Chapter 125: Ah Zhu

"Commander Cao, it would be wise to make some preparations right now. The final plea for help from that Ghost Sect incense master, who was at the eighth stage of the Qi Sea realm, is bound to be tricky. We mustn't capsize in a drainage ditch," Ling Chi warned immediately upon seeing the anxious look on Cao Hubao's face.

"Indeed, Lord Cao. A method used as a trump card by a leading incense master is bound to be extraordinary. There is a chance that a powerhouse from the Spirit Pearl realm might come to the rescue. We must prepare ourselves," Zhao Qing naturally backed his disciple.

Cao Hubao knew this very well in his heart, but he had no other options at the moment.

Sun Xuan, the Defender-General, had not yet arrived; where was he supposed to find reinforcements? His only previous reinforcement had been the Iron Mountain Martial Arts Hall, but now the elites of the hall were mostly injured, leaving only the master Yan Heng and his eldest disciple with Qi Sea realm combat power.

"Oh no, Master Yan is still trapped in the ruins!" Cao Hubao finally remembered what he had neglected and hurriedly arranged for his subordinates to dig the man out.

Ling Chi and Zhao Qing exchanged glances, having already made up their minds. If the Ghost Sect reinforcements arrived first, they would fight if they could win, and retreat if they couldn't.

The lackeys of the Ghost Sect had already been slaughtered completely, but the remaining death squads of the He family were scattered in various places.

"Commander Zhao, I feel a sense of unease and have decided to find a place to break through to the Spirit Pearl realm to guard against any unforeseen events," Cao Hubao stated his position directly, wishing to ask Zhao Qing to stand guard for him.

Hearing this, Ling Chi and Zhao Qing felt a stir in their hearts. Cao Hubao was finally unable to hold back his breakthrough.

Although this choice was far from optimal for him personally, it was a good thing for the current situation, and naturally, the two of them could not stop him.

"Do you require my master and me to stand guard?" Zhao Qing said, exchanging a look with Ling Chi.

"That is precisely what I had in mind. I kindly ask Commander Zhao to guard my breakthrough and prevent any petty villains from launching a sneak attack."

"Please, Young Master Ling, maintain order and patrol the city. I will immediately arrange for the men of the Pacification Department to assist you in clearing out the He family's black-clad death squads. Show no mercy to anyone causing trouble and execute them on the spot—we can no longer afford to worry about protocol."

Upon hearing this, Ling Chi's eyes suddenly lit up. He loved this kind of job.

He could now reap a harvest of sins throughout the city without even needing to use Song Jiang's alias. Was there such a wonderful thing?

"Master, I'm going to look around. Let's split up, and I'll meet up with you once I'm done here," Ling Chi agreed immediately.

With that, he employed his lightning flash technique and vanished from the spot. Seeing Ling Chi's eager and hurried demeanor, Zhao Qing assumed he was impatient to seek revenge and did not ask further. He himself returned to the Pacification Department with Cao Hubao.

With Ling Chi joining the cleanup and patrols, the pressure on the Pacification Department's flag officers was instantly reduced by more than half.

"That young master's combat prowess is truly unmatched. This mastery of lightning arts alone is enough for him to gallop across the Northwest Province," remarked a flag officer who did not know Ling Chi, expressing his awe.

"What do you know? That is our colleague Ling Chi from He County, a supreme master proficient in lightning, saber, and fist techniques. Commander Cao just gave the order to fully cooperate with his actions."

"A few months ago, when faced with an ambush and encirclement by the Yingzhou Garrison, not only did he withdraw completely unscathed, but he also counter-killed those military men. How imposing and majestic he was," a colleague who had seen Ling Chi chimed in.

Ignoring the discussions of the others, Ling Chi plunged ahead, burying himself in slaughter. Engaging in such a massive spree of killing in broad daylight was more thrilling than anything he had experienced in both of his lives combined.

His thunder pearl vibrated continuously, and the spiritual energy of lightning fed back into him repeatedly, making his efficiency even greater.

The entire East City had become his hunting ground. The difference between him and the Pacification Department capturing people was that he left almost no living captives; as long as the thunder pearl pronounced judgment, he executed them all without exception.

