Chen Ping's Sword

Chapter 376: Chapter 181: Fire in the Rear Courtyard, Death Star Overhead (Part 2)

On the city gate tower, signal arrows shot into the sky.

Wangg Erniu had just shouted the command when several hundred cavalry already arrived before him. The leader, a robust man with a bare chest and red cloth wrapped around his head, swung a Nine-Ring Great Saber. With one sweep, Wangg Erniu’s head flew into the air.

"Kill! Charge straight to the government office! Don’t worry about anything along the way. Take the heads of Han Wushang and Sima Rou, then wash the city with our army."

Three thousand water bandits were all brave at this moment, each striving to be first.

They cut down anyone they saw, charging straight towards the Xingqing Prefecture Government Office.

With insiders in the city, they knew the troop distribution and the positions of experts like the back of their hands. With two late-stage Innate experts leading, they swept through everything in their path, unstoppable.

"Lih Yuandong is really going all out for the deputy gang leader position of the Changhe Gang. However, he’s quite fortunate to have me here overseeing things. If today’s operation succeeds, he might truly secure the deputy leader position, overpowering the squad leaders from all prefectures."

Atop Wangjiang Tower, an old man in a black robe with white hair stood laughing eerily against the wind, ignoring the slaughter inside the city.

"Lih Yuandong’s Nine-Ring Saber alone can’t deal with Han Wushang and his wife. Moreover, Cheng Wuduan from the Wind and Thunder Sword Hall is also in the city. However, with Cui Hao’s Heaven-Questioning Sword Technique from the Cui Family, it’s not a problem. Even if Xingqing Prefecture hides a few more Innate Realm experts, it’s nothing to worry about."

At the top floor, in the windy spot, a middle-aged man with a scholarly appearance in a white robe poured himself a drink and spoke lightly, his lowered eyes hiding boundless killing intent.

Cui Bowen not only cultivated the Cui Family’s Heaven-Questioning Jade Planting Technique but also, by a fortunate stroke of luck, acquired the unparalleled White Tiger Geng-Xin Blade Technique. He was called one of the Two Tigers of the Cui Family and entered the Grandmaster Realm at the age of forty-eight.

Now, although he was fifty-two, he still looked as if he were thirty. With the lifespan of someone in the Grandmaster Realm, capable of living past one hundred and twenty, he was in the prime of his life.

The most formidable is that, despite his high cultivation, his unique cultivation technique allowed him to harness powerful murderous aura but still gather all his energies, appearing like a gentleman; truly an anomaly.

Due to the characteristics of his cultivation technique,

the task of the ambush was handed to him.

As for the Changhe Gang’s offering, Elder Kuzhu was placed in the open as bait to lure Chen Ping to come.

Nobody was more suited for this task than him.

The old man, dry and shriveled, laughed as two black streams of air erupted from his nostrils, transforming into dark clouds that enveloped the long street.

Citizens startled and running about were swept up into the dark air, and amidst their screams, their bones and blood essence were drained. As Kuzhu moved, the scene became like a demonic king descending and hell reappearing.

"By my calculations, it should be about time."

He devoured the blood feast while laughing eerily: "I’ve heard of Chen Ping. He earned the reputation of Righteousness Reaches the Heavens when he first made his debut. Now, seeing his own backyard ablaze from afar, how could he still proceed slowly with his troops?"

The Grandmaster’s spiritual sense is always exceedingly keen—although he might sense the killing intent lurking between heaven and earth and suspect machinations plotting against him; he would surely assume this to be just the Changhe Gang’s raid on Xingqing Prefecture. He would never guess, even in his wildest dreams, that the real assassinate attempt, was actually you."

"Indeed. If it were any other time, no matter how many tricks the two of us play, we couldn’t deceive his senses. However, with Han Wushang and Sima Rou and others in dire peril, once he sees it, his heart will get confused, his spirit will be unsettled, and he will lose much of his judgment. This is the best opportunity."

The two worked in harmony, laying a trap on the long street at the city’s gate as Chen Ping returned—a seamlessly meticulous plot with no oversight.

In the distance, Lih Yuandong truly lived up to his name as the unrivaled fierce general of Changhe Gang, sweeping the Qinglin Three Prefectures. His Nine-Ring Great Saber clashed fiercely with Han Wushang’s weapon, sparks flying, and he faintly held the upper hand.

Sima Rou and Cheng Wuduan were caught within a circle formed by a long sword; both sides struck in silence, each move perilous, yet they fought to a standstill, neither able to gain an advantage.

The over three thousand water bandits who had just stormed into the city spread out, committing rampant slaughter.

The city couldn’t muster formations, and the soldiers remaining were mostly new recruits, lacking elite forces.

Besieged from all sides, sustaining large casualties, they found they could do little against these water bandits.

What surprised everyone was that a large number of experts from Longchang Trading Company, Rongqing Trading Company, and Treasure Tower emerged, taking advantage of the water bandits’ invasion to strike at the Xingqing Prefecture’s forces.

This caused fires to break out all over Xingqing Prefecture City, as if the city might actually fall.

Additionally, some delinquents in the Jianghu who had long been repressed seized the opportunity to loot, kill, and plunder at will.

...

Chen Ping deployed Vermilion Bird Xiao Tong, Baimei Mei Yu, and Cangsong Yu Zihan, each leading a troop to set up camps at critical pathways in Xingqing Prefecture. In each camp, he arranged a squad of elites and a Primordial Sect disciple who had broken through to the Innate stage. He himself led four Innate Primordial Sect members and three thousand cavalry, charging towards Xingqing Prefecture.

Speaking of which, the elders and disciples of Primordial Sect had recently obtained the Dao Seed, and although they advanced rapidly, the time was short and not everyone had undergone earth-shattering transformations.

Aside from Old Sect Leader Sunx Yun and Second Elder Yuk Zhixian, only six others achieved the Innate stage subsequently.

This tally includes Han Xiaoru.

There were Eighth Generation Disciple Deng Yuantong, Fang Shen, Ninth Generation Disciples Wangg Yu, Jia Yun, and Zhang Zetao among them.

It was the remaining Primordial Seven who broke through to the Innate Primordial Golden Body stage, including Ninth Generation Disciple Wangg Yu and others.