Brutal Confrontation

Author's note:

This chapter contains quite a bit of brutallity! Please read at your own discretion.

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Zhang Baichi's expression contained a blatant mockery. Di Yuansheng already knew about Zhang Baichi's fight with Di Fengshang, but he stilled dared to use the same move that his brother lost to against Zhang Baichi? Wasn't he just asking for a beating?

Remembering how much Di Yuansheng flaunted his own importance before and how he was most likely the one to instigate this whole investigation, Zhang Baichi felt contempt for Di Yuansheng and become even more annoyed. 'Since he's asking for a beating, I'll serve him well.'

His hands moved and the sword was brought down upon Di Yuansheng's shoulder. The mocking look in Zhang Baichi's eyes deepened when he saw Di Yuansheng's flustered expression, that even contained a hint of fear.

The next moment, blood splattered.

Di Yuansheng's shoulder was cut open, the sword striking onto bone, then travelled down the chest and below the ribs. Di Yuanshengs big body fell back as he coughed up blood and let go of his sword. The match was decided with a single strike.

Zhang Baichi's pupils constricted. What had just happened? His face felt wet, as did his hands. He looked down, his sword, his hands and part of his clothing red. 'This is… blood? But not mine- Did I just-?'

His hands were shaking. He made a mistake. A possibly fatal mistake. Before, he held a wooden sword in his fight against Di Fangsheng, but the sword in his hands now was a real sword. His eyes darted over to Di Yuansheng. He could see the wound he created and the white bones beneath it.

More and more blood flowed. The wound was deep, and stretched from Di Yuansheng's shoulder down to his abdomen; He wasn't able to defend against Zhang Baichi's attack and overwhelming strength.

Zhang Baichi's face paled and he stood in place, rooted by the shock he was experiencing. Yu Hao flashed past him and arrived at Di Yuansheng's side. He pulled a white cloth out of thin air and pressed it against Di Yuansheng's wound, then fed him a green pill and forced him to swallow it.

By this point, Di Yuansheng had already lost consciousness, but that was probably for the better. Yu Hao heaven a sigh of relieve when he saw that the pill he fed Di Yuansheng – a healing pill – started to take effect, slowly stopping the bleeding. Though the white cloth had already been dyed red.

"Zhang Baichi!", he turned to Zhang Baichi with a ferocious expression. His shout pulled the surrounding people out of their trance, but most of them still looked on in shock. Their eyes gathered on Zhang Baichi, who still stood motionless, staring at Di Yuansheng, then slowly looked at Yu Hao.

"I- I didn't mean to. It, it was an acci-", his voice was shaking and his face as pale as a ghost. Yet, before he could finish his sentence, one of the remaining members of the Law Enforcement Division, grabbed his sword tightly and charged at Zhang Baichi.

"Die!", his voice was as vicious as his sword was ferocious. He stabbed at the unaware Zhang Baichi, who was still staring at Yu Hao. Subconsciously, Zhang Baichi's eyes flashed to the side to face the attack and he instinctively stepped to the side, the sword in his hand rising again.

Yu Hao's eyes seemed to spit fire as he himself charged at Zhang Baichi when he saw that the latter was about to cut down another of his men with an indifferent expression. "Do you dare!"

His cultivation at the 8th Layer of the Body Forging Realm gave him an impressive speed and explosive strength, but it seemed unimpressive to Zhang Baichi considering his own perceived strength. Still, Yu Hao's shout forced his hand to stop. 'What am I doing?!'

His eyes followed the young man who stabbed at him, letting him pass without taking another action. Yu Hao heaved another sigh of relieve, but the hairs at his neck suddenly stood up and a shiver ran down his spine; Zhang Baichi's eyes had shifted toward him.

Still in a full charge, Yu Hao had no way to stop and Zhang Baichi's hand seemed to be moving already, seemingly ready to take his head the next moment. He grit his teeth and attacked – It was no technique, only the most ordinary attack to counter Zhang Baichi's vertical slash, but it contained the full strength of his cultivation.

