Lu Qian and Xiong Dingtian exchanged blows, their positions swiftly switching places.
At this moment, Lu Qian found himself trapped in the middle, blocked on the front by Xiong Dingtian and on the back by that black-clothed man, one in front and the other behind.
Lu Qian faced Xiong Dingtian, while the black-clothed man, seizing his chance, caught unsettling words from Lu Qian’s mouth and immediately launched an attack.
Three iron bullets howled through the air, aiming straight for three critical points on Lu Qian’s body: the back of his neck, his back heart, and his lower back.
Previously, to lure Lu Qian here, the black-clothed man had used one iron bullet for a sneak attack.
Despite being only fist-sized, that iron bullet was strong enough to force Lu Qian to take a step back, which showed just how formidable the black-clothed man’s power really was.
Back when they were in the small building upstairs and Lu Qian was ambushed, he still had a team of talented guards from the Shou Gong Jian by his side, allowing him to focus solely on responding to the surprise attack.
Now, with the terrifying expert Xiong Dingtian in front of him and the black-clothed man attacking from behind, Lu Qian had to deal with the three sneaky iron bullets as well as carefully avoid Xiong Dingtian’s frontal assault.
The black-clothed man was less than thirty feet away from Lu Qian.
The iron bullets flew out and almost instantly arrived, stopping less than three inches from the back heart of Lu Qian.
Taking a deep breath, Xiong Dingtian, originally nine feet tall, suddenly expanded his stature once again, growing more than half a foot taller.
His body became much thicker and sturdier; his muscles bulged out like a pillar forged from iron, terrifying in its intensity.
A wave of hot air rolled off his body.
Xiong Dingtian slammed his foot hard onto the ground, and his massive form charged forward like a wild boar rushing at full speed, where the heavy wind whistled as he threw his full weight toward Lu Qian.
He spread his arms wide.
The narrow alley, only about ten feet across, was practically filled by Xiong Dingtian’s huge frame.
There was virtually no space left for Lu Qian to evade from the front.
Just as Xiong Dingtian's arms were about to land on Lu Qian, the three iron bullets were about to hit him as well.
Lu Qian’s hair fluttered, and his robes billowed as a sudden gust of wind blew mysteriously around him.
He seemed like a dandelion seed caught in the wind, spinning wildly on the spot with an incredibly strange trajectory.
For a blink of an eye, both Xiong Dingtian and the black-clothed man were momentarily dazed, failing to clearly see Lu Qian’s movements.
It seemed as if Lu Qian moved, yet also seemed as if he did not move at all.
Yet, the three iron bullets that had originally rushed toward the back of Lu Qian inexplicably appeared before his chest.
Xiong Dingtian, charging full speed at Lu Qian, ended up charging straight at the three iron bullets.
At the same time, the bullets, originally aimed at Lu Qian, now headed straight for Xiong Dingtian.
Lu Qian was nearly nine feet tall, slightly shorter than Xiong Dingtian.
Especially after Xiong Dingtian had grown another half a foot taller, the three iron bullets aimed at Lu Qian’s crucial points—the back neck, back heart, and lower back—now struck Xiong Dingtian’s chest, his navel, and a spot three inches below his lower belly, awkwardly located.
Those who cultivate external skills, like Henglian practitioners, originally lag behind orthodox martial artists in speed and agility.
Xiong Dingtian was charging at full speed, and Lu Qian’s agility was so mysterious and unpredictable that the three iron bullets seemed to teleport out of nowhere right before him.
With a muffled thud, all three iron bullets slammed into Xiong Dingtian simultaneously.
Xiong Dingtian grunted lowly, gritting his teeth.
His legs accelerated again, bracing himself against the strength of the three iron bullets, and forcefully smashed into the nearby Lu Qian.
In the next moment, Lu Qian’s body spun rapidly, gliding almost close to Xiong Dingtian’s form, tracing a semicircle and swiftly moving behind him.
At the same time, Lu Qian hooked Xiong Dingtian’s ankle lightly with his right foot, and his right elbow struck hard and full force into Xiong Dingtian’s lower back.
What Lu Qian did wasn’t really an attack.
His full-strength elbow only made the flesh on Xiong Dingtian’s lower back dent slightly but didn’t cause any real injury.
However, the effect on Xiong Dingtian was far greater.
Practitioners of external skills were generally less agile; from Lu Qian’s trip and strike, Xiong Dingtian lost his footing.
His huge body staggered awkwardly and awkwardly leapt half a foot into the air, flinging his arms wide and slamming them toward the stunned black-clothed man in front of him.
“Bam!”
Xiong Dingtian, propelled by the force of the three iron bullets, crashed straight into the black-clothed man who failed to evade in time.
With a heavy sound of bones and flesh breaking, the black-clothed man’s skull shattered, and his upper torso was blasted with two transparent holes the size of bowls.
His thin body flew backward like a rabbit hit by a wild boar, drifting lightly through the air.
The three iron bullets ripped through the black-clothed man’s body, clattering loudly as they hit the ground and rolled far away.
The black-clothed man’s corpse sprayed blood everywhere.
Xiong Dingtian had rammed him dozens of feet away, spreading a vivid streak of blood along the alley.
“Old Seven!”
Xiong Dingtian’s eyes widened as he stared at the black-clothed man he had just rammed to death.
His face twisted in shock, his eyes bloodshot and larger than a bull’s.
Lu Qian landed silently, quietly observing Xiong Dingtian.
He looked at him with absolute certainty — while his raw strength wasn’t a match for Xiong Dingtian, it seemed Xiong Dingtian still couldn’t do much to him!
Just like when he first joined the Shou Gong Jian early that morning, “running fast” was Lu Qian’s specialty.
