Jungle Ambush

Zhao Qiushan's voice was loud.

He had deliberately spoken for Shen Yi to hear.

And just as Zhao Qiushan had expected, Shen Yi stopped the moment he heard it.

Shen Yi turned around.

A fierce glint shone in his eyes, like the gleam of a blade.

Zhao Qiushan's heart gave a sudden jolt.

He unconsciously took half a step back.

Then he came to his senses. He had merely grumbled a few times—what was there to fear? Could Shen Yi really draw a blade on him over that?

What was this about?

"You mean you came here with me not because Qin Jianghe decided it, but because someone else recommended it?"

Shen Yi strode closer.

He lifted his head and stared at Zhao Qiushan.

Shen Yi's voice was not loud, yet it carried an imposing force, grave and sharp, as though a blade had been laid across Zhao Qiushan's neck while questioning him.

Zhao Qiushan's hairs stood on end at once.

It was not fear.

It was simply a human's instinctive reaction.

"Y-Yes."

"It was Deputy Gang Leader Ji who recommended it. What, what are you trying to do?!"

"Looking for trouble?"

Zhao Qiushan raised his voice.

One hand rested on the Xuanhua Axe slung across his back.

The Broken Blade Hall disciples behind him immediately lined up behind Zhao Qiushan in unison, and the atmosphere turned taut as drawn bows and drawn blades.

Shen Yi cast Zhao Qiushan a glance.

His tone was icy.

"I need to go back."

"Qin Jianghe may be in danger."

With that, Shen Yi walked straight toward the crowd.

Everyone was utterly stunned.

Zhao Qiushan understood even less why Shen Yi had made such an abrupt, baffling remark before deciding to turn back.

It made their whole group seem like a joke after following him for so long—or perhaps this had been Shen Yi's excuse all along.

"Hey!"

"What nonsense are you talking about, brat?!"

"Are you scared and trying to flee before the battle?"

Shen Yi glanced sidelong at Zhao Qiushan and finally concluded that he was a simple-minded oaf with only one track in his head.

He was not Ji Chengkong's accomplice.

Shen Yi spoke solemnly.

"I'll say it one more time. Your Deputy Hall Master Ji may be planning to harm Qin Jianghe. If you keep delaying, then you can just collect his corpse."

After issuing his final warning, Shen Yi ignored Zhao Qiushan and lowered his body, preparing to leap away.

However, Zhao Qiushan's expression changed drastically as he roared, "Bullshit! My Second Brother Ji and Big Brother are as close as hands and feet, bound by a friendship forged through life and death. How could he harm him!"

"Are you using this as an excuse to run away?!"

With a swish, the two Xuanhua Axes were pulled from his back and gripped in his hands. He stomped and leaped, making the ground boom beneath him.

His hill-like body shot high into the air, then crashed down like a meteor onto Shen Yi's only path.

Zhao Qiushan blocked the way with both axes.

"Explain yourself clearly!"

"Otherwise, I will never let you flee before the battle!"

Shen Yi narrowed his eyes and, no longer caring that he lacked proof for the moment, said directly, "Fool, do you still not understand?"

"Ji Chengkong used the excuse of having you receive me."

"He deliberately lured you and Qin Jianghe's trusted men away from Broken Blade Hall. His next move will be against Qin Jianghe!"

Zhao Qiushan froze.

Shen Yi went around Zhao Qiushan, intending to leave.

Suddenly, heavy, rasping breaths sounded beside his ear. Zhao Qiushan gritted his teeth and said, "There is absolutely no such possibility!"

"Did I say you could leave?!"

The axe in Zhao Qiushan's hand swung at once like a gigantic fan, whipping up howling gale-force winds as it smashed toward Shen Yi's back!

Whoosh!

Zhao Qiushan was a genuine First-Class Realm expert.

His foundations were profound.

Although he had held back out of respect for Qin Jianghe, he had still used eighty percent of his strength.

This axe cleaved through all before it, shaking heaven and earth.

Naturally, Shen Yi had never been so careless as to entrust his back to anyone, even if that person was Qin Jianghe's so-called brother.

In an instant, Shen Yi reacted.

He lightly twisted with his feet, and his body flashed to the side, narrowly evading the descending flat of the axe by a hair's breadth.

