Madam, don't do this!

Chapter 321 This thing is much more useful than martial arts (7,000 chapters)

call!
The night wind howled as it swept across the roads of Shanyin County.

She brushed aside the rain-soaked hair, strand by strand.

Her hair was very long, and her body was quite petite. When the wind stopped, her long hair almost fell to her knees. In the darkness, her bright eyes silently watched the departing carriage.

His body blended into the surrounding darkness like a ghost.

Unbeknownst to them, the sky grew even darker. Suddenly, a silvery bolt of lightning streaked across the night sky, as if a sharp weapon had torn the vast expanse of heaven to shreds.

Immediately following was a deafening roar of thunder.

The torrential rain poured down as if it would flood the entire Shanyin County.

Even inside the carriage, one could clearly feel the raindrops hitting the windows and roof. The carriage was not of good quality, and rainwater seeped in through the gaps, making one's clothes wet.

Sun Hao felt inexplicably irritated.

He didn't bring many people with him on this trip to Ningping. He only selected the six best guards from the Sun family. Two were driving the carriage outside, while the other four were sent out to gather information.

After all, Song Yan was on his way back to the capital to report on his duties, and he might have to pass through this road. He didn't want to run into Song Yan.

That was a crude and vulgar martial artist, not worthy of respect. As a former top scholar, Sun Hao naturally looked down on such a person, but he had to admit that Song Yan was not someone to be trifled with. He was ruthless and cruel, and had killed countless people. Sun Hao had snatched his position as the prefect of Pingyang Prefecture from Song Yan. Given Song Yan's temper, he might have been killed if he had encountered him.

Song Yan had done things like killing governors without authorization before.

It wasn't that he was afraid, but rather that he felt it would be undignified for a top scholar like himself, a learned man, to clash with a brute like Song Yan.

Moreover, Song Yan's unauthorized killing of Qian Yaozu was also highly regarded in the court.

After all, the law has always applied to officials, but Song Yan not only used torture on them, but also the extremely cruel torture of combing and washing them. It was as if the dignity of officials was being rubbed into the ground... It was just a few commoners who died, so a demotion or exile would have been enough. Why go to such lengths?

Although Bailu Academy and Xilin Academy were not affiliated with the same faction and even had many conflicts, Sun Hao, a graduate of Bailu Academy, was still indignant about the matter. After all, Sun Hao was also a scholar-official; and no matter how great the conflict between Xilin Academy and Bailu Academy was, it was still a conflict between scholars.

Sun Hao let out a long sigh.

When officials from the capital are transferred to other places, they are generally not allowed to bring too many servants. The six guards, two sixth-rank martial artists, and four fifth-rank martial artists were all hired by him at a high price. He was able to easily deal with the bandits he occasionally encountered along the way. Thinking this, his fear dissipated a lot.

Then I couldn't help but let my imagination run wild.

The Fan family had already met with him, and their main request was that once he took office as the governor of Pingyang, he should open the border and allow the Fan family to smuggle freely, while prohibiting other families and merchants from leaving the border.

The Fan family intends to monopolize this smuggling route.

They certainly have a big appetite.

Sun Hao had also investigated some matters, and he once estimated that if nothing unexpected happened, this trade route would generate at least a million taels of silver in revenue per year.

The price offered to him by the Fan family was 100,000 yuan a year.

This number is not small, but Sun Hao is still not satisfied. He feels that with his status and position, 200,000 a year should be enough.

If you stay for three to five years, that will be an income of millions of taels of silver.

With this large sum of money, after some maneuvering and some effort, one could return to the court and even take control of the central government.

Even those who hold positions such as Minister of the Six Ministries, Chancellor, Grand Secretary, or Attendant-in-Ordinary might not be without a chance.

That was the real ruling court.

With this thought, Sun Hao's previously somewhat depressed mood vanished completely, and he even couldn't help but chuckle. As for the disaster that the Fan family's smuggling of grain and pig iron to the Jurchens would bring to the border people, Sun Hao had never considered it. They were just a bunch of lowly people, not worthy of his attention.

About fifteen minutes later, they finally arrived at the inn. Just as Sun Hao had estimated, the remaining four guards were already waiting at the inn. After asking around, it turned out that none of the four guards had encountered Song Yan, nor had the local officials or the city gate guards received any official documents from Song Yan.

