People Head Out

"Take them all back in irons!"

"Go fuck yourself!"

The bearded Ji Chang was unreasonable, but the big-chested Fifth Young Master was even more overbearing. With a crack, he ripped off half the stair railing and swung it at Ji Chang's bald head.

"Ah! You bastard, resisting arrest—gaaah!"

The bearded man ducked behind the shopkeeper to avoid the blow, but before he could finish speaking, Fifth Young Master shoved the shopkeeper aside and planted a kick squarely in his chest. The blow caved in his bronze breastplate and sent him flying.

"Ji Chang!"

"Damn it, he's fighting back! Cut him down!"

"Take the little bitch alive!"

The soldiers were furious now. They drew their waist sabers and surged forward.

Xuan Niang, ogled by the soldiers, blushed to the roots of her hair. She brandished a knife in her left hand and a sword in her right, then snapped, "You pack of bastards! Come on!"

"Fifth Young Master! Fight our way out!" Fourth Young Master ordered.

"Right! Out of the way, you lousy officials!" Fifth Young Master grabbed the shopkeeper by the collar and hurled him aside, then drew his saber and charged into the soldiers.

The three of them held the high ground on the stairs. Though the patrol guards greatly outnumbered them, the terrain kept the soldiers from surrounding them all at once.

On top of that, the soldiers had come to the inn for a meal. They carried only short defensive sabers, less than two feet long. To keep them from slipping out of their scabbards while riding, the sabers had no guards and were difficult to thrust with. They usually wielded them like short clubs, mostly to block and fend off enemies.

A short blade could still work in close combat, but against Fifth Young Master's broad saber, which swept around like a windmill, they could barely defend themselves. They rushed in only to be hacked into a flustered retreat. Fifth Young Master wasn't just a reckless brute, either. He controlled the distance deftly, darting forward and back without ever fully leaving the stairwell, giving the guards no chance to surround him two or three at a time. Instead, he used the height advantage to cut down soldier after soldier who charged up. If they hadn't been wearing armor, some of them would surely have died.

Half the soldiers had no choice but to block the stairwell and wait for an opening to charge. Four or five quick-witted ones clamped their sabers between their teeth, then leaped up onto tables and stools, grabbing the stairwell wall as they tried to climb around the side and attack from behind.

But Xuan Niang was clearly no pushover. She whirled her paired weapons, slashing and stabbing, and kicked out with both feet, giving the soldiers no chance to close in and surround her. Her sword sliced off several fingers and stabbed the men into bleeding messes. The soldiers screamed in pain, lost their grip, and clattered to the floor one after another.

Only then did the diners downstairs react. The crowd erupted in screams, and those who couldn't dodge in time fled the inn in a panic.

"My lord..." The eunuch's guard rested a hand on his saber and asked for instructions.

"No need. Capturing bandits is the patrol guards' job." The eunuch raised a hand to stop him. He seemed worldly and unruffled, and watched Fifth Young Master fighting his way through the soldiers with considerable appreciation, as though he were watching a monkey show.

"Senior Brother?" Another merchant in disguise looked toward their leader.

"We don't know the lay of the land. Stay out of it. Let's go!" The burly man's eyes darted about as he lifted his robe and started for the door.

"Y-you bastards! That kick nearly knocked the wind out of me..." The bald Ji Chang got back to his feet. Seeing the chaotic brawl, he bellowed, "What the hell are you panicking for? The front guards, keep watch! The flanking guards, fetch the halberds and crossbows! Seal the doors! Nobody leaves!"

"Yes, sir!" the guards shouted in unison. Their formation snapped into order, and they stopped rushing forward one after another to get themselves cut down. A dozen men formed a line around the stairwell entrance, sabers raised to block the way. Several others carried their wounded out of the inn. Before long, they returned with great halberds and crossbows and sealed the entrance.

The disguised merchants were a step too slow again. They could only stand in silence with the other slow-moving customers, herded into a corner of the inn by the patrol guards' sabers.

But with the bald man barking orders, the soldiers who had seemed like thugs in a street gang just moments before immediately took on a different air. The front rank formed up with halberds, while the rear rank raised bows and loaded crossbows. Their ranks were disciplined and their movements swift. The three martial artists didn't even have time to react. They'd only managed to catch their breath twice when the situation suddenly turned against them. They were now cornered, with no way out.

