Chapter 704: Section 491: Fu Zhao vs Qing Hongyan
Gudong, a soldier by background, immediately sprang into action upon receiving the order.
Having obtained intelligence from Mei Lin, he gained a deeper understanding of Bloodline City, the Axe Gang, and the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps.
He was of the Golden Level, and due to his own strength, he attracted wide attention.
But if he were to run by foot to Bloodline City like Lin, it was too far.
Mei Lin simply said, “Use the secret Teleportation Array, and after using it, destroy it.”
Thus, Gudong quickly arrived near Bloodline City with the help of the secret Teleportation Array.
“Bloodline City…” Gudong sighed as he gazed at the city walls.
He disliked the name of the city, just like other Kingdom soldiers.
“It seems that initially, the Gang Leader of the Axe Gang also didn’t want to come here, yet caused a big commotion.”
“However, to just accept Fu Zhao but at the cost of sacrificing a secret Teleportation Array is indeed a steep price.”
Gudong contemplated in his heart.
Such people-centric actions strengthened his sense of belonging to the Kingdom.
“According to the intelligence, Fu Zhao’s Bloodline holds promise, with the potential to grow into the Golden Level.”
“If we could find his father’s body and bury it in Anqiu, given time, he might become a new Golden Level force!”
The Gang Leader’s body of the Axe Gang essentially equated to a personal Golden Level legacy.
From this perspective, sacrificing a Teleportation Array for a Golden Level force was not unwarranted.
The Axe Gang was the top power in Bloodline City, even dominating the City Lord’s residence.
After investigating, Gudong felt that the Axe Gang was caught in tumult.
Their Gang Leader had not shown up for several days, which was typically not concerning, but rumors circulated in the city that the Axe Gang’s Gang Leader had died!
“This must be a rumor spread by the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps, right?”
“The Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps is not dealing with the Axe Gang directly, but is revealing the Axe Gang’s vain nature through spreading rumors.”
“They want to exploit the public conflict between the Axe Gang and the City Lord’s residence, using the City Lord’s power to eliminate the Axe Gang!”
Gudong deduced the truth.
It was indeed so.
After the killing of the Axe Gang’s Gang Leader, Zong Ge and Zi Di had discussed how to handle the Axe Gang.
Undoubtedly, the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps and the Axe Gang were mortal enemies, despite having reached a Magic Contract of cooperation.
The Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps could not spare more forces to deal with the Axe Gang.
Even if they had the strength, Zi Di wouldn’t want to proceed in that manner.
Since they lacked connections and influence in Bloodline City, even if the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps ousted the Axe Gang, they could not inherit most of the gang’s assets and would only end up working for the City Lord’s office.
Ultimately, the two decided: only spread rumors and let the Bloodline City’s officials act. Meanwhile, the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps would take the opportunity to grow, and might involve themselves later on to swallow some assets belonging to the Axe Gang, to strengthen themselves.
Gudong easily located the headquarters of the Axe Gang.
He wasn’t worried about the strategy of the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps; what he cared about was Fu Zhao.
That was his mission.
However, after negotiating, he received bad news—Fu Zhao had gone out, leading the Fire Axe Cavalry to escort a large merchant caravan, most of whose goods were Dragon Power Riding Potions from the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps.
Gudong immediately panicked: “This is terrible. Qing Hong Yan has already gone to raid the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps’ merchant caravan. What if he encounters Fu Zhao?”
If it had been any other Holy Fighter, Gudong wouldn’t be so worried. The main issue was that Qing Hong Yan had significant hidden dangers: he couldn’t handle much stimulation, could easily be overwhelmed with rage, lose all rationality, and desire to slaughter everything in his sight.
Fu Zhao rode his horse, leading his gang members, guarding the caravan, and moved forward slowly.
One of the Fire Axe Cavalry, who was in charge of scouting, returned to report: all was normal.
Fu Zhao nodded and continued to arrange personnel to replace the scouts.
Seeing such diligent scouting, an older subordinate advised, “Young Gang Leader, there is no need for such frequent scouting. We are already near Bloodline City; no one would dare to provoke the Gang Leader.”
Fu Zhao’s brow furrowed slightly.
From these words, he sensed a probing tone.
After all, the rumor about the Gang Leader’s death had spread across Bloodline City.
“According to previous arrangements, my father should have come back that night, at most by the next day.”
“But now, so many days have passed, and not a single bit of news from my father has come back.”
“There must have been an accident, damn it…”
“What should I do?”
While Fu Zhao pondered how to respond to this probe, he suddenly heard the sound of whistling winds.
In the next moment, he saw a figure flying towards them from afar.
The presence of the Golden Level was completely unmasked, sweeping over grandly.
“Who is it?!”
“A Golden Level fighter, and he also possesses the Flying Combat Technique!”
“Who could it be?”
Fu Zhao’s expression changed dramatically, and he ordered everyone to prepare for battle immediately.
As they closed in, everyone clearly saw the appearance of the Golden Level fighter.
