Chapter 260 - 168: Fight to the Death

Chapter 260: Chapter 168: Fight to the Death

Xue Shan pursed his lips.

Su Mu looked from Xue Shan to Wu Yiqi. ’What a strange new thing to learn,’ he thought.

"He won’t pay, but I will."

Su Mu suddenly spoke up. "Name your price."

"Ha! A man who gets straight to the point!"

Xue Shan gave him a thumbs-up and chuckled. "One life, ten thousand taels of silver. A bargain, don’t you think?"

"A bargain."

Su Mu nodded.

The Golden Wind Tower charged one hundred thousand taels to assassinate someone at the Blood Transformation Realm.

Xue Shan was only asking for ten thousand, which was practically a steal.

Then again, there were quite a few people in that trap. If he could rescue them all, it would add up to a considerable sum.

This was Xue Shan’s version of a high-volume, low-margin business.

"Deal."

Su Mu said, "Payment upon completion. Any problem with that?"

"No problem."

Xue Shan clapped his hands. "No one has ever dared to stiff the Golden Wind Tower, not even a Taiping Captain."

Xue Shan’s voice was filled with confidence.

The imperial court had tried to exterminate the Golden Wind Tower countless times, but it still existed. That alone spoke to their underlying strength.

Any ordinary assassin organization would have been annihilated beyond recovery for the crime of attempting to assassinate an Inspector alone.

"Don’t worry, the Taiping Bureau always pays its debts."

Su Mu said.

"Do you have a plan to save them?"

Su Mu asked.

Six Tier Three Demons and over forty Tier Two Demons. In a head-on fight, the three of them wouldn’t stand a chance.

Six Tier Three Demons were equivalent to six True Essence Realm Martial Artists.

The three of them were only at the Rebirth Realm.

Even if Wu Yiqi and Xue Shan were no ordinary Rebirth Realm practitioners, they would be doing well to barely hold off one Tier Three Demon.

"Killing is my specialty. Saving people... that’s on you."

Xue Shan shrugged. "You’re the employer. I do what you tell me to do.

But I’ll tell you this upfront: I can handle one Tier Three Demon at most."

Su Mu looked toward Wu Yiqi.

"I can keep two of them busy," Wu Yiqi stated calmly.

Xue Shan pursed his lips and rolled his eyes. ’Yeah, right. Only you could,’ he thought sarcastically.

"Six Tier Three Demons... you two can handle three, so I’ll be responsible for the other three."

Su Mu mused, "Without the Tier Three Demons pinning them down, Lord Zhao and the others should be able to break out."

Zhao Poni and his men are all in the Rebirth Realm, and there’s a good number of them. Dealing with over forty Tier Two Demons shouldn’t be too much of a problem.

Hearing Su Mu claim he could handle three Tier Three Demons, both Xue Shan and Wu Yiqi subconsciously glanced at the Five Flames Heaven-Shaking Bow on his back. A look of understanding then crossed their faces.

’Right. The Five Flames Heaven-Shaking Bow already had a record of slaying three Tier Three Demons at once.’

"We can’t hold back the Tier Three Demons for long, so Zhao Poni and his men must coordinate with the timing of our attack.

"Can you contact Zhao Poni?"

Xue Shan asked.

A thoughtful expression appeared on Su Mu’s face.

He had tried to contact Zhao Poni and the others with his Taiping Bureau Waist Token, but it had failed.

Evidently, wherever they were trapped was blocking the signal from the Taiping Bureau Waist Tokens.

To contact them, someone would have to break in.

After a moment of thought, Su Mu nodded and said, "Leave contacting them to me."

"You two get into position. Wait for my signal, then make your move."

Wu Yiqi and Xue Shan nodded.

As Su Mu turned to leave, Wu Yiqi suddenly spoke up. "It’s not that I won’t pay. It’s that I really don’t have any money."

...

Inside a dim cave, thirty to forty people sat in small groups.

They were all covered in wounds, their expressions a mixture of fear and panic.

Among them were Taiping Captains in their Brocade and Ink Shirts, as well as some Jianghu Wanderers and Sect Disciples.

They had all come seeking a rare treasure, only to end up trapped in this cave.

Tier Three Demons, equivalent to True Essence Realm Martial Artists, guarded the entrance. They had tried to break out several times but had failed on each attempt.

