Promise!

Chapter 154, The Final Battle

Half a month passed quickly. Sun Mingbi was waiting for Zhuang Jin to break through to the Twelfth Meridian Realm, and Fu Honggang was waiting for his movement techniques and martial arts to reach perfection. Both sides were intentionally restraining each other, so neither of them made a move in the battles these days. Even the lower-level guards made fewer moves, focusing more on the first to sixth and seventh to ninth meridians.

It is worth mentioning that the level of martial artists involved was relatively low, but the intensity of the battle was not low.

In the north of the city, the Medicine King Gang was completely driven out, eliminating the need to divide forces on two fronts and allowing more martial artists to be deployed to the south of the city. The Shen family, in dealing with matters in the east of the city, also uncovered many lower- and middle-level martial artists, arresting and punishing them by transferring them to the south of the city.

In such circumstances, the battle between the two sides becomes extremely cruel and bloody. The first to third-level martial artists have to be replaced by more than half every few days; the fourth to sixth-level martial artists also suffer many casualties; even the seventh to ninth-level guards of the workshops have a hard time.

In order to curry favor and do favors, Sun Mingbi transferred Lü Yiheng and Mei Yong, two garrison commanders of the Nine Classics Ward, to Zhuang Jin's Feng-branded unit. As he said, they were not only well-behaved and law-abiding, but also quite capable, which reduced the casualties on his side.

Xue Yandao, Duan Tao, and Lin Hong's three personal guard squads were to serve as reserves, protecting him. Zhuang Jin would naturally take care of them as much as possible within reasonable limits. In adverse situations, they would stay by his side. With him, a martial artist who was nominally an eleventh-classic and actually a twelve-classic, in charge, it was the safest place on the battlefield. In favorable situations, they would be deployed to expand the gains.

In the end, these trusted confidants, who had been on tenterhooks, escaped unharmed with virtually no casualties and even gained considerable merit.

Among them, Xue Yandao, under the deliberate creation of a relatively safe environment for training, honed his skills through repeated battles and finally broke through to the seventh level, advancing to the rank of town garrison commander. With Zhuang Jin's intervention, he was transferred back to the north of the city. Lin Hong, having accumulated considerable merit, applied for a Meridian-Clearing Pill. After Zhuang Jin approved a note, he skipped the queue and received it ahead of schedule, breaking through to the fifth level. Bi Kai exchanged for another main ingredient of the Meridian-Clearing Pill and broke through to the fourth level...

All of this proves the saying circulating in the south of the city—following Zhuang Jin means you'll get to eat meat. It also makes more and more people believe that Zhuang Jin is blessed with good fortune, and that everyone around him can benefit from it. This has further increased the loyalty of his trusted subordinates, making them completely devoted to him.

Those martial artists who came to the south of the city all wanted to be assigned to the Feng class, as they all wanted to be under Zhuang Jin's command.

In the north of the city, Qian Wende was also keeping a close eye on Zhuang Jin's news. Upon hearing these reports, he was filled with remorse and spent countless nights waking up in terror from his nightmares.

Time passed by in this situation, and half a month went by in the blink of an eye.

……

On October 14th, the Medicine King Gang established its main base for the battle against the Shen family in the southern part of the city.

boom!
Fu Honggang was practicing the Vajra Tiger-Taming Step, a martial art technique. At this moment, he took a step, and the blue bricks under his feet shattered with a crack. He leaped out with such speed that the air seemed to whistle. Combined with the Black Fiend Palm, each move seemed to have the power to capture dragons and subdue tigers.

"Hahaha, the Vajra Tiger Subduing Step is finally perfected! Combined with the perfected Black Fiend Palm, its combat power is indeed unparalleled!"

Fu Honggang laughed heartily, feeling a sense of relief.

He knew that Zhuang Jin had broken through to the eleventh meridian almost two months ago, and he figured that Zhuang Jin had almost completed the accumulation of the eleventh meridian. He was afraid that if he was delayed any longer, Zhuang Jin's talent might lead him to the twelfth meridian one day... If Sun Mingbi and Zhuang Jin, two martial artists with the twelfth meridian, joined forces, even if he had perfected both his Black Fiend Palm and his movement techniques, it would be a great problem.

"Sun Mingbi might still have other ideas, like waiting for Zhuang Jin to break through the Twelve Meridians and then joining forces with him to kill me? Ha, in the end I was one step ahead. I can't give them any more time. Tonight I'll strike first!"

Fu Honggang knew he couldn't fall into his opponent's rhythm, so he decided to seize the time and make the most of his advantage of perfecting the Black Fiend Palm and his movement techniques first.

"Perfect timing. The higher-ups are ordering us to launch a major war while the Shen family is causing trouble in the east of the city, preferably one that will make the Shen family suffer a great loss... It's all happening at the same time."

Currently, the Shen family is preoccupied with dealing with the eastern part of the city, having deployed a significant number of people there to fight against the corrupt officials, which takes up a lot of their energy.

Of course, this is only temporary. Once the Shen family has dealt with the eastern part of the city, they will be able to unleash their war potential to a greater extent. The Medicine King Gang naturally does not want to see this happen, and has decided to take advantage of the situation to finish the job.

Previously, Fu Honggang ordered an increase in the intensity of the battle against the lower-level martial artists, but found it ineffective. This was to help the Shen family eliminate potential threats. This time, he decided to focus the battle on the higher levels, aiming to eliminate Sun Mingbi, the chief garrison commander, and to resolve the issue of the Shen family's commander-level garrison commanders as much as possible.

