Willing to Pay More Means a Good Client

At the mountain god temple on the other side.

At dawn, Su Chen woke from his sleep. After a quick wash, he picked up his ring-pommel saber and headed for the Fuwei Escort Agency in Fuzhou City.

However, when he saw that the escort agency's gates had already been locked from the outside, he could not help frowning.

"So Lin Pingzhi stood me up?" Su Chen muttered to himself, pondering where the Lin family might have gone.

"Following the original course of events, the Lin family should be planning to head for Luoyang and seek the protection of Wang Yuanba, Lin Pingzhi's maternal grandfather."

"Looks like the Lin family still doesn't believe I have the strength to deal with Yu Canghai. Or perhaps they think I have some ulterior motive."

With a turn of thought, Su Chen understood the entire sequence of events.

Though he had not been trusted and had been stood up, Su Chen did not feel the slightest displeasure.

Clients—sometimes it was understandable for them to be dumbasses.

In the three years since becoming a blade catcher, Su Chen had encountered no shortage of dumbass clients.

But none of that mattered. As long as they paid silver, they were good clients.

As a professional blade catcher who took people's money and warded off their disasters, Su Chen had that much tolerance. Generally speaking, unless a client was so brain-dead it beggared description, he would not fuss over it too much.

"Anyway, with the Lin family's pathetic level of skill, they most likely won't be able to escape Yu Canghai's claws."

"Now that they've pulled this little stunt, I can take the chance to demand a bit more silver."

At that thought, Su Chen felt utterly refreshed. After all, in this world, there was nothing more delightful than earning silver.

Then Su Chen carried his saber out of Fuzhou City to search for traces of the Lin family.

Meanwhile, the three members of the Lin family, having failed and been captured, had already been brought before Yu Canghai.

At that moment, the three were suffering the Four Talents of Qingcheng's successive rounds of torture.

Yu Canghai sat on a half-cut tree stump nearby, watching it all with cold eyes.

"Slap! Slap! Slap!"

Hou Renying swung the leather whip in his hand and viciously lashed Lin Zhennan, whipping his clothes to shreds and his flesh open and torn until he was nearly no longer human.

"You little turtle bastard, are you going to talk or not? Where exactly is the original copy of your Lin family's Bixie Sword Manual hidden?"

It turned out that Yu Canghai had mobilized so many people not only to avenge his son Yu Renyan's death, but also to seize the original Bixie Sword Manual from Lin Zhennan.

Back then, Yu Canghai's master, Changqingzi, the previous master of Qingcheng Songfeng Temple and the man hailed as the finest swordsman west of the Three Gorges, had been defeated by Lin Yuantu's seventy-two forms of Bixie Swordsmanship and had ultimately died in bitter depression.

Yu Canghai had always borne this matter in his heart, and he had always regarded the Bixie Sword Manual as something he was bound to obtain.

"I truly don't know..." Lin Zhennan, who was nearly no longer human, spoke in a grief-stricken voice.

He truly did not know where the Bixie Sword Manual passed down through his family was hidden.

If he had known, he would have cultivated it long ago. How could he have fallen to such a state today?

However, neither Yu Canghai nor the others found his explanation convincing.

"Damn it, you won't shed tears till you see the coffin." Hou Renying cursed furiously. Then he grabbed Lin Pingzhi by the collar and threw him aside.

"You little turtle bastard, I'd like to see whether the Bixie Sword Manual matters more to you, or your son."

As he spoke, Hou Renying raised his right palm high. The power of the Heart-Shattering Palm gathered as he prepared to split Lin Pingzhi to death.

At the sight, Lin Zhennan and Madam Wang's eyes nearly split open.

Regret gnawed endlessly at Lin Zhennan's heart. Had he known it would end this way, why would he have chosen to flee? He would have been better off listening to his son and relying on that saber-wielding expert to deal with Yu Canghai.

But it was already too late to say anything now.

