Yu Hongyi fired several consecutive crossbow bolts, but none of them could pierce the man’s defenses — clearly he wore heavy armor beneath his wide robes, hidden from sight.

Liao Tinglou’s brute strength was unmatched. He hurled two stone stools at Yu Hongyi, and though Yu Hongyi deflected them with clever footwork, Liao Tinglou had already closed the distance.

He lunged to seize Yu Hongyi’s shoulder. Yu Hongyi waited until the arm was nearly upon him, then grabbed the wrist and wrenched hard.

Grappling was the Magistrate’s Court’s greatest specialty.

The wrist didn’t budge.

Rather than let go, Yu Hongyi used the man’s own arm as a lever to vault himself upward. He leapt and locked both legs around Liao Tinglou’s neck, clamping both arms tight around his, then wrenched again with full force.

Against any ordinary man, this would have floored them — and likely snapped their neck.

Liao Tinglou didn’t move an inch. Yu Hongyi’s irritation mounted.

Just as he was about to shift tactics, Liao Tinglou let out a cold laugh and reached up, grabbing Yu Hongyi by the belt.

With one arm he hoisted Yu Hongyi overhead and moved to slam him down — but he hadn’t anticipated that this particular enemy was far more formidable than any he’d faced before.

Yu Hongyi clung to the arm, legs still locked around Liao Tinglou’s neck, and forced his body backward in a twist.

Even Liao Tinglou, powerfully built as he was, found the leg-lock around his throat agonizing. He staggered two steps back, raising his free hand to crush Yu Hongyi’s windpipe. Yu Hongyi was faster — he released his grip, kicked off Liao Tinglou’s face, and used the momentum to break free.

Airborne, Yu Hongyi shouted: “Split up and scatter!”

The Magistrate’s Court men in the kitchen responded instantly, slipping out through the back windows and dispersing in all directions.

Yu Hongyi glanced back at Liao Tinglou, then raised his little finger in a contemptuous gesture. For reasons unclear, this enraged Liao Tinglou into a frenzy — he charged forward in pursuit.

Yu Hongyi was far more agile. His lightness technique was exceptional, and he wove through the crumbling ruins of the village with fluid grace, while Liao Tinglou simply came barreling through — each of his strides worth three of any other man’s, his movement like a great beast in human shape, crashing through whatever lay in his path.

Where a broken low wall stood ahead, he’d vault it if he could, or simply smash through it.

It was after he’d punched through yet another wall that he found Yu Hongyi waiting on the other side.

The moment Liao Tinglou appeared, Yu Hongyi swept a blade at his throat.

Liao Tinglou ducked instantly — a reaction speed few could match. As he lowered his head, he clamped Yu Hongyi’s sword between his neck and shoulder. That kind of raw body strength made Yu Hongyi’s brow furrow.

Yu Hongyi launched both feet into Liao Tinglou’s chest. The impact felt like hitting stone, accompanied by a dull thud. It confirmed what he suspected: the man wore heavy armor beneath his robes. To kill him, he’d need to find a weakness.

He used the kick to propel himself backward — but his sword remained trapped beneath Liao Tinglou’s jaw. He had to leave it.

Now seemingly unwilling to press the fight, Yu Hongyi turned and fled at full speed, pushing his movement technique to its limit.

Liao Tinglou, furious, seized the abandoned sword and hurled it. It flew straight as an arrow, so fast it left only a blur.

Yu Hongyi seemed to have anticipated exactly this. He wove and shifted his trajectory as he ran — the sword missed.

With a crash, the sword impaled a tree as thick as a man’s armspan, piercing it clean through. The sheer force required said everything about Liao Tinglou’s terrifying strength.

Having dodged the blade, Yu Hongyi turned back to look — and raised his little finger again.

Liao Tinglou let out a roar like a mountain beast and surged forward at full pace.

The two of them — one light and swift, one fast and savage — had left any pursuit far behind.

Without realizing it, Yu Hongyi had broken out of the village entirely and was sprinting across open ground. Liao Tinglou, for all his bulk and apparent clumsiness, had incredible stamina. His massive strides kept him from falling behind at all.

They raced on, one ahead of the other, pulling further and further from the village. After roughly three quarters of an hour, Yu Hongyi dove into a stand of trees ahead.

Liao Tinglou had chased this far — there was no giving up now. He spotted a rock nearby, weighing perhaps a hundred jin or more, and heaved it up before hurling it at Yu Hongyi.

Yu Hongyi must have heard the rush of air behind him. He sidestepped sharply — the stone grazed him and struck a fruit tree, shearing it in two.

That kind of force, if it had landed directly on a person, would have left precious few bones intact.

Liao Tinglou stomped into the grove, expecting the Magistrate’s Court man to use the trees as cover for escape — only to find him standing there waiting.

In that moment, Liao Tinglou understood.

“You led me out here deliberately?”

Yu Hongyi shrugged by way of answer.

He had. Because luring Liao Tinglou away was the only winning move he and his dozen subordinates had.

The enemy had so many men — and a Holy General of unknown power. No matter how confident Yu Hongyi’s team was, they knew they couldn’t ambush and wipe out an entire unit.

This was the Blood Slaughter — outfitted with the full gear of the Great Chu’s household troops. Heavy leather armor, chest mirrors on most of the soldiers — better equipped than your average Chu army.

