Chapter 323

Lu Kou and Zhou Ting headed straight ahead, intending to stop Xie Wendong on his way home. After chasing for nearly ten minutes, not only was there no sign of Xie Wendong, but not even a trace of the people from the Northern Hongmen. Lu Kou couldn’t help but wonder and suddenly stopped, waving his hand to halt the others. Zhou Ting, who was in high spirits while chasing, was greatly puzzled by Lu Kou’s interruption and asked, “Old Lu, what’s wrong?” “I feel something’s off!” Lu Kou murmured, rubbing his hairless cheeks.

“Off? What’s off?” Zhou Ting didn’t take it seriously. Lu Kou said, “Logically, by the time we arrived, Xie Wendong should have been confronting the assassins. He must have fled upon seeing us. Even if it took some time, Xie Wendong and his men couldn’t have gone far. With our speed, even if they were still full of energy, we shouldn’t lose track of them completely. Besides, Xie Wendong has already fought for a while and wasted a lot of energy—there’s definitely something fishy going on!”

After Lu Kou’s reminder, Zhou Ting was also shocked. He put aside his casual attitude and said seriously, “Could it be…” Lu Kou’s gaze sharpened as he said, “Xie Wendong is cunning and deceitful. His thoughts are certainly not those of an ordinary person. Maybe he’s on his way to the Zhongyi Gang’s headquarters right now.” “A countermove?” “Very likely!” “Sigh!” Zhou Ting stamped his foot and sighed, “What a cunning Xie Wendong! He can think of such things—so unpredictable, it’s hard to keep up with him.” “Don’t lose heart!” Lu Kou patted Zhou Ting’s shoulder and said calmly, “The initiative is still in our hands. If we chase by car, we can still prevent him from reaching the Zhongyi Gang’s headquarters ever.”

“But using a car will surely alert Brother Tian,” Zhou Ting worried. Lu Kou smiled and said, “If assassins from the Soul Group are fleeing that way, Brother Tian definitely won’t object to us chasing them by car.” “But how can we get the Soul Group members to run that way?” Lu Kou rolled his eyes and said helplessly, “If you say it exists, I say it exists, and everyone says it exists—then it becomes real. Use your brain, brother!” Although Zhou Ting hated Lu Kou’s lecturing tone, he had to admit he made sense and nodded, “Many voices can turn gold into dust!”

“Finally, you’ve come to your senses!” The two of them returned the same way. Xiang Wentian was puzzled by the mysterious disappearance of his two top generals. Seeing them back, he asked, “Where were you two just now?” “Chasing down the killers from the Soul Group!” they replied in unison. “Did you catch anything?” Xiang Wentian nodded and asked again. Lu Kou replied calmly, without any sign of embarrassment or breathlessness, “They’re very cunning. They fled south. Xiao Zhou and I plan to chase after them by car.” “Good! Let’s go together!” Xiang Wentian’s words almost made Lu Kou and Zhou Ting spit blood. The latter waved his hands repeatedly, saying, “No need, no need. The Soul Group members are all armed. Brother Tian might be in danger if he goes. Besides, I suspect only a small group has fled; the main force should still be here. We need Brother Tian to keep a watch here!” Xiang Wentian thought it made sense and didn’t take it to heart. He waved his hand and arranged for over a dozen cars for Lu and Zhou, urging them to be careful.

Four wheels are much faster than two legs. Xie Wendong and his group were rushing along when they heard a muffled roaring sound of cars behind them. Alarmed, they thought the killers from the Soul Group might have caught up. He pulled the person beside him and shouted, “Cars are chasing us! Hide quickly…” He had originally planned to find a ditch, but upon turning around, he saw that they had already passed the end of the ditch. So he changed his plan and said, “Hurry and hide in the bushes by the road!” Jiang Sen, Ren Changfeng, and the others were startled. They looked back but saw no signs of cars. Pricking up their ears, they indeed heard the faint sound of engines. Everyone secretly admired Xie Wendong’s sharp hearing and quickly jumped into the bushes by the road.

Before long, Lu Kou and Zhou Ting’s convoy came into sight from afar, traveling at nearly 180 kilometers per hour, almost floating on the road. The distance of hundreds of meters was covered in an instant.

