Rebel

The East Market gathered most of the merchants in Hua County and its surrounding areas, and among them, the Zhang family possessed the most shops.

Since ancient times, they had monopolized the local grain and medicinal herbs. At their peak, their medicines were even sold far beyond Qingzhou.

It was just that they had now declined, their influence had shrunk, and they were trapped in a cornered land.

Yet even so, based solely on these two businesses, the Zhang family's wealth would not be cut off.

Nowadays, pestilence raged, and the apothecary shops in the East Market were packed to bursting, even having three extra storefronts opened additionally.

The stream of people entering and leaving was endless, but there were two kinds of people absent.

One kind was scholars, and the other kind was the poor.

Outside the apothecary, commoners hesitated to advance, their faces bearing a sallow, starved hue.

Between the base of the walls and the alleys, quite a few starving refugees were also piled up. They didn't even have the capital to hesitate, merely begging from the wealthy patrons and merchants traveling through the East Market.

However, most of the refugees had contracted the pestilence, so how dared anyone else get close? Those with the means even dispatched servants to drive them away.

"Give me something to eat... My child hasn't eaten for two days," a woman pleaded miserably, clutching a little boy.

A warrior retainer clad in armor saw that she was filthy and feared she might have the pestilence, so he berated, "Get lost! This old man's disease was caught from your kind."

He had originally contracted the disease and wanted to tough it out; after all, medicine was too expensive now.

Yet unexpectedly, his condition grew increasingly severe, leaving him with no choice but to buy medicine. Anyway, working for the Zhang family brought him a high income.

But it was still a huge sum of money, and he didn't know what their lord was keeping all these sick people in the city for.

"No sickness, no sickness, this humble wife has already recovered, so I won't contract the disease again. I beg milord to give me something to eat," the woman hastily explained.

Although she bore a sallow, starved hue, she was indeed not sick. Or rather, her household had fallen into ruin precisely because they bought medicine to treat an illness.

What felt even more agonizing was that even if she recovered, she still had no income, solely because her former employer no longer sought her out to sew clothes and wash silk, cutting off her household's livelihood.

"Cut the crap." This warrior walked straight away, "The lord is simply too merciful. He should have driven all of you away long ago, and things wouldn't have reached the point where the pestilence runs so rampant."

The little boy suddenly cried out, "The pestilence came from the army. My mother caught it just from washing clothes for your lot."

"Don't spout nonsense!" The woman hurriedly pulled the boy away.

Yet when that warrior saw others gathering around to watch because of these words, he instantly flew into a towering rage and drew his sword to hack at them, "You still dare spread rumors!"

The sword light was cold and fierce, descending abruptly.

However, a dirt-faced youth suddenly leaped into the middle of the arena and grabbed the steel blade with his bare hands.

"Hn?" The warrior glared angrily at him, discovering that this youth was battered all over, his shoes completely worn away.

"What thing is this!"

The warrior erupted with true qi, putting his full strength into pressing the blade down.

Yet not even the youth's skin broke. Instead, the youth grasped the edge of the blade, carrying a terrifying airflow as he pressed right back.

Pfft!

The youth forced the back of the blade deep into the warrior's neck, and fresh blood spurted out.

Seeing someone kill a retainer of the Zhang family, the surrounding people were dumbfounded.

A middle-aged, brocade-clad swordsman stepped out from the apothecary and said coldly, "Are you trying to rebel?!"

As soon as he finished speaking, he froze, seeing that the youth was not alone.

Behind the youth, a massive crowd of martial artists was walking over. Their numbers were so vast they blocked the intersection.

Each one was robust and strong, wearing various styles of martial attire and wielding weapons. The procession stretched far into the distance, turning out to be hundreds upon hundreds of wandering knights.

As they walked, dust billowed and thudded, advancing in successive waves.

Although they hadn't formed any battle formation, walking in such a swarm was still brimming with killing intent, showing they had bad intentions.

"Put down your weapons! Who allowed you to gather in a crowd—stop right there!"

The youth's footsteps did not halt. Still gripping that sword, he raised his hand and smashed it toward the swordsman's face.

Because the warrior he had killed earlier was still hanging from the back of the blade, he was essentially dragging a corpse along as he moved forward.

This overbearing and ruthless display left people staring in blank astonishment.

