Volume 1, Chapter 103 – Taking Back

Shi Lan put away her war halberd and searched the battlefield, only to discover that her Divine Cloud Bow was nowhere to be seen. It must have been snatched up in the chaos by one of the Innate Realm martial artists who had escaped.

Shi Lan walked over to You Hong, who had only one breath left in him, and crouched down.

You Hong’s eyes were dull, his breath coming in rough, rasping gasps. When he saw Shi Lan approach, there was not the slightest ripple in his expression, only dead stillness.

“Who are you people? The one who came probing our camp in Bedrock City last night, was that yours too?”

You Hong gave no response at all to Shi Lan’s question, like a dead man.

Winners are kings, losers lose everything. Now that he had lost, all his plans had turned to smoke. You Hong no longer wished to waste any more words.

Seeing that You Hong had no intention of speaking, Shi Lan did not mind. She said slowly, “Those who came along with you, which factions are they from?”

Those flood-dragon horses that had been looted and those spirit crystals were not things Shi Lan would just let go. She fully intended to take them back.

You Hong lay on the ground and still did not reply, his whole person lifeless.

“Those people came with you and abandoned you halfway through. You really want to watch that lot with no sense of honor walking around outside, enjoying themselves with the spirit crystals you bought them with your life and time?”

At last, a flicker of emotion appeared in You Hong’s expression. After a moment of silence, he rasped,

“City Lord of Yanshan City… Zhang Pingsheng.”

“Elder of Thousand Clouds Sect… Sikong Qian.”

…

“And that old bastard who was just beside me, Daoist Sanling… Yang Kun!”

When he mentioned Yang Kun, there was a murderous glint in You Hong’s eyes. He clearly still resented how Yang Kun had turned tail and run the moment the situation turned bad.

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Toward Shi Lan, You Hong did not feel much hatred. What filled him was regret, and a faint sense of rueful understanding. It was greed that had driven him here, and so he had gone down to the Yellow Springs. Even in the underworld, the judgment he would receive could only be that he brought this upon himself.

The younger generation really was fearsome…

“The men I brought… are all dead. The others know nothing. I hope you can show some mercy.”

There was a trace of pleading in You Hong’s eyes. He had not said which force he belonged to, but he knew clearly that this could not be kept a secret. Before long, from other mouths, Shi Lan and the rest would learn that he was the chief escort of the Firecloud Escort Agency.

A man’s words are kind when he is about to die. You Hong simply wanted to beg a way out for those innocent escorts of his agency.

Just from the look of Shi Lan and the others, it was obvious they meant to seek revenge, and the Firecloud Escort Agency could no longer withstand another blow.

Shi Lan did not answer. She stood up and pointed a finger, cutting off You Hong’s last thread of life and giving him a quick end.

Whether mercy would be shown was not up to You Hong, and Shi Lan could not say yet either. That would depend on whether his people had taken what they should not have.

Wu Lingkong stood to the side, phoenix eyes full of killing intent. She was clearly furious. She had not expected that, within human territory, there would be people bold enough to make a move on the Demon-Suppressing Army.

To run into something like murder and robbery of goods, and have it land on the Demon-Suppressing Army of all people, was simply absurd. If this were in the Central Heaven Domain, no one would believe it if you said it out loud.

In the end, this really was a backwater place, crawling with ignorant fools beyond counting.

Wu Lingkong cursed inwardly but did not say it aloud. After all, Shi Lan was also from the Chengtian Domain, and saying that sort of thing in front of her would not be very appropriate.

Shi Lan walked over to one of the flood-dragon horses and pulled out the map. Fortunately, the map was not very conspicuous and had escaped damage.

She scanned over it once, and her brows drew together slightly.

“What is it?”

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Seeing Shi Lan’s expression change, Wu Lingkong stepped forward to ask.

Shi Lan shook her head. “The rest is easy enough to handle. It’s just that this Thousand Clouds Sect elder is a bit troublesome.”

