Chapter 51: Weapon Master?

Snake Rat Island, the port.

“Shi Qi! What are you doing!?” Hei Fei yelled.

Since the three party transaction when Hei Fei dumped those beastmen slaves and broke even, he had paid close attention to how the survivors moved. 

If the survivors shifted even a little, he would get information.

This time, the survivors tried to find trouble with him without the slightest concealment, they even did it with great fanfare and with deliberately slowly.

The survivors gave Hei Fei enough time to react.

Therefore, when Zong Ge led Tripleblade, Kuai Tui, and the others to arrogantly came calling, Hei Fei’s group had already assembled on the port in tight formation to protect the slave ships behind them. 

The two groups confronted each other on the port.

Seeing the situation was looking bad, the surrounding people fled in a flurry.

There were also busybodies and bold ones that stood a distance away to watch.

“What’s going on?”

“A good show!”

“The Dragon Lion Mercenary Group has made a move. Recently, they confiscated the rebellious beastmen slaves that escaped from Hei Fei. I don’t know why they have come to find trouble with Hei Fei again.”

“That group is quite overbearing! I heard that when they wanted to buy Hei Fei’s slaves previously, they thought the price was too high. The price was actually quite fair, they then used some means to trigger a beastmen revolt that allowed them to take some beastmen slaves. The city guard couldn’t do anything. Recently, they forced Hei Fei’s group to give them their remaining beastmen slaves. Hei Fei submitted. But I didn’t think they want to find trouble with Hei Fei still.”

The third party deal was ordinally a secret.

But Hei Fei used a sly trick to let slip rumors about it the evening it took place.

The rumor was of course partial toward Hei Fei’s group.

“Hmph, Hei Fei isn’t a good person either. Slave merchants have no conscience. The beastmen slave I just purchased fell ill when it came home. To treat him, I spent a lot of money.”

“Hehe, the Dragon Lion Mercenary Group is very strong, Rou Zang was seriously injured by their hands. I look forward to Hei Fei hanging.

“They also have big guts. They unexpectedly caused trouble on the port, they don’t even put themselves in his Lordship’s eyes. The city guard should be receiving news of this soon, right?”

“Hurry up and fight, or there won’t be one when the city guard comes over.”

The spectators’ tongues wagged, many of them both fearful and excited at the chaos.

Hei Fei was gloomy, as he tenaciously looked at Zong Ge and coldly snorted, “Shi Qi, don’t be too excessive. If you really want to fight, we won’t be easy to bully around!”

In fact, if he could fight back, Hei Fei would have done so already.

His first mate involuntarily swallowed his saliva.

As an iron level fighter, Shi Qi was not someone he could handle, his gaze was more focused on other iron levels.

Zong Ge had two iron levels behind him.

A human as short as a dwarf, the altered appearance of Tripleblade.

The other one was a dogman, he was slender, capable, shorter than Zong Ge, and his face barred his hatred. It was the dogman clan’s young patriarch, Kuai Tui.

Behind those two were a small group of sailors.

These sailors wielded alchemy crossbows and firearms.

One glance was all it took to know these firearms and crossbows were of excellent quality.

The sailors behind Hei Fei’s first mate stared at those firearms and crossbows, cowardice filled their hears.

If they opened fire, those vicious weapons would riddle them like sieves, electrocute them, freeze them into mincemeat, or cook them to ash in an instant.

The one that attracted the most attention was always Zong Ge.

He disguised himself as a human, but his body still remained frighteningly tall and sturdy, and as he stood at the forefront, he looked like a wall.

He had a broadsword on his back, and was armor less. As the wind blew, pressing his clothes to his body, it made more visible his rocky hard muscles.

Although his broadsword was ordinary, upon seeing it, Hei Fei and his men couldn’t help but recall their confrontation that night.

Zong Ge hurled that broadsword and forced Hei Fei back.

The first mate and many sailors behind Hei Fei could clearly see that after their captain blocked that sword, his arms were incessantly trembling!

“Terrible, truly terrible.” The first mate’s heart trembled.

The situation was very clear, the survivors’ formation completely suppressed their opposition.

If fighting broke out between them, Hei Fei’s group had no hope for victory.

“Why isn’t’ the city guard here yet?!” The first mate thought to himself.

