Chapter 86: Making a Move

Ling Chi did not even look at him. His left hand tightened little by little, and the bones at the back of He Qian's neck began to creak under the crushing pressure.

“Did your father send you to make trouble at my Fourth Brother’s wedding with these rabble and petty thugs?”

Ling Chi’s voice burst forth like thunder as he barked the question at He Qian.

The pain in his neck had already sent waves of dizziness through He Qian’s mind. Startled by that thunderous shout, he wet himself at once.

“My father told me to come and test Zhao Qing, to see whose man he really is. But I don’t know why my senior brother had to insult the bride,” He Qian stammered, cowed by the thunder in Ling Chi’s voice.

At that, everyone from the Jing'an Division changed color. What did Lord He mean by this? A test of Zhao Qing?

“The ones you brought are yours. It all counts against you. Sit there and behave yourself. I’ll kill them one by one for you to see.”

Ling Chi stomped viciously on He Qian’s knee, and the sound of both kneecaps shattering rang out.

He flung He Qian toward Xiao Zhan, and He Qian sprawled on the ground like a dead dog.

“You thought I took your junior brother so I could threaten you.”

“But in truth, I only wanted to ask him one question.”

“You still dared to make my second sister pour wine for you.”

“I’ll pour it for you myself.”

Before Ling Chi had even finished speaking his first sentence, his figure had already surged into the crowd of Heavenly Radiance Gang members.

Evil-Slayer left its scabbard, and circles of blade light flashed into being.

By himself, Ling Chi had surrounded all of them.

Aside from the purple-robed man, who was at the sixth level of the Qi Sea realm, there were two others at the second or third level of the Qi Sea realm, and three more at the sixth or seventh level of Meridian Opening.

“Fourth Brother is getting married today. I’ll cut down a few trash to liven things up for you.”

[Yang Thunder Undying Body]

As soon as Ling Chi entered the battlefield, he activated his undying body, his entire frame turning violet-gold.

He slipped past the purple-robed man’s palm strike and lunged for the attendant at the third level of the Qi Sea realm.

The first slash broke through the opponent’s protective spiritual energy; the second rendered him helpless. Blade light tore a gaping wound across his body, and his heart could be seen still beating in his chest.

The purple-robed man was both shocked and enraged. He had not expected the other side to truly dare to kill. He had come under the name of Lord He of Yingzhou.

Far from backing down, the other party had gone straight for the kill, showing no regard whatsoever for even a prefectural lord.

He had thought this trip would amount to nothing more than toying with a few unsophisticated bumpkins. He had never imagined he would meet such a hard target.

After cutting down the attendant at the third level of the Qi Sea realm, Ling Chi turned and went straight for the purple-robed man.

“Senior brothers, if you still do not move, I’ll finish them all off in a moment and leave you nowhere to vent your anger.”

Zhao Lei and the others immediately understood. Ling Chi had killed the third-level Qi Sea cultivator first to clear the way for them.

At once, they plunged into the fray. Zhao Lei, especially, had suffered such humiliation that unless he killed one or two of them himself, his hatred would never be eased.

Shanhe had returned at some point as well. Seeing the entire scene erupting into a melee, he also threw himself into the battle.

The purple-robed man unleashed a burst of spiritual energy. Both palms gleamed red, and he drove a formidable palm art with fierce momentum, hot waves of spiritual energy surging around him.

Yet Ling Chi’s whole body churned with thunder plasma. He did not dodge. The power of ultimate yang lay hidden beneath his skin, covered by the thunder plasma, and the purple-robed man’s meager heat was nearly negligible.

The purple-robed man was fighting in a miserable, defensive posture. Even after forcing his cultivation technique to full power and releasing searing spiritual energy, he was still being battered until he fled in headlong panic, able only to block and never to strike back.

Several of the outer rooms had already been flattened to the ground, and with the battle raging inside like this, the banquet outside naturally could no longer continue.

Martial artists all over the place leaped onto the walls. Some even kept drinking, their confidence in the Zhao master and his disciples absolute.

It was rare to see Sixth Young Master take action, and even rarer to see him fight with such ferocity. This at least made up for the missed chance to witness the great battle outside the city last time.

[Nine-Palace Dragon Glide]

Ling Chi stepped through the nine palaces while simultaneously unleashing the Eight Extremes Stomping Step. Every footfall made the earth tremble violently.

The purple-robed man could no longer even maintain his stance. Ling Chi pressed the advantage and struck again.