“Creak!” A car stopped ten meters away from where Xie Wendong and the others were hiding. A tall, strong man in sunglasses with a smile on his lips jumped out of the car—it was Lu Kou. After getting out, he looked around first to ensure nothing was amiss, then bent down and stared intently at the ground, seemingly lost in thought. As soon as he got out, the others from the Nan Hong Men also had to stop to see what he was doing. Zhou Ting, the leader, reluctantly walked over, muttered under his breath, and burst into laughter upon seeing his dumbfounded expression. He squatted down beside Lu Kou and looked at the ground as well, but aside from yellow soil, there was nothing else. He said with a laugh, “There are no treasures on the ground. Let’s go!” “There are!” Lu Kou replied. “Where?” “Over there!” Lu Kou pointed at the ground. Zhou Ting stared for a while before saying, “Apart from yellow soil, I don’t see anything else.” “There’s no wind today, and the sun is shining brightly. Why is there soil on the highway? It must have been left recently and hasn’t been crushed by cars yet, which is why it’s still intact. But I checked carefully earlier—there are no pedestrians in the vicinity. Unless the person who left the soil hid as soon as he heard our car coming. The only one who fears us the most and wants to avoid us right now is Xie Wendong,” Lu Kou said calmly. Zhou Ting retorted, “But why do Xie Wendong and the others have soil on them?”

Lu Kou said weakly, “I’m not a god. As for why, I don’t know either.” Their voices were not loud, but Xie Wendong and the others ten meters away could still hear them clearly. Jiang Sen took a deep breath, thinking to himself that Lu Kou was truly remarkable. Though he hadn’t seen it with his own eyes, he could guess quite accurately. The yellow soil indeed came from Xie Wendong and Ren Changfeng. Earlier, as they hid underground and killed the Soul Group’s assassins, in their haste, they hadn’t cleaned off the soil from their clothes. When they stopped to look around, their bodies stretched out, and the soil clinging to the corners of their clothes naturally slipped off—a detail even Xie Wendong hadn’t noticed. Yet Lu Kou was sharp-eyed and perceptive, immediately realizing something was amiss. Jiang Sen sighed in admiration and turned to look at Xie Wendong, who was also smiling at him, giving Lu Kou a thumbs-up while winking and whispering, “Amazing!” Ren Changfeng smiled coldly. Whether the other person was formidable or not was none of his concern. If they dared cross the line and threaten the safety of his side, he would deliver a fatal strike. The narrow, straight, sharp, and sinister Tang sword was slowly drawn from its sheath without making a sound, but instantly, an invisible killing aura spread out. The sparrows hiding in the trees, resting there, seemed to sense the killing aura and flew away in panic. Lu Kou was startled, took a breath, and blurted out, “There’s a killing aura!”
Killing aura is invisible—ordinary people can’t sense its presence. Only those who have long fought with swords and weapons can detect it. Xie Wendong could sometimes sense it; when the killing aura became intense enough to threaten his life, the feeling of his heart racing and a chill running down his spine grew stronger. This wasn’t intuition but purely innate instinct and honed experience. He hadn’t told anyone this secret, thinking he was the only one with such a special ability. Unexpectedly, he now encountered another person with the same ability—Lu Kou. Xie Wendong narrowed his eyes. He no longer just admired him but saw his existence as an unprecedented threat to him, just like the feeling the gray wolf had given him. “If I can’t make this person my friend, I must get rid of him early to avoid future troubles!” Xie Wendong thought to himself.

The moment Lu Kao sensed the killing intent, his knife appeared in his palm. Zhou Ting was only a step away from him, yet he couldn’t even see clearly how Lu Kao drew his knife, nor where it was hidden on his body. Lu Kao often said that in the world of gangsters, the knife was one’s life; revealing where one hid their knife meant exposing one’s life to others. Thus, only he knew exactly where his knife was hidden. Lu Kao pointed the tip of his knife at the bushes by the road and said firmly, “There’s someone there!”

As soon as he finished speaking, Zhou Ting leaped over in a single bound, swinging his knife with such force that the air itself hummed. “Swish!” A row of grass stems broke instantly, the cuts neat and clean with no continuity. Unsuccessful with the first strike, Zhou Ting swung his knife again. “Swish!” Another row of grass stems snapped. When he swung his third knife, there was a loud clang, and sparks flew everywhere. It seemed as if his knife had hit a rock, prompting him to instinctively step back. Before he could steady himself, a cold light shot out from the bushes, aiming straight at his chest.

The cold light was swift and fierce, as fast as lightning and as deadly as a bee’s sting. In the blink of an eye, it reached Zhou Ting’s chest. Left with no choice, Zhou Ting stepped back several times in haste, thinking he could avoid it. But the cold light clung to him like a vengeful spirit, impossible to shake off, now just three inches from his chest. “Ah!” Zhou Ting panicked, screaming as he threw his upper body backward and pushed off the ground with his legs, shooting forward. Before he could steady himself, he felt a chill in his chest—the cold light pierced through his clothes, just an inch away from piercing his heart.

