Chapter 9 : Chapter 9
Chapter 9: If I Were This Spineless, I’d Have Slit My Own Throat with a Xiuchun Saber Long Ago
“Ahhh! Murder!”
The passersby who saw Cheng Yu kill a man scattered in all directions in terror.
The few Jinyiwei standing nearby saw that Cheng Yu had killed Sha He the instant they fell out, and every one of them collapsed to the ground in fright.
“It’s over! Now the Red River Gang will hate us to the bone! None of us is getting away from this!”
At the thought of Sha Yue, the strongest man in Qinghe County and a Third Rank martial artist, flying into a furious rage, they were overcome with despair.
“Second Master!!!”
The old man responsible for guarding Sha He saw his master hacked to death right before his eyes. His eyes turned bloodshot.
“Beast! You’ll pay for Second Master’s life!”
The old man reached for the broad saber at his waist with murderous force. He wanted revenge for Second Master Sha.
But before he could even draw it, that familiar flash of saber light swept past once more.
Blood spurted out in a great arc, and a head went rolling away.
The face still wore a look of fury, as if he had never realized he was already dead.
“Why does everyone insist on shouting before making a move?”
【The host has slain an evildoer for the first time, upheld order, and established the prestige of the Jinyiwei! Reward: mastery of the high Human Grade hard-body technique “Thirteen Guardians Hard Body Art”!】
The Internal Energy in his body slowly flowed from his meridians into his muscles, bones, and flesh, strengthening them until they became incomparably tough, before finally returning to his dantian to circulate once more.
A hard-body technique!
Cheng Yu felt as though his body had become impervious to blades and spears, though the name of the technique did strike him as a little strange.
Thirteen Guardians Hard Body Art was a standard virgin boy skill. The moment one lost his chastity, it became useless.
But Cheng Yu was too busy trampling through the Jianghu, raiding households, and killing people to care about that.
He wiped the bright red blood from his face, flicked the blood off his saber, and raised the blade to inspect the edge of the Hundred-Forged Xiuchun Saber.
No blood clung to it, and even after cutting down three men, the edge had not curled in the slightest. As expected of something produced by the system.
As he examined it, he spoke calmly.
“Sha He of the Red River Gang committed every evil imaginable, murdered countless people, and was guilty beyond redemption. He has now been executed. Hurry up and clean this up. Don’t ruin the view at the entrance to the Guard Office.”
His voice was mild, yet it carried an authority none of them dared resist.
The Jinyiwei Strongman Guards who had fallen to the ground scrambled back to their feet, trembling, and began gathering the two corpses with mournful faces.
“M-My lord, what... what should we do with the bodies?”
One of them asked with legs shaking so hard he could barely stand.
“Take them back to wherever they came from.”
Cheng Yu’s tone allowed no argument. With that, he turned and walked back into the Guard Office.
He left the others looking as though they wanted to cry but had no tears left.
If they delivered Sha He’s corpse back to the Red River Gang, even if they survived, they would be flayed alive for it.
Inside the Jinyiwei Banner Office, Cheng Yu walked calmly toward the main hall, blood still on his face.
“You must be Banner Captain Cheng?”
Someone suddenly called out to him. Cheng Yu looked over and saw that the man also wore a wooden badge at his waist. He held the same rank of Banner Captain.
Cheng Yu nodded and cupped his hands.
“As expected, another fellow who doesn’t understand how the world works,” the Banner Captain mocked inwardly. On the surface, however, he wore a smile. “I’m Su Feng. I’m a few years older than you, so you’ll have to look after your elder brother from now on.”
They were both Banner Captains. Though he disliked Cheng Yu’s type as well, he could not directly show his displeasure the way Wu Lenggang could.
“Of course.”
Cheng Yu smiled faintly and nodded. As expected, everyone in this place was cut from the same cloth.
Among martial artists, ability always came first. The moment Su Feng brought up his age and called himself elder brother, it was obviously meant as a display of dominance, so that he could keep Cheng Yu in hand and squeeze benefits out of him later.
Cheng Yu did not care.
Once Su Feng stepped outside the Banner Office and saw what was there, he would naturally understand the situation and realize that he was playing with fire.
The two nodded to each other and went their separate ways.
“He’s young, all right. What a pity his scheming is too shallow.”
Su Feng sneered inwardly at Cheng Yu. He had seen too many hot-blooded young men. In the end, every last one of them had become old hands slick with compromise.
All the reckless things they did in their youth only ever turned into trouble later.
As he thought that, he reached the main gate of the Banner Office and was met with a group of miserable-looking Jinyiwei Strongman Guards.
And a ground full of blood, along with two burlap sacks.
“What happened here?! How did the entrance to the Banner Office end up like this?!”
“B-Banner Captain Su.”
The Strongman Guards were bitter to the core and hurriedly saluted him.
