Stay calm, stay calm.

What he needed to do right now was rescue his disciples first, then deal with these inhumane bandits.

Jun Changxiao suppressed the fury and killing intent filling his chest and arrived before the main hall at the far end. Ten bandits stood at the entrance, the aura emanating from their bodies seemingly having reached the seventh or eighth stage of Meridian Opening.

“These must be the elite of Black Wind Stronghold.”

While thinking this, he stepped into the hall. However, the moment he walked in, he felt sharp, cold gazes instantly lock onto him.

Inside the hall were eight martial artists, killing intent flickering between their brows.

“These people are at least at the tenth stage of Meridian Opening!” Jun Changxiao thought to himself.

“Kid.”

A long-haired man with fair skin reclined half-lounging in a chair, smiling: “You’ve got some guts, daring to kill people from my Black Wind Stronghold.”

Beside him, a middle-aged man with a face full of stubble glared with raised eyebrows: “If not for the chief’s orders, I would have already twisted your head off and kicked it around like a ball!”

Jun Changxiao paid them no mind, clasping his hands behind his back: “This Seat has personally come to Black Mountain to ransom people. The chief sends these small-time leaders who aren’t even worthy of being served at a banquet to greet me—is this how you treat guests?”

“Hateful bastard!”

“He dares call us unworthy!”

The eight martial artists in the hall rose angrily to their feet, their gazes flashing with killing intent, clearly having the impulse to obliterate Jun Changxiao on the spot.

“Hahaha!”

Just then, a booming laugh rang out.

A burly middle-aged man strode in from a side door, then sat down on a tiger-skin chair, saying: “Sect Master Jun honors us with his presence—your arrival brings glory to my Black Wind Stronghold.”

“Chief!”

The eight martial artists respectfully acknowledged him in unison.

Jun Changxiao’s face remained composed, but seeing the faint spiritual energy gathering around the other man, he thought to himself: “He must be a Wutu.”

Although Wutu was only the second martial realm on the Xingyun Continent, they were far stronger than Meridian Opening level martial artists.

In the memories Jun Changxiao had absorbed, a single Wutu could easily match ten twelfth-stage Meridian Opening cultivators. If supplemented with high-level martial techniques, unleashing ten thousand pounds of force with a single punch would be effortless.

Damn it.

Facing a Wutu, the pressure was enormous.

“Chief.”

Jun Changxiao said: “This Seat doesn’t like wasting words. I’ve come to Black Wind Stronghold for one reason only—to take my disciples and leave.”

The chief held up one finger and smiled: “I, Zhou Tianba, won’t beat around the bush either. One hundred taels per head. Pay the silver and Sect Master Jun can take them away at any time.”

“One hundred taels?”

Jun Changxiao frowned: “That’s a bit expensive.”

He only had three hundred taels on him. Even if he paid the ransom, he could only redeem three people.

Zhou Tianba said: “Zhou is giving you the lowest price out of consideration for Sect Master Wang. For other sects, it would be at least two hundred taels per head as a starting price.”

“Oh?”

Jun Changxiao said: “The chief knows my sect’s former sect master?”

Zhou Tianba leaned back in his chair, reminiscing: “We often ran into each other at Little Phoenix Tower—we’re veteran brothel buddies, you could say.”

Brothel buddies…

The corner of Jun Changxiao’s mouth twitched.

So this guy, like Sect Master Wang, also enjoyed frequenting pleasure houses.

“In that case.”

Jun Changxiao said: “Why doesn’t the chief, for the sake of your brothel buddy, give Jun a bit more of a discount?”

“Heh.”

“This guy thinks he’s at a vegetable market haggling over prices?”

The eight minor leaders sneered.

Zhou Tianba said: “Sect Master Jun, how much cheaper would you need for you to accept?”

Jun Changxiao thought for a moment: “How about this—Jun will offer one hundred taels, and the chief releases all my sect’s disciples.”

If money could solve the problem, he would rather redeem his disciples first, send them to a safe area, then return alone to slaughter Black Wind Stronghold.

“Haha!”

“One hundred taels? Is this guy joking?”

Several minor leaders laughed mockingly.

