Young Master

Bullets!

An ordinary wealthy household could not get its hands on foreign guns and cannons.

Within the concession, even the most ordinary Mauser Pistol was a strictly controlled weapon.

As gunfire erupted, the escort agency's horses were startled into anxious neighing.

Everyone hurriedly jumped down from their horses.

"Escort Master Wei..."

Several escort hands wore grim expressions, about to say something.

Then they saw dozens of soldiers carrying long guns and wearing standard black uniforms emerge from the forests on both sides of the dirt road they had come from.

Their gun barrels were firmly aimed at the people escorting the convoy.

"Why are there outsiders here?"

"Didn't I tell you again and again to seal off the area? Seal it off! Have you no wish to live, disturbing Sixth Young Master's pleasure like this?!"

A middle-aged man in a long robe and felt hat came out from the other side, cursing at the soldiers.

He was not particularly tall, but rather thin and gaunt. Only his arms were exceptionally long, nearly reaching his knees.

Compared to those fully armed soldiers, he held nothing in his hands and looked like an easygoing, refined scholar.

Yet the moment this seemingly refined, long-armed man appeared—

Not only Wei Yu, but even Jiang Jingnian broke out in a cold sweat. Every instinct for survival screamed of death, as though they had encountered some natural predator.

"This man... the feeling he gives me."

"He doesn't feel human. He feels like some kind of beast!"

Cold sweat poured down Jiang Jingnian's back. When someone had fired earlier, he had been tense and worried, but he had not felt this instinctive terror.

The other man was merely standing there.

Yet he brought an unprecedented pressure upon everyone from the escort agency, far surpassing even the deterrence of those dozens of guns.

They knew foreign guns were formidable.

But since the soldiers had not fired directly, they could still retain some measure of composure.

This long-armed man, however, pressed down on them with some invisible aura, like a massive boulder crushing their bodies.

The weaker escort hands and apprentices could not withstand that pressure at all. They collapsed onto the ground on their backsides, pale-faced and utterly bereft of fighting spirit.

"Presence... You're a great expert of the Inner Qi Realm!"

Escort Master Wei Yu's face was equally stiff, but he could still speak. His somewhat sturdy body, however, was trembling without pause.

Clearly—

As the strongest martial artist on the convoy's side, he was receiving the brunt of the other man's attention.

"Presence?"

"A great expert of the Inner Qi Realm? A realm above a Marrow Tempering Martial Master?"

Beside him, Jiang Jingnian was drenched in cold sweat, yet he continued resisting that invisible pressure as he carefully pondered Escort Master Wei's words.

So this was what the experts of martial arts could do.

They could release such a mysterious, unfathomable oppressive aura.

Under the pressure of this "Presence," the weak would be like those escort hands and apprentices, collapsing to the ground and losing the ability to move.

"My lord, honored soldiers! We are from the Tongda Escort Agency, transporting an escort consignment. We have no intention of clashing with you."

Wei Yu's thoughts turned. He knew that in such circumstances, one wrong move meant a dead end, so he immediately softened his stance. "I hope you will show consideration for the sake of our Chief Li..."

Chief Li of the Tongda Escort Agency—

Was a great expert at the Inner Qi Pinnacle.

Compared to ordinary Inner Qi experts, he was incomparably stronger. Throughout the martial world of this region, he possessed a resounding reputation.

"Chief Li?"

The sound of pointed leather boots stepping into a pool of blood rang out, followed by a slightly lazy voice. "Butler Wei, who is Chief Li? Is he some local tyrant in Peace City?"

By the dirt road within the village entrance—

A handsome young man dressed in fitted Western clothes and wearing a gold-rimmed monocle slowly emerged from the shadows.

One hand held a pocket watch.

His other hand—

Dragged a pitchfork used by the local villagers. Yet what hung from the fork was not weeds or plants, but the half-remains of a woman's corpse.

Remains.

Blood.

They had been dragged all the way to the village entrance.

Under the pressure of that "Presence," Wei Yu barely managed to turn his head. At the sight, his pupils contracted even further.

But Butler Wei and the soldiers alike seemed blind to this brutal, horrifying scene.

"Sixth Young Master."

Butler Wei hurried forward and leaned close to the handsome young man. "Li Dashan of the Tongda Escort Agency is a great expert at the Inner Qi Pinnacle. He made a name for himself in this area years ago, but he cannot be considered a local tyrant of Peace City. That Xu Kenian who recently clashed with Second Young Master over a dance girl—that man is a local tyrant of Peace City."

The Tongda Escort Agency—

Was, at most, a second- or third-rate force within Peace City.

It was far inferior to those top Aristocratic Clans with inheritances stretching back centuries.

The handsome young man nodded, glanced at the escort agency's people, and smiled with a hint of amusement. "In that case..."

"Should we kill them all to silence them?"

Butler Wei immediately took up the words beside him.

"Silence whom?"

The handsome young man frowned slightly, displeasure in his expression. "Butler Wei, what do you take our Tao Family for? The Tongda Escort Agency merely passed through this place while transporting an escort consignment. They are not criminals committing all manner of evil. What right do we have to casually inflict private punishment?"

"Do not spout such nonsense."

His words were righteous and imposing, easing the grave expressions of Wei Yu and the others somewhat. Yet Jiang Jingnian, on the other hand, did not relax in the slightest. Instead, a shadow flashed through his eyes.

"Psychic Whip can only be used twice a day."

"If things go wrong later, I can only use it immediately."

"To capture bandits, first capture their king. Butler Wei's realm is far above mine. I'm no match for him."

"But even if they beat me to death, before that happens, I'll take this so-called young master of the Tao Family with me."

Ever since Wei Yu had called for them to turn back the way they came, Jiang Jingnian had wanted to abandon the carriage and flee.

Unfortunately—

The moment that thought arose, he saw that the road behind them had already been blocked by these gun-carrying soldiers.

Weeds filled the surroundings, and the terrain was flat.

There was indeed forest farther away, but it was several hundred meters distant.

Several hundred meters.

No matter how fast a horse ran—

They would still be shot dead in a hail of bullets before they got there.

After all, the terrain around the dirt road was extremely open, completely different from the hilly region they had detoured through earlier.

One or two guns—

Jiang Jingnian could still risk making a run for it.

But faced with dozens of pitch-black gun barrels—

Along with an Inner Qi expert whose depths he did not know, he no longer held even the slightest hope of luck. His mind was filled with the worst possible plan: a fight to the death, fish dead and net torn.

As someone who pursued thrills, Jiang Jingnian naturally did not fear death.

Though dying out here in the wilderness was somewhat aggravating and would ruin the life he had planned, taking along a noble young master who killed people at will would not be a bad bargain.

"Later, both of my Psychic Whips will go straight at this bastard."

"As for that Inner Qi expert, I only need to survive one or two punches."

Faced with such an unexpected situation, Jiang Jingnian inwardly sighed, Such is the time, such is fate.

Yet that thought passed in an instant. He immediately reined in his fear and regret.

His thoughts raced as he secretly observed his surroundings, considering what he could do next to maximize his chances of killing this young man surnamed Tao.

Butler Wei stood beside him and nodded in agreement. "Sixth Young Master's lesson is correct."

"Brothers of the escort agency, there is no need to be afraid."

Tao Yanchen merely swung the pitchfork, flinging away the half-corpse of the woman. Only then did he wipe the blood from his face with a handkerchief and say amiably, "I am Tao Yanchen of the Black Flood Dragon Army. I brought my own brothers here only to hunt down a Demon Wraith that wandered over from Baobai Mountain."

"We are not the sort to slaughter innocents indiscriminately."