Escape

Before his words had even faded, a sudden change erupted!

At Tu Baichuan's side, Li Mu—who had seemed bleary-eyed and drunk, sprawled over the edge of the table as if unconscious—suddenly sprang up.

The sodden, dispirited look from moments ago vanished without a trace.

At some unknown moment, a narrow black shortsword had appeared in his hand, stabbing straight at Tu Baichuan's heart!

The timing was viciously precise—just as Tu Baichuan had let out his furious roar and his body momentarily stalled.

"Dog bastard, die!"

The sword flashed like lightning, hissing like a venomous snake flicking its tongue.

Tu Baichuan's pupils suddenly contracted.

In that hurried instant, he could only rely on his battle-honed instincts to forcibly twist his burly body to the side.

Pfft! The grating sound of a sharp blade piercing flesh rang out.

The clearly poisoned shortsword failed to pierce his heart directly, but sank deep between his ribs, drawing a spray of blood as it was pulled free.

Excruciating pain, accompanied by numbness, surged violently through his veins and spread across his body.

"Urgh—!"

Tu Baichuan let out a pained low roar, stumbled backward, and retreated several steps in quick succession.

By then, the previously clamorous hall had fallen utterly silent.

Of his five Incense Masters, three still lay limp in their chairs, their faces flushed red and their gazes unfocused. Clearly, the poison had already sunk deep into them, leaving them unconscious.

As for another Incense Master, along with several of Tu Baichuan's trusted gang members under him, they slowly rose to their feet, their faces entirely devoid of drunkenness.

Their eyes were cold as they gripped their weapons, faintly forming an encirclement that trapped Tu Baichuan in the center.

Tu Baichuan stared fixedly at the grinning Li Mu in shock and roared, "Li Mu!"

"And you lot!"

"You dare betray me?!"

Li Mu gave a sinister grin, his eyes brimming with venomous resentment.

"Heh, Tu Baichuan, all these years, we brothers have served you like oxen and horses, risking our lives for you. How many obstacles have we cleared away for you? How much blood and sweat have we shed?"

"And you? Sitting high above us, what did you take us for? Dogs! Summoned when you wanted us, dismissed when you didn't!"

"And the scraps you gave us were pitiful. I've had enough of it long ago!"

Li Mu thrust three more times in succession, each strike aimed at Tu Baichuan's vital points.

Tu Baichuan drew his steel saber at last, weaving it into a curtain of light that blocked every follow-up attack.

"When you were hunted down by your enemies ten years ago, I was the one who took you in and gave you everything you have today! Your life is mine, so you are my dog! You ungrateful dog bastard!"

Hearing this, Li Mu immediately looked crazed. "Die! As long as you die today, the position of Hall Master will be mine!"

"Die? What a fine dog bastard who betrays his master!"

Tu Baichuan laughed in extreme anger and said, "Li Mu, you insidious, cowardly dog! In a head-on fight, you couldn't even take one move from me! You only know how to use these underhanded tricks in the shadows. That's the only promise you have!"

"Ptui!"

Li Mu shouted sharply and said no more!

His body twisted as he darted in like a ghost, the poisoned shortsword in his hand stabbing densely toward Tu Baichuan's vital points.

His sword moves were vicious and tricky, targeting difficult-to-defend spots such as the throat, eyes, and heart, striking from angles as venomous as they were sinister.

At the same time, another Incense Master rushed fiercely in from the right with tacit agreement, wielding a curved blade and attacking low, coordinating with Li Mu's offensive.

Clang! Clang! Keng!

The clash of metal burst densely through the front hall like popping beans.

Tu Baichuan endured wave after wave of numbness and dizziness from the encroaching poison, his steel saber guarding his entire body so tightly that not even water could seep through.

Yet the poison clung to him like maggots to bone.

Driven by the violent surging of his blood and qi, it spread madly through his veins and meridians.

Every exertion of force, every block, every leap, shift, and dodge accelerated the poison's circulation.

It numbed his muscles, corroded his nerves, and sapped his strength.

After more than a dozen exchanges, Tu Baichuan's once-steady footing had begun to stagger.

The curtain of saber light visibly grew less airtight.

Rip! Rip!

Two more sounds of blades piercing flesh rang out.

Tu Baichuan gave a muffled grunt. Two more wounds, deep enough to expose bone, appeared across his chest and back.

At the same time, several traitorous Iron Saber Gang members pounced on their colleagues who had been deeply poisoned and were barely conscious.

Saber light descended. In less than the time it took to drink half a cup of tea, the front hall had turned into a field of Asura.

Severed limbs and broken arms lay scattered everywhere, and the stench of blood was so thick it could not be dispersed.

At that moment, beyond his fury, Tu Baichuan was filled with bitter regret.

He hated himself for failing to notice the warning signs beforehand, only to fall for Li Mu's scheme in the end.

Under normal circumstances, Li Mu would not even have lasted ten moves beneath his hand.

The Incense Masters below were even more like clay chickens and porcelain dogs, easily dealt with as though chopping melons and slicing vegetables.

Today, however, he had first been caught completely unprepared and wounded by Li Mu's close-range shortsword, the deadly poison entering his veins and organs directly.

