……
……
A sharp whistle suddenly pierced the night.
From the residential houses lining the long street, several men in black leaped down and charged into the ranks of the aristocratic youths, instantly scattering the pampered group. The members of the Qi Nian squad, seasoned agents with years of experience, acted with restraint, targeting only the horses, causing the young men to tumble from their mounts.
However, to the surprise of Fan Xian and his group, the youths did not collapse to the ground. Instead, they stood up somewhat disheveled, suggesting that the martial arts education within these Duke's residences was proving effective.
“I’ll fuck your mother! Cut them down!”
The leader, a boy of about fourteen, possessed a fiercely aggressive demeanor. Undeterred by the sudden appearance of reinforcements, he, accustomed to dominating the capital, showed no fear. Brandishing his blade, he slashed at the nearest man in black, his attack infused with a sinister and ruthless intent.
This subordinate of Fan Xian, aware of the youths' esteemed status, hesitated to press his attack upon seeing the exposed chest and abdomen of his opponent. How could someone so young fight with such self-destructive abandon? Sidestepping the attack, he felt a cold sensation on his left shoulder, as a bloody gash opened up.
The youth laughed wildly, "They know our identities and won't dare do anything! Brothers, kill them without restraint!"
The sheer number of youths proved overwhelming, even an elephant could be brought down by ants. Furthermore, the members of the Qi Nian squad were constantly aware of their opponents’ identities, making it difficult to strike with full force. The youths, however, accustomed to terrorizing the streets, knew that the court officials wouldn’t dare to kill them, out of respect for their grandfathers. Seizing this opportunity, they fought with a reckless, mutually destructive style. For a moment, they threw the Qi Nian squad into disarray!
Although some of the youths were knocked unconscious by the Qi Nian squad and collapsed to the ground, the two sides remained largely evenly matched.
The clash of blades echoed through the night-shrouded street. The servants, holding torches, drew closer, casting a dim light, their faces displaying indifference and little concern.
Observing this scene from inside the carriage, Fan Xian's expression gradually darkened. He knew that the Qi Nian squad, his personal bodyguards, though perhaps not as powerful as Gao Da's Tiger Guards, should have been more than capable of handling these aristocratic youths. However, these officials of the Overwatch Council, long accustomed to serving the court, seemed hesitant to unleash their full potential against these damned "rogue heroes."
Though he understood that his subordinates were afraid of causing trouble for him—the Qi Nian squad would rather die than let these youths lay a finger on him—he was deeply annoyed to see his trusted men fighting so pathetically while the youths acted with such arrogance. It felt like the humiliating moment when AC Milan was overturned by Liverpool in his previous life!
……
……
“Bullshit!” Fan Xian stepped down from the carriage, cursing with irritation, his voice laced with his now supremely domineering true qi, carrying throughout the battlefield of the long street.
The battle groups, fragmented into several sections, momentarily paused at this roar. The members of the Qi Nian squad seized the opportunity to retreat to the side of the carriage. Despite only a brief skirmish, two of them had already been wounded, blood flowing from their bodies. This was due partly to the Qi Nian squad’s reluctance to strike too harshly, and partly to the youths’ ruthless attacks, each thrust aimed at vital spots!
Fan Xian looked at his subordinates, a hint of indifference on his face. “You weren’t this useless when fighting the Northern Qi.”
The subordinates lowered their heads in shame, their chests heaving with suppressed resentment. They thought to themselves, these little bastards are no match for us, but… damn it, these little bastards fight too ruthlessly! And we can’t really kill the grandsons of these Dukes, so we naturally suffer losses in the fight.
Deng Ziyue also got out of the carriage, his face grim as he watched the youths closing in from the periphery. The youths were laughing arrogantly, brandishing blood-stained blades, looking at the men around the carriage like chickens waiting to be slaughtered.
“My lord, their identities are somewhat… Please rest assured, we will definitely handle this well,” Deng Ziyue explained in a deep voice, seeing Fan Xian’s increasingly dark expression.
Fan Xian was so angry that he laughed ironically. “What identities? All I know is that these are a bunch of highway robbers, and you actually got yourselves injured! We'll be laughed to death if word gets out!”
