Chapter 245: The Encirclement

Hero Chen was once again the first to strike with his sword, because no one would compete with him for the position of primary attacker. Even Fan Li, the most simple-minded among them, would not.

For one thing, Hero Chen was the strongest of them all. For another, he was an honest man.

Hero Chen's sword was indeed incomparably fierce. It was difficult to imagine that the man who had once lost a leg to the combined efforts of the Blind Man and Xue San at the relay station outside Yin City, then been beaten to the brink of death by Sha Tuo Queshi, had actually advanced rather than regressed after recovering from his wounds.

That sort of fortune and aptitude practically made him Guo Jing.

Because of the Blind Man's mental interference, Gesang reacted half a beat too slowly this time.

And in a clash between experts, even half a beat was enough to make an enormous difference.

Had Gesang not spent years fighting for his life in the mountains, developing an extraordinarily tenacious survival instinct, he might not have instinctively dodged sideways the instant the sword qi left the blade.

In that case, Hero Chen's sword would not merely have carved a wound across his chest.

It would have pierced straight into his heart.

Even so, there was virtually no possibility of bringing a wound infused with sword qi under control in a short period of time.

That was the terrifying strength of swordsmen.

Their sword qi was one of the sharpest forms of power in the world.

Earlier, in the countryside outside the imperial region of Jin, the Sword Saint of Jin had likewise intended to rely on this advantage to wear Tian Wujing to death.

Gesang dodged.

Fan Li moved.

Fan Li's physique was indeed extraordinarily powerful, but he had no intention of comparing brute physical strength with a wild man who clearly walked the path of a Martial Artist.

He simply brought his axe down!

Gesang clenched his fist and swung upward.

Just before his fist met the axe, he suddenly opened it into a palm.

A wave of qi burst outward.

Fan Li's wrist jolted, and the force behind his axe was immediately slowed.

In that fleeting instant, Gesang seized the axe blade with his hand.

Ignoring the wound opening across his palm, he wrenched upward and forcibly dragged Fan Li directly in front of him.

This was the difference in absolute strength.

No matter how powerful the flesh, it still required qi and blood to support it.

Gesang did not look nearly as burly as Fan Li, but with the reinforcement of his qi and blood, the strength he could unleash was far more terrifying.

Yet at that very moment, A'Ming had already appeared behind Gesang.

Having only recently advanced, A'Ming's strength had risen to a new level.

The nails on all ten fingers took on a strange dark-red hue before stabbing directly into Gesang's back.

Gesang had originally intended to seize this opportunity to smash Fan Li's head apart with one punch.

But A'Ming's attack forced him to slam Fan Li aside with his shoulder and rapidly turn around.

A'Ming spread his arms and withdrew at once, leaving ten horrifying claw marks across Gesang's back.

Gesang roared and hurled a punch at A'Ming.

"Bang!"

A'Ming made no attempt to resist.

He simply allowed the blow to send him flying.

After soaring roughly ten meters, he landed and swayed slightly.

He sensed how many bones in his body had broken, then charged at Gesang again in an extremely unnatural posture.

The sight genuinely startled Gesang.

But he no longer had time to wonder what exactly A'Ming was made of.

Hero Chen's second sword had already arrived.

Although the world spoke of Four Great Swordsmen, when it came to the true extremes of swordsmanship, there were only two.

One was the speed of the Hundred-Li Sword.

The other was the sharpness of the Sword Saint of Jin.

Hero Chen's sword was clearly not fast.

But every strike carried tremendously powerful sword qi.

Gesang retreated once more.

The sword pierced straight through his right shoulder blade, leaving a bloody hole from front to back.

"AAAH!"

Gesang screamed.

At that moment, Fan Li's axe came down again.

His timing was impeccable.

Gesang was already beginning to lose his reason.

The enemy had Hero Chen, an expert who was stronger than he was to begin with, holding the field. Worse, Gesang had somehow suffered serious injuries right at the start.

If this dragged on, the road left to him would only grow narrower and narrower.

At a time like this, reason and composure had long since been thrown to the farthest corner of the world.

Only boundless frenzy remained inside Gesang's mind.

He ignored Fan Li's axe and drove a fist directly toward Fan Li's chest.

However, Fan Li's strike was a feint.

Perhaps it was simply experience.

The moment he sensed that Gesang had given up on survival and intended to forcibly drag someone down with him, Fan Li decisively admitted defeat and retreated.

Their victory was already certain.

Why die just before dawn?

Fan Li was simple-minded.

He was not stupid.

Gesang truly had not expected the man who had charged so ferociously a moment ago to retreat with equal decisiveness.

As a result, his fist struck only Fan Li's axe.

The axe was blasted away.

Fan Li himself suffered no real injury.

A'Ming appeared behind Gesang again.

This time, Gesang reacted quickly.

He did not even turn around.

Instead, an immense wave of qi suddenly erupted around his body, forcibly drawing everything nearby toward him.

That naturally included A'Ming.

Didn't you bastards love slipping away?

Let's see how you slip away this time!

Gesang twisted his upper body, clenched his fist, and drove it toward A'Ming's chest.

A'Ming did not move.

As long as the man was not aiming for his head, A'Ming did not particularly care.

In fact, A'Ming voluntarily dispersed his own defenses.

"Pu!"

Gesang's fist punched straight through A'Ming's chest.

That was precisely the result A'Ming had intended when he dropped his defenses.

There was no reason to meet the man head-on.

If he simply let Gesang hit him, the worst result would be a hole through his body.

If he tried to clash with him directly, his entire body might be smashed apart.

With a wet sliding sound, A'Ming let his body slip downward along Gesang's arm.

