At this critical juncture, Su Mohan suddenly remembered that his lower body could still move. He stomped his feet hard, launching his body into the air along with Madame Hua on his back. However, because their combined weight was quite heavy, and Madame Hua was actively trying to stop him from dodging by using her inner energy to press him down, Su Mohan only managed to leap a single foot off the ground despite his excellent lightness skills.

Su Mohan had already anticipated that he could not completely leap away from the strike, but what he needed was exactly this one foot variance. After leaping up a foot, he twisted his waist, and the sword grazed his flesh, missing a fatal blow.

Although Jin Qianzhi hurriedly pulled back his weapon, the tip of the sword still pierced into the abdomen of Madame Hua, who could not dodge in time from behind.

Su Mohan had only lost a bit of skin, but Madame Hua was severely wounded. Her blood stained the back of Su Mohan’s shirt red, and the strength in her grip weakened noticeably.

Madame Hua used the last of her strength to lock her arms around Su Mohan’s neck, roaring with great effort, “Fourth brother, quickly kill… him!”

Jin Qianzhi was furious when he saw that he had accidentally injured his own ally. Hearing her words, his sword thrust forward like an icy blade. The restraint on Su Mohan’s body had lessened significantly. He spun his body, and the sharp sword plunged directly into Madame Hua’s body behind him. The force of this strike was immense; it not only pierced completely through Madame Hua’s body but its tip also embedded itself right into Su Mohan’s spinal bone.

When Jin Qianzhi pulled the sword back out, Madame Hua slid straight to the ground like a lump of mud, collapsing limply into the dust.

Su Mohan ignored the blood pouring from the wound on his back, looked at Madame Hua, and said with deep respect, “You truly are a hero among women. Using you to block the sword was an act of desperation, but this is how the martial arts world is—it is a matter of life and death. I hope you can rest in peace.”

With his eyes already bloodshot, Jin Qianzhi roared in a massive rage, “Cut the hypocrisy! You have killed three of my brothers in a row. Today, even if we have to die together with you, we will slaughter you!”

Outside the thatched cottage, a drizzling spring rain had already started to fall, but the ocean tide was still slow to arrive. Qin Guanghai looked up at the sky, then at the cottage, and finally murmured to himself, “We really are having a lot of spring rain this year. Looking at how clear the weather was just a moment ago, it suddenly started raining out of nowhere.”

“Third Master, the rain is coming. Are we still going to light the fire?”

Qin Guanghai said, “Of course we are lighting it. This straw has been soaked in fire dragon oil. How can such a drizzle stop a fierce blaze? Light the fire for me immediately.”

Dozens of servants took down the torches tucked at their waists, and dozens of torches were lit all at once. With Qin Guanghai’s command, countless flames soared through the drizzle like a flock of fiery birds, landing on top of the cottage in an instant.

As the torches landed one after another, the moment the flames touched the weeds on top of the cottage roof, that section of the roof spread rapidly in all directions like a fiery dragon. In an instant, the blaze spread across the entire perimeter of the cottage, and the raging flames illuminated the entire beach in a bright red glow.

By this time, the people inside the cottage could already feel a powerful heatwave hitting them. Then they saw sparks bursting out above their heads, followed by thick smoke pouring inside.

“The bastards outside actually set the fire early! Everyone run for your lives!” Ning Bufan shouted while standing on a wooden pillar, yet he did not move an inch himself. He knew that anyone who went out now would be disqualified, and this was the only way he could ensure he would be within the final one hundred people when he left.

Most of the martial artists inside were rough outlaws. In their desperation, a dozen or so of them actually ran outside.

“If you go out now, you will be disqualified! We have sacrificed so much, so no one should leave! We must hold out until the very end!” someone in the crowd suddenly shouted at the top of their lungs, and another group of people who were just about to run out immediately turned right back.

Ning Bufan was a bit angry to see his good plan ruined, but he immediately thought of another clever trick.

“Kill faster, everyone! There are at most about one hundred and fifty people left now. If we kill fifty more, we won’t have to be roasted like suckling pigs!”

Ning Bufan’s tactic worked perfectly. Some people who had been resting comfortably on the wooden pillars were suddenly blindsided by those next to them, falling straight down into the yellow sand.

For a time, whether on the ground or on the wooden pillars, everything dissolved into complete chaos. The sounds of shouting and killing pierced through the thick straw of the cottage and reached Qin Guanghai’s ears, bringing a faint smile back to his face.

Inside the cottage, Su Mohan had already been fighting with the bloodshot Jin Qianzhi for a good while. Ma Quan, who had been watching the fight from the side, was waiting for his chance. He wanted to deliver a fatal blow to Su Mohan when the two were fighting at their peak, but even after waiting for a long time, the opportunity never appeared.

Just then, Su Mohan swept the tip of his sword back and forth, forcing Jin Qianzhi back half a step. Then Su Mohan raised his sword and thrust it forward. With a smile on his face, Jin Qianzhi tilted his blade, and Su Mohan’s long sword plunged straight into the center hollow of the hollow sword.

Joy washed over Jin Qianzhi’s face; he had been waiting for this exact opportunity for a very long time. Su Mohan, however, did not panic. This move was originally a trap he had baited out. Seeing Jin Qianzhi fall for it and twist his wrist to snap the sword, Su Mohan let go of his right hand and struck out with both palms at the same time. Jin Qianzhi had never expected his opponent to choose to discard his weapon to attack. Facing the two furious palms coming at him, he could only hurriedly extend one palm to block. But the other palm struck his body squarely, and he fell heavily to his knees, his knees scraping two long marks into the ground as blood trickled from the corner of his mouth.

Thinking of the wound on his back, Su Mohan rushed forward. He pulled out the sword that had just been trapped and swept it across Jin Qianzhi’s neck. Although Jin Qianzhi tried to block it with his hand, his neck was still slashed open, and several fingers blocking his neck were sliced clean off.

Ma Quan, who had been waiting for his chance all this time, could no longer hold back. He swung his fist and struck toward the back of Su Mohan’s head.

Su Mohan felt the rushing sound of the wind behind him from far away. He turned and leaped into the air, and the sword in his hand shot toward the space between Ma Quan’s eyebrows like a shooting star in an instant. Ma Quan was completely off guard. His body remained in an attacking posture, his face entirely filled with disbelief. A thick stream of blood poured from his mouth, carrying a faint, weak question: “What kind of sword technique is this now?”

Su Mohan did not expect Ma Quan to still ask such a question even in death, but out of respect for him being a fellow hero, he offered a comforting, made-up name: “This is called Exterminating the Five Heroes with the Sword.”

In truth, this move did not have a name at all; it was just a regular turn-and-thrust, but if he had to name it, that was all Su Mohan could think of.

The Five Heroes of Jiangnan had all died at Su Mohan’s hands. By this time, more than half of the people inside the cottage were dead or injured, and the number of people left was clearly under one hundred. The surrounding flames grew more and more intense, as if they were about to roast everyone alive.

Ning Bufan was rushing toward Su Mohan at this moment, chopping down a man along the way, and shouted to Su Mohan, “Brother Su, let’s get out of here quickly, or we will be buried in this sea of fire!”

Su Mohan scanned the situation inside the cottage and realized that he had already passed the test. He then followed behind Ning Bufan and rushed out of the sea of fire.