Chapter 22: Street Slaughter

Three days later, at dawn, on a wide street in the southern part of Dongyang City, the shops lining the street had already closed. At two intersections along the street, dense crowds had gathered.

“Whoosh!”

With the sound of a whistling arrow,

“Kill!”

“Kill them all!”

A large number of figures surged forth from the intersections, colliding fiercely in the middle of the street.

The decisive battle between Dongyang City’s two major gangs—the Heiyan Gang and the Liushui Gang—had begun.

On the second floor of a nearby tavern, Su Xin stood with his hands behind his back, watching the massive skirmish below.

“Uncle asked me to see the world; this must be what he meant,” Su Xin muttered.

He had killed before. He had even secretly ambushed Zhao Tianlei’s convoy, so he had some experience.

Yet, the frenzied clash of two gangs, numbering over a thousand in total, was something he had never witnessed.

Moreover, many of these gang members were common street thugs, employing all sorts of underhanded tactics—poisoned arrows, quicklime, toxic smoke—everything imaginable.

Su Xin was truly opening his eyes.

“Usually, when powerful fighters clash, it’s a contest of true strength, and they disdain such despicable tricks. But though these methods are vile, once they hit their mark, even a formidable fighter at the Mature Sea Realm could be slain by these lowly street scoundrels,” Su Xin sighed inwardly.

“Strategist, your Heiyan Gang claims thousands of members, yet fewer than a thousand have stepped forward for this decisive battle?” Su Xin glanced behind at the strategist of Heiyan Gang.

“Master, though Heiyan Gang has many members, most are useless; the true core force is the eight hundred or so currently engaged,” the strategist replied.

“I see,” Su Xin nodded in understanding. “In sheer numbers, Heiyan Gang outnumbers Liushui Gang, but Liushui’s leadership boasts stronger individuals.”

By this point, both gangs had already suffered heavy casualties.

The entire street was awash with blood, and the top-tier fighters on both sides had entered the fray.

Heiyan Gang’s leader, Wan Chong, was a fully accomplished Mature Sea Realm cultivator; two of his lieutenants were at the early Mature Sea Realm—three Mature Sea Realm experts in total. Liushui Gang’s leader was also fully accomplished at the Mature Sea Realm, but he commanded four early Mature Sea Realm fighters beneath him, two more than Heiyan Gang.

This gave Liushui Gang the upper hand in the high-level combat, and Heiyan Gang had been on the back foot from the start.

“Ye Luo, go,” Su Xin ordered.

“Yes.” Ye Luo nodded, leapt from the second floor, and plunged into the battlefield.

The arrival of a Mature Sea Realm expert instantly shifted the tide.

As for Su Xin himself, he preferred not to intervene unless absolutely necessary.

“Hm, that person...” Su Xin’s expression suddenly changed.

Standing on the upper floor, he saw the entire street. In one inconspicuous corner, a figure was half-reclining against a wall.

This man wore tattered robes, his hair disheveled and filthy—looking every bit a living beggar.

Yet in his hand rested a long blade—a weapon clearly no ordinary sword.

Around him, the two gangs fought ferociously, but the ‘beggar’ had his eyes closed, sound asleep.

While others fought and died, their bodies falling at his feet, he did not even open his eyes.

“This person is rather interesting,” Su Xin thought.

He could sense something peculiar about him but paid him no mind.

At that moment—

“Ha ha! Wan Chong, today your Heiyan Gang will be wiped out!”

A loud, hearty laugh suddenly echoed through the street. Simultaneously, three strong auras erupted nearby.

Three figures charged forward recklessly, ruthlessly slaughtering Heiyan Gang members in their path.

In no time, the three stood at the very center of the battlefield.

“Fully accomplished Mature Sea Realm!”

“Three fully accomplished Mature Sea Realm fighters!”

The faces of Heiyan Gang’s members paled.

“They’re from the Pang family!”

“You actually managed to call in the Pang family’s experts?” Wan Chong stared incredulously at the three Mature Sea Realm warriors before him.

“What’s wrong? You invite the Su family, so the Liushui Gang can invite the Pang family, too,” Liushui Gang’s leader sneered repeatedly.

He knew well that the Heiyan Gang had long partnered with the Su family in Dongyang City, but even so, he dared to challenge their dominance because he had solid backing.

He came from the infamous Heishan Bandit stronghold in Yongning Prefecture, where he had been one of the chieftains. The Heishan Bandits survived largely through their relationship with the Pang family, who received far greater tributes from them than the Heiyan Gang did from the Su family.

Recently, the Heishan Bandits had fractured due to internal strife, and he had brought a group of brothers to establish the Liushui Gang in Dongyang City.

Although the bandits were gone, as a former chieftain, his ties to the Pang family remained intact. For this decisive battle, he exhausted all his savings to secure the Pang family’s dispatch of powerful reinforcements.

“The Pang family actually sent three fully accomplished Mature Sea Realm fighters. It’s over—my Heiyan Gang is finished,” Wan Chong despaired.

Those three from the Pang family stood at the center of the battlefield. Among them, two were identical in both build and appearance.

Clearly, they were twin brothers.

“People from the Su family?”

The twins fixed their gaze on Ye Luo.

