The Nanyang Zheng Clan, Good for Nothing!

"Fall back!" Decisive in an instant, Zheng Renxin immediately retreated. Yet with a savage grin, Li Ji leapt forward in a single bound, brandishing his door-sized saber and sweeping it across toward Zheng Renxin and the other three. All four Refining Organs martial artists, including Zheng Renxin, erupted with qi and blood, raising the longswords in their hands across their chests to block. *Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!* Four muffled thuds rang out. Zheng Renxin's whole body shook violently. As though struck by a battering ram, he felt an overwhelming, crushing force bearing down upon him with brutal fury. Even though he had unleashed all his qi and blood, and had tempered his bones and refined his organs to drastically bolster his strength, he was still completely unable to withstand this power. The very next instant, swept by the broad stroke of the saber, Zheng Renxin was forced back several paces. *Spurt.* Clutching his chest, Zheng Renxin spat out a mouthful of blood. A coppery, metallic taste flooded his mouth. He was injured. Wounded by a single strike. And he was not the only one. The other three Refining Organs masters of Miaoshou Garden were the same, each injured to varying degrees. In an instant, turbulent waves of shock surged in the hearts of the four Refining Organs masters. With merely a single strike, Li Ji had forcefully injured all of them. Though they were all at the Refining Organs realm, the gap in strength between them was like heaven and earth. "No wonder Li Ji, the Blade-Trailing Heavenly King, was able to rally a horde and choke the trade routes back then, and even escape alive from the imperial army's encirclement. With strength like this, who beneath the Divine Strength Realm could possibly rival him?" "Family Head, flee! You cannot die here! The three of us will cover your retreat and buy you time!" "Family Head, we've lost! Run!" The other three Refining Organs masters of Miaoshou Garden roared hoarsely at the top of their lungs. This time, Miaoshou Garden had mobilized all its forces. If their Refining Organs masters were wiped out, the consequences would be unimaginable. Above all, if Zheng Renxin died here, Miaoshou Garden's century-old foundation might crumble to ruins in a single day. "Want to run?" "I told you, none of you are leaving. Stay right here together!" With the door-sized saber resting on his shoulder, Li Ji strode forward step by step, a savage smirk plastered across his face. Zheng Renxin was no stubborn pedant. Though his eyes were bloodshot and veins bulged across his temples—evidently enraged to the extreme—he knew he could not afford to die in such a situation. If he died, Miaoshou Garden would almost certainly fall apart and collapse into chaos. Just as Zheng Renxin was about to pull back— *Rustle!* Outside the ruined temple, more than a dozen bandits had appeared without anyone noticing. Leading them was a Refining Organs martial artist. Leading his men with loaded crossbows raised, he blocked the retreat of Miaoshou Garden's people. Instantly, the Miaoshou Garden martial artists still fighting in the ruined temple were seized with terror, their morale completely collapsing. "Hold on!" At that moment, Zheng Renxin shouted loudly. Fixing Li Ji with a hard stare, he said coldly, "Li Ji, stop. This time, my Miaoshou Garden admits defeat." "You came south to Nanyang City, running such great risks, for nothing more than gold and silver." "Name your price." Zheng Renxin's words took everyone aback. Even Li Ji halted his steps. "Admitting defeat?" "Not going to fight to the death?" Zheng Renxin shook his head. "Fighting to the death in this situation would only add needless casualties. It's pointless." With that, Zheng Renxin tossed his weapon straight to the ground. This forthright act brought a grin to Li Ji's face. "Hahaha! Good! You know how to read the times." "Tell your people to throw their weapons on the ground too." Zheng Renxin cast a glance around the ruined temple. Miaoshou Garden's seventy or eighty good hands had already been whittled down by nearly half; only thirty or forty remained. He gave a long sigh and said, "Everyone, put down your weapons." *Clatter!