Promise!

Chapter 125, Counterattack
Therefore, on the morning of the first day the fleet set sail, after traveling only a short distance and arriving at the first small market, Zhuang Jin and Fei Zecong separated from the main fleet.

—At the very beginning, because this short stretch of the journey was so close to the prefectural city, there were many Shen family merchant ships coming and going. Even if the Medicine King Gang wanted to attack, they would never make a move on this short stretch, so there was no danger.

After Zhuang Jin and Fei Zecong left, the sale of goods by the fleet was handed over to Fei Zecong's third uncle... Fei Zecong himself found someone with a similar build to impersonate him, and he disguised himself as a double. He usually blended in and out of the crowd, but when they needed to make a public appearance and gain prestige at a market, he kept a distance, so that people who were not very familiar with him would not recognize him...

The two took the Qingyuan Liquid by land. In order to avoid attracting attention, they traveled light and simply, with only two low-level martial artists driving the carriage and an elderly servant to guide them.

Inside the carriage, Zhuang Jin completed a meditation session, opened his eyes, and asked, "Young Master Fei, where are we?"

“Brother Zhuang, we’ve passed Qingyuan Village and traveled more than ten miles. Ahead lies the Tangye Forest… If all goes well, we should reach Baishuiji by evening. We’ve covered about forty percent of the distance by now…” Fei Zecong answered in one go.

This is not surprising; not long after, he would go out and ask the old servant who had given him directions for directions.

"Traveling by land is indeed much slower than by water. It would take about seven or eight days to go entirely by land, while by water, if we don't stop along the way, it would only take four or five days... If we had split up the small boats to travel by water, it would have been much faster..."

What Fei Zecong didn't say was that he felt much more comfortable.

To be honest, he had never suffered so much in his life... Well, as the second young master of a wealthy family in the county, the greatest hardship he had ever endured was this three- or four-day carriage ride.

Zhuang Jin shook his head: "The waterway route is simple. If the Medicine King Gang sets up checkpoints and places spies, it's easy to be intercepted... The land route is relatively better."

That makes sense.

Fei Zecong nodded outwardly, but inwardly he lamented that if he were to seek out enemies in the void and engage in scheming against thin air, then all this suffering would have been in vain.

He shook his head slightly, suppressing his complicated emotions, and changed the subject, saying, "By land, Tangye Forest is actually a necessary passage. Several routes pass through here. If you insist on going around it, you'll have to take a huge detour..."

Fei Zecong stopped abruptly at this point, his expression changing slightly.

Zhuang Jin's ears twitched slightly, and he reacted even faster. He stood up abruptly, pulled down the curtain covering the carriage, and twirled it in his hand.

Swish swish!
A series of arrows were deflected and fell.

"This skill... a Seventh-Level Martial Artist?!"

"How could there be a martial artist among traveling merchants? Could it be that Brother Dong was right... we've caught a big fish!"

"Brother Zhou's method is also good. No matter who the passerby is, just fire a burst of arrows. If they die, it's no problem. If they don't die, then there's a big problem."

Dong Pei darted to the carriage, standing a few feet away. He stared intently at Zhuang Jin's disguised face, recognized him, and said with a sinister smile, "Zhuang Garrison Commander, you've kept me waiting for quite a while. We meet again."

"Yes, we meet again!" Zhuang Jin was also a little surprised to run into an acquaintance while traveling.

"The Medicine King Gang?!" Fei Zecong got off the carriage, his face extremely gloomy. He didn't expect to be blocked by the Medicine King Gang even by land. When he saw seven or eight ordinary martial artists surrounding him, and then looked at the other two who had spoken earlier, he saw that they were all Seven Scripture Martial Artists. His heart sank.

As they were talking, the two men who had been standing next to Dong Pei separated and surrounded Zhuang Jin in a triangular formation. The seven or eight ordinary martial artists also surrounded him, their faces contorted with smirks.

“You surnamed Zhuang, you are good at running away. You managed to evade the waterway blockade of Master Lu, but you couldn’t escape Master Dong’s scheme and ended up in our hands.”

"Yes, it's our turn to make a contribution and reap the rewards. I heard that you fought two against one in the north of the city and injured Master Dong. Fortune turns, and today it's our turn to fight three against one."

"Thank you very much, Brother Zhou and Brother Weng!"

Dong Pei clasped his hands in a fist salute to the two men, then turned to look at Zhuang Jin with an expression as if he were watching a fish being caught in a net. He clearly did not believe that anything unexpected would happen at this point: "Zhou Shou, do you have any last words to say?"

