I Can See Your Combat Power

Chapter 970: Chapter 264: The Diehards

The remaining eleven protectors of Lian Guan never expected that the condition set by Tang Luo would be for them to slaughter each other. The protectors began to fall silent and inconspicuously distanced themselves from their “brothers” beside them.

“What are you all doing!” The young man on the ground exclaimed in disbelief, “When the thirteen protectors of Lian Guan took their oath, didn’t we swear to share our fortunes and face our troubles together, to stand shoulder to shoulder and kill this evildoer! Why are my brothers afraid!?”

No one answered; the tavern was engulfed in a dead silence. The protectors’ cowering demeanor was a far cry from their once bold and heroic spirit. The young man felt the world spinning around him; he couldn’t understand why his brothers had changed so much.

His eyes held sadness, anger, but most of all, helplessness. Then, he saw his fifth brother stand up and face him.

“Fifth brother really is different from the others!”

The young man felt a warmth in his heart and shouted, “Fifth brother, even if we die here today, we won’t let this villain look down on us, the thirteen protectors of Lian Guan!”

After speaking, he turned his head and fiercely said to Tang Luo, “You want us to kill each other, dream on you…”

Before he could finish saying “dream,” the sallow-faced middle-aged man had flipped out a sleeve blade from his cuff. While the young man was speaking fiercely to Tang Luo, the man gently swept it downward.

A flash of cold light passed, and a wound appeared on the young man’s body, stretching from his right shoulder to his left rib, spewing forth steaming blood and draining the warmth from his body.

The young man looked down at his bleeding wound, twisted his head in confusion, and looked towards the man known as “fifth brother” for an explanation. However, what met his eyes was a brutal kick straight to the chest.

“Bang. Snap!”

The young man was kicked by the sallow-faced middle-aged man against a distant wall, his life or death unknown.

And with this, the showdown between the thirteen protectors of Lian Guan officially began.

The protectors drew their weapons and fought in a melee, each displaying their skills to the fullest in a struggle for survival, with their primary target being the middle-aged man known as “fifth brother.”

It was clear that this sallow-faced man was likely the leader among the thirteen protectors; not only was he the eldest, but his cultivation was also the highest.

What was even more astonishing was his sleeve blade technique. Such a short blade, also known as a sleeve sword, was held in the hand.

Apart from assassins and hitmen, very few people would choose this type of weapon as their mainstay, as it wouldn’t be more lethal than a kitchen knife in open combat.

A short sword hidden in the sleeve, apart from being concealable and advantageous for surprise attacks, hardly had any merits. In terms of true power, it was even less effective than knuckledusters or fist spikes.

Logically, such an obscure weapon would be rarely inherited even in sects or holy lands, but fifth brother’s technique was extraordinary.

Even faced with attacks from two or three people, he showed measured advance and retreat. Each slash of his sleeve blade could sever someone’s meridian and cause bleeding. Even when confronted with unavoidable attacks, he would resort to a ferocious tactic of exchanging injury for injury.

Under fifth brother’s sleeve blade, the men he called “brothers” died one by one. At this point, fifth brother was nowhere close to the subservient servant he initially appeared to be; his merciless demeanor was like that of the coldest-blooded assassin.

This level of calm and decision-making in the face of life and death couldn’t possibly come from merely stumbling upon a secret manual and figuring it out alone. Such mastery required systematic training, and that person must be a skilled assassin or devoted fighter well versed in the use of the sleeve blade.

“Somewhat interesting,”

Tang Luo rested his hands on the table, leisurely watching Brother Wu wreaking havoc among his enemies. The outcome of this battle had been determined from the very beginning—after all, compared to the other opponents still using Human Rank Spirit Arts, Brother Wu wielded not only a superior Yellow Rank wrist blade technique but also a Yellow Rank movement skill. It would have indeed been strange if he had lost.

As casualties mounted, the remaining guardians panicked and prepared to flee, failing to realize that turning their backs to a cold-blooded assassin was the most dangerous thing in the world. When the wrist blade sliced through the neck of the last guardian, the blood-soaked Brother Wu stepped over the corpses and knelt in exhaustion before Tang Luo.

“My lord, your request has been fulfilled,”

“Hmm, well done,” Tang Luo nodded and pointed to a young guardian by the wall, uncertain between life and death, and chuckled, “But I’m curious, why didn’t you slit his throat with the first strike of your wrist blade? Why bother kicking him away with an extra blow? If you had saved that time, considering your killing efficiency, you shouldn’t have sustained such heavy injuries.”

The sallow-faced middle-aged man forced a smile, “Nothing can escape my lord’s notice.”

After saying this, the man took a deep breath and kowtowed fervently, “My lord, you said that among the thirteen guardians, only one may live. Now that I have slain the rest, if I take my own life, could you spare him?”

“Oh?” Tang Luo interlaced his fingers, intrigued, “You’re willing to give the chance you fought so hard for to that young man?”noveldrama

Speaking, Brother Wu placed his wrist blade against his own throat, casting a longing look at the young man by the corner of the wall, then turned a resolute gaze towards Tang Luo, his eyes filled with entreaty.

“Somewhat interesting,”

Tang Luo laughed, “It’s not impossible. Answer me a few questions, and I will agree to your condition. How is that?”

“My lord, please ask!”

“Are you an assassin, or a Wind Media?”

“I am both an assassin and Wind Media.”

“That explains your adept wrist blade technique. Very well, you may die now.”

“Thank you, my lord!”

Brother Wu’s face showed relief as he drew his wrist blade across his throat, opening a large gash. Blood gushed forth, and the man gradually weakened, his body turning cold. Memories that he had long forgotten began to surface in his mind.

On the outskirts of Lian Guan City lay a lotus village, named after the lotus pond at its heart. Over a decade ago, the village had a man who gambled away his house and fields in one night. He even borrowed high-interest loans from a gang, too ashamed to face his parents and afraid of the gang’s debt collectors.

He abandoned his elderly parents and pregnant wife in the village and fled Lian Guan under the cover of night.

The man who had caused great trouble did not dare to look back; he remembered a friend’s letter that spoke of striking it rich in Beimang, where good fortune could yield hundreds of gold nuggets in a day. Gritting his teeth, he headed north along the river, planning to join his friend in the gold mines of Beimang.

Relying on his memory, he eventually found his friend’s mine, hoping it was a turning point, only to step into a real hell.

It turned out that the gold mine was owned by a powerful family in Beimang. Due to the mountainous terrain, sparse population, and the extremely high mortality rate among miners, the slaves bought by the mining lord would die of exhaustion within months in the mountains. Consequently, the mine owner resorted to robbery and abduction schemes.