Bao Yingchen, the first chief of Sanying Gate, personally led over fifty men as they crept silently toward Xiaoyaowu.
Yang Xingbo, the third chief of Sanying Gate, said, "Eldest Brother, a small matter like this could have been handled with just me and the brothers. Why did you have to make the trip yourself?"
Bao Yingchen shook his head. "Third Brother, tonight's matter is of great importance. I don't necessarily have to fight, but I must be here. I have to let the brothers know this is serious."
"Eldest Brother, is that Li the Seventh really at Xiaoyaowu?"
"He is definitely there. I planted an informant under Qin Tianjiu. Qin Tianjiu never caught on and even had him run a letter to Xiaoyaowu to set up a meeting with Li the Seventh at a teahouse. Li the Seventh has been at Xiaoyaowu this whole time. Second Brother wants to use Qin Tianjiu to get in touch with him and stir up trouble within our sect. I know all about that too. Once I finish off Li the Seventh, I'll go back and clean house. Third Brother, you've worked diligently for our sect, and it's time for you to take the second chair of Sanying Gate."
Yang Xingbo hurried to bow respectfully. "It is all thanks to Eldest Brother's guidance and favor."
Bao Yingchen smiled faintly. "I am getting old and can't attend to everything anymore. You'll need to shoulder more of the sect's affairs in the future. For now, let us handle tonight properly. This Li the Seventh comes and goes without a trace and is difficult to deal with. Tonight, Xiaoyaowu must be razed to the ground. Leave no one alive."
"Rest assured, Eldest Brother. You've already instructed us several times."
The group arrived outside the gates of Xiaoyaowu and spotted two doormen staring blankly in their direction.
By Yang Xingbo's usual habits, he would have seized the two men and interrogated them to find out where Li Banfeng was.
However, with the first chief present, Yang Xingbo did not dare make the call on his own. He consulted first, "Eldest Brother, should we kill them or drag them over for questioning?"
Bao Yingchen shook his head. "No need to ask. They might not even know clearly. Dispose of them quickly, and don't make a sound."
Yang Xingbo waved a hand. Two men beside him strode forward briskly, each striking once with their blades, cutting down the two doormen cleanly.
The moment the two doormen hit the ground, a crowd rushed out of the building with a clamor.
There were singing girls and dancers in cheongsams, musicians and waiters with bow ties, cleaners and handymen in short jackets, and armed guards bearing weapons.
Bao Yingchen frowned and looked at Yang Xingbo. "I told you not to make a sound. Why can't you be more careful?"
Yang Xingbo was somewhat bewildered. His subordinates hadn't made any noise.
At least when they killed the men just now, it had been dead silent.
Yet since the first chief was displeased, he could hardly argue. He quickly shouted to his subordinates, "Leave no one alive! Kill them!"
Among the more than fifty men brought tonight, not a single one had a cultivation level below tier four.
For such ruthless killers to slaughter ordinary people was as easy as crushing ants underfoot.
A tier-five fire cultivator unleashed a burst of flames, instantly reducing a handyman to ashes.
A tier-four garment cultivator flung out the silver needles covering his clothes, first threading the needles, then drawing the thread taut, snapping it back to shred a waiter to ribbons.
A tier-five food cultivator gaped his maw wide, bit off nearly half a dancer's head, chewed, and swallowed it down.
This was his unique killing routine; he loved watching someone with half their head missing wail before him in agonizing terror and pain.
Yet this dancer did not wail.
There was no trace of terror on her face either.
In fact, her head tasted rather crisp and sweet...
The food cultivator was a bit puzzled. In that brief moment of daze, the dancer lunged forward, stabbing at him with a knife.
The food cultivator dodged with ease. Just as he was about to see what kind of creature this dancer was, a sickle swept around from behind and slit his throat.
A tier-six martial cultivator nicknamed Gui Lihu—the Ghostly Fierce Tiger—was Third Chief Yang Xingbo's favored lieutenant.
His assignment was to search through the crowd for Li the Seventh to prevent him from slipping away amid the chaos.