I don't know if they didn't set off or took a different route.

Sun Hao felt a headache coming on. Oh well, things had come to this point, so he could only take it one step at a time.

Thinking this, he went upstairs.

There were six guards, two of whom stood watch at the room door.

The two stood guard at the entrance of the inn.

The remaining two returned to their rooms to rest, and were to be relieved later in the night.

Boom... Crack!
Lightning continued to rage across the sky.

The torrential rain poured down, and a gust of wind blew, causing countless raindrops to sweep across the eaves. The two guards who were hiding under the eaves had no time to react and were immediately soaked.

Qian Yu and Ding Jun cursed their bad luck inwardly, but there was nothing they could do, since they were just guards, not the master.

Pitter-patter, pitter-patter, pitter-patter... In the heavy rain, even the faintest sounds were barely audible, and the distance visible to the eye was quite limited. Until a hazy figure gradually appeared in front of the two in the downpour, the two finally reacted, their hands swiftly resting on the hilts of their swords.

Wearing a straw hat, their faces were obscured, and rainwater dripped down the edge of the hat, forming strands of beaded curtains.

She was petite, resembling a woman.

The pace was neither too fast nor too slow.

For some reason, the two guards felt immense pressure.

"Hey, who are you?" Qian Yu frowned and shouted sharply, "This inn has been booked out. If you want to stay, find somewhere else."

The person seemed not to hear the sound at all and continued to move forward. When the distance between them was only about seven steps, they suddenly stopped, slowly raised their head, and by the dim light of the lantern at the entrance of the inn, they could see a very charming face. It was indeed a woman, and a very charming woman at that.

"You booked it all? No other people around? That's good."

The woman's lips curved into a smile.

The sound was muffled and indistinct.

In the torrential rain, it sounded like soft, fragmented whispers.

Qian Yu and Ding Jun instinctively sensed that something was wrong.

That eerie feeling was like being stared at by a venomous snake; the indescribable terror sent chills down their spines.

They could roughly deduce that this strange woman was a martial artist, and stronger than both of them. To rashly confront her would be unwise. Their throats tightened; they prepared to mention Sun Hao's name to scare her away. They exchanged a glance, and Qian Yu was about to speak, but in that brief moment, when they looked back ahead, the woman in the downpour had vanished without a trace.

The two men's expressions changed drastically in an instant, and they secretly realized something was wrong.

laugh.

Before I could react, a sharp whooshing sound came from behind me, as if something sharp was tearing through the air.

The next instant, with a soft thud, a sharp dagger pierced Qian Yu's neck from behind, the tip emerging from his throat, leaving a trail of crimson.

Seal the throat with a knife.

Bu Yu's figure quietly appeared behind the two of them.

Just like before, I stood quietly in place.

Qian Yu's eyes widened, his throat throbbed involuntarily, each movement causing the muscles in his neck to touch the sharp blade. He opened his mouth as if to scream, but no normal sound came out. His throat and mouth were filled with blood foam mixed with bubbles, which flowed down his lips. He could only make gurgling sounds with all his might.

Right next to Qian Yu, Ding Jun stood frozen in place, motionless.

A slender, white wrist had already encircled half of his neck, and a sharp blade was positioned in front of his throat, seemingly already touching the skin of his neck, where he could faintly feel its icy chill. He didn't even dare to breathe deeply; the slightest movement could tear his neck apart.

Both of them were fifth-rank martial artists, barely considered experts in the martial arts world. Who would have thought that they would be powerless to resist this woman?

With a hiss, Bu Yu pulled the knife from her neck.

As a spurt of blood shot out, Qian Yu's body fell straight to the ground, twitched a few times, and then remained motionless, clearly dead.

Ding Jun grew increasingly frightened, swallowing hard. "Miss... we have no past grudges or recent feuds, why has it come to this?"

"If you wish to stay here for the night, please feel free to stay. I will not say anything more."

“We are the bodyguards of Sun Hao, the newly appointed prefect of Pingyang. With your abilities, young lady, you will surely be highly valued by Lord Sun. Lord Sun is generous and never stingy with money. If you are willing to join us, you can earn at least several hundred taels of silver a month. Isn’t that better than wandering the martial world?”

He wanted to live, racking his brains to find something that could move Bu Yu.

