Chapter 192
Chapter 192
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 192
>Chapter Title: Military Clan
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With Li Huowang drawing his sword, a thick killing intent filled the entire Hall of Righteous Gathering, making everyone present feel as though they were at the center of a brutal battlefield.
The continuous sounds of blades being drawn rang out as bandits wielding all sorts of weapons from every direction struggled forward against the oppressive killing intent.
Some of the bandits, however, couldn't hold up, their eyes growing deeper with fear.
When the sword was sheathed once more, the surroundings quickly calmed.
At that moment, the bandit leader's laughter also ceased. The three men who had been drinking and eating meat tilted their chins upward, staring motionlessly at Li Huowang.
Just as the atmosphere reached its most tense point, the bald man in the seat of honor picked up a fried peanut and popped it into his mouth.
A smiling wide-faced bandit immediately stepped forward from the side to smooth things over.
"Real person, don't be hasty. Whatever the matter, we can talk it out. Meeting like this is fate—come, sit down and have a drink with us."
Li Huowang showed no timidity and walked right over to sit down, picking up some of their half-eaten meat and digging in.
The round-faced man who had smoothed things over bowed at the waist, hovering carefully at Li Huowang's side like an attentive waiter.
He pulled a paper fan painted with a landscape from his bosom and gently fanned Li Huowang a few times before snapping it shut and pointing it toward the bald man seated boldly at the main table of the Eight Immortals table.
"This is our Big Boss, Big Golden Dragon."
"This is our Second Boss, Down-Mountain Tiger." The bandit in the tiger-skin coat snorted coldly.
With that, the introductions ended, skipping the last person.
The final man at the table, with his gloomy expression, lifted his large sea bowl and took a huge gulp.
He was a very distinctive fellow. Apart from his fierce and villainous looks, the left side of his forehead bore a tattoo of the character for "prisoner."
All three of these men had massive builds, far larger than anyone else.
The round-faced man then tapped his nose with the fan. "This humble one is Liu Xiang, the tattoo artist of the stronghold. Greetings, real person."
"Is that theater troupe still around? How many of them died?"
The man in the tiger-skin coat started to flare up violently at the blunt question from the side, but Big Golden Dragon silenced him with a glance.
With a wave of his hand, several disheveled and filthy people were brought in shortly after—the long-unseen Lv family troupe.
Upon seeing Li Huowang sitting with the bandit leaders, Lv Zhuangyuan immediately dropped to his knees and kowtowed repeatedly, his voice utterly wretched.
"Young Daoist! Young Daoist, save us!!"
Li Huowang picked at the meat strands stuck between his teeth with his tongue tip, scanned across the bandits' faces, then stood and headed for the cave exit.
Lv Zhuangyuan wept with joy and hurriedly dragged his bloodied and battered son along to follow.
"Hold it~ Did I say you could leave?"
At this arrogant remark, the bandits immediately blocked Li Huowang's path.
When Li Huowang turned back, he saw that the speaker wasn't the so-called Big Boss Big Golden Dragon, but the gloomy man with the "prisoner" tattoo on his forehead.
He rapped the table with his thick knuckles. "Come on, keep drinking. The theater troupe can wait—what's the Right House of Siqi to you?"
"Right House of Siqi?"
Seeing Li Huowang's utter confusion, the man chuckled, cracked open a broad bean, and took another swig of liquor.
"Don't play dumb. That sword of yours belongs to You Zixiong, right? Why would he just hand it over for nothing?"
Seeing the man glance at the sword on his back, Li Huowang began to catch on. It seemed this sword came with more baggage than he'd realized.
After looking around at the three men's faces for a moment, Li Huowang sensed something off.
Though these stronghold bandits appeared to follow the Big Boss, this man's speech was brash and showed no respect for him at all.
"And who are you? The Third Boss of this stronghold?"
"Bullshit Third Boss! This daddy's name is Wang Deqiu!"
The man suddenly exploded into action, slamming a palm into Li Huowang's chest and sending him flying.