* And so, the people of Miaoshou Garden threw their weapons onto the ground. With a flick of Li Ji's eyes, his subordinates quickly surged forward, rounding up all the Miaoshou Garden members and hemming them in together. "Li Ji, name your price," Zheng Renxin said once more. Humiliating though it was, the Nanyang Zheng clan was not a martial arts clan. Miaoshou Garden had not built its prestige on pugilistic bloodshed, but on generations of practicing medicine and a century of steady accumulation. Now, faced with ruthless bandits like Li Ji, the Blade-Trailing Heavenly King, they could not prevail by force; buying peace with money was their only way to survive this disaster. Though Li Ji was burly and heavily built, he was exceptionally shrewd. His eyes rolled, and he sneered, "Zheng Renxin, your Nanyang Zheng clan founded Miaoshou Garden and practiced medicine for generations. A century of accumulation—the gold and silver your forebears amassed must be beyond counting." "Forget about naming a number. Send someone back to bring over everything you can carry." "If I'm satisfied, I'll naturally let you all go. After all, you're right. My brothers and I took the risk of heading south for nothing more than gold and silver. Your lives are worthless to us." Zheng Renxin's face tightened slightly. He had expected Li Ji to be greedy, but not this insatiable. Li Ji had not named a concrete figure at all; he wanted to empty out Miaoshou Garden entirely. That was the century-old accumulation of the Nanyang Zheng clan! Yet could he refuse? Right now, they were the meat on the chopping block. Refusal meant death. Zheng Renxin's chest heaved violently as he recalled the ancestral injunction left by the forebears of the Nanyang Zheng clan: *At all times, people come first.* *Everything else can be forsaken.* It was precisely because of this ancestral instruction that the Nanyang Zheng clan had repeatedly evaded annihilation over the past century and survived to this day. At that thought, Zheng Renxin gritted his teeth and said in a heavy voice, "Li Ji, I will have my son, Zheng Yifeng, return. Send your men to carry the goods. How much you can haul away depends on your own means." Li Ji burst into boisterous laughter. "Haha, good! Erhu, take your men and escort Zheng Yifeng back. Remember: cart away everything you can move." "If Zheng Yifeng tries any tricks, slaughter him on the spot." "Understood, Heavenly King." Soon after, Li Erhu took a dozen men and escorted Zheng Yifeng out of the ruined temple. Though many corpses still littered the ruined temple, the tension in the air relaxed all at once. Zheng Renxin and his companions squatted on the ground, watched over by Li Ji's men. Li Ji rubbed his head and chuckled. "Zheng Renxin, you know how to bend and how to stand tall. You're quite the character." A nearby bandit shook his head, remarking coldly, "Heavenly King, the Nanyang Zheng clan has survived for over a century; naturally they have their ways of navigating the world." "They aren't a martial arts clan, so of course they won't fight and stake their lives like us wandering jianghu folk." "Still, I thought they'd put up a fight a bit longer, seeing as they have four Refining Organs masters. Who would've thought they'd turn out to be such cowards, worse even than imperial lackeys? Tsk, tsk..." "Seems raking in gold every day has made Miaoshou Garden so rich and pampered that they don't have an ounce of a martial artist's backbone left!" The bandits broke into uproarious laughter, their eyes full of mockery as they looked upon the captive crowd. The people of Miaoshou Garden glared in fury, but most hung their heads. Because what these bandits said was the truth. The Nanyang Zheng clan had long lost its fighting spirit, hardly qualifying as people of the jianghu anymore. They possessed four Refining Organs masters in name, yet their actual combat prowess was feeble. Zheng Renxin's gaze turned icy, his fists clenching tightly. Yet he dared not lash out, forced to swallow the ridicule of Li Ji and his men. *Rumble!* Right then, the sky shifted drastically, rolling with peals of thunder. Soon, heavy rain began to pour. Yet the deluge did not bother the people inside the ruined temple. The bandits continued tearing into meat and gulping down wine, merry and relaxed as they waited for Miaoshou Garden's wealth to arrive. *Patter, patter, patter.* Through the rain, a solitary figure emerged unheralded. He wore a bamboo hat and black robes, a black cloth masking his face, wrapped tightly from head to toe as he walked toward the ruined temple step by step. "Halt! Who goes there?" The bandits guarding the temple entrance immediately barked out a harsh challenge. The newcomer was naturally Lu Changsheng. He raised his head, taking in the scene inside the temple. So many people from Miaoshou Garden were squatting within, clearly reduced to prisoners of the bandits. Lu Changsheng shook his head. The Nanyang Zheng clan was truly good for nothing! Then, Lu Changsheng continued advancing step by step, as if deaf to the shouts. He walked straight to the entrance of the ruined temple. *Shring!* The bandits stationed at the doorway drew their sabers at once. Lu Changsheng stopped. He swept a glance across the two bandits, then called out loudly into the temple: "A traveler hurrying through the night! With this heavy downpour, would you permit me to step inside and rest my feet?"