Bu Yu chuckled: "Sun Hao? That's exactly the kind of person I was looking for."

"Tell me, how many people are in your group, and are they all staying at this inn?"

Damn it, it sounds like they're specifically looking for revenge on Sun Hao. Ding Jun cursed his bad luck inwardly. Although he was a member of the martial arts world, he had no sense of chivalry at this moment. He blurted out that Sun Hao was completely innocent: "Including Sun Hao, there are seven people in total."

"They are all in this inn."

“The two of us are guarding the inn’s main entrance. Sun Hao is staying on the third floor, and Zhang Ye and Liu Hua are guarding the entrance. They are both fifth-rank martial artists. Lin Hui and Yu Mingjie are in the rooms on the left and right sides. They are both sixth-rank martial artists.”

This person is honest; he answered all the questions that Bu Yu hadn't asked.

After saying this, Ding Jun forced a smile, even though Bu Yu behind him couldn't see it: "Miss, fairy, look, I've told you everything. If you have a grudge against Sun Hao, go ahead and find him. I have no connection with Sun Hao. I'll leave now, and I swear to heaven that I will never reveal a word about the fairy's affairs to anyone."

"Ah."

It was still that same soft, gentle voice.

Ding Jun's face lit up with joy, thinking he had a chance to live. Just then, Bu Yusu's white wrist suddenly pulled back forcefully.

laugh.

The blade then slicing across Ding Jun's throat.

The thick neck was cut in half, and the trachea and throat were completely severed.

With a gurgling sound, blood gushed out continuously. Ding Jun instinctively raised his hands, trying to stop the wound on his neck, but the wound was too large to stop. He staggered out, took a few steps in the torrential rain, and then collapsed to the ground with a thud, convulsing in despair. The raging raindrops pounded on his body, and the blood gushing from his neck was quickly dissolved by the rain.

After dealing with the two men, Bu Yu entered the inn.

There were still two sixth-rank martial artists and two fifth-rank martial artists left, so there was nothing to be afraid of. As soon as they entered the inn, they looked up and saw two guards standing at the door of a room on the third floor. It must be Zhang Ye and Liu Hua. The two of them reacted quickly and almost immediately noticed Bu Yu's presence. One of them opened his mouth, just about to speak, but Bu Yu raised his left hand, and in his palm was a military crossbow. A crossbow bolt shot out instantly. The poor guard had just opened his mouth and hadn't even had time to make a sound when the crossbow bolt went straight through his mouth, piercing his tongue and skull, and his body was nailed to the door frame.

Zhang Ye, standing nearby, was stunned... "Are you an assassin?"

At least bring out something an assassin would use.

Which assassin pulls out a military crossbow so easily?
His body shuddered slightly, but his reaction speed was incredibly fast. He pushed off with his toes and quickly retreated, smashing open the door behind him with a bang, thus avoiding the angle from which the military crossbows could shoot from downstairs.

At the same time, a piercing scream echoed from the room:

"There are assassins."

Tsk.

Bu Yu, who had just turned the military crossbow around and was about to aim again, felt a little regretful.

He casually tossed the crossbow bolt aside, lightly touched the ground with his toes, and leaped into the air, landing gracefully on the third floor. Just then, the doors on both sides were suddenly kicked open. After all, he was a sixth-rank martial artist; such a commotion couldn't have gone unnoticed.

Even Sun Hao, who was in the middle room, was awakened.

Upon seeing the corpse hanging on the door frame, Sun Hao's expression changed drastically.

In comparison, Lin Hui and Yu Mingjie were not as afraid. They slowly approached Bu Yu from the left and right, ready to launch a fierce attack if Bu Yu relaxed his guard in the slightest. They could tell that Bu Yu was stronger than them, but only by a limited margin, most likely at the seventh rank. Two sixth-rank martial artists against one seventh-rank martial artist weren't entirely without a chance of victory.

As for Zhang Ye, who was still inside the room, he shielded Sun Hao behind him. Sun Hao's face looked somewhat gloomy and distorted. He roughly knew that this trip would not be peaceful, but he did not expect it to happen in this way.

"Who sent you?"

With a hoarse voice, Sun Hao asked in a deep voice.

Bu Yu remained silent, only lowering her head and fiddling with the strange object in her hand.

