128: Tang Clan traitor, Han Zhen!

Lu Jiuyuan frowned slightly and pushed the door open.

The sight before him caused even Lu Jiuyuan, who was accustomed to storms, to instantly turn cold.

He saw Han Zhen, Yun Chang, and the four women Plum Orchid Bamboo Chrysanthemum, all bound tightly with rough ox-hide ropes, their mouths stuffed with rags, and hoisted high up on several large trees in the courtyard.

Han Zhen's forehead was split open, blood smeared half his face, as if he had put up a fight.

Yun Chang's hair was disheveled, blood seeped from the corner of her mouth, and her eyes were cold and full of anger.

The four women Plum Orchid Bamboo Chrysanthemum had torn clothes and swollen cheeks, clearly having suffered greatly, their eyes filled with fear and humiliation.

Beneath the trees, about a dozen people were either sitting or standing.

These individuals wore various outfits, but most exuded the rough aura of the Outside the Pass desert, with fierce eyes, weapons at their sides, and a strong Evil Qi about them, clearly experienced Jianghu figures.

At the head were three men: one was tall and robust like an iron tower, with a full beard, carrying a pair of egg-thick steel judge's brushes at his waist, leaning against a tree with his arms crossed, his gaze fiercely sweeping the entrance.

He was the leader of the “Three Ferocious Outlaws of Guanwai,” the Water-Fire Judge Hu Zhen.

Another was a tall, thin man with a sallow complexion, sinister eyes, unusually long fingers, and a shiny black serpent-shaped long whip wrapped around his waist.

He was the second of the Three Ferocious Outlaws, “Poisonous Snake” Sun Shun.

The third was a man of medium build and ordinary appearance, but with a pair of eyes that darted around, appearing extremely shrewd. He was playing with a three-foot-long abacus in his hand, a cold smile playing on his lips.

He was the strategist among the Three Ferocious Outlaws, “Ghost Abacus” Qian Yong.

These Three Ferocious Outlaws of Guanwai were notorious villains in the Outside the Pass region in recent years, robbing homes, committing all manner of evil, possessing vicious martial arts, and holding extreme grudges.

Their appearance here was no accident.

Besides these Three Ferocious Outlaws, the other individuals were all their cronies, none of them easy to deal with.

The moment Lu Jiuyuan and A Fei entered, all eyes immediately focused on them like hungry wolves.

“Ghost Abacus” Qian Yong rattled the iron abacus in his hand and chuckled, “The main characters have finally returned! My brothers and I have been waiting for your esteemed presence for a long time!”

Lu Jiuyuan’s gaze slowly swept over Han Zhen and the others who were hanging, finally returning to Qian Yong’s face, his tone so flat that not a ripple could be heard: “Let them down.”

“Water-Fire Judge” Hu Zhen’s voice boomed like a bell, and he laughed:

“Let them go? Hahahaha, what did Ma Kongqun of Wanma Hall and Divine Blade Bai Tianyu tell you today? Why did they come here?

What did they leave here? Explain clearly, hand it over, and I'll spare your lives!

If you can't satisfy me, then in a moment, we'll just chop off your hands and feet, and then you can watch how our brothers play with your little ladies!”

Upon hearing this, Lu Jiuyuan instantly understood that it was trouble brought by Bai Tianyu and Ma Kongqun.

“Are you hunting Bai Tianyu and Ma Kongqun?”

“No, we killed a woman of the Bai family, and those two are hunting us!” Ghost Abacus said with a laugh:

“It's just that those two don't have much brains. They chased us for a thousand li, and they ran quite fast, but unfortunately, they chased us too far ahead! Hahahahaha...”

“So that’s it. There’s a Dao to Heaven, but you refuse to walk it. There’s no door to Hell, yet you barge in!”

The air in the courtyard suddenly solidified, as if frozen by an invisible chill.

Before Lu Jiuyuan’s words had fully fallen, A Fei, at his side, had already transformed into a blurry gray shadow, shooting out like an arrow!

There was no shouting, no warning, only the purest instinct for slaughter.

His target was directly the closest and most boisterous “Water-Fire Judge” Hu Zhen!

Hu Zhen’s laughter was still caught in his throat, and his eyes only had time to reflect a rapidly expanding cold light—that extremely crude iron-sheet sword!

He instinctively reached for the steel judge's brushes at his waist, but his arm had only just begun to lift—

“Puff!”

An extremely faint sound, like a hot knife cutting through cold oil.

A Fei's figure crossed paths with him, without stopping, rushing towards the next target— “Poisonous Snake” Sun Shun.

Hu Zhen froze in place, the sinister smile on his face rigid, his eyes filled with incredulous astonishment.

