Eighty-Six: A Paper Tiger with Nothing but Brute Force

Yuwen Sha did not believe his intuition.

How could this scrawny Central Plains man possibly contend with their valiant and fierce Jie warriors? The death of his clansman must have been a fluke, a result of a sneak attack! Besides, it was three-on-three, and the opposition even included a woman! How could the Jie lose to a woman and a Central Plains man? He had to make these ignorant fools learn the true power of the Jie.

Clinging to this thought, Yuwen Sha did not retreat. He wanted to watch these Central Plains men scream as their limbs were broken, to witness their agonizing wails and the regret in their eyes for daring to defy him.

But he was wrong.

It was not Ming Tian who felt regret, but Yuwen Sha himself.

An Luo’s combat prowess was already sufficient to rival the Jie. Though he lacked their raw strength, his physical conditioning was remarkably balanced—his speed, stamina, and reflexes all surpassed those of the Jie warriors. Furthermore, in a contest of blades, while neither could land a clean strike, An Luo utilized the elbow strikes Ming Tian had taught him to devastating effect. Every time their blades clashed, An Luo would follow up with a side-elbow strike to his opponent's head.

No matter how fierce the Jie were, they had never undergone systematic training and knew nothing of defensive techniques. After a few exchanges, although there were no external wounds, the Jie warrior’s face and temples had taken several solid, brutal strikes.

"You... you wretched Central Plains man!" The Jie warrior’s eyes turned blood-red, his head spinning. It was not from rage, but from the intracranial hemorrhaging caused by repeated trauma to the skull. In a final burst of strength, he swore to decapitate An Luo.

"A spent force."

Faced with the incoming blade, An Luo actually discarded his own weapon. Instead of retreating, he lunged forward, closing the distance into the Jie warrior’s guard. A gust of wind carried the scent of a wild beast. In the next second, before the Jie could react, he felt a sharp pain in his chin, and his consciousness flickered out.

An Luo had launched a jumping upward elbow strike, slamming it with full force into the man’s jaw. The impact was so violent that the wind whistled through their clothes. The blow shattered the Jie warrior’s jaw instantly, killing him on the spot. Standing over the corpse, An Luo let out a ferocious roar: "For Miss Yin Chan!"

On the other side, the Jie warrior fighting Zhao Yu was feeling utterly stifled. Despite her frail appearance, the speed of Zhao Yu’s blade was enough to leave even Ming Tian dumbfounded. It was lightning-fast—barely slower than the Liu Jian they had encountered in South Lanling, and well beyond the threshold of human visual tracking. Her slashes were weak, so she focused entirely on thrusting. Eyes, forehead, throat, heart, armpits, and even the groin—every strike aimed for a lethal point.

The Jie warrior was brave and strong, but his lack of speed was a fatal flaw. Faced with such a relentless onslaught, he had no chance to counter. It wasn’t that Zhao Yu was stronger than An Luo; it was simply that her overwhelming speed perfectly countered the Jie. Every strike was a blur; to the warrior, it seemed as if the woman’s blade had multiplied into countless phantoms. He couldn’t discern the real sword from the rain of thrusts targeting his vital spots. Within moments, the Jie was covered in hundreds of small puncture wounds, looking as if he had been struck by smallpox.

"Don't get cocky, you filthy wench! Once I catch you, I’ll ravage you for three days and three nights!"

As he spoke, the Jie warrior swung his blade wildly in a desperate, aimless frenzy. It had to be said that his brute strength was immense; though his swings were slow, the sheer momentum made it impossible for Zhao Yu to close in. Any table or chair touched by his blade was smashed to splinters.

*The hell? A knock-off Bladestorm? If Roguem saw you swinging like that, he’d jump right out of his coffin!* Ming Tian watched, stunned.

This frantic hacking seemed to leave Zhao Yu momentarily at a loss.

"Hahaha! Filthy wench, why don't you keep stabbing? If you’ve got the guts, come over here and try again!" Seeing a moment of advantage, the Jie warrior laughed wildly.

Zhao Yu merely sighed and shook her head in resignation. She leaped back a few paces and hurled her sword.

*Thwack.*

The blade crossed three meters and drove straight into his throat, severing the central nervous system in his spine. In that very second, he was dead. The corpse collapsed with a strange, frozen smile on its face.

"Brother Ming Tian, I’m coming to help!"
"Master Consort, hold on!"

An Luo and Zhao Yu, having finished their respective fights, couldn't hear any sounds of combat from Ming Tian’s direction. Fearing he was in trouble, they rushed over, only to be struck dumb by the scene before them. They had both struggled to finish off their opponents, but Ming Tian?

"Hm? Why are you two so slow?"

Ming Tian was sitting on the face of the Jie corpse, legs crossed, whistling a tune. Seeing An Luo and Zhao Yu approach, he even let out a loud fart onto the face of the dead warrior before standing up.

