In the stone chamber, the fat man at the head of the group was Qi Zhifei, the manager of the Great Xuan Bank.
His gaze swept over the crowd and landed on Fang Mingxuan.
His face immediately darkened, and he said coldly:
"Fang Mingxuan... who gave you the nerve to bring this mob here to their deaths?"
Fang Mingxuan's expression was no better.
He narrowed his eyes and said in a low voice:
"Manager Qi, I once admired your character and abilities.
"But I never expected you to be a fiend of the Black Sha Cult.
"My daughter Fang Lingxin has received your Black Sha Cult's attention on several occasions. As the saying goes, it would be impolite not to return the favor. Today marks the end of your Black Sha Cult!!"
"No more words. Kill!"
Fang Shuwen waved a hand and charged out.
He hated nothing more than exchanging lengthy speeches before a fight, giving his opponent all the time he needed to prepare before striking.
After years of struggling on the streets, he preferred to strike first and seize the advantage.
Even now that he had mastered his internal cultivation, the habit he had formed since childhood was hard to change.
He sprang forward and reached two Black Sha Cult members in a single step. Once again, he used [Vajra Tower-Throwing], his fierce palm force blasting out.
The two cult members tried to put up a desperate resistance, but Fang Shuwen's palm force was far vaster and more vigorous than they had expected.
It towered like a mountain and was as deep and boundless as the sea.
The palm wind surged, and feelings of suffocation and despair flooded their hearts.
Two bangs rang out. The palm strike swept both men off their feet and sent them flying backward, every sinew and bone in their bodies shattered. They were dead before they hit the ground.
At the same time, three to five cult members pounced on Fang Shuwen together.
Fang Shuwen swept his left hand out with [Plum Blossom Loose Hands], lifting, pressing, entangling, and pushing. With that one hand, he pinned all their arms down.
His right palm changed position. He curled his fingers into a seal and struck without warning.
He used [Demon-Subduing Dharma Seal], the third palm strike of the [Great Black Heaven Divine Palm].
This palm strike was even more powerful than [Vajra Tower-Throwing], but the move came straight on, its force traveling along a single line.
A bang rang out.
The head of the man first in its path was smashed to pieces by the palm strike, a gruesome sight.
Fang Shuwen drew his palm back and thrust it forward, striking again.
His [Plum Blossom Loose Hands] had trapped four or five people, so naturally he would not stop after killing just one.
But this terrified them all the more, splitting their hearts and gall.
They desperately tried to escape Fang Shuwen's grasp, but his hand seemed cast from bronze and iron. No matter how hard they struggled, they could not break free in the slightest.
Even when they circulated the [Black Sha Demonic Art] they had painstakingly cultivated, they could not harm Fang Shuwen in the slightest.
Meanwhile, the others charged into the fight as well.
Zhou Qingmei held a broken sword, her [Thousand-Character Sword Technique] sharp in every stroke, every character a pearl.
Though her sword was a little short, it did not hinder the technique's power.
Zhang Fang's swordsmanship surpassed hers. He fought three to five cult members alone, and they could do nothing to him.
The one who surprised Fang Shuwen somewhat was Fang Mingxuan.
The little old man darted left and right through the crowd, looking bedraggled. But a closer look revealed that the Black Sha Cult's Black Sha Demonic Art had no effect on him whatsoever.
Qi seemed to circulate around him, as though he could pass through a sea of flowers without a single leaf touching him.
His moves looked chaotic, but often, with an apparently casual tap, push, jab, or press, he made life miserable for the Black Sha Cult members surrounding him.
Was he deliberately hiding his abilities?
If so, Fang Shuwen was somewhat at a loss.
If he possessed such advanced martial arts, why had Fang Lingxin twice fallen into danger?
And who were the mountain bandits who had raided them back then?
With his abilities, why had he been unable to protect himself?
He had only been a baby at the time, after all, and did not know the full circumstances. Could there have been more to what happened back then?
Not only that, Fang Shuwen noticed that even the supposed brave men Fang Mingxuan had recruited with generous rewards were not weak in martial arts.
Some fought alone, while others formed groups of three or five. They appeared to have no method, like a band of scattered soldiers and wandering braves.
But on closer inspection, their attacks and defenses complemented one another, with subtleties hidden within.
Had Fang Shuwen not mastered his martial arts and possessed extraordinary eyesight, he probably would not have noticed.
Only a brief moment had passed since the fighting began, yet more than twenty corpses already lay inside the stone chamber.
Every one of them belonged to a Black Sha Cult member.
Qi Zhifei's face turned livid at the sight, and he flew into a rage:
"You've gone too far!!!"
With that, he slammed both palms against the ground and launched himself into the air, his palms overlapping as he went straight for Fang Shuwen.
The main reason was that Fang Shuwen's performance in the fight had been too dazzling.
Every gesture carried boundless power, and wherever he went, not one opponent could withstand a single exchange with him.
As the saying went, to catch the bandits, first catch their king. If he did not take Fang Shuwen down, how could he turn the battle around?
Fang Shuwen had just driven a Black Sha Cult member into the ground with a palm strike when he looked up to find a dense mass of Black Sha True Qi already upon him.
He immediately gave a soft shout:
"Come on, then!!"
With that, he sank into a horse stance and met the attack with [Four Seas Dragon Fist].
A bang rang out!
His fist collided with the incoming palm, and the Black Sha True Qi instantly dissipated without a trace.
Qi Zhifei's expression changed abruptly. He wanted to withdraw, but it was already too late.
The force of [Four Seas Dragon Fist] was like a spear. Driven by [Muscle Tendon Change], its power pierced through his entire arm.
The force erupted, sending a great spray of blood into the air. His whole arm shattered inch by inch, and Qi Zhifei screamed as he flew backward.
Fang Shuwen pushed off with one foot and leaped into the air.
He did not know any lightness techniques and relied entirely on his internal force.
He stepped on a Black Sha Cult member to propel himself forward, crushing the man's shoulder and making him spray blood from his mouth.
With that step, he caught up to Qi Zhifei as he flew backward.
He clamped all five fingers around the man's throat. As soon as they landed, he called out:
"Qi Zhifei has been defeated. Why haven't the rest of you surrendered?"
The Black Sha Cult members froze and looked up at Qi Zhifei in Fang Shuwen's grasp. They exchanged glances, and then one of them shouted:
"The jianghu has no place for our divine cult. If we surrender, we'll be bringing destruction upon ourselves.
"Only by fighting our way out will we have a sliver of hope!!"
At these words, the Black Sha Cult members nodded one after another.
They immediately abandoned the fight and tried to break through the encirclement instead.
Seeing this, Fang Shuwen said no more. He simply pressed several acupoints on Qi Zhifei's shoulders, chest, and back, then tossed him aside.
His figure blurred as he charged out once more.
Joining forces, they took less than half a shichen to kill every last one of the Black Sha Cult members.
The entire process went exceptionally smoothly; not even a single fish slipped through the net.
Fang Shuwen lightly shook the blood from his hands and glanced at Zhou Qingmei. Only after making sure she was safe and sound did he walk toward the corner where he had left Qi Zhifei.
But when he reached it, he froze.
Qi Zhifei, who had been alive and bristling at him only moments ago, was now dead.
Fang Shuwen narrowed his eyes slightly, a hint of mockery curling at his lips.