Everything府兵 regulars had, they had. And things府兵 regulars didn’t — like crossbows and compound bows — they had in abundance.

Ambushing a fully armed cavalry unit of two hundred with barely a dozen men was the dream of a madman.

This was Yu Hongyi’s actual plan. Everything before had been theater.

Draw out the most dangerous opponent — the Holy General — and deal with him personally. Leave the two hundred bandits to his men.

Liao Tinglou sneered. “You really think you can beat me alone? And your handful of people can beat my two hundred cavalry?”

Yu Hongyi smiled. “Whether I can beat you — we’ll find out when we actually fight. As for whether my people can beat your two hundred cavalry — you’ll know soon enough.”

Liao Tinglou considered this, then understood the strategy.

“Divide and conquer?” He was dismissive. “You clearly have no idea what the Blood Slaughter is. Even scattered, the numbers are still too far against you — you can’t win. And as for you…” He stepped forward. “You’ll understand your fate very soon.”

Yu Hongyi smiled. “And you clearly have no idea what the Magistrate’s Court is.”

He raised a hand, and a length of chain sang through the air, coiling toward Liao Tinglou’s neck.

Liao Tinglou wasn’t concerned. He let the chain wrap around his throat, then seized it, yanked.

Yu Hongyi was hauled toward him. In the instant before impact, he launched himself off the ground and drove his knee into Liao Tinglou’s chest.

Liao Tinglou didn’t flinch. Heavy armor; the knee strike couldn’t touch him. He didn’t even try to dodge — he just threw a fist at Yu Hongyi’s face.

But Yu Hongyi somehow managed to change his shape mid-air.

His torso snapped backward like he was lying flat in the sky — a degree of core strength that stunned the eye.

At the same time, his attacking knee strike shifted — both legs splayed out and locked around Liao Tinglou’s extended arm.

Yu Hongyi pressed down hard. The chain coiled around Liao Tinglou’s arm, then — as Yu Hongyi rolled to the ground — wound further around his knee.

Rolling to Liao Tinglou’s flank, Yu Hongyi kicked hard at the man’s thigh and yanked with the chain.

With one end around the throat and loops through the elbow and knee, that single pull bent Liao Tinglou sharply forward.

Yu Hongyi whipped the chain around his right forearm, drew the short blade at his hip with his left hand, and drove it hard at Liao Tinglou’s ribs.

The armor had gaps at the ribs — that was the weak point.

A muffled thud. The blade didn’t go in.

“You little wretch!” Liao Tinglou bellowed in fury.

He straightened up with explosive force. Yu Hongyi couldn’t hold the chain — he was yanked clean off the ground.

Liao Tinglou seized him by the collar and slammed him down. The impact was brutal; Yu Hongyi’s skull rang.

In the next instant, Liao Tinglou ripped the short blade away and drove it toward Yu Hongyi’s throat.

Yu Hongyi rolled clear. The blade struck the earth — burying itself to the hilt, the blow scattering dust and debris across a wide radius.

Yu Hongyi had already rolled to safety.

Liao Tinglou rose again, regarded the short blade, then in his rage grabbed it with both hands and snapped it in two.

He advanced again. “Long sword lost, short blade broken — what weapons do you have left?”

Yu Hongyi sat on the ground, gasping hard, seemingly spent.

But the instant Liao Tinglou closed in — Yu Hongyi pulled a flexible blade from his belt.

“You want to see? Fine!”

His left hand hit the ground; he launched himself into the air and drove the blade straight at Liao Tinglou’s eye.

Liao Tinglou wore a visor, but the eye openings were exposed.

The thrust came without warning — truly beyond what Liao Tinglou expected. He had never imagined that after losing the long sword and breaking the short blade, the man would still have yet another weapon.

Even so, he wasn’t worried.

He simply reached out and grabbed the blade bare-handed, then wound his arm around it — the flexible sword curled and coiled around his forearm like a captured snake.

Yu Hongyi’s face went white.

Liao Tinglou’s fist came for his face. “Let’s see what else you’ve got!”

Yu Hongyi had no choice but to release the hilt and throw both arms up to block.

The blow landed with a boom.

That fist sent Yu Hongyi flying — he slid backward through the air at least two zhang before his feet caught and he toppled, his back skidding another four or five chi across the ground.

The force was overwhelming. Both arms felt shattered. His chest locked up entirely.

Before he could struggle upright, Liao Tinglou was already there — and planted his foot squarely on Yu Hongyi’s chest.

He bore down, leaning over his fallen opponent. “Is this all the Magistrate’s Court knows? Cluttering yourselves with a mess of weapons? Without them, what are you?”

Yu Hongyi’s face began turning blue, his chest buckling under the crushing pressure.

But the next moment — his chest didn’t cave. Liao Tinglou screamed in pain instead.

He lurched backward, looking down — blood was pouring from his ankle. And the man he had pinned beneath his foot, seemingly unable to move, had somehow still produced one more weapon.

Was it even a weapon?

Arguably not — it was a strip of bamboo.

One of the three sacred tools of the Magistrate’s Court: the bamboo slat.

In the instant Liao Tinglou’s foot came down on his chest, Yu Hongyi had drawn the slat — and sliced clean through the tendon at the back of Liao Tinglou’s heel.

—