"You... When did you poison us?"

One of the young men stood up, his face ashen, his gaze fixed on the middle-aged man in utter terror.

The middle-aged man coughed violently twice, then spoke with disdain:

"You hotheads from the Cangwu Sword Sect... just as impatient as I thought.

"When did I ever say I poisoned your tea?"

Fang Shuwen glanced up at the young men in surprise.

’The Cangwu Sword Sect?’

Sometime back, when he was at the Zhuji Pavilion, he had chatted quite a bit with Zhou Qingmei, mainly to learn more about the Jianghu.

Previously, he had only known of the Zhuji Pavilion. It wasn’t until he arrived there that he learned it was one of the Seven Great Sects of the Eastern Domain.

He later found out that the Seven Great Sects of the Eastern Domain were the Zhuji Pavilion, Taixu Dao, Wentian Mansion, Flying Star Hall, Cangwu Sword Sect, Yuqing Pavilion, and the Nianhua Zen Temple.

The Nianhua Zen Temple was different from the Joyful Zen Temple; it was a legitimate Buddhist Zen Monastery.

It was named for the story of the Buddha holding up a flower and smiling... not for ’plucking flowers,’ which meant to dally with women.

’I didn’t expect to run into people from the Cangwu Sword Sect here.’

As the middle-aged man finished speaking, the other young people all rose to their feet.

Sure enough, each of them wore a longsword at their side.

The leader, a square-faced man with thick brows and large eyes that projected an air of righteousness, demanded in a deep voice:

"When did you find out who we are?"

The middle-aged man shot them another look of disdain:

"The stench of you so-called ’Renowned and Righteous Sects’... I can smell it from a mile away.

"You fools have been tailing me for three days. Did you really think I was oblivious?

"I simply had urgent matters to attend to and couldn’t be bothered with you.

"If you hadn’t revealed yourselves, I might have pretended you didn’t exist and granted you a few more days of life. But to think a single jest from me would make you this impatient.

"It’s utterly pathetic."

The faces of the young disciples from the Cangwu Sword Sect flushed and paled at his words.

The young man in the lead finally snorted coldly:

"So what if you found out? We came here for you, Qi Wuwang!

"Three years ago in Liuzhou Town, you violated and murdered the young lady of the Chen Family. When a servant discovered you, you proceeded to slaughter their entire household—seventy-five people. It was an act of pure evil.

"Two years ago at the Huiben Building in Jiuhua City, you murdered thirteen disciples from my Cangwu Sword Sect, the Yuqing Pavilion, and the Wentian Mansion!

"You also abducted several of our junior sisters from the Yuqing Pavilion. By the time they were found, their bodies had been horribly defiled. You even carved words onto their corpses and spouted arrogant filth, insulting our Seven Righteous Sects! Your crimes are unforgivable!

"Your evil deeds are too numerous to count! Today, the Cangwu Sword Sect will execute you, you vile fiend, and rid the Jianghu of your evil!!

"Brothers and sisters, form the array and slay this demon!!"

As he finished speaking, swords sang from their scabbards with a series of sharp SHIINGS. The young men and women leaped into action, surrounding Qi Wuwang in the blink of an eye.

Qi Wuwang coughed once, an unnatural flush appearing on his face.

He glanced up at the Cangwu Sword Sect disciples and sighed.

"I paid you no mind this entire journey, yet you insisted on courting death. What was the point?"

As he spoke, his gaze fell upon one of the young women, and a wicked glint lit up his eyes.

"You’re quite the looker. How about this? After I send your friends on their way, we can find somewhere private and... have some fun."

The young woman’s face darkened.

"Vile fiend, die!"

With a shout, she thrust her sword forward. Her movement was the signal, and the other Cangwu Sword Sect disciples attacked in unison.

Fang Shuwen remembered reading about Sword Arrays in novels.

They were typically laid out according to esoteric principles, like astrological signs or ancient trigrams. Anyone caught within one who didn’t understand its patterns would find their every move restricted.

With the slightest misstep, even a master of Martial Arts could perish within the Sword Array.

It was clear now that the young disciples of the Cangwu Sword Sect were employing a Sword Array.

As one person attacked, the others would invariably respond. Their sword-points weaved and turned, advancing and retreating in a coordinated pattern, each movement complementing the others.

Fang Shuwen’s knowledge of Martial Arts was no longer shallow; he understood the principle behind it after only a glance or two.

’In Martial Arts, whether it’s Swordsmanship, Saber Technique, Fist Technique, or Palm Technique, any attack inevitably creates an opening.’

’An Array takes a complex Martial Arts technique, one difficult for a single person to execute, and distributes its movements among several people.’

’It preserves the power of the original technique while allowing the participants to cover each other’s openings.’

’This allows them to unleash power far beyond their individual skill levels, presenting an impeccable, unassailable front to their enemy.’

These Cangwu Sword Sect disciples were a perfect example. Their sword-play was like a surging tide, a shower of falling stars—vast, powerful, and relentless.

To be caught within it was like facing a storm from all eight directions, making it nearly impossible to resist.

"This is the Cangwu Sword Sect’s Eight-direction Wind and Rain Sword Array. It’s quite profound, indeed."

Lu Guiyan remarked softly from the side.

Fang Shuwen nodded in agreement.

"It’s certainly impressive. A shame, though..."

Before he could finish, Qi Wuwang—who had seemed to be struggling and on the verge of being overwhelmed within the Sword Array—suddenly shot out a hand.

His palm landed on the chest of the young man in the lead.

The strike was neither light nor heavy, but it was enough to knock the man back half a step.

Yet that half-step was all it took for him to collide with the person at his side, knocking them over.

It set off a chain reaction like a row of dominoes, and one by one, the young disciples of the Cangwu Sword Sect collapsed to the ground.

Qi Wuwang roared with laughter.

"If your Cangwu Sword Sect had sent Xiao Ruofeng, I would’ve turned and fled without a moment’s hesitation.

"But you hotheads? You think you can kill me, Qi Wuwang?

"You’re delusional!"

With their Array broken, the Cangwu Sword Sect disciples suffered an Inner Strength backlash. Their energy flow was in chaos, and though they tried to get up, they found themselves powerless.

All they could do was glare viciously at Qi Wuwang.

The leader spat through gritted teeth:

"Vile fiend, if you’re going to kill us, then do it! Enough with the damn talk!

"Even if we die today, our Sect Leader will avenge us in the future!

"But as for you, you Demon, you’ve committed countless evil deeds. Your reckoning will come."

Qi Wuwang’s gaze swept over them, and he merely chuckled.

"You’re nothing but a minor itch. There’s no hurry to scratch it..."

As he spoke, his gaze suddenly landed on Lu Guiyan’s face.

The moment the Cangwu Sword Sect disciples fell, Lu Guiyan’s hand had gone to the hilt of the Yanling Saber.

’As someone who walked the righteous path of the Jianghu, it would be one thing to have not encountered this, but having witnessed it, I can’t just stand by and do nothing.’

’Otherwise, if word got out that the Lu’an Escort Agency simply stood by while Qi Wuwang murdered disciples from the Cangwu Sword Sect... the agency would probably be out of business.’

’Given our current situation, we shouldn’t be getting involved in others’ affairs. But now... I can only curse our bad luck.’

But as Qi Wuwang’s gaze met theirs, Lu Guiyan had a sudden realization...

’I’m afraid Qi Wuwang’s so-called ’urgent matters’ have something to do with our escort mission.’

Sure enough, Qi Wuwang smiled faintly.

"Lu Guiyan, the Young Chief of the Lu’an Escort Agency?

"You’ve certainly kept me waiting!"