"You little beast, you're courting death!"
Tie Xiong roared, his entire body like an enraged savage bear as he stepped forward.
Boom!
The hard bluestone floor shattered beneath his foot, spiderweb-like cracks spreading outward.
A scorching wave of air exploded from his body. His exposed skin turned crimson, and even the air around him warped from the heat.
"Fire God Fist!"
A layer of crimson flames ignited around Tie Xiong's right fist. They were no ordinary flames, but highly condensed fire-attributed true qi that he had cultivated for years, capable of melting gold and iron.
On the other side, the second chief Tie Yi's expression was so gloomy that water could have been wrung from it.
He did not roar. He merely flipped his wrist, and a thick-backed saber gleaming with cold light appeared in his hand.
The blade hummed as an incomparably sharp aura locked onto Shen Che.
"Gold Splitting Saber!"
Tie Yi shouted low. Man and saber became one, transforming into a silver streak as he slashed straight toward Shen Che.
Before the blade arrived, its razor-sharp saber qi had already plowed a deep trench across the hall floor.
One was fierce as fire, the other sharp as gold.
The two True Meridian Realm experts joining forces created a terrifying spectacle.
Nangong Wen and Nangong Wu, trapped within the encirclement, turned deathly pale.
They asked themselves: if they faced such an attack, they would not last a single exchange.
That young man from the Demon Suppression Division was dead for certain.
Yet in the face of this heaven-destroying, earth-shattering pincer attack, Shen Che's movement was so simple that it baffled everyone.
He merely gripped the hilt at his waist.
The Black Tiger Saber.
A standard-issue Demon Suppression Division saber, ordinary beyond compare.
But the instant his hand closed around its hilt, the temperature throughout the Hall of Brotherhood inexplicably dropped several degrees.
An invisible, savage, terrifying aura from ancient primordial times spread out from him.
Everyone present, including Tie Xiong and Tie Yi, felt as though an unparalleled ferocious tiger poised to devour its prey had fixed its gaze upon them.
A tremor from the depths of their souls made their movements slow by half a beat.
"Tiger Demon Saber Technique..."
Shen Che spoke four words and slowly drew his saber.
"Tiger Roar."
There was no earth-shaking blade radiance.
Nor was there any dazzling true qi.
There was only a pure black blade light, condensed to the utmost extreme, flashing past in an instant.
Along with it came a tiger's roar that seemed capable of tearing apart souls, exploding in everyone's minds.
A phantom of a black demonic tiger, formed from pure killing intent and Saber Intent, flashed behind Shen Che before pouncing forward.
At that instant, time seemed to have had its slow-motion button pressed.
Nangong Wen could see it clearly.
That black blade light drifted lightly as it first met Tie Xiong's flaming fist.
There was no violent collision as imagined.
Tie Xiong's protective true qi, the flames around his fist, and that fist capable of splitting steles and shattering rocks were more fragile than tofu before that black line.
The black line passed through.
Tie Xiong's charging body halted.
He lowered his head and looked at his right arm.
Beginning at his fist, a thin black line spread upward, passing through his chest all the way to the crown of his head.
Then his body split cleanly into two from the middle, the cut as smooth as a mirror.
His organs and blood spilled onto the floor with a rush.
The black line did not lose momentum, instead meeting the second chief Tie Yi's Gold Splitting Saber.
Clang!
A crisp ring sounded.
The saber of hundredfold-refined steel in Tie Yi's hand snapped in two.
The black line continued across his chest.
Tie Yi stopped as well.
A massive wound tore open across his chest, nearly cutting him in half at the waist.
He opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but all that came out was mouthfuls of bloody froth and shattered organs.
Thud.
Thud.
The two corpses fell one after the other.
[True Meridian Realm martial artist slain. Time Value obtained: 120 points.] [True Meridian Realm martial artist slain. Time Value obtained: 110 points.]
The Hall of Brotherhood was so silent that a needle dropping could be heard.
"S-Saber Intent..."
Nangong Wen squeezed out two words through his dry throat.
That was absolutely Saber Intent!
A martial will that could only possibly be comprehended after cultivating a saber technique to a transcendent, saintly realm!
If you can't find the book by searching its title, try searching the author instead. It may simply have been renamed!
How old was this youth?
