick did you use?!"

He was aghast. He had never seen such a bizarre poison that could blur one’s vision.

Bai Yuan didn’t waste time with words. His pupils instantly turned blood-red.

Blood Tiger Saber, full power!

SLASH!

He had now perfectly integrated the foundational skills of a Swordsman into the Blood Tiger Saber. The seemingly simple slash packed immense power.

Liu Hanshan blinked desperately, trying to restore his vision, while his right hand instinctively brought his Long Sword up to block.

CLANG!

A deafening clang of colliding steel.

He felt a tremendous force travel up his right arm, almost making him lose his grip on his Long Sword.

’Such immense strength!’

Liu Hanshan was greatly alarmed, realizing he had underestimated the youth before him.

"Get him!"

He roared. Besides himself, he had brought eight experts from the Liu Family, all Bone Forging Pass Martial Artists. They might not be a match for the youth, but they could buy him time.

The white powder was strange, but his vision was already starting to clear.

But to his surprise, there was no sound from his surroundings.

The Liu Family Martial Artists, who had been standing guard with blades at the ready, had already been reduced to puddles of blood by a streak of emerald green in the grass.

The muscles in Bai Yuan’s arms bulged; he gave Liu Hanshan no chance to recover.

The Firewood Cutting Saber drew a bizarre, blood-red arc through the air.

SCHLICK...

A bloody gash was cut open on Liu Hanshan’s right foot. Unable to see, he could only use his Long Sword to desperately protect his vitals.

But his opponent’s moves were just as vicious. Though they didn’t kill him instantly, they were rapidly dismantling his ability to fight.

Another slash!

Aimed at the feet.

Liu Hanshan’s face contorted into a snarl as the Firewood Cutting Saber sliced off all five of his toes in one clean motion, blood gushing from the wound.

Finally, the face of a young man slowly came into focus before his eyes.

Unfortunately, it was too late.

Bai Yuan swung one last time, his expression cold.

A head flew high... and then landed. Beads of blood traced a red line through the air.

Enhancement Points +102

And with that, every enemy present had been slain by his hand.

Bai Yuan knelt and searched Liu Hanshan’s body, finally pulling a yellowed scroll from his robes: Soul-Hooking Steps.

Seeing the Cultivation Technique, a look of delight appeared on his face.

This was the reason he had made his move.

In a mini-game he had played previously, there was a scenario involving the Soul-Chasing Tower. One of the elite mobs there was very similar to the Liu Hanshan before him and had a chance of dropping the Soul-Chasing Tower’s exclusive Body Technique, Soul-Hooking Steps.

This Body Technique wasn’t much of a secret within the Soul-Chasing Tower, but in the outside world, it was a first-class Cultivation Technique.

Bai Yuan stuffed the ancient scroll of Soul-Hooking Steps into his robes, then used Xiaoqing’s venom to dissolve the bodies of Liu Hanshan and Han Tie into bloody puddles.

This way, not even the most brilliant detective would be able to find any trace.

After finishing all this, he slipped into the mountain forest and disappeared.

’With Xiaoqing’s help this time, things were so much easier.’

He had been badly injured when he killed Elder Wu before, but this time he had killed two Yijin Powerhouses in a row and remained completely unscathed, even though Han Tie was already at the end of his rope when he struck.

Liu Hanshan thought the white mist he’d thrown was Enchanting Powder, but it was actually a concoction of ingredients he had prepared himself.

The ingredients were simply Sichuan peppercorn powder, garlic powder, and Devil’s Pepper, combined using his master-level cooking skill.

Ordinary ingredients naturally wouldn’t be enough to handle an Yijin Martial Master, but adding a special ingredient like Devil’s Pepper produced a different effect.

Devil’s Pepper was originally an extremely spicy Spirit Grass with little medicinal value, so very few people bothered to pick it.

Liu Qingshan had searched for a long time to obtain this Devil’s Flower.

It was impossible for Liu Hanshan to find an antidote, because it wasn’t poison at all.

The effect was surprisingly good, allowing Bai Yuan to easily slay an Yijin Powerhouse.