Dual wielding volcanoes, killing through the west

Judging from his condition, he probably wouldn't be able to answer any questions about the bandits if asked.

"Where are your children? Why did they leave you out in the rain?"

"..."

The old man's eyelids drooped, and his chest cavity, almost revealing the bones, rose and fell slightly, but he said nothing.

His last bit of strength was used to shake his head, and the unresolved bitterness and pain in his eyes sent chills down Zhang Renfeng's spine.

He exhaled his last breath, his eyes gradually freezing, freed from this hell.

……

"Brother," his subordinate reminded him, "the brothers have found an inn not far ahead. It's brightly lit, and there are about thirty people inside, all dressed as bandits."

"I understand." Zhang Renfeng wiped his face and gritted his teeth. "Cheer up, everyone."

----

"With heartfelt respect! Brothers, may you be blessed! May the three stars shine upon you! May you have four joys and wealth! May you be the top scholar! May everything go smoothly!"

"Boom!"

"Boom!"

"Boom!"

"We lost! We lost! Drink, drink, give me some!"

……

Since the goal is to gather information, it's natural to go through the main entrance.

The moment the door was pushed open, the atmosphere in the inn froze briefly. Pairs of fierce eyes fell upon it.

Zhang Renfeng and his men had changed into bandit clothes and, having come all the way in the rain, looked quite disheveled. At least in terms of their clothing, there was nothing wrong with them.

The man sitting in the middle, wearing a woolen hat, sporting a goatee, and carrying a large knife on his back, slowly turned around, blew his nose, and casually asked, "A new face."

“Aren’t we familiar with this?” Zhang Renfeng said with a smile.

"Let's flick a vine."

“Somersault Man’er,” Zhang Renfeng replied.

His answer immediately eased the atmosphere in the inn, but the scrutiny in everyone's eyes had not completely disappeared.

"Oh." The man with the goatee chuckled. "Where are you making your fortune, buddy, Liu Zi?"

"Eat what you've been longing for," Zhang Renfeng continued.

"Hahaha! This is interesting. You've come all this way, all with so many brothers..." The goatee's voice suddenly lowered, "You're not Hai Leng, are you?"

Upon hearing the name Hai Leng, many people's expressions changed instantly. With a few clanging sounds, cleavers were drawn, and a fierce aura swirled above the inn.

“I thought there was no seabed here, but it turns out it’s all the same.” Zhang Renfeng’s expression remained unchanged, and he even took two steps forward. “I heard that there’s no shortage of toothed stones and slurry here, so I got on the gangplank. It’s that simple.”

"Hahahaha—!!!"

The man with the goatee laughed loudly and suddenly waved his hand, "That's easy! Come on, get him a bowl of broth and a few plates of rice-flavored mutton!"

Chapter 553: Only the cold moon and warm sun can bring about the devastation of human life.

"Boom!"

A large vat of wine was brought out and slammed onto the table in front of Zhang Renfeng, along with a stack of meat, which had only been lightly grilled. It was clear that the group's grilling skills were not very good. The outside was cooked, but when you peeled it open, the inside was still raw and covered with sticky blood.

Under everyone's watchful eyes, he still picked up a piece and put it in his mouth. He chewed it a couple of times and frowned. This was completely different from the mutton he remembered.

"Kid, do you know what rice mutton is?" The goatee asked with a sneer as he watched him eat the plate of meat.

"..." Of all the slang terms used in the Spring Festival rituals, this was the only one Zhang Renfeng didn't understand. Judging from the unique grammar, it should be some kind of meat, but if it were ordinary meat, it seemed unnecessary to create a special Spring Festival ritual for it.

These underworld jargon terms were taught to him word by word by Zhu Kuilong. When communicating with so-called underworld figures, the moment he spoke, they would know he was an expert and one of their own. Then, those who wanted to cheat or swindle him would stay away.

However, a crash course is still a crash course, and Zhu Kuilong could not possibly teach him all the spring rituals.

In fact, after he changed his activities and started performing magic tricks at temple fairs and royal palaces, he stopped traveling around the martial arts world. Naturally, this set of martial arts classics, which originated from the grassroots, no longer had a place to be used.

"what……"

"Hahahaha—!!"

"Hahaha! Hahahaha—!!"

……

Moment.

He hesitated for only a moment, and then everyone in the inn burst into laughter.

The sound of heavy rain came from outside the window, and in the flickering candlelight, those狰狞 faces, their mouths almost stretched to their ears, seemed to reach through their teeth and tongues, directly into that black abyss, and laughter, some high-pitched, some rough, squeezed out from that hellish black hole, mocking him wantonly.

