novelraw Chapter 226
Chapter 226
“Who goes there?”
Outside the branch helm’s main gate, a man dressed like a servant was stopped.
The newcomer carried two large stacked food carriers and said with a sycophantic grin, “Big brother, I am a waiter from Drunken Immortal Restaurant. The two Deputy Helm Leaders ordered a table of food and wine with us and told me to deliver it.”
“Drunken Immortal Restaurant… go on in.”
After the guards confirmed it, they raised a hand and let him pass.
The “servant” thanked them as he walked inside with the food carriers.
“Those little bastards in Leishui Town—how dare they!” Li Degui’s voice boomed.
“They even dare to kill someone from Hejiang Town!”
“Do they think Old Seven is nothing, huh?!”
Cao Xingwen barked in a low voice, “Keep it down. Stop shouting like an idiot. If outsiders hear you, we will become a laughingstock… Helm Leader, I do not think so. This was probably not done by the four Deputy Helm Leaders of Leishui Town. They do not have the guts.”Su Wangchuan was about to respond when he saw someone enter from outside. He raised a hand, palm down, signaling a pause.
At the same time, he glanced at the food carriers in the man’s hands and saw the three characters “Drunken Immortal Restaurant” on them. He understood at once that the meal had been ordered by the Deputy Helm Leaders.
“Set the dishes out first. We will eat.”
“Damn it…!”
“To think Brother Yan Jiang actually…”
“Alas!”
Li Degui was clearly the sort who could not keep anything inside. He guzzled down a huge bowl of liquor, then rubbed his head anxiously with his big hand, lost in some pointless speculation.
Cao Xingwen’s face was shadowed. His gaze pinned the servant as he plated the dishes, pressing down on him with silent intimidation.
Su Wangchuan quietly stepped back half a pace to give him room, letting him serve the food, yet his eyes still could not help lingering on the man.
The servant’s clothes were a little dirty, and the collar was slightly torn.
As he passed the wine and dishes over, the joints of his five fingers stood out sharply.
Su Wangchuan paused, taken aback.
Those hands…
They looked like the hands of someone who had practiced martial arts.
And when Su Wangchuan looked again, he saw scars from blade wounds inside the man’s sleeves.
A chill rose in him for no reason. Without changing his expression, he sized the servant up from head to toe…
A man dressed like a mere waiter, yet beneath the white cloth wrapped around his waist, there seemed to be something else—neatly aligned, flat and firm.
Su Wangchuan’s gaze changed in an instant.
Cao Xingwen had been watching both the servant and Helm Leader Su all along. The moment he noticed the shift in Su Wangchuan’s expression, he followed the thread and scrutinized the servant more carefully. “You are from Drunken Immortal Restaurant? Why do you look so unfamiliar?”
Cao Xingwen sensed it too.
What answered him was the dish in the servant’s hands—an entire basin of food suddenly whooshed toward his face.
Cao Xingwen flew into a rage, slapped the table, and dodged.
WHOOSH!
The servant had already launched himself like a cannonball at Su Wangchuan. A burst of silver light exploded at Su Wangchuan’s eyes from the man’s waist. The speed and pressure that erupted in that instant carried the oppressive force of a Third-Rank Martial Artist, dazzling and overwhelming.
Su Wangchuan was prepared. He silently activated 《Iron Shirt》 and stepped back while using 《Green Robe Dance》, pulling open the distance. At the same time, he roared, “Captain Bai! An assassin!”
Meanwhile, the Hundredfold Steel Longsword at his side reflexively stirred into the silver sword-light.
CLANG! CLANG!!
In a blink, Su Wangchuan felt his Hundredfold Steel Longsword struck again and again. A line of silver sword-light, like a venomous snake, coiled upward and darted toward his arm. Startled, he immediately abandoned the Hundredfold Steel Longsword, twisted away, and snapped a 《Heart-Piercing Dart》 at the attacker, forcing him to parry for the moment.
“Enemy attack!”
“Get people here, now!!”
“Helm Leader Su, do not panic!”
Li Degui and Cao Xingwen finally reacted and rushed in to break the assassin’s momentum.
The servant’s eyes were cold. He suddenly turned and stabbed twice in a row.
Li Degui did not even see the man’s movement—only felt a sharp pain at his throat. His body stopped as if struck by lightning. Both hands clamped around his neck as blood streamed steadily through his fingers.