Grass Treading Flight immediately circulated.

Light as a swan's feather, he stepped on the axe shaft to borrow its force, soaring upward like a great roc riding the wind. Cold Night left its sheath in his right hand.

The Hidden Edge Blade emerged, its sharpness fully revealed!

The heavy-backed blade slashed diagonally with lightning speed, bearing down like Mount Tai collapsing overhead. In an instant, Zhao Qiushan felt his breathing tighten.

He only had time to pull back the nearest axe to block it!

Clang!

The sheathed heavy-backed blade smashed heavily against the axe, releasing a thunderous peal like a great bell.

The Array Breaker Art churned out inner force without end, coursing through Cold Night's blade. To Zhao Qiushan, that heavy-backed blade seemed to weigh a thousand jun.

Bang!

Zhao Qiushan's knee slammed hard into the ground, smashing out a shallow pit, while his arm bent at an unnatural angle.

Shen Yi had directly dislocated it with a single blade strike.

With a clatter, Zhao Qiushan's axe fell to the ground. He cried out in pain as Shen Yi pinned him down with a blade pressed against his back.

"Chen Yu!"

"What exactly are you trying to do?!"

The exchange between the two had lasted only a single move.

The winner and loser had already been decided.

Only then did the Broken Blade Hall disciples react. They immediately drew their blades with a ringing sound and heavily surrounded Shen Yi.

Shen Yi sneered, one foot planted on Zhao Qiushan's back, pinning down his brown-bear-like body.

"You attacked me."

"And you're asking what I'm doing?"

He lifted his long blade and tapped Zhao Qiushan's head with its sheath, his tone as calm as though they were chatting about everyday matters.

"Is there water in your head?"

Zhao Qiushan immediately felt his rage surge skyward, his hair bristling in fury!

Just as he was about to rise up and resist, Shen Yi's icy words sounded beside his ear: "I don't have time to fool around with you here. If you keep causing trouble, I really won't be polite anymore!"

Clang!

As if in response to Shen Yi's chilling words, Cold Night slid several inches from its sheath. The keen blade radiated waves of cold that made Zhao Qiushan's neck turn icy.

Shen Yi's fierce killing intent made Zhao Qiushan feel that if he said one more word, he would truly be separated from his head.

Seeing Zhao Qiushan behave himself, Shen Yi resheathed his blade with a ringing sound.

Shen Yi removed his foot from Zhao Qiushan's back and walked straight toward the crowd of blade-wielders.

Wherever he passed,

the Broken Blade Hall disciples were intimidated by Shen Yi's invincible aura. Though they held blades and swords, they still involuntarily moved aside.

At this moment,

Shen Yi's presence was even more imposing than that of their Hall Master, Qin Jianghe.

Shen Yi quickly walked out of the encirclement.

Suddenly, he focused his gaze and looked up.

Just then, a woman's voice, clear as silver bells, drifted from the forest ahead. "Brother Chen Yu certainly cuts an imposing figure."

"Even that blockhead Zhao from Broken Blade Hall can't keep you down."

Along with the voice,

two figures, one white and one black, blocked the mountain path ahead.

In an instant, everyone from Broken Blade Hall, including Zhao Qiushan, faced the enemy as though standing on the edge of an abyss.

The newcomers were none other than Black and White Rakshasa of the Yaksha Branch.

They were Broken Blade Hall's old rivals.

Besides Black and White Rakshasa, two lean, bare-chested men sprang out from beside the forest path. Shen Yi recognized them as well.

They were the Four River Devils who had once intercepted Shen Yi on the Source River.

However, Shen Yi had killed one of the Four River Devils and crippled another.

Only two who could still move remained.

The Long River Duo and Black and White Rakshasa were all First-Class Realm experts, making Zhao Qiushan's eyelids twitch when he saw them.

Besides those five experts,

rustling sounds came from the surrounding forest.

In the blink of an eye,

countless men holding either sabers or steel forks sprang forth.

They surrounded Shen Yi and the Broken Blade Hall group so tightly that not even water could pass through.

All of them were members of the Whale Gang's Yaksha Branch, nearly twice as numerous as the Broken Blade Hall party.

At this moment,

even someone as slow-witted as Zhao Qiushan realized it.

This was not an accidental encounter, but a premeditated ambush!