Chapter 27 "Xiao Li?" (Revisions)...
Han Family Private Residence.
Snowflakes fell like scattered salt, leaving the ground slick with moisture. Han Tangzong watched the thugs carrying large chests from the storeroom and barked impatiently, "Faster! Move faster!"
The bluestone pavement had iced over. One thug slipped and fell while carrying a chest, causing it to crash to the ground. Gleaming silver ingots spilled out, making all the thugs stare wide-eyed.
Han Tangzong strode over and kicked the man, cursing loudly, "You fool! What kind of work is this?"
The thug dared not make a sound despite being kicked. After several more rounds of scolding, Han Tangzong snapped, "Hurry up and gather the silver back into the chest! Get it loaded onto the cart immediately!"
Several thugs rushed to collect the scattered silver while the gambling house manager obsequiously offered a cup of hot tea. "Proprietor, have some tea to warm yourself and calm your anger."
Han Tangzong took a sip, but his aged eyes remained fixed on the thugs transporting the silver chests.
His main residence had been thoroughly ransacked by Huo Kun's men the previous night, but after years of operation, his assets naturally extended beyond that single location.
Previously caught off guard by Huo Kun's sudden move—with all four city gates sealed and his life in the other's hands—he had no choice but to submit humbly.
Now that Huo Kun had fallen from power, this chaos presented the perfect opportunity to flee Yongcheng.
Just as the final chest of silver was loaded onto the cart, a lookout came scrambling in panic, shouting, "Proprietor! Proprietor! Disaster approaches!"
Han Tangzong lifted his eyelids and scolded, "Why such panic? Are ghosts chasing you?"
The ruffian gasped for breath, his face full of terror. "Government troops are heading this way!"
Han Tangzong's expression changed abruptly, and he quickly set down his teacup. "How did they get here so fast?"
This private residence was exceptionally well-hidden. He rarely visited, and his subordinates were unaware he stored silver here. How had the troops found it?
But there was no time to ponder this. He immediately pointed to a gang leader. "Take a group and cause trouble on the streets to delay the troops. The rest of you, escort the silver carts and head out the back gate now!"
The subordinates hastily complied.
However, a bunch of street ruffians ultimately couldn't hold off the troops for long.
The silver-laden carts had just emerged from the back alley when the troops caught up.
Seeing the situation turn dire, Han Tangzong hardened his heart and ordered his men to open several chests and push them off the carts.
As chests of silver suddenly tumbled into the street, civilians swarmed to grab the coins, instantly blocking the entire road. No matter how much the pursuing troops on horseback shouted, they couldn't clear a path and had to detour to continue the chase.
Han Tangzong, having temporarily shaken off the troops, finally breathed a sigh of relief.
But before his relief could settle, his expression shifted again at the sight of a figure standing with a blade further down the long street.
Amid the harsh winter wind and snow, Xiao Li stood with his robes stained blood, his damp hair frosted over, and half his face caked in dried, dark blood. Clutching a horizontal saber, he coldly watched the approaching carts like a lone wolf that had just escaped a pack of beasts, now returning for vengeance.
The cart driver, intimidated by his overwhelming murderous aura, instinctively slowed the horses and asked over his shoulder, "Proprietor, what should we do?"
Seeing only Xiao Li blocking the path, Han Tangzong narrowed his eyes and snarled viciously, "Charge straight through him!"The coachman still hesitated, but the thug who had beaten Hou Xiao'an the hardest earlier shoved him aside and shouted, "I'll do it!"
His name was Wang Cheng, a cousin of Wang Qing—both cut from the same cloth.
At that moment, he raised his hand and viciously cracked the horsewhip. The horse abruptly accelerated, charging straight toward the figure ahead.
Wang Cheng grinned savagely, expecting Xiao Li to be sent flying by the impact. But the carriage horse suddenly let out a piercing whinny and lunged forward, causing the entire carriage to overturn from the momentum.
The carriage crashed heavily to the ground, tossing Wang Cheng and Han Tangzong into disarray. Inside, several silver chests clattered loudly, their locks shattered, and gleaming silver ingots spilled across the ground.
Wang Cheng, clutching the carriage frame as he staggered to his feet, looked up and saw the horse's two severed forelegs ahead, along with a ring-pommeled broadsword dripping with fresh blood.
The wielder of the blade, his wild hair framing a pair of crimson, icy eyes, stared at them as if they were already corpses.
A flicker of fear stirred in Wang Cheng's heart, but as the following carriages, blocked by the wreck, were forced to halt, a crowd of thugs leaped down and confronted Xiao Li with menacing intent.
The numerical advantage instantly erased Wang Cheng's trepidation. He roared, "Xiao Li, you're asking for death!"
Han Tangzong, helped to his feet by others, shouted with lingering fear, "Grab your weapons and rush him together! Finish him quickly! We can't afford to delay here any longer!"
Led by Wang Cheng, the group immediately retrieved blades from the carriage and charged at Xiao Li with furious bellows.
In the past, they had feared him. But now, Xiao Li was drenched in blood, clearly grievously wounded. With carriage after carriage filled with gleaming silver ingots behind them—such staggering wealth—who wouldn't risk their life for a chance at it?
Xiao Li watched quietly as the crowd closed in on him.