Ji Chang pulled his helmet down over his head, its flaps protecting his face and neck until only his nose and eyes showed through a triangular opening. He straightened, took a step forward with his halberd, and barked, "Lin!"

As he stepped forward, four similarly armored halberdiers emerged on either side of him. They barked, "Lin!" and thrust their halberds forward in unison, forcing the three martial artists on the stairs to retreat.

Meanwhile, the soldiers who had held the front with sabers took the opportunity to fall back. In orderly succession, they put on their armor, bandaged their wounds, and took up long weapons to reinforce the line, all shouting, "Lin!"

The interlocking ranks of spears and halberds formed a forest of weapons and slowly pressed forward. Their icy blades glinted with cold steel, quelling Fifth Young Master's hot-blooded ferocity and forcing the three of them step by step back up the stairs toward the second-floor rooms.

But it was too late. Two crossbowmen in the rear had already drawn their weapons. They sighted along the bows and fired two bolts with a pair of thuds. The bolts plunged into the doorframes on either side, their tips buried deep, sealing off their escape!

Had those shots been aimed at a person, they would have been fatal. This was clearly their final warning!

"Drop your weapons!" Ji Chang roared.

"Drop your weapons!" the patrol guards shouted together.

The three of them were trapped on the stairs, unable to advance or retreat. The standoff brought everything to a halt.

The masked, mixed-blood young woman was still sitting at the table, unmoved. She calmly watched the fight and now spoke to her two attendants in her hometown dialect, her tongue curled around the words.

'Huo Shan Mo Lian says the soldiers of Li Country are strong. This will be difficult to exploit.'

Li Fan, hiding under the table, rolled his eyes.

Seriously, System? At a time like this, stop translating all this irrelevant stuff and find out where Kun is!

Li Fan was at a loss. Hadn't he said the name Dragon Gate Inn was unlucky? He'd barely had time to enjoy a drink before a whole brawl broke out. What was this, some nightclub scene where people fought over who was tougher and who got the girl?

That said, Li Fan could see that the patrol guards were well trained. Any single soldier was only an average fighter, with less strength and speed than those martial artists. At most, they'd practiced some Body Domination techniques that made them stronger than ordinary people. If they hadn't been wearing lamellar armor like infantry armor, made of iron plates riveted together, they would probably have been slaughtered like melons and vegetables in that brief clash.

But once they formed ranks and pressed forward, those martial artists were clearly no match. Their swords and sabers obviously couldn't pierce armor. And to be honest, their skills weren't all that impressive.

Take Fifth Young Master, the muscle-bound weightlifter. His wide, sweeping saber style looked flashy enough, but it didn't seem very effective—he hadn't managed to kill a single soldier. Maybe it was because he couldn't break through their armor, but he'd probably held back against the government troops, too. At the very least, comparing his skills to Yuan Xuanbao and Chen Daotong's, Li Fan could see that he wasted a lot of energy on unnecessary movements. His breathing rhythm was off as well, so after a few exchanges he had to pause for breath. That had cost him the chance to break through when the soldiers weren't yet in formation.

Those two little Daoist priests who'd been running a stall outside could probably fight for a full day and night without even breaking a sweat. They would have already fought their way out. Clearly, Fifth Young Master's talent or luck had limited him. He'd put in hard work for nothing, without ever learning the proper techniques, so his strength was limited.

Of course, Li Fan was only offering an objective analysis. He wouldn't have known what to do against this formation himself. He'd secretly swept the whole scene with his Divine Sense just now and found that there wasn't a single person here at Xuanbao and Daotong's genuine Foundation Establishment perfection level. They were all ordinary mortals. At most, the eunuch and the fake bearded man were a little stronger. Fourth Young Master's aura was strange, too...

In any case, if he casually released a blast, he'd probably blow up half the street and inevitably hurt innocent bystanders. If he tried to circle around with sword energy, he might accidentally slice off everyone's hands and feet. That would be too bloody. It really wouldn't do.

Thinking about it, he shouldn't have listened to Sword Intent's nonsense. If he'd learned some junk technique like Body Domination, like his two senior fellow disciples, he wouldn't be so constrained now. He wanted to play the hero and save the beauty, but he couldn't just make a move.

Sigh, poor Xuan Niang. That beauty is about to walk straight into a tiger's den.

The three of them had no options left. They knew they couldn't fight to the death, so all they could do was surrender.

Fourth Young Master, who had been catching his breath all this time, stepped forward with a grim expression. "Fifth Young Master, Xuan Niang, I'll charge through the formation. When you see an opening, run. Don't worry about me."

