Merit-based card draws, quickly become a Heavenly Emperor

The leader, dressed in black, was burly with a slanted scar across his face, running from his left eyebrow to the corner of his mouth.

He grinned, staring at Guan Tieyi with smug eyes.

"Haha, Guan Tieyi, back then you and Chu Tiankuo drove the five of us brothers out of Yongqing County, leaving us to abandon our homes and businesses and flee in a sorry state."

Didn't expect?

"What goes around comes around; today it's your turn to be unlucky."

Guan Tieyi sneered, and with a clang, his sword was drawn.

"You colluded with corrupt officials to plunder the people's wealth, and you deserve to die a thousand deaths."

You two, barely at the eighth rank, dare to come here seeking death?

They've got some nerve!

The scarred man laughed loudly: "Stop bluffing."

I know you were seriously injured while hunting that tiger demon and haven't fully recovered yet.

How could they possibly be a match for my five brothers?

"If you know what's good for you, slit your own throat and go find your Brother Chu. You'll suffer less and save us the trouble of taking action."

"Fang Zheng, let's go!"

Guan Tieyi stopped trying to win arguments, let out a roar, and charged forward with his sword.

"Neither of you is going anywhere. Both of your heads are worth a fortune!"

Second brother, go and kill that underworld official!

Among the five members of the Xu family, four, led by Scarface, besieged Guan Tieyi, while an eighth-rank martial artist grinned and pounced on Fang Zheng.

Fang Zheng, however, showed no intention of fleeing.

He glanced around the battlefield; the enemy had two eighth-rank soldiers and three ninth-rank soldiers. This was going to be a tough battle!

The breakthrough point is to take advantage of Guan Tieyi holding off the four opponents while he quickly kills the second son of the Xu family in front of him.

For other ninth-rank Daoist cultivators, this statement is nothing short of a fool's dream.

However, with the help of Liu Qingyu, an eighth-rank contracted ghost, Fang Zheng was very confident in his ability to outwit the unsuspecting.

He activated the Yuan Power between his eyebrows, his gray robes fluttered, his official seal lit up, and he took out two ink-painted weapon diagrams from his bosom and threw them to the ground.

The ink light exploded, and two ink soldiers leaped out of the picture from the left and right, holding long swords, blocking his way.

After achieving a minor level of mastery in visualization, Fang Zheng was able to summon two ink soldiers simultaneously, greatly increasing his strength.

He roared fiercely, "Today I will act on behalf of Heaven and exterminate the five poisons of your Xu family!"

"A trivial skill!"

The second son of the Xu family grinned maliciously and slashed down with his sword. The blade was wrapped in a strong wind and the force was fierce.

He had assumed that a mere ninth-grade painting spirit would be severed in two by his full power.

However, Mo Bing raised his sword to parry and actually withstood the attack.

With Fang Zheng's current painting skills and talent, although Mo Bing's weapon broke and his body was cleaved open, it did not break completely.

Furthermore, the ink gushed from the crack, and under Fang Zheng's infusion of Yuan energy, it quickly healed.

The second son of the Xu family had his knife stuck in Mo Bing's body and couldn't be pulled out for a while.

His expression changed, and just as he was about to forcefully draw his sword, another Mo-sword from a black-clad soldier was already slashing at him.

A martial artist at the eighth-grade Meridian Opening Realm is far from being invulnerable to blades and spears.

He had no choice but to drop the knife, and abruptly lowered his head. The blade grazed his scalp, slicing off a piece of flesh, and blood flowed freely.

The second son of the Xu family stumbled backward, and before he could even regain his footing, a chain was already wrapped around his neck.

The Soul-Binding Chains were covered in Soul-Burning Flames, the gray flames burning up his neck along the chain.

The second son of the Xu family screamed, his whole body convulsing, and he desperately tried to break free of the chains.

After all, even though he was an eighth-rank martial artist, Fang Han, being a Yin official, struck directly into the soul, making it impossible to defend against.

In the instant he was distracted, the black-clad soldier behind him suddenly raised his head, his eyes flashing with a blood-red light.

A layer of cold flame ignited on the Mo Dao, and its momentum surged, directly jumping from the ninth rank to the eighth rank.

It was Fang Zheng who used the "Life and Death Bond" technique to allow Liu Qingyu to possess the body of the ink soldier.

