No more talk. Just one word.
Smash!
Hong Yuan seized Huang Shaotang by the neck. Like a master smith raising a heavy hammer to forge a blade, he swung the "hammerhead" down with all his might!
How formidable was his strength now?
That swing carried a thousand pounds of force, if not more.
Boom!
In a single blow, Huang Shaotang's lower body collided with Huang Yihe's head. A shriek rang out, so wretched that no one could tell whether it came from Huang Shaotang or Huang Yihe.
Or perhaps father and son had screamed together.
Bones shattered and blood sprayed. Both of Huang Shaotang's legs broke in an instant, twisting like ropes.
The force drove through Huang Yihe's chair, blowing it to pieces.
Wood splinters flew!
Huang Yihe collapsed amid the wreckage, blood covering his head and face, his neck hanging limp.
Whoosh!
Hong Yuan swung again.
Bang!
Bang, bang!
Three heavy blows in succession, like a game of whack-a-mole. A heart-rending scream burst from Huang Shaotang's throat. The flesh and bone of one leg could hold on no longer, and half the leg flew away, dripping blood.
It landed with a smack on the face of a richly dressed middle-aged woman standing behind Huang Yihe.
The sudden upheaval had already left the woman deathly pale, her mind blank.
When the severed leg struck her face, pain shot through the bridge of her nose. The thick reek of blood surged over her, nearly making her faint. At last, she let out a piercing scream.
That scream was like a pebble dropped into a pool of stagnant water. The guests who had stood frozen throughout the Huang Mansion finally came to their senses.
In an instant, one cry set off another, and shrill screams rose on every side.
Two or three hundred guests sprang up in panic. They fled like headless flies, shouting for their attendants and guards.
Crash!
Tables and chairs toppled. Cups, plates, and bowls fell and shattered. Carefully prepared dishes spilled across the floor, splashing oil everywhere and sending countless people slipping to the ground.
Cries of pain rose one after another as fallen guests were trampled underfoot.
The entire place descended into chaos.
The Huang Mansion's guards and servants had been rushing toward Huang Yihe, but now the guests crashing about in every direction blocked their way.
Given who those guests were, they dared not punch and kick a path through them.
Some were wealthy gentry like Huang Yihe, some were his business associates, and some had come purely to curry favor with him...
But who could spare a thought for that now?
None of them knew that Huang Yihe, the man at the center of it all, was already dead. His neck was broken, his head drooped against his chest, and countless wooden splinters pierced his body.
Huang Shaotang's throat had been crushed as well.
With a flick of his arm, Hong Yuan hurled what remained of Huang Shaotang into the face of one of his brothers. Both men flew several meters and crashed through a table.
Without losing a moment, Hong Yuan lunged like a tiger descending a mountain.
Roar!
A savage aura clung to him, like a fierce beast hunting its prey. He moved so fast he seemed to leave an afterimage. Several muffled thuds sounded as his fists swiftly crushed four throats.
By the time anyone looked again, fewer than three breaths had passed. Huang Yihe was dead. Huang Shaotang was dead!
All five of Huang Shaotang's brothers, born to wives or concubines, were dead too.
A dozen or so women of the household had been gathered around Huang Yihe to offer congratulations. Now they screamed, their faces stricken with terror and their bodies trembling. Several were so frightened that their legs gave way and they slumped to the ground.
The stench of urine spread.
After killing seven people in one breath, Hong Yuan felt his mind clear, his spirit utterly unburdened.
It was not the satisfaction of avenging the body's former owner or fulfilling some lingering obsession. It was the exhilaration of a hero defying prohibitions with martial might!
Delightful!
Too delightful!
Why practice martial arts if not to draw a blade in anger and heed no taboos?
There was no need for grand talk of good and evil.
Hong Yuan would not place himself on some pedestal of chivalry, either. A great hero serving his country and people was certainly worthy of admiration, but that was someone else's path. It did not define him.
A guard from the Huang Mansion had already forced his way through the crowd and charged toward Hong Yuan.
Without a word, the guard swung a steel saber at his neck. As if he had eyes in the back of his head, Hong Yuan tilted his head slightly and drove an elbow backward.