[Overlord Splits the Mountain]

One of the purple-robed man’s arms was severed at the root and dropped to the ground. Blood sprayed from the shoulder stump like a fountain.

“Uh... ah...”

He stared at the arm lying on the ground and reflexively tried to reach for it.

Another slash landed across his chest. Twelve ribs on the left side snapped clean through, and he was sent flying backward through a sky full of blood light, crashing onto the dining table where they had been eating.

Ling Chi leaped into the air, horse-chopping saber raised high. He meant to take the purple-robed man’s life.

“Stop! I’m the second disciple of the Heavenly Radiance Gang. You can’t afford to offend me. Spare my life, I...”

The purple-robed man dragged out his backing, hoping it would save him.

Ling Chi’s blade did not slow. This life was his.

The saber came down like a furious dragon surging from the sea, cleaving toward the man’s neck. Yet the blade that had seemed destined to succeed did not.

A green barrier sprang up out of nowhere and blocked the strike. It was the glow of a jade-green talisman.

Ling Chi’s temper flared. Fine. He would see how many blows that thing could withstand.

Thunder plasma gathered over his body and poured down from above in a torrent upon the barrier.

The shield shook black with scorch marks, crackling incessantly.

In only four or five breaths, the green barrier shattered. Ling Chi seized the opening and beheaded him in one stroke.

The thunder bead returned five hundred strands of thunder spiritual energy, far less than the headless general.

“Tch. Useless trash.”

Ling Chi sheathed his saber and stood watching the battlefield ahead.

Xiao Zhan wielded the ancestral nine-ring saber of the martial hall, his offense wide and sweeping. Though his cultivation was one level lower than his opponent’s, he was still holding his own in a fierce exchange.

“Heh. Your senior brother is here.”

Ling Chi lashed out with a flying kick, and the purple-robed man’s head shot off like a cannonball toward his junior disciples.

The Heavenly Radiance Gang members saw their senior brother beheaded, and their morale collapsed at once. Only those at the Qi Sea realm were still struggling on in resistance.

Zhao Shanhe and the others seized the moment to savage the drowning dog, and for a time they gained the upper hand.

“Sixth, go help your eldest senior brother. End this as quickly as possible.”

Zhao Qing spoke suddenly. His son’s wedding feast had been ruined, and his dark expression looked as though he might devour someone alive.

Ling Chi answered at once and moved. Since the master had spoken, of course he had to obey.

“Senior brothers, brace yourselves.”

He was about to unleash a spirit attack that made no distinction between friend and foe.

[Hum]

The little thunder-fog dragon drilled out, and a wave of air surged upward.

Everyone in the field, friend and foe alike, felt their minds reel with dizziness.

Their own people were still all right; after all, they had been warned in advance, and they had some understanding of Ling Chi’s methods. But the Heavenly Radiance Gang was in awful shape.

Even the onlookers perched on the walls came tumbling down like dumplings into a pot.

Ling Chi’s body turned into thunder as his horse-chopping saber swept horizontally and chopped vertically. The Heavenly Radiance Gang cultivator at the second level of the Qi Sea realm was already exhausted in mind and body; a single blow stunned him to the ground.

He would be allowed to live a little longer for now. They still needed him for interrogation.

Zhao Shanhe and the others blurred into motion, seized the chance, and struck viciously, cutting down the enemies before them.

Xiao Zhan and the others exchanged glances, all of them wearing ashamed expressions.

As the senior brothers, they had dragged everyone down.

Ling Chi had no time to comfort them. He nodded to Zhao Qing, then lifted the still-sleeping second-level Qi Sea cultivator and found an empty room to begin the interrogation.

Xiao Zhan led the other disciples in cleaning up the battlefield, while the servants helped restore the courtyard, arrange the tables and chairs, and set things in order. The wedding banquet still had to continue.

Smack!

Ling Chi slapped the sacrificial lamb in front of him awake with one backhanded strike.

“Answer every one of my questions honestly, and I’ll give you a clean death. Do you understand?” Ling Chi asked, his voice rolling like thunder.

“Speaking only of interrogation, there are not many in this world more skilled than I am. You would not want to try me.”

Seeing that the man gave no response and remained as stubborn as stone, Ling Chi continued his threats.

“As for methods like flaying, splitting the waist, dismemberment by chariot, boiling alive, and the like, I have always found such crude interrogations distasteful.”