493: Chapter 486: Murder 493: Chapter 486: Murder He looked up slightly to observe the approaching group.
Zhang Yushan had his eyes slightly closed, once again closing his eyes to conserve his energy.
“Stop, what are you doing?” Yang Jin, on the other hand, took a step forward, staring directly at the group, and barked the question.
As disciples of the Ten Thousand Sword Sect, descending to a city below, they were esteemed and regarded as immortals by ordinary folk.
Their thunderous shouts upon arrival had already made their purpose clear.
They wanted boys and girls under sixteen to gather so they could assess their talents and bestow upon them the chance for Immortal Cultivation.
But now, the band of people approaching them were not only too old, but their physical condition was also terribly weak.
Such people were ignoring their commands and approaching them; it was a clear provocation…
“May I ask how to address you gentlemen?” One of the corpulent men, Shen Zhengming, in the center, stepped forward with a smile and asked.
Yang Jin’s expression darkened, and his right hand had already moved to the hilt of the treasured sword at his waist.
Zhang Yushan, who seemed to be conserving his energy with his eyes slightly closed, now raised his hand to stop Yang Jin’s next move.
“My surname is Zhang, an Inner Sect deacon of the Ten Thousand Sword Sect.”
“I’ll overlook the disrespect you’ve shown us as newcomers unfamiliar with our rules, and I won’t hold it against you.”
“Speak then, what brings you here?”
Zhang Yushan raised his head again and peered intently at Shen Zhengming and the others in front of him.
“Deacon Zhang, greetings.”
“My name is Shen Zhengming, a city official here.
The people by my side and I could be considered the true administrators of this place.”
“You wish to select disciples and have the boys and girls under sixteen from our locale gather; we have no objections to this.”
“However, in my view, your approach is mistaken.
If you had communicated with us in advance and had our assistance, the outcome would certainly not be like this!”
Despite maintaining his smile, Zhang Yushan gestured to the deserted surroundings as he spoke.
He continued, “I don’t mean to mock you with these words; I simply believe that we could cooperate in some respects.”
Zhang Yushan furrowed his brows slightly and remained silent.
Having descended here and spent more than half a two-hour period, not to mention finding youths suitable for Immortal Cultivation, he barely saw any teenagers around him.
Should they go door-to-door and herd the age-appropriate youth here?
Such a task was overcomplicated, and they were certainly understaffed.
The man calling himself Shen Zhengming should be regarded, according to Zhang Yushan’s understanding, as equivalent to a City Lord of this small city.
If he was willing to cooperate, the mission Zhang Yushan had undertaken from his Sect would undoubtedly proceed much more smoothly.
Having navigated bureaucratic systems for many years, Shen Zhengming naturally possessed an acute sense for observation and understanding of context.
Reading Zhang Yushan’s expression, Shen Zhengming smiled and while the iron was hot, continued, “With our help, the eligible youths in this city will soon gather at the Sports Square.”
“Of course, given your generosity, Deacon Zhang, you surely won’t expect us to work for nothing.”
“What do you say to this: ten slots to join your esteemed Sect for us, how about that?”
The art of politics lies in compromise and the exchange of interests.
Clearly, Shen Zhengming was applying bureaucratic tactics to the representatives of the Ten Thousand Sword Sect present.
Of course, he didn’t dare to present such conditions without any confidence.
Upon their initial arrival at the Sports Square, this group claiming to be from the Ten Thousand Sword Sect had seized a few innocent citizens.
But after questioning them and learning the location was indeed the Sports Square, Zhang Yushan and his companions did not trouble the passers-by and let them go on their way.
From this perspective, these people adhered to rules and reasoning…
Thus, Shen Zhengming and others naturally felt that negotiation was possible – there was common ground for discussion.
Shen Zhengming had already put his price on the table.
If Zhang Yushan was dissatisfied, couldn’t they slowly negotiate?
If ten slots weren’t acceptable, surely seven or eight could be agreed upon!
Lined up by their ranks, the leaders would share the slots among themselves…
With their sanction, it would be a trifling matter for the numerous public servants below to cooperate with Zhang Yushan’s group to summon the city’s youth.
“To give you ten slots to join our Ten Thousand Sword Sect?
Do you think our Sect is a trash collector, open to just anyone?”
“It seems you’ve yet to grasp the situation!”
“Throughout the lands within thousands of miles from here, our Ten Thousand Sword Sect is the heavens; to defy our commands is to act against the heavens.”
“Those who defy the heavens, die!”
As the word “die” fell from Zhang Yushan’s mouth.
A streak of sword light shot forth from his mouth, ‘pfft,’ piercing through Shen Zhengming’s head, leaving a bloody hole on top.
His body collapsed stiffly to the ground, a mixture of red and white oozing slowly from the gory wound.
He was completely devoid of life before he could let out even a scream of agony.
“Is Old Shen dead?
