Chapter 273: Inn Lobby — A Desperate Fight

While Jier and his group were celebrating and eating inside the inn, a group of people was hiding in the shadows across the street, outside the inn, where the moonlight could not reach.

Watching the lamplight spilling out from the inn across the way, Lao Feisi covered his mouth with his hand and whispered to a Bandit crouching beside him: "Did you see clearly? Is this the place?"

Borrowing the moonlight shining on the sign hanging outside the inn, this Bandit, who had previously pretended to sell charcoal at the city gate but was actually scouting and tracking, gave a definitive reply to the leader who was also crouching in the shadows: "It's here, no mistake. Listen, those damn things are still in there celebrating."

Sniffing, the Bandit said with an envious look: "This smell! They're eating quite well, damn it, where did they get the money?"

Lao Feisi knew that there had been several merchant leaders from the Merchant Guilds in Bingxun Pass locked up in the Jianlao previously; even if the other party had no money due to their escape, once they returned to Bingxun Pass, they could easily obtain plenty of supplies and funds just by showing their faces.

It was simply very easy for these local snakes to arrange for a booked-out inn.

"Leader, why don't we just let the brothers rush in now?" another Bandit asked in a low voice.

Lao Feisi's face could not be seen in the darkness; stroking the beard on his chin, he was cautious by nature and felt it was better to scout a bit more.

He made a gesture, and the Bandit who used a Dagger, who had been keeping a secret watch outside the house where they were temporarily staying, moved closer.

"Yigena, you go over and take a look. If it's them, give a signal, and the brothers will rush over. If it's not, pretend to be a guest looking for a room," Lao Feisi whispered instructions to Yigena, who used the Dagger.

This person was Lao Feisi's true confidant.

Nodding, the Bandit put away the Dagger he had been fiddling with and hung it at his waist. His hunched figure immediately straightened up, and he walked out of the street's shadows, pretending to be a normal traveler as he arrived outside the inn across the way.

Thump, thump, thump—he hammered on the door with his fist. A moment later, a Shop Assistant opened the wooden door that had been closed.

Looking the person who knocked up and down, the Shop Assistant replied: "Here to stay or to eat? But I'm sorry, our shop has been booked out by the Iron-Armored Horse Merchant Guild today. As you can see, it's full of people; we can't host you anymore."

Yigena rubbed his hands together, pretending to be curious as he looked at the fleeing civilians inside who were clinking wine cups and drinking heartily; with sharp eyes, he caught the bright light from the room and clearly saw several of the imprisoned civilians he had seen before.

Licking his lips, he let out a low laugh, seeing the Shop Assistant in front of him looking at him with surprise.

He stopped pretending and reached out to wave his hand three times behind him.

Seeing Yigena, who had gone to scout, wave his arm three times, Lao Feisi patted the Bandits beside him: "Confirmed. Everyone, charge in for me. Kill everyone in the inn, especially those civilians. If the inn staff run, don't chase them."

The Bandits one by one drew the small axes and Short Swords they had secretly carried in, and with faces full of excitement, they rushed out of the shadows of the street.

Lao Feisi did not move himself; the Refining Qi elites he brought had good skills, each of them had killed more than five people, and they had all been trained by their leaders in Luodai Cave. Taking out these civilians who had let their guard down was no problem.

At this moment, he was already considering the aftermath of the slaughter later.

Several wanted Bandits must leave Bingxun Pass overnight, while the Bandits whose identities had not been leaked had to quickly avoid the Soldiers who would arrive later, try to take small paths back to where they were hiding, burn the clothes stained with blood, and pack the weapons that would also be stained with blood into boxes to be buried. They also had to prepare hot water for washing to clean the blood off their bodies.

In this way, when the Soldiers searched the entire pass tomorrow, they would only be slightly suspicious and would not be considered the true culprits. After all, there were too many unspeakable things in the entire Bingxun Pass; if they really wanted to investigate, would those Soldiers not value their lives? Or would the Soldiers' superiors not value theirs?

Hearing the sound of footsteps not far behind him, the smile on Yigena's face grew wider.

The Shop Assistant in front of him felt that the person before him was not right and was about to close the main door, but he did not expect the wooden door to be blocked by the other party's leg.

Then he felt a chill in his abdomen; a Dagger with a cold blade stabbed into his gut, "Ugh. How could you?" The Shop Assistant felt unbearable pain and wanted to cry out, but he lost the ability to speak after being stabbed several more times in succession.

Yigena pushed the Shop Assistant, who had been stabbed many times, directly to the ground, pulled the half-closed wooden door wide open, and then dodged to the side.

