Ch. 35
Chapter 35: Such Deep Loyalty Indeed. Don’t Worry, I’ll Send You to Join Them in a Moment
“You’re courting death!”
Hearing Cheng Yu openly declare that he was going to wipe out Leaf Blade Mountain, even saying he would reward them by sparing ten dog lives, Bai Han flew into a rage. But at the same time, the panic and dread in his heart only grew stronger.
Cheng Yu was still alive.
Then Zheng Ping, who had gone to ambush and kill him, was very likely...
A terrifying possibility surfaced in Bai Han’s heart, and he hurriedly shook his head.
“My disciple is a Human Ranking prodigy, the number one genius of Qingjiang Prefecture! It is absolutely impossible for anything to have happened to him!”
Perhaps he had simply never encountered Cheng Yu at all.
Perhaps Cheng Yu had not taken the official road from Qinghe County to Qingjiang Prefecture, and that beast Ma Yuan had tricked them.
Watching Bai Han’s face turn ashen as he shouted and lied to himself, Cheng Yu let out a cold sneer.
“If you dare do certain things, then you must be prepared to accept the worst possible outcome... If you dare lay a hand on me, then don’t be afraid of retaliation.”
He looked at Bai Han and spoke calmly.
Then he gestured to the Jinyiwei behind him.
“Return his disciple to him.”
“Yes, sir!”
Thud, thud.
A round object wrapped in a coarse cloth sack rolled to Bai Han’s feet.
Looking at it, Bai Han felt the world spin around him. Trembling, he reached out and pulled it toward himself, then uncovered the cloth.
Ten thousand times over, he refused to accept it in his heart.
But that changed nothing.
Once the cloth was opened, the thing inside was none other than Zheng Ping’s bloody head.
The Demon-Slaying Sword’s sword qi had been too fast and too fierce. Before dying, he had not even had time to react, and his face still carried that same frenzied expression.
“Ping’er!!!”
A hoarse, shrill howl of grief rang out. Bai Han’s eyes turned bloodshot as he stared at Cheng Yu with endless hatred.
“You... you... you killed Ping’er! I want your life!”
The disciple he had painstakingly cultivated with the labor of his entire life, the disciple into whom he had poured all his hopes, was dead.
Bai Han could no longer care about anything else. He wanted revenge for Zheng Ping!
“Senior Brother Zheng!”
“Martial Nephew Zheng!”
Seeing Zheng Ping’s miserable death, the elders and disciples of Leaf Blade Mountain were all struck speechless with shock.
The disciples in particular could not understand, no matter how hard they tried, why Senior Brother Zheng had died at the hands of the Jinyiwei.
And compared with anger, what rose even faster in their hearts was fear.
Zheng Ping had been a Fourth Rank martial artist. In all of Leaf Blade Mountain, only Bai Han could compare to him.
If even he had died at Cheng Yu’s hands, then what hope did disciples like them have?
The instant that thought appeared—
“Don’t kill me!”
Some of the more cowardly disciples were instantly scared out of their wits and turned to flee screaming, throwing the entire scene into chaos.
“Do not panic!”
Seeing this, Bai Han shouted at once, using the authority of a sect master to suppress the disciples who were trying to run.
“Get back here, all of you, or do not blame me for personally cleansing the sect! There are no cowards in my Leaf Blade Mountain!”
Clap, clap, clap!
Cheng Yu sneered at the scene and began applauding.
“Sect Master Bai truly is a great hero. But if you ask me, since these disciples are afraid, you might as well let them leave. I’m too lazy to chase them down anyway. Why force them to throw their lives away for nothing?”
The moment he said that, quite a few disciples began wavering.
They did not want to die!
“Do not spout nonsense!”
The instant Bai Han heard Cheng Yu’s words, he shouted in response.
This was clearly meant to disrupt the internal stability of Leaf Blade Mountain!
What a treacherous and cunning imperial hound.
Gritting his teeth, he shouted loudly, “Our Leaf Blade Mountain is already locked in mortal enmity with him! Have you forgotten Cheng Yu’s reputation? Do you think he would spare you?”
Raiding homes, exterminating sects, slaughtering without blinking—
The terrifying image of a living King Yama rose at once in the disciples’ hearts.
Run?
Has there ever been anyone from any sect who had managed to escape him before?
Seeing that the disciples were filled with despair, but had at least given up the idea of fleeing in terror, Bai Han continued through gritted teeth,
“They are only being led by a Senior Banner Captain from a single county’s Jinyiwei. This time, they have only brought a few dozen Jinyiwei, while my Leaf Blade Mountain has over a hundred disciples!”
