Nine-layer armor-breaking

Chapter 293 Request (Seeking monthly votes!)
You could tell he was trying hard to make an expression that wouldn't make the leader look too ferocious.

You can tell he's trying, but it's all in vain.

He couldn't laugh anymore.

The pillar of strength stared in disbelief at his trembling hand, as if he had lost his mind.

Soon, just as the leader frantically removed his hand from the hilt of the knife, the leader knelt heavily on the ground.

The leader was in a state of panic and disarray. He was so frightened by the scene before him that he lost his composure and quickly took a few steps back, unable to believe what was happening.

And that familiar face, in the blink of an eye, was lying face down on the ground, staring blankly at the swaying shadows of the trees.

A gust of wind blew by, and the saplings, which were about to fall, were all tenacious and resisted with all their might.

The saplings that were not significantly affected still have the protection of towering trees that shelter them from the wind and rain.

The branches swayed violently, and the shadows cast on the ground were evidence of their resistance.

The leader stood firmly, motionless, facing the person lying on the ground with a short knife stuck in their throat.

"Why...why...Mingming...wake up! Wake up!"

The voice, which had been low and choked with sobs, grew increasingly intense.

After saying that, the leader knelt on the ground, next to the lifeless man, and uncontrollably shook the man on the ground, the leader who had once brought him back to the team.

"Explain yourself! Explain yourself!" he roared, shaking the increasingly cold body and slapping the man's cheeks, his emotions and actions out of control.

Two streams of hot tears rolled down her cheeks and landed without hesitation on the cold back of that body.

He stared blankly at the back of the person on the ground. For a moment, he lost the ability to think, his emotions swayed by the lifeless figure, unable to move on.

It's too fast, everything is happening too fast.

"what!"

A scream echoed throughout the forest, startling the horses of Jiang Xian and his companions.

These three horses were ordinary horses chosen specifically to conceal their identities, and naturally they wouldn't be like Jiang Xian's horse, which was superior in both knowledge and courage.

For an ordinary horse, this situation is perfectly normal.

All three moved with practiced ease, pressing the horses' heads down, and the three horses stood still as before.

The Jiang family guard standing in the middle of the road seemed to be in a bit more hurry than the other Jiang family guard who was already on horseback and Jiang Xian.

Since he was in charge of the carriage, the moment the man screamed, the cargo being pulled by the horse suddenly began to wobble and move very strangely.

But with a single leap, he reached the horse and quickly subdued it.

The one who screamed was the same thug who had blocked the leader of the thugs and struggled against the Jiang family guard standing in the middle of the road, and also the one who had argued with the leader before the battle.

Clearly, the Jiang family guards had lost patience with the thug.

The Jiang family guards could easily discern the thug's thoughts from his current state.

The assailant's clothes, especially the chest area, were ripped to shreds.

Right now, he was pinned to the ground with a short knife firmly embedded in his thigh.

The person who made this move, the Jiang family guard standing in the middle of the road, still held the dagger in his hand. The thug pinned to the ground by the dagger, however, had nothing in his hand.

Clearly, the dagger stuck in the assailant's thigh was his own.

The thug was screaming in pain, but the Jiang family guard in the middle of the road ignored him.

On the contrary, Jiang Xian's expression changed almost imperceptibly beneath his hood, though it was not a significant change.

She felt things were getting a little tricky.

The tricky part is that she's afraid someone might walk by.

Looking at the several thugs dressed in black on the ground, he became even more certain of one thing: these eight thugs were not after them, which made the matter more complicated.

If these eight thugs were after the three of them, then they must know something about Jiang Xian and his companions. Clearly, they were unaware of the situation and their encounter was purely accidental.

If they were lying in ambush here to rob passersby, they wouldn't be dressed in black.

In fact, according to Jiang Xian's guess, it is very likely that they are robbing with a specific purpose.

Their targets were likely one or more people who passed by after dark.

And clearly, judging from the sky, the time has not yet come.

That person, or those people, have not yet passed by.

So, when they happened to meet the three of them at this time, they had an idea: whether they had a chance or not, they would try to take advantage of them first.

In this way, many things make sense.

In this situation, Jiang Xian is not the one who was deliberately targeted, but rather the one who was planned and targeted. This is what makes him feel somewhat uncertain.

Who was the one truly being schemed against?

When exactly will that person arrive?

What if we happen to run into this scene and witness it?
Jiang Xian only knew that the person's status should not be too low.

Since they are people of some status, encountering them would be troublesome, as it could very well expose Jiang Xian and his group's whereabouts.

The misunderstanding between Jiang Xian and the other two is a minor matter; the real problem lies in dealing with the subsequent troubles.

In that case, Jiang Xian and the other two would not be able to leave immediately and would be delayed on the road.

Thinking of this, Jiang Xian knew that he needed to resolve this mess quickly.

The longer things drag on, the bigger the trouble will be.

Therefore, now is definitely not the time for her to hesitate, nor does she have the time to hesitate.

As the thug sitting on the ground let out painful screams, the leader, who had been stunned, gradually came to his senses and looked in the direction from which the screams came.

But then I saw that scene.

Another teammate fell to the ground; this was the same man who had shielded his leader from the front lines, the one with whom he had a verbal altercation before the match. The leader slowly looked up and realized that he was now the only one left standing there unharmed.

The rest were either knocked down, lying down, or injured.

The leader silently calculated in his heart: "The person who followed me had his arm cut off and the bleeding was not stopped in time. Now he is so weak that he can hardly stand up and has no strength to fight anymore."

"That young master poisoned four people, and they will have difficulty recovering their mobility in a short time. The leader was killed by himself. Right now, the man who is pinned to the ground by a dagger has also lost the ability to move normally."