These people are brutally vicious, killing without negotiation; they are certainly no kind souls.”
“Don’t hesitate, everyone just open fire.”
“I refuse to believe that they can’t be hurt by guns or blades…”
The death of Shen Zhengming left his companions briefly stunned, but they quickly recovered.
Apart from a few leaders in the middle who were officials from Liuyuan County, the men who had accompanied them were all armed police from the county.
“Da da da…
da da da…”
A dozen rifles, along with several handguns, fired almost simultaneously.
Under this powerful barrage of gunfire, all the Inner Sect Disciples, except Zhang Yushan, who stood his ground without retreating, were forced to keep stepping back by the bullets fired from the guns.
However, the expected scene of blood and flesh flying did not occur.
As Inner Sect Disciples, the white robes they wore were standard-issue Magic Robes from the Ten Thousand Sword Sect.
Circles of milky-white halos bloomed from these Magic Robes.
Pistol bullets were stopped outright by the halos.
While the more powerful rifle bullets did penetrate the layers of light and hit the Ten Thousand Sword Sect Inner Sect Disciples like Yang Jin, they could only push them back and were unable to penetrate the robes themselves and cause actual damage.
As for Deacon Zhang Yushan, the quality of his Magic Robe was naturally even higher.
He was enveloped in a circle of dazzling brilliance, which made it impossible for the bullets to even scratch him.
If it weren’t for the surprise of being attacked by firearms, the outcome would have likely been different.
After all, in their eyes, the firearms held by those armed police were nothing but mere iron sticks.
They had never imagined that these iron sticks would actually fire bullets.
“A bunch of ants…
A tiger doesn’t show his might and you think I’m a sick cat, courting death!”
Zhang Yushan’s mood became extremely dark as he let out a low roar.
A Short Sword about a foot long appeared in his hand, and in the next moment, the sword light blazed.
“Ah ah ah ah…” The screams were piercing as one followed another.
When the sword light dissipated, corpses lay scattered haphazardly across the ground.
Some were decapitated, some had their hearts pierced, and others were sliced in half at the waist—the scene was of utmost brutality.
“Being ambushed by a group of mortals, Elder Martial Uncle, we have lost face for you…” Yang Jin and the others hung their heads low, standing beside Zhang Yushan, looking extremely embarrassed.
Their regulation Magic Robes, hit relentlessly by bullets, had dimmed significantly compared to before.
It appeared that if ordinary people had unlimited-bullet firearms, they might indeed destroy their Magic Robes and truly harm them.
“Even tigers nap, these people are too crafty.
Getting ambushed by them isn’t your fault at all!”
Zhang Yushan’s expression remained somewhat dark as he responded.
Not just Yang Jin and the others, he himself had not expected the odd nature of those iron sticks the group wielded.
Now, he naturally wouldn’t blame them; after all, he had been caught off guard in the same manner.
Standing with his hands behind his back, Zhang Yushan’s face was frosty as he scanned the surroundings.
Since they had arrived, apart from Shen Zhengming and others who had become corpses, no one else had stepped foot in their territory.
But further away, it was unknown just how many people were watching from a distance.
Zhang Yushan and his companions were well aware of all this.
Considering that the small city in front of them was from a new world and that they were new themselves, unaware of the Ten Thousand Sword Sect, they had shown much tolerance and had not made any excessive moves.
But now, he felt that their kindness had been perceived as a weakness to be exploited…
“Within one two-hour period, every youth under the age of sixteen must appear on the Sports Square.”
“Any who dare to disobey will be found and killed without mercy…”
His voice boomed like thunder, spreading from Zhang Yushan at the center to every corner of Liuyuan County.
“What do we do?
These Ten Thousand Sword Sect people, they will really kill.
Our Jun is thirteen this year, should we really send him to the square to be near those people?”
“The world has changed from before, just let Jun go.
Otherwise, if those people find out, they will really be ruthless and kill our entire family.”
“Besides, they are recruiting Disciples.
Jun might not be in danger if he goes, and if he’s lucky enough to be selected to join the Ten Thousand Sword Sect, it might not be a bad thing for us.”
…
Some onlookers nearby eventually couldn’t bear the pressure any longer and chose to compromise.
Leading their children, trembling, they slowly made their way towards where the few members of the Ten Thousand Sword Sect were.
Once one person started, there would be a second one, and soon a large group of people would follow suit.
The bodies of Shen Zhengming and his group of a dozen or twenty were still near where the Ten Thousand Sword Sect members were.
Seeing so many people die before their eyes, most of those from peacetime likely now harbored fear towards Zhang Yushan and the others.
Chen Hai and Ye Qingqing arrived near the square, having spent quite some time there already.
“The Ten Thousand Sword Sect members don’t seem that strong, their power is just so-so…”
While others felt fear and were subdued, Chen Hai’s mind birthed this strange thought upon witnessing what had just unfolded.