The man stroked his goatee, grinned, and said with a fierce look, "As the name suggests, sheep that grow up eating rice, their meat is rice mutton."

"Sheep grow up eating grass, how could they grow up eating rice..."

"..."

"..."

Zhang Renfeng's pupils widened instantly. His first reaction was to cover his mouth, but it was too late. A strong shock went straight to his lungs.

"Ugh!!! Cough cough..."

The stomach and intestines are not only digestive organs but also emotional organs, and in later medical terms, they were called the "second brain." When a person experiences excessively strong emotions, the function of the digestive system can quickly become disordered. At this moment, this shocking fact directly broke through Zhang Renfeng's psychological defenses.

He immediately knelt on the ground and vomited up everything he had just eaten.

"Ha, as expected, this kid is a scoundrel!" The goatee used this method to verify Zhang Renfeng's identity and mocked, "Open your dog eyes and look around, whose territory have you come to? Which of the brothers here hasn't eaten a few bites of rice and mutton?"

Seeing that things were going badly, the soldiers behind him tried to help him up, but he waved them away.

The numbness, repression, and pain in the old man's eyes when he talked about his children finally struck him precisely at this moment.

"Kid, you think you can fool me just because you know a few Jianghu slang terms? Hahaha, my eyes are still sharp as ever!"

"You...you beasts...!!!"

Zhang Renfeng shed tears.

His abdomen was still aching, and the combined physical and psychological impact caused him to lose control of his emotions.

His eyes were bloodshot, veins were bulging, his jaw was clenched, and his hair stood on end.

"Hahaha, you've never seen anything like it, kid. We've run out of food, are you just going to let my brothers starve to death?"

The man with the goatee slammed the bowl and plate on the ground, smashing them to pieces with a loud crash. His cold smile quickly turned into a savage grin. "Being able to be eaten by us is a blessing from their past lives. At least they have a sip of farewell wine before we cut them. As for the old and frail ones, we don't even want to eat them; they'll just starve to death on the streets!"

"Men, enough talk!" He drew his broadsword from behind him and shouted, "Grab your weapons, spear these sardines, chop them up, and send them to..."

The fist fixed in his eyes made him swallow the rest of his words.

"Eh?"

A punch, delivered without reservation, landed on his face.

If you slow down the viewing, the moment the fist touched his face, ripples appeared on his face, as if a stone had broken the surface of water.

extrusion.

Deformed.

Finally... like a balloon filled with too much helium, it burst open with a bang.

"boom--------!!!!"

Before he could even feel anything, his body was instantly pulverized into a pool of blood and gore, which spilled everywhere—on the walls, the floor, the table, and even into the bandits' bowls and plates. The bandits who had just been grinning and drawing their knives to kill them were now frozen in place, as if immobilized.

Their brains still need some time to process what their eyes are seeing.

Tonight, they shattered Zhang Renfeng's worldview, and Zhang Renfeng shattered theirs in return. In a sense, it was a reciprocal exchange.

Under the dim light, a bloody aura swirled above Zhang Renfeng's head. His fists were clenched tightly, and half of his body was stained crimson.

He slowly turned around, his eyes flashing with a fierce light as he swept his gaze over them one by one!

----

"Boss, boss, something terrible has happened!"

……

He stumbled into the yard, and as he stepped over the threshold, he tripped and fell almost directly into the house with a thud.

"You're asking for it—! Who let you in?" On the bed, a tall man with a thick beard, clearly in a bad mood, immediately pulled a gleaming machete from under his pillow and angrily shouted, "Don't you know I'm sleeping? Get the hell out of here! Whatever your business is, we'll talk about it tomorrow morning!"

"Boss, no... it's not that I want to bother you, it's just... things happened too fast." The messenger waved his hands repeatedly, lest he be killed before the message even reached him. "A tough guy has come from the east of the city, apparently government troops, saying they want to kill you with their own hands!"

“He fought his way through the street, and finally cleared it out… The brothers were scattered, some were dead, some had fled, and it was all in chaos. If you don’t step in to quell the situation, this business of ours will be completely finished.”

This passage contains almost no Jianghu (江湖) slang or cryptic language. Under such urgent circumstances, the focus was naturally on simplicity, leaving no room for dealing with such jargon and riddles.

The eldest brother's expression hardened, his brows furrowing deeply. Only then did he begin to clear his head from the daze of being woken up. He yanked off the covers and roared, "Hmph, very well! These damned corrupt officials, it seems they're planning to discard them after they've served their purpose!"

