Chapter 32 : Chapter 32
Chapter 32: Are You Satisfied Now?
At the sight of the young man standing on the suspension cable, Black Snake reacted as though he had spotted a lifesaving straw.
“Zhang Chi, save me!!! I’ll confess! I’ll confess everything!!!”
“I have important intelligence on the Five Poisons Sect. Save me, and the credit will be yours.”
The river wind blew gently as the young man leapt down from the suspension cable.
“Noisy!”
A pebble shot straight toward the center of Black Snake’s brow.
“Jade Bottle Bay never causes trouble, but Spiral Light Bridge is part of Jade Bottle Bay’s territory—Lu Zhan, you’ve crossed the line!!!”
On the far side of the broken bridge, Wang Lie arched a brow, the corners of his mouth rising despite himself.
“Heh, looks like someone’s about to have a bad time.”
He knew Zhang Chi. The man was strong, but he had an annoying flaw—he loved showing off and was always eager to take advantage.
However...
today, he had clearly miscalculated. In a moment, he was probably going to suffer for it.
Lu Zhan casually flicked out a streak of red light, instantly shattering the pebble that had been aimed at taking Black Snake’s life.
That move left everyone baffled. They had been fighting to the death just a moment ago, so why was he saving him now?
“Th-Thanks!”
Black Snake had only gotten halfway through the word when the sound of saber energy entering his body rang out.
Slash!
The red saber energy directly severed Black Snake’s head from his body.
The head rolled away, and Wang Botao could still see the disbelief and confusion in Black Snake’s eyes before death, as well as the slight movement of his lips.
Someone said speechlessly, “So he saved him just so the guy could finish saying thanks before killing him?”
“Holy shit, Lu Zhan is way too ruthless!”
At the same time, the moment Black Snake died, the system’s voice rang out.
[ Ding! Detected that the host has killed a third-layer Aperture Opening Realm Martial Artist. Reward: 2530 Slaughter Points ]
[ Congratulations, host has additionally obtained Martial Art Copy Card x1 ]
(Note: The copied target must not exceed your own realm by more than one major realm.)
Lu Zhan closed the system interface.
Naturally, he paid no attention to the suspicions of the onlookers.
Instead, he fixed Zhang Chi with an unfriendly stare. That move just now had clearly been an attempt to steal his kill.
“Oh? Crossed the line?!!”
Lu Zhan sneered. Back when he had first joined the Demon Extermination Bureau, he had carefully studied its rules. There was no such regulation anywhere in them.
“If I remember correctly, the Demon Extermination Bureau has never said you can’t arrest people across jurisdiction lines.”
Lu Zhan knew this was most likely yet another old custom rigidly observed among the various jurisdictions.
But if he refused to follow it, what could they do to him?
Lu Zhan paused slightly as he spoke, then his expression gradually turned cold.
“And just now, it looked like you were trying to steal my kill. If you don’t give me an explanation for that today—”
Before he could finish, someone cut him off.
“And what if I don’t?”
Feng Ju arrived with three others, moving to surround him with obvious hostility.
“Why are you here?”
“Brother Zhang, I heard someone came to our jurisdiction to cause trouble? I’d like to see who’s got that kind of nerve—”
Feng Ju had only just started speaking when he suddenly felt his vision blur.
By the time he came back to his senses, he found himself staring straight into a pair of deep, chilling eyes.
It sent a shiver down his spine.
Then a large hand clamped around his throat and lifted him into the air like a chick.
A suffocating pressure swept over him.
Just as he was about to lose the ability to breathe, an icy voice exploded beside his ear.
“No explanation?!! Fine. Then I’ll take it myself. So, how about that?!!! Are you satisfied now?!!”
Damn!
So fast.
Humiliation, unwillingness, fear—every kind of emotion surged into his heart in an instant.
When had Feng Ju ever suffered such disgrace?
He gripped at the hand crushing his throat with both hands, trying to pry it loose.
But no matter how much strength he used, that hand did not budge in the slightest.
Neither Zhang Chi nor the others had imagined that even with all five jurisdiction heads from their side present, Lu Zhan would still dare to make a move.
So they froze for a moment before immediately shouting threats.
“Stop!”
“Let go of Brother Feng!”
“How dare you, Lu Zhan! You’re courting death!”
“Hurry and save him!”
Zhang Chi was the first to draw his sword and charge over.
Lu Zhan narrowed his eyes slightly. He had never taken these people seriously at all.
