Chapter 370
Chapter 370
Suo Lin stared at Shen Lang in disbelief. He had heard that Shen Lang was as cunning as a demon, but he had never believed it. When a man holds great power for too long, he grows overconfident and sees everyone else as inferior. So, when Suo Lin heard that Shen Lang was coming to Zhenyuan City, he considered him an important figure but still looked down on him in his heart.
‘I’ve run Zhenyuan City with an iron fist for years. Shen Lang, do you really think you can overturn this place with just a few hundred men? What a fool, talking in his sleep. I, Suo Lin, can crush you with a single finger.’
But now, only a day after Shen Lang’s arrival in Zhenyuan City, and with Suo Lin holding the upper hand, he had been so miserably defeated. They were never in the same league to begin with.
“Shen Lang, you are truly vicious! But do you think this will help you? A hundred masters are surrounding this place right now. Do you think you can escape? Letting me go is your only chance to live!”
Before Suo Lin could finish his words, he felt a sudden coldness in his nether regions. To his horror, he saw blood flowing from between his legs. The object that had fallen to the floor was horribly familiar. The dagger in Shen Lang’s hand was still stained with blood. C-castrated? Just like that?
‘Aaaah! Shen Lang, you’re a devil. You’re a monster. Why would you do something like this without a word of warning?’
Suo Lin let out a wretched scream, and the sight made everyone’s hair stand on end.
Shen Lang said.
“My dear brother, I’m so sorry. Your dagger is so sharp that the moment I held it, I couldn’t resist the urge to cut something.”
Suo Lin shrieked wretchedly.
“Shen Lang, I’ll kill you! I’ll kill you!”
“But it seems your… asset is a bit small, brother. With your wife being so large, isn’t it like stirring a large jar with a toothpick? From the looks of it, I’d say you’ve been wearing a green hat.”
Suo Lin screamed out an order.
“Move! Go and tear Shen Lang to shreds!”
At his command, the hundred masters in the hall drew their swords with all their might. Suo Lin’s wife, snapping back to her senses, looked down at her husband’s severed part on the floor and shrieked hoarsely.
“Go! Skin that pretty boy alive and mince his flesh! Shoot the woman in that iron cage to death!”
*Swish, swish, swish, swish.*
A dozen warriors activated the mechanisms, and a volley of bolts shot from a dozen crossbows, killing the woman in the iron cage. Then, the hundred masters charged madly toward Shen Lang and his group, their advance showing they no longer cared for Suo Lin’s life. Li Qianqiu casually twisted his fingers, snapping Suo Lin’s neck. Suddenly, Suo Lin felt nothing below his head, not even the pain between his legs.
“Aaaah!”
Suo Lin let out another scream, this one filled with terror. Li Qianqiu drew a real sword from his sleeve and asked Big Dummy.
“Big Dummy, will you have any trouble protecting Little Dummy?”
Big Dummy nodded vigorously in response. It was an ambiguous answer, unclear whether he meant he would have trouble or not. But the Sword King, Li Qianqiu, didn’t hesitate. He shot out like lightning and slaughtered all hundred-odd masters. A familiar scene unfolded once more. Before the Sword King, it mattered not whether you were an ordinary man, a master, or a grandmaster; with each swing of his sword, another fell.
*Swish, swish, swish, swish.*
Li Qianqiu used no particular forms, simply swinging the sharp sword in his hand with lightning speed. His enemies died the instant his blade passed, and in the blink of an eye, a mountain of corpses piled up beside him. To be honest, the Sword King found dealing with fully armored soldiers a bit troublesome. Piercing or splitting their thick armor with a single strike consumed his true energy.
In contrast, martial arts masters disliked wearing iron armor. So the Sword King could pierce their hearts or sever their arteries with the greatest speed and minimal effort. He didn't even cut through bone, lest he waste the slightest bit of energy or strength.
***
“Kill them! Kill them!”
At the shout of Suo Lin’s wife,
*Crash, crash, crash.*
A hundred warriors from the courtyard burst through the doors.
“Shoot them down! Shoot that pretty boy down!”
Suo Lin’s wife gave the order, not caring if her own husband was turned into a human pincushion. The hundred warriors drew their bowstrings, aimed at Shen Lang, and fired a chaotic volley of arrows. But it was useless. Big Dummy was swinging his Xuan Iron Staff furiously. The two-meter-long staff created a four-meter-diameter vortex. As he swung it at an incredible speed, the air vibrated, creating a powerful suction, and since the staff was forged from meteoric iron, it also possessed a strong magnetic force. In the end, Big Dummy’s Xuan Iron Staff sucked in every arrow they fired.
Hiding behind Big Dummy, Shen Lang was as safe as if he were behind a solid iron wall. There was no dramatic scene of a sharp arrow grazing his cheek. Not a single arrow came within three feet of him. Soon, Shen Lang crouched down and began toying with Suo Lin on the floor.
“Brother, do you feel anything? You don’t feel it when I poke here? Brother, will you still feel nothing if I stab you hard right here?”
Suo Lin was in despair. He could only repeat one phrase in his mind.
‘Damn you, Shen Lang, damn you to hell.’