Sure enough, the rough and sturdy guys who rushed up from behind squeezed past him, laughing and shrieking as they raised various short weapons and charged in one by one.

Jier had drunk several cups of ale and was eating a large mouthful of boiled mashed Potato to soothe the hunger signals his stomach was sending him. Just at this moment, the Shop Assistant who had been turning away guests at the entrance of the inn lobby fell directly onto the solid wooden floor, making a dull sound.

The inn lobby, which had been lively, went completely quiet, as if a Rooster had been grabbed by the throat.

Then, like a whirlwind and raging fire, a group of ferocious, weirdly laughing, strong strangers surged in from the opened wooden door. They each held short-handled weapons, and as soon as they approached the dining tables, they swung them, hacking down a civilian who had stood up and was looking at them in surprise.

"It's Bandits!" someone screamed, and the ladies let out shrieks that pierced the sky.

This annoyed a rough Bandit. After rushing over, he didn't care about the other civilians dodging; he jumped up, vaulted over the dining table, and swung a short-handled axe directly at the screaming woman.

Jier watched everything behind him in shock. His whole body felt hot, his hair seemed to stand on end, and he reacted immediately, grabbing the Wooden Bowl in front of him and smashing the entire bowl of mashed Potato at the Bandit hacking at the lady.

The entire bowl of mashed Potato, which had just come out of the pot, smashed onto the Bandit's head. The boiling food made the hatless Bandit let out a strange cry; he couldn't care about hacking people anymore, dropped his axe, and kept clawing at his head and face with his rough hands.

While shrieking, he turned his head to see which bold fellow dared to treat him like this.

Jier had no time to pay attention to that Bandit now; more and more Bandits were surging in from the wooden doorway.

The civilians were not just taking a beating either. Earlier, someone had called out the identities of these intruders. Although the civilians were shocked, they all knew that those Bandits would not let them live. Although they had escaped the pursuit of those Bandits in the mountains before, they all vaguely knew that those Bandits would not let it go.

Jier had told them all that in the face of those Bandits who wanted their lives, they now had only one way out: to resist. The Bandits would neither accept their surrender nor let them go.

For a time, the civilians threw the food on the dining tables at the Bandits, and the chairs they were sitting on were also used as weapons, pushed forward with force to block the brutal Bandits.

Jier drew the curved Dagger he carried, parrying a strong Bandit who rushed over. The opponent used a Short Sword—presumably, he couldn't find a better weapon—and the Bandit awkwardly used this Short Sword like a Cleaver, hacking directly at Jier's head, wanting to kill this young man who dared to resist with one blow.

Jier parried the opponent's Heavy Cleave. Fortunately, although the opponent looked strong, there was still a gap between his strength and Jier's. At the same time, the curved Dagger in his hand was unexpectedly easy to use.

As soon as the two clashed, a fingernail-sized chip broke off the opponent's Short Sword.

The Bandit opposite hissed, seemingly dissatisfied with this ordinary weapon.

While fighting this person, Jier saw that the civilians on the scene were gradually unable to hold on.

After all, there wasn't that much boiling food on the tables. Although there were more of them, for one, no one had weapons, and for another, everyone had been walking for so many days, and their bodies were extremely weak.

Fortunately, the Shop Assistant and the owner of this inn saw their companion stabbed to death at the door. Realizing that these people who were slaughtering were all lawless thugs, they quickly took out various knives and tableware from the back kitchen to arm the civilians who were squeezed in the back.

Even so, the overall situation was still very unfavorable for them. The nine Bandits were all strong and powerful men, and they had a weapon advantage. Several civilians who were staring in the front were just careless during the fight and had their limbs or necks hacked off, dying immediately.

"Don't be afraid, fight them to the end!" Jier shouted loudly, letting the panicked civilians regain their confidence.

"That's right, fight them! Use my life to trade for the lives of these Bandits! Father! Mother! I'm here to avenge you! Ahhhhh!" A middle-aged man suddenly rushed out from the ranks of the civilians, not even bothering to defend himself. After running two steps, he slammed his head directly into the chest of a Bandit in front of him.

Thump!!!

With a dull sound, although the Bandit stabbed a Dagger into the man's shoulder and back, the man ignored it completely, slamming him to the ground with his head. Risking being hacked and stabbed in several places by other Bandits at the same time, he lunged at the head and face of the Bandit he had knocked down, bit the Bandit's nose, and his hands, like bloodied hands reaching out from Hell, ignored everything else and clamped directly onto the Bandit's neck.

