Chapter 79: A Chill in the Heart

Qu'a County, Wu Jun. "Who goes there?"

A large courtyard was suddenly surrounded by a group of soldiers. Inside the courtyard, a gang of burly men in tight-fitting clothes, holding weapons, looked at the soldiers outside the gate with a mix of anger and arrogance.

"Hmph! The Zhuhua Gang truly has quite the arrogance."

"Make Bao Baiyou crawl out here."

Ren Tong had no pleasant expression for these small fry of the Zhuhua Gang. With a cold face, he had investigated and found that his men had been brought to this residence, which was also the Zhuhua Gang's stronghold in Qu'a County.

"Who is it? Looking for me, Bao?"

At this moment, a chubby figure slowly walked out from within the residence. A middle-aged fat man holding a painted fan walked out with a flashy air, his brows furrowing as he looked at the soldiers outside the gate.

"Which military gentlemen are you?"

Sensing the fierce, battle-hardened aura of these soldiers outside the gate, Bao Baiyou was no fool; naturally, he would not be overly arrogant, as the Sui Dynasty still held its tiger-like might.

"Hmph! You are Bao Baiyou. A few days ago, several of my brothers were beaten by you, and two were even locked up by you."

Ren Tong said with a cold face: "Hand over my brothers."

"What? The military gentlemen must have a misunderstanding! We have never encountered the military gentlemen's brothers, let alone beaten them. Is there some misunderstanding here?"

Listening to Ren Tong's words, Bao Baiyou's heart sank. He immediately realized that those men from a few days ago had backing—they really were people from the Prefecture Office.

Now, the other side had sent the elders after the young ones had been beaten.

Although they were not exactly afraid of the Prefect of Wu Jun—after all, the Zhuhua Gang had existed for so many years and had people close to them in the Imperial Court, and the Prefect of Wu Jun was not the Prefect of Jiangdu—

even if the Prefect of Wu Jun reported it, they could suppress it.

But it is better to avoid trouble than to invite it; it was best not to provoke a Prefect if possible.

As for admitting it, that was even more impossible. Admitting it to their faces would be equivalent to slapping the government in the face.

"Heh! It seems you will not give up until you reach the Yellow River."

"Since you refuse a toast only to drink a forfeit, then don't blame me. Men, attack! Kill anyone who dares to obstruct us without mercy."

Ren Tong waved his hand and gave the cold order.

"This military gentleman, we are from the Zhuhua Gang."

Seeing Ren Tong acting like a hotheaded youth, Bao Baiyou immediately felt a headache. Originally, he had planned to secretly dispose of those two people and then offer a hundred gold as an apology.

That way, everyone would be happy and get along.

Yet he never expected this guy to go straight for the hard approach.

"Heh! So what if you're the Zhuhua Gang? You dare touch our people? I don't care if you're the Zhuhua Gang or the Pig-Dog Gang. Surrender immediately, or else, kill them all without mercy."

"Charge!"

Ren Tong didn't bother with any more nonsense. He charged forward directly, the Long Spear in his hand thrusting out suddenly with endless sharpness.

"Damn it!"

Not expecting the other side to attack the moment they spoke, Bao Baiyou retreated, his Iron Fan blocking as True Qi surged.

Bang!

The force on the spear blade made Bao Baiyou's whole body shake; the immense power almost caused him to drop the Iron Fan in his hand to the ground.

"What strong force!"

Knowing that the man before him was definitely a 'fierce general' of the army, Bao Baiyou's expression turned serious, and he felt a bit of anxiety inside.

This person's strength was likely not below his own. He never expected that there would be such a fierce general in Wu Jun.

However, before Bao Baiyou could come up with a countermeasure, Ren Tong didn't care; he continued to press the attack with his spear. The Long Spear danced like a venomous snake flicking its tongue, the cold-glinting spear blade constantly thrusting toward the opponent's chest, throat, and other vital points.

On the other side, Huang Quan led his men and charged directly at the group of Zhuhua Gang lackeys like a fierce beast entering a flock of sheep. His strength was not inferior to Ren Tong's. Most of these Zhuhua Gang lackeys only knew a little superficial martial arts, with a small portion being Third-rate Martial Artists.

Facing Huang Quan, who was clad in Chain Mail and wielding a Horizontal Blade, there was not a single enemy who could withstand a single blow.

The private soldiers behind him were even more like a pack of wolves and tigers, howling as they charged up. Their leaders all held Iron Hammers, and whenever they encountered an enemy, they would just hammer them away.

Because they trained their Fleshly Body, each one had immense strength. Su Fan hadn't taught them any profound martial arts, just the Battlefield Hammer Technique of his master from his previous world, teaching it to these men like the three-axe style.

Just like the three-axe style of Cheng Yaojin, it possessed infinite power and could be described as terrifying to the extreme.

Crack, crack, crack!

One could only hear the sound of bones breaking one after another in front of the gate. Bao Baiyou, watching from the side, felt his eyes split with rage, while his heart grew cold.

Who exactly had he provoked?

Who were these people?

"Since when did such powerful Elite Soldiers appear in Wu Jun? They are probably even more formidable than the Yangzhou Army."

Bao Baiyou even felt a sense of panic. He had accidentally walked into a tiger's den. Had he known Wu Jun was so dangerous, he wouldn't have come for anything.

And these soldiers were truly blockheads, starting a fight without a word—what was the meaning of this?

They were just like those few people from before.

Furthermore, what was the intention of this Prefecture Office? Were they hostile to Jianghu sects, or were they hostile to their Zhuhua Gang?

The former would be fine, but if it were the latter, their Zhuhua Gang would need to be vigilant.

After all, a Prefect of a commandery was already a high-ranking official, and one with such a powerful army at that.

Their Zhuhua Gang had to be on guard.

He thought of many things, his expression becoming increasingly grave.

At the same time, his movements did not pause in the slightest. The opponent's spear technique was dense and impenetrable, with layers of spear shadows and immense force.

With every collision, his arms would tremble. If this continued, he knew his arms would likely be shattered.

"No, this cannot go on."

Bao Baiyou was a man of decision; the current situation was already very critical for him.

He could only barely parry this 'fierce general' from the Prefecture Office, and the other gang brothers were being beaten back step by step.

Those soldiers were even more terrifyingly valiant; each one clad in Iron Armor and wielding an Iron Hammer, it was simply terrifying to the extreme. Even Third-rate Martial Artists couldn't withstand a few of their hammer blows.

He saw with his own eyes one of his direct subordinates, whose strength was quite decent and reached a Third-rate level, get surrounded by three Iron Hammer soldiers; although he managed to wound all three, he was beaten to death by hammers.

Seeing this, Bao Baiyou felt increasingly chilled in his heart; he knew he had to flee.

Otherwise, the final outcome would be being stabbed to death.

Thinking of this, he could not help but feel some resentment toward his Hall Master for not investigating things sooner.

Now it was a mess, with a large group of elites lost from the hall, many of whom were his own direct subordinates.

His heart was dripping with blood.

However, there was no time to worry about that.

"Go!"