Clutching her left shoulder, which was bleeding profusely, Meng Xiaoyu stared angrily at Li Tianlu, who held a blood-stained short sword in his right hand, smiling at her.
Not far from him stood Wang Mazi, who, though momentarily stunned by the unexpected turn of events, soon wore the same annoying smile as Li Tianlu, gazing at her.
“You have no honor! Attacking from behind!”
Meng Xiaoyu angrily accused Li Tianlu of his sneak attack.
“Hahaha! All’s fair in war; haven’t you heard that saying?”
Li Tianlu replied nonchalantly, unfazed by Meng Xiaoyu’s accusation of dishonor.
In Li Tianlu’s view, the Jianghu was inherently treacherous.
Ideas like fairness, justice, chivalry, and morality were all nonsense.
Only the victor had the right to speak; the defeated were nothing.
Li Tianlu’s current reputation and status were built on these despicable and shameless tactics.
Yet, he still gained fame, status, and power in the Jianghu.
If he had relied on things like fairness, justice, chivalry, and morality, Li Tianlu would have died a hundred times over in this dirty and dark Jianghu.
How could he have achieved his current title of “Carefree Young Master”?
“Brother Li, why waste words with this little girl? Take this opportunity to defeat her. Although the reputation might not be great, it’s much better than being disgraced by losing to her,” Wang Mazi whispered in Li Tianlu’s ear, having somehow moved to his side.
After speaking, he raised his large ringed saber to strike Meng Xiaoyu.
However, Li Tianlu, standing next to him, stopped him.
“Brother Li?”
Wang Mazi asked in confusion, seeing Li Tianlu holding him back.
“Brother Wang, don’t be hasty,” Li Tianlu chuckled lightly at Wang Mazi’s puzzled expression.
Then, speaking in a polite tone that was clear for everyone to hear, he addressed Meng Xiaoyu: “Since the young lady is injured, it seems inappropriate to continue this match. Why don’t we call it a day?”
The implication of his words was clear: since you are injured, we have won this match.
Since we have won, there’s no point in continuing.
“Hell no! You think you can just end it like that? You two toothless cowards ganged up on me and then used such a despicable sneak attack to injure me. Now you want to end it just like that? Do you really think I’m some soft, harmless Hello Kitty? Let me tell you, if you want to end this match, that’s fine, but first, you both have to kneel down and admit defeat. Otherwise, there’s no way this match is ending!”
Enraged by Li Tianlu’s words, Meng Xiaoyu shouted back with a defiant glare at the two men opposite her.
Li Tianlu, Wang Mazi, and the onlookers were all stunned by Meng Xiaoyu’s bold words.
After waiting for a while without a response, Meng Xiaoyu raised her voice again, seeing that Li Tianlu and Wang Mazi were still standing there, dazed.
“Hey, you two half-wits, did you hear what I just said?”
“What did you just say?”
Li Tianlu, recovering from his shock, asked incredulously.
“I said, we can end the match, but you two have to kneel and admit defeat. Otherwise, don’t even think about it,” Meng Xiaoyu loudly repeated her words.
As soon as she finished speaking, both Li Tianlu’s and Wang Mazi’s expressions darkened.
Even the onlookers, except for the Han Rubing sisters who remained expressionless, were filled with disbelief and shock.
Immediately, murmurs of discussion broke out among them.
“Is this girl crazy? How could she say such a thing?”
“Yeah, not to mention her injured left shoulder; even with her skills, she’s no match for Li Tianlu and Wang Mazi.”
“True! From the previous part of the match, all she did was dodge; she didn’t counter even once!”
“That’s not necessarily the case. Maybe the girl wasn’t serious in the earlier fight?”
“Sister, Yu’er…” Han Rushuang, hearing the crowd’s comments, felt a bit uneasy.
She glanced again at Meng Xiaoyu’s still-bleeding wound, her voice full of concern.
“That little one seems quite angry!”
Han Rubing remarked, looking at Meng Xiaoyu, whose cheeks puffed with anger.
“You brat! Since you refuse to drink the wine of peace, you’ll drink the wine of punishment. Don’t blame us for being ruthless!”
Enraged by Meng Xiaoyu’s words, Wang Mazi swung his large ringed saber at Meng Xiaoyu, while Li Tianlu thrust his short sword straight at her.
Prepared for this, Meng Xiaoyu first sidestepped to avoid Wang Mazi’s slash, then threw her Qingyue Sword forcefully toward Li Tianlu.
Immediately after, she leaped into the air, rapidly circulating her internal energy, and with her right middle finger, sent a blast of qi at Li Tianlu’s hand holding the short sword.
Then, with a flip in mid-air, she sent another burst of qi at Wang Mazi, who was again swinging his saber toward her.
The whole series of movements flowed seamlessly, taking less than five seconds.
Though initially puzzled by Meng Xiaoyu’s decision to throw her weapon, Li Tianlu instinctively raised his short sword to deflect the sword flying toward his face.
However, just as his right hand, holding the short sword, knocked down Meng Xiaoyu’s long sword, before he could retract it, a hole the size of a finger suddenly appeared between his palm and wrist, as if pierced by an invisible force.
“Ah!!!”
A sharp pain shot through him, causing the short sword in his right hand to fall to the ground.
Dropping the short sword from his left hand, he quickly clutched his bleeding right hand.
But what terrified him even more was the wail that came from Wang Mazi.
When he looked up, he saw that Wang Mazi had already dropped his large ringed saber and was clutching his right knee with both hands, rolling on the ground.
