You are very strong, but my painting style is better than yours!

"You beast..."

"Hahaha~ I started killing people when I was six years old, killed the first woman I slept with when I was twelve, burned the group of lowly students who kept me from sleeping when I was fourteen, and raped the principal's wife and daughter in front of him - isn't that a beast?"

But my dad told me:

"Son, it's alright. You can kill whomever you want, sleep with whomever you want, because you are the son of Minister Ernest, and there are no laws in this empire that can judge you!"

Sheila sneered, "A bunch of lowly people, born to serve the chosen ones like me. Anyone who displeases me deserves to be tortured to death by me!"

"It's cool~"

"That's really powerful!"

"How about this, I'll play a game with you. If you win, I'll let you go; if you lose..."

Sheila glanced at the curtain and said confidently, "I bet he put a lot of cilantro in his noodles."

"This...this isn't fair!" My cousin held back her tears. "Even if you only put one piece, you'll say it's 'a lot'!"

"Yes, it's unfair. You think you're worthy to talk to me about fairness?"

"Hahaha!"

The others laughed too, as if they were expecting something to happen.

The agonizing time passed by second by second. Under my cousin's fearful gaze, the shop owner placed a large bowl of steaming hot soup noodles on the table.

"Come on, braised beef noodles!"

"Humph~"

Sheila and the others looked confidently into the basin, only to be stunned.

There wasn't a single sprig of cilantro in the bowl. Instead, the restaurant owner kindly added a lot of braised beef, which looked incredibly fragrant and made one's mouth water.

"Phew..." My cousin let out a long breath, feeling like she had survived a disaster.

The subordinates silently looked at Sheila. The brown-skinned youth paused, then suddenly raised his face and laughed arrogantly: "I don't eat beef!"

Having said that, a gleaming dagger plunged towards the shopkeeper's neck—

Stab it!

A large amount of blood gushed out, staining Sheila's vision crimson.

"Hahaha... Huh?"

Why... is the shop owner still standing there?

No... why does it hurt so much!

puff!

A severed hand, still holding a dagger, fell into the boiling soup pot, sending up a burst of steam. The brown-skinned youth stared wide-eyed in disbelief.

"It's...it's my hand! You beast!!!"

One of the three mysterious cloaked figures sitting at another table had somehow arrived beside the shop owner and his cousin, and was now slowly putting down the blood-stained blade.

"I hate people who waste food the most. How dare you!"

Iori said with regret, "Take this bowl of pig's feet noodles and feed it to the dogs."

Chapter 31: Gu, can we reconcile?

Suddenly, everything changed. In the blink of an eye, Sheila, who had been grinning, started screaming in agony as she clutched her forearm. A large amount of blood stained the entire table red, and the other three were splattered all over their faces.

"Bastard!"

The sinister-looking young man kicked over the table, spilling the scalding hot soup. The shop owner and his cousin, who were stunned and had no time to dodge, were about to be splashed when Iori reached out and pulled them back, saving them from the disaster.

Before Iori could turn around, a gust of wind suddenly swept in, and a powerful spinning flying kick struck Iori squarely in the heart. The force of the impact sent him flying backward with his feet suspended in the air.

Before the attacker, Sheila, could even rejoice, his ankle was suddenly tightened. In that instant, Iori grabbed him and threw him off balance.

boom!

Taking advantage of the moment, Iori landed firmly on the ground with his feet in a lunge position. His well-honed martial arts skills were on full display at this moment. His five fingers were like claws, holding on tightly. The pulse of power emanated from his waist, and his limbs and torso became a unified whole, flowing in one breath!

Whoosh—Bang!

The fit and healthy Sheila was flung around like a child, flying through a half-circle like a tattered sack before crashing heavily into the solid wall, leaving fine cracks.

At the same time, without thinking, Iori leaned back, using his supple waist muscles to push his upper body almost parallel to the ground. Then, an invisible vacuum blade swept past his eyes, cleanly slicing through a long table three meters away.

"You dodged it?!" the sinister young man who launched the attack exclaimed in surprise.

"Cuck!"

Sheila fell to the ground. He had already lost an arm, and now his injuries were even more severe. It felt like not only his bones, but also his internal organs were likely damaged.

Sheila, who had never suffered such a loss in his life, was so angry that he almost ground his teeth to powder. Thinking that he was safe, he looked up to observe the battle and found that apart from the sinister young man, his other two subordinates had not participated in the battle.

"Yi Zang! What are you doing? Hurry up and join Yan Xin in killing this bastard!"

Sheila was furious. That woman—Kosmia's Imperial Arms was an area-of-effect attack, which was indeed not suitable for use in this kind of chaotic battle. But Izo was a top expert that he had recruited from all over the world. He didn't know how many murder cases he had settled for Izo, but now he was unwilling to do his part.

"Your Excellency Sheila, I am already helping."

To everyone's surprise, Izo remained calm. This samurai, with black hair and black eyes, and a murderous, demonic aura in them, gripped his sword hilt, ready for battle. His target, however, was not Iori, but two people at another table.

Although invisible to the naked eye, the two sides' auras are locked together, and the outcome is decided in an instant. If Yi Zang makes a rash move, he will lose the initiative, and the same will be true for his opponent.

