Below the brothel.
Captain Xing was waiting there with a group of Imperial Guards.
His lower back felt a little sore, so he prepared to stretch. The moment he raised his hands above his head, something round smacked into them.
Then, a stream of warm liquid ran down from above, carrying a faint smell of blood.
"What is this?" Captain Xing muttered, bringing the thing in his hands before his eyes.
The next second, he cried out in fright.
"Holy shit!"
Captain Xing discovered in horror that what he was holding was a human head—a grotesque head with its eyes still open in death.
The other Imperial Guards beside him were equally terrified by the sight.
For no reason at all, a human head had fallen from the sky. Was that not terrifying?
Acting on instinct, Captain Xing hurled the head away.
Just then, Su Chen drifted down from midair. He raised a hand and caught the head Captain Xing had thrown, while his other hand held Tian Boguang's headless corpse.
"You can't just throw this thing around. Without it, my ten thousand taels of silver would be gone."
"Su, it was you." Captain Xing let out a long breath.
Then he froze and looked at the head in Su Chen's hand. "Su, is that Tian Boguang's head?"
"Mm." Su Chen nodded.
Captain Xing could not help sucking in a cold breath.
The look in his eyes as he regarded Su Chen became even more fervent.
"Su, your martial arts must have improved by quite a bit again, right?"
Captain Xing still remembered the time he had followed Su Chen and several chiefs from the Western Depot to hunt down Zhao Huai'an and his group at the border.
Back then, Su Chen had fought Zhao Huai'an for nearly half an hour in order to kill him. He had paid a considerable price himself before finally beheading Zhao Huai'an with a single stroke.
Zhao Huai'an had seemingly been a Minor Grandmaster as well. Compared with Tian Boguang today, their strength had been about equal.
Yet how long had Su Chen taken to kill Tian Boguang today?
Captain Xing thought back and realized that from the moment Su Chen entered the brothel to the moment Tian Boguang's head fell, it had taken less than the time to drink a cup of tea.
That meant Su Chen had successfully killed a Minor Grandmaster-level expert within the time it took to drink a cup of tea, perhaps even less, without suffering the slightest injury. Looking at Su Chen now, it even seemed as though he had barely exerted himself.
His strength had improved far too much compared to the time at the border.
The Imperial Guards nearby all looked at Su Chen with admiration.
The Imperial Guards also made their living through real skill, and they likewise respected those with formidable martial arts.
For a moment, led by Captain Xing, the Imperial Guards surrounded Su Chen and showered him with all sorts of flattery.
Su Chen's head began to spin from listening to them. He hurriedly stopped them. "Enough. Let me go to the Zhao Residence and collect that ten-thousand-tael bounty first."
Captain Xing knew Su Chen's money-grubbing nature and naturally did not dare delay him from claiming the reward. He immediately dispersed the other Imperial Guards who had been preparing to continue flattering him, clearing a path for Su Chen.
"Come on, Su. I'll go with you."
Meanwhile, at a second-floor window of the brothel.
The little nun Yi Lin was leaning against the window and watching.
When she saw Su Chen's bloody act of beheading Tian Boguang with one stroke, Yi Lin jumped in fright. She instinctively took several steps back, repeatedly patting her chest.
"This man is so fierce. He doesn't look like a monk at all."
She murmured softly, but an inexplicable sense of satisfaction rose in her heart.
After all, the lecherous thief who had wanted to violate her had been killed. Of course she felt relieved.
At the same time, she could not help being awed by Su Chen's formidable strength.
That lecherous thief Tian Boguang was vile and shameless, but his strength was truly not weak.
Just now, senior brother Linghu of the Mount Hua Sect had exhausted every effort fighting Tian Boguang, only to be easily defeated in the end, completely unable to resist.
Only experts at the level of her Master, Abbess Dingyi, or the sect leader, Abbess Dingxian, could defeat Tian Boguang.
"This senior brother looks about our age. Could his strength possibly rival Master's and the sect leader's?"
Yi Lin secretly speculated about Su Chen's strength when she heard movement coming from downstairs.
She listened carefully, but could not make out much. She only caught the phrase, "collect the ten-thousand-tael bounty."
"A bounty? Could it be that this senior brother came to kill Tian Boguang for the bounty?"
At that thought, Yi Lin's face began to redden.
She recalled how she had urged Su Chen to leave earlier, and an awkward feeling of self-importance rose within her.
He had not come to save her in the first place, yet she had misunderstood and had even said such self-important things.
Thinking back on it now, Yi Lin felt so embarrassed that she wished she could crawl into a hole.
Just then, however, a weak groan sounded beside her ear.
"Junior Sister Yi Lin, did you forget there's still someone here?"
Yi Lin's expression changed. She hurried away from the window and ran back to Linghu Chong's side.
"Senior Brother Linghu, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I forgot about you."
Linghu Chong forced out a smile uglier than crying, but he had no mood to bicker with Yi Lin about that now.
"How is Tian Boguang? And is that man from before still alive?"
"Senior Brother, Tian Boguang is already dead. That senior brother beheaded him with one stroke."
Linghu Chong could not help going blank.
He instinctively pressed, "What did you say? Say that again."
"Senior Brother Linghu, I said Tian Boguang is dead. That senior brother beheaded him with one stroke," Yi Lin repeated.
Only then did Linghu Chong recover slightly from the shock.
Even so, his heart remained filled with disbelief.
Just now, he had faced Tian Boguang directly and personally experienced the prowess of the "Lone Traveler of Ten Thousand Miles."
Tian Boguang's strength was far beyond anything he could compare to.
By his estimation, in the entire Mount Hua Sect, perhaps only his Master, Yue Buqun, could guarantee victory against Tian Boguang. Even if his martial aunt Ning Zhongze fought Tian Boguang, the outcome would still be uncertain.
Yet now, a young man about his own age possessed the strength to behead Tian Boguang with a single stroke.
The intimidation and impact this brought Linghu Chong were undoubtedly immense.
It took him a long while to digest the news.
Thinking of the baseless arrogance he had carried in the past, his face flushed. He sighed. "Heroes truly emerge without end in this martial world. Master was right whenever he lectured me before. I'm still not qualified to be arrogant or carefree."
After saying that, Linghu Chong fainted outright from excessive blood loss.
Yi Lin was terrified. In a fluster, she bandaged him up, then dragged him toward Hengyang City, intending to seek help from her sect elders.
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