185 Mercy

Chu Li glanced at the four Grandmasters and turned to look at Song Shiling. "Heir to the High Duke, do you really want to do this?"

"Dispel his martial arts!" Song Shiling shouted.

The four Grandmasters immediately rushed toward Chu Li.

Suddenly, Chu Li disappeared in a flash and appeared behind Song Shiling. He gave him a light pat.

Song Shiling had not yet reached the Innate Mastery's Boundary. However, he did not expect that Chu Li would dare to attack him. Due to his carelessness, his personal Grandmaster was not around.

A pat from Chu Li, and his body suddenly froze and became motionless. Several of his main acupuncture points were instantly sealed.

Chu Li stood behind him and watched the four Grandmasters quietly. Chu Li was smiling at the six pairs of angry eyes.

"Surnamed Chu, you're audacious!" Song Shiling flew into a rage and shouted. "If you dare touch even a strand of my hair, I'll make sure you die without a burial!"

Chu Li reached out his hand and pulled a strand of hair from Song Shiling. He snapped it gently. "I just touched one strand of your hair. What are you going to do?"

"Kill him!" Song Shiling roared.

Chu Li placed his hand on Song Shiling's shoulder and smiled. "Before you kill me, the heir to the High Duke will die. We'll go to the netherworld together."

"Surnamed Chu..." Song Shiling scoffed through gritted teeth. "Spit it out! What's your condition?"

"I know that if I ask for the Wang brothers, heir to the High Duke won't agree," Chu Li said.

"Of course!" Song Shiling scoffed.

The Wang brothers were worth four Grandmasters and losing the two of them would cause the strength of the Huay Public House to decrease significantly. It would not be able to restore that amount of strength in a short amount of time.

Chu Li said, "I'd like to ask heir to the High Duke to write a confession memorial, [1] explaining this matter in detail to the Emperor. As for how the Emperor will deal with it, it's not something that we can decide. Based on the capability of your Public House, it's not that difficult for you to extricate yourself."

Song Shiling said coldly, "Impossible!"

Chu Li pressed Song Shiling's shoulder. "If that's the case, I can only take heir to the High Duke to my Public House to discuss this matter!"

"You think that you can escape?" Song Shiling sneered. "Don't you dare do anything to me. Even if I were to go to the Yi Public House, nobody would be able to force me to write the confession."

Chu Li said, "Heir to the High Duke, you are of highborn. I wouldn't dare piss you off. In fact, I wouldn't do anything to you."

Song Shiling smiled smugly.

Chu Li sighed. "At most, I would take off heir to the High Duke's clothes, and make you walk around the town. I believe that the public would be happy to see you. Within a month, the whole of Great Ji will know the name of the heir to the High Duke!"

"Despicable!" Song Shiling scoffed through gritted teeth.

Chu Li smiled. "This is what heir to the High Duke is forcing me to do. You give me no choice."

"...Very well, I'll write it!" Song Shiling said coldly. "I'll remember this!"

A wise man knew when to concede. Surnamed Chu was audacious. He even dared to kidnap the heir to the High Duke. He would basically do anything to achieve his aim.

The heir to the High Duke intended to write the confession first to fool Chu Li. After Chu Li let him go, he would then send all the Grandmasters in the Public House against Chu Li to kill him. He would recover the confession no matter what!

"That's good!" Chu Li laughed.

Chu Li patted Song Shiling's back lightly and all the acupuncture points in Song Shiling's upper body were unsealed. Song Shiling regained his ability to move. However, his legs were still tingling and he could not walk.

Chu Li reached out a hand to hold Song Shiling, and the both of them flew up in the air. They landed in front of a table that was below the window.

Chu Li rubbed the inkstick [2] personally.

After he had done rubbing the inkstick, he gestured with his hand. "Heir to the High Duke, please—!"

Song Shiling glared at Chu Li coldly and picked up the ink brush. He was contemplating motionlessly.

Chu Li stared at Song Shiling from a side, turning a blind eye to the four ashen-faced Grandmasters.

They were in a tight spot and they itched to kill Chu Li with a slap.

Before their very eyes, they watched Chu Li take the heir to the High Duke hostage. Even if the heir to the High Duke did not bear any grudges, they were still aggrieved. They felt unworthy of their posts as High Officials.

Song Shiling put brush to paper and wrote a page full of words in one go. After that, he threw the brush fiercely out of the window and stared coldly at Chu Li. "Are you happy now?"

Chu Li took paper and blew it. After glancing at its contents carefully, he nodded with satisfaction. He smiled and said, "Thank you very much, heir to the High Duke!"

