With a flick of his longsword, he used the force of the incoming greatsword to deflect it and evade the blow. But before he could strike at Wang Hao with another killing move, a frigid flash of sword light suddenly burst before his eyes, and a deadly sense of danger surged into his heart.
Almost instinctively, he thrust out his longsword, turning it into a multitude of illusory sword shadows that attacked the towering figure behind the sword light.
But as he responded, the sword light suddenly changed direction as though it had known his move in advance. Tracing a mysterious arc, it struck the blade of his sword.
Clang!
After a light ring, the treasured sword in Yu Wu's hand snapped in two, and a line of blood seeped out across his chest.
"This sword..."
Yu Wu stared in disbelief at the longsword in Wang Hao's hand. He had noticed it earlier, but had assumed it was merely a spare, one that could hardly compare to the greatsword.
Who could have imagined that this too was a rare treasured sword, even sharper than the greatsword from before? It had severed his treasured sword like rotten wood, then cut all the way across his chest.
What shocked him most was that Wang Hao had seen the fatal flaw in that move, pinpointing the blade hidden among countless sword shadows. Otherwise, he might not have lost, much less died.
Unfortunately, it was too late to say anything now!
Before he could finish speaking, the line of blood across Yu Wu's chest suddenly widened, spraying a mist of blood. At last, he fell to the ground, his face full of unwillingness.
"Those who wield swords are unworthy of being my enemies!"
Wang Hao swept an arrogant glance over Yu Wu, who had died with his eyes open. There was not much empty boasting in what he had said.
With True Spirit Sword Intent enhancing him, he had an astonishing ability to learn and comprehend sword techniques. He could see through an opponent's sword techniques in an extremely short time and find their flaws.
He would still find opponents who used other martial arts and weapons troublesome. But when it came to swords, anyone whose Sword Intent cultivation did not surpass his would be suppressed by him.
Wang Hao suddenly seemed to remember something. He bent down and searched Yu Wu's body, but after rummaging for quite a while, he found nothing at all.
"Bah! Those novels and movies really were lies. Why would anyone carry martial arts manuals on them?!"
Wang Hao was thoroughly depressed. Back on Earth, he had been a veteran reader who had devoured countless novels, and he had greatly envied those scenes where protagonists killed someone, searched the corpse, and obtained peerless divine techniques.
He had eagerly tried it just now, only to come away with nothing.
In a foul mood, Wang Hao pulled the greatsword from the city wall where it had lodged, then charged at the gathering Black Tiger Gang members with a treasured sword in each hand.
Anyone who could join the Black Tiger Gang was certainly no good. Slaughtering them all now would rid the people of a scourge.
If he had not run into them, that would have been that. But since he had, and he had both the opportunity and the ability to clean them out, there was naturally no reason to spare them.
Both treasured swords were incomparably sharp. Wherever they passed, no enemy could withstand a single exchange; they sliced straight through both the weapons in their opponents' hands and their bodies.
At the same time, the dozens of dogs, under the control of Qing'er, who was hiding in the shadows, pounced on and bit the Black Tiger Gang members.
The dogs selected by Wang Heihu were naturally exceptionally fierce, and he often ordered gang members to fight them, so they were extremely experienced in combat.
On top of that, the gang members had been badly battered by the earlier fire ox formation. Apart from the ten trusted deathsworn who had followed close behind Yu Wu, everyone else was tied down by the fierce dogs and found it difficult to gather quickly into a fighting force.
Furthermore, dozens of ox carts lay overturned all around, making the terrain especially complicated and giving the dogs even more room to dart about, dodge, and even launch sneak attacks. That made them still harder to deal with.
It was precisely because the dogs held these people back that they could not gather in time, allowing him to kill Yu Wu and the others at his leisure.
With the dogs' help, Wang Hao killed nearly every Black Tiger Gang member present, bringing an end to these people steeped in sin.
