Chapter 96: The Ming Zun's Sword

Popular recommendation: The moonlight tonight is very gloomy; it seems that whenever a night of great events is about to occur, it is always even gloomier.

Su and Wang in Zuiyue Lou are completely unaware of the sky outside; they are still drinking wine.

Across a street from Zuiyue Lou, in the distant Xunxian Ge, it is bustling and crowded with nearly a hundred merchants.

They all came upon the invitation of Lu Manor Master, but upon arriving here, they did not see Lu Manor Master himself, only his subordinate, Li Tong.

Li Tong estimates the time, stretches out his arm to press down in the air, signaling everyone to be quiet.

Seeing Li Tong's action, these hundreds of people unexpectedly quiet down in unison.

Li Tong raises the wine cup on the table and says to the crowd: "Inviting everyone here tonight is to trouble you all to spend the night in Xunxian Ge."

Once these words are spoken, everyone is somewhat confused, and someone asks loudly: "Spend the night here, Mr. Li, why is that?"

Li Tong smiles: "Only when you are all present here can your shops and families rest easy."

Upon hearing this, the crowd's expressions change drastically, yet they guess something and dare not speak recklessly.

They can only follow Li Tong in drinking the wine in their cups, then sit before the tables waiting anxiously.

Li Tong places the wine cup on the table, turns around, and says calmly: "Record those who did not come."

The crowd looks out the window, seeing the night is deep, like an abyss.

...... The surroundings of the Prefect's residence are deathly silent.

On the long street, there is not a single shadow.

Suddenly, the sound of footsteps comes from afar.

Ming Zun, wearing a mask, walks slowly from the shadows.

Those lying in ambush in the dark here are slightly stunned; they do not see the thousands of Ming Cult members, but only one person.

That person's mask is somewhat ferocious; it is undoubtedly Ming Zun.

He is alone, and accompanying him is a sword.

Yes, these people's gazes fall upon that sword.

It is just a sword of ordinary style, which could be bought at any blacksmith shop.

But when it hangs at Ming Zun's waist, it is destined to be extraordinary.

Because Ming Zun has never used a sword, yet today, he has brought one.

But regardless, he is only one person after all.

The people ambushing on the street decide not to hide themselves anymore; footsteps patter, and the sound of sharp blades being drawn from scabbards follows one after another.

Lu Li looks at the crowd before him and recognizes several of them.

There is Sect Leader Wang of the Flying Axe Gang; it is said that everyone in this gang has an axe tattoo drawn on their body, and during battle, hundreds of axes fly out together, a terrifying display of force.

There is Sect Leader Li of the Iron Foot Sect; it is rumored that Sect Leader Li once kicked and broke the iron crutch of the Iron Crutch Sect, shaking the Jianghu.

Beside them, several beggars carry cloth bags on their backs; are they Elders of the Beggar Sect? "Can you move aside?"

Lu Li stops his footsteps and asks calmly.

"Move aside?"

"Why, could it be that you are afraid?"

In the crowd, someone speaks up and mocks.

"I am not afraid of killing, I just do not like trouble."

Sect Leader Wang looks at Lu Li coldly and says: "Brothels, gambling dens, street businesses, and even escorting goods—these profitable jobs have all been monopolized by you Ming Zun, not even leaving us a drop of soup."

"Your Ming Cult is indeed powerful, and none of us can afford to provoke you."

"But you should also know what it means to incur public wrath; right now, the Prefect also wants to deal with you, yet you are ignorant of what is good for you, so do not blame us for being impolite."

Lu Li smiles lightly: "What if I took the wealth you cannot eat? Since you do not have the ability to monopolize these businesses, naturally, I, who am qualified, must hold them."

"Moreover, not only is your ability insufficient, but your vision is also very short-sighted."

"Could it be that relying on this mob of yours, you dare to stop me?"

Another person sneers: "What if we stop you? Your Ming Cult has thousands of members, yet not one came today; are you not curious about the reason? To tell you the truth, they will never be able to come again."

