Fourth-Class Bugeng

"Mister Qi, why won't you give me the Word Spirit 'Self-Preservation'?"

Shen Tang nearly spat blood.

She had memorized this Word Spirit not long ago.

Condense Qi into Gang, guard the entire body!

Put simply, it was like putting a shield around oneself.

There was nothing wrong with Qi Shan only shielding himself, but this bastard had actually slipped behind her, leaving an eleven- or twelve-year-old shut-in girl who could not truss a chicken to face a murderer who had wiped out an entire family!

It was simply outrageous!

Qi Shan calmly said, "I am frail and not skilled in combat."

Shen Tang: "..."

She suddenly recalled her assessment of Qi Shan after reading the Word Spirit scroll last night—using offense as defense, an LYB who crouched in the bushes waiting to steal kills. Now, it seemed that assessment had been incomplete. She had to add one more thing: this bastard was also exceptionally smooth at selling out his teammates.

"Even if you're not skilled in combat, you're still a youth who has undergone the coming-of-age ceremony!"

Hiding behind her?

Was that something a real man would do?

With that, she kicked the middle-aged man in the chest.

Watching the man get kicked half a zhang away before he could even react, Qi Shan said, "A youth who has undergone the coming-of-age ceremony could not kick someone that far either."

Shen Tang: "..."

The middle-aged man fell to the ground clutching his chest, his face full of horror. He had never imagined that a skinny little child like Shen Tang could possess such strength. Channeling his force, he slapped the ground and sprang upright, roaring, "If you brats want to die, then don't blame this humble one for being merciless!"

From somewhere, he drew a woodcutter's axe glowing red.

He chopped down at Shen Tang's head!

Bang!

The man's axe was bolstered by a Martial Spirit and could slice through iron like mud. In a single clash, it cleaved the axe in Shen Tang's hand into two pieces. Delighted by this, he gripped the weapon with brute force and swept it sideways, aiming for Shen Tang's neck. The curve of his lips lifted, as though he could already see her head flying off in a miserable arc.

But she ducked and leaned back, evading the successive chops of the red axe. Her footwork shifted, every step calm and unhurried.

The middle-aged man had no techniques or forms to speak of. All he had was brute strength and that red-glowing axe that could slice through iron like mud.

He hacked again and again.

If even one strike landed, it would mean death or crippling injury.

Looking at the cracks gouged into the floor, Shen Tang's expression tightened slightly. Qi Shan timely said, "Second-Class Shangzao."

A Second-Class Shangzao with nothing but brute strength.

Seizing the chance, Shen Tang closed in and curled her fingers, gathering strength as she struck his wrist.

The middle-aged man cried out in pain. His axe was forced from his hand, and she seized the opportunity to deliver a vicious kick three inches below his navel. That kick not only left the man's eggs flying and shattered, but also made Qi Shan instinctively Gasp in Pain.

He covered his face with his sleeve, unable to bear the sight.

No man could endure that kind of pain.

The middle-aged man was no exception.

He screamed and doubled over, which was exactly what Shen Tang wanted. She grabbed his ear and topknot, yanked him down, and slammed his face into her raised knee.

Bang!

Qi Shan instinctively reached for the bridge of his nose.

Just watching made him hurt for the man.

At that moment, his Peripheral Vision caught a shadow moving beyond the paper window. Without thinking, he recited—

"Share the Same Boat, Save Together in Danger!"

The instant the word "save" fell, a gray gleam broke through the window and door with unstoppable Aura, striking at Shen Tang's vital point. At the same time, the textual Aura around her suddenly flared to life.

The two collided, and the shockwave exploded with a boom.

Shen Tang had already dodged aside. Looking at the spear blade Embedded several inches into the ground, she raised her head and Looked Towards the window—there was another enemy lurking in the dark!

Qi Shan said, "An accomplice. Likely a Third-Class Zan Niao."

With his extensive experience, he could roughly judge the accomplice's strength solely from the force behind that spear thrust.

But his next words were—

"Young Master Shen should be able to handle it."

Shen Tang: "..."

The implication was that he still wanted to watch from the sidelines.

Unlike the middle-aged man with no method to his fighting, this newcomer was clearly trained. He leaped in with murderous intent, held out his hand, and the long spear embedded in the ground Flew Out into his grasp.

Yet his target was not Shen Tang. With a feint, he charged straight at Qi Shan.

