The two had just turned into the alley leading toward the south of the city when they ran straight into a party of riders.
Shen Qing led them, with six black-clad mounted officers behind her.
"Commandant Shen?"
Lin Yuan stopped, raising his brows slightly.
"Didn't we agree that I'd purge the Lin household while you took your people to raid the Zhao Clan's den? What are you doing here?"
Shen Qing spread her hands helplessly.
"We just received word that the entire Zhao Clan poured out of their nest early this morning. They've all gone to your residence!"
Lin Yuan froze, then his expression abruptly darkened.
Very good!
That bitch Zhao Yan really couldn't wait to play the dove stealing the magpie's nest!
The group rounded the long street and spotted the Lin residence's imposing five-courtyard compound in the distance.
Seven or eight carriages stood in the open space before the entrance, and several servants were carrying crates inside.
On either side of the steps, a dozen or so burly Zhao Clan guards stood with their arms folded.
Their temples bulged and their breathing was long and steady. Every one of them was an expert at Body Tempering Major Accomplishment.
Just then.
A servant in a short gray homespun shirt came running out of the main entrance, clutching several black-lacquered wooden tablets and cursing.
"What rotten junk! Bad luck!"
He walked to the corner of the wall and casually tossed the tablets aside in disgust.
Lin Jiu, who was beside Lin Yuan, stopped dead.
He stared fixedly at the tablets on the ground, his breathing quickening and his eyes instantly reddening.
Those were the spirit tablets of the Lin Clan's ancestors!
The brand-new tablet on top belonged to his master, Lin Dafu!
Lin Jiu's eyes blazed red. With an angry roar, he lunged forward.
Before the servant could react, an iron-vise hand clamped around his neck.
"Who told you to throw them away!"
Lin Jiu glared, veins bulging on his forehead.
The servant desperately beat at Lin Jiu's arm, his legs kicking wildly.
Lin Jiu abruptly tightened his grip.
Crack!
The servant's head lolled to one side, and he died on the spot.
Lin Jiu tossed the corpse onto the ground.
"Who dares commit murder outside the Zhao residence!"
The dozen or so guards shouted furiously, drawing their blades in unison as they surrounded him.
Before Lin Jiu could draw his blade, a figure in blue robes suddenly appeared before him.
Clang!
A long saber left its sheath.
A three-foot streak of blood-red Saber Qi flashed into existence.
The dozen or so Zhao Clan guards closing in froze.
The next second, their bodies split in two in unison, blood spraying everywhere.
Scared out of their wits by the sight, the servants scrambled on all fours beneath the carriages.
Lin Yuan sheathed his saber and walked silently to the corner.
He crouched, silently picked up the topmost tablet, gently blew off the dust, then handed it to Lin Jiu.
Lin Jiu accepted the tablet with trembling hands and clutched it tightly to his chest.
"What is all this unseemly racket!"
Hurried footsteps sounded from inside.
An old man with a goatee and brocade robes strode through the main entrance.
He was the Zhao Clan's grand elder, with the strength of Late First Rank.
The servants beneath the carriages immediately crawled out, pointing at Lin Yuan and crying.
"Grand Elder! It was this brat! He killed over a dozen guards in a single move!"
The grand elder stopped on the steps and glanced down at the corpses. His pupils contracted.
What domineering Saber Qi!
Alarm gripped his heart, and he looked solemnly at the people below the steps.
When he recognized Shen Qing behind Lin Yuan, his eyelid twitched violently.
Why was the Dragon Guard involved too?
But on second thought, the Zhao Clan wasn't even afraid of rebellion. Why fear a mere Dragon Guard commandant?
Suppressing his alarm and uncertainty, the grand elder looked down at Shen Qing.
"Commandant Shen, isn't it a little too overbearing for your Dragon Guard to slaughter people outside my Zhao residence?"
Shen Qing folded her arms and curled her lip, not even bothering to answer.
Lin Yuan picked at his ear and glanced up at the plaque.
"Old bastard, are you blind?"
"This is the Lin residence!"
Rather than getting angry, the grand elder burst into wild laughter.
"What damned Lin residence! It belongs to the Zhao Clan now!"
He stared at Lin Yuan, his face sinister.
"And you, little bastard, spewing shit from your mouth-are you courting death!"
"Grand Elder, why waste words on these lowborn wretches! Just chop them up and feed them to the dogs!"
An arrogant curse rang out from within the residence.
A jumble of footsteps rapidly approached.
Dressed in purple silk brocade, Lin Shan emerged from behind the spirit screen with thirty Lin residence guards.
The guard commander at Body Tempering Perfection followed close beside him.
As soon as Lin Shan stepped outside, he spotted Shen Qing, the most striking figure below the steps.