Still, facing so many Aperture Opening Realm experts at once, Wang Botao could not help feeling nervous.
“Take care of yourself later. Don’t hold Brother Lu back.”
Shangguan Ling nodded, no longer wearing her usual playful grin. Her expression turned grave. “Don’t worry. I absolutely won’t disgrace Peach Blossom Alley. Even if I have to jump off this bridge, I won’t let them catch me.”
Suddenly, several more figures swept over at high speed, and at their head was none other than Zhou Hong.
“Stop! Zhou Hong of Floating Cloud Harbor is here! Zhang Chi, if Jade Bottle Bay wants to bully the few with the many, did you ask the brothers from our jurisdictions first?”
Zhou Hong and the others had clearly rushed over at full speed as well, and their breathing was slightly uneven at the moment.
Zhang Chi’s expression turned grim, and his pupils contracted.
Floating Cloud Harbor’s Zhou Hong, Moon-Reflecting Street’s Tao Xiao’an, Anxi Residential Complex’s Chen Qing—three different jurisdictions had actually come forward for Lu Zhan.
Was this really a newcomer?
“Zhou Hong, are you sure you want to involve yourself in this?”
Zhang Chi’s face darkened.
“He, Lu Zhan, was the one who broke the rules first. Without even giving notice, he directly ran into my territory to arrest someone. Isn’t that going too far?”
He questioned them coldly, as though he were some innocent victim.
But Tao Xiao’an replied icily, “Put away those petty schemes of yours. I’m not exposing you outright only because I’m giving you face. Don’t think no one knows what you’re trying to do.”
Lu Zhan directly threw Feng Ju to the ground like a piece of trash.
He stepped on his back with one foot, rested a hand on his own thigh, and leaned forward slightly. “I think I understand what you people want now.”
The corner of Lu Zhan’s mouth lifted slightly. At first, he had not understood why Zhang Chi had tried to kill Black Snake.
It was only after Tao Xiao’an’s reminder that he suddenly realized the truth.
If Black Snake really had been killed by Zhang Chi back then, then no matter what, Jade Bottle Bay would have been able to take a share of the credit.
It was not that Lu Zhan was not smart enough. It was simply that what Zhang Chi wanted was something Lu Zhan had never cared about in the first place.
He truly had not expected that the little bit slipping through his fingers would be treated like treasure by the other side.
“However, even if I don’t care about that bit of credit, if you want to snatch what belongs to me... who gave you the courage to do that?!!”
Lu Zhan exerted a little force beneath his foot.
At once, Feng Ju’s bones let out a string of creaks, as though a mountain were pressing down on him.
Heavy. Oppressive. Suffocating.
“Ah!” he cried out. “Brother... Brother Zhang...”
“Save me!!!”
Feng Ju let out a scream and spat out a mouthful of dark blood mixed with fragments of his internal organs.
“Lu Zhan, how dare you cripple a colleague?”
Zhang Chi was both shocked and furious. He had not expected this newcomer to be so vicious.
Lu Zhan casually kicked the half-dead Feng Ju away.
“Heh, don’t try to pin that on me. I’ve always been kind to others. I don’t kill people.”
Zhang Chi hurriedly checked Feng Ju’s injuries. There were two main injuries: two broken ribs, and damage to the internal organs severe enough to shift them out of place.
On the surface, the injuries did not look too shocking, but internal organs were inherently fragile.
Once the organs were damaged, repairing them would be extremely troublesome.
“You’re asking to die, Lu Zhan. I never thought that as a colleague, you’d be vicious enough to strike so cruelly.”
Zhang Chi thrust his sword at Lu Zhan.
“Get him! Avenge Little Feng!”
At once, four people surrounded Lu Zhan and attacked him together.
Zhou Hong and the others wanted to go up and help as well, but Lu Zhan refused them.
“Don’t worry. This few aren’t worth worrying about.”
He did not hold back and struck with the saber in a clean, decisive manner.
There were only four strikes in total, plain and unremarkable.
But under the enhancement of the talents [Gluttony] and [Strength of Nine Oxen and Two Tigers], the force behind them was terrifying.
Three figures were sent flying with a single blow.
As for Zhang Chi, he only barely managed to block it. His longsword rang and trembled violently under the immense force, the web of his hand split open, and he staggered back seven or eight steps before barely steadying himself.
The blood and qi throughout his body churned violently.
Lu Zhan was slightly surprised.
“You’ve got a bit of skill to withstand one blow. But... that’s all.”