Chapter 128: City Gate Guard Slays the Beast Charm

"Move fast, this beast has tasted human flesh, we cannot stay."

Xu Ying pulled Zhou You and Li Hao, carving a path out of the crowded mob.

All around were panicked residents, shoving each other to escape; screaming and crying were incessant.

On the ground lay several people who had been trampled to death, blood seeping from their mouths and noses into the soil.

It was too chaotic! In such a situation, in a crowded and narrow environment, one couldn't even swing a fist.

The Apprentices of the martial arts hall huddled together to push through the crowd, retreating as they moved, hearing warnings in their ears.

"Make way, make way, the City Gate Guard is coming."

An exotic beast bat was wreaking havoc in the city, eating living people in broad daylight, triggering extreme panic.

At this moment, no one was paying attention to the flower-picking thief anymore.

After leaving the wasteland, the group returned to the martial arts hall, seeing chaos everywhere along the street.

Overhead, the black shadow of the exotic beast bat swept by from time to time, raining down half-eaten limbs and severed arms.

It was practically a battle royale.

Pedestrians and residents on the road were terrified, sprinting wildly, at any moment liable to be snatched into the sky by the bat and eaten.

"Zhou You, Li Hao, you two are young and hot-blooded, you must not try to be heroes."

Xu Ying's expression was slightly terrified, and he specifically lowered his voice.

"This bat, if things go wrong, it's going to turn into a Beast Charm."

A Beast Charm?

Zhou You felt a jolt; if it really were a Beast Charm, the situation would be dire.

Although charms had appeared occasionally in the past, they were all in legendary stories and rarely appeared before the public.

Some time ago, before Su Cheng fell, charms appeared in the bustling market, and residents young and old witnessed it with their own eyes.

"When a nation is about to perish, demons are bound to appear."

In ancient times, "nation" referred to city-states; it was settled tribes building city walls to resist natural disasters and wild beasts.

Once a demon appeared within the city, it meant its function as a defense was crumbling.

After the charms appeared, Su Cheng eventually met its demise.

Could it be Gongliang City's turn this time?

A murderous intent rose in Zhou You's heart; if he stood on a roof to ambush it, catching it while the bat flew low to snatch people, with his level of Lightness Skill, he had sufficient confidence to strike this beast down.

But...

While the exotic beast bat ate people, its size was also surging; its torso was nearly 3 meters, and its wingspan was 4 or 5 meters.

With such a robust physique, even a Qi-blood martial artist would find it hard to kill it in one blow.

"Don't just stand there, hurry back."

Seeing Zhou You slow his pace, Xu Ying pulled him along in a hurry.

"Zhou You, don't think about being a hero."

"The environment is too chaotic; one slight carelessness and you'll be scattered by the panicked mob, and no matter how high your fist technique is, you won't be able to use it."

The situation before them was the biggest headache for martial artists: crowds everywhere, pushing and shoving, not an inch of ground to stand on, and one slight carelessness would lead to being pushed down and trampled into meat paste.

Zhou You nodded silently, "Senior Brother, I will listen to you."

Suddenly, rapid footsteps rang out at the end of the street, and the tidal wave of fleeing people was abruptly suppressed.

At the end of the street, a team of City Gate Guards appeared, uniform and orderly, exuding a stern aura.

"Bystanders, make way."

There were about a hundred City Gate Guards; after appearing, they quickly formed ranks to launch an attack on the exotic beast bat.

The young officer leading the team was Zheng Qing, under Captain Chang.

Zheng Qing's expression was cold as he commanded his men to disperse the crowd, decisively executing anyone who panicked and crashed into the ranks.

A moment later, a large open space was cleared on the spot.

Tap, tap, tap—another group of footsteps sounded.

Reinforcements for the City Gate Guard arrived one after another, and another fresh force joined in.

Zhou You took a hurried glance and spotted a familiar face in the crowd.

Zhang Shiyu; he had indeed joined the City Gate Guard, and judging by his position, his status was not low—he was no ordinary soldier. "City Gate Guard!"

