"Brother, don't be impulsive..."
Xia Xiayin was shocked and dismayed. She never imagined that Xia Ci would make such a decision. More precisely, all of Xia Ci's recent actions were beyond her expectations.
She knew that Xia Ci's martial arts had always been much stronger than hers, and his internal force had improved last night, but Xia Ci's eyes were blind. Even if his internal force improved several times over, it would be useless.
However, it was too late for her to stop Xia Ci.
Xia Ci had already drawn his sword to face the enemy.
Xia Ci did have a sword—a long Tang sword. But because he was blind and had difficulty moving around, he had been using the Tang sword as a walking stick.
While Xia Xiayin was panicking, Xia Ci struck with his sword, directly cutting down one of the saber-wielders.
The sword skill he used was a family-inherited skill called the Mysterious Sword Skill, passed down from his father in this lifetime.
His parents were martial world figures who taught martial arts to the siblings from a young age. This sword skill was particularly exquisite, not of low quality in the martial world. It consisted of seventy-two movements in total. The original Xia Ci had only practiced to the forty-eighth movement before becoming a rising star in the Linjiang Prefecture area. He hadn't been able to master the final twenty-four movements, which were the most exquisite.
But last night, after mastering the Nine Yang Divine Skill, Xia Ci's martial arts realm reached a level close to the Dao. With the characteristics of the Nine Yang Divine Skill, he directly mastered the Mysterious Sword Skill to the level of perfection, with all seventy-two movements clearly understood.
Moreover, the final twenty-four movements of the Mysterious Sword Skill, which he had been unable to learn for so many years, were the most difficult and most exquisite.
This Mysterious Sword Skill, true to its name, emphasized two principles—"mysterious" and "illusory."
"Mysterious" meaning profound and unpredictable. "Illusory" meaning fluctuating and difficult to distinguish between real and fake. Combined, it meant using a mix of feints and true attacks, making it impossible for enemies to anticipate, rendering defense futile.
In the inn, the group of Great Saber Gang members rushed forward like hungry wolves. For a moment, swords and swords crossed in all directions, and the shouts of battle made the inn's window frames vibrate.
Xia Ci remained calm. With his eyes covered, he precisely judged the enemies' positions solely by the sound of the wind and the subtle movements of their footsteps.
His figure suddenly turned, and the long sword in his hand was like a dragon emerging from the sea. With a flash of cold light, blood splattered, and the first person who rushed up fell, clutching his throat.
His sword didn't stop, continuing to kill.
"This is the fiftieth movement, 'Shooting Star Already Gone'..."
"This is the sixty-third movement, 'Flower Blooms, Buddha Appears'..."
"This is the fifty-seventh movement, 'Dream of Butterfly Over River'..."
"..."
Xia Ci's sword moved among the enemies, blood splattered, wails continued, yet he kept demonstrating the Mysterious Sword Skill to Xia Xiayin.
The long sword in his hand danced like a silver-white wheel of light. Each swing brought up a mist of blood. In an instant, several corpses lay strewn on the ground, with fresh blood flowing in winding streams.
"Scatter, scatter!"
Zhang Xiong was already sweating profusely. He had thought that dealing with Xia Ci, a blind man, would be easy, but he never imagined that the blind man could fight so well.
In his heart, he cursed the Changfeng Escort Agency to its eighteenth generation of ancestors.
The reason he dared to so openly rob Xia Ci's money was because he knew Xia Ci's information—an escort expelled from the Changfeng Escort Agency, now relying on his sister Xia Xiayin for protection. And Xia Xiayin's martial skills weren't even qualified to be an escort at the Changfeng Escort Agency.
A little girl with just ordinary fighter-level martial arts, protecting a blind man who had become disabled—how could they not be easily dealt with?
"Damn it, with fighting skills like this, even as a blind man, he's qualified to be an escort. Is the Changfeng Escort Agency sick in the head?"
Zhang Xiong inwardly cursed, but he had no time to think more. He called for his subordinates to scatter, shouting, "He's blind! Everyone scatter and throw things around!"
Following Zhang Xiong's shout, the other saber-wielders also reacted.
Since Xia Ci was blind, he could only rely on hearing to judge the positions of enemies. If they threw things around to affect his hearing, then even with strong martial arts, half of his effectiveness would be lost.
