Chapter 85 - 40: Bountiful Harvest

Chapter 85: Chapter 40: Bountiful Harvest

Fang Rui’s palm strike seemed light and airy, but it contained immense power, sending Lord Hu flying forward. He crashed to the ground like a toad.

"This is..."

Lord Hu’s eyes widened in an instant, as if he had just remembered something.

At a Tiger Gang banquet, the Gang Leader, heavily drunk, had once boasted that when one’s Martial Arts reached the Middle Grade, a miraculous change would occur, giving birth to a ’Power’ independent of raw physical strength.

’Could this be it... But... but...’

Lord Hu couldn’t for the life of him imagine when he had provoked such a powerful enemy.

’No, what have I done to deserve this? For a Middle Grade expert to come to my door in broad daylight... How deep is this grudge? How great is this hatred?’

As Lord Hu stood frozen in terror, Fang Rui’s figure flashed forward. With a few flicks of his saber’s tip, he severed the tendons in Lord Hu’s wrists and ankles.

There was no need to deal with his mouth.

Fang Rui wasn’t worried about Lord Hu spitting out a Poison Needle.

’Did he think this was some kind of novel?’

He couldn’t even imagine how one would spit a Poison Needle from their mouth, let alone do it himself.

Yes, even with the power of a Sixth Grade, it was utterly impossible to perform a bizarre feat like spitting a Poison Needle from the mouth.

Hiding poison in a tooth for suicide? Even less likely!

Lord Hu was no assassin or death-sworn warrior; he cherished his life. If he really hid poison in a tooth and it accidentally leaked, costing him his life, what a senseless death that would be!

Fang Rui ignored the incapacitated Lord Hu and walked straight into the house.

Seeing this, a flicker in Lord Hu’s eyes showed he’d thought of something. He immediately shouted, "Father, run!"

His shout was meant to warn his father, but also to call for help.

But... the area was completely silent, as if it were a no-man’s-land. The surrounding neighbors were as quiet as the dead.

Lord Hu cursed in his heart: ’Damn those government officers! Damn that pack of ungrateful bastards! They’re all black-hearted!’

He usually oppressed the people of other alleys, but true to the saying that "a rabbit doesn’t eat the grass near its own burrow," he rarely bullied his own neighbors, occasionally even giving them small favors. These neighbors would always put on smiling faces, fawning over him, always calling out ’Lord Hu this’ and ’Lord Hu that’...

But now, at this life-or-death moment, not a single person dared to even come and look!

Inside the house.

"Help! Someone! Help..."

The voice was cut short.

Fang Rui walked out, carrying an unconscious old man, and tossed him onto the pile with Lord Hu’s unconscious wife and child.

And so, Lord Hu’s family was reunited.

Fang Rui finally let out a slight sigh of relief.

Truth be told, Lord Hu’s strength had surprised him a little.

’Lord Hu’s strength is nearly at the Eighth Grade, and he’s also mastered a Saber Technique. Another Eighth Grade Martial Artist might have fallen to that last strike.’

’If I had come rashly back when I was Seventh Grade, things might have gotten complicated!’

A glint in his eye, Fang Rui pointed his saber at Lord Hu. "Hand over that Saber Technique."

Lord Hu found it strange. Why would an expert of this caliber want his Martial Arts? But in his current state, he had no energy for curiosity. He just sneered, "If I hand it over, will you let me go?"

"You die, they live!" Fang Rui said flatly.

"This..."

Lord Hu hesitated.

He would never have believed it if this expert had promised to spare him and his whole family. But the offer to kill him while sparing his wife, child, and father... that was plausible.

"I’ll talk..."

He gritted his teeth and began to recite. His pace was slow, however, and he frequently paused to think.

Clearly, he was still hoping for a miracle, stalling for time.

’Courting death!’

A glint in Fang Rui’s eyes, he thrust his saber down, piercing a nerve cluster.

"AHH!"

Lord Hu shrieked, his face contorting in agony.

"No more tricks!"

"That’s not it, I..." Lord Hu tried to explain.

Fang Rui stabbed him again.

"AHH—I was wrong! I won’t dare! I won’t dare do it again!"

Begging for mercy, Lord Hu no longer dared to stall.

Soon, he had recited it once through. The result...?

’No record on the panel!’

"Heh."

Fang Rui gave a cold laugh. He stopped torturing Lord Hu and instead walked over to where his wife, child, and father lay.

Seeing this, Lord Hu seemed to guess what was about to happen. His eyes, burning with a rage that seemed to split their sockets, were wider with terror than they had been even under torture. "Stop! Come back! I was wrong! How dare you?! AHH!"

Then:

A flash of the blade.

The old man—Lord Hu’s father—his head tumbled to the ground as blood gushed like a fountain.

Fang Rui coolly withdrew his saber, his expression devoid of any pity.

’Lord Hu’s wife, child, and father had all enjoyed the fruits of his evil for years. Wasn’t it only natural that they should share in the bitter consequences?’

’Besides, he’d heard stories about Lord Hu’s father. A classic case of an old lecher preying on young girls. Who knew how many virgins the old man had ruined!’

"You... you’re vicious!"

Witnessing his father’s brutal death, an icy chill filled Lord Hu’s heart, extinguishing the last flicker of hope he’d been clinging to.

He finally understood. The man hadn’t killed his family when he knocked them out, not out of mercy or kindness, but to use them as leverage against him.

Just as he thought, Fang Rui’s icy gaze fell upon him. "Next time there are any mistakes or omissions, your wife and child will both die."

His tone was flat, completely devoid of emotion, as if he were discussing something mundane. Yet it was this very calmness that terrified Lord Hu.

"And if I tell you, you’ll really let my wife and child go?"

"You can take that gamble." Fang Rui tightened his grip on his saber’s hilt.

’He didn’t want to waste any more time; he wasn’t that patient. If Lord Hu truly refused to talk, he would just kill the entire family, settle the score, and leave.’

’The women and children are innocent?’

’What a joke!’

’Was Old Chu’s family innocent? Were all those families in Willow Alley, ruined by Lord Hu, not innocent?’

’May the originator of the evil be left without descendants!’

’As for Lord Hu’s Saber Technique?’

’Fang Rui wanted it, but it wasn’t something he had to obtain at all costs.’

’An enemy who would require a Martial Art to defeat? They would have to be Middle Grade, and as far as he knew, there weren’t any at the moment.’