Chapter 149: Controlling the Floor

Having executed Zhao Bin, Zhuang Jin stepped outside, where the martial artists had already gathered upon hearing the signal flare.

Facing the inquiring gazes of the gathered crowd, Zhuang Jin calmly declared: "Zhao Bin betrayed us and defected to the enemy, colluding with the Medicine King Sect to poison me. Having seen through his plot, I have executed him on the spot!"

Just as his voice fell, and while the martial artists were still digesting the news—

"Just as Chief Fu said, Guardian Zhuang is indeed cautious and clever. Zhao Bin's death is hardly unjust, but Guardian Zhuang must still... die today!"

The very instant the word "die" left Zhu Xi's lips, knowing that time was of the essence and dispensing with any further banter, he directly led his men into action.

The martial artists ranging from the first to the sixth meridians, deployed from two wards, charged directly toward the first-to-sixth meridian martial artists stationed on Feng'an Street and Zhuang Jin's personal guards;

A ninth-meridian incense master surnamed Pan charged straight at Huang Tianjun;

As for Zhu Xi himself, accompanied by another ninth-meridian incense master surnamed Kuang, he closed in from both sides to attack Zhuang Jin.

—The three streets of the Feng sector were located extremely close to one another. To prevent internal reinforcements from the enemy from interfering with the battle, Zhu Xi had dispatched two other incense masters—one of the eighth meridian and one of the seventh meridian—each leading their subordinates to intercept and block... To ensure absolute success, he had brought along two ninth-meridian incense masters.

*'An eleventh-meridian realm cultivator? Just as I expected. Judging by his speed, he is a notch below me... If it were not for the fact that I am outwardly only at the tenth meridian and have other schemes in mind, I would genuinely love to test whether I could single-handedly slaughter this fellow!'*

Zhuang Jin cast a detached glance, his figure flashing as he sped directly toward the Medicine King Sect's ninth-meridian incense master surnamed Kuang, who was part of the pincer attack.

*'Damn it! Why is he coming right at me?! Fortunately, I am not fighting alone... As long as I can stall him for two or three breaths until Steward Zhu arrives, this fellow will undoubtedly die, and by then, I too will have rendered a great service!'*

With this thought flashing through his mind, the ninth-meridian incense master surnamed Kuang gritted his teeth and engaged Zhuang Jin, focusing solely on defense rather than offense, intending to tough out a few moves and buy himself the space of several breaths. To his utter shock, however, Zhuang Jin was savagely fierce to an absurd degree. After a mere three or four exchanges, Zhuang Jin delivered a palm strike with the crushing force of Mount Tai, forcing the man to let out a loud roar as he threw up both hands in a desperate, yet failing, parry. The next moment, the skin on his palms split open and his flesh was torn to shreds, sending him stumbling backward step after step to dissipate the overwhelming force.

Right at that moment, a roaring sound erupted from behind Zhuang Jin—

*'Does he know he's dead for sure and want to take one of my ninth-meridian incense masters down with him before he goes? A fine calculation indeed, but you've run out of time. Prepare to... die!'*

Grinning hideously, Zhu Xi arrived behind Zhuang Jin and pressed a palm directly toward Zhuang Jin's back. Yet, the moment his palm made contact, he sensed something amiss and his expression shifted drastically: "No! You're wearing... at least a Mysterious-grade superior-tier exotic beast leather armor?!"

At the critical juncture, Zhuang Jin's body swayed slightly, guiding Zhu Xi's palm strike to land squarely on his shoulder. A pale cyan light flickered over the Mysterious-grade top-tier exotic beast leather armor he wore underneath, neutralizing the force, while he used that very momentum to charge forward. Seizing the opening the moment the ninth-meridian incense master surnamed Kuang mistakenly believed the battle was over and let down his guard, Zhuang Jin struck him squarely in the chest with a single palm.

Thud!

The ninth-meridian incense master surnamed Kuang was blasted completely off his feet by the force of that palm. Mid-air, a blossom of blood burst from his chest as flesh and gore scattered in all directions, before he crashed heavily onto the ground. It was plainly evident that he had only breaths leaving him, with none coming in, hovering on the precipice of death.

"Incense Master Kuang?! Ahhh! Zhuang Jin, I swear I will kill you!" Seeing this, Zhu Xi's eyes split with rage, and he lunged forward, maddened with fury.

Ignoring him entirely, Zhuang Jin went straight for the other ninth-meridian incense master surnamed Pan, who was locked in combat with Huang Tianjun, launching a sneak attack from behind.

Everything prior had transpired in the blink of an eye. Hearing Kuang's miserable scream and Zhu Xi's words, the ninth-meridian incense master surnamed Pan had turned his head in distraction, only to be met head-on by Zhuang Jin's palm... Zhuang Jin was truly in the eleventh-meridian realm, and this time it was a sneak attack. Furthermore, because his back had shielded Zhu Xi's line of sight, he had unleashed his full power. This was a literal, textbook crushing of the man's head with a single palm; his face was mashed into such a bloody pulp that even his own birth parents would not have recognized him.

