Chapter 202: Killing Four Wanted Criminals

The night was as dark as ink, all sounds were hushed, save for the wind whistling through the buildings. Xiao Pojun stood alone on the rooftop, letting out a burst of wild laughter that echoed far and wide. Then, with a flick of his hand, he hurled a wine gourd towards the courtyard below.

The gourd arced through the air. Mid-air, Xiao Pojun suddenly turned, his shoulders sinking, elbows dropping, and a dark glow flashing from his palm. He unleashed a powerful and unparalleled qi palm.

As the palm struck, the surrounding air seemed to be squeezed by an invisible giant hand, emitting a deep humming sound. The wine gourd exploded upon impact, its contents instantly swept up by the palm wind, transforming into a sea of fire. Fierce flames surged, sweeping towards the courtyard and painting half the night sky crimson. Heat waves rolled out, as if threatening to incinerate everything.

“Hmph!” A cold snort, like the cry of a night owl, broke the roar of the inferno. Gu Mo raised his palm and, with a simple wave, unleashed a force powerful enough to overturn mountains and seas. The vast expanse of fire instantly extinguished, as if it had never existed.

Taking advantage of the fiery distraction, Xiao Pojun lightly tapped the roof tiles with his toes. He moved like a ghost, soaring between eaves and rooftops, disappearing into the night after a few swift leaps.

As he fled, he worried he might be moving too fast for Gu Mo to follow, so he glanced back.

However, the moment he turned, he felt as if he had plunged into an ice cellar, his blood instantly freezing.

Moonlight, like water, spilled onto the streets behind him. There, Gu Mo appeared like an immortal banished from the moon, faint moonlight encircling him, leaving a few ethereal afterimages as he rapidly pursued. His posture was light and graceful, flowing like clouds and water, and in a blink, he was within three zhang of Xiao Pojun.

At that very instant, Gu Mo struck with a palm, golden light seemingly converging in his palm. Accompanied by a dragon's roar that sounded as if from the Nine Netherworlds, the strike slammed forth.

The dragon's roar made Xiao Pojun's eardrums ache and his mind reel, and a tide of terror enveloped him. At this critical juncture, Xiao Pojun had no time to think. He frantically activated his Five Poisons Divine Palms, his hands turning dark, and put all his strength into resisting.

The two palms met with a thunderous "bang," like a bolt of lightning striking.

Xiao Pojun felt an immense, overwhelming force surge towards him, like a thousand-pound hammer, instantly shattering his defenses.

He was sent flying backward uncontrollably, like a kite with its string cut. He arced through the air and slammed heavily onto the ground several zhang away, sending stone slabs cracking and scattering.

Xiao Pojun struggled to get up, but felt his chest churning with qi and blood, and his internal organs seemed to have shattered. A sweet taste filled his throat, and he coughed up a mouthful of blood, staining the stone slab beneath him crimson.

He slightly turned his head to look at Gu Mo, who stood on a nearby rooftop. He opened his mouth, but no sound escaped, only blood continuously gushed out. Then, his neck went limp, and he fell to the ground, lifeless, his eyes wide open. Even in death, he couldn't believe he was unable to withstand a single palm strike.

At that very instant, a system notification sounded in Gu Mo's mind:

“You have slain a three-star wanted criminal.”“You have received a three-star reward: Ice Silkworm.”“Claim reward?”

Gu Mo didn't claim it immediately; after all, now was not a suitable time.

He sensed that at this moment, precisely when he had pursued Old Fiend Chi Yan out, almost everyone in the village had poured out to besiege the small courtyard. It seemed Old Fiend Chi Yan, Old Sun, and Sun Xiaohong were deliberately luring him out.

In fact, it was exactly as Gu Mo had suspected, though an unexpected turn of events occurred. Old Fiend Chi Yan and his group hadn't anticipated Sun Xiaohong's failure, or that she would be severely wounded and exposed by Gu Chutong with a single move.

