Stranger Danger

Chapter 393: Gut Worm

But now, they were pissed off with the Intelligence Department as well. How could they side with an organization who would leave them for dead for their own objective? An organization who, at least on surface, was supposed to protect the people?

“He’s right. You should all be well aware of the Intelligence Department’s behavior and conduct. They never cared about our lives, and they would rather kill an innocent than let a criminal escape. You know they’re going to lock us up and interrogate us even after they killed the trio simply because we happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Could we even leave the place alive?”

“Yeah! I’d rather fight them to the death than go down like this!”

“To the death!”

“To the death!”

As the Hidden Dragon Meet was near, most of the people dining in the inn were warriors. In this jianghu, who hadn’t taken at least one or two lives? If they submitted to the Intelligence Department, they would be guilty even if they weren’t.

If before there was a chance the Intelligence Department would simply leave after capturing the trio, now they no longer had an option. Unless they did as Sick Scholar told, they were all going to suffer agonizing deaths.

The tension in the inn turned razor sharp in an instant. Everyone was staring at Chu Renhe and waiting for him to respond.

“Obstructing the Intelligence Department is akin to rebelling against Chu. Are you planning to rebel?” Chu Renhe’s expression was so dark it painted a stark contrast with his pale skin. A terrible aura quickly encompassed the entire inn.

Earlier, Sick Scholar had purposely baited Chu Renhe into attacking him. As a result, the Intelligence Department suddenly found themselves pitted against the entire inn. Jianghu warriors were notoriously cowardly, so they would never allow Sick Scholar to be killed or captured until their affliction was cured. Add to the fact that some idiots had fanned the flames, and capturing the trio suddenly became a much harder task than before, much less killing them.

If Chu Renhe persisted in his ways, then a river of blood was sure to flow in this inn.

“Rebel?” A jianghu warrior snorted. “So what if we are? Kill us all if you can, boy.”

“Yeah! It’s your duty to eliminate rebels, no? I dare you to kill us all!”

“Hehehe, you don’t dare, do you? Intelligence Department or not, imperial officials are all talk and no bite!”

“Hahahaha!”

For a time, most jianghu warriors laughed scornfully. They didn’t believe that the Intelligence Department had the balls to act considering the situation.

“You want to die?” Chu Renhe’s dark expression slowly spread into a cold, malicious grin. “As you wish!”

“I said this before, and I’ll say it again. No one threatens me or the Intelligence Department.”

“Intelligence Guards! Kill them all!”

Whoosh whoosh whoosh!

As soon as the orders were given, wooden clicks could be heard, and crossbow bolts poured in from every direction like the rain.

Tang Chuan, Yu Shi and Luo Changbing also rushed forward and attacked the closest warriors without hesitation.

The Intelligence Department’s audacity was such that the jianghu warriors were completely caught off guard. They were so shocked that they even forgot to dodge or block the attacks.

“They’re too green!”

At the corner, Ye Qing shook his head at the jianghu warriors’ foolishness and inexperience. They had no idea who they were dealing with. As the emperor’s guardian, the Intelligence Department wielded near absolute authority that only the Pacification Bureau and the emperor himself could match. In fact, they were ruthless, pitiless, and even more audacious than even the Pacification Bureau because their main responsibilities involved people, not Strangers. Negotiation was a foreign concept to them even toward other empires, much less a ragtag band of jianghu warriors.

Not only that, it was obvious that the young Inspector General was not the type of person who could be negotiated with, and these jianghu warriors were literally challenging him to kill them all. It was akin to lighting a lantern inside the toilet.

Sighing, Ye Qing slowly disappeared from his seat like a mirage. The next moment, he appeared at the center of the dining hall and summoned a storm of wind that swept away all of the crossbow bolts in an instant.

Before anyone could react, Ye Qing tapped the space in front of him and executed the “Heavenly Demon Captures The Soul”. A wave of demonic thought immediately washed over everyone.

The Spirit Purifiers—Chu Renhe, Tang Chuan, Yu Shi, Luo Changbing; Fortune Taoist, Killer Monk and Sick Scholar—reacted the quickest out of everyone. As soon as Ye Qing appeared and sent the crossbow bolts flying, they immediately got ready to take action. Then, the “Heavenly Demon Captures The Soul” robbed them of their consciousness and froze them in place.

Ye Qing took one step forward and appeared behind Fortune Taoist, Killer Monk and Sick Scholar. He then knocked them all out with a hand knife to the neck.

Killer Monk in particular lost his Golden Bell Shield completely and let out a muffled groan. Such was Ye Qing’s strength that his knees sank into the ground, and his eyes rolled to the back of his head.

Suddenly, Ye Qing’s senses warned him of danger. Like a dragon, he immediately twisted around and threw a mighty punch.

Boom!

There was a loud impact, but Ye Qing didn’t move a step. The thin layer of frost on his fist quickly melted at a visible rate.

On the other hand, his attacker, Chu Renhe, was smoking like he was on fire and staggering backward. Every time he took a step, he would leave behind a scorched footprint. He caught himself only after he had taken nine steps.

“Who are you? Will you go against the Intelligence Department as well?” asked Chu Renhe grimly after sucking in a deep breath. His arm was shaking a little, his fingers were broken, and his elbow looked bruised. This was nothing compared to the fact that he felt like he was being barbecued over an inferno, however. His blood, true qi and mind were boiling, and he was experiencing major difficulties trying to gather his energies. It was uncomfortable to say the least.