Lu Li shakes his head slightly, ignoring this person, and instead turns his gaze toward the Beggar Sect Elders over there.

"Why, the Beggar Sect also wants to get involved in this matter? I once paid respects at the grave of Hong Qigong."

"It is not too late for you to get lost now."

That Beggar Sect Elder thumps his bamboo staff on the ground and says coldly: "The Ming Cult bullies people too much and acts overbearingly; the Beggar Sect cannot stand by and watch."

"Since you will not move aside, then so be it."

"After tonight, there will be no more Beggar Sect in Haozhou City, and you sects, do not think about having a home anymore either."

Having said that, Lu Li takes a step forward.

The next moment, a biting cold sword light instantly appears before everyone's eyes.

No one has ever seen such sword light; even among this group of crude Jianghu people, no one can use language to describe this streak of sword light.

This sword light is brilliant, cold, and swift.

This is a ruthless sword; it is a sword for killing.

The aura on the sword is chilling; even before the sword light reaches them, they are enveloped by the massive Sword Qi, like a great mountain, pressing down so they cannot move.

No one can dodge this sword; every time a streak of sword light appears, it stirs up a foul wind and brings down a rain of blood.

Whether it is the throat or the chest, the bodies of the heroes are cut into two sections by the Sword Qi in an instant, and immediately after, they are blasted by True Qi like a hurricane.

Before they even have time to see Ming Zun's mask clearly, they are forcibly torn apart by a terrifying power.

Like kites with broken strings, they fly backward miserably.

The only thing they can do is let out a wail that comes to an abrupt end.

On the originally silent street, wails now resound.

Severed heads, mangled torsos, broken arms, and internal organs, mixed with a thick, bloody stench, filled the eyes of the gathered heroes.

Amidst the flying figures, Lu Li stepped forward slowly.

His sword-swinging motion was very relaxed; it did not look like he was killing people, but rather like he was shooing away flies.

With every sword strike, he not only severed the enemy's body in two, but violent Sword Qi also sent the enemy's remains flying away.

This resulted in there being no corpses around Lu Li, as a clear space was always maintained around his body.

Such a style of fighting that wasted True Qi was truly arrogant and overbearing.

Within the crowd, the legs of Sect Leader Tie Jiao Li had already been severed, and Sect Leader Wang of the Flying Axes, along with the Beggar Sect Elder and others, were already terrified to the core.

No one had ever seen the Ming Venerable draw his sword, and tonight they saw it, but all of them were going to die here.

The Ming Cult had unified Haozhou and encroached upon their interests.

Originally, they thought that as long as they acted together, they could contend with the Ming Cult.

But until this very moment, they finally understood that the only reason they had been able to live until now was because the Ming Cult was giving them a chance.

It was only because the Ming Venerable before them had never looked at them with a straight gaze.

That person's sword technique was no longer in the realm of martial arts; they had imagined the Ming Venerable's martial arts would be very strong, but they had never imagined he would be this strong.

This was not their encirclement of the Ming Venerable at all, but one man and one sword, a massacre of them!

Sect Leader Wang could no longer suppress the instinctive urge to flee, but thinking of the promise given by the figure behind him, he gritted his teeth and shouted: "Fall back!

Use the flying axes to kill him!"

The roar reached everyone's ears, and the crowd in front of Lu Li suddenly scattered to both sides.

From behind the crowd, two rows of strong men were revealed.

These men wore uniform short-sleeved outfits, each holding a short axe in their hands.

Dozens of flying axes arrived through the air in an instant.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

Lu Li frowned for the first time.

The next moment, his figure suddenly vanished from where he stood.

His movement was too fast, like a ghost, instantly circling to the side; the crowd only saw an afterimage dodge the flying axes, and then he charged toward them again.

This time, the Sword Qi surged violently, and the sword light connected into a single sheet in an instant, like a Sword Mountain pressing down.

Bloodshed erupted everywhere.