The survivors were looking to find trouble, thus Hei Fei’s group had already sent someone to notify the guard. 

During the three party deal, Tan Qiu used the secret that the beastmen were sick to depress the price. Hei Fei and Tan Qiu at the time had an oral agreement: if the survivors made a ruckus, he needed Tan Qiu protection! 

As both sides faced each other, the mood grew tenser by the moment.

Zong Ge was expressionless, and maintained his silence.

To tell the truth, he didn’t want to do this.

He liked outright attacks and wasn’t fond of resorting to crafty plots and machinations.

That was his nature.

But Zi Di persuaded him, “We need to coerce Hei Fei’s group. If we don’t ‘fly into a humiliated rage’ and seek trouble with them, it will instead become our flaw. Perhaps…we can also gain some riches. This money can be used to enlarge our forces in the future.”

Zong Ge found those words reasonable.

He was an outstanding officer who was well versed in The Art of War.

The Art of War has a saying: appear weak when you are strong, and strong when you are weak. Both were common tactics.

But besides Zi Di’s justifications, he also had other considerations.

He needed to unite his troops!

Tripleblade hated Hei Fei’s group. Hei Fei’s first mate had killed several goblins in front of him.

Kuai Tui also hated Hei Fei’s group, this went without saying.

Therefore, he came.

Kuai Tui gnashed his teeth, he hated he couldn’t attack and tear Hei Fei and the others to bits yet

Tripleblade and Zong Ge had been together for a long time, thus the goblin somewhat understood what the half beastman was doing.

Upon seeing Zong Ge’s silence, Tripleblade immediately took a step forward and loudly cursed.

Through that scolding, the spectators gradually understood what was going on.

As it turned out, the beastmen slaves Hei Fei had sold the survivors were all dying from disease.

“Hear, see, as expected, Hei Fei’s group are not good people.”

“They are not the Dragon Lion Mercenary Group’s match. Not even Rou Zang was!”

“How do they have such large guts?”

“I heard there was a three party deal. Our Lord was one of them. Perhaps…”

“Look, the city guard is coming!”

The spectators opened a path through.

The silver level city guard commander, along with a troop of men, separated the two groups from each other.

The commander coldly snorted, “What are you doing here? Calm down for me!”

The commander was unsurprised.

Previously, Tan Qiu specifically summoned him to give him sincere advice and instructed him clearly on the matter. On the one hand, he asked that he protect law, order, and stabilize. Stop the two sides from clashing and beating each other bloody. On the other hand, he also wanted him to act according to circumstances, after all, Tan Qiu hoped that he could use these two groups to join hands with him to deal with Rou Zang.

Upon seeing the city guard arrive, Hei Fei relaxed at once and promptly said, “My Lord, we aren’t looking for trouble.”

The silver level commander swept his eyes around, then fixed his gaze on Zong Ge and strictly shouted, “What do you think this place is? This is Snake Rat Island’s port, this is Lord Tan Qiu’ territory, conflict is strictly prohibited here. If there are criminals here, all of them will be hauled back to prison!”

But Zong Ge coldly snorted, and for the first time since this confrontation started, he spoke, “You and I are both silver levels, talking won’t do.”

He slowly took out his broadsword and looked at both the commander and Hei Fei, “Don’t say I have you both time to react, receive my move and use your strength to speak!”

The commander’s eyes glared at first in disbelief, then boiled up with anger.

He Fei was both scared and pleased, he stepped next to the commander and took out his cutlass, “Shi Qi, you are too arrogant. Today, I and the Lord Commander will give you a profound lesson!”

The spectators were dumbstruck, none of them expected Zong Ge to be so unyielding.

The busybodies had been disappointed to see the city guard intervening, they didn’t expected the sudden turn of events. Zong Ge was so incomparably stubborn that he did not put Hei Fei and the city guard commander in his eyes. 

Silver level battle qi bubbled from Zong Ge’s body, then poured into the weapon he held.

As a result, the broadsword began to glisten with a silver luster.

The formidable life aura pressured the others.

“Come, let me see your hues.” Zong Ge’s voice was steady, his face still expressionless.

“You are too arrogant!” Hei Fei took the lead, he was impatient to create the reality that he and the city guard commander would fight Shi Qi together.

A cutlass chopped down, the slash creating a fierce gust of wind.