"No, don't hurt my son! I can give you money—any amount of money!" Madam Wang pleaded through tears.

"Damn it, once I kill you, the money will be mine anyway." Hou Renying remained unmoved. His right palm came crashing down, aimed straight at Lin Pingzhi's chest.

The howling palm wind rushed at him. Lin Pingzhi's face went deathly pale, terror flooding his heart. He shut his eyes instinctively, as though welcoming death.

Just as Hou Renying's palm was about to land on Lin Pingzhi's chest, a saber thrust in from the side—a ring-pommel saber patterned with chi dragons.

The saber came with fierce momentum, astonishing speed, and ruthless savagery, aiming to sever Hou Renying's entire right hand.

Hou Renying's face changed drastically. In his panic, he tried to withdraw his palm, but it was already too late.

Crack!

The sound of steel slicing through bone rang out. Hou Renying's right hand was severed cleanly at the wrist.

Pain and terror surged through Hou Renying. Just as he was about to retreat, the ring-pommel saber had already swept across horizontally, slicing straight through his neck.

Warm blood sprayed out, splattering Lin Pingzhi's face.

He opened his eyes and looked ahead, seeing only a back.

He knew that back better than anyone. It belonged to the expert he had paid to hire.

At once, wild joy surged through Lin Pingzhi's heart. "He's here, he's here! We're saved—we don't have to die..."

Seeing their son rescued, Lin Zhennan and Madam Wang also revealed expressions of wild joy.

"Senior, please lend us a hand and save my family," Lin Pingzhi pleaded.

Without even turning his head, Su Chen tossed out a single sentence. "You broke the agreement."

Lin Pingzhi's expression stiffened, and panic surged through his heart.

He had indeed broken the agreement first. If he offended this senior because of it, and the man flew into a rage and abandoned them, then they would truly be trapped in a dead end.

Lin Pingzhi hurriedly tried to explain. "Senior, I..."

Before he could finish, Su Chen said, "Then prepare to pay more."

"P-pay more?" Lin Pingzhi stared in stunned confusion.

At the same time, Lin Zhennan, standing nearby, had already realized that this suddenly appearing swordsman was the expert his son had hired with money.

At this moment, he could no longer care whether Su Chen truly harbored some other scheme. He immediately said, "We'll pay more. Young Hero, my Lin family is willing to pay more. Name your price..."

Hearing this, Su Chen nodded in satisfaction. Customers willing to pay extra were good customers.

On the other side, Yu Canghai and the remaining three of the Four Talents of Qingcheng were also startled by this sudden turn of events.

Seeing Hou Renying killed, all four glared furiously at Su Chen.

Just as they were about to step forward and cut down this murderer, they heard Su Chen, utterly ignoring them, discussing additional payment with the Lin family.

The remaining three of the Four Talents of Qingcheng were instantly beside themselves with rage.

"Damn it, where did this madman come from? How dare you kill a Qingcheng disciple? I'll have your life..."

With a furious roar, Hong Renxiong, Yu Renhao, and Luo Renjie charged at Su Chen with swords in hand.

"Watch out..." Yu Canghai hastily shouted to stop them. From that previous slash, he had already seen that this suddenly appearing swordsman was far from weak. His disciples were likely no match for him.

However, his warning came too late. Hong Renxiong and the other two had already rushed in to kill Su Chen.

Su Chen had been about to renegotiate the price with Lin Zhennan when Hong Renxiong and the others interrupted him.

His brow furrowed, annoyance rising within him.

Interrupting him while he was making money was even more unforgivable than killing him.

Without another word, Su Chen swept his blade horizontally.

Driven by the cultivation of a Minor Grandmaster, a silver-white blade light shot forth.

At that moment, Hong Renxiong and the other two had just charged to within three meters of Su Chen. Faced with the sudden blade light, they had no time to dodge.

The blade light swept past. Three heads flew high into the air before crashing heavily to the ground. Blood gushed out like fountains, and three headless corpses lay sprawled across the scene.