A guard charged toward Gui Lihu. With a casual flick of his dagger, Gui Lihu severed the guard's head.
There was no need to waste time tangling with such nuisances.
Yet the headless guard also swung his blade, slashing through Gui Lihu's clothing.
Gui Lihu wasn't injured; the guard's strike had been neither fast nor accurate. But he could not wrap his head around what had just happened.
Why could someone without a head still strike back? What kind of pathway was this?
Before his shock subsided, another blade slashed across Gui Lihu's back, though it still failed to wound him.
Gui Lihu glanced back and saw a cook brandishing a kitchen cleaver, swinging at him once more.
Beside the cook stood a tier-four literary cultivator who cried out in panic, "I just used Common Script, Shared Rule, but this guy didn't react at all...!"
Gui Lihu knitted his brows. "Is this thing even human?"
"Of course they're human," a man replied, dressed in a black suit with a black fedora pulled low over his brow as he appeared before the two.
He was telling the truth: these were indeed people. Cabbage people were people too.
Zhang Wanlong had provided Li Banfeng with plenty of seeds along with a good deal of medicinal liquid. With that liquid and the blood of the people from Xiaoyaowu, a large number of cabbage people could be grown in a short span of time.
However, the cabbage people grown by Zhang Wanlong could only wear one type of attire—short jackets tinged with green and white.
In contrast, the cabbage people grown by Li Banfeng wore cheongsams, long gowns, tailcoats, and all manner of garments, making them look far more lifelike.
Most importantly, these cabbage people could actually fight against these cultivators. Even if they couldn't win, they could at least hold out for several rounds—something Zhang Wanlong's cabbage people could never achieve.
This was thanks to Li Banfeng's technique: Golden House Conceals a Beauty.
Due to his lack of skill in painting and sculpting, Golden House Conceals a Beauty had always been Li Banfeng's weakest technique.
Yet with Zhang Wanlong's seeds, the situation changed entirely.
By dropping a bead of blood onto the grown cabbage people, Li Banfeng could embellish their appearance and substantially enhance their combat prowess.
Gui Lihu eyed the man in the black suit, preparing to strike.
All of a sudden, the man in the black suit sped away into the distance.
Gui Lihu was experienced enough to recognize from that speed alone that he was dealing with a high-tier journey cultivator. He quickly shifted his gaze to keep his eyes pinned to the figure.
Before the tier-four literary cultivator could react, his body was instantly shattered into pieces.
Amid his shock, Gui Lihu saw the man in the black suit duck into the chaotic melee.
With completely unremarkable features and build, and with dark clothes that blended seamlessly into the night, the man was extraordinarily difficult to pick out in the crowd.
Damn it, where did he go?
Gui Lihu quickly abandoned his position. He understood the essentials of the technique Viewing Flowers on a Galloping Horse: either locate the man in black immediately and lock eyes with him, or break out of his field of view as swiftly as possible.
After searching through the crowd for a brief moment, Gui Lihu failed to find the man in black.
Could he be Li the Seventh?
He had to report this to the chief at once!
Just as Gui Lihu turned to find Bao Yingchen, a Tang dao hacked straight down toward his head.
The Tang dao had prepared thoroughly for this sneak attack and had taken full advantage of the opening, but unfortunately, its opponent was a tier-six martial cultivator.
The downward slash was met and parried by the martial cultivator's dagger.
Under normal circumstances, the Tang dao could cleave through a dozen such daggers in a single blow. Yet in the hands of a high-tier martial cultivator, an ordinary weapon could become an exquisite masterwork.
The Tang dao was a dharma treasure. The wife had once remarked that it belonged to an exceedingly rare breed of treasures, and inside the Portable Abode, it had lived well alongside its master, advancing its cultivation considerably.
Now held at bay by an ordinary dagger, the Tang dao felt thoroughly disgraced and hurriedly struck a second time.
Gui Lihu flicked his dagger, deflecting it once more.