Song Shiling deadpanned. "Now, can you let me go?"

"Of course." Chu Li patted Song Shiling with a smile. "Heir to the High Duke, till we meet again!"

He disappeared suddenly in situ.

Song Shiling shouted, "Chase after him! Get the memorial back!"

"Yes," the four High Officials said gruffly before rushing out.

Lu Yushu sat at a stone table below a peach tree. He was sipping tea lazily. "Sir Xi Wu, sit down. You don't have to be so uptight."

Xi Wu's eyes surveyed his surroundings. "I'm not thirsty. I'm fine with standing."

Lu Yushu said, "Sir Xi Wu, he's not that terrifying."

Xi Wu said, "Master, you shouldn't have angered him!"

"Humph! Had I not provoked him, he would've be friendly with me?" Lu Yushu pursed his lips. "Think about how many of our people were killed by him!"

Xi Wu shook his head. "This is for Lady Lu Yurong to worry about. Master need not provoke him!"

"Anyway, since I've already provoked him, we might as well kill him!" Lu Yushu scoffed. "He isn't that big of a deal. Didn't he get driven out of the House in disgrace?"

"Hai..." Xi Wu shook his head with resignation.

Master Lu Yushu was young and uppity. He had not yet experience Chu Li's might. The more Xi Wu said, the less convinced Master Lu Yushu was. In the end, Master Lu Yushu wanted to compete with Chu Li. Xi Wu's words were counterproductive, and he was better off keeping quiet.

Right at that moment, Chu Li appeared suddenly in front of the two in a flash. He smiled at them.

"You!" Xi Wu's hair stood on end, and he began channeling his inner energy crazily.

"Chi!" Chu Li shot a cold glint from his left hand and it instantly reached Xi Wu.

Xi Wu knew that Chu Li's flying blade was very powerful and barely dodged it.

"Chi!" just after XI Wu avoided the flying blade, he heard another flying blade being shot out.

"Master, be careful!" Xi Wu shouted with widened eyes. His shout was like a clap of thunder.

The cold glint that was shot from Chu Li's right hand instantly hit Lu Yushu, and Lu Yushu flew into the air. Chu Li smiled at Xi Wu and disappeared.

Xi Wu could not care less about chasing Chu Li. He caught Lu Yushu in the air anxiously.

Lu Yushu's right chest was stabbed with a flying blade but it was not bleeding. His face was pale and his eyes were dazed.

Xi Wu quickly channeled his inner energy to protect Lu Yushu's heart. "Master? Master?!"

Lu Yushu looked down slowly and struggled violently.

Xi Wu held him down in a hurry. "Master, stop moving around!"

"I'm going to die?" Lu Yushu stared at the flying blade in his chest. He shouted in a panic, "Am I going to die?"

Xi Wu said quickly, "Master don't worry. You won't die. It's not fatal ... this flying blade stabbed your right chest. If it was on the left, you would've been dead."

"On the right ..." Lu Yushu looked down and then laughed. "Hahaha, it's on the right! It's on the right! ...This Chu Li is such a fool!"

Xi Wu opened his mouth but shut it right after.

Lu Yushu laughed heartily. "He must've mistaken my right and left side. What a fool!"

Xi Wu took out a jade bottle and poured out a red pill. He stuffed it into Lu Yushu's mouth and hit Lu Yushu's chest with his finger several times quickly. He then pulled out the flying blade. The wound surprisingly was not bleeding.

Xi Wu looked down and studied the flying blade.

The flying blade was ice-cold and turned out to be driven by an extremely cold inner energy. This made the wound freeze straight away, causing Lu Yushu to avoid bleeding to death.

"Hahaha..." Lu Yushu was excited because he had just escaped death. He was laughing non-stop. "The next time I see him, I'll make sure to thank Chu Li properly. To thank him for his mercy! Hahaha!"

He revealed a cheeky expression and laughed increasingly loudly.

"Hai..." Xi Wu shook his head and sighed.

He did not want to say anything more as his Master was not that stupid. After a while, his Master would calm down and be able to understand the reason behind Chu Li's mercy.

"Hahaha... Did this fool really make our Public House suffer heavy casualties? Younger Sister must be confused!" Lu Yushu laughed heartily.

Xi Wu had enough. "Master, do you really think that Chu Li would make such a mistake?!"

[1] A memorial to the throne that was written on paper folded in accordion form. It was an official communication to the Emperor in Ancient China.

[2] Inkstick is a solid ink used traditionally in China for calligraphy. An inkstick is ground against an inkstone with a small quantity of water to produce a dark liquid (ink) which is then applied with an ink brush.