Chapter 394: Fifty Years and One and a Half Years

The boss of the Three Heroes Gate, Bao Yingchen, personally led over fifty men, moving silently toward Xiaoyao Stockade.

The third boss of the Three Heroes Gate, Yang Xingbo, said: "Big Brother, for a small thing like this, just let me take the brothers and handle it. Why did you have to make the trip yourself?"

Bao Yingchen shook his head and said: "Third, today's matter is a big one. I don't have to be the one to fight, but I had to come. I need the brothers to know this is a big deal."

"Big Brother, is this Li Qi really at Xiaoyao Stockade?"

"He must be. I planted a spy under Qin Tianjiu. Qin Tianjiu didn't notice, and even sent him to Xiaoyao Stockade to deliver a letter to Li Qi, arranging for Li Qi to meet at the teahouse.

Li Qi has been at Xiaoyao Stockade this whole time. Second Brother wanted to use Qin Tianjiu to get in touch with him and stir up trouble inside the gang. I know about that too.

Once I've dealt with Li Qi first, I'll go back and clean house. Third, you've served the gang faithfully. The second seat of the Three Heroes Gate should be yours."

Yang Xingbo quickly bowed and said: "It's all thanks to your guidance, Big Brother."

Bao Yingchen smiled: "I'm getting old. There are some things I can't keep up with anymore. From now on, you'll have to take more care of the gang's affairs.

First, get tonight's business done right. This Li Qi comes and goes without a trace—very hard to deal with. Tonight, Xiaoyao Stockade must be leveled to the ground. Not a single survivor."

"Don't worry, Big Brother. You've told me that several times already."

The group arrived at the gate of Xiaoyao Stockade and saw two doormen staring blankly in their direction.

Following Yang Xingbo's usual habit, he should have grabbed these two and interrogated them to find out where Li Banfeng was.

But with the boss here, Yang Xingbo didn't dare make the call himself. He asked first: "Big Brother, do we kill them, or bring them over for questioning?"

Bao Yingchen shook his head: "No need to ask. They probably couldn't tell us clearly anyway. Dispose of them quickly. Don't make a sound."

At Yang Xingbo's wave, two men beside him stepped forward swiftly, one knife each, and cleanly killed the two doormen.

The moment the two doormen fell, a crowd of people came rushing out of the building with a great clatter.

There were songstresses and dancers in qipao, musicians and waiters in bow ties, cleaners and odd-job men in short jackets, and also armed hangers-on gripping weapons.

Bao Yingchen frowned and looked at Yang Xingbo: "I told you not to make a sound. Why can't you be more careful?"

Yang Xingbo was a bit puzzled. His men hadn't made any noise.

At least when they killed those people just now, there hadn't been any noise.

But the boss was displeased, and he didn't dare say anything. He quickly called out to his men: "No survivors! Kill them all!"

Of the fifty-plus men brought today, none had cultivation below the fourth layer.

For these ruthless hands, killing ordinary people was as simple as stepping on ants.

A fifth-layer fire cultivator sent a blast of fire and burned an odd-job man straight to ashes.

A fourth-layer clothing cultivator flung out silver needles from all over his body—threaded the needles first, then drew the line, grabbed the end of the thread and pulled—tearing a waiter to shreds.

A fifth-layer food cultivator opened his enormous mouth, bit off nearly half a dancer's head, chewed it up, and swallowed it.

This was this food cultivator's signature killing style. He liked watching people missing half their heads wail before him in fear and pain.

But this dancer didn't wail.

There was no fear on her face either.

Her head was actually a bit crisp and sweet...

The food cultivator was a bit puzzled. In his moment of confusion, the dancer came at him with a knife.

The food cultivator dodged easily and was about to see what this dancer's background was, when a scythe slit his throat from behind.

A sixth-layer martial cultivator, nicknamed Ghost Fierce Tiger, was the third boss Yang Xingbo's favorite general.

His task was to search for Li Qi among the crowd, to prevent Li Qi from escaping in the chaos.

