At that moment, with swords drawn and bows bent, tension hung in the air.
Chun Xiaobai curled his lips into a grin that made people's hearts crawl.
He relaxed his wrist and let go of Liu Changqing.
"Very good."
Chun Xiaobai clapped his hands and simply looked at him. "Your Great King likes people who aren't afraid to die."
Liu Changqing coughed twice, straightened his collar, and calmly waved the folding fan in his hand as he smiled and spoke at a leisurely pace.
"A brute's courage is nothing but a crude trick unfit for polite company."
"Junior Brother Chun, you stole other people's belongings, and now you want to hurt someone? It seems your reputation as a bandit is well deserved."
"Huh! You've got a pretty good eye for people!"
Chun Xiaobai solemnly praised him, then his smile vanished.
"Then if your Great King doesn't give you a beating today, wouldn't I be letting that discerning eye of yours down?"
The moment he finished speaking, he suddenly stepped forward, and his palm-leaf-fan-sized hand landed on Liu Changqing's shoulder with a smack.
Liu Changqing neither dodged nor flinched. That smile of having everything in hand remained on his lips. He could hardly wait for Chun Xiaobai to strike, giving him the perfect justification to recover all the Storage Bags.
Yet in the next second-
Crack!
An exceptionally crisp sound of bone cracking suddenly exploded beside his ear!
The smile on Liu Changqing's face froze instantly. Heart-rending, lung-tearing agony shot through his shoulder, twisting his expression beyond recognition as an inhuman scream erupted from his mouth.
"Aaaah-!"
The surrounding disciples jolted.
"He... he actually dared to strike?!"
They had already received Liu Changqing's orders: the moment he was "injured," they were to swarm in and capture the other man. With witnesses