"Governor Zhao, we all risked our lives to get that Taiping Captain out. Will he really be able to bring back reinforcements?" one of the Martial Artists couldn’t help but ask.

So many days had passed, and the reinforcements still hadn’t arrived. Their food and water were nearly gone. If help didn’t come soon, they would starve or die of thirst even if the demons outside didn’t attack.

"It’s been so many days, and the demons outside have surrounded us without attacking. Isn’t it obvious what they’re planning?

At this point, I would almost rather no reinforcements came," Zhao Poni said grimly.

He knew the strength of Wuling City all too well.

Aside from Su Mu, who could fight a Tier Three Demon with the Five Flames Heaven-Shaking Bow, no one else possessed the power to contend with them.

And even Su Mu stood no chance of victory against so many Tier Three and Tier Two Demons.

If he came, not only would he fail to save them, but he would also get himself killed.

"Everyone."

Zhao Poni said slowly, "Our food and water are gone. Rather than being used as bait by these demons, let’s fight with all our might while we still have the strength.

"Even if we don’t make it out, killing a few more demons will be worth it."

The crowd fell into silence.

They weren’t fools; they had long since figured out why the demons were surrounding them without attacking.

But they truly were no match for Tier Three Demons.

Most of the Martial Artists trapped here were only at the Rebirth Realm.

"Governor Zhao is right! We’re dead either way, so let’s take a bunch of those bastards with us!" a Martial Artist said, gritting his teeth.

"Damn it! How did these demons get so cunning? Spreading false news and deliberately setting a trap for us!"

After another moment of silence, a Martial Artist slammed his fist into the cave wall, sending stone fragments CLATTERING down. He said angrily,

"The intelligence of High Tier demons is no less than that of a human."

Zhao Poni said gravely, "You may not know this, but we in the Taiping Bureau do. A peerless, once-in-ten-thousand-year genius has emerged among the demons. It has established a Demon Court in the savage wilds and proclaimed itself the Master of the Demon Court.

"Two of our Taiping Bureau’s Marquises died at its hands.

"I fear the Demon Court is the one pulling the strings behind this trap."

Beyond the borders of Da Xuan lay the endless savage wilds, where demons and monsters ran rampant.

The eight-hundred-mile Daxing Mountain connected directly to those wilds.

"Damn it, these demons have really gotten smart! They’ve even founded their own nation!"

Aside from the Taiping Captains, the other Martial Artists were hearing this news for the first time, and they all began to curse.

Zhao Poni didn’t say more. The Demon Court had existed for many years, but it hadn’t become a major threat before, so Da Xuan had paid it no mind.

Who would have thought that after so many years of lying low, they would strike so suddenly and cause the fall of two Taiping Bureau Marquises?

’Now the Demon Court has become a true power and has begun to move against Da Xuan. And yet those damned high-and-mighty officials in the court are still just squabbling over power, completely unaware of the crisis!’

Zhao Poni sighed. He was only a Governor; he couldn’t influence the situation in the imperial court. He could only hope that the blood of the Wuling Taiping Bureau would be enough to open the eyes of those officials!

Zhao Poni slowly rose to his feet, an overwhelming will to fight blazing on his face.

Suddenly, the sound of footsteps echoed.

Zhao Poni whipped out his saber, his sharp gaze fixed on the dark passage ahead.

"KILL!"

Just as he was about to strike, his eyes widened. The saber, already mid-swing, froze in the air.

"Su Mu?"

He saw an unexpected face.

"Lord Zhao."

Su Mu said, cupping his hands in greeting.

He was wearing a blood-red robe, which looked a little strange.

But Zhao Poni and the others didn’t give it much thought.

"What are you doing here?"

Zhao Poni asked urgently. Su Mu was the hope of the Wuling Taiping Bureau.

The Taiping Bureau could afford to lose them, but not Su Mu.

"This isn’t the time for that, Lord Zhao. I’ve brought two allies. We will keep the Tier Three Demons outside busy. You use that opportunity to break out. Once you’re out, head straight west. Someone will meet you fifty li out."

Su Mu said quickly.

With that, he turned and walked back out.

Zhao Poni took two steps to follow but found that Su Mu’s figure had already vanished.

For a moment, he almost thought he had been hallucinating.

Just then, a long, clear cry echoed from outside the cave.

"It really is him."

A glint flashed in Zhao Poni’s eyes. He brandished his long saber. "Everyone, let’s fight our way out!"