The saying "not yet victorious but already dead" perfectly describes this swordsman who hid three swords in his scabbard. All his opportunities were shattered under this one slash, leaving him in pieces.
Just as he stepped out of the main hall, his head was chopped off by a falling butcher's knife from the sky, without a chance to even say a word.
The bloody butcher's knife floated in the air, quiet and dripping with blood.
Inside the Chen family's residence, there was complete silence. Everyone was shocked and speechless.
The other swordsmen from the Sword Sect stared wide-eyed, at a loss and filled with fear and terror.
How... how did he die?!
On the round table made of nanmu wood.
Jing Yue, who was pouring wine for himself, twitched his eyelids slightly.
The cup of wine in his hand was trembling on the surface, creating ripples.
Is he here?
Jing Yue raised his head.
He knew that tonight would determine whether the Sword Sect could control Beiluo City.
This young master of Beiluo City no longer wanted to play games with the Sword Sect. He finally showed his fangs and intended to use thunderous methods to uproot the Sword Sect's influence in Beiluo City.
The floating butcher's knife suddenly retracted and shot out amidst everyone's astonished gazes.
What kind of technique is this?
Controlling a knife out of thin air, like a immortal!
The hearts of many swordsmen began to tremble.
They glanced at the decapitated swordsman on the ground, then looked at the flying butcher's knife. Their expressions turned ugly and hesitant.
But in the end, they could only brace themselves and leave.
As they walked out of the main hall, each step felt heavy. After about a hundred steps, they arrived at the garden of the Chen family.
There were rockeries, pavilions, and small ponds, with picturesque scenery.
However, the air in the entire garden was filled with an indescribable heaviness and the scent of blood that couldn't dissipate.
Dozens of iron-blooded soldiers from Beiluo City, their cold armor stained with blood, held bloodied long knives.
Next to a small pond, there was a young man sitting in a wheelchair, sprinkling crumbs of steamed buns into the pond, attracting the fish to compete for food.
Beside the wheelchair, there was a fox-faced girl in a light yellow dress with a smiling face as beautiful as flowers, and a young girl carrying a chessboard, her face full of curiosity as she stared at the crumbs.
An middle-aged man in a black robe stood solemnly, raising his hand, and the bloodied butcher's knife floated down into his hand.
The Sword Sect swordsmen and various merchants from Beiluo City who had left the main hall suddenly felt a tightness in their hearts.
Creak...
The sound of wooden wheels rubbing against the green bricks on the ground rang out.
Lu Fan, who had his back turned to everyone, automatically turned his wheelchair in another direction. Lu Fan lightly clapped his hands, brushing off the crumbs, and looked calmly at everyone.
The sun began to slant westward, casting a reddish glow that poured down like boiling blood.
Lu Fan leaned against the wheelchair, his gaze sweeping across everyone.
"The thirty-seven merchant families of Beiluo City, those **... were you all hired by them together with the three major families?"
Then, Lu Fan lowered his head, fiddling with his fingers, and said calmly,
Lu Fan's words were not stern, but everyone from the families felt their hearts tighten.
They opened their mouths wanting to say something.
But they couldn't say anything at all.
The heads of the Liu and Zhu families trembled. They looked at Liu Ye, Zhu Yishan, Chen Beixun, and many other important members of the Liu and Zhu families who were being escorted by the iron-blooded soldiers. Their hearts felt as if they were being squeezed by an invisible hand.
They knew that the Liu and Zhu families were finished.
"Lu Ping'an, what crime has my Liu family committed? If you destroy the Liu family, the industries associated with the Liu family and the trading industries involving other cities will collapse! You will lead Beiluo City to a state beyond recovery!"
"The same goes for my Zhu family! You devil!"
"Your father Lu Changkong is so reasonable, but he gave birth to such an unreasonable villain like you!"
Representatives from the Liu and Zhu families pointed their trembling fingers at Lu Fan, their beards shaking in rage.
The surrounding merchants echoed their sentiments.
The disciples of the Sword Sect drew their swords from their scabbards one after another.
The private soldiers of the Chen family also moved, pulling their longbows and confronting Lu Fan and his group.
Tension filled the air.
However, Lu Fan's gaze went beyond the representatives of the Liu and Zhu families and fell upon the experts of the Sword Sect.
The Sword Sect experts all carried yellow pear wood sword scabbards and wore blue clothes.
"The Sword Sect... of the various schools of thought."
Lu Fan narrowed his eyes.
The first power of the various schools of thought he came into contact with was the Daoist Sect. However, obviously, Beiluo City was not the target of the Daoist Sect.
The Sword Sect, on the other hand, attempted to take control of Beiluo City among the various schools of thought.
