Urban Martial Saint

The doors of the Treasure Pavilion and those within slowly closed. Inside, Old Madame Shen watched with tear-streaked face as her son was savagely beaten by Wang Tian’an. She was helpless to change anything at that moment. Her son, with his own life, had traded for hers. Yet, how she wished it had been her to die instead!

Wang Tian’an desperately pummeled Shen Qi, but Shen Qi refused to let go even in the face of death. Eventually, the doors to the Treasure Pavilion and the ones within were completely shut, and Wang Tian’an had no chance to get inside. Enraged, he turned and grabbed Shen Qi by the neck, lifting him up.

Shen Qi’s face was now beyond recognition, covered in blood, with every orifice bleeding; his organs were likely ruptured, hanging on to the last breath, not far from death.

”Is it worth it to risk your own life for an old hag who’s almost in her grave?” Wang Tian’an asked furiously.

Shen Qi, his gaze unfocused and his pupils unable to contract, still managed to spit out a mouthful of blood. Unable to see Wang Tian’an clearly, his spit didn’t reach Wang Tian’an’s face, landing on his hand instead. Even so, his stance was unmistakably clear.

”Courting death!” Wang Tian’an bellowed, throwing Shen Qi to the ground and said indignantly, ”Humph, you think these two lousy doors can stop me? The wall is only over three meters tall, I can get in whenever I want. You, you have filial piety, but unfortunately, you’re too stupid!”

”Ha ha...” Shen Qi laughed, blood spurting from his mouth yet without a hint of pain in his shaky voice. ”Once the Treasure Pavilion closes like this, except for... for our Shen family’s core members, no one... no one can open it. Outsiders...outsiders notably can’t break in. If... if not, you could try... Today, you... you won’t even dream of killing my mother...”

Wang Tian’an frowned, staring at Shen Qi for a while before he abruptly ran to the Treasure Pavilion, leapt onto the wall, and flipped into the courtyard of the Treasure Pavilion.

There was nothing special about the courtyard, but as he approached the pavilion, he realized that what Shen Qi had said was no lie. The outside of the pavilion was completely encased in thick steel plates, covering the entire building.

Wang Tian’an’s expression drastically changed. The Treasure Pavilion was the key target in his attack on the Shen Family. Now that Shen Qi had sealed it, was his mission meant to be in vain?

”I don’t believe it! I don’t believe it!” Wang Tian’an shouted several times before he suddenly ran up and struck the steel plates with his Five-Colored Spirit Snake Sword. It must be said, the sword’s spirit energy was indeed shocking, hacking off several pieces of the thick steel plate. However, he quickly realized the sheer thickness of the steel plate. To carve a hole through it with the Five-Colored Spirit Snake Sword was practically impossible!

”Ah!” Wang Tian’an roared in extreme fury, flipped out of the Treasure Pavilion, and hurriedly ran towards Shen Qi, yelling, ”Shen Qi, open the Treasure Pavilion this instant, or I swear I’ll kill you!”

Shen Qi lay on the ground, silent and unseeing. Wang Tian’an ran over, shouting again, but Shen Qi still did not respond. Perplexed, Wang Tian’an kicked him, and Shen Qi slowly fell to the ground. Only then did Wang Tian’an realize that Shen Qi had breathed his last, which left him momentarily stunned.

At that moment, a group of people approached from afar—it was Xu Cunxiao and his men. Responding to Wang Tian’an’s signal, they had rushed in. Not finding Wang Tian’an, they naturally hadn’t acted recklessly, instead, they had sought him out first.

Seeing Wang Tian’an standing there, Xu Cunxiao and others ran over. Noticing Shen Qi lying on the ground, Xu Cunxiao immediately said, ”Big brother, have you killed a member of the Shen family? What do we do now? The people from Killing Gate and the people of the Shen Family are still fighting in the hall, shall we go in now?”

With a chilling expression, Wang Tian’an was silent for a moment before he said through clenched teeth, ”Don’t waste any more time, follow me. And, take his body with you!”

With a wave of Xu Cunxiao’s hand, several men came over, picked up Shen Qi’s body, and left together.

Xu Cunxiao, walking beside Wang Tian’an, asked, ”Big brother, our brothers watching the back door found out that Shen Qingyi and her few uncles are trying to escape amidst the chaos. What do you say, shall we stop them too?”

At the mention of Shen Qingyi’s name, Wang Tian’an’s eyes gleamed, a cold smile flickered across his face, ”Stop them, of course, we’ll stop them! The most beautiful woman of the Southern Six Provinces, Shen Qingyi, huh, I really want to see just how beautiful she can be!”

”Yes!” Xu Cunxiao immediately turned and signaled his men to send the message out.

”How are the arrangements with the people from the Eastern Province coming along?” Wang Tian’an said in a deep voice, ”Tell them to take action immediately, no need to wait any longer. Tonight, I want to take down both the Shen Family and the Eastern Province!”

”Everyone is in position, just waiting for our signal,” Xu Cunxiao said. ”I’ll make the arrangements right now!”

