The next second.
He turned his wrist and brought his saber down without mercy.
Saber light flashed and vanished.
A head flew into the air, blood spurted in a pillar, and the headless body crashed to the floor.
Creak.
The door to the private room opened.
Lin Yuan emerged expressionlessly, carrying his still-dripping saber.
The thick smell of blood slowly spread through the open doorway into the ground-floor hall.
Wang Ruogu's heart lurched. He tilted his head to glance inside, and his expression changed drastically.
"You! What folly! How dare you pass sentence on your own!"
Lin Yuan tilted his head, regarding him coldly.
"You want to arrest me?"
Wang Ruogu's expression darkened. Though he feared Lin Yuan's strength, Lin Yuan really had gone too far.
Even if this woman was guilty, she should have been handed over to the imperial court. How could he kill her at will?
If everyone acted this way, where would the court's laws stand? Where would its authority be?
Besides, the killing had happened right before his eyes. How could he stand by and do nothing?
He waved toward the door, and the constables rushed inside together.
He barked coldly.
"Seize him!"
He was the first to retreat behind Shen Qing.
The constables exchanged glances, then reluctantly drew their sabers and surrounded him.
Looking at these constables, Lin Yuan fell silent for a moment.
Killing the people before him would be easy. Even Shen Qing could not stop him.
But what came afterward?
Wandering the martial world?
The world had its rules, and the imperial court had its rules. Everyone lived under those rules.
For the first time, Lin Yuan realized this was not a world where he could do whatever he pleased.
Unless he possessed the strength to break the rules.
Lin Yuan sighed and walked slowly toward Shen Qing.
Wang Ruogu paled in alarm.
"Y-you stay back!"
"What are you all standing around for? Attack him together!"
Lin Yuan held out his hand.
Shen Qing smiled happily.
"Welcome to the Dragon Guard."
"??????"
Wang Ruogu shuddered.
Lin Yuan stared at Deputy Magistrate Wang and spread his hands.
"See? I'm legal now."
His tone suddenly shifted.
"But I think you might be in serious trouble. Who gave you the gall to openly surround and attack a Dragon Guard?"
Shen Qing turned to look at Wang Ruogu, unsure for a moment whether she should attack him or thank him.
Wang Ruogu staggered backward.
He waved irritably, and the constables hurried away with the body, as though a great weight had been lifted from their shoulders.
His long face rigid, he stared blankly at the two of them, unable to utter a word. In the end, he could only leave in indignation.
After they left the Treasure Pavilion, Shen Qing suddenly spoke.
"With your merit in defending the city this time, you won't have to start as a mounted agent. You'll be promoted straight to Dragon Guard commandant, Subordinate Eighth Rank!"
"Just use the token I gave you. It works out perfectly."
Lin Yuan caught the implication.
"You're leaving?"
Shen Qing broke into a smile and spoke with a hint of showing off.
"I'm about to be promoted to Dragon Guard company commander of Qingshan Commandery, Principal Sixth Rank. What do you think?"
"Congratulations."
Lin Yuan offered his congratulations dryly.
"When are you leaving?"
"Right now."
Shen Qing smiled slyly, then leaped onto the eaves. After several bounds, her figure gradually blurred.
Lin Yuan turned his head to look at the empty ground, momentarily unable to react.
"Little brother, I'm leaving the Dragon Guard's affairs in Ping'an County to you."
"Do a good job. Your big sister will be waiting in the commandery city."
Her mature, sultry voice drifted from the distant sky.
Lin Yuan rubbed his nose, speechless. She was afraid he might suddenly change his mind, wasn't she?
The western part of the city.
The second floor of the Four Seas Gambling House.
Liu Meng sat with his legs crossed in a grand armchair, gleefully counting a stack of banknotes.
Including the nine hundred taels he had just obtained last night, he had saved a full three thousand taels of silver.
With this money, he could buy a Body Tempering Pill at the black market tonight.
He had been stuck at Body Tempering Major Accomplishment for three years. As long as he took a Body Tempering Pill, he would have a strong chance of breaking through to become a First-Grade Qi and Blood martial artist.
The leader was the only First Rank expert in the entire Wild Dog Gang. Once Liu Meng also entered the First Rank, he might well contend for the position of gang leader!
As he was thinking, a sudden commotion rose from the ground-floor hall.
Thud, thud, thud!
Hurried footsteps came up the stairs.
