Volume 1, Chapter 293 – The Fisherman Reaps the Spoils

Watching Shi Lan walk toward him with sword in hand, Zhao Ye could not help but feel waves of fear rising in his heart. Ever since that night, when he had narrowly escaped death at Shi Lan’s hands, a shadow had already been left in his mind.

Now even Luo Jin, whom he revered like a god, had died at Shi Lan’s hands. That made his psychological defenses all but collapse completely.

Shi Lan acted as though she had heard nothing. Her steps did not pause in the slightest. She could not possibly allow herself to be threatened by anyone. If she threw away her sword and gave up resisting, the end result would be that she died here together with Ning Kangping.

She was not that foolish.

“Kill her! Avenge the Sect Master!”

“Kill!”

Luo Jin had headed the Wuji Sect for many years, so there were naturally many fanatically loyal followers within it.

The moment they saw Luo Jin dead, more than half of the hundred-odd people around them stepped forward and charged at Shi Lan, completely ignoring the enormous gap in strength and fearless of death.

The other half quietly withdrew toward the outside of the factory, clearly intending to preserve themselves.

Shi Lan’s gaze turned cold. Blood and qi circulated and wrapped around the silver longsword in her hand. From the blade there extended nearly a foot of blood-red sword qi.

Wherever the sword qi passed, everything was cut apart.

Shhk, shhk—

The first three people to rush forward were instantly cut in half at the waist by Shi Lan, along with the weapons in their hands. Yet the people behind them still did not stop. They had completely abandoned defense, using every possible method, willing to trade their lives just to wound her.

Among the remaining Wuji Sect disciples, the strongest was only at the greater mastery stage of the Bone-Forging Realm, and originally they posed no threat to Shi Lan at all. But now they had turned into a pack of desperate madmen, with only one thought in their hearts: to kill Shi Lan with everything they had.

Under such a frenzied siege, although Shi Lan’s strength far surpassed theirs, she had already expended a great deal of stamina. For a time, she found herself constrained at every turn, unable to get even half a step closer to Zhao Ye.

“Kill!!”

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The standing water gradually turned red with blood. Beneath Shi Lan’s feet, it had become a pool of blood, filled with mangled corpses and crimson water.

Looking at the hellish scene before him, Zhao Ye trembled with fear. He threw down Ning Kangping, turned around, and ran.

Ning Kangping fell headfirst into the water. Shocked awake by the icy rainwater, he quickly came to his senses. When he saw the one-sided slaughter in the factory, he sucked in a cold breath, then turned and ran toward the outside of the factory as well.

If he stayed here, he would only cause more trouble for Ning An. If he fell into someone else’s hands again, he would become a bargaining chip once more. He had to go seek help from the military and have these bastards wiped out in one sweep.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Not long after Ning Kangping ran out, the windows around the factory shattered one after another, and groups of all kinds filed in. At a glance, there were no fewer than several hundred of them.

News that Shi Lan had defeated a grandmaster with a single punch in the middle of the street had already spread like wildfire. Tempted by the treasure, all the various factions had gathered their strongest fighting forces and rushed here.

Everyone saw Shi Lan in the middle of the battlefield at a glance. When they saw the longsword in her hand, quite a few people of exceptional knowledge were shocked.

“The Meteorfall Sword?!”

As the treasured weapon personally handed down to the Sect Masters of the Wuji Sect, that sword had long shaken the martial world.

Where the sword was, its bearer was alive.

As for what had become of Luo Jin, the current bearer of the Meteorfall Sword, there was no need to say more.

It was not long before someone sharp-eyed spotted Luo Jin’s corpse floating in the standing water not far from the battlefield.

“She killed Luo Jin. She must have suffered heavy losses. She has to be at the end of her strength by now!”

“Capture her! Take back the treasure!”

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Some ruthless and decisive people made their move at once and joined the battle, while many others were forced into the fighting as well.

“Miss Ning, as long as you’re willing to share the treasure with my Cangyan Sect, I am willing to devote the full strength of my sect to keeping you safe!”

“Miss Ning, don’t panic! I’m here to help you!”

Another group, harboring ulterior motives, struck viciously at the other factions that had just arrived.

At this moment, within the abandoned factory, ninety-nine percent of the martial forces in the world had already gathered. It was no longer something limited to the Nanhao Kingdom alone.

For a time, battle cries shook the heavens. With so many martial experts fighting at once, the spreading aftershocks instantly brought down the entire factory building, and shattered bricks and rubble flew everywhere.

“Hah… hah…”

Shi Lan’s heart pounded like a drum, and she could not stop gasping for breath. Her strength was beginning to fail her. She had already slaughtered the Wuji Sect disciples to the last man, but yet another group of martial artists had surrounded her.

If this went on, it was only a matter of time before she ran out of strength…

Shi Lan could not help grinding her teeth. It would have been one thing if she had actually taken the item, but even now, she did not even know what it was.

…

Ning Kangping ran wildly all the way, heading for the highway he remembered. His phone had long since been ruined by water, so all he could do was try his luck and place his hopes on passing vehicles.

He had only run a few kilometers when, as he passed through a patch of wild forest, several figures suddenly appeared and pinned him to the ground.

Ning Kangping’s heart turned cold, but then he saw the familiar camouflage uniforms, and he was instantly overjoyed.

“Let me go! I want to see your commanding officer!”

…

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Following two soldiers, Ning Kangping walked through the wild forest, and the more he saw, the more alarmed he became.

There were at least dozens of armored vehicles, all equipped with heavy weapons. Not far away there was also a massive shadow covered beneath camouflage tarps, its shape impossible to make out.

After walking on, Ning Kangping was brought before an officer wearing the rank of lieutenant colonel.

“Chief Ning, I’ve long heard of you.”

The officer seemed to know Ning Kangping and offered a polite greeting.

Thinking of Ning An, who was still trapped in heavy encirclement, Ning Kangping had no time to dwell on the strange feeling in his heart and immediately asked for help.

“Sir, please save my daughter…”

“I fully understand how you feel, Chief Ning, but I cannot help you right now. I still have a mission to carry out.”

The lieutenant colonel’s face was full of regret.

“The orders I received are to carry out a saturation bombardment on that factory five kilometers away in two minutes and wipe out all the terrorists inside in one sweep.”

“Saturation… bombardment?!”

Ning Kangping froze, then nearly broke down.

“No… no! My daughter is still in there!”

“Oh? Your daughter is in the factory, Chief Ning? Then that truly is regrettable.”

The lieutenant colonel looked surprised, sighed lightly, and shook his head.

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“A soldier’s duty is to obey orders. I am sorry, but there is nothing I can do.”

“Sir, you…”

Several camouflage tarps in the distance were pulled down, revealing more than a dozen heavy howitzers. The ammunition crates had already been opened, and rows of shells over 160 millimeters in diameter lay neatly inside.

“Wait…”

Watching helplessly as the shells were loaded, Ning Kangping stepped forward to try to stop them, but before he could take more than a step, two soldiers forced him to the ground.

“Chief Ning, interfering with military operations is a serious crime!”

“Let me go!”

Ning Kangping struggled desperately, only to be pressed face-first into the mud.

“Rest assured, Chief Ning. We will always remember your daughter’s sacrifice. After all… it is all for peace.”

The lieutenant colonel said it flatly, lowered his head to glance at his watch, then slowly raised his hand.

“Ready…”

“Fire!”

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The artillery roared like thunder, deafening to the ears. More than a dozen white trails appeared across the sky, and in an instant, flames shot up into the distance.

“An’an!”