Bursting Forth in Desperation!

"Fall back!"

Huo Yuanhong let out a low growl, yanking Uncle Liu aside to evade the fierce, icy gleam of the sword thrust from the third floor.

The short dagger and pouch of quicklime in his sleeves were already primed to strike!

For the moment, he could not count on the Martial Arts Hall's people. He had already heard the fierce fighting erupt outside the residence right afterward!

There was no need to say it—the Martial Arts Hall experts secretly protecting him had also been tied down! Even Old Xu, who had been following him all along, had been held up!

Uncle Liu and he were at the mid and late stages of Heart-Mind Unity respectively, and neither carried a weapon they could properly wield. Against the three saber-wielders at the stairway, suspected to be at the peak of Heart-Mind Unity, plus one... no, two sword-wielders on the third floor, also suspected to be at the peak of Heart-Mind Unity! Another had come out of the room!

Danger!

Weapons had far too great an impact on one's strength!

Especially for Heart-Mind Unity experts skilled in combat methods—more than half their abilities lay in their weapons. With a suitable weapon in hand, they could even threaten opponents at realms above Heart-Mind Unity!

Three peak Heart-Mind Unity experts wielding sabers—each one posed an utterly terrifying threat. Their combined attack was even more horrifying, capable of instantly hacking a Heart-Mind Unity peak expert of the same level to death! Even those at a higher realm beyond Heart-Mind Unity would not dare claim they could survive barehanded!

But he... was only at the mid stage of Heart-Mind Unity! Though Uncle Liu was at the late stage, both his Training Method and Combat Method followed the rough-and-ready ways of the jianghu. His strength was most likely still far inferior to Huo Yuanhong's!

Fortunately, because he was Li Shuxing's disciple, those Dark Force and Transformation Strength experts with status, standing, and vast family holdings would not dare kill him outright! As for Peak Experts, Old Xu would keep them occupied!

Otherwise, if some Dark Force, Transformation Strength, or even Peak Expert came bullying the young with their seniority, that would be a true dead end! An absolute dead end!

"One on each side!"

Huo Yuanhong barked low and took the lead in meeting the three saber fighters charging from the stairway!

Uncle Liu fought in the rough-and-ready style. Without a suitable weapon, facing three Heart-Mind Unity saber fighters, he would likely be hacked to death on the spot. And if Uncle Liu died, Huo Yuanhong would be facing weapon attacks from both sides, caught between front and rear—he would not fare much better!

So he had no choice but to deal with the three saber fighters himself, while Uncle Liu first held back the swordsmen behind them!

Swordsmen were formidable too, but there was one fewer of them. Uncle Liu could hold out for a little while, at least!

"Kill!"

With a flick of Huo Yuanhong's wrist, the pouch of quicklime shot forward under the force wrapped around it and burst with a bang!

As the quicklime spread through the area ahead, he stomped down, and his entangling force erupted!

Baji Minor Entanglement, hailed as the foremost hand in grappling under heaven! It was also the art he had focused on after reaching Heart-Mind Unity!

Under the stimulation of life and death, his thoughts became incomparably active and his mind highly focused. The chopping trajectories of the three sabers as they burst from the quicklime were reflected with crystalline clarity in his eyes!

The turns of their wrists and shifts of their feet were equally clear to him! With his powerful Heart-Mind, he rapidly analyzed and predicted the movements the three would make after charging out of the quicklime!

"Whoosh!"

He twisted sideways just as a saber slashed down past the tip of his nose!

His palm snapped out like lightning, seizing the wrist of the man in the middle holding his saber. Ferocious force erupted, compressing the acupoints around the man's wrist bones, radius, and ulna, numbing the hand holding the saber slightly! The weapon loosened with it!

"Whoosh! Whoosh!"

At that moment, the sabers in the hands of the men to either side were already chopping toward him! One slashed diagonally downward! The other swept up diagonally!

Catching the trajectories of those blades tearing through the air, madness flashed through Huo Yuanhong's eyes!

Force exploded beneath his feet, propelling him forward in a violent rush. Using the body of the man in the middle at his side, he blocked the saber light chopping in from the left!

Almost at the same instant, force burst from his waist and hips!

Disarm! He snatched the saber from the middle man's hand!

At the same time, he pitched sharply forward and smashed his forehead into the middle man's face. He shattered the man's nose bridge, and his sideways forward lean also happened to let him evade the upward slash from the right!

"Shhk!"

The blade whistled past, grazing the clothes on his shoulder and shearing off several strands of hair, making his scalp tingle with numbness!

For the first time, Huo Yuanhong felt that he was so close to death!

If his judgment had been wrong, if his movements had been even a fraction slower, that saber would not merely have sliced his clothes and cut away a few strands of hair!

One against three, without his trusty Great Spear—aside from the short dagger hidden in his sleeve, he was practically barehanded, facing the combined encirclement and slaughter of three peak Heart-Mind Unity saber fighters whose realms far surpassed his own...

It was too dangerous!

It was like dancing through the gaps between blades. One mistake in judgment, one movement unable to keep pace with the turn of his thoughts, and he would be gravely wounded at best, dead by misadventure at worst!