"Yes, I've said my last words, it's time to send you on your way. What do you think I'm waiting for? You're all together, which is a bit troublesome for me, but if you're spread out..."

Zhuang Jin chuckled lightly, his figure flashed, instantly transforming from extreme stillness to extreme movement, suddenly erupting like a tiger descending a mountain.

'What does that mean?' Before Dong Pei could figure it out, Zhuang Jin rushed over. Quick!
too fast!
'This speed... how is this possible?!' Dong Pei had just thought this, his shocked expression still frozen on his face, when he saw Zhuang Jin in front of him, and he only had time to raise his hand to block.

boom!
Amidst the sound of powerful erosion.

Zhuang Jin unleashed a powerful palm strike, sweeping out with overwhelming force. Dong Pei's right hand was deformed, his flesh and bones bursting open, revealing the bone beneath. Then, an immense force surged through him, causing him to stagger backward.

—With just one palm strike, Dong Pei was seriously injured!

"This... the Eight Classics?!"

Zhou and Weng, both martial artists of the seventh level, stared in disbelief at this scene, their expressions changing drastically. They instantly understood the meaning behind Zhuang Jin's earlier words.

If the three of them, all of them at the seventh level, were to stick together and form a triangular formation back to back, they could still hold off an eighth-level opponent. When the opponent attacks one person, the other two would attack from the side, which would be equivalent to one person facing the combined strength of three. In that case, they wouldn't be afraid of Zhuang Jin and could still escape unscathed. But by splitting up like this, they would undoubtedly be courting death!

The two members of the Medicine King Gang realized something was wrong, exchanged a glance, and the next moment, they rushed towards the Qingyuan Liquid in the back car in perfect unison, clearly wanting to get their hands on it and use it as leverage.

"roll!"

Zhuang Jin abandoned the already seriously injured Dong Pei, turned around and launched a lightning attack, blocking both of them.

……

"Why bother sending someone to their death from afar?"

Moments later, after killing Zhou and Weng, two martial artists of the Seven Classics, Zhuang Jin caught up with the injured Dong Pei and beheaded him with a single blow while he was filled with resentment.

At this moment, Fei Zecong also dealt with the seven or eight ordinary martial artists from the Medicine King Gang. These people were all at the first to third level of cultivation, and they came to do the dirty work. When they faced him, a sixth-level martial artist, it was a one-sided massacre.

"Brother Zhuang!" Fei Zecong, having survived the ordeal, asked with relief and awe, "You really broke through to the Eighth Scripture?"

"Yes, I didn't mention it before the breakthrough... cough cough!"

Zhuang Jin coughed as he spoke. He had paid the price of minor injuries for protecting Qingyuan Liquid and for quickly killing two Qijing cultivators in pursuit of Dong Pei.

"Is Brother Zhuang alright? There are some medicines for injuries in the carriage..." Fei Zecong asked with concern.

At this moment, he was even more concerned about Zhuang Jin's health than his father, fearing that something might happen to this man.

"It's alright, let's cut off those three heads and tan them first!" Zhuang Jin waved his hand.

Each of the seven martial artists from the Medicine King Gang is worth three thousand battle merits, not counting the various bonuses from their positions. It can be said that the heads of these three alone are worth more than ten thousand battle merits.

Because of Ping Yongfeng's repayment of debts and Zou Qingfeng's 'enhanced version of the Meridian-Clearing Pill', he has no shortage of silver, but his battle merits are less than two thousand. With this replenishment, he won't have to worry about the supply of exotic beast meat for quite some time after returning.

'This minor injury might not be a bad thing. The squeaky wheel gets the grease; this will be a badge of honor when we get back, and the reward might be even greater.'

Of course, what Zhuang Jin valued more was not the potential for extra rewards, but the opportunity for resettlement and recuperation in the rear, which would allow him to transform this large amount of military merit into strength.

"This time, I submitted a secret report beforehand, but it wasn't taken seriously. Yet, the incident still occurred, and I performed a great service while also being injured. To outsiders, I'm a tragic hero."

"I was prepared. As expected, the other powerful families from various counties are returning home. If the Medicine King Gang succeeds, the Shen family will be enraged and will surely launch a war to retaliate... Once we return, if the Shen family still has any shame, they won't send this wounded, tragic, but meritorious hero to the front lines."

From this perspective, Zhuang Jin needs to delay the healing of this minor injury.

……

(End of this chapter)