Chapter 159: Battle of Courage

Lu Qingguang’s hand froze in midair.

He wanted to continue his motion.

However, he didn’t dare.

“Su...... Chen!” Lu Qingguang spat out between gritted teeth as he turned around to face the source of the sound.

Su Chen walked over slowly, his hands behind his back.

Lu Qingguang’s troops parted way as Su Chen walked forward.

It wasn’t that they didn’t want to stop him; it was that they couldn’t.

Like a sharp knife cutting through tendon or like Moses parting the Red Sea, Su Chen’s path was both natural and instinctive.

Behind him naturally was Jiang Xishui, who greeted everyone cheerfully as he walked forward. “How are you all doing? You’ve all worked hard.”

When Yu Huaien saw Su Chen walking over, he was so moved that his heart almost jumped out of his chest.

He had always hated Su Chen, but at this moment Su Chen suddenly appeared very lovable.

He yelled loudly, “Yu Huaien greets Bureau Head Su! From this day onwards, the Yu Clan is willing to work like a dog or a horse for Bureau Head!”

“You won’t need to work like a dog or a horse for me. As long as you don’t run rampant, pay your taxes on time, and don’t wantonly seize territory, you will be regarded and treated as fine citizens. Pay what you need to pay, do what you need to do, release what you need to release, and guard what you need to guard,” Su Chen said calmly.

“Of course, of course,” Yu Huaien hurriedly replied.

The battle between the government and the nobility clans was based on benefits in the first place. They vastly underreported the territory they controlled, barely paid some thousands of Origin Stones despite raking in millions, and walked as if they owned the streets, fighting where they wanted to fight. These were the original crimes of the Bloodline Nobility Clans, and were also the reasons for the original conflict.

If they obeyed the rules and kept the law, there wouldn’t have been any issues.

However, the Bloodline Nobility Clans had a lot of influence. How could they be willing to obey the rules? This was why there was so much friction.

If they were willing to surrender today, then the rules they should have followed would naturally be respected.

Yu Huaien agreed emphatically, but Lu Qingguang’s expression grew uglier and uglier. “Su Chen, what did you say to me earlier?”

Su Chen turned around and smiled at him. “Are you deaf? Could you not hear me clearly? Then I’ll say it again. I told you to screw off. If you touch the people that belong to me, I’ll chop you to pieces.”

Lu Qingguang stared at him, his killing intent becoming palpable.

He was calculating whether or not he could kill Su Chen if he made a move at this moment and how much confidence he had in succeeding.

He had heard of Su Chen’s exploits in escaping from the Southern Mountain, and he knew that Su Chen had just massacred the Lian Clan.

However, he hadn’t seen it firsthand, and more importantly, he didn’t believe it.

He didn’t believe that a person without a bloodline could be that powerful, and didn’t believe that Su Chen could do this all on his own.

He believed that Su Chen had only escaped from the Southern Mountain because of Long Qingjiang’s assistance. He also believed that Su Chen could only wipe out the Lian Clan on his own because he had actually brought along a large number of Shadow Servants.

He found excuse after excuse for Su Chen’s exploits, and also had some evidence on his side to support this. For instance, Long Qingjiang had truly helped him escape from the Southern Mountain, and he hadn’t arrived at the Lian Residence alone.

As such, he wasn’t afraid.

After all, he also had the support of all his loyal soldiers with him.

Lu Qingguang believed that these soldiers were much stronger than the ones in the Lian Residence.

As such, he had confidence and belief that he could take Su Chen.

However, he didn’t make a move because of this. Lu Yiyang was still there. Some things always needed an explanation, and some things still needed to be said.

He turned around and glanced at Lu Yiyang. “Sir Lu, you saw as well. This Su Chen acts arrogantly and is as headstrong as a stubborn mare. He thinks that he can do as he pleases just because he has made a few contributions.”

Lu Yiyang nodded. “It was indeed too much. Su Chen, watch your tone; after all, everyone is on the same side here.”

He didn’t speak much, but his words were quite forceful. He represented An Siyuan, the City Lord of Clear River City, and also Su Chen’s greatest supporter and ally.

Su Chen, however, didn’t even look at him. He said, “Who are you to order me around? When Lu Qingguang was about to kill my people, why didn’t you say anything? You’re just a useless dog!”

He knew what kind of trash Lu Yiyang was.

Don’t put too much stock in the fact that he looked like a tactician.

