High Martial: I Use Everything as Swords

Dragon’s Fang Port, temporary housing district. Inside a crude shack converted from an abandoned shipping container.

Blood Shadow, also known as Mo the Third, was holding a whetstone, methodically sharpening a rust-spotted kitchen knife.

Under the dim yellow light, his expression was indistinguishable from any of the port’s downtrodden masses, worried about their livelihood.

There were three other people in the shack.

One sat in a corner, using a tattered rag to wipe down a cold, mechanical prosthetic limb. His disguise was that of a retired veteran.

Another, a buxom woman, was mending a child’s piece of clothing with her head bowed, playing the part of a widow who had lost her husband.

The last person stood by the door like a wooden post, serving as a lookout.

"Boss, the rumors outside are running wild."

The veteran polishing the prosthetic spoke in a hoarse voice that had a metallic, grating quality to it.

"That kid surnamed Han is planning some kind of Purification Ceremony. He’s saying anyone who doesn’t go will be killed on the spot."

The woman playing the widow scoffed.

"Purification? Does he think he’s some kind of shaman?

I think we’ve pushed him into a corner, so he’s putting on a show to calm everyone down."

Blood Shadow didn’t even raise his eyelids, continuing to sharpen his knife with a soft scraping sound.

"A show? I like the sound of that."

He finally spoke, his voice calm.

"Every show needs its leading man and its supporting cast. He wants to be the savior, so we’ll play along. Except, we’ll be the ones writing the script."

The veteran asked, "Boss, you mean..."

"We’ll turn his own plan against him."

Blood Shadow set down the kitchen knife and tested the cold blade with his finger.

"He wants to force us out into the open, doesn’t he?

Then we’ll walk right onto his stage.

He wants to reassure the masses, so we’ll crush their last sliver of hope right in front of them."

His plan was simple, even crude.

When the ceremony reached its climax and everyone was pinning their hopes on Han Feng, his other team members, planted in the crowd, would simultaneously detonate the Blood Burst Talismans they had set up beforehand.

Once detonated, those talismans, which were created through Blood Refining using the vital essence of the living, wouldn’t cause a massive explosion. Instead, they would instantly release the most vicious curses and Spiritual Contamination.

At that point, the entire plaza would become a living hell, and panic would completely overwhelm reason.

"That Han kid... the file says his strongest weapon is Spiritual Attack."

Blood Shadow stood up, a confident smile on his face. "But what he doesn’t know is that when it comes to toying with people’s minds and souls, we’re the true masters."

He patted his chest, where a secret soul-protecting Treasure, bestowed by the higher-ups of his sect, was hidden.

"As long as his Spiritual Attack has no effect, he’s just some greenhorn who just entered the Meridian Passage Realm."

Blood Shadow’s eyes turned vicious. "I can even personally twist his head off in front of the tens of thousands of people in this port."

"And then, the ’God’ they believe in will become nothing but a ridiculous corpse."

...

「An hour later, at the central plaza of Dragon’s Fang Port.」

This place was originally used for parking large transport vehicles, but now it was packed with a dark sea of people.

Mercenaries, merchants, technicians, military families... almost everyone still breathing had been rounded up and brought here.

Under the watch of several hundred fully armed soldiers and a dozen cold Mecha, no one dared to speak or move out of turn.

A buzz of discussion rippled through the crowd like flies.

"What the hell is this? They drag us all out here with all this fanfare just to watch him perform some voodoo ritual?"

A Mercenary with a scar on his face spat on the ground, his expression full of disdain.

"Keep it down! You have a death wish?!"

His companion quickly pulled him back.

"Didn’t you hear? Anyone who didn’t come would be dealt with as a ’source of contamination’! That man isn’t joking!"

"But this is just too bizarre. Killing Demon Beasts, I can believe. But exorcising ghosts?

I’ve lived for thirty years and I’ve never even seen what a ghost looks like!"

"Who knows? Let’s just wait and see.

Besides, the back of my neck has been feeling cold this whole time. What if this actually works?"

Liu Zhen and Wang Qiang stood below the high platform, looking out at the tens of thousands of people whose faces were filled with doubt, fear, and unease. They felt uncertain themselves.

"Isn’t the Commissioner’s plan a little too risky?"

Wang Qiang lowered his voice, worried. "If this doesn’t work, morale will completely collapse."

Liu Zhen’s single eye swept across the plaza. After a moment of silence, he said slowly, "I trust the Commissioner. He isn’t the type to do things for no reason."

Just as the crowd was growing impatient, a familiar sonic boom echoed from high in the sky.

Everyone reflexively looked up.

A streak of black light descended from the heavens, hovering a hundred meters above the plaza.

It was Han Feng.

He was clad in the Escapee One Spiritual Energy Armor. The black Armor glinted with a hard, cold light under the sun. His faceplate concealed his expression, revealing only a pair of eyes as sharp as a hawk’s.

He said nothing, merely activating the Armor and beginning to fly in a slow circle above the crowd.

In the crowd, Blood Shadow, disguised as "Mo the Third," also looked up, his eyes showing the perfect mixture of awe and curiosity, just like the other survivors.

But inwardly, he was filled with disdain and mockery.

’Start your performance, you little clown.

I can’t wait to see the wonderful look on your face when blood blossoms beneath your feet.’

Han Feng hovered in mid-air, his cold gaze sweeping over the dark sea of people below. Tens of thousands of gazes—a mixture of fear, doubt, and numbness—converged on him.

He didn’t rush to begin his "ceremony." Instead, using the Armor’s built-in amplification system, he broadcast his voice, clear and distinct, to every corner of the plaza.

"Everyone, I am Han Feng."