The beautiful Kosmia was the most uneasy. She knew Izo's strength well, and anyone who could make him wary must be a swordsman of similar rank.

Her close-combat skills were average. If she were to be ambushed at such close range... Izo would be fine, but she probably wouldn't be able to withstand it. So she remained motionless, waiting for Izo to make the first move to draw the fire so that she could escape.

"Is there anyone else?"

Sheila then remembered that the bastard who cut off her hand had been with his companions... Now it seemed they were definitely not ordinary passersby or foreign spies.

The fact that so many skilled fighters could be mobilized at once must mean they are assassins from the Revolutionary Army!

In the blink of an eye, the sinister young man Yan Xin had been driven to the brink of defeat by Iori in just a few moves and was about to give up. At that moment, Shira caught a glimpse of the shop owner and his cousin trembling in the corner of her eye.

His cruel nature flashed into his mind, but just as he was about to get up, a piercing pain shot through his right foot:

With that grab, Iori crushed his ankle!

What terrifying finger strength! Even the martial monks of the Imperial Fist Temple who specialize in finger strength training are probably no match for this!

Sheila was even more alarmed, but gritted her teeth and forced herself to stand up...

"Stop it all!"

Sheila pressed her severed hand against her cousin's neck, while her intact left hand pointed at Iori: "Didn't you say you were going to save these two people? If you don't stop, I'll snap her neck right now!"

"Help!" my cousin screamed in agony.

"Varied--"

Iori, who was exchanging blows with Yanxin, suddenly stopped, a look of grief and indignation on her face: "Despicable scoundrel!"

"what!"

Sheila was overjoyed, thinking that this was yet another fool who had been deceived by the revolutionary army's propaganda offensive and actually cared about the lives of these lowly people.

Okay, since you have weaknesses and vulnerabilities, you're destined to be manipulated. Just wait and see how I deal with you!

The woman you want to save, I will cherish her dearly in front of you!

Yan Xin, who had been struggling to hold on, revealed a smug expression upon seeing this scene—

Zheng!

With a flash of sword light, the sinister youth's head was severed from his body, drops of blood splattering and reflecting Iori's cold, piercing gaze.

"Yan...you—"

Ding!

Sheila felt a sharp pain in the back of his neck, his vision blurred, and then his hand felt light as his wailing cousin somehow broke free from his grasp.

"what happened……"

A tingling sensation ran down the back of her neck. Although Sheila was fully conscious, her body was out of control, and she fell backward as if she were drunk.

Something's wrong! My situation is very bad!

Sheila may be a scumbag, but she's a scumbag with combat experience, and she knows very well that she's been poisoned.

With external injuries and poisoning, you can't try to tough it out; you have to escape!

So he instinctively reached into a hidden pocket on his body... and then froze.

"No?"

He then touched other places, becoming increasingly flustered with each touch.

"Gone? Gone? How could it be gone?!"

His Imperial Arm—[Dimensional Array: Shangri-La]—is gone!

"Could it be the battle just now...? Impossible!"

Without his greatest support, Sheila panicked. Even when he had his hand cut off before, he was only angry, not as agitated as he was now.

Because the Shangri-La is a rare spatial Imperial Arm, with it in hand, Shira can move freely and retreat calmly no matter what kind of desperate situation he falls into.

It is precisely because of this confidence that Sheila has always been arrogant and has never been afraid of the legendary Imperial General and the strongest Teigu user.

Although he had just arrived and hadn't had time to set up markers, making it difficult to use them directly in combat, at least escaping wouldn't be a problem.

But now it's gone!

Sera, who was seriously injured, immediately sensed a deadly crisis!

"This is...you? You bitch!"

Sheila looked up angrily, but her timid and cowardly cousin had already put on a cold expression, looking down at him with the same contempt she would show to an insect.

On the other side, the "cousin" also shed his honest and simple disguise, picked up the iron hammer hidden behind the counter and walked over.

"You, who look down on women, never thought you'd end up falling for a woman, did you?"

bang~

As the smoke dissipated, the simply dressed village girl transformed into a stylish and beautiful young woman with long, light pink hair.

She reached out and flipped her hand, as if by magic, a flat box engraved with the yin-yang symbol appeared in her hand.

It's Sheila's Imperial Arms!

“The Faceless One is right. You are indeed the kind of guy who is all bark and no bite when he gets cocky and then gets killed.”

"How dare you steal my things, you filthy bitch! I'm going to sell you to the army to be a sow!"

"Still saying that? What a spoiled brat... So many innocent people have been killed because of guys like you..."

At this moment, the shopkeeper walked up to Sheila and raised the hammer.

"Wait! What are you doing?! Do you know who I am? My dad is the Chief—Ughhhhh!!"

Bang!

The hammer mercilessly smashed his right knee.

"Although the order was to keep them alive, leaving them with just their mouths shouldn't be a problem, since it would be bad if they got away."

"How could I, of such high standing, be subjected to the wrath of lowly commoners like you in such a place—Aaaaaaah!!!"

Bang!

This time it's the five fingers of the left hand.

"Oh, Yami! I'll cooperate with you! Let's stop here!"

Sheila swallowed hard. "Gulp, can we reconcile?"

"Are you kidding me at this moment?"

The shop owner swung the hammer again—