Cough, cough!
Zhang Xiuwen kept lowering his head and coughing up blood as he struggled to rise.
When he looked up at Qin Zheng again, his eyes were already filled with horror.
At the same time, this sudden turn of events plunged the entire battlefield before the city gate into dead silence.
Whether they were the bandits outside the city or the people within it,
none of them had imagined that Zhang Xiuwen, who had broken through the four great barriers and become a Bone-Refining Realm martial artist,
would be severely wounded by a single slash!
And the one who had swung that saber was merely a lean-looking young man!
Zhang Wei, the chief of the Canoe Gang; Leader Wei of the Black Tiger Gang; Leader Xing of the Vermilion Bird Gang; Leader Xiong of the Three Origins Gang;
as well as countless gang disciples, fierce bandits, and wandering outlaws,
all looked at Qin Zheng with the same stunned disbelief.
At the same time, a single thought surfaced in everyone's mind.
Black Goose City had been saved!
"Kill!!!"
No one knew who suddenly shouted.
The cries of slaughter instantly tore apart the silence before the city gate.
The battlefield erupted once more!
But this time, the bandits fought as they retreated, their earlier arrogant and overbearing morale nowhere to be seen.
Zhang Xiuwen rose to his feet, his gaze seemingly sweeping over the city wall imperceptibly before he turned and used his lightness skill to flee.
Seeing this, Qin Zheng immediately used his own lightness skill and pursued the Bandit leader.
The surrounding bandits were all insignificant small fry. Killing them would not yield much merit.
But this Bandit leader was drenched in sin. He was the most wicked person Qin Zheng had seen so far. Killing one of him was worth dozens of ordinary bandits!
Since Qin Zheng had already gone all out, he would certainly cut this man down beneath his own blade!
Thus, on the battlefield before the city gate, two figures shot away one after the other, speeding in the direction opposite the city gate.
At the same time, with Zhang Xiuwen fleeing, the bandits were also seized by fear and turned to run one after another.
Under such circumstances, the battle almost became completely one-sided.
Upon the city wall, Magistrate Gao looked down at the fierce bandits and wandering outlaws strewn across the ground, dead and wounded, along with the disciples of every gang and faction.
A deep joy appeared in his eyes.
Meanwhile, after Wuchang the Monk of Rebirth Temple killed a Flesh-Refining Realm Bandit with a single palm strike, he too came to a stop.
He gazed in the direction Qin Zheng and Zhang Xiuwen had departed, and a trace of unintentional viciousness surfaced in his calm eyes.
A short while later, the bandits before the city gate had largely been hunted down, and jubilant cheers rang out high in the air, spreading in all directions.
But Qin Zheng had no mind to pay attention.
Every ounce of his focus was fixed upon the figure ahead.
The instant he had exchanged blows with the man, a new line of text appeared on the Merit Scroll above the sea of his mind.
Zhang Xiuwen, leader of the bandits. He had killed as easily as mowing hemp. Kill him to gain nine taels and eight mace of merit!
This was the greatest merit reward Qin Zheng had seen thus far!
Even killing Shi Dian of the Golden Cicada Gang had only earned him two taels and seven mace of merit!
That was enough to show just how much murderous karma this fleeing Bandit leader had accumulated!
Nine taels and eight mace!
If he calculated according to his usual executions, where a prisoner was worth three mace of merit,
then Qin Zheng would have to behead a full thirty-three prisoners to obtain this much merit!
That was also why Qin Zheng had abandoned the other bandits and fixed his eyes upon Zhang Xiuwen!
With the fourth level of the Dragon-Elephant Prajna Skill empowering him,
the so-called Bone-Refining Realm that had passed the four great barriers was no different from ordinary Skin-Refining and Flesh-Refining martial artists!
Qin Zheng could kill him with a casual stroke!
So rather than waste his energy killing those people, it was more efficient to kill the one before his eyes!
The two figures flew through the wilderness like sharp arrows. Every time their feet touched the ground, a clump of earth exploded beneath them.
