50: Helplessness, Part Two

"One of the armorers in the arsenal and the patrols are our people. Rest assured on that. Our main opponent now is still County Inspector Tumu Ha'er. He is a Fifth Rank Court Guard. Once he dons armor, none of us can stop him," Chen Lianqing said solemnly.

A Fifth Grade Master in armor, bearing weapons and charging with a horse's momentum—just thinking about that power was terrifying.

"One-third of the Garrison are our planted insiders. We must gather our best fighters and deal with Tumu Ha'er first. Only then can we suppress the Garrison as quickly as possible," Chen Lianqing explained clearly.

"Who will do it? The terrain around the County Office is complicated, with constables and chief constables guarding it, not to mention Patrolling Soldiers passing through from time to time. Under the threat of powerful crossbows, assassinating Tumu Ha'er first is far too difficult." The Scholar shook his head.

"Don't worry. The higher-ups will concentrate their strength to handle that," Chen Lianqing said solemnly.

Master had already arranged it. Three experts, himself included, would join forces to assassinate Tumu Ha'er.

Tumu Ha'er was a nail Ling Ting had planted in Huaxin County to keep the military governor in check. He was the highest-ranking person in the entire County Town.

His martial prowess was exceptionally strong, and he was in the prime of life—the most difficult time to deal with him.

But the uprising was imminent. No matter how hard a bone he was to chew, they had to chew him down first.

When the time came, Master Zhang Xuan would lead one Fifth Grade and two Fourth Grade experts. The three of them would join forces and launch a Sneak Attack.

If they could catch him in an open area, they would shoot him from afar with powerful crossbows. Success would be certain.

"Chief, Tumu Ha'er won't be easy to deal with. The Celestial Hero Decree he cultivates is a Snow Rainbow Pavilion martial art of Ling Ting, immensely powerful. He was once a military general who retired from the battlefield, and his killing arts have undergone Thousand Refinements. One or two ordinary Jianghu experts of the same rank are no match for him at all."

Snow Rainbow Pavilion was an organization in Great Ling dedicated to gathering strange cultivation methods and Martial Arts from across the land.

Only Martial Arts that were truly powerful, practical, and formidable would be collected within it.

Beyond that, Snow Rainbow Pavilion also bore the responsibility of developing stronger military Martial Arts.

Over the years, the many widespread military cultivation methods that emerged from it had been of enormous help to Great Ling's armies on the battlefield.

Great Ling's army ranked first in Martial Arts not merely because of its equipment and archery.

How could Chen Lianqing not understand how formidable Tumu Ha'er was? Hearing this, she fell silent.

"The higher-ups naturally understand that."

She said solemnly.

"But no matter how difficult it is, someone has to do it!"

Her Hands clenched into fists.

"Resistance will always cost lives. Why have we gathered here? Do the higher-ups not know people will die? Are they not afraid?"

The people around her all fell silent as the wind howled through the woods.

Though the sunlight was fierce, it seemed to carry not a trace of warmth.

"If we had not been driven into helplessness, who would choose to walk this road?" Threads of hatred surfaced in Chen Lianqing's eyes.

Like her, the people around her revealed the same hatred in their eyes.

If they had not been driven into a dead end, who among them would willingly stake their lives? Their families had been destroyed, loved ones scattered, parents killed, property seized—on and on.

Everyone present had been driven to the brink by Ling Ting's powerful elite, until even their own lives hung by a thread.

"Everyone. Success or failure hinges on this one move." Chen Lianqing drew the Short Blade at her waist.

The others paused for a moment.

Then they too raised all manner of weapons.

There were blades, staffs, rusty Daggers, even hoes.

Near the Bai Family Merchant Group, in the mountain forest.

"You're called Zhang Rongfang, right?" Qi Shan still remembered this Daoist Priest before him.

Back when he had escorted Xiao Qingying down the mountain, Zhang Rongfang had nearly seen through him midway.

Even then, Qi Shan had been deeply impressed by the man's sharpness.

"For the sake of our shared sect, bind yourself where you stand and do not make a sound. I can spare you injury," Qi Shan said in a gentler voice.

Zhang Rongfang looked over the group before him, his gaze falling on the masks covering their faces.

He truly did not want to fight these people. This was different from Chen Wuyou and the Shao Family back then.

There was no need for them to fight to the death.

But he naturally had no desire to bind himself and abandon all resistance.

"Senior Brother Qi Shan, why must you press so aggressively? We are fellow disciples, after all. Whatever it is, we can sit down and discuss it properly," Zhang Rongfang said helplessly.

"Do you truly not know, or are you playing dumb?" Qi Shan had no time to waste on him.

If he kept talking, would he still have time to act? Zhang Xuan was plotting something enormous. They had to seize someone and bring him back for interrogation as soon as possible.

"Forget it. If you must blame someone, blame your bad luck." Qi Shan stopped wasting words and waved his hand.

Whether Zhang Rongfang knew about Zhang Xuan's affairs or not, once he was taken back this time, there would be no life for him.

Rebellion was a crime warranting Family Extermination no matter what. As Zhang Xuan's close Disciple, once convicted, there was no chance he could escape.

Both he and every one of his relatives would die.

At once, two masked Men charged at him head-on.

Zhang Rongfang dodged left and right, and for a time the two simply could not get close.

He knew Qi Shan was one of Tang Sha Supervisor's men and did not want to completely fall out with him. More than that, he could not understand why this group had come here, dressed in masks like this.

So he did not strike back for the moment, only evading.

"Senior Brother, no matter what you intend to do, let us pretend we never ran into each other on this trip. Is that acceptable?"

As he dodged, Zhang Rongfang asked in a low voice.

After seeing what had happened to the Chen Family, he was unwilling to come into conflict with Tang Sha Supervisor.

