The heavens had their unpredictable storms, people had mishaps morning and night—plus nstrual irregularities, hair loss, insomnia, frequent urination, and weak kidneys.
Leyu understood Blue Fla's intentions perfectly—everything under his feet, gold and silver included, belonged to the Linhai Army now in terms of legal ownership, and as the legal representative and iron-fisted CEO of the Linhai Army, Blue Fla basically owned all this money.
When Blue Fla tried to cash out, Qin Leyin cut in at the last mont, making his withdrawal fail and fleeing with the money—of course Blue Fla was never going to let this go.
That was a freaking mountain of money!
As long as Leyu could snatch a bit off the top, he could live a life of outrageous luxury and wild indulgence back in Yanjing!
And Blue Fla had spent the last month marching around Dongyang with the Linhai Army, but was that out of so desire to liberate Dongyang's oppressed masses? Please—it was all about the cash!
Seeing the creditor show up, Leyu's first thought, of course, was to run like hell.
He really never expected Blue Fla would catch up this quickly—after all, Qin Leyin's plan was airtight, wasn't it? Hit the military payroll convoy, throw Xuanzhu County into chaos. With both the starting point and the food delivery biker going down at the sa ti, news of the payroll being robbed should have been delayed at least half a day; by the ti Blue Fla sent people to investigate, that could buy another half day, and by then, the Qin and Shi family ships would be deep in Yanjing territory already.
For Blue Fla to make it here so fast—unless he literally had an Any Door—he must have known about the convoy getting hit just after midnight last night, then chased after them on the road round the clock, just barely catching up with their ships before dark!
Leyu wasn't interested in squaring up to a Blue Fla running on no sleep—god knows what kind of mood he was in right now.
"Hongle, is there really any reason to be this nervous?" Shi Huaifeng exclaid, "They've only got a few dozen guys, and our steamboat is far from shore. They don't even have a boat—there's no way they can get anywhere near us—"
"Windy, don't jinx it with the sort of thing that'll instantly be proven wrong."
A young man with six tenths of Shi Huaifeng's features, his long hair tied in a ponytail, wearing a flashy purple-black robe and showing off a tanned chest, strolled over to them, waving his fan and grinning as he said, "That's the man who bullied all of Dongyang into eating shit and swallowing it—even Jing Zhengwei was basically just his tax collector in the end. Underestimating him will cost you dearly~"
Shi Huaizong, the Shi Family's third young master—Leyu had t him several tis before. Most of the big Shi Family business was handled by Shi Huaifeng, while diplomatic receptions were Shi Huaizong's specialty. Basically, he was the guy who wined, dined, and chased tail on the company di.
Getting called "Windy" by the little brother, Shi Huaifeng didn't even look annoyed—he'd clearly given up fighting it. "I'm not underestimating him," he said, "but he doesn't have a boat, doesn't have the numbers—I just can't see how he could possibly threaten us."
"Threat? Him just being alive is the biggest threat."
Leyu snapped his fingers. "Can we make the ship go any faster? Also—do we have any Lingxu martial artists on deck? Any firearms?"
The people on deck looked around at each other. A middle-aged man in blue robes stepped up. "Instructor Hongle—I'm at the Integration and Mastery stage with Lingxu Combat Technique."
Qin Yueyang said, "We've got firearms, but the longest-range are just standard rifles—no sniper guns."
Shi Huaizong suddenly said, "I know a little bit of the Feihua Technique. Should be able to help, but don't bet the farm on ."
So they really had a Feihua martial artist? Leyu shot a glance at Shi Huaizong and said, "Fetch us three rifles—I'll target the main body, Blue Robes takes right, Shi Huaizong takes left... You guys know the Swallow-Return Firing thod?"
"Understood." The two nodded.
The Swallow-Return Firing thod was a shooting technique designed specifically for martial artists.
Average martial artists could dodge bullets ahead of ti; advanced ones dodged like drinking water. But if you fired three bullets at once, sealing off every possible path of escape, even advanced martial artists only had one fate—death on the spot.