"Fourth Brother! What are you saying?" "Fourth Young Master! We live and die together!"

"Do as I say! Get ready to go!" Fourth Young Master stepped forward. As he breathed, a patch of dark qi spread across his face. The blood seeping from his wounds gradually turned blackish gray.

"Still looking for death? Kill them all!" Ji Chang shouted furiously.

The eunuch, who'd been watching the show over his tea with an amused expression, saw the dark qi and immediately lost his smile. He waved a hand.

The cloaked guard understood and rose, walking toward the patrol guards.

"Stop!" The flanking halberdiers and crossbowmen immediately pointed their weapons at him, standing on guard.

The guard said nothing. He simply extended a hand, revealing a golden token in his palm.

Ji Chang had been keeping an eye on everything around him. At the sight of the token, he jolted and shouted, "Shan!"

The patrol guards stopped together, lowered their halberds and crossbows, and held their defensive positions.

Ji Chang hurried out of the formation. He handed his great halberd to a soldier, then bent low and hurried over to the guard, bowing as he greeted him. Apparently the guard gave him an instruction, because Ji Chang nodded repeatedly. Then he turned and waved a hand. "Fall back!"

The patrol guards' momentum immediately stalled. For a moment, everything went quiet.

Ji Chang glared. "Fall back!"

"Yes, sir!" The soldiers had no choice. A few of the wounded picked up their severed fingers and tucked them into their clothes before filing out. Soon, they had all withdrawn from the inn.

Ji Chang turned and bowed obsequiously to the guard and the eunuch, then backed out through the door last of all.

The masked girl chuckled softly and said something to her two attendants. The three of them looked as if they'd only now relaxed enough to laugh after being frightened by what had just happened.

'Huo Shan Mo Lian says they're nothing but spineless dogs.'

She even smiled at Li Fan. "Little Daoist, don't be afraid. The unruly soldiers have already withdrawn."

Li Fan awkwardly crawled out from under the table. He wasn't afraid; he was looking for Kun... And this woman was definitely a little strange, too...

They'd thought the trouble was over once the patrol guards left. The three martial artists were still debating whether to thank the eunuch for saving their lives, but the eunuch stood up amid his guards and hurried out!

Now it wasn't only the three martial artists who were confused. The merchants nearby were also at a loss.

The burly merchant glanced at Fourth Young Master. The clot of blood around his wound was spreading, and it was clearly as black and foul-smelling as ink. The merchant was shocked. "He's about to turn into a fiend! Let's go!"

The burly merchant hurried toward the door with his men, but as soon as they reached it, a volley of arrows drove them back!

It turned out that the soldiers who'd gone outside had surrounded the entire inn!

"Outrageous!" The burly man, who'd been one step too slow to escape time and again, had had enough. He tore off his false beard and pulled a three-foot fish-gut dagger from beneath his robe, shouting, "You vicious officials! Are you trying to feed us all to that fiend?"

"Hahahaha!" the eunuch cackled shrilly from outside. "A fiend corpse just fell into our laps! Heaven has granted me a merit I didn't even have to earn! I'll be counting on all of you to help me out!"

"What?" Even Huo Shan Mo Lian could no longer sit still. She jumped up, looked at Fourth Young Master's darkening face, then pointed at the three martial artists and shouted, "Which immortal's tomb did you rob? How did you get tainted with such dense fiendish energy?"

"Fourth Young Master! How are you? Hang in there!" Xuan Niang only cared about supporting Fourth Young Master, whose entire body was turning black.

Fifth Young Master held his saber crosswise. "Our brothers' business has nothing to do with you! We won't drag you into this..."

"Bullshit! You brought this on all of us!" The fake bearded man drew his dagger and charged forward. "If he can't hold out and transforms into a fiend corpse, none of us will make it out alive! What are you all waiting for? Cut off his head now, before he turns and becomes too tough to kill!"

The people in the inn panicked. A moment ago, they'd all been cowering. Now they drew sabers and swords, crowded forward, and shouted abuse. Even Huo Shan Mo Lian waved a hand, and her two attendants pulled a golden melon hammer and an iron axe from under their robes before following the fake bearded man forward to attack.

Li Fan was the only one who still had no idea what was going on. Seeing that Sword Intent was still drifting in the wine jar, he could only go over, pull the shopkeeper to his feet, and ask, "What does it mean to turn into a fiend corpse?"