"Boss, this guy's got some tough business. I think we should avoid him for now..."

"Avoid? What's there to avoid? No matter how tough he is, can he outmaneuver my golden-backed broadsword? Go and bring me the sword!"

On this bed, there are two other women who were kidnapped, now cowering at the foot of the bed, their faces filled with fear, not knowing what their fate will be.

"You're all just waiting here, not going anywhere." The leader cracked his neck, revealing an incredibly confident smile. "Watch me chop off his head and use it as a wine jug!"

Chapter 554: What to do?

"Tick."

"Tick."

……

The severed head I was carrying had drops of blood all the way down the road.

The gates of Yu City, which had been under siege for so long, opened before dawn, though the bandits inside had opened them themselves. Zhang Renfeng, carrying the head of the bandit leader in one hand and gripping his golden-backed broadsword horizontally in the other, walked directly out of the main gate. The ten vanguard soldiers who had entered Yu City with him were all still alive, though they were all slightly wounded.

Zhang Renfeng charged so fiercely that he attracted the attention of almost all the bandits, leaving them completely oblivious to the others. At this moment, the way they looked at Zhang Renfeng was as if they were witnessing the very sound of someone walking on the ground, filled with profound awe.

What awaited them was the well-equipped, armed, and heavily armed Kui Battalion.

A tall horse emerged from the crowd, and sitting on its back was He Wushuang, the leader of the Kui Battalion.

At least this time, when he saw Zhang Renfeng, he still had a smile on his face. He clasped his hands in a fist salute on horseback and said with a smile, "Brother Zhang's methods are swift and decisive, and his movements are as swift as the wind. He truly deserves to be called the Martial Arts Champion. I admire him greatly!"

"Why is it you?" Zhang Renfeng asked suspiciously. "Where are my soldiers from the Mountain Battalion?"

"At the hour of Chou tonight, the gates of Yu City opened, and hundreds of bandits were terrified and fled in panic because of your slaughter, Brother Zhang. Since you're not here, the higher-ups have appointed Xu Doutai to temporarily take charge of the Mountain Battalion and pursue those fleeing bandits." He Wushang narrowed his eyes, a hint of apprehension in them. "We finally managed to pry open their shells, so we have to wipe them out completely, don't you think?"

"Next, the higher-ups intend for the Kui Battalion to take over the defense of Yu City, so Brother Zhang doesn't need to worry about it."

He seemed to pause intentionally before continuing, "The governor specifically requests to see you."

"See me?" Zhang Renfeng casually tossed the bandit leader's head to the ground, and two soldiers immediately stepped forward and put it in a cloth bag.

"What do you want to see me for?"

"Oh dear, Brother Zhang, what are you saying? You charged into battle and killed bandits in the city, making great contributions to our army's victory over Yu City. How could we not acknowledge you?" He Wushang's tone was already somewhat obsequious. "Not only you, but all the brave men who entered the city with you have military merits! It shouldn't be difficult to report to the court later and ask for some rewards."

The ten vanguard soldiers behind him were excited upon hearing this. While the rewards for being the first to scale the walls were plentiful, the mortality rate was also enormous. This trip was fraught with danger, and they had no hope of returning alive. But now, thanks to Zhang Renfengguang, they had only suffered minor injuries and had already received a substantial reward of gold and silver—it was an incredible windfall.

"However, Brother Zhang, you should go back to the main tent of the Kui Battalion first. You're covered in blood right now... you can't go to see the governor."

That's true. Zhang Renfeng was clearly bloodthirsty from last night's fighting, his body covered in blood, not a drop of it his own. Zhang Renfeng himself didn't mind, but since he was meeting someone, especially his direct superior, cleaning himself up a bit was only natural.

"Alright... I've been killing all night and I'm a little tired." Zhang Renfeng stretched his shoulders and neck and let out a long breath. "Then, I'll leave everything to Commander He."

"It's alright, it's alright. You've done a great job this time. I was ignorant yesterday and offended you quite a bit. I hope you won't take it to heart, Brother Zhang." He Wushang clasped his hands in greeting and smiled even more solicitously. "If you rise to prominence in the future, Brother Zhang, I'll be counting on your help."

----

The Kui-character camp, military tent.

The huge wooden tub was filled with steaming hot water, and white steam rose straight up in a plume. A pleasant scent of pine wafted up along with the boiling water.

After a night of fierce fighting, Zhang Renfeng was exhausted. Upon seeing the wooden barrel, he subconsciously relaxed.