Chaotic Times and Disasters: I Hunt Down Martial Arts Masters and Become a God

The next morning, Fu Qing rode his horse to the North Gate.

Before dawn, as the city gates opened, the soldiers guarding the city yawned and pushed open the two iron-clad gates.

When Fu Qing arrived, five people and five horses had already gathered at the city gate.

Han Yue was checking the horse's girth when he heard the sound of hooves. He looked up, nodded to Fu Qing, and said hello.

Han Yue was a middle-aged man in his early forties with a square face and an old knife scar on his cheekbone that ran diagonally down to his chin. He had a narrow-bladed sword hanging at his waist.

Nearby, one of the two veterans was squatting at the foot of the city wall smoking a pipe, while the other was tying a water bag onto a horse.

The man squatting and smoking his pipe was Old Zhao, in his forties, with more wrinkles on his face than Han Yue. When he saw Fu Qing, he grinned, revealing a set of yellowed teeth.

Old Qian was tying a water bag to the horse's back. Most of his head was bald, with the remaining hair being gray and white, and his fingers were short and thick.

The youngest one, named Xiao Lu, was standing next to the horse, sharpening a dagger on a whetstone.

Xiao Lu is a year younger than Fu Qing, eighteen years old, thin, and still has the childishness of a teenager.

Seeing Fu Qing approach, he paused in sharpening his knife, looked Fu Qing up and down, and asked, "You're the Fu Qing that Commander Zhou was talking about?"

"it's me."

Xiao Lu sheathed the dagger back into his boot. "I heard you caught a full-force punch from a third-level Body Tempering expert with one hand? Really?"

Old Zhao tapped his pipe at the foot of the city wall, sparks flying everywhere. "Little Lu, ask less questions. You'll know the truth when you get to Black Stone Ridge."

Han Yue mounted his horse and simply said, "Let's go."

Six people and six horses emerged from the north gate through the morning mist, and Han Yue began to explain the situation from his horse.

Black Stone Ridge is forty miles from the city. The mountain stronghold is built at the highest point of the ridge, with cliffs on three sides and only a narrow road leading up to it on the south side.

The stockade wall was two zhang high, built with thick logs and huge stones, and there was an arrow sling every ten steps on the top of the wall, making it very difficult to attack from the front.

Guo Lie has been entrenched in Heishiling for almost ten years, and the border troops have tried to suppress him twice but failed.

"This time is different."

Han Yue reined in his horse, took out a sheepskin map from his pocket, spread it on the saddle, and pointed to a location circled in red on the map.

"We climbed up the cliff behind the mountain and sneaked into the stronghold to assassinate Guo Lie and his two deputies, and then set the stronghold on fire."

"There will be border troops outside the city to provide support. When they see the fire, they will launch a feint attack to lure the main force of the bandits toward the gate. We will then take advantage of the chaos to retreat along the original route from the back mountain."

He folded the map and put it in his pocket, then scanned everyone present. "Ask any questions now."

No one asked any questions.

"If there are no problems, let's keep going." Han Yue flicked the reins, and the horse continued forward.

...

As evening fell, the six of them arrived at the foot of Black Stone Ridge.

Looking up from here, the Black Stone Ridge resembles a huge black wall rising abruptly from the ground, with not a blade of grass growing on its slopes.

Han Yue led his team around the main road leading up the mountain and into a rocky area at the foot of the mountain.

He was clearly very familiar with the terrain, and after winding his way through the piles of rocks, he found the hidden path that only he knew.

The six men tied up the horses and began climbing.

Han Yue led the way, followed by Lao Zhao, then Lao Qian and Xiao Lu, with Fu Qing bringing up the rear.

Fu Qing only realized how steep the path was when he squeezed into the crevice. It was almost vertical, and in some places there were no footholds. He could only pull himself up by the strength of his arms.

After climbing for nearly an hour, the six of them finally reached the top of the cliff behind the mountain.

It was completely dark when Fu Qing crouched on the edge of the cliff and looked down, taking in the entire layout of the mountain stronghold.

The structure is divided into three levels according to the mountain's terrain. The outermost level consists of barracks and stables where the henchmen live, the middle level contains warehouses and a gathering hall, and the innermost level, closest to the mountain wall, is a separate two-story wooden building.

Two lanterns hung at the entrance of the wooden building, and two sentries stood around a bonfire, warming their hands.

That was Guo Lie's residence.

Han Yue made a gesture, and the six people spread out on the cliff top, each finding cover to hide in.

Han Yue lowered his voice and assigned tasks—he would take Lao Qian to set fire to the warehouse, Lao Zhao and Xiao Lu would go to the stables to create chaos, and Fu Qing would be responsible for sneaking in from the side to assassinate Guo Lie.

Han Yue pressed his finger on Fu Qing's shoulder.

