"Bang."
Yang Ge swept past Fang Ke and leaped onto a plank first, his weight instantly forcing it sharply downward.
But the river water washing over the plank had barely covered his shoes before he gathered his strength and sprang up again, soaring onto the cargo ship ahead.
By then, the cargo ship's deck was a scene of utter chaos, with Embroidered Uniform Guards and ship guards fighting everywhere. The moment Yang Ge landed aboard, several gleaming blades swept toward him at once.
Yang Ge swung his great axe with all his might. The heavy weapon became a blur too fast for the naked eye to follow, tracing a smooth arc from above. Though his strike came later, it reached its targets first, sweeping across the blades coming at him.
A string of crisp metallic clangs rang out. Of the blades already thrust before Yang Ge, some were cleaved apart on the spot, while others were wrenched out of their wielders' hands and sent flying by the axe's tremendous force.
"Thud."
Yang Ge landed inside the railing, his back slamming hard against it. Looking up, he saw a seething mass of figures, unable to tell friend from foe or even see whether anyone was thrusting a blade at him.
He could only plant his feet, swing his great axe wildly, and shout at the top of his lungs, "Hand over your guns and you'll be spared... pfft, drop your weapons and you'll be spared!"
Among the many ship guards facing Yang Ge, there were naturally veterans who could see that his fierce exterior hid a hollow core.
But the black axe in his hands, larger than a washbasin, and the shrill explosive sound it made as it tore through the air were simply too frightening. A whole crowd of ship guards surrounded him, yet not one dared advance.
A moment later, Fang Ke leaped aboard and charged fearlessly into the ship guards who wanted to attack but did not dare. He cut one man down, then pointed his saber at the others and shouted sternly, "The Embroidered Uniform Guard is enforcing the law! Anyone who resists will be charged with colluding with the enemy and plotting rebellion, and sentenced to the Extermination of Three Clans!"
Seeing Fang Ke surrounded by ship guards, Yang Ge feared something might happen to him. He summoned his courage and advanced with his great axe, firing off loud questions like a string of exploding firecrackers. "Did you hear that? Extermination of Three Clans! If you keep fighting, it won't just be you who dies. Your fathers, your mothers, and every blood relative of your wives will die too!"
"If you still won't surrender, do you really want your entire family dragged to the execution ground, lined up, and beheaded one by one?"
"Your parents cleaned up your shit and piss and raised you to this age. Is this how you intend to repay them?"
"Your wives married you, washed your clothes, cooked your meals, and bore your children. Is this how you intend to treat them?"
"Your children cling to the gate every day waiting for you to come home. Are they waiting for you to send them off to be beheaded?"
"Seriously, how much did they pay you? Enough for you to sell the lives of your parents, wives, and children?"
"Is it worth it?"
His hoarse, full-throated questions carried on the night wind. For a moment, even the grunts and clashing steel of the fighting grew quieter.
Everyone could not help casting sidelong glances toward the voice.
The Embroidered Uniform Guards: Who is this fellow? How can he yap so much?
The ship guards: He has a point!
Men were like that. Stir up the atmosphere, let hot blood rush to their heads, and life and death meant nothing-if they would not submit, they would fight!
But fathers, mothers, wives, and children were each like a basin of cold water, enough to quench that hot blood...
Elsewhere, Fourth Master Xie, who was joining forces with the Tartar spy to withstand the encirclement of Shen Fa and the Embroidered Uniform Guard's experts, sensed the change in the mood around him. He hurriedly shouted, "Brothers, don't listen to that brat's nonsense! The only way we can get through this is to kill every last one of these Embroidered Uniform Guard lackeys..."
"Bang!"
A streak of dark saber energy cut off Fourth Master Xie's promised rewards before he could voice them. Unable to contain his delighted surprise, Shen Fa laughed aloud. "Your Xie family can barely fend for itself! How can it protect them?"
He knew that most of the guards aboard this ship were hardened soldiers and retainers the Xie family had gathered from the ranks over the years. They obeyed the Xie family alone.
Thus, he had never expected to capture Fourth Master Xie and the Tartar spy without bloodshed. Every arrangement he had made was aimed at slaughtering these guards.
But if he could arrest the guards without shedding blood, that would naturally be ideal!
After all, once blades were drawn, losses on his own side would be inevitable.
And the more witnesses they had, the more airtight they could make the case!
Never mind anything else-the Xie family's armed resistance to law enforcement alone was enough for the Embroidered Uniform Guard to nail them down before fully proving their collusion with the enemy!
Fourth Master Xie, meanwhile, had grievances he could not voice.
Given a choice, he would certainly not have wanted to confront the Embroidered Uniform Guard head-on.
He knew perfectly well that, since Shen Fa had appeared here and dared openly move against the Xie family, the Embroidered Uniform Guard had most likely already wrapped up much of the affair... If his guess was right, the main family in the Upper Capital had probably already gone under!
His earlier attempt to silence the Tartar spy had been meant to win the Xie family a little room to maneuver... It did not need to be much. Even the slightest opening would give the other families a foothold from which to pull the Xie family out. Even if they could not retain their current standing and power, at least their lives would be safe.
Had he succeeded in silencing the Tartar spy earlier, he would already have surrendered by now.
Unfortunately, no one was a fool...
Only because he truly had no other choice had he steeled himself to clash head-on with the Embroidered Uniform Guard, trying to secure the path to survival the Tartar spy had spoken of.
Now, instead of securing that path, he had merely added another shovelful of earth to the Xie family's grave!
With his innards burning in anguish, Fourth Master Xie roared hysterically, "You Shen brat, are you truly determined to drive my Xie family to its death? Have you forgotten that you too belong to the Meritorious Nobles? Haven't you heard that when one prospers, we all prosper, and when one suffers, we all suffer?"
Shen Fa cleaved through the palm force rushing toward him and replied coldly, "I have never forgotten that I belong to the Meritorious Nobles. You are the ones who have forgotten!"
"We haven't forgotten either!"
Fourth Master Xie's eyes reddened, his palms striking furiously like the blades of a windmill. "But all of us paid and labored, bled and sweated to conquer this realm! Why should the Zhao family take the throne and then suppress us at every turn, making our lives difficult in every possible way? If we don't find ways to protect ourselves, are we supposed to keep letting the Zhao family carve us up like fish on a chopping block?"
At those words, Shen Fa's gaze grew even colder, and his saber became still more savage. "So that is your excuse for keeping enemies alive to bolster your own power, for colluding with the enemy and betraying your country? Where does that leave the hundreds of thousands of soldiers guarding our borders? Where does that leave the tens of millions of people of the Divine Land? You creatures beneath pigs and dogs, worse than beasts-do you deserve to call yourselves meritorious nobles? Do you deserve to be mentioned in the same breath as upright men like us?"
Fourth Master Xie's desperate roars carried across the river, and the already intermittent sounds of fighting fell completely silent.
A clang rang out as some unknown guard became the first to throw down his weapon.
The next second, clang after clang sounded as weapons fell to the deck...
For the Xie family's generous treatment and support, they could risk their lives without a thought.
But that did not mean...
They did not know right from wrong.
Justice lived in every human heart!
Before you continue