On his throat, an extremely fine line of blood slowly appeared, and then blood gushed out like a fountain.

“Hoo… hoo…” He futilely clutched his neck, and his massive body crashed to the ground like a collapsing golden mountain and falling jade pillar, kicking up a cloud of dust.

All of this happened too quickly, so fast that most people didn't even see what had occurred.

“Big brother!”

“Poisonous Snake” Sun Shun only felt a blur before his eyes, and Hu Zhen had already fallen, while that deadly gray shadow had lunged before him, bringing with it a bone-chilling coldness.

Sun Shun let out a strange cry, reacting extremely fast. With a flick of his wrist, the black serpent whip at his waist shot out like a poisonous snake leaving its hole, accompanied by a sharp whistling sound, striking directly at A Fei’s face. The whip tip trembled, covering several vital points, insidious and vicious.

However, A Fei did not dodge or evade at all; his sword was even faster!

That iron sheet seemed to be an extension of his arm, piercing directly in at an illogical angle, precisely penetrating the gap in the whip's shadow!

Sun Shun only felt a chill at his neck, and all his movements instantly froze.

His serpent whip drooped limply, the light in his eyes rapidly dimming. The sword tip had pierced through his throat, passing through the gaps in his cervical vertebrae, truly with ease and perfectly fitted!

With another flash, A Fei lunged at the third target, Ghost Abacus Qian Yong.

From his sudden attack to killing the two ferocious outlaws, it was but a flash of lightning!

Only then did the other bandits in the courtyard finally react, enraged and startled, roaring as they drew their weapons.

“You're seeking death!”

“Kill him!”

“Surround him!”

Several steel sabers and long swords simultaneously hacked and thrust at A Fei from both sides, attempting to prevent him from lunging at Qian Yong.

But just then, Lu Jiuyuan, who had been standing still, finally moved.

Guhong Sword instantly transformed into an afterimage.

The sharp edges of the Guhong Sword carved several extremely faint, extremely cold silver arcs in the twilight, arriving later but striking first.

Those bandits who rushed at A Fei only felt a flash of green before their eyes, then a pain in their throats, and a strange, bone-chilling, steel-like force surged from their throats directly into their brains.

Lu Jiuyuan still stood in place, his green robes fluttering, his expression indifferent, sheathing his sword and standing upright, gently blowing away the blood drops from the sword tip.

And his interception created the opportunity for A Fei to deliver the fatal blow to the third ferocious outlaw.

“Ghost Abacus” Qian Yong was now Soul Flying Away and Spirit Scattering.

He had personally witnessed Hu Zhen and Sun Shun being instantly killed by that young man's sword as if they were mere chickens and dogs, and then he saw this young man in green robes casually kill all his subordinates with a single sword. What terrifying martial arts was this?

He let out a strange cry, no longer daring to resist in the slightest. He dismantled the heavy iron abacus in his hand, and a shower of iron beads fiercely smashed towards A Fei, while he himself, with a flick of his toes, desperately darted towards the courtyard wall, only wishing to escape with his life!

The sky full of abacus beads whistled down, clattering loudly. If struck, bones would surely break and tendons would snap.

However, A Fei didn't even blink.

His sword was faster!

That cold light found a sliver of a gap in the impossible, piercing with unparalleled precision into a tiny opening!

The sword tip did not stop at all, carrying the scattered abacus beads, like a poisonous Dragon emerging from its lair, directly chasing Qian Yong's back!

Qian Yong only felt a chill in his back, and a sharp, piercing pain instantly ran through his body; all his strength drained away.

He looked down and saw a blood-stained, crude iron piece protruding from his chest.

“How… how is this possible…” This was his last thought, and then his vision went black, and he collapsed to the ground, dead.

From A Fei's sudden attack to the demise of the Three Ferocious Outlaws, it was only a matter of two breaths!

He looked up at Lu Jiuyuan.

Lu Jiuyuan nodded slightly, as if merely acknowledging a trivial matter.

He walked to the tree, flicked his fingertips, and several tiny ice shards swept past, severing the ox-hide ropes binding Han Zhen and the others.

The few people fell to the ground in disarray, hurriedly tearing off the rags from their mouths, coughing and gasping for breath.

“Young Master! This subordinate is incompetent!”

Han Zhen, disregarding the blood on his forehead, struggled to get up, his face full of shame, “I have disgraced you!”

Yun Chang and the four women Plum Orchid Bamboo Chrysanthemum were both terrified and grateful, their bodies still trembling uncontrollably.

“Get up,” Lu Jiuyuan said calmly, “Clean up.”

