Ji Kang had been dragged into the middle of their conflict, in his mind this matter could be large or small depending on how he reacted. If he confronted the shouting man, they would fight, if he stepped aside he and his companions could avoid this troublesome matter.

Although he was angry, he didn’t allow that to influence his decision making. The farmer they had met on the road had warned them there was a group of martial artists causing trouble in Zaotong, clearly this burly man was one of them.

Their mission from the sect had to be their priority. Getting into fights with random thugs wouldn’t benefit them and might even result in their deaths. Lu Wu might have confidence in defeating any mortal martial artists, but Ji Kang didn’t share that confidence.

Qi Condensation stage cultivators were only slightly different from vigorous mortals and they had no idea how many people were in this Tiger Ridge Gang, as the saying went, two fists cannot beat four palms. Even if Ji Kang, Yu Shuren, and Lu Wu had some training and slight advantages over mortals, without time to prepare spells they could easily be overwhelmed by more numerous enemies.

This mental risk assessment flashed through Ji Kang’s mind in just a moment. He turned around and was about to pretend he had never seen or heard anything to do with the two parties when that plan came crashing down around him.

“Hmph! You dare cause a disturbance so close to my sect, the great Azure Grove? Good. We’ll see who gets the last laugh.” The young man still sprawled on the ground apparently wasn’t resigned.

Ji Kang froze and made eye contact with Lu Wu and Yu Shuren. What were the odds that the human projectile was Jin Xun? Either way, there was no possibility of them ignoring this situation now. Their sect name had been invoked, they could only stand on the side of the idiot hurling threats from the ground.

“Oh? You’re threatening me? Hahaha, you truly are courting death!” The burly man stepped forward out of the doorway and into the open air, advancing on the young man with killing intent in his eyes.

More rough looking men crowded the doorway from the inside, looking out at the confrontation. This must be the rest of the Tiger Ridge Gang. Ji Kang was becoming convinced that this situation wouldn’t end without bloodshed. He met Lu Wu’s gaze and raised an eyebrow.

Lu Wu was their leader, although Ji Kang thought their interference was inevitable, the final decision belonged to Lu Wu. Lu Wu raised his chin and stepped forward, drawing his sword in a bright flash.

“Good evening, you seem to be under the impression that our Azure Grove Sect is unworthy of respect. Now that he has made his affiliation with our sect clear you can scurry back to whatever hole you crawled out of, or you can leave behind your life.” Lu Wu stood with his back straight and held his sword casually, but the menace in his stance could have been perceived by a blind man.

Ji Kang sighed and drew his own sword as he turned, moving to stand on the burly man’s left. He was mirrored by Yu Shuren on the opposite side with his spear.

The burly man saw their encirclement and realized the incredible danger he was in. He was unarmed, surrounded by three armed opponents, and his companions were all still inside the inn.

“You dare to draw steel in broad daylight?” He retreated a few steps, while saying the first thing to come to mind.

Ji Kang chuckled at the ridiculousness of that remark, and none of the three of them bothered to make any further reply. The burly man had clearly been about to kill the young man they assumed was Jin Xun, yet the moment he was met with firm resistance he cowered behind the law as if he was an innocent civilian.

The rest of the Tiger Ridge Gang rushed out, coming to reinforce their suddenly outnumbered member, when the burly man saw this he calmed down, remembering that he still possessed the numerical advantage over these new arrivals. Anger flashed in his eyes at this humiliation as he turned back to face the three boys.

“Let’s show these pretty boys what happens wh-” Before he could finish speaking Lu Wu’s sword slid through his throat and out the back of his neck with a squelch.

Lu Wu had used his movement technique to flow forward into striking range before the distracted and unarmed man could dodge.

For a moment, silence reigned over the town square. All of the townsfolk stood at a safe distance in shocked silence at the sudden deadly violence.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“Ahhh! Third leader!”

“Kill these young fools!”

“A year from today will be the memorial of your death!”

The men and women of the Tiger Ridge Gang streamed out of the inn yelling threats and battle cries, carrying various assorted weaponry. Most were armed with sabers, some carried spears and Ji Kang spotted one man towards the back carrying a bow.

In an instant it was clear to the three boys that there were at least twenty of the thugs. Ji Kang knew they had no chance of complete victory under such circumstances and that any retreat would be imperiled by that archer. He wanted to kill the archer immediately, but between them was a tide of men and women who wanted to kill him, he could only give up on that idea.