Wang Tian’an nodded slowly. If he couldn’t get into the Treasure Pavilion tonight, he was prepared to take down the Xihang Shen Family first, then slowly find a way to open the Treasure Pavilion. And now, the most crucial thing, of course, was to deal with the people of the Shen Family first.

In the main hall of the Shen Family, Ye Qing was still hiding outside with the guards of the Shen family, watching the chaos unfold inside the hall.

The hall of the Shen Family covered a vast area; a group of twenty to thirty people were embroiled in the melee, yet the space did not seem crowded.

The Right Protector and his three assistants each faced off against four key figures among the Shen Family’s Ten Outstanding Members. The Killing Gate Seven Hidden, at this moment, stood in a strange formation, each occupying a position, surrounding more than twenty people from the Shen Family in the center. These twenty-plus people were all strong, with the weakest among them having strength not far from that of the strongest Netherworld Scholar, Black Asura, and Cui Yu of the Killing Gate Seven Hidden. As for those with stronger abilities, some were even not weaker than the Right Protector. Yet, these twenty-plus people, improbably surrounded by seven others, couldn’t find their way out. What was critical was that these twenty-plus people, fighting against seven whose strength was far less than theirs, were still at a disadvantage.

Ye Qing watched the scene intently from the outside. The Killing Gate Seven Hidden always maintained their positions and formation. It seemed that this formation was indeed the Killing Gate’s Seven Kills Formation. Trapped in this Seven Kills Formation, more than twenty members of the Shen Family seemed disoriented, even appearing to have lost their sense of direction, aimlessly wandering and unable to find their way out. While they were fighting against the Killing Gate Seven Hidden, they spent most of their time flailing their limbs in confusion, barely touching anyone, simply striking out blindly.

Ye Qing did not understand why these people were behaving like this, but he was very clear that this must be the special feature of the Seven Kills Formation. Consequently, it was evident that Old Wang Ba’s previous statement that the Seven Kills Formation was a terrifying power passed down by the Bloody Monk to preserve Killing Gate was no exaggeration. Now, the Killing Gate Seven Hidden seemed relaxed, suggesting that even if another twenty-some members of the Shen Family joined in, they would likely stand no chance of gaining any advantage.

Ten or more bodies already lay on the ground, four were the subordinates brought by the Right Protector, while the remaining were from the Shen Family. Those from the Shen Family were primarily injured within the Seven Kills Formation. Even those from the Shen Family who were hard-pressed fighting against the Right Protector and others were definitely having an easier time than those trapped in the Seven Kills Formation.

Shen Da’s brows were tightly furrowed; he had noticed the strangeness of the situation and recognized that the Killing Gate Seven Hidden were definitely employing a peculiar formation to achieve such an effect. He had attempted multiple times to come over, aiming to repel one of the Killing Gate Seven Hidden or disrupt their formation. However, at this time, the strength of the Killing Gate Seven Hidden seemed to have increased considerably. Any attempt he made to attack any of them failed to give him an edge; on the contrary, because of the distraction, he received several cuts from the Right Protector, forcing him to refrain from being careless again.

Seeing this situation, Ye Qing felt hesitant. If the Killing Gate and the Shen Family continued fighting like this, the Shen Family was bound to be defeated sooner or later. And once the Shen Family fell, it would play right into the hands of the people from the Western Province and lead to the success of their plans. Ye Qing hesitated, wondering whether to intervene in the melee now or to continue waiting for the appearance of the people from the Western Province.

However, Ye Qing also knew very clearly that even if he entered the fray, he might not be able to stop the melee between Killing Gate and the people of the Shen Family. Thus, after a long hesitation, he eventually chose not to intervene, preparing to conserve strength to deal with the people from the Western Province.

Right in the midst of the ongoing tense melee, Ye Qing suddenly took notice of several people arriving from afar who had appeared out of nowhere; these individuals were carrying someone and directly rushed toward the hall.

The guards of the Shen Family were all nervously watching the chaos inside the hall, having no mind to attend to other matters. In fact, with people from Killing Gate inside the hall, whoever else came from outside was no longer important; hence the guards paid no attention to them.

Yet Ye Qing’s attention was highly focused, well-aware that at this time, any newcomer could potentially be people from the Western Province.

Ye Qing eyed these few people closely, watching them run to the outside of the hall, and then, with a concerted effort, they suddenly threw the person they were carrying into the hall, causing somewhat of a commotion.

The melee inside the hall paused for a moment due to this unexpected intrusion. Upon seeing the person thrown in, Shen Da’s complexion suddenly changed, and he said in a stern voice, ”Old Qi!”

The other members of the Shen Family also saw the newcomer, and Shen San’s expression altered, exclaiming, ”It really is Lao Qi! Lao Qi, Lao Qi, how are you?”

A member of the Shen Family rushed over, helping Shen Qi up and checking his breathing only to profoundly change his expression again, looking up in alarm and shouting, ”Old Qi... Old Qi isn’t breathing…”

The Shen Family immediately erupted into a uproar, with several fighters not caring about the risks, as they all promptly came over to check on Shen Qi’s condition.