Couple's Nightmare

The inn was very lively at lunchtime. In addition to other travelers who arrived, the mercenary group already filled almost every space in the hall.

While people were talking about different subjects, the captain and Han bo ate in silence as the mood was not very good among them because of complaints about Guan Zexi.

A waitress arrived with another plate of meat on their table. The innkeeper knew how to recognize people very well and thought that the mercenaries were very important people that they might not offend but should please.

When Han Bo was about to thank the waitress for the food, the captain kicked his chair quickly. As they were sitting next to each other, it was not difficult for the captain to make a move while still seated.

Han Bo was a little weaker than the captain, which was quite a success as the difference between their ages was considerably large. But even with his high speed, Han Bo was thrown away from the table and was confused for a second before realizing that the captain had helped him.

The wall behind the balcony was broken by a man who continued flying towards the chair that Han Bo was sitting on, and as the captain realized this, he kicked Han Bo's chair just in time to prevent them from colliding.

"What the fuck?"

Han Bo was perplexed wondering why someone would throw a man at him. But as he went towards the man who was thrown on the floor near the table, the captain kept quietly eating as if nothing had happened.

He was paying attention to Guan Zexi's movements since she came out of the bathroom and had no difficulty listening to everything going on in the kitchen with his excellent senses. The captain's only doubt was whether he would have to interfere.

The man who was thrown through the wall was surely the loyal husband who did not want to have fun with Guan Zexi. Before Han Bo could get close to questioning him, he heard her sinister laugh.

"It was so simple! You only had to serve me, and in return, you would have had a great pleasure that many can only dream of having. But you had to complicate everything!"

Guan Zexi was very irritated for being rejected and would not have peace before making the man pay profoundly for that insult. She then grabbed the arm of the wife, who was trying to escape while crying rivers of tears in fear.

Everyone in the hall fell silent as they stared at the scene in surprise. No mercenaries there felt sorry for the man, and they just wanted to see a good show.

The man tried to get up, but as he was just a cultivator of the Qi Refinement first layer, he could not help but moan by the pain coming from his broken arm. He looked at the hole in the wall while he was still on the floor only to be desperate to see his wife crying while trying to escape from Guan Zexi.

"Please, my lady, at least have mercy on my wife as she has nothing to do with that matter."

But Guan Xi was not known for being merciful. The suffering and regret she saw on the man's face were like a portion of delicious exotic food that Guan Zexi would enjoy until the last bit.

She took the woman by the hair and started kicking her in the belly. Guan Zexi could feel that the woman was not a cultivator, so she attacked her with little force to hurt without killing.

It was a brutal scene to see Guan Zexi beating the poor woman while her husband was crying on the floor without being able to do anything. He tried to get up again but was kicked by another mercenary causing the whole group to start laughing.

The other people in the kitchen had already run to the second floor of the inn, and a waitress recalled that a very big adventurer who looked extremely strong was sleeping in one of the rooms. He had arrived at night quite tired, but after sleeping until lunchtime, he should be fine now.

When the waitress woke up the adventurer and asked for his help, he didn't think twice before going down to see how the situation was going. Despite being very big and muscular, the adventurer was still a cultivator of the Qi Refinement middle-stage.

When he arrived at the hall, he couldn't help but be surprised because he saw the mercenary group laughing as they watched Guan Zexi beat up a woman and some men kicking a guy on the floor. He recognized the woman as a kind cook, and even being afraid of such a large group, he still tried to reason with them.

"Please, guys. These people are kind and straightforward. Even though they have offended you, we can still come to a less brutal conclusion."

Everyone was laughing while they continued to drink, and nobody noticed the adventurer trying to talk, or they just didn't care about him. But Guan Zexi stopped hitting the woman who was already bleeding all over her mangled body. She threw the woman on the floor and started kicking her while looking at the adventurer.

"What if I don't stop? Will you stop me?"

The adventurer did not consider himself a hero or anything like that, but he had slept in this inn many times and liked the people here. When he saw the condition of the cook, he could not help himself anymore and ran towards Guan Zexi while bringing an ax out of his magic backpack.

*Woosh*

When the adventurer was almost arriving in Guan Zexi, he felt a wind pass through him, and then his vision went dark when a cold assaulted his belly. He looked down only to see a sword's blade going through his body, so he concluded that someone hit him from behind before closing his eyes to salute the afterlife.

The captain, even eating in silence, was still paying attention to the situation, and when he saw the adventurer went towards Guan Zexi, he did not want to take any risks by killing him quickly. He took the long sword from the adventurer's chest and swung it to wipe the blood while returning to the table.

Everyone was silent when the captain made his move. When he returned to the table, the mercenaries hit the mugs on the table while shouting praises at him. Guan Zexi couldn't help but smile while she provoked him.

