Uproot the Grass!

Old Master Zhang and the others found the fight increasingly grueling. More and more wounds appeared on their bodies, and fear grew in their hearts.

They had originally seen that Li Mochou's swordsmanship lacked killing power. For a time, they had forced her into a flurry with a desperate, all-or-nothing style of fighting. Yet they had not expected her to adapt so quickly; after only a few moves, she had turned the situation around.

Now they could neither die nor win. They could only let her draw blood from them with one neither-heavy-nor-light strike after another, as though they were suffering the torture of death by a thousand cuts.

Just as they were groaning inwardly, they heard Zhang Yong's command. Old Master Zhang and the others felt as though they had been granted a pardon. With gritted teeth, they shouted wildly and hacked frantically, temporarily forcing Li Mochou back before scrambling and crawling back to Zhang Yong's side.

After calling Old Master Zhang and the others back, Zhang Yong forced a smile onto his face and cupped his hands toward Li Mochou, Lu Chen, and Huang Rong.

"A misunderstanding! Zhang was reckless and offended the three of you. I hope the three of you..."

Before he could finish, Lu Chen suddenly spoke.

"You want to make peace?"

Zhang Yong forced a smile.

"Since it was a misunderstanding, Zhang naturally will not continue entangling himself with the three of you. Please..."

Bang!

Lu Chen drank the wine Huang Rong had poured him, slammed the empty cup heavily onto the table, cutting Zhang Yong off. Then he rose with his steel sword in hand, looked at Zhang Yong, and said softly,

"Just now, you were threatening to kill me and abduct my little sister. Now that blood has been spilled, you call it a misunderstanding? Too late!"

Lu Chen felt that when traveling the martial world, it was best not to make enemies lightly. But what if enmity had already been formed? Then there was no room for mercy. Since he had started, he might as well finish it.

Especially after making enemies with a vicious gang like the Hanshui Gang, one that dared to casually slap the label of "Jin Dynasty spy" on someone in broad daylight before murdering men and abducting women, the proper course was to uproot them completely, kill every enemy, and settle the grudge once and for all.

That was what they meant by saying it was better to resolve feuds than create them.

With that, his figure flashed as he shot toward Zhang Yong.

Zhang Yong had long been wary of Lu Chen. The instant Lu Chen moved, he decisively crouched and rolled across the ground. Disregarding all dignity, he performed a donkey roll and hid among the crowd behind him, while sharply shouting,

"Stop him!"

Though the Hanshui Gang members feared Lu Chen's martial arts, Zhang Yong's command made them step forward on instinct, raising their sabers and slashing at Lu Chen.

With the Profound Iron Heavy Sword strapped to his back, Lu Chen's movements were somewhat less nimble. He could not be bothered to maneuver around them, so he simply drew his steel sword and unleashed a move from Falling Blossom Swordplay. His wrist trembled lightly, and the sword tip hummed and quivered, scattering a field of snowy-bright sword light.

Clang, clang, clang, clang...

Amid the dense, rainlike ringing of steel against iron, the seven or eight sabers slashing at him simultaneously were instantly knocked aside by the sword light.

Lu Chen moved with his sword, his blade like a soaring dragon. He plunged into the crowd, and wherever the sword light flashed, blood sprayed like rain. One Hanshui Gang member after another clutched his throat or chest and collapsed. In the blink of an eye, the gang members standing before Zhang Yong had been cut down until they were scattered and broken.

Zhang Yong had only just risen from the ground when he saw Lu Chen advancing unstoppably through the flying blood rain. His pupils abruptly contracted, and though fear filled his heart, he shouted fiercely,

"Stop! Our Hanshui Gang's First Boss's younger sister is Inspector Song's concubine! We belong to Inspector Song..."

Lu Chen laughed.

"Haven't you heard that heroes use martial strength to defy the law? If I feared officials, wouldn't all this martial arts training have been for nothing?"

As he spoke, he casually thrust his sword through Old Master Zhang's heart.

Seeing that his official patron could not frighten Lu Chen, Zhang Yong shouted again,

"My second brother, Shen Qingshi, the Black-Clothed Scholar, is Elder Peng of the Beggars' Sect's nephew! Elder Peng is a Nine-Bag Elder of the Beggars' Sect's Clean-Clothed Faction, second only to the Beggar Gang Leader! Since you are a member of the Martial Arts World, do you dare refuse to give the Beggars' Sect, the greatest gang under heaven, face?"

Lu Chen sneered.

"If the Beggar Gang Leader learned of this, do you think he would clean house, or stand up for the likes of you?"

As he spoke, the last Hanshui Gang member standing between him and Zhang Yong was also slain with a single stroke.

With no options left, Zhang Yong hardened his heart. He let out a piercing howl, pulled a pair of Water-Parting Daggers from his waist, and lunged forward. Both daggers struck at once: one aimed at Lu Chen's chest, the other at his lower abdomen.

This man's martial arts were passable. The ferocity and precision of his attacks were no less impressive than Xue Wu's.

But with Lu Chen's current swordsmanship, a fighter of this level was no longer capable of surviving even one exchange against him.