Therefore, Xiao Pojun had no choice but to show himself directly to draw Gu Mo's attention.

And as Gu Mo pursued Xiao Pojun out, the others in the village quickly made their move.

At this moment, a fierce battle was raging in the courtyard. A dense mass of one or two hundred martial arts experts were constantly charging at the people from Dongyang Escort Agency.

Gu Chutong and Chen Xiuyuan were also caught up in the battle. They were both astonished, having never imagined that the villagers they had seen during the day would all transform into assassins at this moment.

The opponents' objective was clear: the young master who looked as if a gust of wind could blow him over. They had coincidentally been staying in this large compound and had suffered an undeserved misfortune.

“Heroine Gu, I fear we’ve stumbled into immense trouble.”

Chen Xiuyuan and Gu Chutong stood back-to-back, fending off the encirclement. Their attackers clearly weren't very interested in them; only a dozen or so surrounded them, not fighting desperately but rather keeping them engaged, mainly aiming to delay the two of them.

Gu Chutong asked, puzzled, “What do you mean?”

Chen Xiuyuan continued to transmit his voice: “Besides Old Fiend Chi Yan, who just lured away Grandmaster Gu, I've already spotted three notorious evil experts here: the Bone-Piercing Scholar, Granny Bloodhand, and the Assassin Wu Chang. These four are no ordinary individuals; they are well-known evil masters from Qingzhou and Hongzhou, all Red Moon Emissaries of the Moon Worshipping Cult, and their status is far from low.”

Upon hearing ‘Red Moon Emissary,’ Gu Chutong immediately understood their standing within the Moon Worshipping Cult.

The Moon Worshipping Cult operates under two systems: first, its traditional internal disciples; second, martial arts masters who join later and are known as Moon Emissaries. There are four ranks of Moon Emissaries: White Moon, Black Moon, Red Moon, and Saint Emissary.

A Saint Emissary holds a status comparable to a branch leader, while a Red Moon Emissary is equivalent to a hall master.

Gu Chutong had prior dealings with the Moon Worshipping Cult, especially during the righteous-demonic war in Yunzhou. Back then, just one branch, with only nine halls in total, was enough to ignite a full-scale righteous-demonic war against the entire righteous martial arts world of Yunzhou.

Now, with four hall masters dispatched at once, it amounted to a third of a branch. This clearly showed the young master's extraordinary identity and the Moon Worshipping Cult's significant attention.

That was why Chen Xiuyuan claimed they had been drawn into great trouble.

Gu Chutong, full of helplessness, transmitted: “We didn't actively seek this out; they made the first move. Besides, my brother and I have long had a deep enmity with the Moon Worshipping Cult. When debts are many, one stops worrying; when lice are many, one stops itching!”

In a way, Gu Chutong even considered the Moon Worshipping Cult a granary for her and her brother. Almost half the money they earned as bounty hunters came from wanted criminals associated with the Moon Worshipping Cult.

At this moment, in the courtyard, the Bone-Piercing Scholar, Wu Chang, and Granny Bloodhand were personally leading the charge and encirclement. A dense swarm of evil experts charged at the nine individuals from Dongyang Escort Agency.

It must be said, those nine truly showed their military background. Their fearless aura was far beyond what any ordinary Jianghu practitioner could match. Just nine people—or more accurately, eight, as the woman, Huang Ying, didn't join the fray but protected the young master with her sword by his side—

These eight alone, by sheer force of will, seemed to suppress over a hundred evil experts.

During the chaotic charge, all eight were wounded, but none had died. Seeing the unfavorable situation, the remaining few escorted the young master, breaking through an earthen wall to make a breakout.

However, Granny Bloodhand and the others had already anticipated this; there were also people surrounding them outside.

The eight quickly retreated, using a stone wall as a corner, protecting the young master within their ranks. They kept fighting fiercely, but despite their strong morale, they couldn't withstand the sheer number of enemies and the constant barrage of hidden weapons and poisons. Soon, four of them died, leaving only the remaining four struggling to hold on.

