Chapter 173: The Power of a Single Strike! A Traitor in the Ranks!
The moment Li Gexiao drew the Embroidered Spring Blade, the seven members of Black Dog Star felt as though the gleam of the blade had blinded them.
It was like seeing sunlight glittering across a rippling lake at dusk.
Flashing, flickering—hypnotic.
By the time they regained their senses, two of the seven had already been slain on the spot by Li Gexiao!
The remaining five were utterly horrified.
In all their years of roaming the martial world, they had never encountered an opponent with such ruthless and seasoned killing experience. A single, simple feint had cost them dearly.
If it hadn't been for the sudden assault by their giant wolfdog, catching Li Gexiao off guard, more of them would've likely died.
This wolfdog, just a step away from becoming a spirit beast, possessed strength rivaling that of lions and tigers. One head-on collision sent Li Gexiao flying ten meters back.
Holding his blade across his chest, Li Gexiao glared at the wolfdog, cursing it inwardly.
Such a perfect chance to strike—ruined by this damn beast!
"There's a demonic aura about it… Looks like this mutt's about to become a demon. These bastards really went all-in," he muttered, baring his teeth in a grin. As one of Zheng Dongliu's right-hand men, he'd been tied up with Embroidered Uniform Guard affairs for years and hadn't had many opportunities to slay demons. It had always been a source of regret.
Killing this wolfdog would be a small consolation.
"Oy, Old Li," came a lazy voice—Chu Yang, yawning. "You sure you can handle that dog? Looks pretty beefy. Don't be afraid to holler if you need help."
"Relax, young master. It's just a dog. This blade Old Zuo gave me is tailor-made for beasts like this!" Li Gexiao's Embroidered Spring Blade buzzed faintly, emitting a soft glow.
"Oh? A magic weapon too, is it?" Chu Yang eyed the blade with interest.
Zuo Qianhu was known as the "Weapon Master" within the Six Gates not just because he always seemed to have an arsenal on him, but also because of his talent for forging weapons. Before joining the Embroidered Uniform Guard, he had stumbled across a Daoist manual of talismanic arts. After years of study, he became intimately familiar with its spells, carving talismans into every weapon he made—greatly enhancing their power against monsters and demons.
Sensing the presence of those talismans, the massive wolfdog showed a flash of human-like fear in its eyes, growing increasingly agitated and pacing back and forth.
The five remaining members of Black Dog Star finally realized that Li Gexiao wasn't just some ordinary opponent.
"Boss, this guy's a tough one. Maybe we should retreat for now?"
"Retreat? You still don't know Wei Wuyou's temper? If we don't kill these two, we might not make it out alive!"
"So what now?"
"The swordsman's a handful, so let's go after the young master. Judging by his clothes—snow silkworm silk, no less—he's probably from some noble family."
"If we can capture him, that swordsman won't dare act rashly no matter how deadly he is!"
With their plan decided, the five immediately had the wolfdog lock Li Gexiao in combat, while they themselves vanished into streaks of wind, darting toward Chu Yang.
Li Gexiao turned pale and quickly tried to follow, but the wolfdog struck him with a swipe of its paw, tearing open his back and sending blood spurting.
"Five clever bastards," Chu Yang said with a light smile. Crackling arcs of lightning danced at his fingertips. With a flick, thunder roared and several bolts of dark violet lightning blasted toward the five attackers.
Four were too slow to dodge and were instantly incinerated into charred husks.
The last survivor let out a blood-curdling scream: "Daoist Palm Lightning! Run! He's a Daoist Adept!"
At the words "Daoist Adept," Wei Wuyou—leader of the Twelve Zodiac Stars—visibly trembled. He whipped around to look at Chu Yang and the four corpses at his feet.
Everyone knew that top-tier Buddhist and Daoist practitioners were the most troublesome foes under the heavens. Buddhist monks, while better at defense than offense, were infuriatingly persistent—once provoked, they'd cling to you like tar and never let go.
Daoist methods, on the other hand, were eerie and unpredictable. Martial artists simply couldn't defend against them—there were endless ways to die, most of which you'd never see coming.
In the martial world, the last people you wanted to provoke were monks and Daoists.
"Boss, this batch of goods is too hot. Let's cut our losses!"
"We've crossed paths with Daoist adepts before—we all know our martial arts get completely suppressed by their orthodox techniques. Victory would cost too much!"
"Black Dog Star is already gone. We can't afford to lose more brothers."
More and more members of the Twelve Zodiac Stars began feeling hesitant. Years ago, they'd encountered a Daoist master once—and the trauma still haunted them to this day.
Covered in blood, Jiang Feng watched as the group slowly lowered their weapons, hope rekindling in his heart. One hand gripped his wife's tightly, the other held the baby in swaddling cloth.
