Just as the three attacked Li Taiyang, also known as Long Wu-
"Aren't you underestimating me a little?" Li Tetsuhiro raised a hand, and all three were flung away.
Boom! They crashed straight through the gray brick wall.
"This is your first lesson from me: don't let appearances fool you!"
"Yes, Uncle!"
"Bastard! Die!" With his right arm dangling uselessly, the saber wielder gripped his weapon in his left hand, gathered all his strength, and slashed horizontally!
"Why bother?" Tetsuhiro merely pulled him in with gravity and clamped a hand around his throat.
"Those of the martial world settle their affairs in the martial world! I'll die without regrets," the saber wielder managed to choke out.
As for the other two, the innkeeper and the waiter were already buried beneath the gray bricks, barely breathing.
"You're a brave man. Too bad you can't tell right from wrong."
"What... do you mean?"
"Long Wu, tell him."
"Actually, I'm Long Xiaotian's illegitimate son. I discovered..." And so on.
"What? The alliance leader?" The saber wielder was so shocked that he could no longer hold his weapon.
Clang!
"Now do you understand? Nothing is certain yet. Don't let yourself be misled!" Tetsuhiro released the saber wielder, then went over and saved the other two.
"You!" The two sprang to their feet, ready to attack again.
"Enough. There's something wrong with this job. Thank you for sparing us!"
"It's nothing. Now hurry up with those knife-cut noodles, won't you? The kid's starving."
"Yes... coming right up!"
This time, they got their knife-cut noodles without incident, and Tetsuhiro and his companion left fully satisfied.
"Ah... who knows whether we did the right thing this time?" the innkeeper sighed, clutching his chest.
The saber wielder gently stroked his ringed saber and said, "Right and wrong fade like passing clouds. We're lucky just to be alive."
"Alive? Those who fail their mission don't deserve to live!"
"Who's there?!"
A man in Miao clothing leaned against the entrance, rings hanging from both ears as he toyed with a curved saber.
An aloof, handsome man emerged from behind the door. "Where are those two?"
"Lord Left Guardian, they only just left. They should be heading south."
Once he had learned what had happened, he coldly left them with a single order. "Useless people. Kill them."
Then he slowly sank into the ground and vanished.
The Miao man approached with a savage grin. "You'd better make this entertaining for me..."
The saber wielder and the others hurriedly dropped to their knees and begged, "White Heavenly King, please spare us! That man was too powerful."
"Are those your last words?" The White Heavenly King charged at them.
"Aah!" The waiter lunged at him with a kitchen knife.
"Run, Daozi!" The innkeeper smashed his abacus, shooting its beads out as he shouted.
"Damn it! Do you think I'm the sort to cling to life and fear death? If we die, we die together!" The saber wielder charged forward...
The waiter fell after just two exchanges, and the curved saber was about to descend on him.
The ringed saber swept past, barely knocking it aside, and the saber wielder pressed in with a flurry of slashes!
Swift saber-thirteen slashes!
"Not bad to watch. Too bad you lack strength." The White Heavenly King easily dodged the swift saber and the beads.
From a distance, the innkeeper shouted, "Get out of the way!"
Daozi immediately flipped aside and rolled.
The White Heavenly King's gaze sharpened. The beads scattered on the ground rapidly glowed red.
Boom! More than ten explosions erupted in succession.
"I'm done for. Run!" A long gash had been cut across the waiter's abdomen, and blood kept pouring out.
He shoved the saber wielder away, struggled to his feet, and shouted, "If you don't leave now, none of us will get away!"
"Damn it. All right. Take care." The saber wielder hurriedly fled with the innkeeper...
"Three wanderers of the martial world? Nothing special." The White Guardian dusted himself off and delivered his arrogant verdict.
The waiter answered him with a Lunge.
Unfortunately, his opponent was no fool. He flicked his sleeve, and a white streak flashed past. The waiter clutched desperately at his neck, where a white snake had sunk its fangs deep into his flesh. No matter how he tugged, he could not pull it off.
Within two breaths, his entire body turned black, and he collapsed dead. In his final moments, the waiter triggered the device on his body.
Boom! A massive explosion, accompanied by steel pellets, leveled everything around him.
"Worthless bastard! You cost me a white snake!" The White Heavenly King emerged from the ground looking somewhat bedraggled, his expression furious.
"Men! Find those two! I'll use them to feed my venomous snakes!"
Several others in similar Miao attire appeared at his call, dropped to one knee, and answered in unison, "Yes, White Heavenly King!"
Meanwhile, Li Tetsuhiro had sensed someone approaching earlier, but he did not want to get caught in an endless cycle of people coming after him one by one, so he had simply taken to the air and left.
He would strike straight at the heart!
"Uncle, you're really kind."
Tetsuhiro looked puzzled. "What makes you say that?"
"In the martial world, when someone tries to assassinate you, you either kill them outright or interrogate them under torture until they die."
"You're so powerful, but you not only spared them, you healed them and explained things to them."
"I didn't want to do that. That's all..."
"If only I were as strong as you. I could live free and easy..."
Tetsuhiro vigorously ruffled the boy's filthy black hair. "What are you thinking? Cultivation is like swimming against the current. If you don't advance, you fall behind. You can't slack off!"
"All right."
They chatted a little longer and soon arrived at Dragon City.
Tetsuhiro headed straight for the central hall.
"Who's that? An Innate martial artist?"
"Since when has Alliance Leader Long had dealings with an Innate expert?"
As the two passed overhead, the people below broke into a buzz of discussion.
At the entrance to the hall, a man in blue robes bowed respectfully and asked softly, "May I ask what brings an esteemed Innate expert such as yourself to Dragon City?"
Suddenly, he spotted the boy in Tetsuhiro's arms, and his expression changed sharply. "You?!"
"That's right, me!" The boy jumped out of Tetsuhiro's arms and stared straight at him. "Long Jue, you never thought I'd come back, did you?"
"So this is Long Jue? He's your...?"
"He's my dear younger half brother. We share the same father." Long Wu gritted his teeth and put extra emphasis on "dear younger brother."
"Heh..." Long Jue took a folding fan from behind his back, opened it, and fanned himself. "How dare a bastard call himself my elder brother? I'm the legitimate heir!"
"You... I've never fought you for anything. Why must you make trouble for me at every turn? You got Uncle Ding killed!"
"Tch. Naive." Long Jue closed his fan, then bowed respectfully to Tetsuhiro. "My father is already waiting in the hall. This way, please..."
"Mm." With that indifferent response, Tetsuhiro took Long Wu by the hand and entered the hall.
At the very top sat a richly dressed middle-aged man, upright and solemn.
To the right stood a swordsman with his eyes closed.
Below the steps stood two burly men and a coldly beautiful woman.
More than twenty martial artists of all kinds filled the center of the hall.
Amid this oppressive atmosphere-
Before the alliance leader could speak, Tetsuhiro said calmly, "You're not Long Xiaotian!"
His voice was quiet, yet it struck like a thunderclap!
Everyone broke out in a cold sweat.
Before you continue