“Don't hold back!” Seeing the unexpected stalemate, Granny Bloodhand shouted, “Charge quickly, otherwise, Gu Mo might return…”

However, before she could finish her sentence, her body suddenly stiffened. All the numerous evil experts simultaneously lost their momentum.

Xiao Ziyan and the others, who were being surrounded, felt a pang of confusion. They didn't understand why the assassins, who had just been charging maniacally, had suddenly stopped. Following the gaze of the evil practitioners, they saw the young blind man who had pursued Old Fiend Chi Yan earlier had returned!

On the rooftop, the moonlight was bright. Gu Mo descended from the sky, causing Granny Bloodhand and the others' hearts to sink.

“Damn it, what was that old fool Xiao Pojun doing? Didn't he say he'd delay Gu Mo? How long has it been? Not even enough time for a cup of tea?” the Bone-Piercing Scholar couldn't help but curse.

“Grandmaster Gu!”

At this moment, Granny Bloodhand said with a grim face, “We are strangers to you, like well water and river water. The person we intend to kill is also unrelated to you. Would you perhaps grant us this convenience?”

By this point, the people from Dongyang Escort Agency realized how ignorant they had been. The blind young man was not at all the ordinary rich young master with mediocre martial arts they had assumed him to be. Instead, he was undoubtedly a highly renowned master in the Jianghu.

Under the current circumstances, it was clear that the assassins feared the blind young man. If only he was willing to help, they could overcome this crisis.

Suddenly, Xiao Ziyan and the others grew expectant, hoping they had encountered a righteous hero willing to lend a helping hand.

For a moment, everyone quietly awaited Gu Mo’s response.

“But didn't you make the first move today?” Gu Mo finally spoke. “You attacked my sister, and you still expect me to show you courtesy?”

The moment Gu Mo spoke, a wave of fear instantly washed over the evil experts, and one by one, they began to flinch.

Seeing how everyone had lost their will to fight just because of Gu Mo's words, the Bone-Piercing Scholar quickly shouted, “What are you afraid of? There are so many of us! No matter how powerful Gu Mo is, he’s still human, not an immortal! He absolutely cannot kill all of us before his true qi runs out!”

Granny Bloodhand rolled her eyes and immediately fled without a word. Almost simultaneously, the Bone-Piercing Scholar and Wu Chang also ran off in different directions. The remaining evil practitioners exchanged bewildered glances, then scattered and fled themselves.

Even Xiao Ziyan and the others from Dongyang Escort Agency were dumbfounded. They had just heard the Bone-Piercing Scholar's words and assumed these people would fight Gu Mo. But they never imagined that a single sentence from Gu Mo would scare them into scattering and fleeing.

“Brother!” Gu Chutong immediately flew to Gu Mo's side and said, “That group just now included the Bone-Piercing Scholar, Granny Bloodhand, and Wu Chang. All three are high-value wanted criminals on the Six Fan Doors' bounty list.”

At that very instant, a system notification sounded in Gu Mo's mind:

“New target detected.”“Wanted Target: Granny Bloodhand.”“Task Level: Three-star.”“Task Reward: Max-level Medical Scripture.”

“New target detected.”“Wanted Target: Bone-Piercing Scholar.”“Task Level: Two-star.”“Task Reward: Life-Creating Fortune Pill.”

“New target detected.”“Wanted Target: Wu Chang.”“Task Level: Three-star.”“Task Reward: Max-level Poison Scripture.”

Gu Mo raised an eyebrow. A flying knife appeared in his hand. Sensing the evil practitioners scattering in all directions, he said, “Where are those few? Point the way!”

Gu Chutong immediately raised a hand and pointed in one direction, saying, “Thirty-two zhang: Wu Chang!” Then she pointed in another direction: “Forty-three zhang: Granny Bloodhand; ten zhang to the east: Bone-Piercing Scholar!”