Encircled Killing at the Tavern

In that flash of lightning and fire, an unforeseen change struck.

Two waiters, faces twisted in ferocity, lunged at Ji Boying with gleaming blades in hand.

At such a distance of merely two steps, an ordinary person would have had no time to react.

Hearing the commotion, Linghu Chong and Lu Dayou's hearts both lurched, but they too had no time to respond.

A rag drifted down before Ji Boying's eyes, blocking his vision.

With danger upon him, there came a clang.

A flash of sword light streaked past as Ji Boying drew his sword.

He retreated with the motion, his gaze locked onto the two assassins before him, his eyes cold and stern.

His body shifted left, while his longsword swept right.

The two assassins had not expected Ji Boying to be so fast.

The assassin on the left could only raise his dagger to parry.

He deftly blocked the strike, and no sparks flew.

The left assassin was horrified. It was a feint.

But his parry had already cost him precious time. Ji Boying had reached his left side, while the assassin on the right was blocked off by his own body, unable to attack from both sides.

Before he could react further, another light, swift sword stroke came. The tip moved like a nimble swallow in spring, suddenly changing direction as it flashed through the air.

Ji Boying's cold gaze did not waver in the slightest. His sword swept across the left assassin's throat, and blood sprayed!

He bent slightly, then sprang backward onto a table, holding his sword level before him.

One assassin had fallen. The other, no longer blocked by his companion, faced him head-on, his pressure easing somewhat.

"Senior Disciple Brother, draw your sword and face the enemy! This is a trap! Be wary of everyone here!"

Ji Boying spoke in a deep voice.

Linghu Chong and Lu Dayou were both shocked and enraged. Drawing their swords, they swept them forward and forced back a third waiter who had drawn a dagger.

Linghu Chong turned to guard against the shopkeeper behind the counter.

After this rapid string of movements, several diners near the door and windows finally turned pale with fright, screaming, "Murder!"

They fled one after another, faster than rabbits.

Other diners, terrified like headless flies, crashed about in every direction.

The second assassin targeting Ji Boying seized the chance to lunge forward.

He leaped up and kicked the heavy wooden table with all his strength.

The table toppled over. Ji Boying nimbly jumped aside, his sword light shrouding the assassin's upper body.

With two hiss-hiss sounds, his blade opened two bloody holes in the assassin at a speed too fast to see. With a casual slash, the assassin collapsed to the ground and did not rise again.

Linghu Chong had not even had the chance to make a move. He and the others had merely been keeping one another in check, and seeing his Junior Disciple Brother easily kill two assassins, he was overjoyed.

But the remaining waiter and the portly shopkeeper's faces changed.

Their expressions sank like still water, disbelief filling them.

"Sure enough, we couldn't leave you alive. We already thought highly enough of you, yet we never expected two skilled men launching a sneak attack still couldn't hurt you!"

The shopkeeper spoke in a low voice.

Though the two assassins killed just now had seemed unable to withstand a single blow, the shopkeeper knew they were not so weak. At the very least, they were no worse than that monkey-like Mount Hua disciple before him!

"Stop hiding! Get them together!"

With a rush, another dozen or so vicious-looking men wielding longswords sprang out.

Ji Boying paid no attention to what the shopkeeper said. He was merely surveying his surroundings, intending to climb out through a door or window first.

But once those dozen or so men surrounded them, there was no way out.

Linghu Chong and Lu Dayou were positioned too far inside.

Yet these people seemed to have come specifically for him. Everyone encircled him, with only two men confronting Linghu Chong and Lu Dayou.

Those panic-stricken diners also crashed toward him.

But Ji Boying had long been prepared for such tricks. He gave them no chance to get close and hurriedly shifted his footing.

Seeing that they could not approach him, they could only spit on the ground.

"Damn it, Yue Buqun really did raise a little fox. So young, yet already this cautious."

As they spoke, they stopped pretending as well. One after another, they stood and drew the short swords at their waists.

Since they had been posing as diners, they naturally could not have carried longswords.