Lu Chen casually flicked his steel sword. With a sharp ring, he knocked aside the Water-Parting Dagger aimed at his lower abdomen. Borrowing the force of the parry, the blade sprang upward and knocked away the dagger thrust at his chest as well.

Then Lu Chen's entire forearm suddenly became a blur. His steel sword shot out with a whistle, swift as lightning. With a wet thud, it drove deep into Zhang Yong's throat, the tip severing his cervical spine before piercing out through the back of his neck.

After killing Zhang Yong with a single thrust, Lu Chen casually pulled out his sword, turned aside to avoid the blood mist spraying from Zhang Yong's throat, and continued slaughtering the remaining Hanshui Gang members.

When the remaining Hanshui Gang members saw that even the Third Boss had died beneath Lu Chen's sword in a single exchange, all fighting spirit vanished from them. With a shout, they scattered and fled in every direction.

By the time Lu Chen had killed the few Hanshui Gang members at the inn's entrance, the twenty or thirty men who had been waiting outside had already scattered like startled birds. The fastest had fled more than a dozen zhang away.

Lu Chen could not be bothered to pursue these lackeys. He turned and returned to the inn, then said to Huang Rong,

"If we're going to eliminate evil, shouldn't we go kill the Hanshui Gang's remaining bosses too?"

"Sure!"

Huang Rong giggled. Carrying the Azure Adamantine Sword, she lightly skipped around the blood on the ground so as not to dirty her boots. When she reached Lu Chen, she turned and beckoned to Li Mochou.

"Sister Mochou, come along!"

Li Mochou looked at the corpses and blood covering the ground and smelled the pungent stench of blood. Her face had already turned somewhat pale, her heart pounding wildly, and she even felt a little like vomiting.

Then she looked at Lu Chen. He had killed more than a dozen people in one breath, yet he still wore such a calm, composed expression. That made her even more uneasy.

But when she looked at Huang Rong and saw that she had not changed expression at all, still chatting and smiling naturally, Li Mochou truly did not want to be looked down upon by a younger girl. So she forcibly suppressed her nausea and put on a bold front.

"Fine! We'll go together and wipe out the Hanshui Gang, those evildoers who harm the people!"

As she spoke, she put on her bamboo hat, slung her bundle over her back, carefully stepped around the corpses, and came to Lu Chen and Huang Rong's side.

Huang Rong took out several Huizi notes and tossed them onto the counter. Smiling at the innkeeper peeking out from near the back door, she said,

"Don't say we kill but refuse to bury. Twenty strings should be enough to collect the bodies and wash the floor. There's no need to buy coffins anyway; a thin mat for each person will do. Don't worry. Once we wipe out the Hanshui Gang, no one will come looking for trouble with you again. By the way, is the Hanshui Gang's headquarters in town?"

The innkeeper said tremblingly,

"There's only a branch hall in town, usually overseen by Zhang Yong. The Hanshui Gang's headquarters is ten li upstream, in a riverside estate backed by the mountains... Little ladies, you must, you must eliminate evil completely. Otherwise, this little inn may get dragged into it..."

"Don't worry, we keep our word!"

Huang Rong nodded with a giggle. Together with Lu Chen and Li Mochou, she left the inn and headed upstream along the Han River.

When they first set out, Li Mochou had been a little excited. She felt they were about to accomplish something great. If the three of them destroyed a vicious gang, they might even become famous in a single battle.

But after they left town, she gradually began to lose confidence. In a low voice, she said,

"The Hanshui Gang... still has two or three hundred people, right?"

Huang Rong nodded. "That's right!"

Li Mochou swallowed.

"And there are only three of us. Charging in so openly like this, isn't that a little... ahem, I'm not afraid. I just think that perhaps it would be safer if we attacked in the middle of the night?"

She had entered the Ancient Tomb at the age of ten and stayed there for seven or eight years. Her night vision was exceptionally strong. Even ordinary renowned experts might not see as well as she did at night, much less ordinary gang lackeys.

That was why she felt that if they attacked at night, with her night vision and Movement Technique, perhaps two or three hundred people would not be impossible to fight. But in daylight, her advantage was far less obvious.

Or rather, their side had too few people and was at a tremendous disadvantage.

"Sister Mochou, don't worry. Even regular troops will collapse on the spot if they suffer twenty or thirty percent casualties, sometimes even ten or twenty percent. How much more so a martial gang that only dares prey upon common people? As long as we kill the Hanshui Gang's bosses and their bravest, most capable fighters, the remaining lackeys will scatter like birds and beasts. We won't need to fight two or three hundred people head-on at all."

"Is... is that so?"

"Of course."

Huang Rong raised a hand and patted the Profound Iron Heavy Sword on Lu Chen's back, smiling.

"Not many people in the world today can withstand my Brother Lu Chen's sword. Even amid a military formation, it would be enough to break the formation and behead the generals. With my Brother Lu Chen here, what is there to fear from the Hanshui Gang? Trust me, it'll be fine!"

Lu Chen also smiled faintly at Li Mochou.

"Don't worry. My sword is very efficient at cutting people down."

"...Heh heh."

Li Mochou gave a dry laugh. She did not know why, but though Lu Chen's smile was clean and gentle, the thought of how calmly he had slaughtered people earlier made her scalp tingle...

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