Compared to the living Yama who killed the moment he was displeased, even the normally harsh Su Feng now seemed kind and benevolent.
“I asked you a question. How did it end up like this?” Su Feng asked coldly.
The Strongman Guards could only answer in trembling voices.
“Banner Captain Cheng butchered Second Master Sha of the Red River Gang. We are dealing with it here.”
They truly did not dare deliver the bodies back. Their plan was to wrap the corpses in burlap sacks, dump them in a potter’s field, split up the valuables found on Sha He’s person, and then flee for their lives separately.
“He killed someone?” Su Feng’s eyes widened the instant he heard that Cheng Yu had killed someone right outside the Guard Office.
In the next instant, his expression grew even stranger. “Who did you say he killed?!”
“Second Master Sha of the Red River Gang. Banner Captain Cheng cut his head off with one stroke. Blood and fat sprayed out together...”
The others glared at the man who answered. Why did he have to describe it in such detail?!
“Second Master Sha... Sha He?!”
Su Feng felt as though he had been struck by lightning. He rushed to one side and ripped open one of the sacks.
A large, fat head came into view.
It really was Sha He!
The other sack held the head of one of the Red River Gang’s retained experts, someone even stronger than Su Feng himself.
Su Feng staggered back several steps and dropped to the ground, his whole body shaking.
“He killed Sha He?”
No wonder Cheng Yu had worn that half-smiling expression earlier. No wonder he had not cared in the least when Su Feng tried to put him in his place.
So that was because Cheng Yu could kill him with a single stroke as well.
A wave of delayed fear washed over him, and cold sweat ran down his body.
Too ruthless.
He had killed people right at the entrance to the Guard Office.
If Su Feng had done anything to displease him just now, Cheng Yu probably would have cut him down too.
Inside the main hall of the Guard Office, Cheng Yu found Wu Lenggang sipping hot tea.
A cold smile rose in his heart. He had arranged for Cheng Yu to go attend a gang member, while he himself hid away here in comfort.
He was afraid that tea would not go down so smoothly much longer.
“Greetings, General Banner Captain Wu.”
“Why are you back so soon?” Wu Lenggang asked in surprise. He had not expected Cheng Yu to return already.
“How did serving Second Master Sha go? You understand now how deep the waters of Qinghe County run, don’t you?”
Since Cheng Yu had come back so quickly, Wu Lenggang assumed that his youthful pride had made him unable to endure Sha He’s humiliation, yet he had been helpless because Sha He had skilled guards protecting him.
Wu Lenggang sipped his tea and said calmly, “Now you understand that some things cannot be handled by charging in blindly, don’t you? I’ve served as Jinyiwei longer than you’ve been alive. Naturally, I understand more than you.”
“Go apologize to Second Master Sha first. Don’t provoke him any further. After that, I’ll slowly explain a few things to you.”
This was his method—pressure mixed with conciliation.
“No need.”
Cheng Yu’s gaze was calm, with the faintest trace of a smile in it.
“There’s no need to apologize. I served him very well. He didn’t say a single word of complaint.”
“Hm?” Wu Lenggang looked up in surprise. “Second Master Sha didn’t make things difficult for you?”
That was not how that capricious lunatic usually behaved.
He did not make things difficult for me. I made things difficult for him.
Cheng Yu was not lying.
“That’s right. He didn’t say a single dissatisfied word. And in the future, he won’t have a single dissatisfied word to say about the Guard Office either.”
Wu Lenggang stared at him in disbelief. He could not imagine Sha He behaving like that.
Just then, a hurried voice came from outside.
“General Banner Captain, this is bad! Something terrible has happened!”
Su Feng came running in as fast as he could, his face filled with panic.
“What happened that has you in such a rush?”
Su Feng steadied his breathing, but the moment he saw Cheng Yu standing there calmly to one side, his whole body gave a violent shudder.
Cheng Yu nodded at him in greeting, and in the process, casually revealed a streak of blood on his face.
It was the blood that had sprayed from Sha He and the other man.
Su Feng trembled and lowered his head, frightened half to death as he blurted everything out.
“Something happened. Second Master Sha from the Red River Gang is dead. He died right outside our Guard Office.”
“Sha He is dead? How could that be?!”
The teacup fell from Wu Lenggang’s hand and shattered on the floor. He shot to his feet in disbelief.
How could Second Master Sha be dead?
Hadn’t he just been alive and kicking a moment ago, wanting to play general?
“Who did it?!”
Wu Lenggang refused to believe it. His eyes bulged as he stared at Su Feng. The panic on Su Feng’s face was obviously genuine, and Wu Lenggang’s heart instantly turned cold.
“Who did it?! To dare kill someone right outside my Jinyiwei Guard Office is nothing less than a slap in the face of the Emperor’s personal guard! Send men at once to seize the murderer and raid his household. We must give Leader Sha an explanation!”