Judging from its appearance, it should be made of metal, somewhat similar to the flintlock gun that my master used to trick people, but it is slightly thicker and shorter, and there is a mechanism at the handle.

When Bu Yu first arrived in Xinhou County, she saw her master fiddling with this thing. She never expected that he would actually make it. When they parted in Dingzhou Prefecture, her master stuffed this thing into her hand.

This thing is called a shotgun, Model 1.

Bu Yu didn't quite understand what "Number One" and shotguns meant, but she knew her master always liked to tinker with strange and unusual things. Song Yan could actually make many weapons, but limited by basic materials and a lack of machinery, these things mostly had to be handcrafted. Except for the simplest thunderclap, none could be mass-produced, and their power was often lower than what he remembered. Shotguns were among the simpler weapons. The earliest shotgun was probably the bamboo-made fire lance from the Song Dynasty. Aside from being less powerful, less accurate, shorter in range, and prone to exploding, it had no other flaws.

In Bu Yu's other hand were several things that were called bullets, but these bullets were not cone-shaped, and the ends were not sharp. Instead, they were flat-headed and more like cylinders.

Seeing that Bu Yu completely ignored him, Sun Hao became angry and his face darkened: "Did Song Yan send you? I didn't expect that Song Yan would use such despicable means. He is indeed a crude and vulgar martial artist."

"How much did Song Yan give you? I'll give you double."

"If you are willing to come forward as a witness and identify Song Yan, I will give you ten times the amount and I will absolutely guarantee your safety."

As the top scholar in the imperial examination, Sun Hao was naturally very quick-witted.

He quickly thought of Song Yan and had already planned to use this woman to get rid of her.

Song Yan's existence is nothing short of a troublemaker in the imperial court.

Whether it's Bailu Academy or powerful clans, it's best to get rid of this person as soon as possible.

Bu Yu remained silent, silently inserting a bullet into the magazine of the shotgun, and with a click, it was chambered. Just then, Lin Hui, a sixth-rank martial artist on the left, seemed to sense an opportunity. A cold glint flashed in his eyes, and he suddenly pushed off the ground with his foot, charging towards Bu Yu with a loud bang.

Almost simultaneously, Bu Yu swiftly raised his arm, the dark metal muzzle of his gun aimed at the rapidly approaching martial artist, and without the slightest hesitation, pulled the trigger.

"boom!"

In an instant, a deafening roar erupted, like thunder outside the inn.

An invisible shockwave rippled outwards, spreading outwards in an instant. Lin Hui arrived quickly, but flew out even faster, his body instantly losing control. With a bang, he smashed through the door of the adjacent room, along with the table and chairs inside. Wood chips flew everywhere, directly hitting the wall several meters away...

Rumble, rumble...

The overturned charcoal stove revealed its fiery red charcoal, which shone like a peacock spreading its tail feathers.

This sudden turn of events caused Yu Mingjie, who rushed over from behind, as well as Zhang Ye and Sun Hao inside the room, to all change their expressions drastically. No one had expected that the strange little thing in Bu Yu's hand would be so terrifying.

What kind of power is this?
Could it be a hidden weapon?
But aren't concealed weapons supposed to be silent? Whose concealed weapon makes a sound like thunder?
As if by instinct, Yu Mingjie stopped in his tracks and took a step back.

Inside the room, Zhang Ye looked around frantically, searching for a chance to escape. He was even annoyed that he shouldn't have gone into the room; now the exit was blocked.

Even Bu Yu was somewhat taken aback, staring blankly at the shotgun in his hand.

When the master handed her the gun, he said that this thing was much more useful than martial arts.

At the time, Bu Yu was still somewhat skeptical, but now he had to admit that this kind of thing was indeed more useful than martial arts.

She turned around and looked at the last sixth-rank martial artist, Yu Mingjie… This guy was probably frightened by the commotion just now, missing the best opportunity to injure Bu Yu. If he hadn't stopped and had maintained his attack, he might have had a slight chance to damage Bu Yu, but now, it was too late.

As he raised the shotgun, Yu Mingjie's eyes revealed a deep fear upon seeing Bu Yu's movements. Faced with this strange thing, Yu Mingjie felt a profound sense of powerlessness, as if all the martial arts he had learned over the past ten years were rubbish and utterly useless.