Beside him, Li Hao sighed, "The City Gate Guard has appeared; this beast won't be able to be arrogant anymore!"

His father had once been a City Gate Guard, so he knew better how terrifying this force was.

The two City Gate Guard units used ground-to-air tactics, their formations orderly, forcing the exotic beast bat to circle in mid-air, watching the living people on the ground in anxious frustration, no longer able to easily snatch them to eat.

"Hoo-ha!"

Zheng Qing let out a loud shout and threw his long spear, shaking out a straight hundred-meter thin line that struck the exotic beast bat right in the lower abdomen.

The exotic beast bat let out a shriek that shattered the roof tiles for a hundred meters around, shrill and desperate.

Only a small portion of the long spear remained exposed; the rest had submerged into the bat's massive torso.

"Die, die, die!"

The exotic beast bat's roar in extreme pain sounded vaguely like a person speaking.

There was an iron chain at the end of the long spear, and the other end of the chain was anchored to the ground; in an instant, it went taut.

The scene was quite spectacular; the exotic beast bat was like a giant kite, struggling and retreating in mid-air, yet firmly tethered by the iron chain.

The City Gate Guards were highly experienced in hunting charms, attacking the exotic beast bat from afar to avoid its enraged slaughter.

After another moment...

"Make way, the Evil-Extinguishing Crossbow has arrived."

A large-scale crossbow was pushed to the front line; its volume was as large as three beds, with a frame made of thousand-year-old hardwood and covered in iron plating.

The loaded bolt was as thick as a human head, requiring two or three strong men just to lift it.

The arrowhead was shaped like a rounded iron cone, wreathed in a faint gray aura.

Zhou You noticed that the essence of the gray aura was similar to Tiger Aura, but its volume exceeded it by a hundred or even a thousand times.

That was it; the true lethality of the Demon-Slaying Crossbow lay in this gray aura.

There was definitely someone among the City Gate Guards who had mastered a technique similar to imbuing objects with Tiger Aura and applied it to the crossbow bolts.

The exotic beast bat seemed to know its end was near, struggling so desperately that it bent the long spears.

The iron chains creaked and rubbed against each other, sparks flying between the iron links! "Fire!"

A hammer struck the mechanism, and the thirty-two bowstrings, woven from ox sinew and as thick as a bowl, tore through the air and pulled taut.

The power converted from the massive potential energy sent the heavy bolt straight into the high air, piercing through the exotic beast bat like a hot knife through butter.

Its iron-like, steel-hard torso was like soft tofu when it was pierced.

Not a single drop of the gray aura was lost as it poured into the bat's body along the wound.

Clang! Clang!

The taut iron chains instantly went slack, hanging down to the ground amidst a series of clattering sounds.

The exotic beast bat at the end of the chains had its wings go limp, its massive body instantly losing weight and falling listlessly toward the ground.

Boom! A residential house was caught in the disaster, smashed directly into the ground by the bat's corpse.

The local county annals recorded: On this day, a demon ran rampant in the marketplace; the City Gate Guards mounted a crossbow and shot it dead, leaving a mountain of a corpse.

The exotic beast bat was dead, and the Flower-Plucking Thief was also dead.

The chaos and panic in the city lasted until midnight before finally subsiding.

However, unease and terror had taken deep root in the hearts of all the residents; they sensed that disaster was about to arrive.

The most direct impact was that grain prices in the market rose rapidly, tripling in just a few short days.

In other words, the one million catties of grain Zhou You had stored in his warehouse had already tripled in value without him doing anything.

Once grain prices rose, other daily necessities followed suit, triggering a chain reaction of panic buying.

Hearts were filled with anxiety, and an entire street of families even went bankrupt and were displaced.

More and more people could not afford to eat, and violent crimes surged.

After the Flower-Plucking Thief died, the market did not return to peace; instead, it became even worse.

Great chaos is coming!

(End of chapter)