The punch hadn’t broken his arm and scattered his energies, it injected a tremendous amount of astral qi into his body and injured both his insides and his mind.

“Excuse me. I accidentally used too much strength.” Ye Qing smiled apologetically.

It was at this moment Tang Chuan, Yu Shi and Luo Changbing broke out of the “Heavenly Demon Captures The Soul”. When they noticed that Ye Qing was standing off against Chu Renhe, they immediately rushed forward to surround him.

Right after that, the jianghu warriors also snapped out of their stupor. Although they didn’t know what happened, why Killer Monk, Fortune Taoist and Sick Scholar were all lying on the floor, and who the guy standing off against Chu Renhe was, it didn’t stop them from taking a step forward and glaring at the duo. At the same time, they shot the Intelligence Guards outside the inn nervous look and threatened rather impotently, “What do you think you’re doing, Lord Chu? Do you really want to go down with us?”

Chu Renhe ignored the jianghu warriors and stared at Ye Qing intently. “Who are you, warrior? At your level, I doubt you’ve been infected with the gu worms. Why are you getting involved?”

He raised a hand to stop the Intelligence Guards from approaching further before continuing, “This is between me and these murderers. It has nothing to do with you. I would advise you to stay out of it unless you want to implicate yourself, your friends and your family.”

Tang Chuan, Yu Shi and Luo Changbing shot him a look of shock and disbelief. Chu Renhe’s words sounded forceful and threatening, but they could tell that it was the opposite. Their normally uncompromising leader was actually offering a compromise.

“Please don’t misunderstand. I’m not trying to stop you from carrying out your business, and I’m definitely not planning to become your enemy. I just want to lend you a hand.” Ye Qing spread his arms wide to show that he didn’t mean harm.

“Is that so?” A cold glint flickered behind his phoenix eyes as he squinted a little. “In that case, do you mind handing over the criminals to me?”

“You can’t! We’re all dead if you hand them to him!”

“Yeah! These officials clearly don’t give a shit about our lives! Don’t listen to him!”

“They’re right, brother. These bastards are planning to kill us all. We should take these three with us and break out of this place.”

“Get ready to fight these dogshit bastards to the death, brothers and sisters!”

“Yeah! They think they can do whatever they want? We’ll show them!”

The jianghu warriors grew restless as soon as Chu Renhe spoke up. Blood and death were their norm after all. To call them short-tempered would be an understatement. Chu Renhe had literally ordered their deaths earlier, so why on earth would they stand around and submit to their fate?

About a dozen jianghu warriors didn’t even bother to waste their breath. They charged straight toward the nearest Intelligence Guards, prompting the latter to draw their crossbows again.

“Seriously, give me a break.”

Ye Qing raised his foot half an inch and stomped the ground, eliciting a terrific boom that sounded like a thunderclap. The jianghu warriors and the Intelligence Guards immediately lost their footing and fell to the floor.

“Stop what you’re doing and listen to me.”

It was like a second thunderclap had erupted beside their ears. The yell had punched through their mental defenses, disoriented them and dispelled their energies.

There were a handful of people in the inn who managed to endure the disabling attack, but even they were looking at Ye Qing with shocked expressions. If they channeled their full strength, they could stomp the floor hard enough to shake the entire inn as well. But Ye Qing before them had done it without hurting the floor and knocked over every combatant in the area. This was unbelievable considering that even the weakest among them were Vessel Augmentors.

Besides that, the yell had dispelled their energies like nothing but did not real harm to them. This was definitely beyond their ability.

“Have you all calmed down?” Ye Qing asked while sweeping his gaze across the crowd. This time, the inn was as silent as a morgue.

“Good. Now listen to me.”

Ye Qing said slowly, “No side is in the wrong in this matter except these three bastards. You don’t really hold a grudge against one another either. Therefore, there is no need to resort to violence.”

“And how are we supposed to solve this conundrum without violence?” Chu Renhe asked coldly.

“The true reason you are butting heads with each other is the Sick Scholar. You want him because you want to live,” Ye Qing looked at the jianghu warriors before glancing at Chu Renhe, “and you want him because of the crimes he and his cohorts committed. However, your needs are not actually in conflict with one another.”

“There is only one Sick Scholar, but we both want him. Why wouldn’t there be conflict between our sides?” Chu Renhe asked ridiculingly. He had returned to his usual arrogant and cruel self.

“The reason they want Sick Scholar is because they were infected by his gu worms. As far as they know, the only way they could be cured is to save him. You want Sick Scholar himself because they broke the laws of Chu.”

Ye Qing smiled. “You don’t actually want the same thing. One side wants the cure, and the other wants the person. Naturally, it’s possible to solve this without conflict.”

Chu Renhe narrowed his eyes. “Really now? And how are we going to solve this, pray tell?”

Ye Qing answered, “Sick Scholar is under my control right now. After I get the cure from him and save my jianghu brethren, you may apprehend Sick Scholar and take him to your headquarters. It’s that simple.”

A clamor of murmurs broke out immediately. Assuming that the situation could be resolved as easily as Ye Qing claimed, then of course they would rather do it his way.

1. Who would’ve thought that inquisitors are loathsome? ?