Chapter 108 - 94: Total Annihilation

Chapter 108: Chapter 94: Total Annihilation

Just then, Yan Zhu saw Su Mu catch a Feiyun Thief’s steel saber with his bare hand. His five fingers actually snapped the blade, and the broken piece shot through its owner’s chest, sending a spray of blood into the air.

But that wasn’t all.

With a casual turn, Su Mu set a falling leaf in motion. It tore through the air with a terrifying WHOOSH and, with a soft PUFF, pierced a Feiyun Thief’s throat.

Yan Zhu felt a wave of terror wash over him, so intense that even his hair seemed to stand on end.

’Is this fucking Second Stage of Body Tempering?’

’Is this guy just a fucking constable?’

Hurting people with flying flowers and falling leaves—this kind of technique, turning the mundane into the miraculous, could only be performed by a powerful expert who had mastered intent!

’In all of Wuling City, how many people had mastered intent?’

’Even the prodigies from the Inner City hadn’t mastered intent at this age!’

This was an existence the Feiyun Thieves had absolutely no business provoking.

And now look. The guy hadn’t even been targeting them, yet they had served themselves up on a silver platter!

The main reason the Feiyun Thieves had managed to run rampant for so many years was that Yan Zhu knew who he could afford to provoke and who he couldn’t.

They never clashed head-on with the Taiping Bureau, let alone the City Defense Army.

Who would have thought that a single moment of impulse would lead them right to a terrifying expert who had mastered intent.

When you live by the blade, you can’t afford a single misstep.

One wrong move means death.

Seeing that Su Mu had finished slaughtering all his men, Yan Zhu froze on the spot. His long saber felt rigid in his grasp, and the gaze he fixed on Su Mu was filled with utter horror, all traces of his previous hatred and disdain gone.

He finally understood how his second brother had died.

Faced with someone who had mastered intent, they had no chance to resist at all.

"A misunderstanding! This is all a misunderstanding!"

Yan Zhu forced a stiff expression onto his face. "It was the Hu Family! The Hu Family made us do it."

"Chief Su, we have no personal grudge against you. I’m willing to give you everything the Feiyun Thieves have accumulated over the years. What do you say? Can I trade it for my life?"

Yan Zhu’s own strength wasn’t top-tier, but he was still a man of the world.

He knew very well that against a master of intent, he didn’t stand a chance.

Even escaping was a faint hope.

He was a Feiyun Thief, after all. Dignity was worthless to him.

If it meant he could live, he wouldn’t just beg for mercy; he’d drop to his knees without a second thought.

’Back when he was weak, what hadn’t he done to survive?’

’And so what?’

’Weren’t all the people who bullied him eventually killed by him? And he was still alive.’

’How similar was this situation to back then?’

’Surviving isn’t shameful.’

’As long as I survive, I can make a comeback. Sooner or later, I’ll have my revenge for today’s humiliation.’

’Even someone who has mastered intent can’t always be on guard against a venomous snake at their back!’

As these thoughts flashed through his mind, Yan Zhu had already planned out what he would do for the next several decades.

Just then, a bright light flared, like a sudden shooting star.

Having danced with death many times, Yan Zhu instantly realized what it was.

He was both shocked and enraged.

’I was willing to pay for my life, so why are you doing this?!’

In that instant, Yan Zhu’s entire body tensed. His muscles swelled, his tendons thrummed audibly, and he focused all his strength into a single point, slashing fiercely forward with his saber.

At the same time, he shot backward.

CLANG!!!

Yan Zhu retreated several yards before his body came to an abrupt halt.

He stood there, stiff as a board, and the saber in his hand fell to the ground.

He clutched his neck with one hand and struggled to look up at Su Mu. The face grew blurrier and blurrier. He swayed twice, then collapsed to the ground with a THUD, his blood quickly staining the soil.

"Perfected Bone Tempering..."

Su Mu looked at Yan Zhu’s corpse, a slightly strange expression on his face.

’His Cultivation was a level higher than mine, yet he was defeated so easily, unable to withstand even a single move.’

