With a single slash from Su Chen, Tang Ying'e was instantly cleaved in two.
A mist of blood filled the air, making for a gruesome sight.
Zhao Sihai and the others were startled as well, muttering inwardly, That's ruthless!
But they quickly steadied themselves.
They looked again at Su Chen and the others. "Everyone, Yue Hou and the other two have already been executed. We can leave now, can't we?"
Yet Liu Zhengfeng suddenly changed his demeanor.
He stared at them with a smile and said, "I'm afraid you won't be leaving."
At those words, Zhao Sihai and the others immediately changed expression. "What do you mean by this, Second Master Liu? Are you going back on your word?"
As they spoke, the seven men gripped their weapons tightly and went on guard.
Liu Zhengfeng smiled and shook his head. "Our agreement was that if the seven of you killed those three men, Yue Hou included, we would let you leave."
"However, Tang Ying'e was slain by Lord Su, not by you."
"By that count, you never fulfilled the agreement. So how could this be called breaking it?"
By now, Liu Zhengfeng's face was full of icy killing intent.
After facing life-and-death threats over the past few days, he had come to understand something.
In the martial world, kindness was a luxury one could not afford.
Had he not encountered Su Chen, his entire family would have gone to see the King of Hell together long ago.
How could he have had the chance to speak here today?
If one wanted to survive, one had to be ruthless and merciless toward one's enemies.
Seeing the situation, Zhao Sihai and the others immediately understood.
"Liu Zhengfeng, you bastard! Don't ever fall into my hands, or I'll make sure you die without a burial ground..."
Liu Zhengfeng paid no heed to their threats.
He turned to Su Chen and said respectfully, "I must trouble Lord Su to kill them."
The instant those words were spoken, Zhao Sihai and the others turned pale.
Everyone had witnessed Su Chen's formidable strength and ruthless methods.
Even two Grandmasters working together had been slain by him.
The seven of them had no chance whatsoever of standing against him.
Their minds racing, Zhao Sihai and the others turned to flee.
But Su Chen gave them no such chance.
He swung his blade in a horizontal sweep, sending several crescent-shaped arcs of saber light flying forth.
Crack
The sound of flesh and bone being severed rang out.
Zhao Sihai and the others froze where they stood, their bodies still posed as though running.
Yet their heads had fallen from their necks, rolling across the ground.
The remaining hundred-odd Mount Song disciples likewise failed to escape disaster.
Under the joint slaughter of Su Chen, Mo Da, and the others, more than a hundred Mount Song disciples were massacred to the last man.
Liu Manor's courtyard was strewn with severed limbs and mangled corpses. The ground looked as though it had been washed in blood, a deep crimson everywhere, while the air reeked of thick, pungent blood.
At this point, every person Mount Song had sent was dead.
With the battle over, Su Chen sheathed his blade and turned to Yue Buqun.
With Mount Song destroyed, Yue Buqun no longer bothered to disguise himself. He reached up and tore the human-skin mask from his face.
"Sect Leader Yue, I heard the hundred thousand taels of silver have arrived. Could you take me to see them?" Su Chen asked.
Yue Buqun beamed and gestured invitingly. "Mr. Su, this way, please."
Only Mo Da, Liu Zhengfeng, and Qu Yang remained in the courtyard.
The three exchanged glances, their faces filled with the relief of surviving a calamity.
"We survived," Liu Zhengfeng said, his voice full of emotion.
Mo Da and Qu Yang were equally moved.
"To be honest, when I came here this time, I had already prepared myself to die. I thought that as long as I could take a few Mount Song Protectors down with me, it would be worth it," Qu Yang said. "I never expected to survive, much less come through without a single injury."
Mo Da also said, "Exactly. The Mount Song Sect came out in full force, with White Board Fiend, that evil sect Grandmaster, aiding them. Today should have been an utterly hopeless situation. That we survived was truly a stroke of heaven-sent luck."
As Mo Da spoke, he sighed and shook his head.
Unexpectedly, Liu Zhengfeng suddenly refuted him. "Senior brother, that is not quite right."
As he spoke, Liu Zhengfeng looked in the direction Su Chen had left. "We survived today not because of heaven's favor, but because we received Lord Su's grace."
"If he had not slain Zuo Lengchan and White Board Fiend, those two Grandmasters, none of us would have survived today."
Hearing this, Mo Da smiled and nodded. "Junior brother is right. All the credit for today belongs to Mr. Su."
Curiosity appeared on Qu Yang's face as he asked Liu Zhengfeng, "Things were so urgent earlier that I forgot to ask. Where did you find such an expert?"
Qu Yang was full of doubts.
Su Chen was so powerful that he could easily kill two Grandmasters, which was truly astonishing.
Logically speaking, with Liu Zhengfeng's connections and status, he should not have been able to hire such an expert.
Liu Zhengfeng replied with a light laugh, "Haha, being able to hire Lord Su was indeed a fortunate coincidence..."
He then recounted everything, from how he had met Su Chen to how he had spent silver to hire Su Chen's help.
After hearing it, Qu Yang's face was already full of astonishment.
"Liu Er, you're not lying to me, are you? Three hundred thousand taels of silver could hire an expert like this?"
Liu Zhengfeng laughed heartily. "Haha, to be precise, it was four hundred thousand taels. Senior Brother Yue of Mount Hua also contributed a hundred thousand taels."
Qu Yang could not help drawing in a sharp breath. "If Zuo Lengchan knows in the underworld that Mount Song's downfall came because of four hundred thousand taels of silver, who knows what he would think?"
"Haha, I'm afraid he'd be angered to death a second time," Liu Zhengfeng said with hearty laughter.
As if remembering something, Qu Yang suddenly said, "Right, you must introduce me to him later. If I ever have enemies I can't deal with in the future, I'll spend money to ask Mr. Su for help as well."
At that moment, Mo Da abruptly spoke. "Enough talk. Hurry up and clean this place. All this blood is irritating to look at."
The three then began cleaning up the battlefield.
Meanwhile, the crowd watching outside Liu Manor had long since been utterly stunned.
They had thought that Mount Song, having deployed its full strength—two Grandmasters, ten Minor Grandmasters, and over a hundred elite disciples—would easily wipe out Liu Zhengfeng's side.
Yet the result was the complete opposite.
Every last member of Mount Song had died, while Liu Zhengfeng and the others had not even suffered a scratch.
Such an outcome was truly staggering.
"Zuo Lengchan is dead, and all the Mount Song Protectors are dead too. The Mount Song Sect is finished. The balance of power in the martial world is bound to change drastically."
"If not for that black-clad swordsman, today's situation would probably have been reversed."
"What kind of absurd luck did Liu Zhengfeng have to latch onto an expert like that?"
"That black-clad swordsman was far too strong, wasn't he? He fought two Grandmasters alone and still won with ease. Since when did such a ruthless figure appear in the martial world?"
The martial artists discussed the matter fervently, probing for information about Su Chen in every word.
However, no one present knew anything about Su Chen.
After their discussion yielded nothing, the crowd could only disperse. Each hurried off to find friends and brothers to brag to.
Today's battle had given them quite a thrill.
Likewise, as eyewitnesses to the battle, they now had excellent material for boasting. If they did not hurry off to tell someone about it, they would feel stifled inside.
Before you continue