“It’s over!” Zhou Ting closed his eyes, feeling death reaching for him, the gates of hell opening before him. “Bang!” Another harsh metallic sound rang out. Zhou Ting wasn’t dead. Next to him stood someone wearing sunglasses and a smile on his lips—Lu Kao. Across from Zhou Ting stood another man in black, tall and handsome, with a defiant expression—Ren Changfeng. He held a Tang sword, his fingers lightly touching it, emitting a cold glow and an intimidating aura. With the tip of the sword slightly downward, he stood there exuding an air of elegance and refinement. If it weren’t for the sword in his hand, people might have thought he was a scholar; it was hard to believe that the relentless cold light had come from him.

“Ren Changfeng!” Lu Kou asked with a smile. “Hmph, it’s indeed me, your master!” Ren Changfeng didn’t even glance at him, instead gazing at the sky and speaking calmly. In one sentence, his elegant demeanor vanished, shocking everyone present. Xie Wendong and the others knew they couldn’t hide any longer and stood up from the bushes. He shook his head and said with a bitter smile, “If Changfeng spoke more politely, he could be considered a true gentleman.” Jiang Sen laughed and said, “It’s in his nature; I doubt he’ll ever change.”

Lu Kou glanced at Xie Wendong behind Ren Changfeng, grinned widely, and asked, “It seems I’ll have to go through you first if I want Xie Wendong’s life?”

Ren Changfeng remained still, only lowering his eyelids slightly. With the corner of his eye, he glanced at his opponent and snapped arrogantly, “I didn’t come out to listen to your nonsense. Get ready.”

Lu Kou was amused by his haughty attitude and said, “I’ve heard for a long time that there’s a Ren Changfeng in the Northern Hongmen who’s incredibly proud. Seeing him today, it’s indeed as I heard…”

Ren Changfeng didn’t give him a chance to finish. Like a viper’s fang, his sword rushed straight at Lu Kou’s throat. “Good timing!” Lu Kou shouted, raising his sword in front of his neck. With a twist of his wrist, the one-and-a-half-inch-wide blade blocked the attack. With a clang, the tip of Ren Changfeng’s sword struck against Lu Kou’s blade. Both stepped back, temporarily stopping Ren Changfeng’s assault. On the surface, Lu Kou seemed unharmed, but inwardly he was astonished—this man had the audacity to try to block with his blade. A single mistake could have disastrous consequences. Lu Kou laughed heartily, swung his two-foot-long sword up and down, slashing at Ren Changfeng’s head, and shouted, “Stop staring at me! Killing Xie Wendong is the real goal of our mission!”

Zhou Ting felt as if he had just woken from a dream. He cursed himself for being scared silly by that single strike. His face turned red as he swung his sword at Xie Wendong. The latter didn’t move. In a flash of darkness, a man stood firmly in front of him—cold and merciless in appearance, with lips like carved stone and dark, gleaming eyes. In his hand was a mountain-cutting sword with a hollow blade and intricate engravings on it. “Who are you?” Zhou Ting sensed this man was no ordinary person and asked. “Gao Qiang!” His voice was as cold as his demeanor. “Oh!” Zhou Ting nodded and smiled, “I’ve never heard of you!” “I hope it’s not the last time you hear my name.” Gao Qiang carefully wiped the blade on his sleeve before suddenly swinging it at Zhou Ting with great speed. It was so fast that it was hard to tell whether it was a solid object or just an illusion. This move was Gao Qiang’s signature technique, and countless people had been injured by it. If not for Zhou Ting’s careful precautions, he would have been seriously hurt by that sudden strike. Even so, a cut appeared on his chest. First, Ren Changfeng had pierced him, and now another deep cut—Zhou Ting’s clothes were almost in tatters. Filled with anger, his face turned red as he ripped off his upper clothes. Fueled by rage, he roared and charged at Gao Qiang.

Chaos ensued in the battlefield—soldiers fighting against soldiers, commanders battling commanders. Only Xie Wendong remained calm, standing aside with a smile as he watched the chaos unfold. The Nan Hongmen had more men, but Xie Wendong’s side consisted of elite fighters, making it difficult for them to show any signs of weakness. Even those who managed to break through the protective barriers and get close to Xie Wendong were easily dealt with by him.

As the two sides fought fiercely, the sound of cars approaching came from afar. Hearing this, Zhou Ting was overjoyed and shouted, “Brothers, our reinforcements have arrived…” Gao Qiang quickly swung his sword, silencing him. In fact, there was no need for him to speak—everyone in the battlefield could hear it. The Nan Hongmen disciples became even more spirited and fought with greater vigor. Xie Wendong laughed loudly and said, “How do you know they’re not my men?” “Dream on!” Zhou Ting retorted between attacks. “I really wish I were dreaming, but sadly, I’m not!” Xie Wendong pretended to sigh helplessly, though his smile remained dazzling.