Zhao Defu

Lu Chen crouched in the corner by the wall, quietly listening to the conversation inside.

Kang Mao glanced at the three corpses on the ground and ordered, "Take all the corpses away. Don't touch Li Feng's body yet. Leave him where he is, and find a cloth to cover him."

With that, he headed farther inside.

Lu Chen listened as people moved heavy objects around the courtyard, then slowly walked away.

He immediately leaped up, stepped lightly along the top of the wall, and followed the two people carrying the corpses.

After a winding walk through the Through Hall and into the back garden, the two passed an artificial hill and suddenly disappeared.

Lu Chen's eyes lit up.

So the entrance was here?

It was well hidden.

Gripping his saber, Lu Chen quietly made his way behind the artificial hill. There he saw an iron door standing open, with a staircase leading underground. Lamps hung on the walls, lighting the way down.

Lu Chen descended slowly, keeping his guard up. At the bottom, he turned left and found another open doorway. The space suddenly opened up before him.

The underground chamber was a good three or four meters high, and by rights it should not have felt cramped at all. But the place was dark and damp, with water stains in the corners and great patches of mold. The smells of mildew, urine, and blood mingled in the air. Just being there felt enough to warp a person's mind.

Several torches were set into the walls, their flames flickering unevenly, unable to reach the darkness in the corners.

There were many iron cages down there, and the stench was foul. Lu Chen could see several emaciated children curled up inside them. Their arms and legs had been broken, their eyes gouged out, and much of their exposed skin had ulcerated. They bore many old scars.

He narrowed his eyes, killing intent surging in his heart.

This method was known as "Body Mutilation for Begging": children's arms and legs were broken and their eyes blinded, turning them into deformed monsters. Or a dog would be killed and skinned, holes pricked in a child's body with a needle, and the dog's hide laid over the bleeding skin. Eventually, the two would grow together, impossible to separate, making the child look like a real dog.

The Black Pole Gang exploited people's sympathy, sending these grotesquely deformed children out to beg for money.

Even tearing them apart with five horses or executing them by a thousand cuts could not erase their sins!

As Lu Chen passed, some of the children in the cages stared at him numbly.

His face taut, Lu Chen charged at the two men ahead.

"Who are you?"

"You're courting death!"

The two men spotted the furious Lu Chen and shouted. Dropping the corpses, they rushed to kill him.

Expressionless, his gaze cold, Lu Chen swept his Yanling Saber across.

Swish!

A bloody line appeared on each man's neck. Then blood sprayed out like mist.

The strength seemed to drain from their bodies. Clutching their necks, they crumpled helplessly to the ground.

[Fate Value +180, Luck Value +2]

[Total: 1232]

Lu Chen stepped over the two men and entered the room beyond.

It was a very spacious room, with iron cages arranged along the walls. There were also many rusty chains and instruments of torture, stained with dark red, blackened blood.

A burly man was wielding a whip, torturing a beggar-like figure bound to a rack. The person's hair was disheveled, his body filthy, his clothes barely covering him, and his body was covered in whip marks.

The two men had shouted so loudly just now, yet the burly man had not stopped. His face was twisted and ferocious.

"So you're a mute!"

His face dark, Lu Chen charged straight at him and brought his saber down.

An ox-butchering blade could do more than butcher an ox. It could butcher a man, too.

The man's head fell to the ground.

[Fate Value +60, Luck Value +1]

[Total: 1292]

After cutting down so many people in succession, the Yanling Saber's edge had grown somewhat dull.

He stepped forward and cut the ropes binding the beggar. "Hurry and leave. If you wait too long, it'll be too late."

With that, Lu Chen headed farther inside once more.

[Under the host's influence, Zhao Mancang's fate has changed.]

[Fate Value gained: 10]

[Total: 1302]

Hearing Lu Chen's voice, the beggar's eyes widened abruptly. But when he raised his head, all he saw was Lu Chen's back.

He shakily climbed to his feet, but instead of leaving, he forced himself to endure the pain and made his way farther inside, bit by bit.

He had come here to find his son.

Lu Chen had already spotted the man called Kang Mao, the Boss Kang Zhou Tiezhu had spoken of.

Kang Mao spotted him too. His usually smiling face had turned ashen.

"A ghost has gotten into the house! What are you standing around for? Kill him!"

His voice was urgent, but instead of stepping forward, he quickly backed away.

He had to get out of there quickly.

This man dared to come here, so he was clearly confident in his abilities.

Kang Mao had no desire to take the risk.

Several of Kang Mao's subordinates looked uneasy and somewhat afraid, but they had no choice but to fight.