……
……
“Hey, kid, what are you guys talking about?” The leading aristocratic youth had already approached the carriage on horseback, the fierce look in his eyes even more pronounced. “Hand over the girl in your carriage, and have these useless subordinates of yours break an arm each, and I’ll let you off today.”
Fan Xian glanced at him and then looked away.
The aristocratic youth said ominously, “You pretty boy! I’m talking to you! Hurry up and hand over the girl! You dare to go against Bao Yue Brothel? How do you want to die? Want to try our newly invented ‘giant club punishment’?”
These words were clearly laced with obscenity and insult, and the arrogant youths burst into raucous laughter.
Fan Xian ignored the string of insults from the youth, narrowed his eyes, looked at his subordinates, and continued, “When facing an enemy, you must be ruthless, whether it's an external enemy or an internal enemy. Haven’t you learned this principle before? Do you think it's easy following me, so you returned everything to Old Bo?”
Seeing that the young master in front of the carriage ignored his question, the aristocratic youth became enraged. Forgetting the instructions from Bao Yue Brothel, he cursed and lashed out with his whip at Fan Xian's head.
The two were still some distance apart, and the whip was only a few feet long, so it couldn’t possibly hit Fan Xian's head. It was probably just a feint to intimidate him.
In Fan Xian’s eyes, the shadow of the whip flashed, along with a cold glint. Then he raised his left hand.
———————————————————————————
A miserable scream pierced the night!
The aristocratic youth’s whip had already fallen to the ground, and he was clutching his wrist, howling in pain. A black crossbow bolt had shot out like a ghost, piercing his palm!
Blood dripped from the youth’s hand. The surrounding youths were dumbfounded. Heavens! He dared to use a crossbow! He dared to use a crossbow to shoot us! Didn’t he know our identities?
Although these youths usually committed all sorts of evil deeds and had even been involved in manslaughter, lacking any respect for life and being callous by nature, this was the first time they had encountered someone who dared to use such a deadly weapon against them. In addition to their shock, a surge of arrogance and ferocity arose.
The crowd now looked at Fan Xian with incredibly strange expressions, as if they were looking at a dead man.
“My lord!” Deng Ziyue was also shocked, fearing that Director Fan would become enraged and kill all these little bastards in the arena! If such a catastrophic incident really happened, for the sake of the stability of the Qing Kingdom court and the military, no matter how favored Director Fan was by the Emperor, he probably wouldn’t have a good end!
Fan Xian slowly retracted his left hand, released his finger from the trigger, and scanned the surrounding youths without answering Deng Ziyue’s words. His indifferent gaze swept over the faces of these youths. He noticed that they were indeed very young, the youngest being only about ten years old. Their tender faces were mixed with cruelty. Although they were cruel, they were still just children after all!
No wonder the men of the Qi Nian squad were so slow to act just now—He took a deep breath, forcefully suppressed the anger in his chest, narrowed his eyes, and said to the aristocratic youths in front of him: “Those who block the road die. Which of you still wants to be a praying mantis with little arms in front of the carriage?”
That sinister and terrifying black crossbow bolt had only temporarily shocked the unbridled nature of these youths. After only a few breaths, the fear in the eyes of those youths began to be replaced by bold and outrageous brutality. The wounded aristocratic youth, with a crying voice, howled, “What are you waiting for? Kill them! Kill them all and drag them to Cangshan to fill the pit!”
“Have you killed anyone?” Fan Xian suddenly turned his head and asked with great interest.
After a moment of astonishment, the aristocratic youth cried out sharply, “I kill one of your kind of scum every day!”
While the two were talking, the youths had already rushed up, their faces full of excitement and bloodthirst. Fan Xian waved his hand to stop his subordinates from drawing their swords to kill.
……
……
In the midst of the shouting and yelling, Fan Xian quickly extended his right hand and grabbed the wrist of the youth who was charging at him with a knife. He exerted force with his fingers, and with a crack, the youth’s wrist bone was crushed. He screamed miserably, clutching his wrist, and fell to the ground.
He shifted his body to the side and moved into the embrace of another youth, skillfully placing his hand on the opponent’s forearm and using his own shoulder as a fulcrum, pressing down! With a crisp crack, like a red stick dipped in syrup, this weak arm was broken in the middle!
