Colluding with demonic cultivators?
Good grief, that's one hell of an accusation...
The onlookers couldn't help exchanging odd looks, thinking that this Banner Chief sure knew how to stir things up.
The Zheng Family's young villain had just used a broken jade bangle to make trouble, and now you're fighting fire with fire by accusing him of colluding with demonic cultivators?
Was this what they called "using the enemy's own trick against him"?
"Lord Gu!"
As they watched the handsome figure stroll toward them,
the anxiety in Xiao Yun's heart vanished in an instant, and his face flushed red with excitement.
"So he's the Lord Gu my brother talks about all the time?"
Xiao Qing'er peeked out from behind him, blinking as she curiously studied Gu Cheng.
"What utter nonsense!"
Dong Lei's face darkened as he retorted in a deep, booming voice,
"What makes you say I'm colluding with demonic cultivators? Do you have any proof?"
Damn it!
These damned officials did nothing but frame people!
It was true that he, Dong Lei, had spent years as a bandit, had dozens of lives on his hands, and had even killed several pregnant women.
But colluding with demonic cultivators was one vile deed he had absolutely never committed!
"Exactly! Dong Lei is a retainer hired by my Zheng Family. His background is perfectly clean!"
Zheng Qian chimed in, his gaze at the young man full of malice.
"What gives you the right to slander him? Do you have any proof he colluded with demonic cultivators?"
"Proof?"
Gu Cheng's lips curled into a disdainful smile as he shot back,
"Then do you have proof that someone broke your jade bangle?"
"You..."
Zheng Qian was struck speechless, his cheek stinging from the boomerang that had come flying back at him.
He drew a deep breath, then bellowed in furious humiliation,
"Dong Lei! Kill that bastard!"
"Understood!"
The bald brute had already been seething with hatred for Gu Cheng. At the order, he charged forward with a feral grin.
His huge, fan-like hands reached for Gu Cheng, like a brown bear lunging to seize its prey.
"Look out!"
The frail girl cried out without thinking.
"Don't worry, Qing'er. Lord Gu is very strong."
Xiao Yun gently reassured his younger sister.
He had seen Gu Cheng fight twice already, so he had complete confidence in his superior's strength.
Hmph! Damn that bald bastard!
No matter how powerful his body-tempering technique was, how could it compare to Lord Gu's blade?
Once Lord Gu brought his blade down... Wait!
Why hadn't Lord Gu brought his saber today?!
The smile froze on Xiao Yun's face.
The iron-tower of a man was almost upon Gu Cheng, yet the latter remained completely unmoved.
But the heart pounding in Xiao Yun's chest soon settled again.
It was fine! So what if he hadn't brought his saber? What did it matter?
With Lord Gu looking so confident, he must have another trick up his sleeve!
He just had to use his nimble footwork to keep the brute at a distance and avoid matching strength with him head-on... Holy crap!
Xiao Yun nearly popped his eyes out of their sockets.
Faced with the bald brute's ferocious charge, Gu Cheng didn't dodge or evade.
Instead, he clasped his left hand behind his back and held out his right, as if he meant to grapple with the man one-handed.
"You're asking for death!" Dong Lei laughed in rage.
His fan-like hand curled into a tiger's claw and clamped hard around Gu Cheng's right hand. The muscles in his arm bulged in an instant, veins rising like earthworms!
He poured all his strength into his fingers and palm, intent on crushing Gu Cheng's hand into a lump of minced flesh!
Yet, in no time at all,
the smile on Dong Lei's face began to fade...
What was going on?
What was that hand made of?!
Why wouldn't it budge, no matter how hard he squeezed?
A flicker of fear crossed the bald brute's eyes.
He tried to pull his hand free, only to find it clamped fast as if in iron pincers.
No matter how he struggled, he couldn't break loose. He couldn't even shift Gu Cheng's body by the slightest bit!
Such terrifying physical strength was beyond what an ordinary martial artist could possess.
There was only one answer...
"A Body... Body Refinement cultivator? He's actually a powerhouse in the Mortal Breaking Realm!"
"Damn it! Has the Demon Suppression Bureau gone insane? They made a Mortal Breaking Realm powerhouse a Banner Chief?"
Dong Lei sucked in a sharp breath. Looking into the young man's calm, dark eyes, he felt as if he'd plunged into a bottomless abyss.
He was now absolutely certain that coming to Changle County to lie low had been the biggest mistake of his life.
Unfortunately, it was already too late.
"From the look of you, are you planning to resist arrest by force?"
"Under Great Yan law, in a situation like this, the Demon Suppression Bureau has the authority to act as it sees fit and execute you on the spot!"
Gu Cheng's gaze was dark and deep. In an even voice, he spoke words cold as ice.
Before the bald brute could beg for mercy,
the young man's right hand suddenly tightened, crushing the bones in Dong Lei's hand to splinters. Then he whipped his arm downward.
A force as vast as an avalanche surged through their clasped hands and into Dong Lei, like Mount Tai crushing an egg.
BOOM—
Under the impact of that tremendous force,
Dong Lei's iron-tower frame crashed to its knees, smashing two deep pits into the ground.
His joints were twisted horribly. Who knew how many bones he'd broken? Blood seeped slowly from his seven orifices, and his internal organs had clearly suffered grave injuries as well.
"You... You..."
Dong Lei's eyes were bloodshot as he stared at Gu Cheng in terror.
He parted his lips, but before he could get out a complete sentence, he breathed his last.
Slain mid-stage Qi Blood Realm evil cultivator: Obtained lifespan: forty-seven years!
"Hmph. Not even as good as Tang Yuan's a waste..."
Gu Cheng snorted. He lifted Dong Lei's corpse in one hand and casually tossed it aside like a piece of garbage.
The three-hundred-pound musclebound brute spun through the air like a cannonball, hurtling straight toward Zheng Qian.
Zheng Qian was still in a state of mental shutdown.
When he finally came to his senses, he looked up and saw Dong Lei's face, blood running from its seven orifices and its eyes still open in death, rapidly swelling in his field of vision...
"Ah—"
THUD—
As the corpse slammed down on him, the Zheng Family's young master's shrill scream abruptly cut off.
Only then did the dozen or so servants snap out of their daze.
They first shot a terrified glance at Gu Cheng. Seeing that he had no intention of attacking again, they hurriedly pulled their young master free and carried him off alongside Dong Lei's corpse.
The onlookers around them had also recovered from their shock.
They stared at the handsome, refined Banner Chief of the Demon Suppression Bureau, faces full of disbelief.
He had actually killed the Zheng Family's hired retainer with a single move, right in front of everyone, and smashed the Zheng Family's young master into critical condition!
Wasn't he afraid the Zheng Family would retaliate afterward?
And how could such a slender frame unleash strength on par with a demon's?
"Lord Gu... he's also trained in Body Refinement?"
"As expected of Lord Gu! He makes the impossible look easy!"
Xiao Yun saw through the secret at a glance.
His shock was accompanied by an even more fervent admiration for his superior.
From behind him, his younger sister Xiao Qing'er quietly studied that tall, lean figure, as imposing as a war god. An unusual light shimmered in her lovely eyes.
"No wonder even my brother is so devoted to him."
"With martial talent this terrifying, he must rank among the top five in all of Tianshui Prefecture, right?"
"If he could be persuaded to help us in a few years, perhaps he really could kill those bastards..."
At that thought,
a rare, genuine hatred flickered in the frail girl's eyes.
Even her normally pale face flushed with a sickly red.
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