Swallow Return originally referred to a high-speed sword slash in the art of swordplay, but everyone soon realized firearms were much more convenient, so they hacked the technique into a gun-fighting style.
Only, Swallow-Return Firing demanded at least three Lingxu-Feihua martial artists capable of long-range precision shooting, so Leyu hadn't expected much. But it turned out there really were three gunn on board, so why not go all in and see if they could actually take Blue Fla out?
He had every reason to make a move against Blue Fla.
Whether it was for self-preservation, for revenge on Qian Yuliu, or just to get rid of a power-hungry warlord, he absolutely should make a move.
Blue Fla supporting Zhengwei's reforms in Dongyang? That was just another business deal—Zhengwei paid, Blue Fla supplied muscle, end of story. Blue Fla used to back Qian Yuliu too, but that had only been to take advantage of a double agent.
Leyu actually had a kind of fondness for Blue Fla; after all, he'd been used by Blue Fla, but had used him, too—it was a love-hate story if there ever was one.
Which was exactly why he wanted to use Swallow-Return Firing to deal with Blue Fla—going for the one-hit kill.
Dead Blue Fla was the best Blue Fla!
The three of them chambered rounds. Leyu said, "Don't aim yet, don't lift your rifles. Wait till he hits the shore, then at my command—I'll count down three, two, one, one second to aim, then fire at once!"
While they spoke, Blue Fla had already shot out to the grassy bank ahead of everyone, less than fifty ters from the steamship.
He seed to sense what was up. Smiling, he spread his hands toward everyone on the ship, empty-handed, his body glowing. Layers of sunlight shimred around him, gifting him a sort of divine halo.
"Three, two, one!"
At Leyu's command, all three lifted their rifles, took one second to aim, then three gunshots cracked like thunder—the bullets roared out, shattering the sound barrier, flying like the nails of fate for Blue Fla!
No cover anywhere nearby, and you're not even holding a weapon.
Let's see how the hell you block these, Blue Fla!
But at the very mont the rifles were raised, Blue Fla suddenly jumped!
Clang! Clang!
He flipped in midair, not only dodging Leyu's shot at his main body, but also using the steel blades on his Swift Blade Boots to kick away the blocking bullets coming from left and right!
Everyone on the ship just stared in awe.
The outsiders enjoyed the spectacle—the insiders were left speechless.
Kicking away bullets, of course, should be impossible. To be precise, the bullets struck the blades of his Swift Blade Boots and were deflected by the Light Burst Bullets lining the edges.
That judgnt and nerve—instantly made everyone on deck tense as hell.
They finally realized that this was a truly dangerous man.
Blue Fla's voice carried clearly across the fifty ters of lake and rang out on the stear's deck, "Young Master Qin, was my performance to your liking?"
The echoing sound carried a martial artist's acoustics technique.
Qin Leyin wasn't great at those, but after Leyu had learned the Formless Combat Technique, he'd kept reverse-engineering Zhengwei's Qinri Acoustics and Lingxu Techniques; even if the system didn't acknowledge him, his skill wasn't shabby. Echoing Wind—he knew that trick, too, so he replied loudly, "Not bad! Can you perform the bit where you catch a bullet in your teeth? I'd like to see that one."
"I'll save that for next ti." Blue Fla glided easily along the shore, like he was out for a picnic. "Since Young Master Qin is at least sowhat satisfied, that's wonderful—your own majestic performance opened my eyes, so I had to return the favor."
Leyu said, "If you're finished performing, go ho and eat, would you? Looks like it might rain tonight. If you don't get back soon, your laundry's going to get soaked."
Blue Fla only grinned and said nothing, staring at Leyu from afar, one hand resting lightly on the hilt at his waist.
Zheng!
The mont Blue Fla drew his sword, Leyu tilted his head ever so slightly and watched a dazzling flash slice off a lock of his hair, turning it into a rainbow in midair.
Even swordplay shouldn't have that kind of range at fifty ters. Even if Leyu hadn't dodged, at most he'd have had a welt on his cheek like he'd been smacked with a baton.
"Blue Fla, impotent rage never solves anything," Leyu couldn't help but laugh,
"You're a successful man—try to show a little class."
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