Yu Mingjie reacted quickly; he wanted to escape.

But Bu Yu was even faster. Just as the thought crossed Yu Mingjie's mind, another thunderous roar erupted.

The moment the roar sounded, Yu Mingjie's chest was destroyed and shattered, with blood gushing out.

An invisible impact slammed into Mingjie's chest, sending his body flying and crashing heavily into the railing on the third floor. With a deafening roar, the railing shattered, and his body flew out like a cannonball, tracing a diagonal arc across the third floor before crashing heavily into the inn's lobby.

A table shattered with a crash.

Looking down from above, Yu Mingjie's body had been smashed beyond recognition by the enormous impact, with broken bones and shattered flesh. Due to the immense inertia, his body slid a distance on the ground, leaving a long trail of blood.

It was clear that he was going to die.

Bu Yu then turned to look at Sun Hao and Zhang Ye in the room. At this moment, both of them were deathly pale.

His body was trembling uncontrollably.

This woman in front of me is terrifying... No, she's not a woman, she's a deadly female ghost.

"Miss, we can discuss this."

"You're in it for the money, aren't you? Name your price, and I'll give it to you." Sun Hao's throat bobbed violently. "How much money did Song Yan give you to make you so devoted to him?"

As he spoke, Sun Hao rummaged through his chest and pulled out a handful of silver notes.

"Here, thirty thousand, thirty thousand taels of silver, all for you, is that enough?"

Hearing the hoarse voice and seeing Sun Hao's face contorted with the pain of impending death, Bu Yu showed a rare moment of mercy. She tilted her head and said, "He didn't give me any money."

"You weren't paid?" Sun Hao shrieked. "Why would you risk your life for him if you weren't paid?"

"Could it be that he... he took you as a concubine?" Sun Hao's eyes widened in disbelief: "Just because of that? You come with me. As long as you're willing to come with me, I'll immediately divorce my wife, and from then on, you'll be my legal wife."

Bu Yu sighed helplessly, her expression complicated, and looked at Sun Hao: "You don't understand."

"I just feel that by following Song Yan, we should have the opportunity to see a different world where the poor are not bullied by you."

Sun Hao's eyes widened, his face full of disbelief... No, are you crazy? What does it have to do with you whether poor people are bullied?
With a smile, Bu Yu no longer hesitated and inserted another bullet.

boom.

With a deafening roar, Sun Hao and Zhang Ye were both sent flying.

This time, Bu Yu saw it very clearly.

The gun muzzle spewed out a dense spray of tiny, fine particles, perhaps small metal beads and fragments.

Like raindrops, blood gushed out, and in an instant, the faces, necks, chests, and even abdomens of the two people burst open with countless tiny flowers of blood.

Tiny things burrowed into my body, my eyes popped out, my brain turned to mush, and my heart was probably in a similar state.

A vivid imagination and an open mind—that's all there is to it.

Bu Yu took a few steps forward, looked at the corpse on the ground, and reached out to touch Sun Hao's body. She felt that she must have been corrupted by Song Yan, and even learned to touch corpses.

However, Sun Hao was also stupid.

You actually thought you could bribe her with money? Even if I kill you, all those banknotes will still be hers…

Well, not entirely; quite a few banknotes were broken.

However, Bu Yu found an extra 50,000 taels on Sun Hao. This guy really loved money more than life itself; he was unwilling to give up all his money even when he was about to die.

They looked at each of the corpses and confirmed that they were all dead.

Looking at the weapon in her hand, Bu Yu's expression became somewhat strange. She truly hadn't expected that the master would hand over such a powerful weapon to her so easily.

Does he really trust himself that much?

Or was he worried that his martial arts skills were not good enough to deal with the experts around Sun Hao?

Is this considered caring about her?

For some reason, a slight smile crept onto Bu Yu's lips.

Despite the cold wind and torrential rain, my heart was warm.

With a smile, Bu Yu casually tossed down a silver ingot, picked up a crossbow, and disappeared into the night rain.

Only after Bu Yu disappeared did a waiter emerge from the back room.

Tsk... The newly appointed governor of Pingyang was killed before he even arrived in Pingyang Prefecture. This is a big deal. As a member of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, I must inform my superiors of this news immediately.

(End of this chapter)