As an eighth-rank cursed ghost, she was originally afraid of sunlight, but because she had formed a pact with Fang Zheng and had Mo Bing as her disguise, she was able to move around without any hindrance.

Mo Dao slashed horizontally.

The second son of the Xu family stared wide-eyed in terror, not having time to dodge.

With a single slash, a head flew off, and a column of blood shot into the sky.

"Second brother!" Scarface cried out in anguish, his eyes almost bursting open.

"die!"

Taking advantage of his distraction, Guan Tieyi roared and suddenly switched his swordsmanship to a life-for-life exchange.

He took a blow from Scarface, his ribs cracking, but then a flash of light appeared, and the throat of a ninth-rank martial artist was slit open, blood gushing out.

"Again!" Guan Tieyi wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, his fighting spirit growing even stronger.

After Fang Zheng succeeded in his attack, he did not stop.

He commanded two black-clad soldiers to charge into the battle, one on the left and one on the right, protecting Guan Tieyi on either side.

Liu Qingyu possessed one of the ink-colored soldiers, each strike deadly, forcing the opponent to retreat step by step.

"Kill that underworld official first!" Scarface roared.

But it was too late.

Guan Tieyi seized the opportunity and stabbed another ninth-rank martial artist in the chest, killing him.

Fang Zheng then unleashed the Soul-Binding Chains, which wrapped around Scarface's ankles, causing him to scream in agony as the Soul-Burning Flames burned him.

Taking advantage of the moment, Liu Qingyu, disguised as a black-clad soldier, chopped off Scarface's head with a single stroke.

Seeing that the situation was not good, the remaining ninth-rank martial artist turned around and tried to run away.

Guan Tieyi chased after him and slashed him in the back with his sword. Before the man could fall to the ground, Liu Qingyu's Mo Dao had already delivered a finishing blow.

All five members of the Xu family were killed.

Guan Tieyi leaned on his knife, panting heavily. Several wounds on his body were bleeding, and he looked like he was about to collapse, but his eyes were full of pleasure.

"How can we say we have no clothes? We share the same robes with you." (Meaning +1)

"What is said must be done, and what is done must be accomplished; this adds one point to our credibility."

"Eliminate the evil bandits, uphold justice, Gray Merit +20."

It is not advisable to linger in a place of trouble.

Fang Zheng ignored these prompts, squatted down, and quickly searched through the five corpses.

The silver notes totaled more than three hundred taels, stacked together in a thick pile.

He stuffed several bottles of healing pills into his bosom.

The two jade stones are of good quality; you can feel their warm, spiritual energy when you hold them in your hand. They can be used for cultivation.

He didn't take all the equipment; he only picked out a decent-quality longsword, while the rest were just a bunch of scrap metal.

boom!

Just then, Guan Tieyi was seriously injured and collapsed to the ground, unconscious.

Fang Zheng quickly applied the hemostatic ointment he had just seized to the wounds on his body, then helped him onto the horse and hurried towards Yongqing County.

When the patient was taken to the clinic, the doctor lifted the iron-clad garment and his expression changed.

"With such severe external injuries, if it had been half an hour later, the person would have bled to death."

Fang Zheng hurriedly took out the bottles of healing pills from his pocket. The doctor opened them, smelled them, and said, "Excellent blood-tonifying medicine, just the right remedy."

After administering the medicine and acupuncture, and after more than an hour of work, Guan Tieyi's breathing finally stabilized.

The doctor wiped his sweat and said, "His life has been saved, but he'll need to recuperate for a month or so, and he can't use any force during that time."

Fang Zheng nodded, paid the consultation fee, and stayed at the clinic all night.

The next morning, Guan Tieyi woke up and saw Fang Zheng sitting by the bed, squeezing out a few words.

"Thanks, brother!"

Fang Zheng didn't say anything, but simply poured a bowl of water and handed it over.

This kind of friendship forged through life and death needs no further explanation.

In fact, Fang Zheng had been thinking about this ambush all along.

The fact that the Xu family's five poisons were blocked so accurately clearly indicates that someone tipped them off.

He didn't have many enemies, just the Cao family, and at most the county magistrate.

But Guan Tieyi was also targeted, which means that the other party was not only after him, but also wanted to get rid of Guan Tieyi.

Who is it? The Cao family? Or the mastermind behind Chu Tiankuo's murder?