A deadly weapon

The four guards from the Marquis's Residence carrying the bodies of Liu Feng and the others did not head straight for the government office.

As soon as they left Green Ink Alley, one of them sprinted toward the Marquis's Residence.

When their lives were at stake, they naturally put survival first. But they owed the Marquis's Residence a great debt of gratitude, so they would not simply stand by when it faced danger.

Besides, the Marquis's Residence had not fallen yet.

Between Li Xian, a martial master at internal organ refinement, and a colossus like the Dingfeng Marquis Estate, they naturally stood more firmly with the latter.

Soon, the guard arrived inside the Marquis's Residence.

"Something terrible has happened! Madam, something terrible!"

The guard immediately sought out the first madam, Mo Caiying, and gave an embellished account of what had happened in the little courtyard in Green Ink Alley.

At the end, he added gravely, "Who knows what sinister art Li Xian has practiced, but he's no longer the man he was! Relying on his strength, he wounded three guards in succession and even killed Captain Liu Feng. His ferocity is truly fearsome! Now he's heading straight for the Marquis's Residence. Please summon all the guards at once, Madam, to ensure nothing goes wrong!"

"Rebellion! Rebellion! A mere scholar not only dares to kill men of my Dingfeng Marquis Estate, but even dares to come here and cause trouble! He's turning the heavens upside down!"

Mo Caiying flew into a rage.

"Someone! Have Commander Fang Xin assemble his men! Where's Liu Fu?! Send for him immediately! Also, have someone write a letter inviting Martial Master Zhao from the Heavenly Dragon Garden! My Dingfeng Marquis Estate has a legacy of nearly a hundred years. We've lived in Lijiang for generations, with deep roots and abundant resources. Are we really going to let some lowborn lackey climb onto our heads?!"

At this point, grievances and right or wrong no longer mattered.

For the sake of the Dingfeng Marquis Estate's dignity, the first madam absolutely could not back down.

Soon, the entire Dingfeng Marquis Estate sprang into action.

Guards were summoned from training, patrols, and leave, gathering fully armed in the front courtyard.

Other guards hurried out to investigate Li Xian's whereabouts.

When Li Xian arrived in the front courtyard of the Dingfeng Marquis Estate under the "protection" of several guards, he found precisely this scene of preparations for a formidable enemy.

Twenty guards stood with long sabers drawn, their eyes cold.

The four bodies that should have been taken to the government office had also been brought into the Marquis's Residence.

On the covered walkway before the threshold to the second courtyard, maids had even brought out a chair draped in sable.

Accompanied by Chief Steward Liu Fu and her personal maid, the first madam, Mo Caiying, sat upright.

Her gaze shifted, landing directly on Li Xian as he stepped through the main gates.

"Li Xian, do you acknowledge your crime?!"

The first madam's rebuke crashed down on Li Xian.

But Li Xian paid the First Madam no heed.

He merely said, unsurprised, "The arrogance in people's hearts keeps them from seeing the truth, leaving them to believe only what they wish to believe."

He seemed to be speaking to Tan Zhang, yet also seemed to be talking to himself.

A moment later, his gaze swept over the guards. "Are you certain you won't hear me reason with you? If not, once we start fighting, blades have no eyes... Many people will die today!"

"Reason?! You?! What right do you have to reason with me?!"

The first madam sat squarely in her chair, her voice ringing out. "Let me tell you: my words are the truth, and my orders are reason!"

"You need a thrashing."

Li Xian shook his head. "Close the gates."

He spoke again.

This time, the order was directed at Tan Zhang.

But Tan Zhang did not move.

Now that he was at the Marquis's Residence, he naturally had to make his allegiance clear.

Just then, the first madam, Mo Caiying, spoke. "My Dingfeng Marquis Estate is enforcing its household discipline. How could we let outsiders watch and laugh at us?!"

She waved a hand. "Shut the gates. Today, I'll properly teach this live-in son-in-law who doesn't know what's good for him the three obediences and four virtues, how a husband follows his wife's lead, and what the traditions of my Dingfeng Marquis Estate mean!"

"You're very bold."

Li Xian looked at Mo Caiying. "What makes you think you can do whatever you like with me? The way I bore every hardship and complaint over the past month? Or the meek submission your servants show you?"

The first madam sneered. "I'm curious too. Just how arrogant and ignorant must a timid, lowborn scholar become to speak like this before a marquis's wife?!"

"It isn't arrogance or ignorance. It's having a deadly weapon at hand."

Li Xian spoke.

This world had no firearms, no guns.

Even though it had martial artists...

Martial artists at the Bone Tempering and Tendon Transformation Realm were far too weak compared with gunmen armed with firearms.

"Within arm's reach, one man can rival a nation. There may be quite a few guards in the thirty-three meters between us, but with my strength, they're powerless to stop me. I could break through them, reach you, and take your head off with one stroke! Why shouldn't I remain composed before someone whose life and death I can so easily control?"

At these words, the expression of Mo Caiying, who had been sneering just a moment earlier, changed.

Her eyes involuntarily flicked toward Liu Fu beside her.

Liu Fu had been scrutinizing Li Xian ever since he entered the courtyard. Noticing the first madam's slightly uneasy glance, he immediately said, "Rest assured, Madam. From what I can see, while this young man has trained diligently in martial arts and moves with discipline, he has yet to fully temper his sinews and bones, let alone strengthen his internal organs."

His words brimmed with confidence. "Perhaps he was lucky enough to master some sophisticated secret art or saber technique, giving him enough combat prowess to defeat stronger opponents. But his physical strength is plain to see. With the many years I've spent at viscera great accomplishment, capturing and killing him would hardly be difficult."