Whether he had gradually grown accustomed to it or because of the influence of the Ten Stances of Bloody Battle, Wang Hao slowly ceased to be repulsed by such brutal slaughter. He no longer retched miserably as he had last time; on the contrary, he even felt his blood begin to boil.
At that moment, the thirty carriages following behind finally arrived. Wu Tai was driving the first, with the other carriages tied behind it by ropes.
"You go out of the city first. I'll make some arrangements here, then catch up with you!"
After nodding to Wu Tai, Wang Hao cut the ox carts' reins and flung the blazing flatbeds into a pile at the city gate.
Wu Tai led the thirty carriages quickly through the gate, then cast off the ropes and slashed each horse across the rump.
Stung by the pain, the horses all bolted in fright, each pulling its carriage along at a mad gallop.
These carriages were meant to throw off anyone who might pursue them. To conceal the gold in the real carriage, Wang Hao and Wu Tai had also placed stone paving blocks weighing over a thousand jin in total in each carriage.
Naturally, they had pried the paving blocks out of a street and loaded them in.
That way, their pursuers would be unable to determine their whereabouts from the depth of the wheel tracks, buying them quite a bit of time.
Meanwhile, Wang Hao detached all the flatbeds and piled them at the city gate. Then he smashed several jars of tung oil that Wu Tai had just left behind over them, making the fire burn even fiercer. That would also hold up any enemies who might come after them a little longer.
"Oh! We meet again? I remember your name was Zhang Gui. There's no fee to leave the city, is there?"
Only then did Wang Hao notice several soldiers huddled in a corner of the gate passage, trembling. They were all familiar faces-the same gate guards from when he had entered the city. He had not expected the same men to be on duty today.
"No! No fee!"
The gate guards huddled in the corner were deathly pale. Zhang Gui, whom Wang Hao had called out by name, was especially close to tears. He had never expected to meet this fierce man again, much less see him act with such brutality.
There had been hundreds of people just now!
Yet he had chopped them down as though slicing melons and vegetables. How would they dare provoke such a savage man?
All they wanted now was to send him on his way as quickly as possible, then forget everything they had seen today, lest he set his sights on them.
Indeed, if military regulations had not stipulated that abandoning the city gate while on duty was punishable by death without exception, Zhang Gui would have slipped away long ago.
"You should all understand what to say afterward, shouldn't you?"
Wang Hao wiped his bloodstained greatsword on the gate guard named Zhang Gui and spoke in a chilling, sinister voice.
He said this to the men precisely to avoid implicating the farm woman from before.
After all, she had been a great help in allowing him to learn the Ten Stances of Bloody Battle from that old man Dugu Qiubai. Though she had done so unwittingly, Wang Hao held her in high regard and naturally did not want her dragged into today's affair.
Thus, the few men who alone knew what had happened that day needed a proper warning.
"We know, we know. Rest assured, sir, we've never seen you, and we've never seen you come into contact with anyone."
Zhang Gui and the others were perceptive enough to hurry and voice their agreement.
They meant every word. Although revealing Wang Hao's identity would surely earn them a silver reward from their superiors, they would have to be alive to spend it.
If this savage man truly set his sights on them, their fate went without saying: it would be utterly miserable.
Besides, even if they told the truth, the silver they received would be whittled down at every level by their superiors, leaving them with only a pittance. It was not worth taking the risk for that little bit of silver.
"Smart enough. But you'd better remember what you said today. Otherwise, if anything strikes me as amiss, I promise I won't kill you, but by then you'll surely be wishing you were dead!"
He patted their faces with his greatsword and threatened them harshly before finally striding away.
Smack!
"Why did I have to be greedy for that little bit of money?!"
Once Wang Hao's figure had vanished into the curtain of rain, the gate guard named Zhang Gui slapped himself, filled with regret.
That tiny bit of greed that day had put him in the sights of such a savage man. Could anything in the world be more of a pitfall than that?
The others' expressions were no better. Clearly, they shared Zhang Gui's thoughts and feelings.
