"Hey, you lot..."
The conflict came faster than Shen Du had expected.
When the bald man led his people to the edge of the settlement, Shen Du was already standing at the crossroads, ready to meet them and ask a few questions—such as whether they wanted to join them.
The bald man merely looked Shen Du over, then glanced at the mud-walled, thatched-roof houses and smiled.
"Get them!"
Three gang members rushed out from behind the bald man and charged straight at Shen Du.
Two iron blades and one wooden club. A sharpened piece of iron had been tied to the end of the club—crude, but deadly. The three had no coordination, no tactics. They simply rushed in together and swung their weapons at the same time.
Shen Du reacted quickly. His Asauchi blocked the first blade, and he twisted aside from the second. The wooden club with the iron shard grazed his shoulder, tearing his clothes but not his flesh. The three men entangled him from the left, right, and front, cutting off most of his room to move. Shen Du could block and evade, but he could not shake them off anytime soon. He had no spare attention to look elsewhere.
Another gang member circled around Shen Du and went straight for Wuran. He wielded a short knife, his attacks vicious and aimed low. Wuran's Asauchi was longer than the other man's dagger, giving him an advantage in reach, but his opponent was clearly far more experienced. He did not clash blades with Wuran, instead targeting every opening. Wuran retreated half a step, then another. He seemed to have the upper hand, and his blade always forced his opponent back, but whenever he tried to press the attack, the man had already slipped away like an eel too