He was a snow Rabbit-man, with the head of a rabbit and the body of a human.
He had a pair of ice-blue eyes, a robust figure, and a large amount of metal structures replacing flesh and bones.
He looked more like an alchemy puppet than a normal person.
“What kind of monster is this?”
“Are there fighters like this near Bloodline City?”
The people did not recognize Zong Ge.
On one hand, Zong Ge was a snow Rabbit-man, not very active, and had been living in seclusion somewhere in Splice Mountain in recent years.
On the other hand, the sensation caused by Zong Ge in the past was only limited to circles of alchemy Mages and kingdom soldiers. Although several villages in the kingdom were slaughtered by Zong Ge, the Royal Family suppressed the matter to maintain relations with the Rabbit-man tribe, making a concerted effort to reduce Zong Ge’s visibility.
Thus, in the eyes of Fu Zhao and others, Zong Ge was obscure.
Zong Ge stopped, blocking the way of Fu Zhao and the others.
He saw Fu Zhao, and realizing he resembled someone from the intelligence reports, it dawned on him.
“Are you Fu Zhao?”
“Hand over the merchant convoy behind you!”
Zong Ge was blunt, his killing intent overflowing.
“My lord, may I ask who you are…”
After bowing, Fu Zhao asked sternly and then added, “You know me, but I do not recognize you. What is the nature of your relationship with my father?”
What Fu Zhao thought of was that, before Lin’s appearance, he didn’t know his father had been maintaining a close connection with such a Golden Level figure.
However, Zong Ge misunderstood Fu Zhao’s words, snorting coldly, “Your father is already dead, the convoy you are protecting, they belong to the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps who killed him!”
“Do you still want to protect the convoy of your nemesis?”
This outright truth caused a huge stir among the merchant convoy and the Axe Gang.
Fu Zhao was deeply shaken, hastily denying the accusation.
This was a world of the strong.
The main reason why the Axe Gang was so powerful, surpassing the acting City Lord of Bloodline City by far, was due to their Gang Leader who was at Golden Level.
If the Gang Leader died and there was no second Golden Level in the Axe Gang, the situation would be absolutely disastrous.
Therefore, Fu Zhao denied it immediately. After all, he was only Silver Level and couldn’t hold up the Axe Gang since his father had gone missing.
Zong Ge’s patience was almost exhausted, and he didn’t want to explain in detail: “Fu Zhao, get lost. Everyone in this convoy must die today!”
This frightened the people in the convoy.
They hurriedly shouted, reminding Fu Zhao of their mutual collaboration and magic contract.
Some even tried to quell Zong Ge’s intent to kill with money.
“Young leader, what should we do?” asked a veteran of the Axe Gang previously probing.
Fu Zhao grimly pondered for a while, then slowly shook his head: “How can we believe what the enemy says?”
“We’ve already escorted the convoy this far, not far from Bloodline City.”
“If we retreat here, how will we get by in Bloodline City in the future? What credibility will we have to maintain the business of escorting these convoys?”
The elder looked troubled, “But, this one before us is Golden Level. Now that the Gang Leader is not here, our Fire Axe Cavalry is the strongest force we have. We can’t just start fighting and risk losing them all here.”
Fu Zhao replied, “We can escape, disperse the convoy, and quickly flee toward Bloodline City.”
“We’ll see how things go and try to hold back this guy!”
“Hold back a Golden Level who can fly?” The elder’s face looked even more troubled.
Fu Zhao sternly stated, “That’s an order, do it!”
The Axe Gang members intercepted Zong Ge, while the people in the convoy each took their goods, or simply abandoned everything, scattering in disarray and fleeing rapidly.
Zong Ge was stunned for a moment then roared in fury, “Daring to pull tricks!!”
Fu Zhao also shouted loudly, “Fire Axe Cavalry, follow me, move!”
He spurred his horse and led the charge, with the Fire Axe Cavalry riding red Fire Fleece horses following close behind. For a moment, the sounds of hooves thundered like a torrent bursting forth.
But Zong Ge did not chase them, instead, he attacked the scattering merchants.
With his powerful strength, how could the people in the convoy stand a chance against him? The casualties were severe.
“They haven’t chased after us!” The members of the Axe Gang exclaimed in relief.
Seeing this, Fu Zhao gritted his teeth, fiercely yanking the reins, directing the horse he was riding.
Leading the cavalry, they flowed like a stream of fire in the snow, circling around and charging toward Zong Ge.
“What is the young leader doing?!” The Axe Gang members were shocked.
“This guy…” The elder was extremely anxious.
The Fire Fleece Cavalry was the strongest force in the gang, and he was worried that the cavalry would be decimated here.
Fu Zhao, too young and not knowing how to cherish, only knew how to bravely fight ferociously, was actually charging toward a Golden Level fighter!
“Elder, what should we do?”
“Attack together!” Among the gang, those who showed cowardice were despised, so the elder had no choice but to participate in the attack. If he did not do so, he would certainly be deemed a traitor and dealt with after the battle.