Chapter 36: The World is Big

Outskirts of Pingcang City, Suzhou.

“Mr. Wolf Head, Mr. Ghost Face, according to our intelligence, those Eastern ronins are hiding in the abandoned village ahead,” a tall, red-clothed woman with a red veil covering her face said, her voice gentle and melodious.

“Ha! Is the Martial Guard Division of Pingcang City so useless that they can’t even clean up a few Eastern ronins?”

Ghost Face, with a white cloth wrapped around his face, revealing only a pair of sinister eyes, sneered and laughed.

Snake explained in a soft voice, “During the three king’s struggle for the throne, the Great Qing Empire was plagued by internal and external troubles. Many Japanese ronins took advantage of the situation and infiltrated the Great Qing, and relied on the food and silver they brought to marry and have children and settle down there.”

“These Japanese ronins who sneaked in received help from their compatriots, making it difficult for the Martial Guard Division to search and clean them up.”

“It’s quite amusing, really. Over the years, these Japanese ronins who settled down have split into two factions: one faction considers themselves to be citizens of the Great Qing, while the other faction believes they should help the Japanese invade and conquer this place.”

“The entire Martial Guard Division of Suzhou has been busy for years, clearing out the largest Japanese ronin organizations, and now they have to prevent new Japanese ronins from sneaking in while also searching and cleaning up the ones who have settled down.”

Snake couldn’t help but feel a sense of nostalgia, thinking that beneath the prosperous surface of Suzhou, a silent and ruthless game of cat and mouse had been going on for years.

Ghost Face let out a soft snort, “I hate playing cat and mouse the most.”

“Let’s stop chatting and go find their leader to have a talk. We don’t want to delay the important matters of the lord.”

Wolf Head, with three thousand silver hairs flowing down his shoulders and a pair of swords at his waist, suddenly spoke up, his voice cold and stern.

Ghost Face and Snake ended their conversation, following Wolf Head as he jumped down from the tree and headed towards the abandoned village.

At the village entrance, two Japanese ronins standing guard saw the three of them approaching from afar and drew their swords, shouting warnings.

“What do they mean?” Wolf Head asked, looking at Snake.

“They’re asking us who we are and telling us to stop moving,” Snake translated, taking on the role of an interpreter.

After following the lord and the merchant guild for many years, she had mastered many languages, including barbarian languages and Japanese, some of which she spoke even better than the locals.

The three of them didn’t stop, however.

“Baka!” Seeing the three men still moving forward, a ronin took a step forward, angrily pointed the blade at the three men and made a standard chopping preparation posture.

“Rubbish!” Wolf Head’s eyebrows furrowed slightly, not understanding the meaning of the word, but he could tell the other person was insulting him.

The blue sword aura flashed in mid-air, and the upper bodies of the two Japanese ronins disappeared, blood pillars erupting like a fountain, and the remaining sword aura lifted the roofs of the abandoned stone houses.

This one sword completely shocked the more than twenty Japanese ronins hiding in the village.

“Why are you doing this?!”

The leader of the Japanese ronins, wearing a worn-out Japanese armor, stared at the three of them with a serious expression.

He had seen people from the Martial Guard Division before, but they were not dressed like these three, and those guys had extremely powerful crossbows, which would not give them many opportunities for close combat.

Wolf Head listened to Snake’s translation and didn’t hesitate: “Tell him, we want to hire them to kill people.”

The Japanese ronin leader was taken aback: “Are you sent by the Zhao family?”

The Zhao family?

Snake asked, “Is the Zhao family you mentioned the one from Suzhou?”

“Ah, yes! Ah, yes!” The Japanese ronin leader relaxed his guard a bit, signaling his men to lower their swords.

The three of them didn’t expect that the Zhao family would have connections with these Japanese ronins.

Ghost Face sneered: “The Zhao family being destroyed is not unjust at all.”

In the Great Qing Empire, traitors, regardless of their status, would be killed!

“What did he say?” The Japanese ronin leader looked at Ghost Face in confusion.

“Tell him, this time we want to hire them to kill people from the Zhao family.”

“Nani?!”

The Japanese ronin leader was stunned, the Zhao family hiring them to kill people from the Zhao family?

“This is too troublesome, let me handle it.” Ghost Face smiled sinisterly.

“You do it.”

Wolf Head and Snake retreated a few steps back.

Ghost Face twisted his neck to the left and right, and a large hand wrapped in white cloth stretched out from his sleeve, with the palm facing the Japanese ronins.

[Unstable・Hook]

A dark aura spread from the wide sleeves, and dozens of black chains suddenly flew out, piercing the hearts of all the Japanese ronins.

“What? It doesn’t hurt?!”

The Japanese ronin leader stared at the black chain in his chest, thinking he was about to be killed.

“Collect the souls!”

“Ting-ling-ling!”

Ghost Face held a small bell in his right hand and gently shook it.

Snake’s beautiful eyes widened, and with each ring of the bell, she could clearly feel the auras of the Japanese ronins rapidly disappearing.

They were all dead.

What kind of evil technique was this? It was unheard of!

“Wolf Head, this is…”

Wolf Head remained calm: “This is a unique ghost technique belonging to the Underworld.”

“Is it true that there’s really an Underworld in this world?!” Snake was even more shocked, as if she had heard some earth-shattering secret.

“Maybe there is.”

Wolf Head replied calmly.

[Blade Demon・Gather!]

A strange, eerie red light enveloped the abandoned village.

After about the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, a demon emerged from the red light, biting a broken blade and wearing red Japanese armor.

Snake felt a sense of suffocation in her chest, such a powerful evil ghost!

If she were to face it, her chances of winning would be less than 10%!

Ghost Face said with disdain, “As expected, using the souls of these Japanese ronins as vessels, the gathered blade demon will take on their appearance. Oh well, it’ll do for now.”

【Blade Corpse・Control!】

The blade demon turned into dots of red light and dissipated. The ronins who had already died all opened their blood-red eyes, continuously emitting a violent aura.

“Have they become zombies?” Snake asked curiously.

“They’ve become blade corpses – invincible and only knowing how to kill,”

Ghost Face withdrew the chains, satisfied with his work.

“Old Wolf, this batch of blade corpses is not bad. I want to find a place to keep them for two days, and then the rest of the tasks will be up to you two.”

Wolf Head nodded without refusing, “Don’t forget the tasks assigned by the lord.”

“Rest assured, I’ll make sure you see the scene of these blade corpses killing everywhere.” Ghost Face smiled sinisterly, with a hint of regret: “Unfortunately, the lord won’t be able to see it.”

“Let’s go.”

Wolf Head turned around and walked towards the village exit.

“Oh… okay!” Snake suddenly came back to her senses and quickly followed, still glancing back.

“Wolf Head, I will never reveal what happened today.”

Wolf Head stopped in his tracks, his voice still emotionless: “The lord said that this world is big, perhaps even bigger than he described.”

“You can go take a look if you have the chance in the future.”