On the other side, Hua Yuenu cradled the other twin, watching the bandits warily—knowing their lives rested on a knife's edge.
No… not quite.
Her gaze drifted toward the elegant young man in the distance. More accurately, he held the power of life and death over them all.
She should've tried to form a karmic bond earlier…
Hua Yuenu felt a pang of regret.
What she didn't know was that in Chu Yang and Li Gexiao's eyes, the fact that she and Jiang Feng hadn't used wealth or power to bully others already qualified them as a virtuous family in this chaotic world.
With just a casual flick from Chu Yang, the massive wolfdog tangled with Li Gexiao immediately fell prone, trembling uncontrollably—no longer willing to fight.
Its budding sentience told it clearly: the well-dressed young man before it could send it straight to the underworld with a mere twitch of his finger.
Li Gexiao beheaded the last Black Dog Star survivor with a single strike. For a criminal that wicked, death a thousand times wouldn't have sufficed to ease the fury in his heart.
He leaned toward Chu Yang and whispered, "Young master, the Twelve Zodiac Stars are soaked in blood and notorious for vengeance. Best not let a single one escape."
Chu Yang nodded.
As his eyes swept over the treasure-laden chests, Wei Wuyou's gaze turned bloodshot. He gritted his teeth and said, "So what if he's strong? He's just one man! If we all pile on, we can bury him under our numbers! Jiang Feng is richer than royalty, and he possesses martial treasures. Even one of those could make us kings of the martial world! You may give up—but I, Wei Wuyou, won't!"
Among Jiang Feng's treasures was a gem known as the Pure Pearl—consuming it could rebuild one's body. For someone like Wei Wuyou, born with a hideous appearance, it was a once-in-a-lifetime chance at transformation.
He didn't care about anything else—but that pearl? He would claim it at all costs!
Hearing the words "martial treasure," the other Zodiac Stars felt their greed overwhelm reason. Just like Wei Wuyou said: even a single treasure could grant them dominance over the martial world.
"Damn it, I'm going all in! Let's do this!"
"Brothers, kill those two meddlers first—then Jiang Feng's next!"
"Hahaha! I want their treasures and their lives!"
Gold moves hearts.
Enough gold drives men mad.
For bandits who lived with their heads tied to their belts, once they went berserk, nothing else mattered—not even their own lives.
That was what made the Twelve Zodiac Stars so terrifying.
Wei Wuyou smirked as his comrades surged forward, driven by greed. Even after years of fighting side by side, at the critical moment, these men were still nothing but pawns to him.
With a peerless master at his back, Li Gexiao was bursting with confidence. Hoisting his Embroidered Spring Blade, he prepared to charge the Zodiac Stars.
But Chu Yang spoke up suddenly, "That dog's probably eaten its share of people. Might as well kill it too."
The wolfdog trembled even harder.
Li Gexiao replied, "Young master, if the Zodiac Stars were planning to turn it into a spirit beast, they wouldn't let it eat humans. I can see it's showing signs of submission. Why not keep it?"
Chu Yang raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Why's that?"
Li Gexiao explained, "Humans consume all kinds of meat and grains, which fill the body with filth and worldly qi. This disrupts the transformation of animals into spirit beasts. Dogs in particular suffer irreversible damage to their sense of smell because of it."
"But once they become spirit beasts or greater, they can absorb human blood essence through special means, and don't have to worry about such contamination."
The wolfdog nodded frantically, sensing this was its one shot at survival.
Chu Yang nodded. "Fine. Spare it. You could use a helper anyway."
Li Gexiao nudged the wolfdog with his foot. "You better thank the young master for letting you redeem yourself, mutt."
The wolfdog wagged its tail and bowed like a man, looking absolutely ridiculous.
Meanwhile, Wei Wuyou and his men left Jiang Feng alone for now, charging at Chu Yang with murderous fury.
Jiang Feng gripped his sword and prepared to follow.
But Hua Yuenu grabbed him, eyes brimming with tears. "Please… stay alive."
She knew his nature well enough not to try stopping him. Jiang Feng placed righteousness above all else—how could he abandon his ideals now?
"Don't worry, my love!" He patted her hand, then dashed away from the teahouse without hesitation.
If not for the children, Hua Yuenu wouldn't have stayed behind.
The battle between the Zodiac Stars and Li Gexiao was reaching its peak. Seeing Jiang Feng suddenly join the fray sent Wei Wuyou into a rage.
"I let you go and you think I'm made of clay?!"
He pulled a blowpipe from his belt—each dart tipped with poison extracted from a scorpion demon. A gentle puff sent the dart flying, striking Jiang Feng mid-fight.
Jiang Feng collapsed instantly. A black haze crept over his face—clear proof of the poison's potency.