"Guo Lie is at the sixth level of Body Tempering. None of us can beat him in a head-on fight. Your mission is to sneak up to his bedside and kill him with a single blow. If you fail, run away immediately. Any questions?"

"No problem." Fu Qing pulled the ghost-head broadsword from his waist.

"action."

Fu Qing slid down the cliff face, his knees slightly bent when he landed, and there wasn't a sound at all.

Guo Lie's two-story wooden building is at the very back, nestled against the mountainside.

Fu Qing walked around to the side of the wooden building, where two sentries were sitting by the door chatting and warming themselves by the fire.

"The boss has been in a bad mood lately."

A sentry warmed his hands in front of the fire. "The group we sent to raid the border army's grain convoy the day before yesterday lost three brothers."

Another sentry threw a piece of firewood into the fire. "I heard it wasn't the border guards who killed them, but a passerby who killed all five of them by himself, even breaking Scarface's skin."

"One person? One person can kill Scarface? Scarface is at the third level of Body Tempering..."

Before he could finish speaking, Fu Qing pounced out of the shadows, slashing horizontally with his ghost-head broadsword.

System notifications sounded repeatedly: Killed a bandit (Body Tempering Level 2), Plunder Points +137; Killed a bandit (Body Tempering Level 1), Plunder Points +61, Current Plunder Points 733.

Fu Qing dragged the two corpses to the shadows in the corner, wiped the blood off the knife on the sentry, and quietly pushed open the door of the wooden building.

He made his way up the stairs, his footsteps barely making a sound on the wooden planks.

There was only one room on the second floor. The door was ajar. Fu Qing pushed the door open a crack and squeezed in sideways.

There was a large bed in the room, and a bald, burly man was lying sprawled out on it.

Guo Lie was even stronger than Fu Qing had imagined. His bare upper body was all muscle, and his arms were thicker than Fu Qing's thighs. He had a tiger tattooed on his chest, with the tiger's head right in front of his heart.

He was sleeping soundly, snoring loudly. Beside his bed was a large, nine-ringed sword, its blade as wide as a small door panel.

Fu Qing reached the bedside, raised the ghost-head broadsword, and slashed it down at Guo Lie's neck.

Just as the blade was about to make contact, Guo Lie suddenly opened his eyes.

That was the instinctive reaction of a late-stage Body Tempering martial artist—an intuition honed through countless life-or-death battles, which allowed him to roll to the side when the blade was less than an inch from his neck.

Fu Qing's blade struck the bed board, and with a "crack," the bed board was split in two, sending splinters of wood flying.

Guo Lie flipped over and landed barefoot on the floor. He reached out and grabbed the nine-ringed broadsword.

"How dare you!"

He roared and brought his nine-ringed broadsword down on Fu Qing's head, who blocked it with his own sword.

"when!"

Sparks flew as the two blades collided, exploding in the dark room. Fu Qing felt a tremendous force emanating from the blades, making his hands go numb.

The power of a sixth-level Body Tempering expert was far greater than his current strength. The wooden plank beneath his feet cracked with a "crack," and he took a step back.

Guo Lie's second strike followed immediately, slashing horizontally at Fu Qing's waist. Fu Qing parried with his sword, and with another "clang," he staggered back two steps, his back slamming against the wall.

With his third strike, Guo Lie gripped the sword with both hands, raised it above his head, and brought it down, the copper rings on the nine-ringed sword rattling loudly.

Fu Qing raised his sword to catch it, but a nick appeared on the blade of the ghost-headed broadsword in his hand. He stepped on a wooden plank and fell down the stairs.

He flipped in mid-air and used the stair railing for leverage to jump to the first floor.

Before he could even land properly, Guo Lie had already jumped down from the second floor, his nine-ringed broadsword whistling as it slashed towards his head.

Fu Qing dodged to the side, the blade grazing his shoulder and striking the weapon rack behind him. With a "crack," the weapon rack was split in two, scattering the swords, spears, and halberds all over the ground.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, Fu Qing smashed the window and jumped into the yard. He rolled on the ground, stood up, and coughed up a mouthful of blood.

The three slashes just now had injured his internal organs, which was very bad.

The difference between these two realms is like heaven and earth.

Guo Lie jumped out of the window, and alarm bells rang throughout the mountain stronghold. It wasn't that someone had discovered Fu Qing, but rather that Old Zhao and Xiao Lu had succeeded at the stable.

Flames shot into the sky from the direction of the stables, and more than a dozen horses, startled, rushed out of the stables and ran wildly through the mountain stronghold. The henchmen, disheveled, rushed out of the barracks, shouting everywhere, "Fire!" and "Enemy attack!"

Guo Lie glanced in the direction of the firelight, then looked away, raised his sword, and strode towards Fu Qing.

"Your border scouts are fucking reckless! I've been entrenched at Black Stone Ridge for ten years, and the border troops have come to raid me twice without success. And you six little brats dare to sneak in?"