Chapter 238 - 39: Trash

Chapter 238: Chapter 39: Trash

No one cared about the few who managed to escape.

After all, you could never kill all the Water Bandits.

The Third Branch’s operation this time was to serve as a warning to the Water Bandits of the East River Waters, as well as to the other major powers in Qing State.

Lin Yan silently followed Brother Hai and the others. He had only killed a little over fifty Water Bandits on this trip. It wasn’t that he was slow—toward the end, it was practically one kill per slash of his Sword Gang. But there were simply too many of his own clansmen involved. By the time he reached a water stockade, others were already fighting, and it wouldn’t be right for him to steal their kills.

...

At the edge of Broken Dragon Beach, a black boat was now slowly approaching.

"Second Master, how many people did the Lin Family send this time to actually force Blind Huo to ask us for help?"

"It must be a large force. Lin Shouzhi might have even mobilized the men stationed in the waters; otherwise, he wouldn’t have forced Blind Huo to send for help."

The middle-aged man at the bow of the boat held a long spear in one hand, cutting an imposing figure.

"Second Master, if we get involved, won’t we anger the Lin Family?"

"What is there to fear? It’s not like we’re actually going to save Blind Huo."

The man known as Second Master chuckled. "It doesn’t matter if Blind Huo lives or dies, but the Water Bandit Alliance has a few decent Bandit Leaders. Rescuing them and bringing them into the Black Flood Dragon Society will bolster our strength. As for the Lin Family... Lin Shouzhi lacks the spine. If he were to move against our Black Flood Dragon Society, it would make the Cui Family suspicious. He wouldn’t dare."

If the Lin Family were to attack Blind Huo at Broken Dragon Beach and then come after the Black Flood Dragon Society, the other major families would suspect them of trying to wipe out all the bandits and seize control of the East River Waters.

The other three families would never allow that. And as it happened, the Black Flood Dragon Society was situated right on the border between the sections of the East River Waters controlled by the Lin and Cui Families.

The black boat sailed onward, but it stopped about a mile from Broken Dragon Beach.

"Second Master, there’s someone up ahead!"

"Quick, turn the boat around."

The spear-wielding middle-aged man didn’t need the reminder. He had already seen the figure sitting on the river ahead. The person was sitting cross-legged directly on the surface of the water. A closer look revealed a long spear lying flat beneath him, holding him afloat.

Upon getting a clear look at the man’s face, the spear-wielding man’s expression changed dramatically. He roared at his subordinates, but in the next instant, as if remembering something, he swung his long spear and thrust it directly at the ship’s mast.

CRACK!

The mast splintered from the force of the blow. The spearman used the recoil to launch himself off the boat, then turned and fled, sprinting across the surface of the river in the direction they had come from.

This scene left the other Black Flood Dragon Society Martial Artists on the boat completely dumbfounded.

’What’s gotten into Second Master? It’s like he’s seen a ghost.’

Even after putting dozens of yards behind him in the blink of an eye, Jiang Ji still felt a bone-deep chill. To him, seeing *that* man was more terrifying than seeing a ghost.

Right now, he wished he could move several times faster. His feet skimmed the surface of the water, each step sending out a circle of ripples. Blood Gang flowed through his legs, propelling him forward so fast that he almost seemed to fly.

’Blind Huo, you old bastard.’

In his mind, he cursed Huo Tong and all eighteen generations of his ancestors.

The carrier pigeon message hadn’t mentioned a single word about Lin Shouchen. It only said that Lin Shouzhi was leading an attack on Broken Dragon Beach and requested the Black Flood Dragon Society’s assistance.

That’s why he’d thought it would be, at most, Lin Shouzhi with a few of the Lin Family’s young Blood Exchange Realm members, plus the patrol from Gourd Mouth—a hundred men, tops.

He had planned to take advantage of Lin Shouzhi being too preoccupied with Blind Huo to bother with him, rescue a few Water Bandit Leaders, and then slip away. Even if Lin Shouzhi was unhappy about it, there would be nothing he could do.

But who the hell could have guessed that Lin Shouchen would show up?

Anyone in Qing State Prefecture who practiced the spear knew of him.

Uncle Qi of the Lin Family, Lin Shouchen—the undisputed number one master of the Spear Dao in the True Gang Realm.

The man hadn’t been seen in Qing State for seven years, and many were curious just how much his power had grown in that time.

Jiang Ji had been curious, too. He’d wanted to know.

But not if it meant testing Lin Shouchen’s spear with his own life.

’The Water Bandit Alliance is done for!’

For Lin Shouchen to have been deployed—and to be standing guard outside the Reed Marsh, no less—was proof enough that the Lin Family was dead set on annihilating the Water Bandit Alliance.

He ignored the clamor and shouts of his men on the boat behind him.

He had left them there to delay Lin Shouchen.

One hundred yards, two hundred yards, three hundred yards...

Only when he could no longer hear any sounds from behind did Jiang Ji let out a slight sigh of relief. ’Looks like he’s been held up and isn’t chasing me.’

’When I get back to Black Flood Dragon Bay, I’m going to find a couple of women and blow off some steam, calm the nerves after that scare.’

The corners of Jiang Ji’s mouth curled into a slight smirk. ’Good thing I reacted so fast.’

However, an instant later, the hair on Jiang Ji’s entire body stood on end. A sudden sense of crisis surged up from the depths of his heart.

For a man at the Blood Exchange Fourth Transformation and approaching the Half-Step True Gang realm, his Martial Artist’s Perception was now screaming a warning. In an instant, his scalp tingled and a chill shot down his spine.

Without any hesitation—without even turning his head—he abruptly sidestepped several yards to the left. Only then did he look back.

The instant he turned, Jiang Ji’s pupils shrank to pinpricks. The glint of a spear filled his vision.

There was no whoosh of air, no whistling, not even the shriek of it tearing through the atmosphere.

A silent, traceless beam of spear light pierced through his chest and exited his back.

He didn’t even have time to feel pain. There was only a cold sensation in his chest, as if a bucket of ice water had been dumped over him. Then, all the strength drained from his body, and his legs could no longer support him on the water’s surface.

SPLASH.

Jiang Ji’s body fell from the air, plunging straight into the river and sending up a huge spray of water.

Some seventy yards behind him, Lin Shouchen stood upon the river’s surface, his long spear landing back in his hand.