Strong Enemy

2024-07-31

Strong Enemy

With a heavy, powerful slash, Scarface forced Zhou Sixin back, then swiftly retreated.

Zhou Sixin gripped his blade and caught his breath, sweat beading on his forehead.

Watching Scarface leave, he did not immediately give chase.

This time, he had merely taken money to do a job, not carried out an order from the General Directorate. There was truly no need for him to keep risking his life against such a formidable enemy.

As long as he won this battle and could give Liang Chuanshan an explanation, that was enough.

On the other side, Zhu Changyi was enraged that several of his brothers had been killed in succession. Originally, he had intended to carve through the patrol guards' formation, behead Director Liang Chuanshan, and secure victory in one stroke.

But now, with hot blood rushing to his head, he turned his long blade and prepared to fight Song Changming to the death!

At that moment, Scarface—the mysterious Leader of the Nine Bends Society—grabbed him.

"The situation is unfavorable. Gather all the brothers and break out. If we don't leave now, we won't be able to leave!" the Leader said sternly.

"My brothers can't die for nothing!" Zhu Changyi said, his face brimming with fury.

"Think long-term. You'll have a chance to kill him with your own hands later!" The Leader was clearly much calmer and repeatedly tried to dissuade him.

Zhu Changyi shot Song Changming a hateful glare before finally letting it go.

"Brothers, follow me!" Zhu Changyi raised his long blade high, gathering all the remaining core members of the society.

He had originally wanted to break out through the courtyard gate, perhaps killing Liang Chuanshan along the way, but the gate was now covered in fuel oil and burning fiercely.

Moreover, layer upon layer of patrol guards stood before Liang Chuanshan. Breaking out in that direction was naturally impossible.

"Fire the crossbow bolts! Stop them!" Seeing their intention to break out, Liang Chuanshan immediately issued orders to block them.

Tonight, he intended to sweep the entire Nine Bends Society clean, not letting a single core member of the society escape.

This had already been decided as their mission at the meeting before they came.

And these so-called core members naturally referred to the nine society Leaders and their Leader.

Lu Gang, Zhao Dezhi, and the other Patrol Captains understood. It did not matter if they let some of the society's core members escape; they began focusing on pursuing and intercepting the remaining Nine Bends Society Leaders.

Thanks to Song Changming already having slain three Leaders in succession, they had fewer targets to surround and block.

"Get lost!" Enraged, Zhu Changyi kept raising his blade and hacking down, every strike brimming with Blade Force.

Most of the patrol guards trying to block him had to retreat after receiving a single slash. They simply could not withstand his second.

Fortunately, there were many patrol guards at present, especially the Gold Trimmed Patrol from the General Directorate, who played a major role.

They coordinated seamlessly, like a woven net, sealing off every path and making it extraordinarily difficult for those Leaders to break out.

Zhou Sixin had also begun a second round against Scarface. Now that the situation favored them, he did not need to hurry. He only needed to keep Scarface tied down.

Clang!

Even Lu Gang could only withstand three blows before Zhu Changyi and was forced to retreat.

Seeing Zhu Changyi charge at him again, Wang Xianwen's heart stirred. At the critical moment, the blade he raised suddenly turned feather-light, failing to hinder Zhu Changyi in the slightest.

"You!" Lu Gang was shocked, but he did not even have time to say another word.

With a martial artist's experience, he could more or less tell in that instant that Wang Xianwen had been putting on an act!

As Lu Gang was about to die beneath the blade, Wang Xianwen watched indifferently, a trace of fervor rising in his heart.

He wanted to see who would still be able to take the position of Patrol Captain from him after Lu Gang died!

Such a once-in-a-thousand-years opportunity had arisen in the blink of an eye. He truly could not resist entertaining crooked thoughts. He did not even have time to think, as though his attempt at murder had merely been an instinctive, subconscious act.

Toward Lu Gang, who had taken the position of Patrol Captain from him, he had harbored resentment through every day he had spent as a deputy.

And after accumulating day by day, that resentment erupted today, in this very instant.

Another blade rang out. At the moment between life and death, the fallen Lu Gang hastily raised his blade and barely blocked Zhu Changyi's heavy chop. But he only blocked half of it. The fierce Blade Force still drove Zhu Changyi's long blade into Lu Gang's shoulder bone.

With another twist of the blade, Zhu Changyi was about to take Lu Gang's head.

Just then, a steel blade shot in from dozens of meters away, its edge aimed straight for the back of Zhu Changyi's head.

Zhu Changyi reacted sharply, drawing back his blade and turning to knock away the thrown steel blade.

The force attached to that steel blade was considerable. At the collision, even his body swayed.

The next moment, his pupils shrank. A figure leaped high into the air, caught the flying steel blade, and slashed at him.

This slash was heavy and powerful, charging forward without the slightest hesitation.

Zhu Changyi did not dare be remotely careless. Veins bulged across both arms as his broad-bladed saber swept upward from below with incredible speed.

Bang!

The two blades collided. Zhu Changyi's legs bent and sank under the force, his feet directly cracking the floorboards.

The flesh on his cheeks trembled continuously from exertion. Only after struggling to raise his head did he see the face of his attacker clearly.

It was Song Changming.

The young man's bloodstained face carried a trace of killing intent. His eyes burned brightly as he stared down at Zhu Changyi from above.

The enemy who had killed three of his sworn brothers stood right before him. Zhu Changyi's blood, which had only just calmed, surged up once more.

With a roar, Zhu Changyi rose and forced Song Changming back, his broad-bladed saber immediately launching a counterattack.

This time, Zhu Changyi held nothing back. Every strike was delivered at full strength.

He knew that dragging things out would only harm him and the other society members.

Therefore, he did not have much time left to kill Song Changming.

"Be careful!" Having escaped death, Lu Gang was worried about Song Changming facing Zhu Changyi alone.

He also knew that Song Changming had saved him just in time.

On the other side, Wang Xianwen's expression changed drastically at Song Changming's appearance, and panic visibly surfaced in his eyes.

If Lu Gang did not die, what Wang Xianwen had just done would not stay hidden.

He had to find a way to kill Lu Gang.

The scene remained a chaotic melee. Looking at the wounded Lu Gang, Wang Xianwen was burning with anxiety.

Meanwhile, Song Changming and Zhu Changyi fought fiercely. Both possessed blade techniques at the Major Accomplishment stage, and their Body Refinement Cultivation was evenly matched.

Zhu Changyi had also mastered a Fist Technique, while Song Changming possessed two additional high-grade martial arts!

Unfortunately, both high-grade martial arts were only at the beginner level. They could not yet serve as the final word with one hammer blow and help Song Changming crush his opponent.

It had to be said that among the proper opponents Song Changming had faced, Zhu Changyi was absolutely the strongest and most well-rounded.

After a round of fierce attacks, Song Changming held no advantage after thirty exchanges.

Only after they had traded fifty blows did Zhu Changyi, due to the unfavorable overall battle situation and his excessive impatience, begin to fall into a disadvantage in his clash with Song Changming.

The clothes and armor on his arms and chest had been torn apart, leaving two fairly deep blade wounds that steadily seeped blood.

"Damn it!" Zhu Changyi was somewhat beside himself with anger.

They were both Patrol Captains. Lu Gang had just been defeated by three of his strikes, yet he could not overcome this Patrol Captain who had only recently taken office.

(End of chapter)