Natural Born Killer

Huang Rong's words gave Li Mochou much to think about:

"Is the martial world... really like this? Then if we run into the despicable tricks Rong'er mentioned, how should we deal with them?"

Huang Rong giggled.

"One option is that, of the Thirty-Six Stratagems, fleeing is best. The other is to move faster than the enemy and strike first. In short, we have to stay sharp. Always keep ourselves where obstacles can shield us and make it hard for others to ambush us. At the same time, watch in every direction and listen to everything around us. If anyone wants to throw nets, scatter lime, or use hidden weapons, we'll hit them with hidden weapons first. Do you know how to use hidden weapons, Sister Mochou?"

Li Mochou nodded repeatedly.

"I know how to use Flying Needles."

Huang Rong nodded in satisfaction.

"Then keep your Flying Needles hidden in your sleeves, ready to scatter the instant you raise your hand. Remember, there's no need to show mercy when dealing with despicable villains. Since you use tiny hidden weapons like Flying Needles, just aim for their eyes."

Li Mochou was utterly convinced.

"You're right, Rong'er. I'll remember that!"

As they spoke, the three had arrived before the main gate of the Hanshui Gang's headquarters. The manor, backed by mountains and facing the water, actually had its gates thrown wide open. Eight burly men in tight-fitting outfits, long sabers at their waists, stood in rows on either side of the entrance. At the sight of Lu Chen and the others, they immediately shouted in unison:

"Honored guests have arrived!"

Their display was imposing enough, but the expressions on their faces clearly showed a measure of nervousness.

They grew even more tense when they saw Lu Chen in black robes and a bamboo hat, with a greatsword on his back and another sword in his hand.

Clearly, Lu Chen—the fiend who had slaughtered their Third Boss and eighteen brothers in one go—had put them under tremendous pressure.

"Looks like the Hanshui Gang already knows we're coming," Lu Chen said.

"Then... could they have already prepared a trap?"

Li Mochou kept her face taut as she looked at the open gates of the manor, her tone slightly tense.

Huang Rong gave a light laugh.

"Judging by the Hanshui Gang's posture, there's definitely a trap."

Li Mochou asked, "Then what should we do?"

Since they knew there was a trap inside, following them in would be foolish. But if they hesitated and did not dare enter, wouldn't this trip have been for nothing? They would even become the laughingstock of the Hanshui Gang.

Huang Rong said nothing, merely smiling at Lu Chen.

Having spent so long together, Lu Chen and she understood each other perfectly. He immediately said with a smile:

"The Hanshui Gang is putting on an act, pretending to welcome 'honored guests.' If we follow the script they've prepared and obediently go in to exchange pleasantries before turning hostile, we might step right into their ambush. So..."

He drew his steel sword and strode toward the gates.

"Since we came to wipe out the Hanshui Gang, why bother with courtesy before force? We'll just be unreasonable, unwelcome guests, force our way in, slaughter to our hearts' content, and throw their plans into chaos!"

When they saw Lu Chen draw his sword and approach, the eight Hanshui Gang members immediately panicked—why was this brat not following the rules of the martial world?

They had already put on the appearance of welcoming guests. Even if he intended to tear off all pretenses, shouldn't he at least go inside and talk for a while, keeping up appearances?

Their traps were all set inside the headquarters...

Unfortunately, Lu Chen had no intention of observing martial world etiquette with a criminal gang like this. In a few great strides, he reached the eight Hanshui Gang members. Sword light flashed, and one man who had just raised his saber clutched his throat and collapsed.

Without another word, the remaining seven Hanshui Gang members turned and ran, shouting as they fled:

"They're attacking! That black-clad brat is attacking!"

Lu Chen said nothing as he gave chase. Following the seven through the manor gates, he caught up to them one by one and killed each with a single thrust. Then he continued forward along the manor's main path.

Huang Rong called to Li Mochou and followed some distance behind Lu Chen, gathering her power in her ears and eyes as she carefully watched for movement around them.

Li Mochou pursed her lips as she walked beside Huang Rong, also keeping her full attention on their surroundings.

Suddenly, Huang Rong's delicate ear twitched. She flicked her finger, sending a copper coin whistling out. A Hanshui Gang member who had just poked his head over a side courtyard wall immediately screamed, clutched his eye, and tumbled headfirst down.

At the same time, Hanshui Gang members rose one after another from the courtyard walls and rooftops on both sides of the main path. Some held packets of lime powder, while others carried fishing nets. But before they could act, Huang Rong whispered to Li Mochou:

"I'll take the left, you take the right!"

As she spoke, her slender fingers flicked repeatedly, rapidly shooting out copper coins one after another.

On the walls and rooftops to the left, some Hanshui Gang members screamed and clutched their eyes before plunging from the walls and roofs. Others had only just raised their packets of lime powder when the packets were burst by copper coins, scattering quicklime all over themselves and their nearby companions.

