"Help him!"
The two brothers already owed him a favor. How could they stand by while Zhao Pengju was getting beaten?
Neither Zhang Qingyuan nor Zhang Junbao knew where their current martial arts placed them in the martial world.
But no matter what, they couldn't just watch Zhao Pengju get beaten.
Zhang Qingyuan might have been thick-skinned, even shameless at times, but he wouldn't watch someone he knew take a beating without lifting a finger. That wasn't his nature.
As for Zhang Junbao, that went without saying. He was exactly the sort to repay a drop of kindness with a gushing spring, and Zhao Pengju could even be considered the man who had set him on the path of martial arts.
The two rushed to Zhao Pengju's side. Zhang Junbao chopped out with his palm, releasing a blue-white cyclone. Interrupted by their sudden arrival, the man was forced onto the defensive.
Zhang Qingyuan shielded Zhao Pengju, keeping him behind him.
Zhao Pengju froze too. He hadn't expected anyone here to come to his aid.
But once he saw that his rescuers were Zhang Qingyuan and his brother, the relief of having just escaped death plunged back into despair.
"What are you doing here? Go! This isn't somewhere you should be!"
Zhao Pengju's left arm was injured, and his internal injuries were severe. But seeing these two, he still stepped forward and said, "You shouldn't have come. Leave, quickly. I'll hold him off."
"Brother Ju, look at the state you're in! Cover our retreat, my ass!" Zhang Qingyuan dragged Zhao Pengju back again before he could go off to his heroic death.
Zhang Junbao faced off against their enemy. Startled by the two who had appeared out of nowhere, the enemy didn't dare advance rashly now that it was three against one.
Burning with anxiety, Zhao Pengju said reproachfully, "Forget about me! You two need to leave. You're no match for him."
Although he had seen the palm strike Zhang Junbao had just unleashed, in his mind, how much could two boys figure out by practicing martial arts on their own, even after half a year?
That palm strike of Zhang Junbao's had looked like a release of internal power, with considerable force behind it.
Presumably, delivering that strike had drained all his internal power.
Getting this far already makes him a genius. A genius like this can't die because of me.
As for why he didn't believe the two brothers were highly skilled now?
Come on. If two martial arts newbies could become experts just by figuring things out at home for half a year, then those of them who had apprenticed under masters, trained through the bitterest winter days and hottest summer days, and worked hard to learn and improve might as well give up.
"It's fine, Brother Ju. Junbao and I aren't who we used to be. We're really strong now," Zhang Qingyuan explained.
"Strong, my ass! You think I don't know what you're like?" Zhao Pengju grew even more anxious, scanning their surroundings and staying alert for enemy reinforcements as he scolded them. "Listen to me and leave now! You've only trained for half a year. You can't beat him."
"Relax. It's three against one. Why should we be afraid of him?"
"What do you know? They're the Twelve Fiends of Xuetuo, hired by the River Crocodile Gang. Their martial arts are formidable. We can't overpower them."
The Twelve Fiends of Xuetuo?
What organization was that?
There was no helping it. Two boys who stayed holed up in town clearly didn't know much about the factions of the martial world.
Zhang Junbao was a little better informed than Zhang Qingyuan. Although he never went out, he had heard the monks discuss some martial factions during his earlier years at Shaolin Temple.
At the very top were the three temples, six schools, and twelve sects. The Blood Lump Sect wasn't among those twenty-one top factions.
Zhang Qingyuan pressed down on his shoulder. "Stop yammering for a moment. Whatever faction they belong to, let's survive first."
"This has nothing to do with you. It's between us!" Zhao Pengju still insisted. He didn't want to drag innocent people into this.
"Enough. Leave him to us and treat your injuries first. Everything else can wait until we've beaten the boss."
Zhang Qingyuan grew serious too. The Twelve Fiends of Xuetuo sounded impressive, so he had to treat this like a boss fight.
Zhao Pengju didn't know what beating a boss meant, but from the context, he could understand that it probably meant dealing with the enemy.
But these two...
Seeing that they wouldn't leave, Zhao Pengju felt utterly helpless. "I've dragged you two young brothers into this. If we escape alive, I'll repay this great kindness in my next life, even if I have to serve as an ox or a horse."
He left one thing unsaid: if they couldn't escape, he could only repay their kindness in his next life.
"Right. Let's kill the enemy first."
"All right." Zhao Pengju's fighting spirit was roused too. Holding his sword, he said, "The Blood Lump Sect is a famous organization in Central Province. The Twelve Fiends of Xuetuo are its strongest experts apart from its two sect leaders.
"Only six of them came. The River Crocodile Gang hired them to deal with me and the Dry Flood Dragon Gang.
"There may only be six, but every one of them is at least my equal in martial arts."
We noticed. You were getting beaten back the whole time, and he didn't even seem to be using his full strength.
"Where are the other five?" Zhang Junbao asked.
