Crack!
The guard captain's eyes immediately went lifeless as they popped out of their sockets. The man did not even understand how he had died, let alone who had caused it. After all, the affair was just way too sudden.
Hua Yan did not use any special power for this blow, as he relied solely on the gravitational force generated from his fall and his sword's edge to do the work.
His knees hurt from jumping off a building like that, but that didn't stop him from using them to thrust forward into another guard who had just caught sight of him.
One moment, the guard saw Hua Yan. In the next, he saw Hua Yan's blade. After that, he couldn't see anything anymore and things would remain that way forever because Hua Yan had taken his life.
There were now only three guards left, but Hua Yan didn't have much blade remaining on his sword to take care of them. He had destroyed too much of it in his aggressive assault, and his right hand was hanging limply at his side from overuse and abuse.
The guards noticed this, but did not dare to attack him. They had personally seen how he had slaughtered their comrades, so they knew better than to provoke him upfront.
Before Hua Yan could make his next move, one of the guards ran away to call for reinforcements, while the other two guards blocked Hua Yan's path.
These two were indeed brave, but Hua Yan didn't have the energy to admire their valour.
He held his blade with his left hand and aimed it right at the running guard.
The other two, seeing his action, thought that he was about to impale the one that was running, so they immediately got in the way to block him.
Unluckily for them, Hua Yan had already predicted that they would attempt to do this, so he quickly did a spinning jump, adjusted his throwing posture into a double-handed grip and brought his sword slashing down at one of the guards that had dared to intercept him.
"Graaaaaaah!"
The man screamed out as Hua Yan's sword lodged itself on his forehead. Hua Yan's blade snapped in the process and he lost complete control of his right arm.
The remaining other guard that had stayed behind tackled Hua Yan onto the ground.
"You monster! How could you kill them all! You fiend! You criminal! You scum! What am I supposed to say to their families!"
The guard started pounding on Hua Yan's body in a frenzy. He was truly mad and heartbroken at Hua Yan's ruthless acts of murder. He wanted to smash Hua Yan's face to a pulp with his bare fists alone.
Just around the time he had landed his fifth hit, a piercing white light shone from under his chin and pierced into his throat.
His blood sprayed in a fountain onto the object that had killed him.
It… it was actually a common rock on the side of the road. It wasn't too sharp or lethal-looking.
It was just an ordinary rock, yet a half dead Hua Yan had managed to use it to kill the guard.
Hua Yan shoved the guard's body off of him and stood up.
His legs were constantly shaking, and he couldn't quite move his toes.
What stood in front of him was a trembling Hua Gwan.
Hua Gwan hadn't expected that Hua Yan would actually be this strong. He had followed the guards here to personally see Hua Yan's life be taken away from him. He had wanted to watch the man that had killed his thugs be torn apart with his own eyes.
What he did not expect though was for the guards that were escorting him to be slaughtered off so easily.
He had previously been informed that Hua Yan had already depleted all of his energy and had a foot in the grave! Hua Yan should have been in no condition to hold a weapon, much less put up any sort of a fight!
Yet, what the heck was this?!
He had managed to kill 4 guards that even Hua Gwan in his peak state wouldn't dare to provoke!
This was actually what a weakened Hua Yan was?!
Hua Gwan shivered just thinking about what sort of a concept an energized Hua Yan would be.
Hua Yan rose his head and gave Hua Gwan a grim stare, causing the latter to immediately lower his eyes and giving him the impulse to bow.
Hua Gwan could not stand Hua Yan's fierce gaze!
His legs were pinned in place and he felt that if he tried to run, he would have a rock pierce the back of his head. He was truly scared!
But as the seconds passed by, he noticed that Hua Yan had yet to make a move on him. Mustering up all the courage that he possibly could, Hua Gwan lifted his head up to see what was in store for him.
He was shocked to come face to face with a completely empty courtyard. After Hua Yan's feat of killing the first guard, everyone had already run away. They were too shocked by the scene of a guard captain being killed like that in broad daylight, so they did not wish to stay in the area any longer.
They had noticed the influx of guards securing the perimeter, so they knew that something was up. Since the situation had seemed so dangerous, they all went back to their rooms and barricaded themselves indoors, hoping that no one would come after them or involve them in these bloody affairs.
As for Hua Yan, he had disappeared from Hua Gwan's line of sight.
Hua Gwan swore that Hua Yan should have not been able to move his legs anymore, so he was really confused as to where he had gone.
This was when something suddenly happened.
Hua Gwan felt a strand of hair around the nape of his neck. He was so scared by this that he nearly jumped out of his boots!
Turning around to look at it in shock, he realized that it was the hair from a human head!
More precisely speaking, it was the severed head of the guard that had run to call for help earlier.
And the head was actually… being held up by Hua Yan!
Hua Yan was dangling it in front of Hua Gwan's face, prompting Hua Gwan to fall over and let terror paint the contours of his face.
"Y-You… what are you doing?"
Hua Yan kept silent, slowly wobbling closer and closer to Hua Gwan.
Hua Gwan soon backed up against a wall and was unable to move backwards anymore. All his routes were blocked by Hua Yan and the two swords in his hands.
It was unknown how he was holding onto them, since his fingers had already been messed up so badly that they were twisting and entwining with each other like creeper vines.
His legs were positioned in an unnatural angle, and his left foot was actually facing in the same direction as his back!
Hua Yan looked like a monster straight out of a horror story.
There was no visible part of his skin where blood could not be found. He looked like a zombie that had just crawled out of its grave, and Hua Gwan had the misfortune of witnessing this in his final moments.
Hua Yan didn't waste time with words and sent out a slash.
His sword never reached Hua Gwan though, because the hidden figure that was watching all along finally made a move.
"So you fell for the bait like an idiot," Hua Bim exclaimed, never expecting that things would work out so easily.
He had inquired from some of the locals of Courtyard 24 about why exactly the initial fight had taken place and he had noticed that Hua Gwan actually played a large role in it. Using him to lure out Hua Yan, Hua Bim planned to get Hua Yan to come out and confront the guards.
Hua Bim had already seen how slippery Hua Yan was, so he did not want to let him run free again. That was why he had personally watched over the entire operation and personally decided to deliver the finishing blow.
He parried Hua Yan's sword with his own and aimed a cut for his head.
Instead of the sound of steel tearing flesh though, only a strange, unsettling laughter was heard.
"Jajahajahajahajhajahajhaja!"
The glimmer in Hua Bim's eyes faded and his body collapsed. As for Hua Yan, there was only a pile of dust left in his place.