"So, our beloved captain also wants to have fun?"

The captain was not someone who liked to torture others for pleasure or anything like that. He is undoubtedly a ruthless mercenary, but he did everything in order to save money to live his last days in peace in a remote place, possibly with some handsome young man.

But some things were out of his control. Guan Zexi was someone he couldn't offend for any reason, so letting her kill everyone at the inn was much better than trying to stop her. But he still made his point clear while eating calmly.

"Don't get me into your bizarre games. I just have to be sure to escort you in perfect conditions."

Guan Zexi continued to beat the couple until they could no longer resist and die. The mercenaries also tortured other adventurers at the inn and some of the workers. But some people hide well and others ran away.

The captain did not care for those simple people and let the group do whatever they wanted, as it was good that they used violence to de-stress sometimes. But he was a cautious person, and even though they had already done a lot of harm to people at the inn, he still wanted to eliminate future problems by setting everything on fire.

The group followed the road as the inn caught fire leaving people inside in a terrible nightmare. But the captain still gave a final order to ensure that no one left.

____________________________

Nero felt no pity for these people when he heard the story from one of the men he helped to take out from the inn after Xiong Zhelan put out the fire.

He already tried to do good for humans, and they just saw him as a freak, so he was going back to his cold way of looking at them. And their problems were none of his business, so Nero thought nothing of it and only took people out of the inn because it was a request from Xiong Zhelan.

Nero respected Xiong Zhelan very much and knew that he was a good person who liked to help others. They were all together when one of the inn workers told the story, and Nero could see that Xiong Zhelan was sorry for the suffering of these people.

Xiong Zhelan paid close attention to the story, and when one of the people talked about hearing a mercenary talk about the Guan Family, he didn't know what to think. He knew the Guan Family well and gave Nero a brief explanation.

He said that the Guan Family was the second most powerful in the eastern region, and even though it was not one of the greatest powers, it was very influential.

Nero couldn't help but clench his fists in rage when Xiong Zhelan said that the Guan Family was the largest organization that enslaved non-humans in the Xu Dynasty. He is not a hero of non-humans, but he couldn't help but be angry that non-humans suffered so much by human hands.

Xiong Zhelan continued telling about the Guan Family. He said that even though most people of the Xu Dynasty did not accept the idea of non-humans living among them, but they could not do anything against the Gaun Family.

A brilliant and ruthless woman led the Guan Family, but the question was not her strength, but the fact that the second imperial prince was in love with her. Even though she refused to marry him, the influence of her family only grew.

The prince was a romantic man who would not use force or power to have the woman he loved, so he kept trying to conquer her affection over for years. So no one dares to insult the Guan Family by fearing to create problems with the Imperial Family.

Xiong Zhelan, like most people in the Black Sword Sect, hated the Guan Family for their obscure and disgusting businesses. Still, because their influence was so significant, they all knew how to keep the distance from them.

Even if he wanted to punish the mercenaries who had done so much harm to the people at the inn, he had no strength or support, so he just had to leave because he had already helped as he could by putting out the fire.

"We have to go. I'm sorry for not being able to give you any justice, but these people have the support of someone I can't attack."

"Let's come back, Nero."

When Xiong Zhelan and Nero were returning to meet Xun Lan and Zhu Tai, but Nero stopped the moment Sarah warned in his mind.

"I feel someone's presence. It's more than a mile away and is using stealth skills to hide its presence, but I still feel a little bit of Qi flowing."

Nero focused his senses in the direction that Sarah spoke and heard heartbeat sounds confirming that someone was possibly watching them.

When he warned Xiong Zhelan, he couldn't help but be concerned.

__________________________

Two men watched the burning inn from a long distance. They were scouts from the mercenary group and were following the captain's orders not to let anyone leave the inn alive. They are scouts from the mercenary group and were following the captain's orders not to let anyone leave the inn alive.

Both were very good at stealth skills, but only one of them had high visual skills. He was called 'watcher' by the other members of the group. As he watched the inn, he saw Xiong Zhelan and Nero coming and putting out the fire.

He waited for Xiong Zhelan to finish his movements as everything was swift and soon finished, then he turned to talk to his companion and explain everything he had seen. After the two understood everything that had happened, they discussed how to proceed.

"Should we notify the captain?"

"He was very clear that everyone should die there so as not to cause future problems."

"But he is an elder of the Black Sword Sect."

"Whatever, it is not our duty to think about what to do, but to report."

"So, you go report to the captain while I keep watching them."

After concluding that it was better to report everything to the captain, one of the scouts went while the other stayed. The mercenary group had been gone for about thirty minutes, so they weren't far, and if the scout ran fast, he would reach them quickly.