The dozen or so men spoke as they slowly closed in on Ji Boying together, while several more circled around from both sides, intending to get behind him.

"Junior Disciple Brother! Ganging up on the few with the many is no act of heroes!"

Linghu Chong was fully sober now. He could tell that the enemies had come for his Junior Disciple Brother.

This was clearly a trap laid for Junior Disciple Brother with his own fine wine.

He had dragged Junior Disciple Brother into this, and remorse gnawed at his heart!

"You fool, we're about to kill him—what Jianghu code are you still talking about? Hahaha."

The Fat Shopkeeper laughed with a sinister glint in his eyes, and many of the assassins in the inn burst into unrestrained laughter as well.

"Who are you people, to dare ambush and kill Mount Hua disciples at the foot of Mount Hua! Aren't you afraid of my Master?"

They laughed again.

"Who's afraid of that damned hypocrite you call Master! Kill you, and what can he do about it!"

Linghu Chong's eyes reddened with fury at the insult to his Master.

But that was a small matter now. Staying alive came first.

Drawing his sword, he sprang to one side, intending to join up with Junior Disciple Brother first.

But the Fat Shopkeeper suddenly leaped out from behind the counter as well.

His body was fat and heavy, yet he landed lightly. One glance was enough to tell that his martial arts were far from shallow.

He blocked Linghu Chong's path outright.

Linghu Chong did not stand on ceremony, swinging his sword down at him.

The Fat Shopkeeper struck with the iron abacus in his hand, and a tremendous force surged back like a reversing tide, jolting Linghu Chong so hard he nearly lost his grip on his longsword. His gaze darkened with anger, and he dared not be careless.

"Kid, stay put obediently. Once this is over, I'll spare your miserable life. That's only because we're afraid your Master might go mad—more than enough face for you!"

But Linghu Chong refused to yield. "As Senior Disciple Brother, I've already committed a crime worthy of ten thousand deaths by dragging Junior Disciple Brother into this trap. If Junior Disciple Brother dies, then I can only fight to the death as well. If you're afraid of my Master, then let us go at once!"

Linghu Chong saw that Junior Disciple Brother had already clashed with the assassins again in the main hall, and his heart grew even more anxious.

The shopkeeper no longer bothered exchanging pleasantries with Linghu Chong and cursed, "You little bastard, you still dare threaten us? Look at what you think you are. So Yue Buqun raised disciples like this. Tsk, tsk. Once we kill your Junior Disciple Brother, we'll swarm you and take you down, seal your acupoints, and make you beg for death without being able to die!"

Lu Dayou cursed angrily as well, "And what sort of skulking rats are you? Using such schemes and tricks—you're nothing but stinking vermin unfit to show your faces in the Jianghu!"

The waiter watching over Lu Dayou flew into a rage.

He was about to teach Lu Dayou a lesson.

But Lu Dayou was not afraid either, swinging his sword in retaliation.

None of these waiters were inferior to Lu Dayou in martial arts, but they had been assigned an assassination mission, and the daggers they carried did not suit them.

They could not contend against Lu Dayou's longsword.

Meanwhile, Ji Boying remained calm and composed, constantly shifting his position and never allowing himself to be attacked from both front and back.

He always kept one enemy directly in front of him, using that enemy's body to block the others' encirclement.

In but a moment, he had struck with ruthless hands.

He stabbed two more men to death and wounded another.

Mount Hua Swordplay at the perfected level truly possessed the miraculous effect of turning decay into wonder.

And as he swung his sword amid this life-and-death struggle, the Mount Hua basic swordplay and the "Rising Sun Vitality Sword" seemed to be blending together even faster.

Name: Ji Boying

Skills: Mount Hua Breathing Technique: Proficient (203/600), Stone Splitting Jade Breaking Fist: Proficient (330/600), Rising Sun Vitality Sword: Beginner (149/200), Mount Hua Swordplay: Perfected

Talent: Skill Simplification. Spend Simplification Energy Points to simplify skills.

Energy Points: 0. The system automatically restores 1 Energy Point every month. Automatically resets at midnight on the first day of each month.