Sixteen? Or seventeen?
At such a young age, he had already cultivated Saber Intent?
And with one slash, he had killed two True Meridian Realm experts of the same level?
What kind of fucking monster was this?!
The entire stronghold descended into complete chaos.
The bandits wailed for their fathers and mothers as they scrambled to flee outside. To seize the passageway, they even began slaughtering one another.
Shen Che paid no attention to these small fry.
He walked over to Tie Xiong and Tie Yi's corpses, lifting one in each hand.
Under the puzzled gazes of Nangong Wen and the other two, the Demon Suppressing Token in his hand emitted a faint glow, and the two massive corpses vanished into thin air.
The Demon Suppressing Token came with storage space. Using it to hold mission proof was perfectly reasonable.
It was a pity Tie Feng had been blasted into a skyful of bloody mist. Otherwise, there would have been one more.
After finishing all this, he carried his saber and walked out of the Hall of Brotherhood.
Outside, people and horses were overturned in utter chaos.
Shen Che walked into an open space, took a signal firework from his robes, and pulled its fuse.
Whoosh—bang!
A brilliant red firework exploded high in the silent night sky above Iron Furnace Mountain.
At the foot of the mountain.
Wang Changshou and more than ten thousand Prefectural Guards were waiting anxiously.
They had also heard some of the shouting and chaos from the mountain, and every one of them was on tenterhooks.
"Prefect, it's nearly been an hour. Lord Shen couldn't have..." a deputy general began worriedly.
Wang Changshou's heart was hanging by a thread as well.
He had wagered the safety of all Ping'an County on that young man.
Just then.
A red firework bloomed atop the mountain.
That was the agreed signal!
Wang Changshou froze for a moment, then wild joy surged into his heart.
He had succeeded!
He had truly succeeded!
"Beat the drums!!"
Wang Changshou drew the sword at his waist and howled with all his strength.
"All troops, charge!!"
"Tonight, Iron Furnace Stronghold shall be wiped out!"
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The rousing war drums rose into the heavens, driving away the fear in the soldiers' hearts.
"Kill!"
More than ten thousand Prefectural Guards surged like floodwaters released from a dam, charging up the only stone stairway toward the mountaintop.
The battle that followed was less a battle than a pursuit.
With their leaders all dead, the bandits had no will to fight. They only hated that their parents had not given them two more legs.
Many had not run far before the charging Prefectural Guards blocked their path. Crying and shouting, they dropped to their knees and surrendered.
The Iron Furnace Stronghold, a cancer that had plagued Ping'an County for years, was thus destroyed.
Shen Che stood atop the stronghold's watchtower, watching the officials and soldiers below methodically take over the stronghold and capture prisoners.
Light footsteps came from behind him.
"Lord Shen Che of the Demon Suppression Division?"
It was the veiled young woman.
"Something wrong?" Shen Che turned around.
"This humble woman is Nangong Xue, from the Nangong Family of Beiliang City." The young woman gave a graceful bow, her voice crisp and pleasant.
"Many thanks to Lord Shen for lending us a hand this time. Otherwise, the three of us siblings likely would have all perished here."
"We came to hunt down the three chiefs of Iron Furnace Stronghold. A year ago, those three massacred an entire wealthy merchant household in Beiliang City. They were wanted criminals with bounties posted by our Nangong Family."
So they were bounty hunters.
Shen Che understood.
"It was nothing."
After thanking him, Nangong Xue took the injured Nangong Wu and the still-shaken Nangong Wen and departed without the slightest hesitation.
At that moment, Wang Changshou came running over, panting heavily, unable to suppress the excitement on his face.
"Lord Shen! Lord Shen! You truly are a god among men!"
He lavished Shen Che with praise, his flattery soaring to the skies.
Shen Che interrupted him. "How is the tally of the battle results?"
"Reporting to my lord, most of the bandits have already surrendered. Only a small number of stubborn resisters were executed on the spot," Wang Changshou hurriedly reported. "Also, we found some... strange things in the stronghold's treasury."
"Take me there."
Led by Wang Changshou, Shen Che arrived at a secret chamber.
The chamber was piled high with gold, silver, and jewels, dazzling the eyes.
However, the most eye-catching object was the item placed in the very center of the chamber.
A huge golden bell.
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