Cao Xingwen was steadier. At the critical moment, he retreated one step, narrowly avoiding the throat-stab…
But then the assassin lunged forward like a hawk, his foot flashing up to kick Cao Xingwen squarely in the chest. Cao Xingwen crashed into the wall with brutal force. His chest caved in, and he spat blood.
CLANG!!
The servant moved like lightning. His flexible sword burst into a mass of silver sword-light in the air, the blade driving straight into Cao Xingwen’s forehead before being yanked back out in a spray of blood…
The assassin’s movements were crisp and ruthless, as though he had practiced them thousands of times. Even Su Wangchuan—who prided himself on having seen the world—felt his scalp go numb. Backing toward the doorway, he threw with both hands, sending Hundredfold Steel throwing knives nonstop at the servant.
The assassin angled his body up, stepped on the wall as though it were level ground, and charged straight for the gate.
Every throwing knife was evaded!
Just as the twelve Hundredfold Steel throwing knives were exhausted, reinforcements finally arrived.
The moment the servant rushed out of the front hall, a white figure dropped from the sky.
The sword edge hummed.
WHOOSH—WHOOSH!
Captain Bai forced the assassin’s path of pursuit apart, cutting off his route to Su Wangchuan.
The servant and Captain Bai collided into combat.
Both were Third-Rank Martial Artists. The servant struck like lightning, every move lethal.
Captain Bai used an unknown sword art—beautiful to behold, yet always able to neutralize the assassin’s flexible sword at the crucial moment. Sword hums shattered one after another, forcing the assassin to stay away from Su Wangchuan.
“Helm Leader!”
“Helm Leader, are you all right?!”
Chen Ergou, Wang Yuehui, and the rest all arrived.
Old Qiu, Old Yuan, and the members of Land-Clearing Team One also rushed in, sealing off the front courtyard.
Seeing more and more people gathering, the servant’s face changed sharply.
Knowing that assassinating the Sanjiang Branch Helm’s Helm Leader was now impossible, he abruptly withdrew. He flicked out several black objects, forcing Bai Jingtang back. Then he stepped onto the weapon rack beside him, leapt, and landed on the eaves.
That, however, gave Bai Jingtang her opening.
Bai Jingtang decisively took down her iron-reinforced bow and loosed four arrows at full draw in rapid succession.
Five-Finger Rapid Shot!
At the same time—
Within the crowd, Su Wangchuan had already taken a bow and arrows from Chen Ergou. He drew and aimed with speed.
Zhao Heiniu and the others drew as well…
Toward someone who dared to assassinate their Helm Leader, they would show not the slightest mercy.
WHOOSH-WHOOSH! WHOOSH-WHOOSH!!
Arrows tore through the air.
Every one of them came from a powerful bow.
When the servant heard the dense storm of breaking air, he turned and swung his sword to block!
CLANG! CLANG!
There were too many arrows. He could not block them all.
Nor could he evade.
As the first arrow pierced his body, his movements warped—then more and more arrows punched through him.
Under the violent arrow rain, the servant was shot into a hedgehog on the spot.
He toppled from the eaves and died instantly.
Bai Jingtang looked the assassin’s corpse up and down and said, “A Third-Rank Martial Artist. Very strong. In a one-on-one fight, I might not even be able to win.”
“How did you provoke someone like this?”
She looked at Su Wangchuan, puzzled.
Su Wangchuan gave a bitter smile. “Strictly speaking, it was Caobang who provoked them… I had just received Old Seven’s carrier pigeon message a moment ago, telling me to be on guard in case assassins struck the branch helm. I did not expect one to come to my door immediately. I nearly fell for it.”
As he spoke, he suddenly remembered the two Deputy Helm Leaders, and his expression changed.
“Quick—get inside and save them!”
Everyone surged into the front hall.
But it was too late.
Li Degui and Cao Xingwen had been dead for some time already. Not even an immortal could have saved them.
“Send a carrier pigeon message to the hall at once. Tell them the Sanjiang Branch Helm was attacked, and the two Deputy Helm Leaders were assassinated… The assassin had Third-Rank cultivation and was killed in a siege by the branch helm.”
Su Wangchuan gave the order.
Then he said to Chen Ergou and Wang Yuehui, “The two Deputy Helm Leaders are gone. For now, the two of you will be responsible for all matters at the docks.”
“Yes!”
“Yes!”
With that, Chen Ergou and Wang Yuehui rose to their positions in full legitimacy.