Because Shen Lang was continuously stabbing his thighs, arms, and stomach with the dagger. Blood poured from all over Suo Lin's body, yet Shen Lang could still ask if he felt anything.
“Brother, just one last stab.”
*Thunk!*
Shen Lang stabbed him one more time, but this time, he didn’t pull the blade out, leaving his hand empty. Shen Lang asked in feigned surprise.
“Brother, you still don’t feel anything? Truly amazing.”
Suo Lin screamed.
“Shen Lang! Where in the world did you stick that dagger?!”
“Between your buttocks. It might be inconvenient when you need to relieve yourself from now on.”
Hearing this, Suo Lin’s eyes bulged as if they would tear, and he screamed.
“Shen Lang, you son of a bitch…!”
Suo Lin’s wife, the princess of Zhun, was on the verge of madness.
‘Is this tall oaf really that powerful? Not a single arrow in that entire volley could get past his iron club!’
“Charge and kill that tall idiot! Kill him!”
At her command, a hundred warriors charged madly toward Big Dummy.
“Kill them! Kill them!”
Suo Lin’s wife joined the charging warriors, swinging a great saber as she rushed fiercely toward Big Dummy.
“Big Dummy, close your eyes.”
“Okay!”
At Shen Lang’s words, Big Dummy closed his eyes. Suo Lin’s wife was surprised for a moment, then overjoyed.
‘That idiot is closing his eyes? Isn’t he just asking for death?’
But soon, her joy turned to despair, and the hundred warriors charging toward Big Dummy also fell into utter despair.
*Thwack, thwack, thwack, thwack.*
Big Dummy, once again without any forms, swung his iron staff like a madman. His swings were chaotic but incredibly fast. They were too fast to dodge and too powerful to block. Anyone hit by his Xuan Iron Staff was instantly flattened and killed without even a chance to let out a scream.
*Thwack, thwack, thwack, thwack.*
An incomparably spectacular and thrilling scene unfolded. It was a scene of countless people being launched endlessly into the air. Anyone struck by Big Dummy's Xuan Iron Staff flew like a straw doll.
*Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.*
A few, then dozens, then scores of men went flying. Each was launched over ten meters before slamming hard against a wall. They stuck to the walls like paper posters before sliding down a long while later. Shen Lang was dumbfounded by the sight, and even the Sword King, Li Qianqiu, was so stunned that he got distracted mid-fight. He felt a pang of envy toward Big Dummy.
‘Hah! For people like us to bear the title of Sword King is really just a matter of clever tricks. Big Dummy is the truly formidable one.’
Suo Lin’s wife, the princess of Zhun, was also a warrior of immense strength. She swung her great saber and charged toward Big Dummy, and in an instant, her vision went black.
‘What’s this?’
After that fleeting thought, she knew nothing more.
Her body, weighing two hundred and fifty jin, flew like a straw doll and slammed hard against the wall. Bright red blood splattered across it, and her corpse remained stuck there for a long time. Only after a while did her body begin to slide down the wall, all its bones shattered, all its internal organs ruptured. It was truly a sudden death.
***
At the same time.
The numerous citizens of Zhenyuan City were suffering a terrible calamity. The previous night, Shen Lang had led them to plunder the shops of the Western merchants, seizing over a hundred thousand gold coins and countless silver coins. Everyone who participated had made a huge windfall. But today, disaster struck the home of every commoner. At Suo Lin’s command, all the officials and hundreds of bailiffs of Zhenyuan City, along with hundreds of newly arrived Western warriors, raided the homes of the poor, one by one, leaving no stone unturned.
“Did you participate in last night’s looting?”
“No, no. I’m Wang Laoshi. My name means ‘honest,’ and I’m the most honest man you’ll find! It wasn’t me; it was Wang Laosan next door who participated.”
“You’re too cunning not to have participated! Search the house!”
Several cruel and vicious bailiffs stormed into the house, digging three feet into the ground and rummaging through every corner, confiscating not only the gold and silver looted the night before but everything else of value as well.
“Sir, sir! That’s our family’s silver! We’ve saved it for over ten years to pass on to our son and his wife. Sir, you can’t take that!”
Wang Laoshi lunged at a bailiff, but the bailiff ruthlessly swung his club, breaking the man’s limbs. Then, Wang Laoshi’s wife rushed forward. Several Western warriors noticed that while she was not young and her face was plain, she had a decent figure. Deciding they might as well have their way with her, they pushed Wang Laoshi’s wife to the floor. This same tragedy was replaying itself in almost every home. The Western merchants were practically the Suo Clan’s purse, so the two hundred thousand gold coins lost the previous night had to be recovered today.
Suo Lin had not been wrong. They not only recovered all the wealth lost the previous night but also seized far more than what was lost, for they took all the property the common people had painstakingly saved over the years. Suo Lin, too, was a cautious man. Only after he was certain that Shen Lang had walked into the Prefect’s Manor to his certain death did he order the officials of Zhenyuan City to search every house and recover the stolen goods. In an instant, Zhenyuan City was filled with cries that seemed to pierce the heavens, and every household shed tears of blood.