On the other side, Li Mochou, who had already hidden silver needles in her sleeves, suddenly raised her hand and sent out her needles. The tiny silver needles became faint silver glimmers nearly impossible to see, shooting toward the Hanshui Gang members on the right.

She had not yet learned to use poison, so the needles she fired were not the incomparably toxic, fearsome Ice Soul Silver Needles.

But even without poison, her Flying Needle technique, learned from the Ancient Tomb Sect, was more than enough to deal with these common gang members.

Under the barrage of silver glimmers, the Hanshui Gang members on the right also clutched their eyes and fell with screams.

While Huang Rong and Li Mochou worked together to deal with the Hanshui Gang members preparing to cast nets and scatter lime, another group of Hanshui Gang members rushed toward Lu Chen from ahead.

The dozens of Hanshui Gang members each held a bamboo pole over ten feet long, its iron tip sharpened to a gleaming edge. With rows of bamboo poles leveled before them, they had actually formed a fairly convincing Spear Formation.

Such a "Spear Formation" might have been quite formidable in a gang brawl, but it was nowhere near enough against true experts.

Or rather, a Spear Formation alone could not handle an expert; it needed other methods to support it. The Hanshui Gang had originally made preparations for that as well.

However, Lu Chen and the other two had not followed the Hanshui Gang's expected routine of courtesy before force.

Rather than obediently walking into the ambush, they had brazenly forced their way in, cutting down everyone in their path and directly disrupting the Hanshui Gang's arrangements. The fishing nets and lime powder, which could have restricted an expert's movements, had been neutralized by Huang Rong and Li Mochou striking first. With only a bamboo-pole "Spear Formation" that was far from orderly left, how could it threaten real experts?

Looking at the Hanshui Gang members surging toward him with their long bamboo poles, Lu Chen could not even be bothered to use his Profound Iron Heavy Sword. He simply raised his steel sword and charged straight into the Spear Formation. The Hanshui Gang members shouted together, and the first two rows thrust their bamboo poles toward Lu Chen.

Lu Chen swung his steel sword, drawing a snowy arc of light. Amid sharp cracking sounds, more than a dozen bamboo poles thrust at him from the front and sides snapped apart, their "spearheads" flying everywhere.

Lu Chen then rushed forward again, cutting through several bamboo poles thrust from the third row. He had already reached the first row of Hanshui Gang members when his longsword swept sideways once more. A ribbon-like arc of light flashed past, and several men before him had their throats split open at the same time. Blood sprayed as they fell without a sound.

Now that he had charged into the formation, the Spear Formation naturally had no use left.

Lu Chen's sword light flashed again and again as he advanced unstoppably. Wherever he passed, blood sprayed like rain and screams rang out without end. Hanshui Gang members fell one after another, some with their hearts pierced through, some with their throats cut open, and some stabbed through the brow.

Just as he was killing to his heart's content, an angry roar rang out:

"Stop!"

Lu Chen turned a deaf ear and continued his slaughter, killing several more in rapid succession.

These gang members who had formed the Spear Formation, especially those in the first two rows, were largely the Hanshui Gang's fiercest and bravest fighters.

But no matter how brave they were, they could not endure such slaughter. After more than twenty of the boldest men in the front fell, the remaining Hanshui Gang members had long since lost their nerve. They threw down their useless bamboo poles and scattered in all directions.

They had only collapsed after a full third of them had died, but it was not because they could withstand such losses. Lu Chen had simply killed too quickly, and many of them had not even had time to become afraid at first.

After shattering the Spear Formation, Lu Chen chased them a few more steps and killed several slow runners. Seeing the lackeys fleeing in every direction, too scattered to pursue, he lightly shook his longsword to fling away the blood droplets and glanced sideways at the man who had told him to stop.

He was a burly man with a vicious face, holding a Nine-Ring Broadsword. His eyes were bloodshot as he glared furiously at Lu Chen.

To the big man's left stood a young man in black robes, holding a folding fan and dressed like a scholar, his gaze sinister. Several agile men carrying single sabers, longswords, spears, and staffs stood around the two of them.

There was also a fair, plump old man in a wealthy gentleman's robe, standing above the steps with his hands clasped behind his back. Several men in clean patched clothes clustered around him, each holding a staff and carrying several bags on his back.

At this moment, Huang Rong and Li Mochou had also scattered the ambushers and caught up.

Seeing corpses strewn all around Lu Chen, blood flowing everywhere, while he himself remained calm and composed, Li Mochou could not help muttering inwardly:

He killed so many more people in one breath. Brother Lu is truly vicious—he's practically a Natural Born Killer! I must never provoke him in the future... What? I'm on his side? Well, now that you mention it, I feel so safe!

Li Mochou's inner thoughts were exceptionally lively, while Huang Rong appeared as if nothing had happened. Only after spotting the plump old man did she softly say behind Lu Chen:

"That plump old man has nine cloth bags on his back. He should be the Hanshui Gang's backer that Zhang Yong was boasting about earlier—Elder Peng, the Nine-Bag Elder of the Beggars' Sect's Clean-Clothed Faction."