Chapter 223

The other two heard the commotion and reacted quickly, immediately drawing their weapons and launching a joint attack on Lian Li.

Yun Huizhou had also arrived by then, but he did not intervene. Instead, he watched from a short distance away, hidden among the trees with his saber cradled in his arms.

Sensing that the other two had come to his rescue, the obese man retreated repeatedly.

Lian Li leaped into the air to dodge the pincer attack. Raising his left hand, two willow-leaf daggers shot from his sleeve, flying toward the heads of the two attackers.

The two had intended to pursue him, but they were momentarily hindered by the daggers. By the time they knocked the blades aside and prepared to surround him again, Lian Li had already swung his whip back and broken the obese man’s other hand.

At that moment, the other two men’s blades were already closing in on Lian Li’s back.

Yun Huizhou shifted his stance, his saber partially leaving its sheath, but in the next instant, he stopped his movement.

Lian Li ducked low, wrapped his whip around the obese man’s leg, and flung him backward. The two men’s blades landed squarely on the obese man; he was clearly breathing his last, with more breath leaving his body than entering it.

Taking advantage of the opening, Lian Li quickly repositioned himself.

All three of these men had been second-rate experts for many years. Lian Li had used a sneak attack to quickly incapacitate one of them, but the remaining two would not give him another opportunity like that.

The two men flanked Lian Li, forcing him to retreat while exchanging blows. Soon, he led them into a densely wooded area.

He moved nimbly among the trees, gradually widening the distance between himself and his pursuers.

Their weapons were short, and unable to get close, they began to grow impatient.

This was especially true after Lian Li led them into the thick forest. They saw that the Master of South Island, who had been standing motionless on the treetop, had followed them. He did not approach, however, but simply watched from a moderate distance.

The Master of South Island did not strike, yet his presence exerted more pressure on the two than a direct attack would have.

They wanted to flee and were certain that if they did, the person they were currently fighting might not be able to catch them.

But they feared even more that fleeing would provoke the Master of South Island, who had been watching from the sidelines, to take action.

They finally understood the situation: they had run into the Master of South Island taking his disciple out to gain experience in the martial world.

The reason the Master of South Island had been following them without intervening or seizing the child in the sack was that he was waiting for his disciple to arrive, using the three of them as stepping stones for his disciple’s martial path.

At this thought, the two felt humiliated, yet they were powerless.

They exchanged a glance, seeing the ruthlessness in each other’s eyes. Since they were doomed anyway, they would go down fighting. They would try to severely wound their opponent, and if they could kill him before the Master of South Island could react, it would be an even greater gain.

Upon seeing the physical characteristics of the three, Lian Li knew who they were and why they had kidnapped the child.

They were the Child-Eating Demons, notorious for their heinous crimes ten years ago.

Furthermore, the three were half-brothers, which made Lian Li instinctively suspect that their father likely had issues as well.

Otherwise, it would be impossible for three brothers from different mothers to all share the same appetite for eating children.

However, their father was long dead, so even if he had suspicions, there was no way to verify them.

These three had committed numerous bloody crimes ten years ago.

Yun Huizhou had told him before that he had wanted to find these three during his own travels for experience, but at that time, they had just committed a crime and were being hunted down.

However, the pursuer failed to kill the three of them and was instead killed by them; since then, the three of them have vanished without a trace.

Yun Huizhou searched for over a month at the time, but after failing to find any trace of them, he was forced to give up.

Unexpectedly, he had actually run into them this time. Knowing the background of these three, Lian Li had no intention of letting them go.

If we let them escape again this time, there’s no telling how long it will take to find their trail again.

Just because they’ve vanished doesn’t mean they’re behaving themselves. They might very well be causing trouble somewhere; it’s just that no one has found out yet.

Yun Huizhou saw Lian Li leading the person into the woods and originally intended to follow, but then he saw the South Island Master move first.

Before following, the South Island Lord pointedly turned back to look at him, then raised his hand to point at the three large bags he had placed on the ground.

Yun Huizhou understood what he meant and was to check on the child in the bag, while he would keep an eye on Lian Li.

Approaching the three bags, Yun Huizhou shattered them into pieces, yet the children inside remained completely unscathed.

He squatted down to check the children’s pulses. After examining them one by one, he found that they were in stable condition and their lives were not in danger.

It was just that their pressure points had been sealed, they had been drugged, and they hadn’t eaten, so they were all a bit weak.

This was also within his expectations. Since Master had been following those three, he would never allow anything to happen to these five children.

If even one child’s life were in danger along the way, these three wouldn’t survive until he and Lian Li caught up to them.

After he unblocked the pressure points of these five children, he waited for a long time before one of them finally flickered their eyelids.

He grasped the child’s hand and infused a trace of internal energy into him; soon, the child opened his eyes.

Yun Huizhou was just breathing a sigh of relief, preparing to check why the other four children hadn’t woken up yet, when a heart-wrenching wail suddenly erupted by his ear, making his eardrums throb.

He raised a hand to cover his ear and turned to look at the child who had woken up. Perhaps because he was worried about their condition, his expression was a bit stern.

The child froze for a moment upon meeting his gaze, then began to cry even louder.

Yun Huizhou: …So noisy…

Yet, facing a little sprout who wasn’t even six years old and was so weak he struggled to even stand up from the floor, he truly felt helpless.

He couldn’t exactly hold a blade to the child’s throat and forbid him from crying.

Yun Huizhou took a deep breath and decided that what the eye doesn’t see, the heart doesn’t grieve over, choosing to ignore the crying child.

He turned back to the other four children who were still unconscious, checking them one by one again.

Their acupoints had already been unblocked; their current state was primarily due to the effects of the drug. However, since one had already woken up and was wailing at the top of his lungs, judging by the timing, the other four should be waking up soon as well.

After infusing a trace of internal energy into each child, he sat down where he was and stared at the child who was still crying.

The child was frightened by his gaze and tried to crawl away, but he truly lacked the strength; he fell back down the moment he tried to stand.

Yun Huizhou didn’t move to help, simply watching him fall.

And then… the child’s wailing grew even louder.

Yun Huizhou: …

He looked at the crying child, then at the other four on the ground who were about to wake up. At the thought of all four of them waking up and surrounding him with their cries, he felt an immediate, massive headache coming on.