Even some who were currently committing crimes—perhaps not yet judged by the thunder pearl or whose evil deeds were not yet severe enough—had their teeth knocked out with a single slap, leaving them to survive on thin gruel for the rest of their lives.

He slaughtered his way from one end of a long street to the other, turned around, and charged in another direction without a moment's pause.

Inside a grain shop, the door panels were smashed to splinters.

Several red-eyed men in black smiled hideously as they raised their blood-stained butcher blades. Beneath the gleaming blades was the storekeeper's family of five.

The broad-faced, wide-jawed male storekeeper had red eyes. Wielding a heavy door-bar, he shielded his wife and three children behind him. Through his rolled-up sleeves, a scar on his arm was visible—suggesting that in his youth, he too had been a man who licked blood from the edge of a blade.

His eldest son, who had just stepped into the Body Tempering realm and was only eight or nine years old, clenched his teeth, holding a bench backward as a shield to block his two younger sisters and mother.

His mother, her face bathed in tears, embraced the trembling little bodies of her twin daughters and wept unceasingly.

"Good heroes, take whatever catches your eye, but please spare the lives of my family," the storekeeper begged with difficulty, his voice hoarse.

Over forty years old, the male storekeeper already had many white hairs at his temples. He no longer possessed the driving ambition of his youth; his current wife and children were his entire world.

"Your old woman is past her prime, but she still has some charm, and your son and daughter have tender, fair skin. They'll make fine company for us brothers," the men in black seemed like demons whose shackles of desire had been unlatched.

The words seemed to burn away the last bit of hope in the male storekeeper's life. A trace of struggle flashed in his eyes, followed by a furious roar:

"A-Zhu, take your mother and sisters and run!"

Bursting forth with the cultivation of the seventh or eighth stage of the Body Tempering realm, he hurled the thick door-bar at the men in black.

"Father!" A-Zhu cried out with reluctance, snatching his younger sister from his mother's arms and intending to flee at the first opportunity. He knew that in such a situation, hesitation was fatal.

"Mere Body Tempering dares to resist? I'll cripple you first, and then have my fun with your wife and children."

The men in black casually batted away the incoming missile. All of them possessed Meridian Opening realm cultivation and paid no heed to the male storekeeper.

The male storekeeper kicked a table leg until it shattered, and amidst the flying wood chips, he snatched up a long, rusted battle saber.

"Run! Get the hell out of here!" The storekeeper wielded his battle saber, eyes blazing with fury as he stared at his wife and children.

A-Zhu didn't even have time to speak. He instantly dropped the bench, grabbed his younger sister with his mother's help, and prepared to flee, only to have his path blocked by a man in black a short distance away.

"Don't run. Stay and play with us brothers for a while, and we'll let you go," mocked a man in black.

Seeing his wife and children's escape route blocked, the male storekeeper pushed his potential to the limit and charged at the men in black with a swing of his saber.

He endured a slash from a man in black, trading injury for injury to break through the encirclement.

"A-Zhu, go this way!" The storekeeper took a slash yet fought on without retreating, desperate only to carve out a path to survival for his family.

A-Zhu's eyes were bloodshot. He hated his youth and powerlessness, which left him only able to watch his father fight for his life and his mother weep.

Yet he knew he could not waste the escape route his father had bought with his life. Seizing the moment, he held his younger sister tight, grasped his mother's hand, and bolted outward.

One man in black lunged at the storekeeper, while the remaining three went to seize their prey.

A-Zhu shoved his younger sister into his mother's arms and pushed them forward with all his might.

Stooping to pick up a table leg, he let out a beast-like roar from his tender throat and charged at the men in black.

The storekeeper was hacked to the ground. Eyes splitting with rage as he watched his family about to be captured, he let out a roar of absolute despair.

*Swish!*

Suddenly, a streak of black light flew through the air, and the man in black who was about to grab A-Zhu was pinned directly to the wall.

Ling Chi had just arrived on this street when he witnessed the scene.

He struck instantly, hurling his short saber like a cannonball to pin down the leading man in black.

"Cover your sister's eyes."

Ling Chi flashed swiftly into the house, leaving behind this single sentence for A-Zhu.