One Strike Kills the Enemy, the Man in Black!

Four o'clock in the afternoon, on the official road through the dense forest.

Su Yang, Wang Tiezhu, and eight other guards were scattered around the six carriages. Each of them carried a sword at their waist and a small bag on their back or waist, containing a few days' worth of clothes and personal belongings. Their footsteps followed closely behind the carriage tracks.

Six drivers gripped the reins tightly, urging the animals on.

The wheels creaked as they rolled over the gravel.

"Hiss hiss hiss—!"

Seven or eight eerie blue streaks of light shrieked out from different directions in the forest!

"Oh no! An ambush!"

Wang Tiezhu's roar and the sound of something cutting through the air rang out simultaneously.

"Ugh—!"

A young guard was struck in the neck with a dart. His screams were abruptly cut short, his face was instantly covered in black mist, and he collapsed and died.

Another guard parried one dart with his knife, but the second dart burrowed under his armpit.

His entire arm turned black and numb in an instant, the single knife slipped from his hand, and he collapsed to his knees.

Chaos ensued.

Three poisoned darts struck the horses of the three outer carriages!

The horses neighed in agony and charged wildly!

"My arm! Help me!!"

Chen Le's screams were heart-wrenching.

As he turned to look at his companion, a horse pulling a carriage spooked him and knocked him down. Another startled pack horse charged forward, its hoof landing squarely on his left elbow, where he had hastily braced himself!

"Snap!!!"

With a clear cracking sound, Chen Le's left arm bent backward, bone protruding and blood spurting out.

He screamed in agony and nearly fainted.

The driver became a sitting duck.

"Pfft! Pfft! Pfft!"

Three more poisoned darts pierced the backs of the three drivers almost simultaneously.

They fell silently, crushed by the hooves of startled horses.

The startled horse charged wildly, creating complete chaos.

The smell of blood mixed with a faint sweet and pungent poisonous odor permeated the air.

Wang Tiezhu's eyes widened in fury as he swung his knife to deflect a poisoned dart aimed at him, roaring, "Forget the horses! Get closer to the carriage!"

At the same time, more than ten figures in black pounced out like jackals.

Six men went straight for the carriage, while the rest attacked the guards.

Two men in black, each with a dart pouch at their waist and wielding a curved sword, attacked Su Yang together!

The man in black on the left flashed his blade, aiming straight for Su Yang's neck.

"die!"

Su Yang's eyes were icy cold.

Just before the blade touched his body, he moved.

The hundred-reinforced straight sword at his waist was drawn, drawing a horizontal arc like a cold moon—the third move of the Breaking Edge: Horizontal Sweep!

Strike later, arrive first, precisely cut into the opening of the blade's momentum.

"Snap!!"

The soft sound of a sharp blade slicing through flesh and neck echoed. A masked head, its eyes wide with astonishment, flew straight up!

Blood gushed forth.

The headless corpse continued its forward lunge.

"A hitman who can afford such poisoned darts must have plenty of money. That's exactly what I need!"

Just as the head flew off, Su Yang's gaze, like that of a hawk, locked onto the bulging leather pouch at the corpse's waist, and thoughts raced through his mind.

In the midst of the life-or-death struggle, this bit of greed not only did not distract him, but instead made the sword strikes in his hand even more precise and ruthless.

With an extremely subtle flick of his wrist, the blade, which should have been drawn back smoothly, traced an almost imperceptible downward slash in the air—

"Sizzle!"

The knife tip precisely severed the belt of the waist pouch without damaging the pouch itself!

The heavy waist pouch fell off with a "thud" and landed in the grass about ten feet away, hidden by the grass and inconspicuous.

The entire action was executed flawlessly, with the killing, the severing of the bag, and the precise placement of the blade. It was so fast that even the other man in black next to him only saw the flash of the blade and the blood, and couldn't notice this detail at all.

Su Yang didn't even look at where the blade would land, as if he had just completed a routine swing of his sword, and turned to face another enemy.

Murder and theft were carried out with fluid grace, completed in the mere instant when blood splattered.