Then, with the poison taking effect and his strength severely diminished, he had been besieged by their combined assault. He was forced to barely defend himself and had no way to unleash Thunderous Methods.

The numbness continued to spread from his wounds, eroding his strength and speed. Even his five senses were beginning to dull.

Tu Baichuan's movements grew increasingly sluggish, as though he were carrying a thousand-pound burden, becoming heavy and slow.

A tiny opening!

Savage light flared in Li Mu's eyes as he slid upward against the back of the steel saber.

Rip! Rip! Rip!

Three more wounds, deep enough to expose bone, instantly tore open Tu Baichuan's arm and shoulder blade.

Blood gushed out.

Pfft—

A dull sound of a weapon entering flesh suddenly rang out.

Time seemed to freeze at that instant.

Tu Baichuan's sweeping saber abruptly halted in midair.

His burly body jolted violently as he lowered his head in disbelief.

That shortsword was now buried deep in his chest, piercing through his heart.

With unwillingness and hatred in his eyes, Tu Baichuan crashed to the ground.

Just moments earlier, Jiang Qinghe had been carrying wine from the back courtyard, planning to pass through the corridor and deliver it to the front hall.

He had been calculating how to collect his wages after closing for the day and leave.

Then he suddenly heard the deafening explosion of Tu Baichuan smashing the table apart.

After lifting a corner of the curtain at the passageway entrance, he witnessed Li Mu's sneak attack on Tu Baichuan.

Seeing that things were going badly, Jiang Qinghe did not hesitate for even a moment before turning and slipping back into the rear courtyard.

He had intended to dash straight out through the small gate, only to hear strange sounds coming from outside.

Faint sounds of weapons, deliberately muffled.

Clearly, there was another ambush. Someone was guarding outside; they meant to kill every last one.

As Jiang Qinghe's thoughts raced, his gaze swept over the three tall walls around the rear courtyard.

The only comparatively lower one was on the left. It connected to the neighboring alley and was still over ten feet high.

Its top was densely embedded with shattered porcelain shards.

He took a deep breath, suddenly exerted force, and sprinted toward the wall in several quick strides. A half-man-high pile of empty wine jars happened to stand there.

Jiang Qinghe planted his right foot hard on the edge of a wine jar, using his momentum to launch himself upward.

His ten fingers gripped the top of the wall, and sharp pain immediately shot through his palms as the porcelain shards pierced them.

The next second, he flipped over like a kite turning in the wind.

He rolled upon landing to dissipate the impact, then plunged into the depths of the narrow alley without looking back.

Only a few breaths after Jiang Qinghe climbed over the wall and escaped, Zhang Deqing hurried into the rear courtyard with the attendants.

The small gate of the rear courtyard was violently smashed open, and before everyone's eyes appeared Liao Hu, the Incense Master who had previously vanished from the front hall.

With a cat-toying-with-a-mouse smile on his horse-like face, Liao Hu forced everyone back toward the front hall step by step.

By then, blood had already flowed like a river through the front hall. Li Mu stood in the middle of a pool of blood, with seven or eight trusted men behind him, every one of their hands stained with blood.

Zhang Deqing trembled like a leaf, his face ash-gray as beads of sweat the size of beans rolled down his face.

"Hall Master Li, you... what do you mean by this?"

As he spoke, he dropped to his knees with a thud. "I... I didn't see anything just now!"

Li Mu looked at the terrified Zhang Deqing, gave a sinister smile, and bent down to whisper in his ear, "Shopkeeper, my apologies. Only the dead cannot speak."

Before his words had even faded, the shortsword in his hand had already stabbed into Zhang Deqing's throat.

Zhang Deqing's eyes widened. A gurgling sound came from his throat before he finally went limp in the pool of blood.

"Kill them all! Leave no one alive!"

At Li Mu's command, cries of agony rose one after another, soon returning to silence.

After the time it took to burn one stick of incense, the wine shop was steeped in a heavy stench of blood. Dozens of corpses lay strewn across the floor.

The Iron Saber Gang members were going from body to body, delivering additional strikes to ensure there were no survivors.

Liao Hu frowned as he kicked aside one corpse after another.

"Where's that little brat?"

He walked over to Li Mu and said in a low voice, "Boss! One of the menials is missing."

Li Mu frowned and said gravely, "Deal with the important matter first. A mere menial can't make any waves. Send someone to deal with him afterward."

"Yes!"

At that moment, Jiang Qinghe was racing through dark alleys.

He sped all the way along West Street, his heart nearly pounding out of his chest.

After turning into a shadowy alley, he immediately changed direction, weaving back and forth through the maze of narrow lanes.

He passed through the backyards of three households and leaped over five courtyard walls.

Only after confirming that no pursuers followed behind did Jiang Qinghe lean against a crumbling earthen wall and gasp for breath.

"Just a little closer..."

He muttered to himself. Had his reaction been even slightly slower, the consequences would have been unthinkable.

Right now, he merely possessed brute strength and knew no martial arts. He should have been able to deal with ordinary gang members with ease.

But against someone like Li Mu, he would likely struggle to take even one move and be suppressed with a casual backhand.