The price paid? It was being pursued by Zhu Xi, who maneuvered to land a palm strike aimed at Zhuang Jin's right arm squarely on his back. Once again, the exotic beast leather armor neutralized the force, allowing Zhuang Jin to use that momentum to surge forward and put distance between them.

"Incense Master Pan?!!! Ah, Zhuang Jin, you... you damn bastard! You despicable and shameless wretch, do you dare face me in a head-on fight?"

Amidst Zhuang Jin's gaze—which treated him as though he were looking at a complete fool—Zhu Xi's hair stood on end with fury, and he was consumed by uncontainable rage: "Zhuang Jin, do you think you are the only one capable of bullying the weak?"

With eyes blazing with anger, he glanced at Huang Tianjun, who was quietly retreating, and stamped his foot, shooting forward like a cannonball.

Huang Tianjun: "???"

Are you here for comedic effect? You're trying to threaten me to get to Zhuang Jin? Zhuang Jin is so terrified... why don't you try sparing my life instead?!

"You scoundrel, how dare you?! If you dare lay a finger on Guardian Huang, I will be irreconcilable with you to the death!" Zhuang Jin bellowed with a furious expression, though his feet remained rooted firmly in place as if planted in the ground.

Thud!

Hearing Zhuang Jin's "shattered composure" in that cry, Zhu Xi felt a surge of secret satisfaction and set upon Huang Tianjun with even greater ruthlessness and speed. After all, there was a gap of three meridian realms between them, and life or death would be decided within a few exchanges.

"No..."

With a face full of terror, Huang Tianjun tried to explain something, but was given no chance at all before Zhu Xi unleashed a flurry of combo attacks, driving both palms into his forehead and blowing his skull apart to send him packing to the netherworld.

And then followed a game of chase and flight. Zhu Xi pursued while Zhuang Jin fled, yet there was none of that dramatic "you run, he chases, you can't escape" tension. Clearly, Zhu Xi was at the eleventh meridian while Zhuang Jin was merely at the "tenth meridian," yet they were always separated by just a hair's breadth, much like a cat failing to catch a mouse.

A miss by a hair's breadth meant a difference of a thousand miles; whenever he was just that fraction too slow to catch up, he simply couldn't close the gap. On the rare occasions he managed to corner Zhuang Jin and land a palm strike, Zhuang Jin would skillfully maneuver so that the blow hit the armored region of his exotic beast leather armor, using the impact to widen the distance once again.

Until a moment later—

Chirp—crack!

This was the retreat signal of the Medicine King Sect.

Watching Zhu Xi, who stopped his assault with a face full of bitter reluctance, Zhuang Jin played along to perfection, a look of life-after-death relief surfacing on his face: "That was close! I almost fell into your hands today!"

*'I believe your nonsense!'*

Hearing this, Zhu Xi nearly coughed up a mouthful of old blood.

He was no fool; how could he have remained completely oblivious after all this time? Though it still hadn't crossed his mind that Zhuang Jin might be at the eleventh meridian, deep doubt lingered in his heart: *'Is that movement technique, Gale Step, really that demonic, allowing a tenth-meridian martial artist to maintain a speed only a fraction slower than mine at the eleventh meridian? And what's more, this fellow clearly took a few of my palm strikes. Even if the exotic beast leather armor isolated the force, his Qi and blood should still have been churned, affecting his mobility. Yet how is this fellow acting as though nothing happened, bouncing around as lively as ever? Is any of this motherfucking reasonable?'*

Little did Zhu Xi know that Zhuang Jin was indeed in the eleventh-meridian realm, possessing true combat strength superior to his own, and had deliberately managed the battle to control the points of impact so as not to disrupt his circulation of Qi and blood... Upon later inspection, while his injuries might look severe, they wouldn't shake his foundation in the slightest.

"Zhuang Jin, this old Zhu will remember you. The next time we meet... we shall surely settle our scores of life and death!"

Giving Zhuang Jin one deep, lingering look, Zhu Xi shouted "Let's go!" and summoned his subordinates to retreat.

*'Settle our scores of life and death next time? Indeed, the next time we meet, you will be a dead man!'* With a calm expression, Zhuang Jin withdrew his gaze and proceeded to tally his subordinates.

Because the Medicine King Sect's operation had targeted him primarily, and the entire incident had been short in duration, while quite a few of the lower-ranking first-to-sixth meridian martial artists had sustained injuries, very few had actually fallen in battle. Men like Xue Yan, Duan Tao, Lin Hong, and Bi Kai were all doing quite well.