“A fully accomplished Mature Sea Realm cultivator, yet no impression at all—clearly not a significant figure from the Su family, merely a retainer. What a pity,” the elder twin sighed, then commanded, “Assist the Liushui leader in eliminating the Heiyan Gang. As for this Su family Mature Sea Realm, leave him to us brothers.”

The Pang family’s other Mature Sea Realm cultivator, a retainer, obeyed the twins’ orders and charged at Wan Chong and his followers.

“Don’t waste time. Attack together! Kill him!”

The twins, perfectly in sync, needed no words to communicate.

In an instant—

“Swish! Swish!”

Two figures struck out simultaneously, one to the left, one to the right.

Clang!

After one clash, Ye Luo’s weapon trembled violently, and he was blasted backward in a sorry state, barely managing to steady himself.

“These two, either one is slightly stronger than me; together, I have no chance to resist,” Ye Luo admitted.

The twins launched another assault.

Then—

Whoosh!

A sword shadow suddenly appeared from nowhere.

Though still some distance away, the moment the twins saw the sword shadow, their faces changed drastically.

“Retreat!”

Without hesitation, they pulled back.

The sword shadow swept through the void and struck the wall of a nearby shop, carving a terrifying half-foot-wide scar.

“What tremendous power!”

The twins were secretly shaken as they examined the scar.

They immediately looked forward, eager to identify the wielder of this sword shadow.

What they saw stunned them—

“A True Martial Realm cultivator?”

“That sword just now was wielded by a True Martial Realm practitioner?”

Both brothers were momentarily dumbfounded.

The sword’s power was not inferior to any Mature Sea Realm expert, yet the young man before them emitted spiritual energy fluctuations only at the True Martial Realm.

“Young Master,” Ye Luo respectfully greeted the newcomer.

“Are you alright?” Su Xin glanced at Ye Luo.

He had remained on the tavern’s upper floor, reluctant to intervene. But upon seeing the Pang family’s three Mature Sea Realm warriors arrive, he knew he had to act.

“Go assist Wan Chong,” Su Xin ordered.

“Yes.”

Ye Luo, well aware of Su Xin’s formidable strength, did not hesitate. He turned and rushed toward the battlefield, leaving Su Xin alone to face the Pang family twins.

“Young Master?”

The twins heard Ye Luo’s address and the elder immediately said, “I heard recently your Young Master from the Su family made a stunning appearance at the Su family’s great competition, slaying a Mature Sea Realm cultivator with your True Martial Realm strength, winning first place, and now you lead the Su family’s young generation sword order. That Young Master is you?”

“Yes, that’s me,” Su Xin admitted.

“Excellent.”

The twins smiled in unison. “We thought this trip was just to kill a single Su family retainer at the Mature Sea Realm. Didn’t expect the Young Master himself to be here. If we can kill you, the Su family will suffer greatly.”

“If you want to kill me, you’ll have to see if you have the strength,” Su Xin said calmly.

The twins exchanged a glance and then moved simultaneously.

Like shadows, they charged from left and right, their slender swords swift and soft but deadly. In an instant, two sword shadows pierced toward Su Xin’s throat and vital chest.

“Immovable as a mountain!”

Su Xin took a step forward, swinging his sword. An invisible aura rose like a majestic mountain.

Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!

The twins attacked fiercely from both sides, but Su Xin’s swordplay was casual—thrusts, sweeps, and precise strikes all carried a strange, subtle yin energy, like rolling waves, effortlessly shattering and repelling the twins’ assaults.

“What is this?”

“What kind of power is this?”

The twins were horrified.

They found their sword strikes clashing against Su Xin’s sword as if striking a mass of cotton.

Su Xin’s sword power was not strong—far weaker than theirs—but each collision inexplicably nullified over half of their sword energy, which Su Xin then easily dissipated.

Mountain-Sea Scroll!

A defensive sword technique within the Northern Cang sword art.

Since ambushing Zhao Tianlei, Su Xin had mastered the Thunderfire Scroll to the point of ‘momentum’ and spent the past month focusing on Mountain-Sea Scroll.

Mountain-Sea Scroll embodies a form as solid as mountains and swordplay as vast as seas, with a continuous, unbroken aura that greatly reduces the power of incoming attacks.

Su Xin did not even need to exert much strength. At present, he had not triggered his bloodline power, only pure spiritual energy, with a power comparable to an early Mature Sea Realm fighter. Yet, against these twins, not once had he moved a single step.

“That sword technique...”

In a corner of the street, the ‘beggar’ who had been half-reclining against the wall and sleeping suddenly opened clear eyes, watching Su Xin’s Mountain-Sea Scroll with a hint of admiration.

“A formidable defensive sword technique, like mountains and seas, continuous and unending... I wonder if my blade technique can break through his sword defense.”

The beggar instinctively gripped the long blade in his hand.

Meanwhile, on the battlefield, the twins had already unleashed their full power and array of techniques but still could not force Su Xin to budge.

“Enough playing around.”

Su Xin no longer wasted time. A cold murderous intent flared sharply in his eyes.

“Phantom Strike!”

The surrounding aura shifted instantly. As Su Xin struck his sword, his bloodline power surged forth.

Boom!

The entire world seemed to darken, with only the sword light wielded by Su Xin shining brightly.

It was the only light in the night.