Ambush Assassination

Chu Zheng tightened his grip on the Iron Mace, slipped silently out of bed, and lowered his breathing. His ears twitched faintly as he carefully caught every trace of movement.

As his focus gradually sharpened, the flowing Qi around him slowly began to leave traces in his eyes.

More than ten fluctuations of blood and Qi appeared in his senses, one after another.

This courtyard was already surrounded.

Four men stood on the roof, while three guarded each side of the house. Among them, five possessed especially prominent blood and Qi fluctuations—they had entered the Grandmaster realm.

Chu Zheng's heart stirred, and he quickly understood. These men had come prepared, specifically for him.

A scorched smell flooded Chu Zheng's nose and mouth. In the blink of an eye, scarlet firelight appeared beyond the window.

Chu Zheng's teeth clenched abruptly, his gaze cold as ice.

Arson again?!

Winter was dry, and the flames spread with terrifying speed. Scorching fire Qi coursed through the air in every direction.

If Chu Zheng were currently in the Spiritual Transformation Realm, he could have raised a hand and claimed these raging flames for his own. Unfortunately, he was still far from that level.

After a brief thought, Chu Zheng suddenly raised his head, stamped heavily with one foot, and launched himself upward. Swinging the Iron Mace in his hand, he smashed it into the roof beam.

Crack—

The wooden beam, more than four inches thick, snapped at once. The entire frame of the house collapsed in an instant, scattering years of old dust into the air and raising a cloud several yards high, obscuring the gazes sweeping over from all sides.

The several people who had been standing atop the roof instinctively leaped up. In the blink of an eye, all they could see was dust, unable to make out anything at all.

Chu Zheng closed his eyes and, relying only on his senses, instantly seized the trail of a Martial Grandmaster.

Condensed Qi Grand Completion was no match for him at all. Only Grandmasters posed any degree of threat.

Seven days had passed since the previous battle, and he had gained nearly another thousand jin of strength. On an ordinary person, that would have been a complete transformation.

That Grandmaster was struggling to search for Chu Zheng amid the dust and sand when a shrill howl of wind suddenly rang out beside his ear. The sound of something splitting the air had only just arrived when the Iron Mace came crashing down upon his head.

Pfft!

The Iron Mace descended with several thousand jin of terrifying force. Flesh and blood had no power to resist it whatsoever. The Grandmaster's head and entire upper body were instantly smashed into a puddle of bloody pulp.

Flesh mixed with bone fragments splattered in every direction, blooming into crimson flowers.

The next instant, Chu Zheng hurled the Iron Mace with all his strength, sending it heavily toward the two figures in the air not far away.

With nowhere to borrow force in midair, the two could not dodge at all. They were sent flying more than ten yards by the Iron Mace, and when they hit the ground, they had more breath going out than coming in.

In the span of a finger snap, three of the four men on the roof had died.

Before Chu Zheng could even catch his breath, an invisible gale swept up around him. It struck his body like blades and axes, instantly shredding his clothes and carving streak after streak of blood across his skin.

Gusts of wind swept through fiercely, instantly scattering the dust and smoke. Grandmasters had achieved Qi Condensation into Edge; every gesture was a weapon, and the depth of their Internal Energy was far beyond that of ordinary martial artists.

The moment the house collapsed, several Grandmasters had attacked at once. Unfortunately, they had still been a step too late.

Chu Zheng withdrew swiftly. The flesh around his wounds wriggled for a moment, and the bleeding soon stopped.

His Tiger Body Entry Chapter was already nearing great completion. His physique had long ceased to resemble that of an ordinary person. Though he had many wounds, none were fatal.

Four Grandmasters remained, but they were not necessarily unbeatable.

"He's a Hardening Grandmaster! Use Hidden Weapons!"

One of them suddenly spoke, taking the initiative to widen the distance between himself and Chu Zheng. The remaining dozen or so immediately followed suit.

Whoosh, whoosh—

The next instant, countless Hidden Weapons shot toward Chu Zheng like raindrops. Beneath the night sky, even with the firelight reflecting off them, they could not be seen clearly at all.