“Yes! Yes!” Han Zhen quickly responded, enduring his injuries, and called out to the still-shaken four women to quickly deal with the corpses and bloodstains on the ground.

A Fei silently watched them busy themselves, then carefully wiped the blood-stained iron-sheet sword clean on the dead bodies’ clothes, and put it back at his waist.

His movements were natural and focused, as if it were the most important thing in the world.

Lu Jiuyuan walked to a stone stool in the courtyard and sat down, as if the bloody slaughter that had just occurred had never happened.

He glanced at A Fei, who stood in the shadows like a lone wolf, and said:

“Your sword is fast.”

A Fei looked up, his eyes sharp: “Your sword is faster!”

“How much faster than you?”

“Thirty percent faster than me!”

“You are already very fast!”

“But not fast enough!”

“With a focused mind, you will naturally be fast.”

Lu Jiuyuan’s tone was calm, “But just being fast is not enough.”

A Fei's gaze solidified, and he looked at him with a question.

“Follow me, watch more, listen more, speak less, and you will slowly come to know!”

“Old Han, with your strength, how were you captured so easily?” Lu Jiuyuan asked.

In his opinion, Han Zhen's strength was not bad, and his skills in hidden weapons, as well as identifying and using poisons, were quite good.

Yet he fell so easily this time?

Yun Chang and Plum Orchid Bamboo Chrysanthemum looked ashamed: “Young Master, it was us who dragged down Uncle Han!”

“It's not their fault!” Han Zhen shook his head: “Young Master, it's my own problem. Today, I saw an old acquaintance, and my mind was elsewhere.

I gave them an opportunity; otherwise, although I couldn't defeat them, I could have poisoned them.”

“An old acquaintance? What kind of place is this, so remote, and yet so many people pass by?” Lu Jiuyuan asked:

“Am I already very famous, or… did someone intentionally lead them here?

Old Han, can you explain it to me.”

“Young Master!”

“You kneel first, don’t call me Young Master yet. We’ve been together for so long, and I haven’t even seen your true face.”

Lu Jiuyuan raised his hand, smiling as he asked, “Should I first see what you look like?”

Han Zhen's body stiffened abruptly, the color instantly draining from his face.

He looked up at Lu Jiuyuan.

Lu Jiuyuan still sat on the stone stool, his expression calm, as if what he had just said was an ordinary remark like “the moonlight is nice tonight.”

But in the depths of those eyes, there was a bottomless cold pool, reflecting no emotion, only a coldness that could completely see through a person.

The air seemed to freeze.

Even Yun Chang and the four women, who were wiping blood from the ground, stopped their movements, looking over with surprise and uncertainty.

Although A Fei still stood silently three steps behind Lu Jiuyuan, like a lone wolf, his wolf-like eyes narrowed slightly,

his sharp gaze sweeping back and forth between Lu Jiuyuan and Han Zhen, his hand silently resting on the iron-sheet sword at his waist.

Han Zhen’s lips trembled, his throat too dry to make a sound.

He had followed Lu Jiuyuan for quite some time and knew that this young master, seemingly casual and indifferent, was in fact… unfathomable.

Since he brought it up at this moment, it meant… he had already seen through everything.

The struggle and fear lasted only for a very brief moment.

Han Zhen was not an ordinary person after all. He took a deep breath, quickly knelt on the ground, a bitter smile appearing on his face.

“Young Master… your Wisdom Eye is like a torch.”

Having said that, he reached out his hand, and his fingertips pressed and rubbed lightly or heavily on several spots behind his ear and on his jaw.

Accompanied by faint “hissing” sounds and the strange noise of skin being stretched, a human skin mask, as thin as a cicada's wing and exquisitely crafted, was slowly peeled off his face.

Beneath the mask, there was another face.

It was no longer the slightly aged, somewhat common-looking uncle from before, but the face of a man around twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old.

His complexion was fair, his features delicate, even carrying a scholarly air, but his eyes, at this moment, were filled with bitterness and unease,

disrupting the overall refined feeling and making him appear somewhat effeminate.

This was Han Zhen’s true face.

Someone who looked more like a scholar from an academy than a Jianghu expert skilled in poisons and disguise.

Yun Chang and the four women Plum Orchid Bamboo Chrysanthemum all gasped in surprise, looking at this completely unfamiliar face in disbelief.

They had been together for half a month, yet had never noticed anything amiss.

A Fei's eyes grew sharper, his hand on his sword, his body leaning slightly forward, like a leopard poised to strike.

Lu Jiuyuan's gaze lingered on Han Zhen's true face for a moment, his expression still without any fluctuation, as if he had already expected it.

“Tang Sect traitor, Han Zhen, or rather… Tang Zhen.”