"So right now, in terms of combat strength, I'm the only one who can be considered a normal person."

Thinking of this, he frowned slightly, feeling hesitant.

The core of the group wasn't lacking confidence, but rather, he genuinely lacked the strength. He was merely an Earth-rank martial artist, and facing two Heaven-rank martial artists and a young master who seemed to be hiding some strange drugs, he was completely powerless to fight.

He can only use his brain; as for the brothers on the field whom he feels can still be saved, he honestly admits he can't manage them all.

We can't interfere.

Because now those people will only hold him back.

What he needs to do now is to suppress his emotions fiercely, bury them deep inside, and hide them away.

For him, survival wasn't that important; he had more important things to do.

But now, he has changed his mind.

He wants to survive.

The leader quickly walked to the side of his brother, whose mouth was so short it seemed to be nailed to the ground.

He looked down at the man, his former brother, the man who was now speaking ill of him.

His eyes showed no emotion. He spoke calmly to the man sitting on the ground, his face pale and covered in cold sweat, "Are you alright?"

His gaze was fixed on the person he was asking the question to, and his words were addressed to that person, but the emotion in his voice was so indifferent that it seemed he didn't care about the person sitting on the ground.

He seemed completely unconcerned about whether the person sitting on the ground was alright, as if he only wanted to offer a perfunctory greeting, as if his purpose in approaching the person was not out of concern.

"You ungrateful wretch! You white-eyed wolf! Whether I'm alright or not is none of your business!" The man sitting on the ground trembled, his lips quivered, and his voice grew increasingly furious and hysterical.

Upon hearing this, the pillar of strength nodded twice to the person sitting on the ground, enduring the pain.

Seeing the shocking wound on the man's thigh and the blood-soaked ground, he still showed no emotion on his face.

How could someone who had just killed his boss care about such insignificant words?

His state of mind was completely different from when he was being scolded by this person before the war.

At that time, he vented his emotions for the first time because he had accumulated deep resentment and someone had crossed his bottom line, which is why he was able to unleash his anger all at once.

But now, the thing that had been troubling him for so long seems to be over.

Even the founder of this team, his former leader, has been personally killed by him.

In a short time, the same person experienced two completely different states of mind.

Having shown concern and fulfilled his duty of courtesy, he naturally wouldn't bother with the person who was sitting or lying on the ground, unable to move about.

That's right, he didn't come specifically to greet that person.

The leader, without hesitation, turned around and looked at the Jiang family guard standing in the middle of the road.

He began by asking, "Who is in charge among you?"

He naturally knew who was in charge, and anyone with eyes could see the situation at a glance.

Of the three, the one who could make the decision was neither the guard standing in the middle of the road who seemed completely unfazed, nor the guard on horseback who appeared to be incredibly powerful that he had previously confronted with the man who had lost an arm. Rather, it was the young master on horseback not far behind the Jiang family guard standing in the middle of the road.

He was fully aware of all these things, but he still asked them anyway.

The Jiang family guard standing in the middle of the road didn't speak, but he gave his leader an unspeakable look.

There seemed to be something in those eyes.

That gaze seemed full of provocation, directed at the person before him, as if saying to his leader, "Do you have the right to ask such a question? What do you want to do? What can you possibly do?"

The guard in the middle of the road did not speak; his demeanor remained as steady as ever.

That's a good eye.

They were originally robbing others, but ended up being controlled by others.

Despite being in control, the three men, who were outnumbered, quickly subdued all seven thugs.

Only one person remained standing unharmed.

But the thug who was standing there unharmed and still looking for their young master was not incapable of hurting him, nor was he helpless; it was simply that it wasn't his turn yet, and he hadn't chosen to attack him.

Just like the thug who lost his arm before, he didn't just want his arm.

Just like the thug who is currently pinned to the ground with a short knife and whose thigh is bleeding profusely, this is not the limit of what they can do, it is not the only thing they can do.

On the contrary, they haven't even used much of their strength yet, and the current situation is just a choice, a choice made by the stronger party, not something they can only do to this extent.

"As you may have seen, I have personally dealt with the culprit, which is a token of my sincerity. I wonder if this sincerity is enough to say a few words to your steward. I would be grateful if you could convey this message to him." The leader spoke slowly to the man standing in the middle of the road.

His voice was neither warm nor cold.

The leader kept saying it was a request, but his own attitude didn't change in the slightest.

The outcome was obvious: the guard standing in the middle of the road naturally ignored him.

He was well aware that he didn't really think he could get things done through this person.

The man in front of him, the Jiang family guard standing in the middle of the road, had previously ignored even his boss, let alone him, a traitor who had betrayed his master and whom he despised even more.

The reason why the leader did this was simply out of courtesy.

He went to his teammate, who was pinned to the ground by a dagger, and asked if he was alright, as a matter of courtesy.

He turned to ask the Jiang family guard standing in the middle of the road, still with the proper courtesy.

He wasn't looking for anything from them that would be useful to him.

But he will not give up so easily.

This matter is not over yet, and he naturally has to take action.

He shouted, "I have a favor to ask of you, and I would be grateful if you could come and talk to me."

Seeing that Jiang Xian made no move, he called out again, "I hope to have a few words with you. Whether this matter succeeds or not is entirely up to your decision."

This time, his tone remained devoid of emotion.

He said this to the young master behind the guard standing in the middle of the road.

The young master in his eyes was Jiang Xian.

Since he had brought this up, Jiang Xian was naturally able to understand the speaker's thoughts.

In fact, before he shouted those two times, Jiang Xian had seen him talking to his own guards.

As far as Jiang Xian was concerned, there were two most likely reasons for the visitor's intentions.

(End of this chapter)