An underling rushed onto the second floor in a panic.
"Hall master! Something terrible has happened!"
"A young man has come to smash up the place!"
Liu Meng flew into a rage and slammed the table as he stood.
"The nerve!"
He snatched up the broad saber leaning against the table and hurried downstairs.
In the ground-floor hall, the gamblers had long since fled.
Dozens of enforcers armed with clubs and machetes were lunging viciously at the blue-robed youth in the middle of the hall.
Looking at the enforcers surrounding him, Lin Yuan abruptly drew his saber.
Swish! Swish! Swish!
He delivered three slashes in succession.
Three streaks of blood-colored Saber Qi, each three feet long, swept out and instantly struck the crowd.
The enforcers at the front had no time even to scream before their weapons snapped in unison.
Thump! Thump!
Not one of the dozens of enforcers escaped. They all lay strewn in pools of blood, wailing endlessly in pain.
Liu Meng, who had just rushed down the stairs, happened to witness this scene. His feet rooted to the spot, and shock filled his heart.
What terrifying Saber Qi!
This youth was actually a First-Grade Qi and Blood Realm martial artist!
Liu Meng swallowed, tightened his grip on his broad saber, and mustered his courage to advance with a vicious look.
"Where did you come from, you brat? How dare you run wild on Wild Dog Gang territory!"
Lin Yuan held his saber lowered and looked at him coldly.
"You're Liu Meng?"
"Were you responsible for the murders in the western part of the city last night?"
Liu Meng's eyelids twitched violently.
Suppressing his panic, he stiffened his neck and loudly denied it.
"What murders? I've never even heard of them!"
"Don't stand there slandering an innocent man with empty words!"
Lin Yuan wasted no words. His feet moved as he immediately employed Flowing Cloud Steps.
Whoosh!
Leaving an afterimage where he had stood, Lin Yuan instantly closed in on Liu Meng.
Before Liu Meng could even see his movements clearly, a large hand like an iron clamp seized his neck.
With the strength of one arm, Lin Yuan lifted the burly man, who weighed nearly two hundred jin, off the floor!
Clang!
The broad saber fell to the floor.
Liu Meng kicked wildly, desperately prying at Lin Yuan's wrist as his entire face flushed red.
Though restrained, he felt no panic at all.
Their Wild Dog Gang was called the Wild Dog Gang because its members were as numerous as stray dogs on the streets!
With such a huge commotion, the brothers outside must have already gone to report it.
Liu Meng struggled desperately, glaring viciously at Lin Yuan.
"You'd better let me go right now!"
"Otherwise, when my brothers get here, they'll make sure you die without a place to be buried!"
Lin Yuan gazed at him silently.
Giving him such a quick death would let this beast off far too easily.
He slowly released his grip.
A hint of delight appeared on Liu Meng's face.
Shing!
Saber light flashed.
Lin Yuan severed Liu Meng's arm with one clean stroke.
"Aah!"
Liu Meng let out a piercing scream.
He writhed madly on the floor like a maggot, cursing with all his might.
"You little bastard! You'll die a horrible death!"
Lin Yuan lowered his eyes, coldly regarding the blood-soaked man struggling at his feet.
"When you killed that mother and daughter, did you ever imagine this day would come?"
Liu Meng convulsed. Not a trace of remorse showed on his face; instead, the savagery in his bones was roused.
He raised his blood-smeared face and laughed wildly, then roared through gritted teeth.
"Hahaha! So what if I killed them!"
"Not only did I kill them, I also..."
Swish!
Lin Yuan severed his neck with a single slash.
Only the enforcers' faint groans remained in the hall.
Standing in the pool of blood, Lin Yuan silently closed his eyes.
Xiao He's timid, smiling face flashed through his mind.
A moment later, he abruptly opened his eyes, their depths blood-red.
Squelch!
Lin Yuan raised his saber and hacked again and again!
The enforcers lying around him were scared out of their wits, forcibly swallowing even their wails.
Just then.
A rushing tumult arose.
A sudden thunder of densely packed footsteps came from outside the gambling house.
A great mass of gang members dressed in blue came surging over, surrounding the entire Four Seas Gambling House so tightly that not even water could pass through in the blink of an eye.
As far as the eye could see, a dark mass crowded outside the entrance-at least a thousand men!
Lin Yuan abruptly raised his head, his eyes filled with towering fury!