’Of course, it was because I had tempered my skin and flesh to their limits, and had already achieved initial success in tempering my tendons. In terms of explosive physical power and speed, I was hardly inferior to an ordinary Bone Tempering expert.’

’But the bigger reason was that I have mastered intent.’

’The difference between intent and momentum is almost like the difference between cultivation and mere martial arts.’

’Normally, those who master intent are, at the very least, experts at the Blood Transformation Realm.’

’Anyone who could master intent while still in the Body Tempering Realm was, without exception, a world-renowned prodigy.’

Without intent, Su Mu might still have been able to defeat Yan Zhu, but killing him would likely not have been so easy.

’Ranked eightieth on the most-wanted list: Yan Zhu, leader of the Feiyun Thieves.’

Su Mu thought to himself, ’Unknowingly, I’ve already grown this strong. Even among the younger generation of the Inner City, I should be considered an expert now.’

Among the young experts of Wuling City, Su Mu had only ever met Luo Anning.

Luo Anning was very powerful, only a single step away from the Blood Transformation Realm.

Even as he was now, Su Mu wasn’t confident he could truly defeat her.

Still, the gap between them probably wasn’t too large anymore.

If he could reach the Bone Tempering Realm, even just achieving initial success, he was certain she would be no match for him unless she actually broke through to the Blood Transformation Realm.

"Successfully escorting the supplies and wiping out the long-notorious Feiyun Thieves... with these two merits combined, if I don’t get a promotion this time, I’m really going to be pissed."

Su Mu muttered to himself.

He sheathed his Autumn Water Saber, then bent down over Yan Zhu’s corpse and began searching it carefully.

Sure enough, he found a small Golden Seal on Yan Zhu’s body.

Su Mu was no longer the clueless rookie he once was. He knew this Golden Seal was a certificate for a VIP client of the Datong Bank, which could be used to withdraw the silver stored there.

Su Mu had long suspected that for roaming bandits like the Feiyun Thieves, it was impossible for them to store their valuables in a fixed location.

They would definitely carry them on their person, making it easier to flee.

And he was right.

’To think that Yan Zhu actually deposited his silver in the Datong Bank. Wasn’t he afraid of it being embezzled?’

After his silent complaint, he put the Golden Seal away.

The Datong Bank recognized the Golden Seal, not the person. With this seal, he could withdraw everything the Feiyun Thieves had deposited.

’Once I get back to the city, I can take a trip to the Datong Bank and see just how much the Feiyun Thieves accumulated over the years.’

After a moment’s hesitation, he still went and gave the other Feiyun Thieves’ corpses a quick search.

Although with his current status, he no longer cared for the piddling sums on common bandits...

...wastefulness wasn’t a good habit. Besides, killing without looting? That’s the same as not killing at all, isn’t it?

After looting all the Feiyun Thieves’ bodies, Su Mu didn’t bother examining his haul. He just bundled it all up, cut off Yan Zhu’s head, and set off in the direction the convoy had gone.

...

Chen Er and the other constables urged the horses on, their bodies drenched in sweat. When the cold mountain wind blew, they couldn’t help but shiver uncontrollably.

But they didn’t have time to rest or warm up; they just kept pressing forward.

With Su Mu gone, they felt completely unnerved.

Besides, there were clearly people chasing them from behind, and it was uncertain whether Su Mu could stop them.

Although they had great faith in Constable Xiao Su, he was, after all, just one person.

What if Constable Xiao Su couldn’t hold them back? What if the bandits caught up...

They had only one thought now: get to the supply point as fast as possible!

Driven by the will to survive, the constables tapped into their hidden potential and moved faster and faster. Soon, they could see a camp faintly visible in the dense woods ahead.

That was the City Defense Army’s supply point, where a squad was supposed to be stationed.

"Halt! Who goes there!"

Just as the constables were about to cheer, a figure suddenly leaped out from the woods, shouting sharply.

The constables’ cheers died in their throats. The smiles vanished from their faces in an instant, and their hearts sank to the bottom of a ravine.

’Have the bandits caught up to us after all?’