"You... you... when did you finish this?" An Luo’s eyes nearly popped out of his skull. Zhao Yu, shedding her usual mischievous demeanor, was left speechless by Ming Tian’s casual nonchalance.

"Let me think... probably right around the time you landed your second strike."

"The... the second strike?!" An Luo was not just shocked; he was filled with infinite admiration. He had traded over a hundred blows to secure his victory, yet Ming Tian had finished his fight before An Luo had even landed his second move?

Seeing An Luo’s look of worship, Ming Tian lifted his chin. Ah, the feeling of showing off was truly intoxicating.

Ming Tian explained how he had done it. It was simple: the Jie warrior, seeing Ming Tian’s slender frame, had raised his blade to chop him down. Ming Tian noticed the man’s massive build left his groin exposed and wide open, so he had simply fired a bolt into the man's "family jewels."

His upgraded sleeve-bolt was made of steel; the shot had skewered the man’s testicles like a string of quail eggs. Of course it hurt! The Jie warrior had doubled over in agony, bringing his chin right into range, and Ming Tian had followed up with another bolt to the jaw.

"And that was that." Ming Tian stifled a laugh, feigning a look of breezy indifference.

An Luo was fine, his admiration for Ming Tian only deepening, but Zhao Yu felt a sudden crisis of faith. *What have I even been training my swordsmanship for all these years?*

"Master Consort, you are so vulgar," Zhao Yu said, looking at him with mild disdain.

"What does 'vulgar' have to do with fighting? As long as it works, it’s effective." Ming Tian arched an eyebrow and leaned in. "Forget that sword style of yours. Learn from me. I’ll teach you a technique called 'The Monkey Steals the Peach'—it hits the mark every time."

While a modern person might take the joke in stride, the ancient-minded Zhao Yu blushed deep red.

"Ahem." A light cough sounded from behind.

Ming Tian froze, cold sweat breaking out as he felt a wave of sulfuric, jealous killing intent radiating from Xiao Xinzhu behind him. *Damn... I got a little carried away. My wife is jealous.*

Clearing his throat, Ming Tian returned to the matter at hand, turning his gaze toward the already dazed Yuwen Sha.

"Buddy, release my people, and I’ll let you die quickly." Ming Tian’s killing intent flared once more.

Yuwen Sha was utterly stupefied. *How... how is this possible? How can these Central Plains men be this strong?!* The two-hundred-and-fifty-pound giant, a man of pure muscle, began to break out in a cold sweat of fear.

"You... don't come any closer!"

As the saying goes, a dog will jump over a wall when cornered. Driven to desperation, Yuwen Sha grabbed Mo’er and tightened his grip on her fragile, twig-like neck. With his strength, a slight squeeze would snap her neck like a dry branch.

"If... if any of you come closer, I’ll kill her!" His voice trembled. Yuwen Sha had never expected these two men and one woman to be so powerful. His clansmen, who had always been invincible against Central Plains people, had been slaughtered so easily. For the first time in his life, the man who had never known defeat tasted the true flavor of terror.

"Despicable! Using a child as a shield—what kind of hero does that!" An Luo, full of righteous indignation, couldn't help but curse when he saw Mo’er captured.

"Despicable?" Seeing that the tactic worked and having regained a sliver of advantage, Yuwen Sha sneered triumphantly. "So what if I'm despicable? That Central Plains man—didn't he use a despicable hidden weapon to kill my clansmen?"

Ming Tian didn't answer immediately. He looked at Mo’er first, feeling a sense of relief. Mo’er was a good child. Even with her throat being crushed, she endured the fear in silence, honoring Ming Tian’s command to close her eyes and wait for the end. This only made Yuwen Sha’s grip look even more venomous.

"Despicable, you say?"

Ming Tian remained silent for a moment, then made a decision. He stepped forward twice.

"Are you saying that if I were unarmed, I wouldn't be able to beat you Jie?"

"Of course!" Yuwen Sha shouted confidently. "You Central Plains men are so scrawny; if you didn't use those despicable hidden weapons, how could you ever hope to defeat us?"

"I see, I see..."

Ming Tian repeated the words twice, laughing for a moment. Then, to the astonishment of everyone present, he performed a crazy act. He unbuckled his sleeve-bolt and tossed aside the dagger he had scavenged from the Reaper Twins the night before.

"Use whatever weapon you want. If you like, you can even use my sleeve-bolt. Let’s have a fair fight."

He beckoned to Yuwen Sha with his finger. His killing intent bloomed fully, and for the first time since his transmigration, he adopted a proper stance for close-quarters combat. A full-force fight. For the first time, Ming Tian was truly serious.

"Come on. I’ll show you what an overwhelming gap in ability really looks like!"

With those words, no more needed to be said!