Truthfully, Gesang had experienced countless battles and killings in his life.

But this was the first time he had encountered something this bizarre!

He understood Hero Chen's strength.

But this man before him inspired a chill from the depths of his heart.

A'Ming's nails stabbed into Gesang's body once more.

"AAAAAAAHHH!"

Gesang reached out with his other hand and seized A'Ming by the shoulder.

With an enraged roar, he prepared to tear A'Ming apart.

"Ohayo."

Xue San's voice came from above Gesang.

An assassin either did not appear at all, or appeared only when it was time to harvest a head.

At precisely the perfect moment, Xue San's dagger plunged directly into Gesang's skull.

Easy.

Simple.

Effortless.

Yet what happened next surprised Xue San.

His dagger was coated in potent poison.

He had driven it directly into the man's skull.

And yet Gesang did not die on the spot.

He could still move!

Whether it was merely a final flare of life before death no longer mattered.

The resilience of a Martial Artist's body was truly terrifying.

But that was as far as it went.

Because Hero Chen's third sword had arrived.

The blade stabbed directly into Gesang's neck.

Then the sword trembled.

Gesang's head separated from his body, tracing a graceful arc through the air before landing on the ground.

It was not that Gesang was insufficiently strong.

With Hero Chen serving as the main attacker and several battle-hardened Demon Kings supporting him, there was simply no way for Gesang to stir up any real trouble.

And in ordinary battles between experts, unless one side possessed the overwhelming cultivation of something like a Third Grade Martial Artist, fights that lasted "three days and three nights" were exceedingly rare.

Killing was, at its core, a contest decided in flashes of lightning and sparks of flint.

Who had time for you to strike once, then me to strike once, feeding each other techniques while also worrying about whether the spectators found the fight exciting enough?

"Hey, don't move. Don't move."

The Blind Man suddenly called out.

Hero Chen had no idea whom the Blind Man was talking to.

Still, he did not move.

At that moment, a gentle force brushed across his face.

Hero Chen knew it was not the wind.

Several strands of his hair fell onto the bloodstained sword in his hand.

The blade was so sharp that the hairs parted upon touching it.

"Raise your head. Face the sun. Forty-five-degree angle," the Blind Man instructed.

Hero Chen raised his head.

Then he realized he had no idea what a forty-five-degree angle was.

"A little higher. Yes. Yes. Right there."

Under the Blind Man's direction, Hero Chen completed the pose.

The Blind Man walked over, admired the result, and said, "Hero, next time you kill someone, strike this pose afterward. Hold it for one min—no, hold it for thirty breaths without moving. Understand?"

Hero Chen asked in confusion, "Why?"

"Because it looks cool."

"What does 'cool' mean?"

"It means good-looking. Don't you want to become one of the Four Great Swordsmen someday?"

Hero Chen considered it.

He felt that he did.

So, loyal to his own heart, he nodded.

"Then do what I say. This will attract fans and help build your reputation."

"All right."

"Mm. Good. Once we return to Shengle, we'll have San'er make you a new prosthetic leg. The uneven gait you've got now doesn't look quite perfect."

Xue San patted his chest.

"Leave it to me."

Hero Chen solemnly saluted Xue San with his sword.

"Many thanks, Brother Xue."

"No need for thanks. No need. It's just that suitable material for a prosthetic is hard to find. I'm afraid I'll have to trouble Hero Chen to remain in Shengle City for a while longer."

Hero Chen was a straightforward man.

He was genuinely moved.

"I truly am causing all of you trouble."

"No trouble at all. No trouble. It's only right."

Then, Xue San reached out and poked the Blind Man.

He pointed toward Gesang's severed head lying nearby.

"That guy was about to surrender. You ordered us to butcher him without even asking Master first?"

"He's different from Zuo Jiqian.

"First, although Zuo Jiqian came from an aristocratic clan, the Zuo Clan is already nothing but smoke and dust.

"Second, Zuo Jiqian isn't strong enough.

"As for Gesang's strength—if Hero Chen weren't here, then under ordinary circumstances, which one of the seven of us could suppress him alone?

"Most importantly, Zuo Jiqian only looks like Lü Bu.

"This bastard, on the other hand, is the genuine slave of three surnames.

"Even if Master had been standing here, he would've merely weighed the matter for a moment. He might have felt a little reluctant to waste such talent, but in the end, he still would've ordered us to kill Gesang and eliminate the future threat."

"You still could've asked Master first."

"If I already know what choice Master would make, why force Master to suffer through the hesitation himself?"

"Oh. So that's how it is.

"Fuck, Blind Man. You really know how to lick boots."

The Blind Man smiled with restrained modesty.

Xue San smiled as well.

Then he said, "But have you ever considered that maybe because you're so good at licking, Master might already have been..."

"Already have been what?"

"Licked until he's grown calluses."

"What you say... seems to make some sense."

The Blind Man suddenly turned toward Fan Li.

"So, San'er, could it be that when the child who's usually the worst at talking, the worst at flattering, and the dullest of the bunch suddenly gives you just a tiny bit of warmth, you become extraordinarily moved?

"It's like a kid who's always skipping school, fighting, sneaking off to internet cafés, and refusing to listen. Then one day, he suddenly comes home, sits down at his desk on his own, and starts studying and doing his homework.

"Wouldn't his parents be moved to tears?"

At that moment, Fan Li was helping A'Ming handle Gesang's headless corpse.

A'Ming needed to extract the blood.

"Hiss..."

Xue San stretched out a finger toward Fan Li.

Then he muttered softly, "Cheap bastard."

[End of Chapter 245]