Objection!

Stay calm. Stay calm.

Right now, the first thing he had to do was rescue the disciples, then deal with those utterly inhuman bandits.

Suppressing the raging fury and killing intent in his heart, Jun Changxiao arrived before the Main Hall at the end. Ten bandits stood at the entrance, their auras seemingly reaching the Pulse Opening Seventh or Eighth Stage.

They should be the elites of Black Wind Stockade.

As he pondered, he stepped into the Main Hall. Yet the moment he entered, he felt several icy gazes lock onto him.

Eight martial artists stood inside the hall, killing intent flickering between their brows.

These people are at least at the Meridian Opening Tenth Stage! Jun Changxiao thought.

"Kid."

A fair-skinned, long-haired man reclined lazily in a chair and said with a smile, "You've got some nerve, daring to kill men from my Black Wind Stockade."

Beside him, a middle-aged man with a face full of whiskers glared and said, "If the Great Chieftain hadn't given the order, I'd have twisted your head off and used it as a ball!"

Jun Changxiao ignored them. With his hands behind his back, he said, "I personally came to Black Mountain to ransom my people. Is this your way of receiving guests, Great Chieftain—sending these petty leaders, dog meat unfit for a banquet, to greet me?"

"Damn brat!"

"You dare call us dog meat!"

The eight martial artists in the hall rose furiously, murder glinting in their eyes as though they were on the verge of blasting Jun Changxiao to death.

"Hahaha!"

At that moment, a booming laugh rang out.

A burly middle-aged man strode in through a side door, took a seat in a tiger-skin chair, and said, "Sect Leader Jun's esteemed arrival has made Black Wind Stockade shine in splendor despite its humble surroundings."

"Great Chieftain!"

The eight martial artists bowed respectfully in unison.

Jun Changxiao looked calm, but when he saw faint spiritual energy gathering around the man, he secretly thought, He should be a Martial Apprentice.

Though Martial Apprentice was merely the second Martial Dao Realm on the Starfall Continent, it was vastly stronger than Pulse Opening martial artists.

From the memories Jun Changxiao had received, one Martial Apprentice was enough to rival ten Meridian Opening Twelve Stages martial artists. With the support of advanced Martial Techniques, unleashing ten thousand jin of force with a single punch was effortless.

Facing a Martial Apprentice, the pressure was immense.

"Great Chieftain."

Jun Changxiao said, "I do not like wasting words. I came to Black Wind Stockade solely to take my disciples away."

The Great Chieftain raised one finger and smiled. "I, Zhou Tianba, won't beat around the bush either. One head costs one hundred taels. Once you pay, Sect Leader Jun may take them away at any time."

"One hundred taels?"

Jun Changxiao frowned. "That's a little expensive."

He only had three hundred taels on him. Even if he used it all for ransom, he could only redeem three people.

Zhou Tianba said, "I gave you the lowest price out of consideration for Sect Leader Wang. For any other sect, the starting price would be at least two hundred taels per head."

"Oh?"

Jun Changxiao said, "Great Chieftain, you knew the previous sect leader of my sect?"

Leaning back in his chair, Zhou Tianba recalled the past. "We often met at Little Phoenix Pavilion. We could be considered old friends."

Old friends...

Jun Changxiao's mouth twitched.

So this guy, like Sect Leader Wang, enjoyed frequenting places of pleasure.

"Since that is the case,"

Jun Changxiao said, "why not give Jun Mou a little more of a discount for your old friend's sake?"

"Heh."

"Does this guy think he's buying vegetables at the market? He's actually haggling?"

The eight petty leaders sneered.

Zhou Tianba said, "Sect Leader Jun, how cheap would it have to be for you to accept?"

After thinking for a while, Jun Changxiao said, "How about this? Jun Mou will offer one hundred taels, and Great Chieftain will release all my sect's disciples."

If money could solve the problem, he would rather ransom the disciples first, send them somewhere safe, then storm Black Wind Stockade alone.

"Haha!"

"One hundred taels? Is this guy farting?"

Several petty leaders burst into mocking laughter.