"You clumsy lout, don't force it!" the sickle cursed at the Tang dao before launching a sneak attack from beneath Gui Lihu's right elbow, aiming straight for his ribs.
This angle was nearly impossible to parry and exceptionally hard to dodge.
Yet Gui Lihu still blocked it, switching the dagger to his left hand and reaching across to his right ribs to meet the blow.
An unreasonable martial cultivator was virtually flawless in close combat.
Gui Lihu fought with composed ease, yet inside he was tense with anxiety, for he still had not found the man in the black suit.
These two weapons had to be his dharma treasures; the man had to be somewhere nearby.
Relying purely on instinct to contend with the Tang dao and the sickle, Gui Lihu continued searching for traces of the black suit.
The Tang dao thrust directly toward Gui Lihu's chest once again. Gui Lihu moved to parry with his dagger, only to suddenly feel a cold chill in his chest—the Tang dao had pierced straight through.
Gui Lihu was stunned.
He had seen the trajectory of the Tang dao's thrust with absolute clarity. How could he have failed to block it?
Had he been too slow?
He looked down at his hand.
It wasn't that he had been too slow; the dagger in his grip had vanished.
It had been there when he initiated the motion, but by the time he swung out, the dagger was gone, leaving his parry to hit empty air.
The Tang dao churned several times inside his chest before cleaving out through his ribs, splitting half of Gui Lihu's torso open.
Gui Lihu stumbled backward, attempting to flee, but Li Banfeng brandished the sickle and took his head from behind.
"Every strike takes an enemy's head!" the Tang dao sneered coldly, instantly shrinking into a small knife and slipping back into Li Banfeng's pocket.
The sickle spat in disgust at the Tang dao, continuing the slaughter alongside Li Banfeng.
Li Banfeng patted the white glove in his pocket and murmured softly, "A handsome reward for you."
Over a hundred cabbage people tangled in a chaotic brawl with the fifty-odd assailants. Fishing in troubled waters, Li Banfeng slew over a dozen men in the blink of an eye.
A tier-seven dwelling cultivator was simply too easy to overlook. Only now did Yang Xingbo realize something was amiss. "Eldest Brother, there's a vicious bastard among these small fry!"
Bao Yingchen remained calm. "You only noticed now? The man is a journey cultivator. He's already killed over a dozen of our brothers, and even your lieutenant Gui Lihu fell."
Yang Xingbo grew frantic. "Damn it, where is he?"
"He was hiding deep, but this time I saw him!" The moment the words left his mouth, Bao Yingchen vanished on the spot.
Mingling within the crowd, Li Banfeng suddenly sensed danger bearing down on him and darted away from his position.
Li Banfeng had taken merely two steps when Bao Yingchen appeared right where he had just stood.
Bao Yingchen smiled at Li Banfeng. "Are you Li the Seventh?"
Li Banfeng didn't answer, nor did Bao Yingchen need him to.
With a flicker of movement, Li Banfeng retreated at top speed, attempting to pull open the distance, yet Bao Yingchen closed within five paces and appeared right in front of him once more.
Half-Step.
He was faster than Li Banfeng!
The old man was a journey cultivator, and his tier was higher than Li Banfeng's!
He stomped viciously into the ground right before Li Banfeng.
A crater ruptured into the earth, sending shattered stone, gravel, and a violent shockwave hurtling into Li Banfeng all at once.
Li Banfeng forced a desperate dodge. His clothes were shredded to tatters and his body was raked with numerous wounds, blood streaming from his lapels and sleeves.
Having narrowly protected his vitals, Li Banfeng was just looking for an opening to counterattack when another thunderous boom echoed.
Bao Yingchen initiated Half-Step once again, appearing behind Li Banfeng and unleashing Treading Ten Thousand Rivers a second time.
Could techniques really be chained in such rapid succession?
This time, it seemed impossible to dodge.
***
*Bao Yingchen had cultivated for fifty years; Li Banfeng had cultivated for a year and a half.*
*This was the gap between a year and a half and fifty years—the disparity in technique mastery was simply too vast.*
Chapter 393