“So long as we do not fear them and work together to kill these villains, the advantage will definitely lie with us!”
“If we kill all these imperial hounds, then naturally there will be major figures of the Jianghu to redress our grievances and support us!”
Bai Han truly was worthy of being a sect master. With only a few sentences, he had twisted the disciples back into one rope.
The Jinyiwei were few. They were many.
As long as they united and fought the Jinyiwei together, that would be enough!
Upon hearing the sect master speak, the disciples nodded one after another at Bai Han’s words.
They were all martial artists of the Jianghu. Though the Jinyiwei had come in a fierce rush, their numbers were nowhere near as great as theirs.
They were not fish on the chopping block!
“Kill these imperial hounds!”
Seeing that the disciples were no longer timid, Bai Han nodded. Then he glared at Cheng Yu with boundless hatred.
“Elders, follow me and kill the chief villain! Avenge Ping’er!”
“Yes!”
Watching the people of Leaf Blade Mountain get riled up and charge forward after only a few words, Cheng Yu merely sneered and shook his head.
Then he turned around and raised one hand.
“Since none of you want to live, then go die together. Loose arrows!”
At his command, not only did several dozen Jinyiwei raise their crossbows and fire, but a full hundred armored soldiers suddenly emerged, drawing their bows and releasing their arrows as well.
Arrow after arrow turned into a rainstorm in the sky, pouring down toward the side of Leaf Blade Mountain.
“Dodge!”
Bai Han shouted, but the moment he saw those soldiers, his heart had already sunk into utter despair.
Why were there so many soldiers?!
The elders reacted quickly and used their weapons to block the incoming arrows.
But the disciples lacked that kind of skill. Many were struck by arrows on the spot and collapsed screaming into pools of blood.
Their eyes were filled with shock and despair.
Hadn’t he just said they had the advantage in numbers?
Then where had all these soldiers come from?
The disciples who had been lucky enough not to be hit, along with those who had been hit but not killed, were completely scared out of their wits. Chaos overtook them, and they lost all will to fight.
“They still have so many more men!”
“I’m not fighting anymore! I’m not fighting anymore! I want to live!”
“Don’t kill me!”
Cheng Yu watched the scene coldly. Then he drew the Hundred-Forged Xiuchun Saber and pointed it straight ahead.
“Kill them. Leave no survivors!”
He had already given them one chance.
Unfortunately, no one had seized it.
The Xiuchun Sabers of the Jinyiwei and the long halberds of the prefectural troops struck out together, wildly harvesting the lives of the fleeing Leaf Blade Mountain disciples.
“I’ll kill you, you demonic beast!”
Seeing disciples dying and falling in droves, and the century-old foundation of Leaf Blade Mountain collapsing beyond recovery, Bai Han and the elders lunged furiously at Cheng Yu, the true culprit behind it all.
“Don’t worry. No one will be left out!”
Cheng Yu drew the Hundred-Forged Xiuchun Saber. Waves of saber light burst out, fierce yet perfectly rounded.
The Hundred-Battle Reincarnation Saber Art!
Once the Xiuchun Saber moved, sparks flew as metal clashed against metal, and he blocked all of Bai Han and the others’ weapons in a single sweep.
The massive reward of saber insight he had received for killing Zheng Ping had greatly strengthened Cheng Yu.
Within only a few exchanges, he forcibly cut down three Third Rank elders while surrounded by multiple enemies.
“You—!”
Bai Han’s eyes nearly split open. He had never imagined that Cheng Yu, fighting one against many, would still completely dominate the battle with such savage strength.
No wonder Ping’er had died at Cheng Yu’s hands.
In grief and fury, he roared and sent his inner force into his weapon, attacking Cheng Yu with his full strength.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
Cheng Yu had long been prepared for exactly this. Twelve Tang Sect Poison Darts poured out like a torrential storm.
Bai Han had already been maddened by fury, and the distance between them was too short.
His reaction and evasion were not fast enough. He failed to dodge them all, and three poison darts struck his body.
“Puh!”
He spat out a mouthful of black blood. Poisoned, Bai Han’s limbs instantly went numb, and he staggered backward before collapsing onto the ground.
“Sect Master!”
Seeing this, the remaining elders were horrified and hurriedly turned to look at Bai Han.
But the moment they lost focus, several flashes of saber light swept past.
Cheng Yu cut them all down.
He looked coldly at the corpses, then turned his eyes toward Bai Han, whose face had already darkened blue-black from poison.
“Such deep loyalty indeed. Don’t worry, I’ll send you to join them in a moment.”