Chapter 90: One Force Subdues Ten Skills!

If it really is Han Han Chuijun...

In the heavy rain, Cao Yan stood still for a long while before returning indoors.

He had never taken a second wife in his life; after his old wife died he never remarried, and the only daughter he'd had had long since been sent away, so he had no family to worry about. Even if the Divine Weapon Valley won this time, a purge of the sect would not reach his household.

The only thing he couldn't bear to part with was...

"I wonder whose hands my Cao family's two-hundred-plus years of accumulated property will fall into?"

In the darkness, Cao Yan's face twitched slightly. He felt a stab of regret, but quickly dismissed the thought.

He knew very well that from the moment the Xieshen Sect had set its sights on him, he had no choice left—and now, there was no room for second thoughts either.

Crack!

Lightning flashed, thunder roared, and the downpour grew even heavier.

"Fine. If my Weapon Forging Shop gets Gao Liu County all to itself, great; if not, I'll leave. As long as my daughter and I come out unharmed, that's all that matters. As for the rest—what do they have to do with me?"

He put on his bamboo hat, snatched up the Tiger Roar Blade, steeled his heart, and strode out into the curtain of rain.

"Ah!"

In the night rain, faint screams drifted over from somewhere.

"No, I can't go find Lei Lei Chaozong..."

Cao Yan frowned slightly, vaulted back up onto the eaves, and through the night rain saw firelight rising in the inner city. Listening intently, the screams seemed to be drawing closer.

"Who's winning, who's losing?"

Cao Yan's brows knit tight. He focused all his attention, hoping to pick out something useful from those screams.

"Ah!"

Suddenly, a scream rang out.

Cao Yan jolted sharply—he recognized the owner of that scream...

"The Xieshen Sect has lost!"

The instant that thought flashed through his mind, Cao Yan turned without hesitation, cast one glance at the Weapon Forging Shop where lamplight had sprung up, and cut away the last shred of reluctance in his heart.

His inner force erupted, and he bolted for an escape route.

Divine Weapon Valley—or any faction that held its own territory—would inevitably exterminate the entire clan of any rebel within its borders. He had already made his preparations years ago.

The secret room, the valuables, the house deeds and land deeds—he had hidden them all long ago.

As long as those were safe, even if the Xieshen Sect lost, so long as he could get away, it didn't matter if the Weapon Forging Shop was purged. They were just servants—recruit more after they die.

"Ah!"

In the night rain, the screams drew closer and closer. Scattered lamps had already lit up inside the Weapon Forging Shop; it seemed some guards had been roused by the sounds of fighting and gone out to investigate.

In the shadows, Li Yuan shifted along the wall several times. Under the wash of the heavy rain, he was like a tiger about to hunt—claws and fangs at rest, waiting for the moment to strike.

"The screams are coming from the inner city outward, so it can't be the Xieshen Sect people making a move... Divine Weapon Valley has struck!"

A flicker of hesitation crossed Li Yuan's mind.

If Divine Weapon Valley really was carrying out a purge, then even if he didn't act, Cao Yan would surely not escape this calamity. He should withdraw right now—thanks to Fang Fang Yunxiu's token, he could easily pull himself out of this.

But...

"What if Cao Yan gets away, and the Weapon Forging Shop is finished..."

Over the past year, Li Yuan had read many books, and he understood how Divine Weapon Valley—and other sects—handled matters of this kind.

Rebels—clan extermination!

Those who intended rebellion—the ringleaders must die!

"Hoo!"

In an instant, Li Yuan's gaze shifted. A figure flashed over the wall at top speed, and a streak of light swept before his eyes:

【Tiger Roar Blade Root Diagram (Tier 2)】

Cao Yan!

A gleam flashed in Li Yuan's eyes. He drove hard off the ground, and the hammer he'd been gathering for so long swung up from below, then crashed down from above, smashing toward that rapidly passing figure!

A thousand jin of force, lifting weight as if it were light, weight as heavy as a hundred jun...

His limbs swelled, both hands gripping the hammer. Li Yuan held nothing back, unleashing every ounce of his strength. He could even hear the sound of his clothes tearing under his bulging muscles.

Vast, tremendous force—silent as it fell!