"Brocade Swordplay!" Hatred flashed in the middle-aged swordsman's eyes as he instantly drew his sword, executing a dashing set of sword techniques like mercury pouring down the ground.

Tap tap tap, the steel blade hacked against flesh, and skin and flesh caved in, but the sword edge could not penetrate!

The youth brute-forced his way forward against the full face of sword images, bringing a blade down in greeting.

"What martial arts are these?" The middle-aged swordsman felt bewildered inside, flashing backward and leaning his body back, his toes tapping the ground as he drifted gracefully to easily dodge.

He even countered with a reverse-grip strike, precisely piercing the youth's eye!

Yet horrifyingly, the sword stabbed right into the eyeball, and the youth didn't even blink his eyelid!

Instead, he glared angrily with his huge eyeballs, and with a roaring sound behind him, he instantly charged forward, rushing right in front of the swordsman's face with a swoosh.

Clang!

The middle-aged swordsman witnessed it with his own eyes: the youth used the thin membrane of his eyeball to live-bend the sharp sword edge!

To the point that the steel blade bent to its limit and snapped with a crisp crack.

This scene directly scared the middle-aged swordsman so badly he peed his pants!

"Uh-ah?" His expression instantly spun out of control, displaying a horrifying facial distortion that ordinary people could hardly manage.

Pfft!

The youth swept his right hand straight through, piercing right through his neck. From this point on, two people were strung onto the back of the blade.

Tap tap!

Behind him, another of the Zhang family's martial artists used a sword to hack at the back of his neck, landing two consecutive slashes in an instant.

True qi danced wildly around the youth's entire body. That person only felt a sudden whoosh before his eyes, and then a hand pressed him against the wall.

"Hoo hoo hoo..." His neck being gripped, that person felt as though he were caught in a howling gale.

"Demon... gurgle gurgle..."

Countless currents of true qi whipped and scraped violently. His face felt as though it was about to be blown apart, scraped into all sorts of shapes, and his entire body wobbled and thrashed wildly in the youth's grip.

This time the youth's right hand didn't move; holding this martial artist in his left hand, he shoved him with a pfft straight onto the blade.

To describe this bout of slaughter made it sound slow, but it actually took place within just a few breaths.

From beginning to end, the youth kept a tight grip on the blade edge of that very first warrior, then in three moves or two, through a chaotic flurry of activity, he had strung three martial artists onto it. Among them, that middle-aged swordsman was even a first-rate expert.

These successive scenes directly stunned the remaining martial artists into idiocy.

Even the own people who had followed the youth over were frightened. A young man riding a monkey and holding a spear couldn't help reaching out to touch his own neck.

The moves were too terrifying, and yet there were completely no moves at all. It was entirely executed on a whim, just like reckless fooling around.

Yet it fit together incomparably, possessing a sense of wielding the heavy as though it were light, can be called truly unconstrained and transcendent.

"So... so strong..."

Many guards responsible for watching over the medicinal herbs were still surrounding the front of the youth. Clad in armor and wielding steel swords, they nevertheless hesitated to advance, looking just like that group of commoners earlier who didn't have enough money for medicine and didn't dare enter the door.

"You... are you human or demon?"

"I am a lowly commoner," the youth replied quite honestly.

The youth was precisely Yan Nu. As soon as he finished speaking, he turned around, presenting his back to the enemy.

The warriors were dazed. At this moment, the wandering knights who had followed behind Yan Nu came swarming forward in a charge.

The scene instantly turned into a flurry of blade light and sword shadows. Commoners and merchants screamed in terror as they fled into the shops, not daring to come out.

Meanwhile, Yan Nu had already walked up to the woman.

Frightened out of her wits, the woman hugged the little boy tightly. The little boy, however, looked at him quite boldly.

Yan Nu hastily tossed away the blade-gourd in his hand, squatted down to reveal a kind smile, and pointed at the grain shop across from the apothecary: "What do you want to eat? Go get it."

The little boy looked toward his mother, but the woman didn't dare make any rash moves.

Yan Nu stood up and walked into the grain shop, whereupon a thud thud thud sounded.

First the rafters were peeled away, and then all four walls collapsed, leaving only piles of grain stacked like mountains exposed to view.

"This is the Zhang family's shop..."

Someone inside the shop hugged their head in a crouching defense, speaking weakly.

"That's right, the whole point is to distribute the Zhang family's things!"

