What came next would be extremely dangerous—a bloody battle to the death was inevitable!
Su Changqing had long prepared two packets of lime powder in his sleeves. He took a deep breath and prepared to go up the mountain to wipe out the bandits.
Suddenly, his ears twitched as he heard movement from other people.
Su Changqing's eyes narrowed slightly. With a tap of his toes, he landed atop a tree.
The banyan tree's branches and leaves were lush and verdant, concealing his tracks.
Rustling sounds emerged from the dense forest, followed by the footsteps of dozens of people.
"Today, we really caught a big fish. I've seen this merchant convoy before—it belongs to the Huazhou Jin Yi Merchant Guild. They must have brought everything this time..."
Nearly a hundred desperate, vicious bandits approached in crouched stances, Steel Sabers in hand.
The man at their head had a long beard and wielded an Azure Dragon Crescent Blade. He strode with the bearing of a dragon and tiger, radiating majesty, his blood and qi as vigorous as a dragon's.
He had brows like reclining dragons and eyes like a dragon's, with an extraordinary appearance. He compared himself to the Martial Saint Guan Gong. He was none other than Jiang Tianfeng, chief of Tianfeng Village.
"This Imperial Guard Trading Company belongs to the Lin Family. Their wealth amounts to nearly thirty thousand taels. I heard they were preparing to move into Chang'an City, so they must have brought all their fortune with them."
"Chief, we can't let such a fat sheep get away." A scholar-like man beside him spoke coldly.
Jiang Tianfeng narrowed his eyes. He was cautious by nature and unwilling to provoke important figures.
"Have you investigated it? Does the Lin Family have any other backing?"
"The Lin Family's only backing is the Fuwei Escort Agency. Lin Zhennan and Lin Xiangyang are blood brothers—one does business, while the other runs an escort agency. Neither of them is worth a damn."
"They may seem famous, but they're actually weak and useless." The scholar sneered.
"Even if we kill Lin Xiangyang, Lin Zhennan would never dare come seeking revenge."
"Lin Xiangyang lost his wife in his early years and never remarried. That wife seemed to have some background, but we still haven't uncovered it. Still, she was only a woman."
"His daughter, Lin Yuchan, is a peerless beauty. I heard she even has an intoxicating fragrance and a body soft as boneless flesh. She must be inside that carriage."
Before joining Tianfeng Village, the deputy chief had been an unsuccessful scholar from the Great Shang and a merchant.
He claimed to be tired of the Great Shang's officialdom, styled himself a romantic, and was skilled at plotting. Jiang Tianfeng had made him deputy chief.
In truth, he was merely a dog-headed strategist.
Jiang Tianfeng's eyes turned cold. The Azure Dragon Crescent Blade flashed with a chilly gleam as it pointed directly at the carriages at the foot of the mountain.
"Then kill them!"
The sound of neighing horses rang out as the Tianfeng Village bandits poured forth in full force.
Lin Xiangyang's expression changed abruptly. Looking outside, he saw nearly a hundred bandits already closing in to slaughter them, blood dyeing the yellow sandy ground red.
The guards hired at great expense by the Imperial Guard Trading Company were no match for the enemy at all!
Jiang Tianfeng had been able to run rampant here because of these hundred ruthless bandits!
Even ordinary small sects were no match for him.
"Chan'er, run!"
"Father, we can't escape."
The father and daughter dismounted from the carriage at the rear. Lin Yuchan's body trembled slightly as she looked toward the battlefield ahead, then stared blankly at Lin Xiangyang.
"Father, if you had let me notify Aunt Hong, how would we have suffered this disaster today? The century-old foundation of our Lin Family will be scattered in a single day!"
Lin Xiangyang was filled with regret as well. He was the Central King's brother-in-law. If he had swallowed his pride and requested some troops for protection—
How could he have dragged his daughter into such a situation?
He had never expected Jiang Tianfeng's subordinates to be so terrifying.
It was a hundred against a hundred, yet the guards he had hired at great expense were utterly helpless.
Every one of them looked terrified. Even the hands holding their blades trembled as they scattered and fled.
The deputy chief had a thin frame, yet he wielded a broadsword. His cultivation had reached the sixth level of the True Qi Realm, and ordinary people were no match for him.