"Who?!"

Li Yuan's hammer was extremely heavy, extremely fast, and kicked up no wind—but Cao

Yan still keenly sensed the bone-chilling cold current rushing at him from behind.

The hammer made no sound, yet it parted the curtain of rain.

"Who are you?!"

Mid-stride, Cao Yan twisted his body around. His broad blade, still sheathed, slashed out horizontally; his qi and blood surged, his inner energy erupted, aiming to cut down the ambusher who had sprung up behind him in a single strike.

Boom!!

Hammer met blade, and the scabbard exploded instantly.

"White Ape Cloak Hammer?!"

Before the collision, Cao Yan had already recognized the ambusher's Wu Gong; his eyes were filled with shock, fury, and disbelief.

There were no more experts in the shop who practiced the White Ape Hammer to internal force...

But the next instant, that thought shattered with a boom, and his whole body seized up as if struck by lightning.

The Tiger Roar Blade, swung with all his might, had actually been knocked flying from his grip!

"Ah!"

Cao Yan roared as he tumbled into the curtain of rain. The Hukou of his right hand had been torn open, his forearm bent at a horrifying angle, and bloodstained pale bone fragments had even flown out from the wound!

And that ambusher who had sprung up, after landing bounced up again, swung another hammer, even fiercer and more violent than the first.

Such ferocious, violent hammer work, and yet no sound of tearing through the air?

"Guess!"

Amid the wind and rain, Cao Yan struggled to dodge and heard a tepid, indifferent voice.

Whoosh!

Internal force erupted. Li Yuan pressed on relentlessly, the great hammer whipping like a gale toward the Shopkeeper Cao Da, whose arm was already crippled and who had no weapon left to hand.

The pairing of lifting weight as if it were light, momentum heavy and force profound, weight like a hundred jun, once again worked a Qi Gong!

"Ah!"

Cao Yan nearly bit his teeth to shards.

Hammer work is never clumsy, especially long-hafted hammer work.

Long-hafted hammer work shares common ground with Gun Fa.

That great hammer was nearly two meters long, its haft as thick as an arm, its head the size of a human head. Whirled wildly, it gave forth the howls of apes and tigers, its speed outrageous, its strength absurdly great.

Who is it?

Who wants to kill me?!

His arm shattered in a single blow, Cao Yan retreated again and again, shock and fury in his heart reaching their peak.

He truly could not recall when he had provoked such a brutal enemy.

And that hammer—why does it look so familiar…

"Roar!"

Dodging another hammer, within Cao Yan's body a shallow tiger's roar seemed to explode. Qi and blood mingled with internal force as he burst forth, actually executing an extremely brilliant Quan Fa.

But no matter how brilliant the Quan Fa, lose the hand one is accustomed to, and its might drops sharply.

Puh!

A great mouthful of backflowing blood spurted out. Cao Yan's left arm instantly became powder, his whole body like a straw blown up by a gale, flying more than ten meters away.

"It's over!"

The hammer force had erupted to such a point that Li Yuan himself felt the stinging pain all over his body, but Yu Yu Xuanji had already lunged straight in, the heavy hammer crashing down once more.

Bang!

In the mud, Cao Yan's legs kicked and trembled—he still had strength left to dodge. He fled wildly, yet seemed to hear a tiger's roar explode by his ear, his body stiffening for an instant.

Tiger's Might!

Li Yuan strode in pursuit, the heavy hammer like wind, scattering the curtain of rain.

"You?!"

Cao Yan turned back unwillingly, but could no longer dodge that thunderously descending great hammer—yet he seemed to recall something.

That was the Hundred-Times-Refined Wind-Breaking Hammer that had sat in the inner storehouse for years!

The one who bought it was…

"Li Yuan!"

The instant this thought flashed through his mind, the human-head-sized heavy hammer came crashing down.

This blow, Cao Yan absolutely could not evade; his close-fitting inner armor was utterly useless. Only a 'bang' was heard—his chest caved in, bones turned to mud, fresh blood wildly sprayed and splashed.

"Li…"

In the mud, Cao Yan's eyes bulged in fury, unwilling, yet could only see a smear of blood—his breath had ceased!