The shopkeeper was close to tears. He'd never imagined that a single piece of Horseshoe Gold he'd greedily taken would bring so much trouble.

"There are many rogue cultivators' caves on Mount Buzhou. When an immortal inside dies, their primordial spirit perishes, and their Dao body turns into an immortal zombie. It still cultivates like a living person, but instead of true Dao Breath, it cultivates fiendish corpse qi. If a mortal is tainted by that qi, they'll turn into a fiend corpse. They'll transform into a fiend corpse that can fly and burrow through the earth, with skin like bronze and bones like iron, impervious to blades and spears. The only way to—"

"Slay the demon! Sword Control Technique!" Before the shopkeeper could finish, the fake bearded man could no longer hold back. He sprang up the stairs, sword drawn, and thrust straight toward Fourth Young Master in the middle, who was meditating and breathing hard as he tried to suppress the fiendish qi. The move was graceful, almost like an immortal flying on a sword. In truth, though, it had nothing to do with proper Sword Control Technique...

"Get the hell away, you dog!" Fifth Young Master wasn't about to let the man jump over his head and kill his brother. He roared and swung his great saber at the man's waist.

But the blow cut through empty air!

The fake bearded man was treacherous. He'd shouted as if he were about to charge forward, but had only leapt straight up without moving far ahead. Meanwhile, his junior brothers behind him, dressed as merchants, didn't know how he fought. They all jumped out after him with their flying swords.

But they weren't wearing armor. No matter how high men in cloth clothes jumped, they were just throwing themselves into the fray. Fifth Young Master brought his saber down on the head of the man to the left, cleaving him in two down to the shoulder. Xuan Niang struck with her sword and saber together, severing the arm and head of the man to the right. In an instant, a great spray of blood splashed across the stairwell and spattered the wall.

Holy shit...

Li Fan wrinkled his nose and covered his face.

But it still wasn't over. The fake bearded man had used two of his teammates as bait to expose an opening. With a furious shout, he leapt up a second time, then hurled the dagger in his hand straight at Fourth Young Master's brow.

"Coward!" Fifth Young Master's face was spattered with blood, making him look like a fiend. He flung his great saber back to block the dagger, but that turned out to be another feint!

The fake bearded man's right little finger was attached to a steel wire, the other end looped around the dagger's ring. He pulled, yanked the dagger back into his hand, and stabbed straight through Fifth Young Master's exposed throat!

"Fifth Young Master! Ah!" Xuan Niang tried to leap up and save him, but the fake bearded man's two other junior brothers stabbed through her foot from beneath the stairs. With a cry of pain, she chopped through the floorboard beneath her and dropped into the stairwell, where she fought the two men. For a time, blades flashed and blood flew. It was impossible to tell whose artery had been severed!

Holy fucking hell...

Li Fan's jaw dropped.

But it still wasn't over!

'Huo Shan Mo Lian says to take out the leader first.'

The System translated the girl's dialect in real time. Her two attendants sprang forward like a pair of white eagles, one swinging a hammer, the other wielding an axe. Their burst of speed carried them even farther than the fake bearded man's leap. They were hidden experts, too! One smashed a hole in Fourth Young Master's skull with the hammer, breaking his spine. The other brought an axe down in a vertical chop, splitting his ribs and cleaving straight into his heart.

"Fourth Brother!" Fifth Young Master let out a ragged, wheezing scream. The fake bearded man had already plunged his dagger into Fifth Young Master's chest and ripped him open, killing him.

The two attendants tried to wrench out their hammer and axe so they could keep beating Fourth Young Master until he was pulp, but neither weapon would budge.

They looked up, only to see Fourth Young Master grab and tear off both their arms. When they looked again, he'd gouged out all four of their eyes, leaving bloody holes, and ripped open their skulls. They died on the spot.

The fake bearded man was horrified. With a long howl, he sucked in a breath and sprang backward off Fifth Young Master's corpse—but once again, he was a step too slow.

Before he could get clear, Fourth Young Master grabbed him by the legs. With a kick to the groin, he ripped the man in three. The mangled remains flew through the window and landed outside the Dragon Gate Inn, exploding into a bloody mess in front of the heavily guarded halberd formation.

Protected by layers of armored soldiers, the eunuch looked at the mangled heap before him and burst into laughter. "Good! The fiend corpse has formed! Go! Fetch a Daoist from Ink Bamboo Mountain to collect the corpse!"