Lu Wu had caught the burly man by surprise and was feeling proud. He was about to step forward and deal with the rest when he saw just how many of them there were, and suddenly understood the magnitude of the problem.

“Shit! Retreat to the boat! Yu Shuren grab him!” Quickly pointing at Jin Xun, who was only now staggering to his feet, Lu Wu dashed forward to buy time for Yu Shuren to carry Jin Xun and start escaping.

Surprise attacking a single unarmed opponent was an entirely different thing than attempting to block a charging crowd however, and Lu Wu was instantly in grave danger. If it wasn’t for Ji Kang moving forward to help delay them he would have been tackled by the sheer mass of bodies and torn apart.

Ji Kang gritted his teeth and poured all his focus into a desperate fighting retreat through the narrow town street leading to the dock. He had constantly been wishing Lu Wu dead over the previous months, but circumstances were greater than men. Right now they were heavily outnumbered by their enemies, if they lost even a single fighter their situation would turn from perilous to grave, so he was forced to do his best to protect Lu Wu while they pulled back together.

Lu Wu flowed from side to side as he retreated like he was the embodiment of a flowing river, with Ji Kang taking some of the pressure off of him, he was able to display his full ability with the sword.

Yu Shuren and Jin Xun joined their line after Jin Xun regained his footing and together the four Azure Grove disciples managed to win some breathing room while they retreated as quickly as possible. Suddenly not having to commit every ounce of his attention to desperately fighting with his sword, Ji Kang was able to free a hand for long enough to cast his landmine spell on the ground between the two groups, before stumbling as he suddenly felt empty and worn like a wrung out rag.

Quickly, a member of the Tiger Ridge Gang stepped on the area Ji Kang had laid his trap.

Boom!

The explosion sent a tremor through the ground, upsetting carefully fitted cobblestones the length and breadth of the street.

Small shards of stone filled the air within five steps of the unlucky bandit, and the foot and lower leg of the bandit that had stepped on the spell disintegrated into scraps of bloody flesh and bone. He was blown off his remaining foot, screaming and rolling on the ground, clutching at the stump of his knee.

All of the gang members near him were peppered with minor wounds from the flying shrapnel that used to be a paving stone. The Tiger Ridge Gang’s momentum was entirely halted as the man rolled on the ground, yowling like a wounded animal and those who had been nearby flinched away in a semicircle before being shoved into disarray by those coming from behind.

Suddenly the gang members were all tripping over each other, shoving, and one fierce looking woman who had been further back in the crowd even slipped in the starburst shaped puddle of blood and gore that used to be the prone man’s leg.

Ji Kang and the others turned around and ran towards the dock. Five of the bandits who had been at the edges of the crowd were able to maintain the pursuit, but after running twenty steps the four Azure Grove disciples wheeled on the frontrunners.

Suddenly the five bandits were in grave danger, with almost equal numbers and their reinforcements only now extricating themselves from the chaos behind, the cultivators’ slight strength and speed advantage became deadly.

Lu Wu fought the two in the center to a short-lived standstill while Yu Shuren speared his opponent through the stomach and joined him. Jin Xun quickly disarmed his opponent, taking off the man’s right hand and wrist before cutting his throat. Ji Kang was spiritually exhausted from casting the landmine spell, but he was still able to hold his opponent off until Jin Xun could hamstring them and Ji Kang finished them with a deep diagonal slash across the face, exposing broken bone and a slight glimpse of grayish brain matter before they slumped face first onto the ground.

Yu Shuren’s injured opponent and Lu Wu’s two managed to survive the brief slaughter by fighting back to back and dragging the fight out long enough for the crowd at the back to start catching up.

Lu Wu then led the other three in an all out sprint towards the boat. The Tiger Ridge Gang members coming behind saw what had happened and hesitated to follow too quickly lest they suffer the same fate.

Lu Wu, Yu Shuren, and Jin Xun all activated their movement techniques, reaching the boat quickly, but Ji Kang had emptied his qi reserves to cast his earlier spell. He was left running towards the boat at the back.

Lu Wu cut the riverboat’s front mooring line before jumping on board and negotiating with the captain. The boat started to slightly swing out into the river, only held to the dock by the remaining rear mooring line, before the boat’s crew saw the oncoming crowd of bloodthirsty bandits and untied that line also.

Ji Kang was only barely able to jump across the growing gap and fell sprawling on the deck in a jumble of gangly limbs as he desperately tried not to impale himself on his own sword. The boat slipped downstream and away from Zaotong’s dock.