They dropped Zhou Tiezhu and tightened their grips on their sabers.

Fight!

Gritting their teeth, they let out a roar and charged, swinging their sabers.

Lu Chen planted his saber in the ground and took out a handful of Iron Pellets. With a whoosh, he flung one out. He had aimed for Kang Mao, but the man running in front happened to get in its way.

The man fell to the ground with a splat, braking with his face.

Lu Chen threw with both hands, sending Iron Pellets flying one after another.

The men in front fell one by one.

In just a few seconds, Lu Chen used up all the Iron Pellets in his hands. Only one man was left standing.

Lu Chen pulled out his saber and darted forward. With one stroke, he sent the lone survivor's steel saber flying from his hand. Then he turned his wrist and slashed diagonally across the man's belly with a backhand stroke.

He sliced the man's belly wide open.

"I knew it! I knew someone was there!"

Zhou Tiezhu watched Lu Chen throw the Iron Pellets and muttered to himself, a strange expression on his face.

Lu Chen stepped forward and cut off his head with one stroke.

[Fate Value +375, Luck Value +6]

[Total: 1677]

He picked up a steel saber from the ground but did not discard his own. With a saber in each hand, he charged in the direction Kang Mao had fled.

No matter what, he would not let that man get away.

But in that brief delay, Kang Mao had already disappeared.

At the end of the passage stood an iron door. It had just been locked, and Kang Mao was behind it, chuckling.

"You dare come to my gang looking for trouble? Then die down here!"

Lu Chen examined the iron door. It was set between two massive stones. To break through it, he would have to be an excavator or a reincarnated detonator.

At least, he could not do it as he was now.

He looked around. There was no other way out.

"If the way I came in is locked too, I'll really be buried alive."

At this wholly inappropriate moment, a movie came to Lu Chen's mind. His movements, however, did not slow in the slightest. He turned and ran at once.

Halfway back, he saw that the beggar he had saved was actually searching for someone, cage by cage.

Lu Chen paid him no mind and raced straight to the entrance.

Fortunately, it had not been locked.

Sabers in hand, he charged up the stairs.

Bang!

Just as he was about to burst out of the entrance, a thick Ripe-Copper Staff suddenly appeared and came crashing down at his head.

Lu Chen's eyes abruptly narrowed. Caught off guard, he could only throw up his hands and cross his two sabers to block.

Under that fierce, violent force, the Yanling Saber, which had only been a little dull, snapped. The broken blade flew off, severing several strands of Lu Chen's hair before embedding itself in the wall of the underground passage.

A trace of blood marked the broken blade.

A cut had opened on Lu Chen's forehead, blood seeping from it.

The steel saber he had just picked up was of decent quality; it had only been chipped.

The impact sent Lu Chen himself flying backward down the stairs, and he crashed to the ground.

"Cough, cough!"

Lu Chen's back ached sharply, his chest felt a little tight, and the webs between his thumbs and forefingers trembled uncontrollably.

That strength was immense, and his opponent also held the advantage of terrain, striking from above while fresh and ready.

He got to his feet and looked toward the entrance.

An extremely burly man stood there, the beard beneath his chin like steel needles.

Lu Chen was quite familiar with the Ripe-Copper Staff in the man's hand. It was like Li Mantun's, only thicker and a little longer, with intricate patterns carved into it.

This man was probably Zhao Defu.

Someone behind him held a torch aloft. The light shone from behind him, making Lu Chen squint.

This man's strength is a little greater than mine, but he's probably not at Middle Blood Exchange.

As Lu Chen thought this, he raised his hand and wiped the blood from his face with his thumb.

"System, give me points! Break the limit!"

Fate Value -1600, Luck Value -10.

[Fate Value total: 77]

[Luck Value total: 3]

He threw away the broken saber in his hand, gripped the steel saber in his right hand, and stared at the figure looming above him.

"Who are you, sir? Do you have a grudge against my Black Pole Gang? Did you come here today because you couldn't bear to live and wanted to throw your life away?"

Zhao Defu descended one step at a time, his boots thudding against the stone slabs. Each step seemed to land on Lu Chen's heart.

The Ripe-Copper Staff in his hand dragged along the ground and knocked against the steps, clanging in rhythm with his descent.

Lu Chen did not answer. Instead, he rapidly absorbed the saber techniques in his memories. The warm current flowing through his body made his earlier discomfort vanish without a trace.

An extra chapter today. Starting tomorrow, the daily update schedule will change: one update at 8 a.m. and another at 6 p.m. Thank you, everyone! ∠(°ゝ°) Salute!