Chapter 367 - 272: Returning Home (2)

Chapter 367: Chapter 272: Returning Home (2)

For example, the Huang Family.

For example, the Boat Gang.

"Young Master Tang, the terms of victory and defeat seem greatly in our favor. Are you sure you stated the conditions correctly?" Old Lan was still in disbelief that such a good deal would fall into his lap.

Even a child gets a beating for doing something wrong.

And here they were, trying to seize the majority of Five Families City’s profits.

No enslavement even if they lost?

Who would believe that!

Tang Wen curled his lip. "You’re overthinking it. You’ll find out when the time comes."

Old Lan’s eyes flickered. ’It seems this Tang Wen is very confident in his Martial Arts Cultivation. And he clearly looks down on leaders like us.’

But what did that matter?

He knew that what he’d said to Miss Zheng the Elder, the scheme he was plotting, was disgusting.

But so what?

In his own camp, less than a tenth of the people could afford one full meal a day.

This year, much of the vegetation had withered and died back in spring and summer.

The coal they had prepared for the camp was nowhere near enough.

There was no telling how many would die in the winter.

Under such circumstances, it would be a joke not to take a huge bite when the opportunity presented itself!

"Talk is cheap, Young Master Tang Wen. Why don’t we put it in writing?" Old Lan proposed.

The other ten commanders all nodded in agreement.

"Fine." Tang Wen was growing impatient. He just wanted to get this over with.

The Zheng Family brought paper and brushes and, following Tang Wen’s instructions, wrote out twelve contracts.

As the leaders of each house carefully read the vassal duties they would have to fulfill, they gradually began to relax.

Tang Wen hadn’t deceived them; it was all written clearly in black and white.

They signed their names, made their marks, and pressed their finger and palm prints onto the documents.

Once Tang Wen had also signed his name, each leader, right in front of him, handed the paper to a trusted subordinate and ordered them to leave immediately with their men.

They were obviously afraid Tang Wen would go back on his word.

Tang Wen was speechless. ’It’s not like I’m going to lose. But even if I did, giving up the meager profits of Five Families City is no great loss. The income from any one of my large camps or mines is far greater than this.’

There were no preparations, no fighting arena.

Everything was kept simple.

The one-versus-eleven battle began outside the city walls.

The crowd of onlookers was packed three layers deep.

They all had their own speculations. Those who had seen Tang Wen’s divine might were, of course, his firm supporters.

But most of the crowd, lacking any real insight, favored the side with more people.

"Begin!"

CLANG!

A golden gong rang out.

A flash of sword light carved an arc like a full moon.

[Qi Transformation First Line, The Blade Strikes Without a Sound]

[Visualization Martial Arts, Heaven’s Edge (Sword Skill), Mastery (301/3000)]

This was the Sword Skill that the Black Water Gang had internally dismissed as "chicken ribs."

When trained to the Master Level, the sword strikes were not only swift and fierce but also much more stealthy.

An invisible Sword Gang flashed by.

Like a sudden bolt of lightning, it appeared and vanished in an instant.

Tang Wen sheathed his sword and stood still.

The vast majority of the people around were ordinary folk just there for the show; they couldn’t see Tang Wen’s movements at all.

Even the Martial Disciples couldn’t be sure if Tang Wen had moved. Their faces were filled with confusion, unable to comprehend what had happened.

The Martial Artists, in the instant the flash of light appeared, felt a slight chill.

Miss Zheng the Elder also looked bewildered. Her eye for combat was better than an ordinary Martial Artist’s, but only by a little.

General Zhao, however, understood. He silently cursed Tang Wen for being a demon.

As the saying goes, the spectator sees more of the game than the player.

But while the spectators were still confused, the players themselves were even more astonished.

The six Extraordinary leaders at the front saw Tang Wen draw his sword, but they never saw the flash of the blade.

And this particular move, Heaven’s Edge, compressed to its absolute limit, left only a single thin line of a wound on a person’s body.

Suddenly, one of the Extraordinary experts shifted his stance.

With a violent spray, a line of blood erupted from his chest, dyeing his Beast Skins tunic red.

He was horrified. Looking down, he saw a perfectly straight cut that had appeared on his chest at some unknown moment.

Noticing his strange reaction, the other ten were equally shocked.

The moment they moved, lines of blood erupted from them all.

Agonizing pain was followed by cries of alarm.

The eleven leaders, scared out of their wits, staggered backward.

"Wh-what kind of technique is this?!" Old Lan pressed a hand to his wound, and it came away soaked in red. In a daze, he licked it. Warm and coppery—it was fresh blood!

"What is this Demon Technique?"

The onlookers were stunned.

They hadn’t even seen Tang Wen draw his sword, yet the men who had been about to surround him were suddenly split open and bleeding.

If this wasn’t a Demon Technique, what was it?!

"Shut your mouths! What Demon Technique! My Young Master is a Sword Dao Grandmaster. His methods are comparable to the Peak of Sixth Grade! How could the likes of you possibly understand?"

The field fell silent.

Then, it erupted into a clamor.

Those at the back couldn’t see clearly and started asking what was happening.

"Young Master Tang must be some kind of Sword Technique Demon Master! He cast a spell, and those guys just started bleeding!" This was from someone who understood nothing.

"Tang Wen is a swordsmanship expert! He took down a Sixth-grade Grandmaster with a single strike!" This was from someone pretending to know more than they did.

"..."

The rumors went from plausible to absurd faster than lychees turning sour in the summer.

Tang Wen had no intention of correcting them.

The eleven leaders looked at him as if he were a celestial being.

"So the Young Master has the strength of a Sixth Grade?"

Someone said, as if waking from a dream.

"No wonder he promised us sixty percent. It turns out we never stood a chance of winning."

"Thank you for your mercy, Young Master Tang!" The quick-witted ones were already kneeling.

Although the wounds on their chests and abdomens looked terrifying,

they were not actually fatal.

After all, Tang Wen’s goal in this battle wasn’t to kill them.

The law of the jungle was the primary melody of the Northwest Land.

The eleven leaders of the minor factions, while not farsighted, knew how to adapt to circumstances.

They were willing to admit defeat.

However, they couldn’t help but feel a lingering anxiety.

They feared that Tang Wen would go back on his word and plunder their villages or camps.

If that happened, they would truly have no way to survive.

Even though they held contracts signed by Tang Wen,

with power like his, what good was a contract?