Actually, this guy had neither courage nor intelligence. An Siyuan used him merely as a cover so that everyone would think that the ideas and plots coming out of the City Lord’s residence were all from this Yiyang guy.

In reality, this Yiyang guy was nothing more than a house pet or a decoration. Actually, he was probably even inferior to a house pet.

Even so, he was still An Siyuan’s subordinate.

You needed to make sure who the owner was before hitting a dog.

Humiliating a dog like that would not leave a good taste in the owner’s mouth.

Su Chen, however, didn’t care in the slightest.

Lu Yiyang’s expression changed. He pointed at Su Chen and said, “You...... you...... you, you, you, you!”

Su Chen stared at him. “If you keep pointing at me, I’ll cut your finger off and break your arms so that you no longer have any hands. Want to keep pissing me off?”

Lu Yiyang was scared badly by this. He immediately pulled his hand back, afraid to keep pointing, and could only look towards Lu Qingguang in fear.

A strange light flickered across Lu Qingguang’s eyes. “You dare insult the City Lord’s people? Su Chen, you must be going crazy. Could it be that after you deal with the ten Bloodline Nobility Clans, you’ll take care of Sir An as well?”

“Who I take care of next is none of your business, but I’m going to deal with you right now!” Su Chen said darkly.

He unsheathed his blade: Mountain-Beheading Blade!

He stepped forwards: Snaking Mist Steps.

He shot right past the dense group of hundreds of soldiers and charged right at Lu Qingguang.

He charged!

If I say that I’m going to fight, I’m going to fight!

His advance was so swift and quick that everyone was stunned.

They didn’t expect it and couldn’t react in time.

“Block him!” Lu Qingguang yelled loudly.

Even though he had all kinds of disparaging thoughts about Su Chen, Lu Qingguang didn’t believe that he was individually stronger than Su Chen and wasn’t planning on fighting a battle to the death with him.

His savagery was founded upon the fact that he had a large group of people with him. Naturally, he was going to use this group to its greatest potential.

The soldiers drew their blades.

Numerous blade edges pointed at Su Chen.

As the soldiers moved to attack, so too did Jiang Xishui.

He swung his arm, tossing out a pouch.

The pouch was filled with wine.

Wine that had just been taken from the Thousand Treasures Pavilion, Golden Wind Liquor.

The wine splashed out of the pouch, carrying the scent of wine everywhere.

The scent was incredibly thick.

At the same time, countless droplets of the wine flew through the air, shooting towards the soldiers one after another.

The soldiers around Su Chen all flew into the air before crumpling to the ground.

The drops of wine landed on them, infiltrating their body and charging towards their brains, bringing with it an instantaneous bout of dizziness.

A single drop of wine was enough to make one of them drunk.

It wasn’t because the wine was strong, but because Jiang Xishui’s handiwork was extremely precise, and the alcohol had directly suffused into their brains.

“How fragrant,” a few of the soldiers even muttered as they fell to the ground.

Su Chen was still charging forward.

No one could stop him.

A massive humanoid image appeared behind him: Shadow Flame Incarnation!

As Su Chen charged forward, the Mountain-Beheading Blade began to grow in size, turning into a massive glowing blade that rose up into the sky, the light from the blade reflecting off of Lu Qingguang’s eyes.

It cleaved down.

The blade light was over three hundred feet tall!

What a long streak of blade light! What a ferocious blade strike! What a piercing gaze!

These thoughts flashed across Lu Qingguang’s mind, but his movements weren’t slow at all.

At the same time that Su Chen attacked, he applied a barrier to himself and activated a defensive technique, as well as his Ripple Technique. He then lifted up his Ocean-Propping Golden Spear and hefted it at Su Chen’s Mountain-Beheading Blade.

Clang!

The metallic clang resounded like the ringing of a giant bell, echoing in everyone’s ears.

Then, Lu Qingguang watched as the energy rippling from himself collided with Su Chen’s Shadow Flame Incarnation, only causing a bit of the flames to scatter off before fading into nothingness.

Then, his Ocean-Propping Golden Spear split in half.

The barrier on his body instantly shattered and disappeared.

Finally, it was him turn. With a quiet crack, a thin line of blood appeared on his forehead and quickly spread to the rest of his body.

“Your strength has already......”

He wanted to say something else, but he couldn’t finish his sentence. His figure swayed slightly before his body split in two down the middle.

With a single strike, killed!