"Hahahaha! That poison comes from a demon-scorpion! You're no match for it—even a martial grandmaster would succumb. Die in peace, Jiang Feng!"
Wei Wuyou's triumphant laughter grated on the ears, especially Hua Yuenu's.
She nearly fainted from grief and rage, unable to put down her two children even in her despair.
"Don't panic."
Before anyone could react, Chu Yang appeared beside Jiang Feng. No one saw how he got there. A ball of radiant light formed in his palm and fell upon Jiang Feng's body.
The black haze melted away instantly. The poison vanished without a trace.
Purifying Talisman—a Shu Mountain Sect spell designed specifically for detoxification. As long as the poison didn't come from a high-level demon, it could be neutralized with ease. Every Shu Mountain disciple had to learn it before venturing out into the world.
That demon scorpion poison? Nowhere near high-level.
Chu Yang, having purged the toxins, infused Jiang Feng with spiritual energy, lifted him into the air, and gently set him down beside Hua Yuenu at the teahouse.
Overcome with joy, she laid their two children on the table and embraced Jiang Feng tightly.
Chu Yang turned to face the evil-ridden Twelve Zodiac Stars. A flicker of disgust crossed his face.
In a cold voice, he said, "Old Li, step aside."
Facing Chu Yang's cold, indifferent gaze, Li Gexiao didn't say a word and immediately stepped aside.
"You've mastered Daoist arts—so what? It's not like us Twelve Zodiac Stars haven't faced that before!"
"If another expert showed up, maybe we'd reconsider and walk away. But just you and that blade-wielder? You don't scare us!"
"Exactly! Since we debuted, even Yan Nantian and the Mistress of the Shifting Flowers couldn't do anything to us!"
Little did they know, the more they talked, the more it reeked of guilty conscience.
As the others blustered, Wei Wuyou suddenly felt a deep sense of dread. Cold sweat broke out across his palms and back. He'd roamed the martial world for many years, and this feeling had only surfaced a few times—each one a brush with death.
It was like a primal instinct screaming at him.
Trusting his intuition implicitly, Wei Wuyou no longer dared face off with Chu Yang. He quietly reached out and pressed a mechanism on his wheelchair, ready to flee at a moment's notice.
The very next instant—
A terrifying surge of sword qi erupted from Chu Yang and swept straight toward the Twelve Zodiac Stars.
They had been bracing themselves for Daoist techniques. What they got instead was a torrential wave of sword force.
Caught off guard, the group scattered in panic.
"He's a Daoist adept and a sword cultivator? And he's so young—how the hell does he know so much?!"
Overwhelmed with terror, Wei Wuyou frantically pounded the mechanism on his wheelchair. It was a custom build, its speed rivaling that of a Ferghana horse.
Even so, one streak of sword qi still caught up with him, slicing both his lower body and the wheelchair clean in half.
At the same time, the Twelve Zodiac Stars had all been reduced to lifeless corpses.
Jiang Feng and Hua Yuenu looked on in horror, a chill surging from deep within.
The Twelve Zodiac Stars, infamous across the land, had been utterly annihilated in the blink of an eye—who would ever believe such a thing?
Chu Yang turned and calmly walked back to the tea stall. From the wreckage, he fished out an intact jug of rice wine. Taking a sip, he remarked with a touch of regret, "The brewing technique's really something. What a shame…"
Jiang Feng forced himself to stand and, along with Hua Yuenu, slowly approached Chu Yang. Cupping his fists, he said, "Thank you for saving our lives, sir. I, Jiang Feng, have nothing to offer in return—only a few worldly possessions. I hope you'll accept them with a smile."
Chu Yang glanced at the wagons laden with treasure and chuckled. "Showing off your gold and silver like that every day—it's no wonder you ended up in this mess. You really need to wise up."
Jiang Feng gave a bitter smile, at a loss for words.
"But there's truth in the saying: it's easy to guard against outside threats, harder against traitors within. Even if you tried to keep a low profile, it wouldn't help with someone in your house leaking information."
As Chu Yang spoke, Jiang Feng and Hua Yuenu's expressions changed. They didn't notice that among the crowd, a young man had broken into a cold sweat.
Just then, Li Gexiao dragged over the maimed Wei Wuyou, who still clung to life. Wailing in desperation, he cried, "Please, Real Master, spare me! From now on, I'll follow you loyally, do whatever you command!"
"Sure," Chu Yang said with a smile. "First, tell me how you tracked down Jiang Feng and his wife. Then I'll think about it."
Wei Wuyou turned to glance at the young man—and at that very moment, the boy suddenly drew his sword and stabbed Wei Wuyou straight through the vitals. With only half a body left, Wei Wuyou couldn't dodge. His eyes widened in fury as his life slipped away.
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