As Yan Nu spoke, he smashed his way all along, destroying every single sign hanging the character 'Zhang'.

In the past, this sign was a symbol of status, and no one dared to act presumptuously in the Zhang family's shops.

Yet now, all of this would become history.

"Starting from today, there is no longer a Zhang clan of Hua County!"

After he smashed open all the grain and apothecary shops, he leaped into the air with a fierce blast from the sky, slamming violently into the crowd like a meteor.

"Commoners go indoors, martial artists hit the dirt, and anyone with a death-wish come block me!"

As Yan Nu spoke, he casually blasted two higher-level martial artists to their deaths.

After all, the East Market was only a market. The Zhang family had stationed only a few martial artists there, and coupled with the fact that Yan Nu had already wiped out the experts, the remainder were hacked to death in short order.

Pfft! Huang Banyun suddenly stabbed to death a wandering knight who had seized the chaos to break into a cloth shop and plunder money.

"Yan Nu, watch out. Some among our people are taking advantage of the chaos to loot."

Yan Nu turned back and glared angrily. He had intentionally smashed open all the Zhang family's shops while leaving other shops alone. On one hand, he was only targeting the Zhang family; on the other hand, leaving these buildings allowed the commoners to hide from the slaughter.

He hadn't expected that there would still be people charging specially into those shops?

With nearly a thousand wandering knights of mixed good and bad, some were indeed grounded in chivalry, but others were actually nothing more than bandits.

After seizing control of the East Market, these people suddenly became starkly divided.

Without the slightest hesitation, Yan Nu charged over, making two ruthless sweeps of slaughter right through the East Market and wiping out around fifty-odd people.

Li Xiang was also consumed with burning rage, roaring amidst the crowd, "Our uprising is meant to punish the wicked, eliminate violence, and rescue the commoners."

"Distribute the Zhang family's things to the people! Absolutely no one is to touch the other shops! Otherwise, don't blame my blade for being too sharp!"

He possessed longstanding prestige along with over a hundred life-and-death sworn brothers, quickly leading people to restore order.

From this point on, the East Market was completely occupied. A portion of the wandering knights distributed medicinal herbs, grain, and money, while another portion assembled, preparing to attack the government granary.

However, none of them noticed.

Three wandering knights who had not looted just now had instead taken advantage of the chaos to change clothes, smudge their faces with soot, and blend back among the commoners.

These three men were unwilling to join the rebellion and planned to escape the East Market to defect to the Zhang family.

They knew that Shen Leling had turned into Zhang Feng; such intelligence would surely become a stepping stone for advancement, and they would be heavily rewarded!

Bang!

Suddenly, rocks surged from the ground, wrapping around their legs before dragging them straight toward Yan Nu like rolling boulders.

"Ah?" Frightened out of their wits, the three men struggled desperately, yet their legs were locked tight by the stone.

Feng Junyou popped out from beside Yan Nu, a playful expression on his face: "You three little imps, how dare you pull tricks right under this old ghost's nose? Truly seeing ghosts!"

The three were stunned, never expecting that their every move had been watched by this ghost.

Come to think of it, how could they ever dare pull tricks in front of a ghost!

Little did they know that Shen Leling had long anticipated this exact contingency, which was why she had let Feng Junyou follow Yan Nu.

On one hand to offer assistance, and on the other hand, Feng Junyou's rock thrust could also protect Yan Nu. Yan Nu possessed too much true qi; an excessive outburst might cause him to crash himself to death... Having rocks to cushion things not only kept him safe, but also resulted in a combo attack.

"We were wrong! We just didn't want to rebel..."

When Yan Nu asked what was going on, Feng Junyou recounted the three men's conspiracy.

Before Yan Nu could even figure it out, Li Xiang understood halfway through and flew into a towering rage: "You lot are trying to get us all killed!"

With that, Li Xiang beheaded the three men right in front of everyone.

He raised his long sword toward the heavens: "The Zhang family oppresses the commoners, treats human lives like grass, acts perversely against the natural order, invokes universal indignation from humans and gods alike, and violates heavenly principles!"

"Today we raise a grand enterprise, solely to serve the country and save the people."

"Anyone who violates orders shall be beheaded! Anyone who plunders the people shall be beheaded! Anyone who colludes with the enemy shall be beheaded!"

p.s: Sorry.