Wu Lingkong stepped up to glance at the map. Under the three characters for Thousand Clouds Sect, it was clearly marked as a seventh-grade power.

A seventh-grade power had Earth Fiend Realm martial artists. They were no match for that.

“How long has this Thousand Clouds Sect been around?” Wu Lingkong thought for a moment, then asked.

Shi Lan pulled out a dossier, flipped through it, and replied, “A little over three hundred years.”

“Then it shouldn’t be a big problem. We just go to their gates and demand they hand someone over. Let’s hit the other places first and leave Thousand Clouds Sect for last.” Wu Lingkong nodded.

Shi Lan rolled up the map,

swung onto her horse, and said, “Then we go to Yanshan City first.” …

Yanshan City was not far from Bedrock City, and even closer to where Shi Lan and the others had been ambushed, only two to three hundred li away.

After settling the wounded, Shi Lan led the rest of the group toward Yanshan City.

In less than an hour, Shi Lan and the others had already arrived before Yanshan City’s gate.

Yanshan City was smaller than Bedrock City. Its walls were piled from earth and stone instead of built from blocks of blue stone, and were not even four zhang high. To call it a city was already stretching it; perhaps Yanshan Town would have been a more fitting name.

The city gate, about three zhang tall, was tightly shut. Two blade-wielding martial artists stood guard before it.

“Who goes there?!”

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Seeing Shi Lan and the others bearing down on them, the two men tensed and shouted a challenge.

“Is Zhang Pingsheng in the city?” Shi Lan reined in her horse and glanced down at the two, asking calmly.

The two were stunned for a moment. After hesitating briefly, one of them stepped forward and said,

“You’re looking for the City Lord? My lord just returned to the city. Allow me to…”

Before he could finish, Shi Lan waved her hand. A gust of fierce wind swept out, flinging the two martial artists off to either side of the road, and the three-zhang-tall city gate crashed down.

Shi Lan was the first to charge into the city.

There were quite a few pedestrians on the street. When they saw Shi Lan and the others ride in over the fallen city gate, they all froze.

“Where is the City Lord’s residence?”

Shi Lan urged her horse up to a man and asked.

The man stared blankly for a moment at the woman on horseback, then, his expression turning a little stiff, pointed south and said, “In the south of the city. It’s the largest manor there.”

Shi Lan spurred her horse forward, leading the group toward the south of the city.

…

Zhang Pingsheng stood in the main hall, looking at the spirit crystals spread across the floor. The joy in his eyes was almost impossible to hold down.

Boom!

A sudden crash rang out, followed closely by a clear shout.

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“Where is Zhang Pingsheng?!”

Zhang Pingsheng’s face changed slightly. He strode out of the hall and came to the front gate.

He saw that more than half of the courtyard wall had collapsed, and a squad of cavalry stood quietly within the yard.

When he saw the woman at the head of the group, Zhang Pingsheng’s face changed drastically. His first instinct was to turn and flee, but he had barely turned halfway when his feet froze. With the strength this woman had displayed earlier, he had not the slightest hope of escaping.

“Leave him to me.”

Looking at the blue-robed man not far away with a sword on his back, Wu Lingkong summoned her long spear and leapt down from her horse. He was the one who had been tangling with her just now, and it was only right to settle things properly now.

Shi Lan vaulted down to land in front of Wu Lingkong and raised a hand to stop her.

“What is it?” Wu Lingkong asked, puzzled.

“We go together and finish this quickly.”

Shi Lan’s expression was calm as she lifted her hand and summoned her war halberd. Her mind was on the Divine Cloud Bow, and she did not want to waste time here watching Wu Lingkong and this Zhang Pingsheng play out some boring one-on-one duel.

“Ganging up on the few with the many, shameless!” Zhang Pingsheng came back to his senses and shouted angrily.

Shi Lan could not be bothered to respond. She had come to take back what was hers; how was that shameless?

Besides, even if she acted alone, why would it take more than two moves for her to kill this Zhang Pingsheng?