According to Chen Beixun, it was likely that all six major city defenders in the Great Zhou Dynasty were infiltrated by various schools of thought. They saw the Great Zhou Dynasty as a meal they could freely carve up.
Previously, when the three major families rebelled and tried to lure Dantai Xuan's army into the city, there was obviously the influence of various schools of thought involved.
Nie Changqing opened his eyes.
He wiped away the blood on the butcher's knife.
Killing a Five Thunder Grandmaster from a distance made Nie Changqing's hand holding the knife tremble.
This was a Grandmaster, not like those useless Confucian scholars on the flower boat before.
Of course, to a large extent, Nie Changqing's success in killing the opponent was also due to the impact of the Knife Control Art and catching the opponent off guard.
Luo Cheng pressed down on his knife, excitement filling his face.
However, he did not become careless because he knew that the next wave would be the opponents' final counterattack.
"Young Master, what should we do?"
Luo Cheng turned his head to look at Lu Fan.
In the distance...
The representatives of the Liu and Zhu families were still shouting and cursing. They were trying to scare Lu Fan and demonstrate their interests.
The same was true for many merchants.
Beiluo City would soon descend into chaos without them.
"Kill them."
Lu Fan supported his chin with one hand, saying indifferently.
"The world will not stop turning just because you are gone, and Beiluo City is no different. If you die, someone will naturally replace you."
Lu Fan's voice was cold.
The representatives of the noble families and the merchants fell silent at his words.
Their hearts sank.
"Beiluo City... will be in chaos!"
A merchant with red eyes shouted in a low voice.
Lu Fan glanced at him and said, "So what?"
"If anyone feels that they can't survive in Beiluo City, they are free to leave..."
"Let's see which is more chaotic, the outside world or Beiluo City."
Lu Fan supported his chin with one hand and lightly stroked the woolen blanket covering his legs.
Then, he uttered a cold word.
"Kill."
Luo Cheng's eyes suddenly became fervent.
He unsheathed his blood-drenched knife from his waist.
A metallic clang resounded.
Soldiers in armor, arranged by Luo Cheng's subordinates on the walls of the Chen family's mansion, appeared and aimed their powerful crossbows at the private soldiers of the Chen family, as well as the many merchants and the Sword Sect experts.
Several soldiers held iron shields and stood in front of Lu Fan.
"No!"
"Young Master Lu, we were wrong! Please spare our lives!"
"We were just being intimidated by the noble families! We are law-abiding citizens!"
When they saw rows of powerful crossbows from the military.
These merchants' mental states broke down. They knelt on the ground, weeping bitterly. Faced with death, all they felt was fear.
However.
Their cries were useless.
At Luo Cheng's command.
Crossbowmen fired arrow after arrow.
In the Chen mansion, the merchants were pierced and died miserably, their blood staining the ground.
The representatives of the Liu and Zhu families were directly shot and killed, unable to even scream in pain.
The Sword Sect experts could not withstand the onslaught of the iron-blooded soldiers and were killed one after another under their chaotic strikes.
As for the weakened private soldiers of the Chen family, they were no match for the elite iron-blooded soldiers of Beiluo City and were quickly slaughtered.
Of course, the defending side also suffered casualties.
The air in the garden was filled with the scent of blood.
Lu Fan sat in his wheelchair and suddenly raised his head.
In the distance.
In the Chen Mansion hall,
A figure slowly walked out, holding a wine glass.
It was Jing Yue, the swordsman who concealed four swords in his box.
As a top-notch martial artist from a sword sect, his body was covered in wounds, drenched in blood. He crawled towards Jing Yue with a look of unwillingness, and eventually took his last breath on the ground.
Jing Yue sighed.
He shook the wine glass in his hand and threw it up.
The wine spilled out, sparkling in the evening sun.
Then, Jing Yue slid his two fingers upward at the back end of the sword box, and a sword emerged from its sheath, resonating with a resolute sword chant.
His internal energy burst forth with six explosive sounds.
The sword radiance was like a torch, striking on the porcelain wine glass.
In the distance,
Nie Changqing tightly gripped his pig-killing knife and took a serious step forward, standing in front of Lu Fan.
The grandmaster swordsman with six explosive sounds...
He exhaled lightly, gripping the pig-killing knife even tighter.
Suddenly,
His gaze froze.
He saw that Jing Yue, the grandmaster swordsman who had unleashed six explosive sounds of internal energy, struck the ground beneath his feet with a sword. The sword bent and then swiftly sprang up.
Carrying Jing Yue's body, it leapt onto the roof, swiftly running along the tiled roof.
Watching the figure rapidly escaping under the setting sun,
Lu Fan felt a strange familiarity.
This scene seemed... familiar, as if he had seen it somewhere before.