With a casual swing, he severed the head of a Lin Family servant. Grabbing the man's hair, he dragged the bloody head over, leaving blood splattering across the ground along the way.
It was an incomparably bloody scene.
This was simply a one-sided massacre.
His broadsword was stained crimson with blood as he coldly watched Lin Xiangyang behind the carriage.
"Stay there obediently. Once Tianfeng Village finishes dealing with this bunch of trash, we'll handle you father and daughter."
Atop the banyan tree, Su Changqing stood on a branch and watched in silence. He had assumed the guards hired by the Chen Family would be strong.
After all, that woman in the white dress had called the Central King's Consort Aunt Hong.
He had not expected them to collapse at the first blow.
"Jiang Tianfeng must be dealt with last. He cultivates Profound Heaven True Qi and has not yet made a move. This is my chance."
Su Changqing hesitated no longer. He stepped off the branch, and the Four Seasons Cloud Falling Steps erupted at full power.
At that moment, everything at the foot of the mountain had been cleared away. Apart from the Lin father and daughter still standing, everyone else was dead—men, women, old, and young, not a single one spared.
The ruthlessness of Tianfeng Village's vicious bandits was plain to see.
"Master Lin, I know your brother is Lin Zhennan of the Fuwei Escort Agency. His reputation may be great, and Lin Yuantu once shook the martial world. The Bixie Swordplay was quite famous. Unfortunately, in the hands of you two brothers, it has rotted beyond saving."
The deputy chief stared at Lin Xiangyang and sneered.
What a reputation Lin Yuantu had possessed! For twenty years, he had shaken the martial world and founded the foremost escort agency in the martial world.
Yet his two sons were each worse than the other.
"You are also a scholar. You must have once sought official rank as well. Can you spare my daughter?"
"Seek official rank? The Great Shang officialdom is so dark. With the Imperial Guard, the East Factory, and the West Factory above us, when would there ever be a day for me to rise?" The scholar sneered.
He had once yearned to serve his country and people, to bring peace to all generations.
Despite placing third in the highest examination, he had offended the treacherous chancellor Qin Hui and was forcibly suppressed, his achievement concealed and left unannounced.
Lin Xiangyang took a deep breath and pulled out a box from his robes. Inside was Thousand-Year Silk.
A light screen appeared before Su Changqing's eyes.
Name: Qing Jiang Realm: Eighth Level True Qi Realm Fate: Great Villain (Green), East Factory Mole (Green), Self-Important (Green) Life Script: ("Bixie Sword Manual: Part One" Great Villain) After failing to obtain official rank, he resented Qin Hui, the treacherous chancellor of the Great Shang. He castrated himself, joined the East Factory, and concealed himself within Mount Zhenwu to investigate Jiang Tianfeng's secret. Later, after ambushing the Lin Family merchant convoy, Lin Zhennan ran three swift horses to death in a single night in order to trade half a True Inheritance Grade Bixie Sword Manual for his niece Lin Yuchan. Lin Yuchan was already dead. Lin Zhennan fled in defeat. Qing Jiang later obtained the Bixie Sword Manual, his cultivation advanced by leaps and bounds, and with his invisible Thousand Year Golden Silkworm Silk, he occupied Mount Zhenwu for twenty years, his name passed down through the ages.
"I never expected that this tiny Mount Zhenwu hid a fish even bigger than Jiang Tianfeng?"
Su Changqing's eyes narrowed.
Like himself, Qing Jiang possessed a villain's fate. Other than Ye Tian, this was the first time he had encountered someone like that.
"To practice this art, one must first castrate oneself..."
"I won't take the Bixie Sword Manual. Even the Sunflower Manual is merely a True Inheritance Grade cultivation art on the same level as the Indestructible Vajra Divine Art. But this Thousand Year Golden Silkworm Silk—I must have it!"
Su Changqing's eyes narrowed.
Thousand-Year Silk was impervious to water and fire, soft as steel wire and hard as iron. True qi could be infused into it.
If this Thousand Year Golden Silkworm Silk was used together with the Purple Blood Soft Sword, it could be both soft and hard, its speed ghostly and unpredictable, capable of killing in an instant.
With this item, he would have enough confidence to deal with Ye Tian's Seven Orifices Exquisite Body.
Before you continue