Hei Fei’s cutlass was of silver level quality, and its dark blade was as black as ink.

The cutlass cut down towards Zong Ge.

Zong Ge lifted his hands, and used the heavy broadsword to effortlessly block the cutlass.

As the weapons clashed, the exploding silver battle qi looked like splashing molten silver.

“You want to fight me with an ordinary weapon, switch to a better blade!” Hei Fei complacently roared.

In this fight, he had the advantage!

The weaponry advantage was vast.

The broadsword in Zong Ge’s hand did not snap, because it had been instilled with silver battle qi.

But as a result, his silver battle qi consumption was very high. After all, he needed to offset the immense disparity between an ordinary weapon and a silver one.

By contrast, Hei Fei’s battle qi consumption was far lower.

But just as Hei Fei smiled, Zong Ge stepped forward and swung his arms.

The copious amount of force in the sword was transmitted to Hei Fei. 

“Such strength!” Hei Fei’s expression changed as Zong Ge knocked him back.

He was human, while Zong Ge was a half beastman. Although both were silver level, Zong Ge’s strength surpassed his by a large measure.

Zong Ge did not press the attack, instead he charged the city guard commander.

The city guard commander hesitated, he didn’t want to attack, nor did he believe Zong Ge would actually attack him!

When he saw Zong Ge charging at him, he had no choice but to angrily take out his sword. 

This sword was inlayed with a blue gem, and was also a silver level weapon.

With a thought, the blue gem on the sword hilt burst open with radiance, and in an instant, the light covered his body and formed a translucent blue armor around the city guard commander.

Astonishingly it was a magic weapon, enchanted with the Blue Gem Light Armor spell.

The city guard commander raised his left arm.

The armor on his left arm suddenly expanded into a thick shield half a man tall.

This was the well-known alchemy defense armament, it was known as the portable arm shield.

The city guard commander was skilled at using the sword and shield, and instantly became a fort. His equipment was better than Hei Fei’s, while the only thing Zong Ge had was the ordinary level broadsword.

“I order you to desist now, Shi Qi!” The commander shouted.

But Zong Ge seemed to neither see his armor nor hear the latter’s voice as he continued to charge forth.

The broadsword’s point first hit the shield, then rose up.

Ding.

Zong Ge struck, aiming the blade at the top of the shield.

He looked like a barbarian bull as he pushed the commander back, the latter’s legs plowing marks into the tiles on the floor.

“You cannot break through my defense!” The commander peaked out from the side of the shield to look Zong Ge square in the face.

But Zong Ge had no visible signs of panic or impatience.

At that moment, with a yell, Hei Fei attacked Zong Ge’s flank. 

Zong Ge took a deep breath, and with all of his strength, raised his left foot.

The experienced commander immediately made out that Zong Ge wanted to kick the lower edge of his shield, so he could smack it away.

He grunted, and swelled his strength as he firmly planted his shield.

The shield inserted itself into the floor tiles.

But Zong Ge immediately changed his movement slightly, and used his knee to strike the pommel of his broadsword.

The broadsword had been slanted against the shield, but now that the shield had dropped to the ground, there was nothing blocking it from hitting the commander’s face.

The broadsword had more room to move.

Zong Ge’s hands controlled the sword hilt as he stood off against the shield. At that moment, due to the immense attack power the sword pommel received, in conjunction with Zong Ge, the slanted broadsword thrusted at the commander’s face.

When the commander saw how close the broadsword’s point was, his head unconsciously flinched back.

The broadsword cut across his cheek, causing silver sparks to shower off the Blue Gem Light Armor, then shot into a wall ten steps away, vanishing into the wall without a trace.

When Hei Fei saw that Zong Ge lost his only weapon, his heart was exuberant, and he exerted himself further.

The speed of cutlass’ swing grew faster.

But he didn’t expect that a moment later, Zong Ge lightly moved aside and avoided the cutlass’ blade. He then reached out and grabbed the blade’s hilt.

Hei Fei’s physical strength could not compare to Zong Ge’s, allowing Zong Ge to exploit the momentum of his swing,

The cutlass’s trajectory jerked forward towards the commander.

The commander’s shield was in the ground, and there was no time to evade, thus he lifted his one handed sword to block the cutlass.

A clang echoed.

When the cutlass and one handed sword crossed, the sound of it nearly punctured the eardrums of the spectators.