Chu Zheng did not need to think to know those Hidden Weapons were poisoned. At once, he lifted his toes and kicked up several door panels in succession, sweeping up countless fragments of tiles stained with sparks and raising them before himself.

Then, without the slightest hesitation, he crashed headlong into the nearby Storehouse, smashing through a wall of blue bricks and tiles and stepping into the Weapon Depot where weapons were stored.

The next instant, several long spears shot out from the darkness. Their accuracy remained astonishing even in the night, without the slightest error. Every spear struck to kill, and within a few blinks, another five men had died.

Movement soon came from all around. Song Tonghai and Song Lingxue arrived upon hearing the commotion, and their expressions turned rather unsightly when they saw the chaos in the courtyard.

No one could have imagined that, with the Imperial Secret Guard stationed here, there would still be people of the martial world daring to take action despite the risk.

Both were injured, and in almost an instant, they fell into a disadvantage. Had those Grandmasters not kept their attention fixed on Chu Zheng, their defeat and deaths would have come in a moment.

Those at Condensed Qi Grand Completion were soon killed one by one by Chu Zheng, leaving only the four Grandmasters.

Chu Zheng concealed himself within the Weapon Depot, searching for an opening, feeling the situation was rather thorny.

Grandmasters truly were difficult to deal with. With their guard up, the long spears Chu Zheng threw could not threaten them at all.

Moreover, protective Internal Qi extended from their bodies, and Chu Zheng could not approach them in the slightest. In the end, he had cultivated Qi for far too short a time.

Just as the stalemate held, two scarlet Flowing Lights streaked across the night sky, swift as thunder, and in the blink of an eye crashed into two Grandmasters.

Pfft!

In a finger snap, the two Grandmasters exploded into a mist of blood together, leaving neither corpses nor bones behind.

A tall figure clad in crimson armor slowly approached. It was Li Mingzhou.

Before a Great Grandmaster, Grandmasters had no ability to resist whatsoever. Within only a few breaths, the remaining two were effortlessly captured alive.

"Many thanks to Commander for coming to our aid."

Song Tonghai bowed deeply, gratitude in his voice.

Li Mingzhou ignored him. His expression was cold as he stepped forward and tore off the masks of the two Grandmasters.

The two were of similar age, both around fifty. One had dark skin and an unremarkable face, while the other had regular features and carried three parts of a hero's air at a glance.

"Yin Ping? Why are you here?"

Upon seeing the man's face clearly, Song Tonghai frowned deeply.

In his early years, he had worked as a caravan guard, traveling north and south for many years. He had dealt with nearly every renowned expert in the martial world.

Yin Ping was from Beiyan Commandery. In his early years, he had enjoyed befriending heroes from across the land, and his name was quite well-known throughout the Northern Region of Great Zhou.

The problem was that Beiyan Commandery lay at the northernmost edge of Great Zhou, nearly eighty thousand li from Wuyang Commandery. The two places were as unrelated as eight poles could not reach each other.

Song Tonghai drew a deep breath and said in a low voice, "You and I bear no grudge. Whose orders did you receive? Could you tell me something of it?"

Yin Ping's expression was indifferent. He kept his head lowered and said nothing.

"We merely acted under orders as well. Kill us if you want, but spare us the nonsense. At most, you'll live a little longer than I will."

The other Grandmaster beside him suddenly spoke, his eyes full of viciousness.

Li Mingzhou abruptly stepped forward, raised a hand to dislocate that Grandmaster's jaw, then inserted two fingers and forcibly pulled out his tongue. With a twist of his fingertips, he severed it directly at the root.

"Ugh, ugh..."

The intense pain made his entire body convulse, blood overflowing from his mouth.

"Just in time to report to His Majesty. I'll take this one away."

Li Mingzhou spoke blandly. He glanced at Yin Ping beside him and said just as blandly:

"His Majesty will announce to all under heaven that this man's nine clans will be exterminated and he will be carved by a thousand blades. If you speak, you can die quickly, and your Lineage will be left unharmed."