Zhou Tianba’s face darkened: “Sect Master Jun, the price you’re offering shows no sincerity whatsoever.”

Jun Changxiao shrugged helplessly: “Our Tiegu Sect is poor as dirt. We can only offer one hundred taels to ransom people. Chief, please show some accommodation for the sake of being brothel buddies with Sect Master Wang.”

“Accommodation?”

Zhou Tianba snapped his fingers: “Fine.”

Soon, two bandit subordinates brought out a youth bound hand and foot from the side door.

Jun Changxiao’s brow furrowed tightly.

That youth was precisely one of the disciples he had recruited in Qingyang City.

His hair was now tangled and matted, his face bruised and swollen—clearly he had been severely mistreated.

“Sect Master…”

The youth spotted Jun Changxiao. A glimmer of hope flashed in his despairing eyes as he called out weakly: “Save me… save me…”

“Thud!”

He was thrown down in front of the tiger-skin chair.

Zhou Tianba stepped on the youth’s head and smiled: “Sect Master Jun, if Zhou kills him today, that’s one less head to count. That way you won’t need to pay any more ransom.”

Jun Changxiao’s hands, clasped behind his back, clenched from palms into fists as fury surged up from within him.

As the leader of a sect, how could he watch his disciple be humiliated with his own eyes!

“Don’t… don’t kill me…”

The youth seemed to sense the approach of death and said in terrified helplessness: “Don’t kill me, I don’t want to die, don’t kill me… I don’t want to die… I’m willing to pledge allegiance to Black Wind Stronghold! I’m willing to serve you like a beast of burden, I’m begging you don’t kill me… don’t kill me!”

“Hahaha!”

“This kid’s really a coward!”

“Look, his crotch is wet—he must have pissed himself in fear!”

The eight minor leaders laughed with unbridled mockery.

The fury within Jun Changxiao blazed even hotter!

Damn it.

So utterly without dignity—what kind of disciple had he recruited!

“Squelch—”

Zhou Tianba drew the long blade hanging before his chair and directly severed the begging youth’s head, smiling: “Sect Master Jun, for someone so afraid of death, Zhou has done you the favor of dealing with him. You have no objections, right?”

“Ding!”

“Sect members: 99/100.”

The notification sound of a member’s loss rang in his ear. Jun Changxiao ignored it, slowly raising his head to look at Zhou Tianba, his gaze cold as he said: “I have an objection!”

This sentence contained boundless fury.

His disciple’s display of such cowardice made him angry and disappointed, but he was still a disciple of the Tiegu Sect. What right did outsiders have to kill him?

“Hehe, this guy seems angry.”

“The chief helped him clean out a cowardly disciple—shouldn’t he be properly grateful?”

The eight minor leaders laughed disdainfully.

From the moment Jun Changxiao had entered, they hadn’t taken him seriously.

A trace of coldness flashed through Zhou Tianba’s eyes, but he still sheathed his long blade and smiled: “Sect Master Jun, what objection do you have?”

Jun Changxiao said coldly: “My Tiegu Sect’s disciples, whether they’re cowards who fear death or have committed grave errors, only This Seat has the right to deal with them. Others have neither the authority nor the qualification to interfere.”

“Bwahaha!”

“This guy really thinks he’s a sect master?”

“A ninth-rate sect that can’t even compare to our Black Wind Stronghold, daring to spout such arrogant words before the chief—he’s really tired of living!”

Zhou Tianba clasped his hands together, resting his chin on the back of his hands: “So you’re saying Zhou has been poking his nose where it doesn’t belong?”

“That’s right.”

Jun Changxiao said: “You’ve been poking your nose where it doesn’t belong like a dog chasing mice.”

The smile vanished from Zhou Tianba’s face, and his gaze became rather cold.

Seeing this, the eight minor leaders immediately realized the chief was angry!

“Kid!”

The stubble-faced man slammed his armrest and roared: “Our chief, seeing that you’re both people of the martial world, gave you trash sect master a bit of face. Don’t think too highly of yourself!”

“Squelch!”

Jun Changxiao gripped his Cold Edge Sword in a reverse grip and thrust it into the man’s chest.