Bang!
He slammed the table and roared in fury.
Which blind fool had dragged him into this disaster?
But now that the man was already dead, the most important thing was to sever all connection to the matter as quickly as possible.
Yet when Su Feng heard that, he only trembled and said nothing.
Wu Lenggang immediately felt that something was wrong.
Looking more closely, he saw that Su Feng’s gaze kept darting, intentionally or otherwise, toward one side.
“General Banner Captain... we can’t seize him...”
Cheng Yu!
At that moment, Cheng Yu’s earlier calm words suddenly rang through Wu Lenggang’s mind.
“He didn’t say a single dissatisfied word. And in the future, he won’t have a single dissatisfied word to say about the Guard Office either.”
If one wanted a lawless madman like Sha He to shut his mouth forever, was there any method other than killing him?
“You!”
Cheng Yu saw Wu Lenggang looking at him in utter disbelief, but he remained perfectly calm.
“He repeatedly insulted the dignity of the Jinyiwei, and his hands were stained with countless lives. By law, he should have been executed long ago. I solved this problem for you. There’s no need to thank me too much.”
Wu Lenggang’s eyes widened as he looked at Su Feng. “Wasn’t there anyone protecting Second Master Sha? How did this happen?!”
If there had been no one protecting him, a mere Banner Captain could have killed Sha He easily enough. In that case, Sha He would have died long ago.
But if an expert had been guarding him, what gave Cheng Yu the right to kill him?
“That old retainer from the Red River Gang who had just stepped into the Second Rank was there too. He was also... also killed by Cheng... by him...”
Killed a Second Rank martial artist?
Wu Lenggang looked at Cheng Yu with a twisted expression, filled with regret. Why had he sent him to Sha He of all people?
If you could kill a Second Rank martial artist, why did you not say so earlier? Were you waiting for a chance to kill your own superior too?
At this point, Wu Lenggang was utterly out of options.
A Jinyiwei Banner Captain had killed the younger brother of the Red River Gang leader. No matter what he did now, there was no separating himself from it.
“Are you insane?! You even dared kill him?!”
He slammed the table again, flew into a rage, and pointed at Cheng Yu as he cursed.
With Sha He dead, the Red River Gang’s leader would definitely go berserk. A major disaster was coming!
“You’re the one who’s insane! The mighty Jinyiwei were being ridden on the neck and shat upon by a single man, and you still have the nerve to criticize me?”
“If I were a General Banner Captain as spineless as you, I’d have slit my own throat with a Xiuchun Saber long ago!”
“You’re nothing but trash, and you’ve shamed the Jinyiwei to the fullest!”
Cheng Yu rebuked him coldly, as though he were the General Banner Captain scolding an underling, rather than the other way around.
“You dare curse me?”
Humiliated like this by a mere Banner Captain, Wu Lenggang was enraged to the limit.
But the moment he thought of what would happen if Sha He’s death were not handled properly, most of his anger went dead in his throat.
“I’m cursing worthless trash like you! All this nonsense over killing one villain—aren’t you just afraid?”
Wu Lenggang shouted back, “Do you have any idea what the consequences of killing Sha He will be? Can you bear Sha Yue’s wrath?”
“If he’s that powerful, then let him come kill me. If I die, it only means my skills were inferior. Don’t assume everyone in the world is garbage like you.”
【The host has verbally denounced a derelict official and upheld the Jinyiwei’s ability to act! Reward: Internal Energy!】
Cheng Yu let out a disdainful sneer as he felt his Internal Energy rise again. By now, he had already reached the level of mid-Second Rank.
After hearing that, Wu Lenggang, who had just been cursed again and again by his subordinate as worthless trash, found himself unable to say a single word in return. All his fury lodged in his chest.
Sha He had deserved to die all along. It was simply that no one had dared kill him.
Could Wu Lenggang really tie Cheng Yu up and hand him over as an apology? If he did that, his entire family would be doomed.
The Jinyiwei’s current situation was indeed poor, but that did not mean they were turtles who could openly stick their heads out for others to trample on.
“There’s no point talking to you. If you want to kill me or flay me, then try it. If you don’t dare, then stop bothering me.”
Cheng Yu’s tone was icy as he turned and walked away.
Su Feng had already been frightened so badly that his legs had gone weak and sweat streamed down his back. He hurriedly stepped aside.
This man was simply too ferocious.
Wu Lenggang watched Cheng Yu leave, wishing he could grind his teeth to powder. He thought of a hundred ways to retaliate against him, yet for now he could only run around in a panic over Sha He’s death.
“Lawless brute! I’ll deal with you sooner or later! Just you wait!”
If the man currently shouting threats had known what Cheng Yu was about to do next, then even if he had to kneel down, kowtow, and call him Grandfather, he would have stopped Cheng Yu on the spot.