Seeing his companion knocked down, a Bandit nearby held a short axe and hacked down, cutting off the head of this civilian who had risked his life.

"Kill them all!" The Bandit picked up the head from the ground and threw it into the crowd of civilians opposite.

Unexpectedly, this action enraged all dozen or so civilians opposite. Not just the civilians; Jier's face was also splattered with drops of fresh blood that sprayed from the neck of that man's head.

The blood was hot, just like that man.

Jier no longer thought about protecting himself. He opened his eyes wide, staring intently at the opponent in front of him. His Dagger swung violently, but he no longer parried the opponent's attack; instead, relying only on a slight dodge of his body, he let the less-sharp Short Sword pass, letting his blade cut directly into the opponent's chest.

Hiss!

The thick clothing on the opponent's chest could not block this sharp curved Dagger, and a line of blood sprayed out directly.

The Bandit opposite kicked over. Jier grabbed the opponent's powerful kick, and in the surprised eyes of the Bandit opposite, he twisted his waist and threw the Bandit to the ground.

With a powerful kick, Jier slammed his right leg hard into the bandit's head.

Bang! Blood sprayed from the opponent's eyes and nose, and a whole side of shattered teeth flew from his mouth.

The bandit's head was even deformed by this angry kick from Jier.

The other commoners also risked their lives, screaming wildly as they lunged forward to grapple with the bandits. Although their punches lacked strength and the bandits could make them cough up blood with a single blow, the dozen or so people swarming them managed to pin down the vast majority of the bandits.

Yigena licked his upper and lower lips in excitement; he noticed that the only young man among the commoners carrying a weapon seemed to have decent skills, and at the same time, there was something interesting about those damned commoners.

He tossed his blood-stained dagger between his hands, his eyes locked onto his opponent.

Sensing the dangerous gaze, Jier finished off the bandit on the ground whom he had kicked half-to-death, then stood up to face this new enemy.

Seeing that the opponent also had a dagger, he breathed a slight sigh of relief; if it had been an axe, it would have been difficult for him to block it with a dagger. Moreover, the inn lobby was in total chaos, leaving him no room to dodge.

At this moment, he wished more than anything that he had a shield, even a common Mudu would do.

With a shield, he could launch a secure attack instead of being in this current situation.

Staring intently at his opponent, Jier bent down slightly, attempting to pick up the Short Sword held tightly in the hand of the slain bandit on the ground. Although it was just an ordinary Short Sword, at least in terms of length, it would be better than his dagger.

Compared to a dagger, he was more accustomed to using sword-type weapons with longer reach.

Yigena would not give his opponent this chance; the moment Jier made the move to pick up the weapon, Yigena instinctively judged that his opponent truly intended to retrieve the Short Sword, rather than setting a trap to lure him into attacking and exposing a flaw.

Realizing this, Yigena performed a standing leap, his leg tracing a brief arc as he flew toward his opponent with a kick.

Jier hurriedly swiped his dagger toward the incoming leg, but the opponent's kick was just a feint; the flying leg landed in mid-air, causing Jier's counterattack to miss, and then Yigena used that foot as a base for the real killing blow that followed.

Only then did Jier realize the opponent's kick was a feint, meant to trick him into attacking and exposing a flaw. But the opponent's attack was fast and fierce, so Jier had no choice but to flick his hand and throw the dagger at his opponent with all his might.

Yigena cracked a ferocious grin, using the dagger in his hand to collide with and block the weapon thrown at him, then reached out with his left hand to catch the curved dagger that had been knocked into the air.

With both daggers in hand, Yigena let out a grin that showed all his teeth, but he did not expect that his opponent had already picked up the Short Sword from his companion's hand.

Yigena knew that it was just an Iron Sword bought at random, forged by a mere apprentice; it was hard on their leader Lao Feisi, as procuring weapons for them to use in Bingxun Pass was not easy, and this kind of self-defense Short Sword used by children could only barely suffice.

However, it was the bandit's bad luck that, out of all the weapons to choose from, he had to pick one that was neither good-looking nor useful.

But his own commonly used dagger was different; the soldiers at the city gate did not care about weapons like daggers, and no one would pay attention to someone like him who looked suspicious carrying one.

The young man opposite, however, had a completely different combat aura after gripping the Short Sword.

Jier took a brief look at the Short Sword, then pointed the tip directly at his opponent and surged forward. The opponent used two daggers to defend, but Jier held his breath, blocking and striking with the Short Sword, parrying and thrusting, occasionally lunging forward to stab, and from time to time swinging his arm to deflect the attacks of the opponent's two daggers.