A hanger-on charged at Ghost Fierce Tiger. Ghost Fierce Tiger casually slashed with his dagger and cut off the hanger-on's head.

There was no need to tangle with such an obstructive person.

The headless hanger-on also made a slash, cutting through Ghost Fierce Tiger's clothes.

Ghost Fierce Tiger wasn't injured. This hanger-on wasn't fast, and his strike wasn't accurate either, but Ghost Fierce Tiger couldn't figure it out.

How could a person without a head still counterattack? What kind of Dao Gate was this?

In his astonishment, Ghost Fierce Tiger was slashed again from behind—still not injured.

Ghost Fierce Tiger turned and saw a cook with a cleaver coming at him from behind.

Beside the cook stood a fourth-layer literary cultivator, his face panicked: "I just used Shared Script and Common Rule. This guy didn't react..."

Ghost Fierce Tiger frowned: "Is this thing even human?"

"It is human." A man in a black suit and a black fedora, the brim pulled down very low, appeared before the two of them.

He was telling the truth—these were all people. Cabbage-people were people too.

Zhang Wanlong had given Li Banfeng quite a few seeds, and also quite a lot of medicinal liquid. With the liquid, combined with the blood of these people in Xiaoyao Stockade, he could grow a large number of cabbage-people in a short time.

But the cabbage-people Zhang Wanlong grew could only wear one type of clothing—short jackets white tinged with green.

But the cabbage-people Li Banfeng grew could wear anything—qipao, long gowns, tailcoats—any kind of clothing, looking far more lifelike.

Most importantly, these cabbage-people could fight these cultivators head-on. They couldn't win, but at least they could hold out for a few exchanges—which the cabbage-people Zhang Wanlong grew couldn't do.

This involved Li Banfeng's technique, the Golden House Conceals the Beloved technique.

Because his painting skills were poor and his carving skills were also lacking, the Golden House Conceals the Beloved technique had become Li Banfeng's weakest technique.

But with Zhang Wanlong's seeds, the situation was different.

By sprinkling a drop of blood on the grown cabbage-people, Li Banfeng could modify them and greatly enhance their combat ability.

Ghost Fierce Tiger looked at the man in the black suit and was about to make a move.

The man in the black suit suddenly moved far away.

Experienced as he was, Ghost Fierce Tiger judged from the speed that this was a high-layer travel cultivator. He quickly shifted his gaze to lock onto the opponent's figure.

The fourth-layer literary cultivator didn't react in time—his body shattered in an instant.

In his astonishment, Ghost Fierce Tiger saw the man in the black suit slip into the brawling crowd.

This man's looks and build had nothing distinctive about them, and his black clothes blended with the night. Mixed into the crowd, he was very hard to pick out.

Damn it, where did he go?

Ghost Fiend Tiger quickly left the spot. He knew the key points of the Skimming-Surface technique—either find that man in the black suit right away and keep eyes on him, or get out of his line of sight as fast as possible.

After searching the crowd for a moment, Ghost Fiend Tiger didn't find that man in the black suit.

Could he be Li Qi?

This needs to be reported to the boss right away!

Just as Ghost Fiend Tiger was about to go find Bao Yingchen, a Tang Dao came slashing down at his forehead.

For this sneak attack, Tang Dao had made full preparations and taken full advantage, but unfortunately his opponent was a sixth-layer Wu Xiu.

That slash was parried by the Wu Xiu with a dagger.

A dagger like this, under normal circumstances, Tang Dao could chop through a dozen or so in one slash, but in the hands of a high-layer Wu Xiu, an ordinary weapon can also become a top-grade weapon.

Tang Dao is a magic treasure. His wife once said he is a very special kind of magic treasure—living in Sui Shen Ju, eating and drinking well alongside the master, his cultivation has grown plenty.

But now being parried by an ordinary dagger, Tang Dao himself felt embarrassed, and quickly slashed a second time.

Ghost Fiend Tiger swayed his dagger and parried it again.