Zhou Tianba's face darkened. "Sect Leader Jun, the price you offer carries no sincerity at all."

Jun Changxiao shrugged helplessly. "Our Iron Bone Unyielding Sect is so poor that even the bells have stopped ringing. We can only offer one hundred taels to ransom them. Great Chieftain, please make an exception for Sect Leader Wang's old friend's sake."

"Make an exception?"

Zhou Tianba snapped his fingers. "Fine."

Soon, two bandit underlings dragged a tightly bound youth out through the side door.

Jun Changxiao's brows drew together.

That youth was precisely the disciple he had recruited in Qingyang City.

His hair was disheveled, his face bruised and swollen. At a glance, it was clear he had been brutally abused.

"Sect Leader..."

The youth spotted Jun Changxiao. Hope flickered in his despairing eyes as he weakly cried, "Save me... save me..."

Thud!

He was thrown before the tiger-skin chair.

Zhou Tianba stepped on the youth's head and smiled. "Sect Leader Jun, if Zhou Mou kills him today, that means one less head. Then you won't need to pay any additional ransom."

Jun Changxiao's hands behind his back slowly clenched into fists, rage surging from within him.

As the master of a sect, how could he stand by and watch his disciple be humiliated?

"Don't... don't kill me..."

The youth seemed to sense the Death Aura. Terrified and helpless, he begged, "Don't kill me. I don't want to die. Don't kill me... I don't want to die... I'm willing to join Black Wind Stockade! I'm willing to work like an ox and horse for you! Please don't kill me... don't kill me!"

"Hahaha!"

"This kid's such a coward!"

"Look, his crotch is wet! He must have pissed himself from fright!"

The eight petty leaders laughed without restraint.

The fury within Jun Changxiao burned even hotter!

So spineless—what kind of disciple had he recruited?

The disciple was young, and it was understandable that he had never faced life and death before. But now that Jun Changxiao had come, he was willing to join Black Wind Stockade just to survive. This truly...

Slash—

Zhou Tianba drew the long saber hanging before his chair and chopped off the begging youth's head. Smiling, he said, "Sect Leader Jun, Zhou Mou has dealt with such a cowardly, death-fearing fellow for you. You have no objections, I presume?"

Ding!

Sect Member: 99/100.

The notification of a member decrease sounded beside his ear. Jun Changxiao ignored it, slowly raised his head toward Zhou Tianba, and said with chilling eyes, "I do!"

Those words contained boundless fury.

Though the disciple's desperate fear of death had made him angry and disappointed, the boy was still his disciple. What right did an outsider have to kill him?

"Hehe, this guy seems angry."

"The Great Chieftain helped him clear out a disciple who clung to life and feared death. Shouldn't he be thanking him properly?"

The eight petty leaders laughed contemptuously.

From the moment Jun Changxiao entered, they had never regarded him as a threat.

A trace of cold malice flashed through Zhou Tianbo's eyes, yet he sheathed his saber and smiled. "Sect Leader Jun, what objection do you have?"

Jun Changxiao said coldly, "Whether disciples of my Iron Bone Unyielding Sect cling to life and fear death or commit grave mistakes, only I may punish them. Others have neither the right nor the qualifications to interfere."

"Pfft, hahaha!"

"Does this guy really think he's a sect leader?"

"A Ninth-rate Sect that cannot even compare to our Black Wind Stockade dares to spout such grand words before the Great Chieftain. He's truly tired of living!"

Zhou Tianba clasped his hands together, resting his chin on the backs of them. "So you mean Zhou Mou has been meddling in affairs that do not concern him?"

"Yes."

Jun Changxiao said, "You're a dog catching mice—meddling in affairs that do not concern you."

The smile vanished from Zhou Tianba's face, and his gaze turned sharply cold.

The eight petty leaders immediately realized that the Great Chieftain was angry!

"Kid!"

The Bearded Man slapped the armrest and roared, "Our Great Chieftain gave trash like you, a sect leader, a bit of face because you're fellow people of the martial world. Don't think too highly of yourself."

Slash!

Jun Changxiao gripped the Cold Edge Sword in a backhand hold and thrust it into his chest.