Tang Sha was about to succeed as Palace Master. He represented the orthodox line of Qinghe Temple. Opposing him meant opposing the entire official establishment.

"Hah? Your footwork is rather good. No wonder you dare stand before me and yap." Qi Shan recognized Zhang Rongfang's Bewildering Smoke Step and immediately looked surprised.

"Of course, we can pretend we never met." He gripped his Long Staff in both Hands. "Once you're lying down, I'll agree!"

Before his words had even finished, his burly figure lunged forward. His Long Staff unfolded the family-inherited White Egret Staff Technique, smashing down at Zhang Rongfang's head.

The thirteen-jin Long Staff came crashing down, carrying a dull howl. If it struck someone's head, with Qi Shan's strength, it would at the very least cave in their skull and inflict severe brain trauma.

Whoosh! The brown Long Staff swept aside fallen leaves, stirring up a vortex of air. Trembling with the peculiar motions of the staff technique, it came down viciously toward Zhang Rongfang's right temple.

Sigh. In that instant, a sigh rang out.

Swish.

The Long Staff skimmed perilously past his forehead. It had been just a little short of striking its target.

Yet for some reason, that tiny distance seemed like an impassable chasm. It could not cross it.

Zhang Rongfang abruptly retreated Several Meters and lowered his head.

"Senior Brother, actually, I really, really—"

Clang.

The Wish Wheel in his hand rose high, blocking the incoming Long Staff.

"You!?"

Qi Shan pressed down with all the strength in both arms, but strangely, no matter how much force he applied, the Long Staff did not move in the slightest.

"A mere Daoist Priest who hasn't even Entered the Ranks!"

Qi Shan refused to believe it. He pulled back his Long Staff and used Reed Sweep, sweeping it sideways with all his strength.

"Let's see where you can dodge to now!"

Before his words had ended, his vision blurred, and the figure before him abruptly vanished.

"Senior Brother."

Zhang Rongfang's voice drifted eerily from behind him.

"Why can't you understand? A person only has one life."

Qi Shan staggered, his face full of disbelief as he tremblingly touched his neck.

There was a huge gash there, endlessly pouring blood and leaking air.

He could not understand.

He could not believe it.

Why did such a young Daoist Priest possess such terrifying footwork? Why did he have the strength to block his strike? He did not understand. With a thud—

He collapsed to the ground. Blood spread continuously, soaking down through the earth beneath the grass roots.

Screams rang out one after another beside his ears.

Within the dense forest.

The last thing Qi Shan saw was a silent, ghostlike figure effortlessly evading attack after attack, harvesting the lives of his subordinates one by one.

Not long after.

The last corpse fell onto its back.

Expressionless, Zhang Rongfang lifted the Wish Wheel.

The edge of Leaving Injury and its wheel body were covered in splattered blood. After some oxidation, parts of it had already turned a faint dark red.

"Don't blame me. If you must blame someone, blame your own evil intentions."

Once one had killed for the first time, there would always be a second, a third, and even more.

And once he had killed Qi Shan, he had to kill everyone present.

Otherwise, if word got out, there would be even more trouble.

The enormous gap in their footwork speed had made this easy for him.

He gently wiped the blood from Leaving Injury with a corpse's clothes, then turned and silently left.

He truly did not want to kill people.

But people always wanted to hurt him.

To avoid being hurt, he could only act and remove the source of that harm.

Come to think of it carefully, this was fine too.

The fewer people in this world who want to hurt others, the more peaceful and stable it will be. So I'm doing a Good Thing.

"I don't want to live in a world where I always have to guard against others. So I can only eradicate Evil Removal to the end."

Zhang Rongfang no longer trembled with fear when killing people as he had in the beginning.

With a sharp weapon and strange, swift footwork, even someone stronger than him would certainly suffer a crushing defeat as long as they were slower than him.

Soon, Zhang Rongfang returned to Qi Shan's corpse and quickly began collecting everyone's money pouches.

Unfortunately, perhaps because they had known beforehand what they were coming out to do, they had all put their money pouches away and carried none on them.

After searching more than a dozen people, Zhang Rongfang found only two money pouches.

Together, they contained only four taels of silver—barely enough to cover the hiring fees of the two Escort Agency Guards.

The more valuable things were the weapons on these people.

Unfortunately, Zhang Rongfang had no way to carry those weapons off to sell.

He could only pick and choose, taking a close-fitting Short Sword from Qi Shan's body.

After swiftly tossing all the corpses over the far side of the hillside, he made a circuit back to the Stream and washed himself clean.

From beginning to end, his footwork speed, nearing the Fifth Grade, had ensured he was not injured in the slightest.

Though Qi Shan's group had many people, they could not form an effective encirclement in the mountain forest.

In every clash, at most two of them could attack him at once.

In other words, Zhang Rongfang had effectively only been fighting one against two the entire time.

The limits of the terrain, along with the limits of their coordination, meant that more than a dozen people simply could not keep up with Zhang Rongfang's speed.

There were too many obstacles he could use.

Not long after, he returned to the Convoy and nonchalantly resumed his place behind the ox cart.

Yang Hongyan was using a clean piece of silk to lay out the Osmanthus Cake, sugar cakes, pine nut cakes, meat pies, and other food she had prepared in advance.

Two small wine bottles sat beside them.

One had a red seal, the other a white one.

"There are small bottles of grape wine here too, along with Black Horse Milk Wine. Rong Fang, come eat with us as well."

Yang Hongyan invited him gently.

Zhang Rongfang stepped forward and returned the waterskin.

"Then thank you, Sister-in-law."

The faint fragrance of wine seemed, for a moment, to suppress the faint Blood Scent clinging to him.