The guard's breastbone cracked, but he did not fly away. Hong Yuan had already caught his sword hand. With a wrench, he twisted the arm like a rope, and the steel saber slipped free.
Hong Yuan caught it, swept it backhanded, and ended the ambushing guard's life.
At that same moment, a thunderous shout rang through the courtyard. "All guests, stand still! Stop running!"
County Magistrate Zhang kicked a guest who was screaming and scurrying about with his hands over his head. Then he hooked his foot beneath an overturned table and kicked it into the air.
The table tumbled a few times before landing across another. County Magistrate Zhang sprang up and landed steadily on the platform formed by the two square tables.
Looking down over the crowd, he roared like thunder. "Everyone, heed my orders! Guests, stay where you are. Servants, help the injured. All guards, follow my command. Come with me to seize that villain and rescue my brother Guiling!"
His voice cracked like thunder, silencing the courtyard for an instant. The panicked crowd stopped moving. Only groans of pain remained.
The servants and guards seemed to have found someone to rally around and gathered toward County Magistrate Zhang.
As County Magistrate Zhang watched, an odd glint entered his eyes.
Rescue Huang Guiling?
What a joke.
One glance earlier had told him that his "brother Guiling" had nearly been beaten into tortoise jelly. Recovering his corpse was more like it.
And Huang Guiling thought bribing Commander Xiang and supplying him with medicinal ingredients and pills entitled him to call me brother? Give him a few more years to cozy up to Commander Xiang, and wouldn't he climb right over the Zhang Family?
County Magistrate Zhang's expression stayed grave, but he sneered inwardly.
Good riddance. What perfect timing. I really ought to thank that murderous madman...
County Magistrate Zhang looked toward Hong Yuan, wariness in his eyes.
Great Yin's central government had lost its power, and authority had passed into local hands. The benefit was that wealthy gentry families like theirs had risen and taken control of civil and military offices alike.
The drawback was just as obvious.
Back when Great Yin had been at its height...
No, even a few decades ago, when the central government still retained some authority, a madman who dared attack and kill a wealthy notable in public could simply have been reported to the authorities. A bounty would have been circulated everywhere, and even a master of Subtlety would have been forced to hide from place to place.
That no longer worked.
Great Yin's power had passed to the great local clans and wealthy families, but in the process it had been split into countless pieces. Never mind a province or a prefecture—even the powerful clans of a single county or town had become kingdoms unto themselves.
Issue a bounty?
Go right ahead.
Forget carrying it across provinces and prefectures. The next county or town would first have to recognize it.
This was the best era for noble houses, powerful clans, and wealthy gentry. It was also the era when wandering swordsmen who defied prohibitions with martial might ran most rampant.
In this world, there were strong fighters who could face a hundred foes alone.
No one could afford to dismiss their strength.
There was no question of treating martial artists as inferior.
If anything, scholars were in decline. Even the Civil Service Examinations had been abolished.
County Magistrate Zhang would never underestimate a wandering swordsman.
All these years, Huang Guiling has squeezed the medicinal herb farmers and driven out his rivals. Who knows how many underhanded methods he used? And besides taking a new concubine every few years, whenever he spotted a pretty woman, he'd secretly have his thugs abduct her...
For women brought into the Huang Mansion without anyone influential behind them, surviving a year or two counted as a long life.
Huang Guiling's deeds have finally come back to bite him...
County Magistrate Zhang stepped down from the tables. Numerous guards immediately surged around him, shielding him on all sides.
He had no intention of avenging Huang Yihe.
But he had every intention of making trouble under the banner of catching the killer.
Huang Guiling is dead, but the medicinal herb business can't stop. If he could serve as one of Commander Xiang's legs, the Zhang Family can take his place.
That means the Huang Family needs a thorough clearing out.
Huang Guiling and all six of his sons were dead, but he still had grandsons and granddaughters, women in the household, and uncles, nephews, and other relatives from the family's collateral branches.
Good thing I decided to visit the Huang Mansion today. Otherwise, I'd have missed the perfect chance to step in... Heaven is helping the Zhang Family.
He waved four personal guards in leather armor forward.
All four were either members of the Zhang Family's collateral branches or born into families that had served them for generations. Their loyalty was beyond question.
County Magistrate Zhang called them close and began giving them quiet instructions.
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