His eyes lit up, and an inexplicable fire of lust rose in his lower belly.
But he instantly suppressed those distracting thoughts. This woman wasn't someone he could provoke, at least not yet.
Just wait another couple of days.
His gaze then shifted to Lin Yuan.
He froze for a moment, then jumped up and unleashed a torrent of abuse.
"So it's you, you dog!"
The guard commander beside him also spotted Lin Yuan, and alarm abruptly rose in his heart.
He sensed that Lin Yuan's presence was stronger than it had been at Spring Revival Hall by an immeasurable margin.
He hurriedly reached for Lin Shan's sleeve and warned him in a low voice.
"Young Master! Don't be rash. Something's wrong with this brat!"
Smack!
Lin Shan swung his hand back and delivered a resounding slap across the commander's face.
"Useless trash! Are you telling me what to do?"
He glared furiously at the commander. They hadn't even started fighting, yet he was already bolstering the enemy's courage and undermining their own prestige.
The commander covered his burning cheek and lowered his head, not daring to speak.
Lin Shan shook his wrist and stared at Lin Yuan with a savage grin.
"You dog, there was a road to heaven you wouldn't take, yet you barged into hell where there was no gate!"
"Let's see where you can run today!"
Watching Lin Shan leap about, Lin Yuan shook his head slightly.
"Run?"
"Why would I run?"
Before his words had faded, Lin Yuan flicked his wrist and slashed three times.
Swish! Swish! Swish!
Three three-foot streaks of blood-red Saber Qi shot through the air toward the guards behind Lin Shan.
The guard commander's hair stood on end, and he was just about to raise his blade to block.
Squelch!
The Saber Qi swept through his chest and plowed into the crowd behind him without losing momentum.
Dull sounds of flesh being cleaved rang out in succession.
All thirty Lin residence guards toppled, blood spurting.
The savage grin instantly froze on Lin Shan's face.
He mechanically turned his head, staring at the carnage of bodies strewn behind him, his mind utterly blank.
Was... was this fucker even human?
Lin Yuan stepped forward and instantly appeared before Lin Shan.
Lin Shan turned back in terror and involuntarily swallowed.
Lin Yuan reached out and patted Lin Shan's cheek again and again, his voice like a demon's whisper.
"Why would I run? You're the very person I'm looking for."
Lin Shan shuddered, and a foul reek of urine rose from his crotch.
He turned his neck with difficulty, his gaze fixed desperately on the grand elder.
"Save me..."
The grand elder recovered from his shock, his thoughts racing.
Judging by Lin Yuan's attacks just now, it wasn't hard to see that his saber technique was all he had going for him.
His cultivation was merely at First Rank Early Stage, while he himself was a mighty Late First Rank expert. That was one advantage.
If he chose close combat and denied Lin Yuan the chance to unleash Saber Qi, that would be another advantage.
He was fifty-six this year, while Lin Yuan wasn't yet twenty. In combat experience, he had yet another advantage.
Three advantages on my side. The upper hand is mine!
The grand elder's beard and hair bristled as he roared.
"Arrogant whelp! Do you truly think I'm afraid of you!"
He stamped both feet against the ground and leaped into the air, unleashing the full force of his blood and Qi without reservation.
His sleeves billowed, his fingers curled into claws, and an eerie red glow shone from his fingertips as he clawed viciously down at the crown of Lin Yuan's head!
"Die!"
A vicious gust struck Lin Yuan's face.
Faced with this terrifying attack, Lin Yuan didn't even draw his saber.
He gave it an indifferent glance and shifted slightly sideways.
Then he raised his right foot high behind him, taut as a bowstring, and drove it viciously toward the grand elder's belly with ten thousand jin of force.
Squelch!
His right foot punched straight through the lower abdomen, the tip of his boot emerging from the lower back!
The atmosphere abruptly froze.
The grand elder stiffened and lowered his head with difficulty, staring at the sight in disbelief as the light rapidly dimmed in his eyes.
Lin Yuan violently swung his right leg.
Thud!
The grand elder's corpse flew thirty feet and tumbled to the ground.
Utter silence reigned.
Lin Yuan looked down at the entrails and bloody flesh hanging from his boot's toe and frowned in disgust.
He raised his foot and rubbed it hard against Lin Shan's purple silk brocade robe.
Lin Shan's breath caught. His whole body shook like chaff in a sieve, and a foul stench rose from his crotch.
Covering his nose, Lin Yuan stepped back twice. At the sight of him, he suddenly felt rather dispirited.
"I preferred you when you were arrogant."
He turned his wrist, setting his saber against Lin Shan's neck, about to settle their score with a single stroke.
"Stop! You can't kill him!"
A shrill, piercing rebuke suddenly rang out from inside the main entrance!