And no matter how strong an external skill master like Xiong Dingtian was, if he couldn’t catch up to Lu Qian’s speed or get a hold of his elusive footwork, what could he really do to him?
“Lord Xiong, this man... he was killed by you!” Lu Qian smiled and took two steps back, putting some safe distance between himself and Xiong Dingtian.
Even though he was sure Xiong Dingtian’s speed and agility couldn’t match his own, it was still better to keep some distance.
Especially since Xiong Dingtian’s eyes were now bloodshot and white steam rolled over his head.
Clearly, he was furious to the point of losing his mind — so it was wise to be cautious when facing someone on the edge of hysteria.
“Lu Qian, you’re dead meat!” Xiong Dingtian grit his teeth fiercely. “You’re dead.”
“I’m going to tear you apart piece by piece, skin by skin, crush your bones bit by bit.”
“I’ll leave you dead and in pieces. I’ll feed you to the dogs!”
“How dare you! How dare you kill my brother?”
Lu Qian seriously looked at the murderous aura radiating off Xiong Dingtian and reminded him again earnestly, “But... the person was killed by you. People should not be shameless, right? We have to face the facts!”
Xiong Dingtian’s teeth ground with a ‘crack’.
He glared fiercely at Lu Qian, about to retort.
But from behind Lu Qian and from behind Xiong Dingtian—the two ends of this fifty or sixty-foot-long alley—a group of people hurriedly appeared.
These people wore all kinds of casual clothes.
They carried lanterns and torches of varied styles: some tall, some short; some fat, some thin.
It didn’t matter if they wore silk and satin, or rough fabric; whether their lanterns were expensive glass carousel lamps or just ordinary oil torches; regardless of their height or build, none of them had notable or distinct faces — they blended perfectly into the crowd.
There were about seventeen or eighteen people behind Xiong Dingtian.
About twelve or thirteen behind Lu Qian.
Altogether, roughly thirty people blocked the alley at both ends.
They darted out from several nearby alleys around this small lane, either by coincidence or through precise planning and design, arriving exactly at this moment from all directions to converge at both ends of this alley.
The alley was only about fifty or sixty feet long, and only had two doors in the middle.
One door was open — it was through this door Xiong Dingtian had emerged earlier, collaborating with the black-clothed man to ambush Lu Qian.
Lu Qian and Xiong Dingtian’s fierce fight might have seemed slow in description, but in fact lasted only a few breaths.
The black-clothed man was already dead on the ground, and though Xiong Dingtian swore to shred Lu Qian into pieces, Lu Qian had already decided to make a hasty retreat.
He had found out Xiong Dingtian’s origins and identity, so he wasn’t afraid he couldn’t get revenge later.
Right at this critical moment, two groups suddenly appeared.
They had been moving fast, their footsteps virtually silent, no noise at all — quieter even than cats running through a narrow alley.
Lu Qian and Xiong Dingtian stared tensely at each other, but neither noticed anything amiss until they saw these two groups block both ends of the alley.
Startled at the sight of Lu Qian and Xiong Dingtian standing amid the alley, both groups halted immediately.
Lu Qian swallowed hard.
He spun suddenly, took two quick steps back, and stood close to the wall of the courtyard from which Xiong Dingtian had emerged.
Smiling brightly, he looked at the unmoving groups blocking the alley entrances and gave a nervous chuckle, “There was a fire just now at Qifang Garden, someone deliberately killed and set fires… Tonight, this Siji District is unstable. Everyone, if you have no business here, would be better off going home.”
Lu Qian smiled brilliantly.
Xiong Dingtian, however, laughed wildly, “Kid, you’re talking nonsense — it won’t save your life. Just this bunch of trash? You expect them to save you? Ha! You all report your names! Who here dares meddle in Xiong Dingtian’s affairs?”
Suddenly, a chilling wind swept through the narrow alley.
The lanterns and torches held by both groups were put out at once.
Through the faint sound of the rushing wind came a storm of hidden weapons: flying knives, poisoned needles, iron caltrops, iron pellets — they rained down upon Lu Qian and Xiong Dingtian like a storm.
A few short, stout men rolled on the ground, agile and nimble despite their bulky bodies.
Their forms glinted coldly as they spun and flipped, billowing like rolling blades through the alley.
Seven or eight men of average build strode forward silently, snapping out heavy short blades with deadly intent, rushing fiercely toward Lu Qian and Xiong Dingtian.
Even taller and thinner men leapt into the air, running silently along the walls lining the alley, filled with a deathly stillness as they launched an assault on Lu Qian and Xiong Dingtian.
Lu Qian’s eyes tightened.
Coming to realize what was happening, Xiong Dingtian forcefully slammed his fists together and bellowed, “Aha! You’re the bastards who murdered and set fires on the main street just now? In the capital of Haojing, under the Emperor’s nose, you dare be so brazen?”
Lu Qian rolled his eyes.
What an idiot.
Yes, these people had committed serious crimes of murder and arson just now.
But Xiong Dingtian himself lay in wait here in the alley, also prepared to kill someone.
Just what kind of good guy was he?
Taking a deep breath, Lu Qian felt a fresh breeze suddenly rise beside him.
The dense barrage of hidden weapons was still a dozen feet away, but he lightly leapt into the air.
He flew past the rolling men.
He soared over the striding men.
He cleared the men running along the walls.
He flew higher and higher, rising more than ten feet above the alley walls on both sides.
A cold wind brushed past as Lu Qian, weightless as if made of air, twisted and bent, then leapt sideways more than twenty feet away, landing on a distant small building.
Then, with the tip of his toes, he bounced up again, riding the wind.
From the alley, Xiong Dingtian’s curses rang out, “Damn, I’m screwed!”
(End of chapter)