They had truly suffered a huge loss this time!
Leaving aside how the gate guards discussed what to tell their superiors afterward, Wang Hao raced along after leaving the city and soon reached the place he and Wu Tai had agreed upon. A carriage stood there, with dozens of dogs around it.
Wu Tai and Qing'er were beside the carriage. Qing'er was gently applying medicine to the injured dogs and bandaging them.
The battle just now had been so brutal that almost all the dogs had been injured, and several had even fallen forever. Qing'er's eyes were somewhat red, and she wept silently.
Having spent the past four years with the dogs, she had long regarded them as family and made them her emotional support.
Now that she had lost several family members and companions at once, she was naturally heartbroken.
"Mm... sworn brother, you're here. Let me bandage your wounds."
Noticing Wang Hao's arrival, Qing'er hurried to her feet to treat his wounds. Wang Hao had quite a few injuries too, after all.
She had already tended to the wounds he had suffered at the Black Tiger Gang's base while Wu Tai was looking for carriages, but the battle at the city gate had also been extremely brutal and left Wang Hao with many injuries.
"No need. These are just flesh wounds; I can take care of them myself. Hurry and look after these dogs."
Wang Hao took a bottle of high-grade wound medicine from Qing'er, obtained from Wang Heihu's treasury, and poured it over his wounds. After treating them briefly, he pulled the large bundle from the carriage. He thought for a moment, then took out the Five Tigers Breaking Gate Saber manual and tossed it to Wu Tai.
"Practice this saber technique often from now on, and don't let outsiders hurt Qing'er again. Remember, Qing'er is my sworn sister now. If you let her suffer any grievance, I won't let you off."
"Huh? Oh! Benefactor, you're absolutely right. I'll practice the saber diligently from now on and never let Qing'er suffer the slightest grievance again."
Once Wu Tai recovered his senses, he hastily gave his firm assurance, gripping the Five Tigers Breaking Gate Saber manual tightly.
Having experienced helplessness once, he craved strength as never before. This manual was where his hopes lay, so naturally he would not give it up.
"Sworn brother, is there anything you need me to do?"
Qing'er interjected at the right moment, asking about Wang Hao's plans. Wu Tai also turned his gaze toward him.
"There are indeed some things I need your help with. Here's what you'll do: go to the docks as soon as possible and travel south along the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal to Fuzhou. Open a trading company there and get involved in maritime shipping. You don't need to make much money, but you must establish a network of connections and gain a sufficient understanding of the sea.
"The banknotes and gold in the carriage are yours to use as capital. I may come looking for you later."
Nodding, Wang Hao concealed nothing and directly told Wu Tai and Qing'er what he wanted them to do.
He was also doing this to prepare for the future and leave himself a way out.
First, he did not know how long he would stay in the Blood Robe Tower. Once he left, he would surely be hunted by the Blood Robe Tower and even the entire Great Ming Imperial Court, so he needed an escape route.
Second, because of the two main quests, once he truly set about them, he might well make an enemy of every power under heaven. When that time came, he might not even be able to remain in the Central Plains, so he could only turn his eyes overseas.
He had begun considering this as soon as he understood the two main quests. After testing Wu Tai's and Qing'er's characters, he had finally decided to have them make preparations for him in advance.
In any case, he was headed to the Blood Robe Tower, and there was no way he could keep the banknotes and gold then. He might as well let the two take them now.
Of course, he did not trust the two of them completely. They had known one another for less than a day, after all, so there was hardly any trust to speak of. Even with the debt of gratitude between them, it was not a hundred percent guarantee.
That was why he had taken Qing'er as his sworn sister earlier. With that and the clue to healing the cuts on her face as multiple assurances, he believed she would never betray him.
These arrangements were already the utmost he could manage!
Besides, even if it did not work out, it did not matter. At worst, he could do it himself when the time came. It would merely take some extra time, so he could consider this an effective use of the resources he had.