When Hei Fei saw his attacking being exploited by Zong Ge, he pulled back his blade with both anger and worry.

But the commander didn’t think of drawing back, and he seized the opportunity to take the advantage. In his eyes, Zong Ge had lost his weapon and had no armor, thus he was vulnerable.

Zong Ge seemed to guess their trains of thought. 

This time, he was the one who took advantage of the new situation, he grabbed the one handed sword’s hilt and gave it a boost.

The commander was now in the same situation as Hei Fei was, and as his sword was thrusting towards Hei Fei, he pulled back his thrust. 

But Zong Ge immediately exploited that instant of restraint to attack again, this time he targeted his shield.

The three tangled together in close quarters combat.

The commander and Hei Fei felt out of sorts, they were unable to use their full strength, and every attack was wary of being neutralized or exploited by Zong Ge. 

What made them cough up blood even more was that their swords or shield didn’t seem to be theirs, rather they were Zong Ge’s weapons!

The fight dazzled the people, and made Hei Fei dizzy.

Suddenly, Zong Ge’s elbow loomed in his field of view!

Silver battle qi nearly burst from the tip of his elbow.

What shocked Hei Fei even more was that in the silver, he saw a trace of gold.

Peak silver level!

“Shi Qi is on the very of becoming a gold level!”

Thump.

Zong Ge’s elbow smashed into Hei Fei’s face, flinging the latter into the air as scarlet blood sprayed from his nose.

With mingled fear and fury, Hei Fei stood up, then stared blankly.

He saw that the city guard commander had also fallen on the ground.

The commander’s shield had fallen nearby, while his sword was now in Zong Ge’s hand.

Zong Ge lifted the point up to the commander’s chin, while in his left hand, he also held the black cutlass. 

“My blade!” Hei Fei now realized that Zong Ge had also snatched away his sword too.

“Absurd!” Hei Fei’s eyes widened, even though he had sampled defeat, he still found it hard to believe.

How did he lose?

They were fully armed, how were they defeated by someone with almost no equipment?

The spectators were also in an uproar.

This outcome seemed too dramatic, if it were not for how Hei Fei and the commander looked, they would have thought this was all a performance.

Hei Fei’s first mate and other people, as well ass Kuai Tui, Tripleblade, and more watched on dumbstruck.

The city guard commander’s face was red from shame and anger, but then it changed slightly as he thought of something. He looked at Zong Ge and asked with indeterminate bewilderment, “You are a weapon master?”

Although it was phrased as a question, his tone was very certain.

Hei Fei was flabbergasted.

He thought of the fight, and noticed that Zong Ge had utilized his cutlass many times, it had been Zong Ge’s weapon, it was just in his hands, nothing more.

Not only was that the case with the cutlass, but also with the commander’s sword and shield.

Weapon master was a title.

To reach this state, a fighter needed to be proficient in all kinds of weapons. Regardless of what weapon it was, he could quickly master them all. After reaching a level of training, weapon and fighter would seem to fuse and become an extension of the fighter’s body, it moved where the heart wished, as the arm moved the finger.

Hei Fei and the commander were proficient with their own weapon. But their familiarity with them was unquestionably crushed into dregs compared to Zong Ge.

Zong Ge did not respond to this guess, and he tossed the swords back to their respective masters. “You lost.”

The commander and Hei Fei turned white and their hung their heads low.

Under the multitude of staring eyes, they had no face, no fighting spirit left.

Tripleblade seized the opportunity to step forward and demand compensation.

The specific price was carefully calculated by Zi Di, and hit Hei Fei’s bottom line.

Hei Fei had no choice but to swallow the bitter fruit of a lost battle.

Instead of continuing to tangle, Zong Ge instead stopped while he was ahead and swaggered off with his people.

Despite not killing his foe, Kuai Tui was gladdened to see Hei Fei looking so down. He walked behind Zong Ge and stared at the latter’s sturdy shoulders, inevitably exposing the adoration in his eyes.

With the conflict ceasing and the city guard demoralized, the commander quickly departed the pier with them.

The unsatisfied spectators gradually dispersed.

The port quickly resumed its former orderliness and liveliness.

As time passed, everything to do with this conflict was disseminated like the wind to every corner of the town.

The survivors’ group’s reputation once again rose greatly!