Pan Yucheng was stunned!

Ning Chen had seen it too, and it shook him as nothing had in a long time.

Tantai Qingyue's sword seemed to have gotten faster. That would be the Startled Swan Sword.

A weapon that suits a fighter really does add a great deal to what he can do.

All he had seen was Tantai Qingyue draw and sheathe.

Prince Rui had been dumped in front of him before the blood so much as came out of Ni Tianxing's throat. Her sword was fast enough to chill a man's blood.

It brought back the first time he had met Tantai Qingyue.

She had come to assassinate him then.

Luckily he had trained out that breath himself, and he had rebar in his hands, Pan Yucheng and the others beside him, the Ning'an Army and the muskets.

Even so, he had been wounded.

If she had been holding the Startled Swan Sword that day, he doubted he would have lived this long.

No good. I have to find a way to get stronger.

Ever since I trained that breath out, somehow the breath inside me hasn't grown at all.

Every life in Xiliang was in his hands, and Tantai Qingyue didn't dare touch him. He still didn't feel safe. To beat iron, you have to be hard yourself.

One day this woman might have a bad turn and put a sword through him, and that would be that.

Ning Chen quietly set himself a goal: inside a year, he would take his strength up another level.

Then he added a second goal, which was to sleep with Tantai Qingyue.

Once she was his woman she would never hurt him, whatever happened... Call it one more layer of insurance on his neck.

Ning Chen didn't dare let his mind linger on Tantai Qingyue's figure any longer. He knew that killing Ni Tianxing just now had been a warning to him.

He took off his outer robe and held it out to her. "Put it on. Cover up a bit!"

Tantai Qingyue paused, then said flatly, "No need!"

"You're…