Zhang Baichi grew flustered. This was another sudden attack. He had stopped before after unconsciously readying himself to attack the young man from before and was about to lower his sword. Now Yu Hao attacked him and Zhang Baichi could feel the strength behind the attack, so he gripped his sword tightly again and similarly struck down with his full strength.

Swords clashed with a loud metallic bang, the recoil strong enough to force both, Zahng Baichi and Yu Hao, to take three steps back. Zhang Baichi's hand hurt. This was the strongest attack he had ever faced and he was sure that even the truck that sent him into another world didn't contain that much force.

On the other side, Yu Hao was even more shocked. His cultivation was three levels above Zhang Baichi's. Three! And yet he was forced back just as far as his opponent – And that was when Zhang Baichi only used one hand to wield his sword. If he had used both, Yu Hao would have most likely been injured with this single exchange!

'This strength…! An ordinary Outer Disciple couldn't possibly be this strong! Di Yuansheng was right! There's something fishy about him.', Yu Hao felled a decision at that moment and he once again shouted before Zhang Baichi could speak up. "Attack!"

At his command, the other two members of the Law Enforcement Division readied their weapons again. And from behind Zhang Baichi, the two men who were searching through his cottage came charging out as well, their weapons drawn and ready to strike.

Zhang Baichi's heart went cold. There are five people targeting him now. He suppressed the shock he felt after his battle with Di Yuansheng and focused on the battle in front of him. He was surrounded in an instant. 'As expected, they're used to working together. F*ck, what do I do?'

His eyes darted from one person to the next, until one of the Law Enforcement Division's disciples made the first move. He was at the 6th Layer of the Body Forging Realm, the same as Di Yuansheng, but that was far from what it would take to stop Zhang Baichi.

With a sweeping motion, Zhang Baichi stopped his attack and forced his sword to the side. The next moment, the young man felt a sudden pain in his abdomen and was sent flying, roughly landing on his back after being mercilessly kicked to the sidelines.

After disposing of one attacker, there was no time for Zhang Baichi to take a break, though. The moment he made a move, a second disciple made a move from behind him, aiming at his neck. As if seeing through eyes on his back, Zhang Baichi ducked below the sword and lashed out with his legs again, sweeping the disciple from his legs.

He fell to the ground, the last thing he saw being Zhang Baichi's fist smashing into his face, crushing his nose and leaving him unconscious as well.

Within seconds, two out of five people were taken out, causing the remaining three to hesitate. They were about to be overwhelmed by Zhang Baichi's momentum and Yu Hao grit his teeth, ready to make his move when a voice interrupted his thoughts. "Alright, I think this is enough, children."

The voice echoed in the disciples' heads like the strike of a massive gong, disturbing their focus and ending the confrontation in an instant. Without them knowing, an old man with short white hair and a long goatee appeared next to them; Even the surrounding disciples only noticed him now, causing them to be shocked.

Before he really realized the old man's position, Zhang Baichi was already falling to the side. Strange glowing words had bound his body, forced the sword out of his hand and caused him to fall. He fell flat onto his stomach next to the old man and could only look up to the latter's chest, not seeing his face.

Though that was enough; The old man wore a pitch-black martial artist's attire with a long coat of the same colour draped over his shoulders. On his chest, embroidered with fine silver thread were two words: Law Enforcement!

Zhang Baichi's face paled, but he was unable to speak; The binding had completely robbed him of his freedom of movement, his speech and even his Qi refused to flow properly; He was powerless, utterly unable to resist the old man at all!

Before him, Yu Hao was the first to recover and he immediately bowed at the waist, cupping his hands before the old man. "Greetings, Elder!"

Snapping out of their daze, the other members of the Law Enforcement Division also bowed in the same manner, while the surrounding disiplces bowed or cupped their fists in a servile manner just half a second later. "Greetings Elder!"

Zhang Baichi's eyes shook and his cold heart froze over, covered by a dreadful feeling of danger. He bellowed in his heart, 'System! What the hell is going on!'

[Ding! Jian Fu, 126 years old, 6th Layer of the Core Condensation Realm.]