The force was tremendous, launching Li Huowang's entire body through the air.
The tall and sturdy Gao Zhijian rushed up from the side, catching him firmly with his massive hands.
Clutching his agonizing chest, Li Huowang surged with fury and drew his sword, charging straight at the man.
Wang Deqiu stood there in surprise, watching Li Huowang rush toward him, thinking to himself: "He took my palm strike full-on, and his heart and liver are still intact? This guy's got some real skill."
"Damn it! Get this bastard!" Big Golden Dragon kicked the Eight Immortals table flying and charged forward with a wolf-tooth club in hand.
With that, chaos erupted completely as all the bandits surged in.
It looked like the sides were terribly mismatched, with Li Huowang's group doomed to lose, but when they actually clashed, it wasn't the case at all.
Gao Zhijian let out an angry roar and swung his staff with full force, sending three men flying.
Two bandits with daggers tried to circle behind, only for a pair of hands with black nails to plunge into their necks.
Some distant bandits had just raised their crossbows when Chun Xiaoman flung open the *Great Thousand Record* with a clatter, gripped her sword, and sliced off the nails from two of her fingers, flesh and all.
Amid Chun Xiaoman's agonized scream, the nails flew forth, decapitating everyone between her and the crossbow-wielding bandits.
Li Huowang ignored what was behind him, focusing entirely on the three men before him—they were the core of this entire bandit nest.
*Clang!* Down-Mountain Tiger's massive ringed broadsword collided heavily with Li Huowang's longsword, the immense force shoving Li Huowang back several steps.
But that was the end of it. With a ripping sound, the sharp blade in Li Huowang's hand easily sheared through Down-Mountain Tiger's broadsword, slashing straight toward his face.
"Second Brother!" Big Golden Dragon roared and rushed up to aid his brother, but Wang Deqiu beat him to it.
Gripping an inky-black straight saber, he brought it down with a blur toward Li Huowang's sword hand.
*Clang~!* A crisp metallic clash rang out, chipping a notch right out of the straight saber's blade.
Li Huowang pulled back, switching targets.
These three were clearly superior in martial skill to Li Huowang, but their fatal flaw was equally glaring: their weapons. In just a few clashes, all were ruined in Li Huowang's hands.
In response, the trio shifted to containment tactics, no longer daring to clash head-on with him.
As the pressure eased slightly, a woman in a red veil arrived to relieve them.
*Thump thump thump!!* "Strike the drum with the whip and it rings, ring the drum to summon the immortal, summon first the inner immortal, three layers of Wolf Lord, three layers of peril."
Three wolf heads rapidly bulged under the red veil, clamping viciously onto Big Golden Dragon's neck. He roared in fury, raising his wolf-tooth club and hammering savagely at the wolf heads beneath the veil.
The wolf heads caved in quickly but reformed just as fast, biting down again and cracking Big Golden Dragon's bones. The spraying blood dyed the red veil an even deeper crimson.
Seizing the opening, Li Huowang lopped off the Second Boss's head and turned toward Wang Deqiu, bloodied sword in hand.
"They say the greenwood has its rules, but I find it's all bullshit—the only rule is the sword in your hand!"
Faced with this dire straits, Wang Deqiu laughed. "There are rules, but who you discuss them with matters. The people of Later Shu don't parley rules with the Right House of Siqi."
"What do you mean?"
"The Right House of Siqi is a military clan. How many of Later Shu's people have they killed? You really think we'd let you stroll out of here so easily?"
"Heh, since when do bandits talk of national brotherhood? If that's the case, why did you rebel in the first place?"
Faced with Li Huowang's scorn, Wang Deqiu merely smiled without replying.
Staring at that smiling face, Li Huowang's expression gradually chilled as he suddenly realized their true identity.
"Wait—you're not bandits! You're soldiers!"
"Heh heh, bandits or soldiers—does it really matter to draw such a clear line? Aren't we all just killers in the end?"
(End of chapter)