"Therefore, both publicly and privately, this time, both Sun Mingbi and Zhuang Jin must...die!"

As Fu Honggang spoke, his large, rough hand, as smooth as a palm-leaf fan, clenched suddenly, and the pair of mosquitoes chasing and entwining in mid-air were instantly annihilated into dust by the force of his strength.

……

That night, a bright full moon shone in the sky, its light as clear as water.

That night, the Medicine King Gang gathered martial artists from the south of the city and launched a full-scale attack, committing all their forces. The Shen family countered by concentrating their four martial artists, joining forces in one battle.

This situation has occurred before, but it usually involves battles between the garrison commanders of the first to sixth rank, or at most the seventh to ninth rank. Battles between garrison commanders are relatively rare. A garrison commander like Sun Mingbi would be stationed in charge of troop deployment.

"Such a big commotion, what's gotten into the Medicine King Gang tonight?" "Yeah, tonight... I wonder how many more martial artists will die?"

"How about we make a bet tonight and see who suffers the least loss of men... A little gambling is fine, one bet is a thousand taels of silver, ten bets maximum! Brother Ji, Brother Zhu, Zhuang... uh, Brother Zhuang, forget it. If Brother Zhuang joins, we'll only lose and never win."

……

The other three guards chatted and laughed, all thinking that this was just a routine battle, and they could sit back and watch as usual. No matter how much the warriors below were exhausted, it was none of their business.

Only Zhuang Jin casually agreed, seemingly sensing something, and subconsciously glanced at Fu Honggang.

"Hahaha, why don't you come and stretch your muscles, General Sun?" Fu Honggang saw the martial artists below already entangled together, a cold smile appeared on his lips, and he provocatively beckoned to them with his finger and shouted.

"It seems Mr. Fu wants to fight today. Fine, I'll spar with him for a bit."

Sun Mingbi laughed loudly, turned around and flicked his wrist. His moon-white cloak shot out like a sharp arrow, and then he swooped down.

"How brave!"

Fu Honggang roared, his body like a tiger, and with a pounce and a tear, the moon-white cloak was instantly shattered into pieces, facing off against Sun Mingbi who was following closely behind.

The commanders and generals of the town were locked in combat. Since both sides were commanders and their officers were not going to stand idly by, they all clashed. Zhuang Jin's opponent was his old nemesis from the attack in August—Zhu Xi.

"Zhuang Town Guard, we meet again. I said last time that if we met again, I would fight you to the death... Now you have also broken through the eleventh meridian, very good, this is how it's more exciting to fight!"

Zhu Xi sneered and struck first, rushing forward and using the momentum to chop down with his palm.

Snapped!
Zhuang Jin remained calm, took a half-step to the side to dodge the opponent's palm strike, and then flicked his hand back as if swatting a fly, attacking the point where Zhu Xi was gathering his strength, dispersing the opponent's breath and causing him to stagger backward.

At this moment, however, he did not pursue them, but frowned and looked in one direction.

There, Fu Honggang and Sun Mingbi had already exchanged over a hundred blows. Fu Honggang completely suppressed the latter. At one point, he struck Sun Mingbi in the chest with a bang, causing the latter's outer garment to rip open, revealing the beast-hide armor he was wearing underneath.

"You've already broken through to the Meridian Opening Realm?! No, Meridian Opening Realm martial artists aren't this weak. You've mastered both the Black Fiend Palm and movement techniques...?!" Sun Mingbi suppressed the discomfort in his chest, a look of shock appearing on his face.

Fu Honggang was equally shocked and furious, gritting his teeth: "You actually have a set of top-grade Xuan-level beast hide armor?! The Shen family is truly wealthy and powerful!"

"However, as I said, even this top-grade Xuan-level beast hide armor can't save you. After tonight, it will be mine too!"

He let out a sneer, took a step, and pounced like a tiger descending a mountain.

……

Two miles away from the battlefield, on a clock tower, two people stood facing each other, looking down at the various battlefields below: Fu Honggang and Sun Mingbi; Zhuang Jin's side guarding the battlefield of the same level; Fang's guarding the battlefield of the same level; and below, the Shen family and the Medicine King Gang's first to sixth level martial artists, all dressed in different colored clothes, were fighting each other... like black and white chess pieces on a chessboard, interlocking like jagged teeth.

One of these two men is Zhong Yi, a blue-robed retainer of the Shen family and a cultivator at the Meridian Opening Realm. The other man is named Shi Yin, formerly the commander of the Medicine King Gang's frontline battles in the south of the city, and now the deputy head of the Medicine King Gang's Battle Hall.

The Medicine King Gang has only eight or nine people at the Meridian Opening Realm, but it has seven halls: Punishment Hall, Medicine Hall, Battle Hall, Management Hall, Etiquette Hall, Law Enforcement Hall, and Skill Transmission Hall. Each hall master is undoubtedly at the Meridian Opening Realm, but the deputy hall masters are not necessarily at the Meridian Opening Realm. For example, Qiu Pan, who once plotted with Fu Honggang to attack the fleet below, was actually only at the Eleventh Meridian Realm and was just a nominal deputy hall master. On the other hand, Shi Yin was a true Meridian Opening Realm master, living up to his name.

Shi Yin stepped forward, subtly blocking the other party, and laughed, "It seems that tonight, my Medicine King Gang has won!"

"Master Shi, you're speaking too soon. Until the very end, the outcome is still uncertain!"

Zhong Yi's slightly red nose twitched. He took a sip from the gourd at his waist, smiled, and scanned the battlefield below. His gaze paused slightly when it swept over a certain figure.

……

(End of this chapter)