Chapter 20: Beheading the Boss! Testing System Abilities! Terrifying Results!

The head bandit charged forward with a ferocious aura.

Gu Yang paused for a moment.

He withdrew his fist.

“Looks like the difference in cultivation is too big. Fist intent alone won’t cut it.”

Gu Yang shook his head in reflection.

Then, he slowly drew the sword at his waist.

Seeing this, the bandit leader grinned.

“Only now you think of drawing your sword? Too late!”

The aura surrounding the boss exploded even more violently.

In the next instant, his massive fist came crashing toward Gu Yang’s face.

If that punch landed—

Gu Yang would be dead for sure!

But Gu Yang remained perfectly calm.

With a gentle swing of his sword—

A razor-sharp burst of sword qi slashed out through the air!

Wind and Cloud Sword Technique!

At the same time, a mysterious power quietly infused the sword qi.

Swoosh!

Slash!

The bandit leader didn’t even register that Gu Yang had made a move.

He only felt a sudden chill around his legs.

Then, a searing, soul-wrenching pain erupted from his lower body.

Horrified, he looked down—only to see his legs had been severed clean off.

Thud.

He collapsed to the ground.

Agonized screams and wails burst from his mouth.

Upon witnessing this, the other bandits turned pale in an instant.

Terror flooded their faces—they all tried to flee in panic.

But Gu Yang showed no mercy to those attempting escape. He struck each one down with a single sword stroke. Read full story at Nove1Fire.net

The moment he attacked, the rest of the bandits no longer dared to run. They dropped to their knees, trembling, not daring to utter a word.

Only then did Gu Yang turn to look at the howling bandit leader.

“P-please! Don’t kill me!”

“Senior! Brother! Grandfather! I was wrong! I shouldn’t have attacked you! Please spare my life! I’ll give you anything you want!”

Sweat poured down the leader’s head.

The pain had twisted his expression beyond recognition.

Yet even so—he desperately wanted to live.

So what did dignity matter?

Sobbing and sniffling, he began to beg for mercy.

Gu Yang didn’t act right away.

Instead, he said coolly, “Hand over everything valuable in this Blackwind Stronghold.”

The bandit leader’s eyes lit up with hope.

Resources?

He’d gladly give them!

As long as he could survive—so long as the green hills remained, there’d always be firewood!

He hurriedly pulled out a strange black ring from inside his robe.

“H-hero! This is a spatial storage ring—it holds all of Blackwind Stronghold’s resources!”

“Everything is in here!”

He handed it over quickly.

His expression suggested he was telling the truth.

“You’re not hiding anything else?”

Gu Yang asked flatly.

“N-no! Absolutely not.”

The leader bowed deeply, fists clenched tight.

Just wait!

I’ll have my revenge!

That treasure was the result of countless years of accumulation.

To have it all taken like this—how could he accept it?

But for now, with his life hanging by a thread, he had no choice but to yield.

He forced a smile through gritted teeth.

A true man bends when he must!

“Since that’s everything, I won’t waste time tormenting you.”

Gu Yang slowly raised his sword.

The bandit leader’s eyes widened in horror as he stared at Gu Yang.

“W-what are you doing!?”

“Didn’t you say you’d let me live if I handed over the resources!?”

He shouted.

“Hmm? I never said that. That’s just what you assumed.”

Gu Yang’s voice was calm.

From beginning to end, he had never promised to spare the man.

After all, his mission was to eradicate the Blackwind Stronghold. As the leader—

How could he possibly be let off?

“No! You can’t kill me!”

“I’ll haunt you even in death!”

As the tip of Gu Yang’s sword drew closer, the leader’s face twisted with malice, cursing him.

Gu Yang responded with only a cold laugh.

“You think I’d be scared of you dead when I wasn’t scared of you alive?”

Shaking his head, Gu Yang said no more.

He brought the sword down.

Slash!

Blood sprayed in every direction.

The bandit leader—died on the spot.

Seeing this, the surrounding bandits trembled from head to toe.

They knelt and begged for mercy.

But Gu Yang showed no mercy.

These criminals had committed countless atrocities. They deserved death.

Within minutes—

Corpses lay strewn across the stronghold grounds.

The air reeked of blood.

Only three bandits in the Body Refining Realm remained alive.

They now knelt, trembling.

“S-sir, we were forced into this! Please, spare us!”

“Yes, sir! Please let us live!”

The trio begged in hushed voices.

In response, Gu Yang waved his hand and knocked them unconscious.

Of course, he hadn’t spared them out of pity.

He had something he wanted to test.

As he considered his plan, he reached down and snapped the neck of one unconscious bandit.

Then, with a thought—

He altered that man’s “production date” to one minute ago.

Swoosh!

A strange scene unfolded.

The man’s severed head reattached to his neck.

A second later, his eyes flew open.

He stared at Gu Yang in absolute terror.

“You… I…”

He tried to speak—

But Gu Yang had already twisted his neck again.

“It really works. I can use this power on others.”

Gu Yang was stunned.

Not only could he apply the system to outsiders—

He could bring people back from the dead.

This power…

It was terrifying beyond belief.

Even in a world filled with magic and martial arts—

This had to be among the most fearsome of abilities.

He could bring the dead back to life!

“But if I can alter the past… what happens if I modify the future?”

Curious, Gu Yang looked at another bandit.

He focused—and modified the man to be a hundred years older.

Immediately, the man’s aura weakened drastically.

His hair turned white.

Wrinkles ravaged his face.

In just a few seconds—

He aged from a middle-aged man to a dying elder, and then into a skeleton.

Hiss…

Even though Gu Yang had mentally prepared himself, he couldn’t help but gasp.

So his “golden finger” didn’t just edit cultivation, martial skills, or sword intent…

Its greatest terror was in altering living beings.

He could reverse time to revive people—or accelerate it to kill them by old age.

It was completely undetectable.

Even cultivators stronger than him could be taken down if they weren’t careful.

This was a forbidden power.

Time manipulation—no matter the world—was always taboo.

Then, Gu Yang turned to the last surviving bandit.

This time, he didn’t age him a hundred years.

Instead, he advanced his time by twenty.

The bandit’s body changed rapidly.

Though he was aging and near death—

Gu Yang noticed something else.

The man’s cultivation level had improved!

From a Body Refining cultivator—

He had advanced to Qi Gathering Realm Level One!

While twenty years for that breakthrough wasn’t impressive—

It proved a point: if he recklessly altered someone else’s timeline…

It could make them stronger.

“You… what did you do to me!?”

Perhaps due to the sudden aging, the bandit rose in panic, channeling his qi as if preparing to attack.

But before he could lift a hand—

A flash of sword light—

And his head hit the ground.

“This ability is seriously broken.”

Gu Yang couldn’t help but sigh again.