Hearing Liu Fu's words, Mo Caiying relaxed.

Unfortunately, Martial Master Zhao, who owed the Marquis's Residence a great debt of gratitude, had gone to Canglang Mountain a few days earlier to attend some Sword Discussion Convention.

Otherwise, capturing Li Xian would have been effortless with his strength.

"Good!"

She turned back to Li Xian. "Did you hear that? Surrender now, and since you still have some use, I can show you leniency! Otherwise... I'll make you unable to live or die!"

"Leaving aside whether Liu Fu can capture and kill me... Someone else's strength is still someone else's. In a fight to the death, when he barely has time to protect himself, how can he protect anyone else?"

Li Xian said calmly, "You've even made ample preparations today, but what if I simply turn around and leave, then sneak into the Marquis's Residence at midnight? What would you do? Surely you can't share Liu Fu's bed to keep yourself safe? Killing you would be like killing a chick!"

"Li Xian, you insolent wretch!"

Liu Fu suddenly barked.

But Li Xian's words had frightened Mo Caiying pale.

She considered what Li Xian had said...

If he really turned around and left today, then slipped in to attack in the dead of night, how could she resist?!

"You know the danger, yet you still boast so shamelessly? Admirable courage!"

Li Xian held his long saber level and leaned forward slightly. "Still, I like a challenging fight! Watch closely. See just how fragile your life is."

"Enough of his nonsense! Take him!"

Liu Fu swept his hand.

At the order, Guard Commander Fang Xin led a dozen or so guards boldly forward, surrounding Li Xian from all sides and charging straight at him.

Almost as soon as they drew their sabers and closed in, Li Xian unleashed his strength from his forward-leaning stance.

He shot out like an arrow loosed from its bow.

Back when he had tested his fists against the world, he had experienced far too many melees and group battles where disciples who could not stomach their masters' defeat swarmed him together.

Thus, he knew very well that although a melee or group battle appeared to pit the few against the many, one against a crowd, by making good use of angles and footwork, he would often face no more than three opponents at once.

Nor would attacks come from more than three directions.

So, facing the formation of a dozen or so guards, Li Xian strode straight into their midst. His long saber swept out, cleaving aside the three blades slashing toward him.

As sparks sprayed, he charged at full speed, already evading two more pursuing flashes of steel, and slammed savagely into a guard's chest.

Power erupted through his sinews and bones. The guard, weighing over seventy kilograms, was sent flying, smashing a gap through the thin formation of barely a dozen guards.

Li Xian charged through that gap in great strides, raising his saber high as he lunged forward and slashed viciously at another guard coming up behind.

Clang!

Sparks erupted!

The guard immediately raised his saber horizontally to block.

But against Li Xian's charging attack and the heavy, powerful stroke, his hasty block could not dissipate the force and cutting power behind that blow.

The long saber pressed down, driving the guard's own blocking blade deep into his shoulder along with it.

"Stop him!"

Fang Xin shouted fiercely.

By now, Li Xian was completely surrounded by more than a dozen guards. Everywhere he looked, blades flashed, cold steel seemingly slashing at him from every direction. If he stopped for even a moment, the blades converging from all sides would chop him into pulp.

But...

Li Xian did not stop.

After breaking through the guard's defense with one stroke, he whipped up his right foot and thrust it forward. With sinews and bones sounding together, the guard blocking his path, whose saber had been driven fully into his shoulder, was kicked crashing to the ground. He slid several meters, even tripping two guards coming up behind who could not dodge in time, sending them tumbling across the ground like rolling gourds.

With the path ahead cleared, Li Xian accelerated again after that slight pause, charging several meters forward. His long saber swept sideways, his targets...

The guards holding the perimeter!

Whoosh!

As he charged and hurtled forward, three streaks of saber light tore simultaneously through the spot where he had just stood.

The wind from the blades was chilling.

The sharpness it carried seemed capable of slicing open the back of his clothes.

Had Li Xian been even a tenth of a second slower, all three blades would have struck him.

At best, they would have left three bloody gashes; at worst, they would have killed him on the spot.

But by that hairbreadth margin, Li Xian had already plunged into the guards holding the perimeter.

Repeating the same method, he tore through their defensive line like sweeping away rotten wood.

In an instant, the original thirty-three meters between him and the first madam had shrunk to fewer than ten.

Now, the first madam, Mo Caiying, seemed unable to sit still.

"Liu Fu!"

"Rest assured, Madam. I'm here!"

Liu Fu answered.

His eyes were fixed intently on Li Xian's moving figure.

In fact, his gaze had never left Li Xian since the moment he attacked.

He had been waiting all along!

Waiting for an opening to strike!

When Li Xian once again broke through several guards' encirclement by a breathtakingly narrow margin and was about to cut clean through their defensive line, the martial master at viscera great accomplishment finally spotted something.

He burst into motion.

Like an eagle striking across the sky, he swept over in an instant, his five fingers hooked. With a piercing whistle that tore through the air, he clawed down at the crown of Li Xian's head just as Li Xian broke out of the encirclement, aiming to seize and kill him.

The strike came precisely at the critical instant when Li Xian's previous burst of strength had been exhausted and his next had yet to arise. Its timing, angle, and force were all unleashed to perfection.

Even a lion used its full strength to catch a rabbit!

This martial master at viscera great accomplishment fully understood the principle of scorning an enemy strategically while taking him seriously tactically.

Still until he moved, then striking like thunder!

(End of chapter)