Immediately, many saber-wielders began picking up stools, bowls, wine bottles, and other items from the ground, throwing them at Xia Ci, or just tossing them in all directions.
Sure enough, this tactic began to interfere with Xia Ci's judgment. Facing the surrounding attacks, he was no longer as sharp as before. However, with Xia Xiayin reminding him from the side, although disturbed, Xia Ci could still cope.
Seeing this, Zhang Xiong shouted, "Stop that damn girl for me!"
Immediately, several saber-wielders went to surround and attack Xia Xiayin.
Without Xia Xiayin's reminders, Xia Ci's situation instantly deteriorated, becoming perilous.
Zhang Xiong seized an opportunity, attacking from behind with his large saber aimed at Xia Ci's heart.
His heart was filled with excitement—this blow would either kill Xia Ci or severely wound him.
However, in the next moment, Zhang Xiong's face froze because Xia Ci actually avoided the attack, and did so very easily. He simultaneously counterattacked, gripping the handle of his sword with both hands and cutting diagonally, directly severing Zhang Xiong's arm.
"Ah!"
Zhang Xiong let out a scream of agony as his arm and saber fell to the ground. He roared, "You... you can see! You're pretending to be blind?"
Xia Ci coldly snorted without wasting words.
He followed with a backhand strike.
Zhang Xiong's head instantly flew up, his eyes wide open in death.
Of course, Xia Ci wasn't pretending to be blind; he was pretending to be disturbed.
Undeniably, Zhang Xiong's plan wasn't wrong, but he misjudged Xia Ci's internal force. The inn was only so large, and with Xia Ci's perception, he could easily sense people at any position in the inn. Therefore, the disturbance plan had no effect on Xia Ci at all.
He was just pretending to be disturbed to lure Zhang Xiong into lowering his guard.
Zhang Xiong had been sending his subordinates to their deaths while hiding behind them, waiting for an opportunity. Even when he attacked, he would retreat from the battle circle after one unsuccessful strike, giving Xia Ci no chance to kill him. That's why Xia Ci had put on a small act.
With Zhang Xiong's death, his remaining saber-wielders had no intention of continuing the fight. They all fled in panic.
Xia Ci sheathed his sword and stood still, his black clothes unstained by a single drop of blood. With no expression on his face, as blood slowly dripped from his long Tang sword, he said calmly, "The few friends watching from outside, the money is right here with me. Do you want to try and take it?"
"There are more people?" Xia Xiayin moved close to Xia Ci, nervous.
Xia Ci nodded slightly. After a while, he said, "They're gone. It seems they believe I have the right to take these three hundred taels of silver."
"All gone?"
"Gone."
"That's great."
Xia Xiayin immediately began to search the bodies, finding a total of more than forty taels of silver.
At this moment, the inn was very quiet.
When the battle started, all the guests had fled in a rush. Now, in the entire hall, only two people were hiding behind the counter.
Xia Ci couldn't distinguish which one was the innkeeper, so he spoke toward the counter, "Innkeeper, I'm truly sorry for damaging so many things. I'll give you twenty taels of silver as compensation..."
The innkeeper stammered, "He-hero... compensation, compensation... this humble one doesn't need it. I only ask that you show mercy and allow my small inn to close early today. Is... is that alright?"
Xia Ci naturally understood the innkeeper's meaning—he was asking Xia Ci to leave and not stay in his inn any longer.
Because Xia Ci had killed a hall master of the Great Saber Gang, the gang wouldn't just let it go. If Xia Ci continued to stay in his inn, the inn would face big trouble.
"Little sister, give the innkeeper twenty taels of silver. Let's go!"
Xia Xiayin obediently placed two ten-tael silver ingots on the counter, then supported Xia Ci as they left the inn.
In the inn, the innkeeper and the server saw the siblings leave and both breathed a huge sigh of relief.
"Innkeeper, what do we do now?"
"Report to the authorities, what else? How the magistrate's office and the Great Saber Gang handle this is none of our business. We'll just close for a few days!"
The server complained, "What a mess this is. These people are really..."
"Stop complaining," the innkeeper said. "We're lucky. That Master Xia is righteous. He deliberately let all the guests in the inn escape before he made his move, and he even paid compensation afterward. If we had encountered those unreasonable types, who knows if we'd still be alive? Alas, martial heroes... which hero's path to fame doesn't have a pile of innocent civilian deaths?"