"Stupid oaf, don't go hard!" Sickle cursed Tang Dao, and from under his right elbow, went to sneak-attack Ghost Fiend Tiger's ribs.

This position is almost impossible to parry, and extremely hard to dodge.

But Ghost Fiend Tiger still parried it—switching the dagger to his left hand, he reached over to his right ribs and blocked it.

An unreasonable Wu Xiu has almost no openings in close combat.

Ghost Fiend Tiger fought with composure, but was very nervous inside—he still hadn't found that man in the black suit.

These two weapons should be his magic treasures; he should be nearby.

Ghost Fiend Tiger was dealing with Tang Dao and Sickle purely on instinct, still searching for traces of the black suit.

Tang Dao thrust at Ghost Fiend Tiger's chest again. Ghost Fiend Tiger blocked with his dagger, but suddenly felt a chill at his chest—Tang Dao had stabbed in.

Ghost Fiend Tiger was shocked.

Tang Dao's attack trajectory was clearly visible—how could he have failed to block it?

Was his strike too slow?

He looked at his own hand.

It wasn't that his strike was slow—it was that the dagger in his hand was gone.

The dagger was still there at the start of the motion, but by the time the swing went out, the dagger was gone—this strike cut through empty air.

Tang Dao stirred around inside his chest several times, then chopped out through the rib gap, tearing open half of Ghost Fiend Tiger's body.

Ghost Fiend Tiger retreated a few steps, still trying to escape, when Li Banfeng came from behind with the Sickle and chopped off his head.

"Slash and take the enemy's head!" Tang Dao sneered, then transformed into a small knife and slipped into Li Banfeng's pocket.

Sickle spat at Tang Dao, and continued fighting alongside Li Banfeng.

Li Banfeng patted the white gloves in his pocket and said softly: "Generous reward."

Over a hundred Cabbage People and fifty-plus others were tangled in a melee. Li Banfeng fished in the troubled waters among them, and in the blink of an eye had killed over a dozen.

A seventh-layer Yu Zhaixiu is too easy to overlook. Only at this moment did Yang Xingbo realize something was wrong: "Big bro, there's a tough one hidden among these small fry!"

Bao Yingchen said calmly: "You only just noticed? That one's a Travel Cultivator—he's killed over a dozen of our brothers, and even your subordinate Ghost Fiend Tiger has fallen."

Yang Xingbo grew anxious: "Damn it, where is he?"

"Hidden pretty deep, but this time I spotted him!" As the words fell, Bao Yingchen's figure vanished.

Li Banfeng, mixed in among the crowd, suddenly felt danger closing in and swiftly left the spot.

Li Banfeng had only taken two steps when Bao Yingchen had already appeared at the spot where Li Banfeng had been.

Bao Yingchen smiled at Li Banfeng: "You're Li Qi?"

Li Banfeng didn't answer, and Bao Yingchen didn't need him to.

As their figures swayed, Li Banfeng rapidly retreated, trying to pull apart the distance, but Bao Yingchen still appeared within five steps of Li Banfeng.

Half-Step.

Faster than Li Banfeng!

This old man is a Travel Cultivator, and his level is higher than Li Banfeng's!

He stomped his foot hard right in front of Li Banfeng.

A pit appeared on the ground, and broken stones, mud, and sand, together with a blast of air, all came crashing toward Li Banfeng at once.

Li Banfeng forced a dodge. His clothes were shredded in a patch, and his body was left with quite a few wounds; fresh blood flowed down his lapels and cuffs.

He barely dodged the vital spots. Just as Li Banfeng was looking for a chance to counterattack, he suddenly heard another tremendous boom.

Bao Yingchen activated Half-Step again, came behind Li Banfeng, and used River-Crushing Stomp once more.

Can a technique be used this densely?

This time it looks like he can't dodge it.

PS: Bao Yingchen has cultivated for fifty years; Li Banfeng has cultivated for a year and a half.

This is the gap between a year and a half and fifty years—the mastery of technique is worlds apart.

(End of chapter)