After a short while, the two had left the city gate of Black Goose City far behind and entered the depths of the mountains.
Golden Cicada Sheds Its Shell was not considered an especially fine lightness skill, but Qin Zheng had raised it to perfection!
Thus, the distance between them closed at a visibly rapid pace.
When the two were less than a saber's reach apart,
Qin Zheng did not hesitate. He drew his saber fiercely, its chilling blade flashing with cold light as it instantly cleaved down toward Zhang Xiuwen.
Swish!!
Clang!!!
Zhang Xiuwen turned and swung his saber, blocking Qin Zheng's strike.
At the same time, he borrowed the force of the blow to suddenly accelerate backward, widening the distance between them.
But he was not feeling well either. Taking another one of Qin Zheng's saber strikes head-on made his hands tremble and go numb, and he could barely hold onto the Crescent Great Saber in his hands.
"When did Black Goose City produce such a monster?!"
Zhang Xiuwen's face was stricken with horror, and he groaned bitterly inwardly.
He had not run far before Qin Zheng caught up again and brought down another saber strike.
Then—
Clang!!
The two sabers collided, and he once again borrowed the force to dart forward. Yet the injuries within his body worsened by another degree.
After this repeated several times, even the Crescent Great Saber in his hand flew free.
Only when he reached a valley did he suddenly stop fleeing.
And almost at the same instant, Qin Zheng, who had been closely pursuing him from behind, felt a sudden twitch in his brow. His five senses opened fully, and he abruptly stepped back.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Several arrows nearly a meter long and as thick as fingers plunged straight into the ground he had just passed over.
Had he continued forward just now, those arrows would have pierced through him!
"Your vigilance is not bad. Cough, cough."
Zhang Xiuwen looked at Qin Zheng. His entire body had relaxed as he spoke through coughs.
"Is this your backing?"
Qin Zheng's expression did not change as he looked at the man opposite him and spoke calmly.
The two stood in a sunken part of a valley, surrounded on all sides by mountains.
Several divine archers among the bandits should have been hiding around them at this very moment.
So long as Qin Zheng made any unusual move, they would mercilessly draw their bows and loose their arrows.
Only—
"Do you think these divine archers can stop me from killing you?"
Qin Zheng spoke again. At the same time, he suddenly took a step forward.
At that moment, several more arrows shot toward him from the surrounding valley.
But Qin Zheng's expression remained unchanged. As though taking a leisurely stroll through his own courtyard, he swung the great saber in his hand and cut down each arrow.
With the Great Sun Golden Cicada Skill at major accomplishment empowering him, Qin Zheng's mental strength had increased greatly.
The instant those arrows were fired, he could sense them, allowing him to evade in advance or swing his saber to intercept them.
Not to mention that within ten meters of Qin Zheng, not even an ant could escape his perception!
Thus, he advanced toward Zhang Xiuwen step by step, as though nothing stood in his way.
At the sight, Zhang Xiuwen's face finally turned uncontrollably ugly.
His internal injuries were severe. Remaining on his feet by force already exhausted the last shred of strength in his body.
As Qin Zheng drew nearer, he felt as if a dark cloud were bearing down upon him.
An intense crisis of death suddenly erupted in his heart!
Under such circumstances, Zhang Xiuwen finally could not restrain himself from begging for mercy. "Spare me! I'll give you whatever you want!"
"Money, beauties, martial arts, even internal arts!"
"I can give you all of it!"
When he uttered those final words, Qin Zheng's figure paused slightly.
"Internal arts?"
He looked at Zhang Xiuwen and asked.
"Yes! Internal arts! They were the internal arts Gao Wusheng gave me years ago to persuade me to become a Bandit and do his work for him!"
As if he had seized a lifeline, Zhang Xiuwen hurriedly nodded, afraid Qin Zheng would not believe him and cut him down with the next slash.
Qin Zheng narrowed his eyes, suppressing the raging waves in his heart as he said, "You mean you are Gao Wusheng—Magistrate Gao's—men?!"
Before you continue