Lao Feisi listened to the sounds coming from the inn across the way, and the more he heard, the more he felt something was wrong.

It was not the one-sided begging and screaming he had anticipated; there was some at the beginning, but it soon stopped.

All that remained were the roars and angry shouts emitted during the fight.

Then, there were even the desperate cries of people who had lost their fear of death.

Lao Feisi limped quickly to the entrance of the inn across the way and, through the open wooden door, discovered that the bandits and commoners were locked in a brawl, and the inn's Shop Assistants were taking advantage of the melee to sneakily stab the bandits with the Iron Sign and iron forks used for roasting meat.

The situation was too ugly!

And his trusted aide Yigena was fighting a young man using a Short Sword. Yigena was using two daggers, while his opponent was using an ordinary Short Sword he had scavenged.

Unexpectedly, Yigena was being suppressed by the young man's fast and powerful sword style; although the Short Sword's blade was covered in nicks and rolls, as long as the tip was sharp, it was a lethal weapon in the hands of such a Warrior.

With a dissatisfied grunt, Lao Feisi looked at the people peeking from the surrounding buildings and knew the situation was unfavorable for them; it was now basically impossible to eliminate those fleeing commoners.

But fortunately, the five leaders of their Luodai Cave had considered how to defend against a large force of Militia coming to suppress them after their lair's location was discovered, back when they chose that Shandong as their base.

Since the situation was as it was, Lao Feisi could only feel that they were unlucky; after all, these men were the most he could have brought out. The pursuit teams sent from the lair in four directions accounted for too many of the bandits.

And the preparations he had made for the bandits were only obtained after he had leveraged some connections in Bingxun Pass.

To be able to fight to this extent, one could only say that those commoners had the determination and will to fight to the death; wiping them all out was basically impossible.

Lao Feisi put his hand in his mouth and blew a whistle.

Whew---

The bandits grappling with the commoners no longer thought about fighting back; they stood up, bruised and swollen, formed ranks, pulled up their severely wounded companions, and slowly retreated.

The commoners also stood up, coughing up blood from their mouths and supporting each other; although they had no weapons in their hands, their wolf-like gazes made those bandits quite terrified.

"These people are not afraid of death; to kill them, one must be prepared to trade life for life."

The bandits realized this in their hearts and crowded out of the inn lobby.

Lao Feisi brought over a Torch and handed it to each bandit, telling them to light the torches and throw them into various parts of the inn.

The battle between Jier and Yigena also came to an end.

Yigena acted as the rearguard, covering the retreat of his companions. Jier looked at the broken Short Sword in his hand, then suddenly threw it at his opponent.

Yigena crossed his two daggers to knock away the thrown broken sword, reached out to gesture across his neck, and then pointed at Jier.

Jier gritted his teeth as he watched the bandits retreat.

Flames began to burn from various parts of the inn; the inn's Shop Assistants, having no time to collect the bodies of their companions who died at the inn entrance, hurriedly followed the innkeeper's orders, ran to the back kitchen to take a Wooden Basin, scooped up a full basin of water from a large water vat, and ran upstairs to extinguish the torches that were trying to ignite the place.

Fortunately, there were enough hands, and the torches were extinguished by the arriving Shop Assistants just as they were thrown onto the upper levels of the inn.

Jier sat in the inn's lobby with the commoners, bandaging the wounds of some of the injured. Lacerations had to be bound tightly with cloth to stop the bleeding, and those with broken arms or legs had to have them temporarily immobilized with the broken legs of wooden chairs.

Commoners with head wounds had to lie on the blood-soaked floor, littered with food, and carefully drift into unconsciousness.

Some people were crying, some were laughing, and some only then reacted and began to tremble all over, but no one looked down on them; everyone had seen the desperate fighting they had just engaged in.

Jier lowered his head and closed the eyes of the five commoners who had lost their lives in the battle just now. Except for that brave fighter, the other four had died when they were suddenly attacked at the beginning.

He had been careless, thinking he was safe in Bingxun Pass, and had let his guard down. If he had been carrying his Sword, the result would surely not have been like this.

They had lost five commoners, and everyone else except him was injured. The bandits, however, had only lost two men, and everyone else was injured, except for the one who used daggers.

Jier looked up to apologize to everyone, indicating that he had failed to protect them just now. But after looking up, he found that he actually didn't need to apologize for anything.

After the slaughter they had just been through, even the most delicate women no longer had any fear of those bandits in their eyes, only a firm will to eliminate them.

Yes, everyone had been pushed to a dead end; other than fighting back, they had no other path to choose.

Facing the bandits, they had only one path: either you die, or I perish.