This bloody and horrifying scene caused both sides fighting within a few meters to instinctively pause in their movements.

Another man in black, who was lunging at Su Yang, froze in mid-air with his knife raised.

At this moment, the six men in black who were rushing towards the carriage had already lifted the tarpaulin and turned the cloth upside down.

"Boss! It's cloth! All ordinary cotton cloth!"

One person cried out in surprise.

The leader of the men in black, who was locked in combat with Wang Tiezhu, caught a glimpse of the flying head and Su Yang standing with a knife in his hand. His pupils constricted sharply, and he shouted, "Search! Search carefully! The thing must be in the car!"

Wang Tiezhu was shocked—they were looking for "something"!

You should know that the eldest son, Huang Zhenggang, works at the Duba Manor!

Knowing it was the Huang family's caravan, they still dared to attack!

"puff!"

A pebble, seemingly out of nowhere, struck the black-clad leader's wrist with pinpoint accuracy!

The leader grunted, his sword strike faltering.

Wang Tiezhu seized the opportunity to launch a fierce attack, forcing him to retreat.

A sharp, urgent whistle came from the woods!

The leader glanced at his injured wrist, then stared intently at Su Yang, his eyes weighing the conflicted emotions.

They didn't find the item, but instead ran into a jinx; to make matters worse, there was a master spying nearby...

"withdraw!"

A short whistle sounded.

Upon receiving the order, all the men in black instantly disengaged from the battle.

"Bring 'Azure Scales' with you!"

The leader in black gave a low shout.

The two men rushed toward the headless corpse and quickly lifted it up.

Another person used the tip of their knife to pick up dirt and grass leaves to cover the bloodstains.

It came abruptly and left just as quickly.

"vomit……"

As the man in black retreated, Su Yang's nerves relaxed, but a strong urge to vomit surged up his throat. He gritted his teeth and forced it down, cold sweat beading on his forehead.

As someone from a later era, this was the first time I had killed someone, and my body instinctively rejected it.

The image of that stab wound is unforgettable.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, trying to calm his churning blood.

……

The convoy was deathly silent, save for the groans of the wounded, the snorting of the startled horses, and suppressed sobs.

The scene was thick with blood.

Four corpses lay on the ground—a guard and three coachmen, all dead from poisoned darts, their exposed skin blackened. Chen Le lay to one side, his face ashen, his left arm twisted grotesquely, bone protruding, only twitching unconsciously.

Wang Tiezhu leaned on his knife, surveying the carnage that had descended upon the scene.

When they set out, there were eight guards and six coachmen. Now, only six guards and three coachmen are still able to stand.

Four dark, gruesome corpses lay on the ground.

"Li Shitou! Sun Ji!"

Wang Tiezhu's voice was hoarse but resolute: "Go into the woods, find a place, dig a pit. Bury... bury the brothers and the driver."

He paused, then added, each word seemingly squeezed from his lungs: "Be quick, bury them deep. Cover them tightly with soil, don't let wild dogs dig them out. They were hit by poisoned darts, don't touch them."

Li Shitou and his companion turned pale. They glanced at their dark-skinned comrade and coachman on the ground, their eyes flashing with grief and fear, but they still nodded heavily: "Yes, boss!"

They quickly took the spare shovels from the car and ran towards the dense woods beside the road.

"Zhou Ping! Zhao Daqi!" Wang Tiezhu continued, "You two inspect the wagons and goods! Su Yang... you keep a close eye on the woods, and also keep an eye on the area where people are buried, just in case!"

"Understood!" the group replied, and immediately split up to carry out their tasks.

Su Yang gripped his blood-stained straight blade, his sharp gaze sweeping the direction in which Lin Yuan, Li Shitou, and the others had disappeared. The keen intuition brought by his perfected Tiger Form Fist kept him on edge—the killing intent in the forest, though receding, had not completely dissipated.

"Wang Tou... my hand... save me..."

Chen Le's wails sounded particularly mournful after everyone dispersed.

He lay sprawled on the ground, his left arm twisted, blood soaking half his body, his face ashen.