The frantic warnings blazing through his heart made every hair on his body stand on end. His heart pounded violently, and the blood throughout his body roared madly!

"Kill!!!"

He himself was still all right and could continue to maneuver, but Uncle Liu at his back truly could not hold on any longer.

Uncle Liu was only at the late stage of Heart-Mind Unity, one of those rough-and-ready jianghu experts with neither a powerful Training Method nor a formidable Combat Method. Without a suitable weapon, he could only use the short dagger in his hand to parry the longswords.

Against two peak Heart-Mind Unity opponents whose swordsmanship was fierce and unpredictable, he simply could not fight back. He was forced into a miserable scramble, and several times he had nearly been stabbed in a vital spot.

"I don't want to die—I don't want to die!"

Uncle Liu's face twisted somewhat as he dodged with every ounce of his strength. The moment he caught the scent of death, his fear of dying surged up once more.

Out of the corner of his eye, he kept glancing left and right, searching for a way to escape.

Unfortunately...

No!

The killers had blocked off every path forward and back. If he wanted out, he could only kill his way out!

But...

He truly could not muster the courage. He was so terrified of death that his legs were about to start shaking.

Besides, Old Six had never been good at frontal combat. Whenever he fought other gangs in the past, he relied on his exceptionally agile movement—he beat the weak ones, and ran the instant he saw anyone formidable.

When it came to fleeing alone, he was first-rate. But asking him to stand head-on against two peak Heart-Mind Unity swordsmen? He truly could not hold them off!

Taking advantage of a gap, Old Six swiftly turned his head and stole a glance toward Huo Yuanhong.

Then his heart gradually sank.

Ah Hong was strong—far stronger than he had ever imagined. Fighting one against three, empty-handed against three long blades, he was still managing to hold on.

But clearly, that was about his limit. He was practically dancing through the gaps between blades; the slightest mistake would mean death...

He would die...

Clang!

In that instant when he turned his head, Old Six's dagger was struck aside by a sword with a sharp clang. Then—

Slice!

Staring at the blade embedded in his lower abdomen, Old Six froze.

At that moment, everything in his eyes seemed to congeal and slow...

The sharp blade piercing his abdomen; the cold, cruelly grinning eyes of the sword-wielding killer before him; Ah Hong's perilous struggle for survival before three long blades...

And...

A chance to escape!

The experienced Old Six knew that although the wound looked terrifying, it was not yet fatal. It merely meant he could no longer keep fighting.

And because he was already badly wounded, the other swordsman beside him had shifted his attention away from him, looking instead toward Ah Hong, who was still fighting desperately.

As long as he could seize this longsword, then take advantage of the instant when the swordsman before him was unarmed to force out one breath and dart past him with his movement technique, rush straight into the room on the third floor, break through the window, and escape, he could survive.

Just like all those times before, he could escape death once more!

Keep living!

But...

Old Six's lips trembled.

If he left, how would Ah Hong get away?

With three Heart-Mind Unity blade wielders pinning him down, there was no way he could simply turn around and run like Old Six.

And if he ran alone, Ah Hong would have to fight three blade wielders head-on while two more experts attacked and interfered from behind, enemies before and behind him...

He would die!

He truly would die!

Feeling the secret medicine against his chest, still carrying warmth, Old Six's lips trembled. His eyes were filled with utter terror, with an overwhelming desire to live!

He had only just seen hope for the Chauffeur's Association to rise again. He truly did not want to die!

"Daddy, they say you're just some gang thug..." His young son's words seemed to echo beside his ears.

He truly did not want to die. He did not want to accomplish nothing significant in this life, never do anything that could make his son proud, only to be beaten to death by a few killers in such a pathetic way, dying silently in some corner.

Living pathetically, dying without a trace, like a stinking sewer rat... unable to name even one achievement that could make his son proud...

He should not die here!!!

"Aaaahhh!!!"

Countless scenes seemed to flash before his eyes. Old Six suddenly roared and lunged forward like a madman!

He seized the wrist of the swordsman holding the blade and yanked it fiercely toward himself! As the longsword plunged deeper into his lower abdomen, he pressed himself against the swordsman before him!

The dagger in his hand stabbed out madly!

One stab! Two stabs! Three stabs!...

Frenzied! Demonic! His bloodshot eyes blazed crimson!

"I don't want to die! Don't want to die! Don't want to die!!!"

"Bastard!"

The other swordsman flew into a rage. He had thought this man was already severely wounded and had stopped paying attention to him. Who could have expected him to harm his companion?

"Die!"

Old Six did not evade the other longsword stabbing in from the side in the slightest!

After the swordsman before him staggered and fell, he howled madly, ignoring the longsword piercing toward his chest and even the huge gash torn open in his lower abdomen by the violent movement, things spilling out from within. Like a street thug in a brawl, he bent over crazily and rammed his head into the second swordsman!

The impact lifted the stunned swordsman's feet off the ground. As Old Six charged forward with wild force, he kept driving him all the way into the room. With a tremendous crash, they shattered the window and fell out together!