At midnight, the sky over Sujiang was suddenly filled with lightning and thunder, and a long-brewing downpour descended, shattering the silence of the night.
In the heavy rain, two cars sped into the Tianxi Garden Villa District in Sujiang.
Xu Bo and his three disciples were in the front Toyota Alphard, while Qiao Tianba and a middle-aged man were in the Rolls-Royce Phantom behind.
The middle-aged man was wearing a black robe and a large saber at his waist. His vital energy was robust, and he exuded a terrifying aura of a martial arts master.
Since getting into the car, the middle-aged man had kept his eyes closed, resting. He had paid no attention to Qiao Tianba from beginning to end.
"Master Liu, we have arrived."
Suddenly, Qiao Tianba's voice broke the silence in the car.
Originally, Qiao Tianba had intended to have a conversation with the middle-aged man on the way. However, seeing that the middle-aged man had kept his eyes closed since boarding, and also concerned about the life and death of his son Qiao Lin, he had said nothing. It was only after the Rolls-Royce Phantom drove into the Tianxi Garden Villa District that he spoke.
Swish!
The middle-aged man's eyes suddenly snapped open, his gaze sharp as lightning, incredibly intimidating, preventing Qiao Tianba from looking him directly in the eye.
"Qiao Tianba, I will only kill the martial artist you mentioned. Everyone else, including the Qin family kid, is your responsibility."
The middle-aged man said expressionlessly, his tone leaving no room for doubt.
"Yes, Master Liu."
Facing the middle-aged man's almost commanding tone, Qiao Tianba had no objections, but instead showed great respect.
On one hand, this was what he had promised on the phone.
On the other hand, he not only knew that the middle-aged man was a martial arts master, but he also knew his identity.
Liu Yidao, from the Liu family in the Eastern Domain!
The Dragon Country had powerful martial arts forces in each of its domains. The Liu family was one of the representatives of the martial arts forces in the Eastern Domain, with War God-level experts among their members, and they were renowned.
And... Liu Yidao was once the strongest successor of the Liu family!
Even in that era, Liu Yidao was the foremost martial arts prodigy in the entire Dragon Country. He broke through to the Nine-Star Martial Artist realm just after turning thirty, becoming a martial arts master.
At that time, almost the entire martial arts community in the Dragon Country believed that Liu Yidao would definitely become a War God!
However—
Many years have passed, and Liu Yidao was still a Nine-Star Martial Artist.
He had remained at the Nine-Star Martial Artist realm for a full twenty years!
During the past twenty years, apart from going into seclusion to comprehend martial arts and strive for the War God realm, Liu Yidao would occasionally venture out.
By "venture out," he meant seeking out people for sparring matches or even life-or-death battles, trying to break through in combat.
Although Liu Yidao had not broken through to the War God realm in twenty years, he had almost become an invincible existence in the martial arts master realm, having killed more than ten martial arts masters.
This time, Liu Yidao came to fulfill the commission accepted by the Liu family, not with the intention of "sharpening his blade" or seeking a breakthrough, but simply to relax and kill someone on the way!
In his opinion, martial artists who mingled in the secular world were not truly dedicated to martial arts. Even a martial arts master was not worth mentioning; they couldn't withstand his single strike!
As for others, they were not worth him drawing his saber!
...
Two minutes later, the two cars stopped at the entrance of Villa No. 9 in Tianxi Garden.
Including Qiao Tianba and Liu Yidao, everyone saw the corpses in front of the villa.
The bloodstains on the corpses had been washed away by the rain, but at first glance, the deaths still appeared very tragic.
"Qiao Tianba, are you sure this is the place?"
Liu Yidao retracted his gaze and asked Qiao Tianba with a frown.
"Yes, Master Liu, the other party threatened me using my son and asked me to come here."
Qiao Tianba replied to Liu Yidao with certainty at first, then asked somewhat uneasily, "Master Liu, is something wrong?"
"There are only three auras inside the villa. One is a Five-Star Martial Artist, another is a Four-Star Martial Artist, and the last is an ordinary person."
Liu Yidao said coldly.
Just now, while everyone's attention was drawn to the more than a dozen corpses at the entrance of the villa, Liu Yidao had carefully sensed the entire villa.
"This... this is not right! My son is the Four-Star Martial Artist you mentioned. If the other party is only a Five-Star Martial Artist, how could they have killed my subordinate Guo Lu? Guo Lu was already a Seven-Star Martial Artist, and he had two Five-Star Martial Artists and a Six-Star Martial Artist with him!"
Upon hearing this, Qiao Tianba's face changed, and he asked with great confusion, "Moreover, after killing my subordinate Guo Lu and the other four, the other party specifically used my son as a hostage to threaten me to come here to save him—if he was just a Five-Star Martial Artist, he wouldn't dare to do this, would he?"
"Let's go in and take a look."
Liu Yidao said coldly and got out of the car.
Although he didn't know why there was only a Five-Star Martial Artist and an ordinary person in the villa, he had absolute confidence in his own strength. As long as he didn't encounter a War God-level martial artist, he wouldn't care about any tricks the other party played.
"Master Liu, Master Qiao."
Xu Bo had already gotten out of the Toyota Alphard with his three disciples. Seeing Liu Yidao and Qiao Tianba get out of the car, they all greeted them.
Liu Yidao paid them no mind and directly strode into the villa compound. Qiao Tianba and the others quickly followed.
Huh?
As soon as they entered the villa's courtyard, they saw the three corpses at the entrance of the main building.
Although Qiao Tianba had already determined that Guo Lu and the other four martial artists had met their fate before arriving, seeing the corpses of the three martial artists with his own eyes still made his face turn somewhat grim. He said with a ferocious expression, "Master Liu, if possible, cripple that martial artist, and I will personally finish him off!"
"Alright."
Liu Yidao replied indifferently, his footsteps unceasing. He stepped over the three corpses and entered the main building first.
In the villa's hall, Qiao Lin, Guo Lu, and Wu Guang lay on the ground, covered in blood.
Guo Lu and Wu Guang had died a long time ago, while Qiao Lin had fallen into a coma—he had his knee crushed by Jiang Wuming's stomp when Jiang Wuming was on the phone with Qiao Tianba, and had fainted from the pain.
Qin Xiaozhi's nose injury had been treated and had stopped bleeding. He was currently sitting on the sofa with Jiang Wuming.
He had already heard the sound of cars outside, sensed the auras of Liu Yidao and the others, and even heard the conversation between Qiao Tianba and Liu Yidao, but there was no trace of tension on his face. Instead, he was casually smoking a cigar, puffing clouds of smoke.
Jiang Wuming leaned back on the sofa, his eyes closed, waiting for Qiao Tianba and the others to appear.
Soon, Qiao Tianba and the others arrived in the villa's hall.
Among them, Liu Yidao, Xu Bo, and his disciples all stared at Jiang Wuming and Qin Xiaozhi with eyes like knives.
Qiao Tianba, however, cast his gaze upon Qiao Lin first.
"Xiao Lin!"
Seeing Qiao Lin lying on the ground covered in blood, his life uncertain, Qiao Tianba's heart ached, and he couldn't help but cry out.
There was no response. Qiao Lin lay there like a dead dog, motionless.
"Whether to friends or enemies, I always keep my word. You are not late, so he is still alive."
At this moment, Jiang Wuming opened his eyes, looked at Qiao Tianba and the others expressionlessly, and his tone suddenly shifted, "However, since you have arrived, it is time for him to die!"
...
...