The newcomer wore black, stood nine chi tall, and had the back of a tiger and waist of a bear. His Muscles had been honed like iron. Merely standing there gave off immense oppressive Aura, making the once-spacious room seem narrow and suffocating.

Qi Shan wore an expression of "just as expected." Unhurried, he silently recited a one-character Word Spirit. Literary light surged beneath his feet, and with a slight sway, he had already retreated more than a zhang. The man in black wanted to pursue, but Shen Tang, wielding the "Kind Mother Sword," intercepted him, leaving him unable to break free.

Clang!

Spear and sword collided.

Qi Shan flashed to a relatively safe open space and leisurely added, "When danger lies upon me, it is imposed upon another. Therefore—when I am in danger, another is in danger. If that person does not wish to be in danger, they must lend aid and resolve my plight."

The Word Spirit fell, but literary light lit up beneath Shen Tang's feet.

Shen Tang, who had heard the Word Spirit clearly: "...???"

While blocking the enemy's storm-like barrage of spear thrusts, she shouted in fury, "Qi Yuanliang! Be a human being!"

Qi Shan was truly a dog!

At first listen, that Word Spirit seemed to have no problem, but translated, it meant this—if I am in danger, I transfer that danger to someone else. If I am in danger, they are in danger too. Therefore, if they want to be safe, they have no choice but to help me resolve my danger.

It was practically forced danger-sharing.

"Young Master Shen, everything must be for the greater good." Hearing this, Qi Shan actually smiled shamelessly and said, "As the saying goes—'Literary Heart Not Removed, Martial Gall Not Extinguished.' This person is trained; he cannot fail to know this principle. I am weak and frail, so I entrust this life of mine to Young Master Shen."

Shen Tang: "..."

Brother Qi Yuanliang, do you still remember what you said last night? "You Guess whether this sword at my waist is decoration or a handy weapon."

After only one night, you were already putting on the persona of a frail scholar?

Boom!

The gray gleam kicked up by the sword blew a huge hole through the roof.

This person was extraordinarily strong, at least far stronger than that Third-Class Zan Niao constable. Shen Tang retreated several steps before shedding the force. Looking at her slightly numb tiger's mouth, her face darkened.

"Qi Yuanliang, are you sure he's a Third-Class Zan Niao?"

Qi Shan had been about to say "yes," but by the light of the still-burning oil lamp, he saw the man's thick Lips move slightly, silently muttering something.

Immediately Following that, his entire Aura changed. In an instant, he danced out hundreds of spear shadows, the shaft winding around Shen Tang's sword like a spirit serpent.

Qi Shan carefully read his lips.

[Troops Have No Constant Form, Water Has No Constant Shape...]

This was...

Qi Shan understood in an instant.

"Careful, this bastard is a Fourth-Class Bugeng!"

Almost as soon as his words fell, a somewhat illusory black shadow silently appeared in Shen Tang's Line of Sight blind spot. Together with the man in black entangling Shen Tang, it formed a pincer attack from front and rear. As the spear wind swept in, Shen Tang seemed to have eyes on the back of her head. She grabbed the hanging curtain and leaped straight up onto a broken beam, evading the spear thrust aimed directly at her heart.

"Holy shit, he can even create a [clone]!"

The moment she steadied herself, Qi Shan's voice sounded beside her ear.

He said, "Scattered Like Stars and Chess Pieces!"

Buzz—

Intersecting lines of text spread out from beneath his feet. At a glance, they resembled an enormous chessboard. As soon as the board appeared, the man in black sank beneath it, his knees trembling faintly as though a boulder weighed upon his shoulders, his legs trapped in an invisible mire. He bellowed, and Martial Qi burst around him. Gray gleams and literary light collided with a piercing crash.

Watching this scene, Shen Tang did not know how to help.

This had surpassed the bounds of her understanding.

Qi Shan saw her concern and coldly said, "Just fight. Leave the rest to me. Take him alive!"

The threshold for Gongshi and Shangzao was extremely low; any martial man could reach them. Third-Class Zan Niao was the dividing line. Beginning with Fourth-Class Bugeng, one could borrow military-strategy Word Spirits. In the army, one could at least serve as a Centurion.

If he were willing to join a powerful clan as a retainer, he would have no worries about food or drink. Why would he become a bandit, relying on robbery and killing people to make a living?