Huh?
Zhao Pengju raised his head and turned his gaze to Zhang Junbao.
The three of us will have trouble handling even this one, and you're asking about the others?
Sure enough, Junbao is a bit of a dummy.
"The other five went to wipe out the Dry Flood Dragon Gang," he explained anyway.
Looking thoughtful, Zhang Qingyuan asked, "So the River Crocodile Gang specifically hired these Six Fiends of Xuetuo to deal with you and the Dry Flood Dragon Gang?"
"Yes."
"What about Auntie Li?"
Zhao Pengju's heart jolted. Through gritted teeth, he said, "The River Crocodile Gang has already taken her."
"What?!"
Zhang Qingyuan and Zhang Junbao turned back at the same time, shock on their faces.
For Zhang Qingyuan in particular, his relationship with Auntie Li was closer.
He thought of that sharp-tongued, nagging auntie who was always trying to arrange marriages for the brothers and brought them vegetables every few days. She had been taken?
"They knew Sun Zhenjiang and I were sworn brothers, so they took my family beforehand to threaten me," Zhao Pengju said angrily.
"Auntie Li is still alive, right?" Zhang Qingyuan's heart sank like a stone. In the half-year since he had transmigrated here, Auntie Li had treated them better than anyone, asking nothing in return.
Although Zhang Qingyuan had indeed approached Auntie Li with an ulterior purpose at first, once that purpose was achieved, the affection between the two of them, like mother and son, was pure. Zhang Qingyuan truly remembered her kindness.
His brows tightly furrowed, Zhao Pengju said uncertainly, "I'm not dead yet. They probably wouldn't dare kill her."
"Phew..." Zhang Qingyuan let out a long breath, his clenched heart finally relaxing. He looked at Zhang Junbao. "Let's save her!"
"Understood."
"Brothers, you must be careful. I'll launch the main attack in a moment. You two just support me." Zhao Pengju was terrified that something might happen to them too.
"Brother Yuan, the enemy is highly skilled. Give it everything and finish this quickly!"
"All right."
While the three of them discussed things, their enemy was also assessing the situation.
Martial artists weren't all fools who charged in headfirst. They weighed the pros and cons too.
After all, people of the martial world weren't soldiers, ready to sacrifice their lives for righteousness even when they knew death awaited them.
Why had the Blood Lump Sect taken the River Crocodile Gang's job? Wasn't it because the River Crocodile Gang paid well, while their opponents had neither powerful backing nor an expert watching over them?
Although the two young Daoists who had suddenly appeared had disrupted his rhythm, after listening for a while, the Blood Lump Sect member understood.
These two were local newbies, the kind who didn't know a thing.
His confidence instantly swelled. With a cruel chuckle and a wicked expression, he held his saber and shouted, "Stop wasting your strength. Dying beneath my saber is an honor for you.
"Heh heh heh. None of you three are leaving here alive today."
With that expression, he was the very picture of a villain.
When Zhang Qingyuan had watched television in his previous life, he had thought directors were making things up whenever villains put on hideous expressions at the drop of a hat.
But after living in this world for over half a year, he had discovered that sometimes, when people's confidence swelled, they really couldn't control their expressions.
The man wanted to shatter Zhang Qingyuan and the others' confidence with his cruelty.
Confidence mattered greatly in a duel.
Clearly, his plan had worked.
Zhao Pengju hadn't had much confidence to begin with, while this was Zhang Qingyuan and Zhang Junbao's first life-or-death duel. On top of that, Zhao Pengju had already filled their heads with how powerful the enemy was, leaving them not daring to be careless in the slightest.
But Zhang Qingyuan and Zhang Junbao both had the spirit of newborn calves unafraid of tigers. Taking the attitude that even if they couldn't win, they couldn't disgrace themselves, they decided to strike first and seize the advantage. Besides, Auntie Li was still in the enemy's hands.
With that mindset, Zhang Qingyuan and Zhang Junbao attacked simultaneously, giving it everything from the outset.
"No!!!"
Seeing them charge out, Zhao Pengju was scared out of his wits. Didn't we agree that I'd lead the attack?!
The Blood Lump Sect member smiled as the two fools charged toward him.
He raised his saber,
but the next instant,
he was stunned.
He cast a questioning look at Zhao Pengju behind them, his eyes filled with three words: Fuck your mother.
In his sight, the two young Daoists flew toward him at incredible speed, trailing afterimages. From their palms, two streams of blue-white energy hurtled toward him, carrying blade-like cyclones. (Refer to the visual of released palm force during the fight between Zhang Sanfeng and the Fireworker Monk in the Sammo Hung version.)
Internal power released outward, palms like fire, cyclones like the sun-their surging True Qi was who knew how many times stronger than his own.
Weren't they supposed to be newbies?
Huh?
Answer me...
Bang!
The utmost palm force erupted. The enemy passed away very peacefully.