"The physique of an Internally Robust martial artist is truly astonishing!"

Swiftly pocketing the heavy hammer, searching the corpse, picking up the blade, Li Yuan turned and left.

And almost the moment he had gone,

a number of bedraggled figures also came vaulting over the outer wall, the few guards who tried to stop them sent flying sideways.

"Cao Yan!"

Someone shouted loudly.

Those few rushed into the rear courtyard, then quickly came back. Someone saw Cao Yan's corpse lying askew in the heavy rain:

"Cao Yan is dead?!"

Dead?!

Lei Lei Chaozong landed heavily, looking at Cao Yan slain by the heavy hammer, his blood not yet cooled, and felt his heart turn to ice:

"Han Han Chuijun!"

He raised his head in fury, eyes blood-red, looking like a madman, so terrifying that the others flinched away again and again:

"Come out and die!"

"A toad yawning—such a big mouth!"

In wind and rain, Han Han Chuijun's reply drifted in, elusive. That Lei Lei Chaozong's voice was like a raging lion, the ground beneath his feet constantly cracking, violent qi and blood and internal force surging around him.

"Mad Lion Force!"

Han Han Chuijun stepped slowly out of the shadows, glanced with a touch of regret at the fallen Cao Yan—he too had quite some interest in that secret chamber.

What a pity.

He shook his head inwardly, then looked again at Lei Lei Chaozong, who roared like a mad lion; in his eyes there was no longer any emotion.

Whoosh!

The next instant, his whole body shot out like an arrow loosed from the string, the conical hat lifting, the ghost-mask flushing red, and from his billowing great sleeve slid a pocket-sized little hammer.

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

Three thunderous booms rang out almost simultaneously. The chests of the six Xieshen Sect experts who had scattered to dodge had all caved in; they were sent flying backward, slamming into the stone wall and sinking deep into it.

"Han Han Chuijun!"

Lei Lei Chaozong's hair whipped wildly about him; the immense sense of crisis snapped him out of his frenzy.

He hadn't even caught sight of Han Han Chuijun's figure, yet without thinking he had already crossed his arms in front of his chest.

Then,

a pocket-sized hammer came piercing through the rain and tapped down lightly.

Boom!!

Lei Lei Chaozong's eyes instantly flooded with blood.

With just that light tap, his surging qi, blood, and internal force, the inner armor on both arms, and even his breastbone had all been pierced clean through; his viscera along with his spine had sprayed out from his back.

"No, impossible!"

The wind and rain seemed to weaken in an instant. Glancing at the hole punched clean through his chest and belly, Lei Lei Chaozong raised his head with difficulty, looking at the ghost-masked man who lightly pressed his bamboo hat, untouched by wind, rain, or blood:

"I, I'm also Yi Xing…"

"Fool!"

Han Han Chuijun casually took his money pouch and inner armor, brushed past him shoulder to shoulder, and walked toward the corpse in the rain that had been hammered to an unrecognizable mess; the wind and rain drowned out his reply.

"You change one form, I change a hundred forms!"

……

……

"Hoo!"

He shut the courtyard gate; the collapsed earthen wall would have to be left for now. Li Yuan returned to the room and only then let out a breath of relief.

Only at this moment did he feel the searing pain surging in from all over his body.

His limbs, waist and belly, even his back spine — all had been strained by the explosive burst of force; many places were bruised purple-black, and both arms were even seeping dark blood.

"The body can't keep up with the explosive force."

Taking out medicinal salve to rub on his body, Li Yuan's forehead broke out in sweat. Killing in a frenzy had taken only a moment, but nursing the injuries would take at least seven or eight days.

Still, he was naturally quite satisfied in his heart. Having just cultivated internal force, he could hammer to death the number one expert of Gao Liu County — what more could he ask for?

"The first hammer was crucial. If I hadn't crippled his arms, I would've probably had to fight a bitter battle…"

After finishing with the salve, Li Yuan peeled off the human-skin mask. Before he could even change his clothes, he heard the courtyard gate being knocked.

"Who?!"

Li Yuan's face changed slightly; he looked out the window.

The courtyard gate was pushed open gently, and a bamboo-hatted man walked in slowly:

"This old man, Han Han Chuijun!"