The fleeing woman did not seem to know any light-footed kung fu.
Among ninth-rank martial artists, those like Li Qingshan, who possess all the necessary skills in swordsmanship, lightness skills, and self-defense techniques, are rare indeed.
But thanks to the powerful physique of a ninth-rank martial artist, she had already escaped far away in a short time.
"Phew~"
A dark shadow flew out.
It was Lin Ce who kicked one person to the ground, grabbed another with one hand, and then swung his hand at the fleeing woman.
His internal muscles tensed, instantly unleashing unparalleled speed and power. The two men were as fragile as chicks in front of him, unable to stop him for even a moment.
The fourth level of "Mountain-Breaking Fist" seems to have entered another realm.
"Bang!"
The thrown shadow hit the fleeing woman, and the two rolled together.
Lin Ce went to the side of the woman who had fallen to the ground.
Does it hurt?
"It hurts so much... Waaah..."
The woman lay on the ground for a long time, unable to stand up, tears welling up in her eyes.
"Pain is normal."
Lin Ce smiled.
People only learn from their mistakes when they experience pain.
In the end, Li Yuan and his two companions obediently handed over all their valuables.
But in reality, apart from the meager sum of just over eighty taels of silver they had scraped together, the three of them were practically penniless.
After confiscating the three men's longswords, Lin Ce reluctantly nodded.
"Well, three swords are worth five taels each, so that's barely a hundred taels. Consider this hundred taels for tea as a token of our friendship. Congratulations, from this moment on, you are free."
Li Yuan's three righteous men were on the verge of tears.
Making this friend is too expensive.
"Can you return our swords? We three siblings are swordsmen, and all our skills are in the sword. We can't do without them."
"A master of martial arts?"
Li Qingshan chuckled coldly, "Then we might as well not have this skill."
Li Yuansanyi's face turned deathly pale.
Lin Ce was actually quite easy to talk to.
"Alright, alright, now we can talk about delivering the message. As long as the information is valuable, I, Lin, will naturally return it with both hands and respectfully see you three off on your journey."
Li Yuansanyi's expression softened slightly, but he still felt that something was not quite right.
"...And so, the three of us siblings received the news and headed all the way here. After all, Liu Tianwang of Tianwang Village is known as the Butcher of Men. If they had stopped you, your caravan probably wouldn't have had a single survivor."
"You mean someone paid thieves from Tianwang Village to deal with us?"
Lin Ce frowned, unable to understand it at all.
People usually rob cargo because it's profitable.
What kind of logic is it to pay someone to rob a caravan and then kill everyone alive?
"How did you come to know about the Tianwang Village incident?"
Regardless of whether he believed the three men's information or not, Lin Ce decided to ask them for clarification first.
The eldest of the three heroes of Liyuan sighed and said:
"There are four Heavenly Kings in Tianwang Village, and one of them, Li Tianwang, happens to be one of my cousins. I originally intended to take my younger brother and sister to seek refuge there, but I didn't expect that the people of Tianwang Village were not the kind of Robin Hood-like heroes I had imagined. Instead, they were truly vicious thieves."
"So you just ran away, and even betrayed your own uncle without any sense of morality?"
Standing to the side, Li Qingshan said something indifferently.
The eldest of the three heroes of Liyuan turned pale and then green.
"Although he is my uncle, I, Li Wenzheng, have traveled the world and know what true morality is."
Li Qingshan was about to say something more when Lin Ce stopped him.
"How strong is Tianwang Village?"
"Leaving aside the ordinary thieves in Tianwang Village, let's just talk about the four Heavenly Kings. The leader, Heavenly King Liu, is said to have cultivated internal strength and is a true eighth-rank martial artist, while the other three Heavenly Kings are all at the upper ninth rank."
Li Wenzheng looked at the caravan in front of him and shook his head.
"Although this young hero is incredibly strong, and you, as the chief镖头 (chief镖头 is a high-ranking镖师 is a term used in martial arts novels), are likely even stronger, I suspect you haven't yet reached the eighth rank?"
The difference between the eighth and ninth ranks is easy to distinguish. The ninth rank can only use external force, while the eighth rank already possesses internal force.
Lin Ce's expression darkened.
He knew very well what an eighth-rank martial artist was.
In a place like Erhe County, apart from the unfathomable Qiangwei who came with his master Su Caiying, he had never seen any other martial artists who were clearly above the ninth rank.
Even though this escort mission required him to leave Erhe County and enter Sanjiang Prefecture, he never expected to be so lucky as to encounter a martial artist above the ninth rank.
Although the level of martial arts practitioners in Sanjiang County is higher than that in Erhe County, martial artists above the ninth rank are still not as common as cabbages.
If you're careful and sneak past unnoticed, there's a high chance you can deliver the goods without any trouble.
But unexpectedly, the caravan has now been targeted, and someone is willing to spend a lot of money to hire a powerful figure to rob it.
Although the words of the three heroes of Liyuan may not be true, it is better to believe them than not.
Lin Ce was on edge.
"Who cares about the Four Heavenly Kings? What's there to be afraid of? I've seen eighth-rank martial artists before."
At this moment, Li Qingshan was not so nervous and smiled gently.
"You've seen him?"
Lin Ce's eyes lit up. "About how strong are they?"
"It's alright."
Li Qingshan recalled, "Before I went down the mountain, there were plenty of eighth-rank senior brothers in the sect. They took turns to train me, but none of them could kill me."
"roll!"
But Lin Ce's anger did not frighten Li Qingshan. He made a rough assessment and, unusually, gave his opinion seriously.
"Looking back, I am indeed a bit weaker than my eighth-rank senior brother back then. However, the eighth-rank people outside are definitely not as strong as my senior brothers. If we really compare, that Heavenly King Liu is only slightly stronger than me at most."
Li Qingshan nodded emphatically, "Yes, that's right. As long as I break through once more, I can destroy the mere Heavenly King Liu with a flick of my finger."
"Young hero, I admit you're quite strong, but a ninth-rank versus an eighth-rank? I advise you to make yourself a good coffin first."
Li Yuansanyi clearly did not think highly of him.
"Alright, whether it's true or not, let's change direction and try to get as far away from Tianwang Village as possible."
Lin Ce finalized the current strategy.
But this strategy will ultimately be useless.
A rough, booming voice came from ahead.
"Are you all waiting for me? Then I'll go to your own trouble and personally escort you on your way."
With the sound, a figure as tall as an iron tower came into everyone's view.
“Nephew, you’ve led us all the way from the village. Thank you for your hard work.”
The towering figure looked at Li Wenzheng and smiled with satisfaction.
"The Iron Tower... Li Tianwang..."
Li Yuan Sanyi uttered painful murmurs.
Ahead of the caravan, a towering figure rode on horseback.
The horse was tall and strong, but compared to the figure on its back, it looked like a small horse.
The towering figure was so tall that it was more than twice the size of the thieves behind him.
At the same time, sounds also came from the side and rear of the caravan.
A team with a similar formation to the one in front blocked the caravan's path on the sides and rear.
Besides the side facing the river, there were dozens of bandits wielding knives and clubs on the other three sides.
In the blink of an eye, the caravan had found themselves with nowhere to escape.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com