Wang Tiezhu glanced at Zhou Ping and Zhao Daqi, who were inspecting the goods, and then at Su Yang, who was standing guard with a knife at the edge of the forest, and the direction of the dense forest. A resolute look flashed in his eyes.

He didn't call out to anyone, but strode over to Chen Le and knelt down on one knee.

"Bear with it, you won't die!"

Wang Tiezhu let out a low roar, and before he finished speaking, he tore off several long, clean strips of cloth from the hem of his undergarment with a "rip".

His movements were rough but extremely swift. First, he used a cloth strip to tightly bind Chen Le's upper arm, temporarily stopping the gushing blood from the major artery. Then, he used two other cloth strips, one above the other, to barely hold Chen Le's forearm, which was piercing the bone and only held together by skin and flesh, in place to prevent further injury.

The entire process took less than twenty breaths.

Wang Tiezhu's hands and body were covered in blood, but he didn't even flinch.

"Your bone is broken, I can't treat it. This can only temporarily stop the bleeding and let you hold on until you reach Liujiazhuang." Wang Tiezhu stood up, his tone icy, offering no comfort: "Whether you live or not depends on your fate, and also on the skills of Doctor Li of Liujiazhuang."

After he finished speaking, he stopped looking at Chen Le, who was crying and almost collapsing from the pain and fear, and turned around to help Zhao Daqi and Zhou Ping clean up the goods.

Before long, the goods were almost completely cleared away, and Li Shitou and the others came over after burying the bodies.

Zhao Daqi looked at Wang Tiezhu and said, "Boss Wang, the goods are all there, but they've been ransacked and are all dirty... What exactly are they looking for?"

Wang Tiezhu didn't answer. He grabbed the scattered pieces of cloth, his brow furrowed. "It's not robbery... it's to find 'something'."

Li Shitou whispered, "Boss, could it be... that Buli is hiding treasure?"

Wang Tiezhu abruptly raised his hand to stop them, scanning the crowd: "Don't ask questions you shouldn't! We were just escorting cloth when we encountered some bandits, fought them, and repelled them—that's all! Understand?!"

"clear!"

The crowd responded solemnly.

"Hurry up! Pack your things! Load the cloth onto the carts, and bring your own equipment! We must get to Liujiazhuang before dark!"

Wang Tiezhu roared.

Despite their injuries and lingering fear, everyone began to clean up.

Zhao Daqi carried the cloth, Zhou Ping tidied it up, and Sun Ji joined in after bandaging it.

Su Yang held his knife on guard, and out of the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of the exchanged glances between Wang Tiezhu and Li Shitou—a look of solemnity, doubt, and unease.

They didn't know what the "thing" was or whether it was in the convoy.

"What are those men in black looking for?"

Su Yang's eyes showed a thoughtful expression.

The scattered fabrics were quickly reloaded onto the truck; although messy and soiled, they were eventually gathered up.

Chen Le was helped to the car, his face ashen.

"Let's go!" Wang Tiezhu mounted his horse, his gaze sweeping across the caravan like lightning, finally settling on the rear. "Everyone, stay alert! Su Yang, you cover the rear!"

"good!"

Su Yang agreed, just as Wang Tiezhu spurred his horse forward and everyone's attention shifted away.

"This dart pouch might be poisoned; we must be extremely careful!"

His eyes flashed, and with a slight shift in his steps, he had already slid to the side of his waist pouch.

The leather waist pouch was hidden in the grass, its outline barely visible.

Su Yang picked up the burlap and wrapped it around his hand. He gripped the cloth in his left hand and then scooped up the waist pouch from the bushes.

The linen cloth, like a thick palm, precisely scooped up the waist pouch from the grass roots, then smoothly pushed it backward, the cloth ball sliding into the bundle behind him silently.

The whole process took no more than three breaths, as naturally as if the position of the bundle had simply been adjusted.

The setting sun bathed the forest in a pale gold hue.

When the convoy set off again, all that remained on the blood-soaked mud were messy tire tracks, hoofprints, and a patch of freshly turned earth.