In his faintly crimson eyes, the falling snowflakes seemed to slow to a crawl. The figures rushing toward him, brandishing their blades, moved with exaggerated slowness, their ferocious expressions unfolding at a glacial pace.
When the mob was just a few steps away, he tilted his broadsword, edge outward. Accelerating forward in an instant, he sliced through a slowly drifting snowflake, cleaving through layers of flesh and drawing gouts of crimson.
Then, he seized Wang Cheng by the throat from the rear.
Wang Cheng barely registered the choking pressure on his neck. He watched in horror as the armed men ahead suddenly froze mid-action, like marionettes whose strings had been severed. Blood gushed from their necks, and they crumpled one by one, as if their bones had vanished.
Clawing desperately at Xiao Li's grip on his windpipe, Wang Cheng was truly terrified now. Gulping frantically, he stammered, "Xiao... Brother Xiao, you know how it is—we take money to solve problems. Finding your mother, beating Hou Xiao'an... it was all the Proprietor's orders! If you want revenge, go after him! I was just doing a job..."
Xiao Li remained silent. The blood dripping from his blade, chilled by the bitter wind, seemed to crystallize into a layer of crimson frost. In his cold, crimson eyes, a glacial sheen appeared to form, as if frost had settled there.Han Tangzong was also terrified by the number of people Xiao Li had killed. Seeing Wang Cheng turn traitor at the critical moment, he immediately shouted, "You ungrateful wretch! I only told you to interrogate Hou Xiao'an, not to kick him repeatedly until he was near death, nor to drag him by the hair and smash his head against the ground! It was you who said Xiao Li had done this to you, and you wanted Hou Xiao'an to suffer in his place!"
Hearing this, Xiao Li's murderous aura surged violently.
Before Wang Cheng could utter another plea for mercy, Xiao Li's fingers tightened and crushed his throat with immense force.
Han Tangzong heard the faint crack of shattering windpipe and felt his own throat constrict in sympathy. As Xiao Li discarded Wang Cheng and advanced toward him, Han Tangzong abandoned all thought of retrieving the scattered silver ingots. Backing away, he barked at his remaining thugs with false bravado, "Attack!"
But the thugs were already paralyzed with fear, retreating alongside him. None dared step forward to certain death.
Trembling with fear and rage, Han Tangzong turned and snarled at them, "Now!"
Their hands shook so violently they could barely grip their blades. One, overwhelmed by terror, dropped his weapon and fled. The others followed suit, discarding their weapons and scattering.
Han Tangzong screamed after their retreating backs, "Come back! I have endless money! Kill him! I'll pay you!"
But the thugs had already vanished.
Turning back, Han Tangzong saw Xiao Li still advancing, bloodstained blade in hand. He scrambled backward in panic until his foot slipped on a silver ingot, sending him tumbling to the ground.
Ignoring the pain in his elbow from striking another ingot, he pushed himself backward with his hands, swallowing hard. "Xiao... Xiao Li, this isn't really my fault! Huo Kun! It was all Huo Kun's doing! Look how he seized my home—I... I had to find a way to survive!"
"Think carefully—haven't I always treated you well? I even promoted you constantly! If you hadn't caused this disaster with the account books, you'd be managing my entire gambling house by now!"
Xiao Li remained silent, the bloodied tip of his blade drawing nearer. Driven mad by terror, Han Tangzong gathered the nearby ingots and thrust them toward Xiao Li. "Silver! Take it all! Just spare my life!"
But Xiao Li paid no heed, his killing intent so intense it seemed to freeze the howling wind and snow.
Han Tangzong's fear escalated into hysterical sobbing. "I never wanted to kill Xiao'an either! He brought it on himself! I even offered to adopt him as my son, but he chose to throw his life away... Ah—"
His words ended in a scream as he clutched his arm, half his face drenched in blood.
Collapsing, he saw his severed limb lying in the distance and broke into desperate wails. "My hand! My hand—"
White-faced with agony, Han Tangzong seemed to realize escape was impossible. When he looked at Xiao Li again, bitter resentment twisted his features. "Xiao Li! You're the one who deserves to die! You killed Hou Xiao'an! If you hadn't been so greedy and handed over my account books from the start, none of this would have happened!"He snarled, "You're the one who wronged him! You and those whorish mothers of yours who've been ridden by thousands—may you all die horribly!"
Xiao Li remained silent, swinging his blade once more to sever the man's other arm.
Han Tangzong collapsed entirely into the pool of blood, screaming in agony.
The blade continued its descent. He progressed from furious cursing to pitiful begging, until finally even his pleas faded away, carved to death alive by Xiao Li. His bronze-bell-like eyes, filled with terror, stared fixedly at the sky.
The viscous blood dyed everything a murky crimson: the frost-coated bluestone bricks, the whitewashed stone walls, the scattered silver ingots on the ground, and the already blood-stained hem of Xiao Li's robes.
Wen Yu, having received word from the garrison soldiers that Han Tangzong was here, rushed over only to find a thin layer of snow covering the carriage and the corpses lying on the ground.
Xiao Li sat on the overturned shaft of the carriage, a blood-stained long blade thrust into the snowy ground beside him. His head was slightly bowed, wet strands of hair dusted with fine snow falling over his eyes. Half of his sharp, handsome face was streaked with blood, utterly still.
Wen Yu walked over holding an umbrella, shielding him from the wind and snow overhead, and hesitantly called out, "Xiao Li?"
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