A beautiful roundhouse kick, but placed a foot lower with extreme sinister intent, happened to sweep across the waist of a youth who was rushing over with a sinister look on his face. The power of this kick was enormous, and it was estimated that this youth who spat blood and flew away would have to lie at home for at least a few months.
Stepping forward, he erected his left hand and chopped it on the neck of the attacker. The man didn’t even let out a grunt before falling straight down.
Fan Xian walked like a wandering ghost among these wolfish, fierce-looking youths. Occasionally, with a single strike, he would send one of them crashing down. On the long street, one could only hear the sound of bones breaking one after another, crack, crack, crack, crack…
The youths’ contemptuous and shameless scolding had disappeared. An atmosphere of fear, with the increasing number of people falling to the ground, gradually spread outward. Several of the youths on the outermost edges had already begun to sneak away towards the end of the long street.
Crack, crack, crack, crack!
As if striking the watch, there was no Yama in this world, but the youths still felt that these sounds of bones breaking were like the death-beckoning little ghosts mercilessly and coldly beating the drum.
……
……
The Qi Nian squad, including Deng Ziyue, stared wide-eyed at the arena, their eyes full of admiration and respect.
Although they could also defeat these youths, they certainly wouldn’t have done it so cleanly and neatly. They were ruthless and accurate, both seriously injuring the opponents and preventing them from losing their lives.
Shi Chanli shook his head repeatedly with his eyes closed, unable to bear to watch this scene, but Miss Sang Wen bit her lower lip, watching Commander Fan calmly strike, feeling very excited in her heart. She knew what these youths had done and knew how many people in the capital these youths had made suffer.
What seemed like a long time was actually only a moment. Apart from those who had escaped, the rest were broken bones by Fan Xian’s heavy hands, lying miserably on the street. Only at this time did the miserable screams of “Ouch, ouch” resound.
Fan Xian looked at the youths at his feet, bleeding, holding their broken limbs, and no longer able to be fierce. He rubbed his wrists that had just been warmed up with some satisfaction. It seemed that the human anatomy he had learned from Teacher Fei when he was a child had not been completely forgotten.
Then he gave Deng Ziyue a very serious and earnest instruction: “Don’t let me do this again in the future… It’s really embarrassing.”
……
……
He walked to the aristocratic youth who seemed to be the leader and asked with a gentle smile, “Whose family are you from?”
This youth was really ruthless enough! Still wearing a crossbow bolt in his hand, and watching Fan Xian’s sinister methods, he didn’t even blink an eye. Instead, he said fiercely, “If you have the guts, kill me! Otherwise, you just wait for your entire family to be exterminated!”
Fan Xian shook his finger with a smile: “First, I won’t kill you. Second, the words ‘entire family exterminated’ cannot be said casually. Only His Majesty has the right to say such words. If you say such words again next time, maybe your family may be exterminated.”
He was no longer interested in asking this aristocratic youth with a fierce and rebellious face, waved his hand, and motioned for the coachman to drive the carriage over.
At this time, the servants who were holding torches in the distance at the end of the street, cheering for their young masters and acting as numb spectators, walked closer tremblingly. Seeing this scene, these servants dared not do anything to this carriage. They just found their masters among the many injured, and looked at the unmarked carriage that was slowly passing by with eyes like big black dogs.
At this time, Fan Xian and his party had already boarded the carriage, and the two injured subordinates disappeared into the night with shame. In the carriage, Fan Xian closed his eyes to rest, as if he hadn’t struck just now. The others in the carriage, seeing him silent, naturally didn’t dare to speak.
Suddenly, Fan Xian opened his eyes and said softly, “There’s something strange about this. How could they mobilize these bloodthirsty little bastards for a brothel?”
Deng Ziyue asked, “Having injured so many young masters of the Duke’s families, should we prepare ourselves? After all, your lord's identity can’t be hidden from many people.”
Fan Xian glanced at him and said, “A bunch of down-and-out Dukes and Marquises, it’s superfluous to pay attention to them. The key is the person behind them.”
Deng Ziyue asked in a deep voice, “What should we do next?”
Fan Xian smiled and said, “Tomorrow… you go to Bao Yue Brothel and get that ten thousand taels of silver back.”