Chapter 347 - 214: Sword and Zither (2)

Chapter 347: Chapter 214: Sword and Zither (2)

’So he thought.’ With a sweeping slash, swift as a wolf under the moon, Xie Yuan cleared the entire doorway.

In an instant, a dozen of the boat gang’s skilled fighters lay dead. Most were at the Third Training, some even the Fourth Training. Yet, many more assassins still surrounded them outside. This force far exceeded what any faction in an ordinary county should be able to muster.

But if they were all just practitioners of External Training, this grand formation was clearly not enough. They wouldn’t be able to handle either Xie Yuan or Situ Qin.

The assassins hesitated, stunned by Xie Yuan and Situ Qin’s power. The fighting prowess of these two far surpassed their estimates.

A dampness filled the air in the room. The stench of fish from the boat gang disciples mingled with the thick, cloying smell of blood, enough to make one retch.

Xie Yuan stood at the door, saber in hand, a living barrier the assassins dared not cross. Meanwhile, Situ Qin remained seated on the daybed, her qin resting across her lap, her form obscured by the shadows.

It was their first time working together, yet their coordination was flawless. With each watching one direction, they held the entire building’s worth of assassins in a deathly silent stalemate.

’The leader should be making his appearance...’

Xie Yuan’s eyes glinted. His ears twitched as he caught a faint noise from the adjacent suite.

He abruptly took a step back just as the thin wall beside him burst inward. A giant, bearded man emerged, shaking his head. He brandished a short-handled fishing harpoon and roared:

"Get out of my way! You two little bastards, you dare cause trouble in Wu River? Are the fish in the Wu River not fat enough for your liking!?"

Meng Hesheng’s eyes, wide and glaring, fixed on Xie Yuan. He pointed and bellowed:

"Speak! Was it you, you pretty boy, who was playing God and messing with me during the day!"

Now that Xie Yuan had revealed his true face, in Meng Hesheng’s eyes he was the very picture of a pretty boy. He even looked vaguely familiar, though Meng Hesheng didn’t have time to dwell on it.

Xie Yuan turned and glanced out the window. A flash of killing intent flared in Meng Hesheng’s eyes. ’How dare he get distracted while facing me!’

He snorted, raised his steel harpoon, and lunged like lightning, aiming straight for Xie Yuan’s head!

The profound Blood Qi of the Qi Blood First Transformation Realm was on full display. The thrust was as fast as a lightning strike; even the slipperiest fish could never hope to escape Meng Hesheng’s grasp.

But this "fish" had no intention of escaping. In fact, it paid him no mind at all.

Without even turning his head, Xie Yuan thrust his saber straight out.

’It’s not that you can’t stab with a saber,’ Meng Hesheng thought, instinctively taken aback, ’but it’s not very effective. Is this a desperate move... How is he so fast?!’

Before he could even react, the long saber was at his chest, moving at a speed he couldn’t comprehend. In that same instant, it transformed into a slender Long Sword, shattering his protective Blood Qi and running him clean through!

Meng Hesheng felt a sharp pain in his chest as all his strength drained away from the wound. But his eyes grew vicious, filled with a crazed light. Ignoring his injury, he put another burst of speed into his harpoon, practically smashing it down on Xie Yuan!

’A sword to the chest isn’t a guaranteed kill, but a harpoon to the head... Let’s see how many lives you have!’

However, just as the steel harpoon was about to find its mark, Meng Hesheng thought he heard the faint note of a qin. Or perhaps he had heard nothing at all.

He just felt an immense, invisible force strike his steel harpoon, knocking it from his grasp. Then, a sharp pain blossomed in his throat, as if Xie Yuan had struck him again—a fatal blow.

’But... his sword was still lodged in my chest...’

Meng Hesheng’s consciousness faded, his vision went black, and the underground overlord of Wu River County—a master of the Qi Blood First Transformation Realm—sank into an eternal slumber in the blink of an eye.

Xie Yuan shot a smile to the side. In truth, even if Situ Qin hadn’t intervened, Meng Hesheng’s attack couldn’t have broken his Golden Bell Shield. But he knew she would never have let him take the blow anyway.

With one move each, they had finished their opponent. Xie Yuan didn’t withdraw the Long Sword. Instead, he used it to hoist Meng Hesheng’s massive body, and with a grunt, tossed it out the window.

"This way."

Xie Yuan said in a low voice, gesturing toward the door. Situ Qin understood immediately. In a flash, she was by his side.

Xie Yuan swept his Long Sword forward. The attack was like an Azure Dragon striking from a dense bank of fog. The assassins outside were already dumbfounded, having seen their leader die the moment he appeared. Now, faced with this attack, they were completely mesmerized and terrified. Their courage shattered, and with a chorus of pained cries, they were sent flying back into the hall.

The surviving assassins from the boat gang cried out in terror, instinctively backing away down the corridor. They didn’t dare approach the room that housed a God of Slaughter. With their legs shaking and hearts pounding like drums, they were desperate to flee.

But after a long moment, no further sound came from the room. For some reason, the two Gods of Slaughter neither emerged nor made a sound.

One of the bolder assassins stepped over the bodies and through the pools of blood. He crept forward a few paces and peered inside, only to find the room completely empty. The targets were long gone.

Below the second-floor window was a small grove, now littered with corpses as well.

As Meng Hesheng’s massive body came hurtling down, a figure suddenly appeared and caught him.

The man saw that Meng Hesheng’s eyes were wide open in death, his breath long gone. He frowned, laid the body on the ground, and stared fixedly at the room on the second floor.

A moment later, a commotion erupted upstairs. A boat gang captain leaned his head out of the window and stammered:

"S-Sir, the two of them are gone!"

"Gone?"

The middle-aged man’s brow furrowed. With a light tap of his foot, he leaped directly up to the second floor and drifted into the room.

This display of effortless Lightweight Skill filled the onlooking boat gang disciples with awe. They didn’t know the background or the true power of this mysterious man, whom even their leader had treated with the utmost respect. They only knew that this was a feat their leader could never have accomplished.

The middle-aged man scanned the room and then glanced at the pile of bodies by the door. He instantly pieced together what had happened and said coldly:

"You just let them rush out the front door like that?"