ChangNing’s Imperial Army - Chapter 126

Chapter 126 – I’ve Been Wanting to Kill You For a Long Time
Shen Leng kicked Mu Liu’er in the lower abdomen, kicking her back into the room. He turned around and shut the door tightly.

“Who are you?!”

Mu Xiaofeng stood up abruptly. “Somebody!”

Shen Leng lifted his hand and pulled out the dagger from Mu Liu’er’s head. The dagger spun and flew out, heading straight towards Mu Xiaofeng. Instinctively, Mu Xiaofeng dodged it. Just when he recovered from his shock, the man in black had already appeared right before him. To put it more accurately, the fist of the man in black had arrived before his eyes.

Ever seen a fist as big as rim of a bowl?

Bam!

That fist hit Mu Xiaofeng directly in the mouth. His lips immediately cracked upon impact. A few bloodstained teeth flew out of his mouth, while a few of them headed straight for his throat. He had no choice but to swallow them with much difficulty. Furthermore, he had a mouthful of blood.

Mu Xiaofeng was unable to speak at all, right after that punch. From the nose down, it seemed as though a firecracker exploded in his face. It was bloody and gooey, making him look very pathetic. However, naturally, the person who hit him did not pity him.

After Shen Leng punched him, he absolutely did not have any intention to stop. He threw another punch at his lower abdomen. The impact was so big that it forced Mu Xiaofeng to bend over and fall to his knees. In the moment his knees crashed into the ground, Shen Leng grabbed Mu Xiaofeng’s chin with both hands and moved it back and forth twice before he pulled it downwards, breaking his jaw. It was impossible for him to yell even if he wanted to.

Shen Leng grabbed Mu Xiaofeng’s hair with one hand and lifted his head. He used the other hand to take off the black cloth and smiled at Mu Xiaofeng. “I bet you did not expect this, right?”

In such a moment, it was inevitable for Shen Leng to smile. People once said a long time ago that we should embrace joy and pleasure at every chance we got.

He grabbed Mu Xiaofeng’s left arm and pulled it straight before smashing his fist onto it. With a loud crack, his arm broke. Mu Xiaofeng was in so much pain that his body squirmed and became all twisted. He was already disfigured and now, he looked even more unsightly and malevolent.

“Originally, I wanted to bring you to the river bank, the place where we started out feud. But when I thought about how I’d have to carry you and run over such a long distance, it sounded very tired so I gave that idea up. When I was on my way here, I even thought of a sentence…if life remained the same as the first time we met, we’ll be even after you die…what a great sentence.”

When Shen Leng spoke, he stamped his feet twice in a row, breaking both of Mu Xiaofeng’s ankles. Even if Mu Xiaofeng wanted to run now, he could not.

“I don’t need you to say anything, but I have something to say. If I kill you immediately and leave after, of course, that would be the best choice. But I feel that if I did that, I wouldn’t be able to vent my anger properly and would still feel bad. If I had to choose between killing you and making myself feel better, of course killing you will make me feel much better.”

Shen Leng pulled a chair over and sat down. Actually, he was not in a rush.

Nobody would have expected anybody to go to Mu Xiaofeng’s courtyard to kill him at this moment. Most of Mu Xiaofeng’s subordinates had gone to Wei village. That was because Mu Liu’er was very clear about how strong Mr. Shen was. The few soldiers who remained in the courtyard had been killed by Shen Leng. They died without a sound.

“Ritual.”

Shen Leng suddenly thought of that word. He exhaled a long breath.

That was right – it was a ritual. He had thought about killing Mu Xiaofeng for a very, very long time – as long as Mu Xiaofeng thought about killing him. Right now, the day and moment had finally arrived. If he did not say anything, it would truly be lacking.

The victor must make a declaration. Even if it made him seem petty.

“You have been looking for opportunities to kill me. You think that killing me is not a difficult feat because of your family background and your father’s position in the imperial court. When you were consoling yourself, I’m sure you thought about how it is beneath your dignity to bother yourself with a nobody like me, and all you should do is to casually kill me off in the future. And I was also waiting for an opportunity. My thoughts were not as complicated as yours. All I needed was a chance to get physically close to you. As long as I do that, your family or the people backing you up behind the scenes would all be meaningless. I just have to casually kill you off.”

Shen Leng took a deep breath once more and calmed himself down a little more. It was one of the rare times he was not calm.

“Most importantly, when I was outside, I heard what you said. If you did not mention Cha’er, I would have just killed you directly. But you did, and you said it in a vile manner.”

Shen Leng grabbed the hengdao and swung it violently. He cut something off from his crotch. Mu Xiaofeng let out a groan and his eyes widened immediately. His face became more distorted.

Shen Leng turned his head around and looked at Mu Liu’er, who was on the ground. She was the first-in-command of Guan Tang Kou. She was a powerful figure in Changan city. She was in control of all the gambling dens in Changan city and Jingji. However, in Shen Leng’s eyes, she was not worth mentioning at all.

“We’ve been wanting to kill each other for a long time – probably about the same amount of time. Perhaps you’ve been wanting to kill me a little bit longer.”

Shen Leng bent over and looked into Mu Xiaofeng’s eyes. “The reason is not complicated – it’s because when you saw Cha’er by the river bank, you had some evil thoughts which could be seen in your eyes. If we were just ordinary folks who did not know martial arts, perhaps, you would have already taken Cha’er away that day. I would have died, and Cha’er would have been in a worse predicament. At that time, you called us over not because of the fact that we were at the water bandits’ camp, but because you think Cha’er’s beautiful.”

Shen Leng took out the scabbard of the small hunting knife. “At that time, when I was learning martial arts from Mr. Shen, I thought of a phrase that sounded exceptionally awesome. Later on, when I said it again, I felt it was pretty good. And afterwards, I never said it again. Do you know why? Because I felt that it cannot be more suited for you, as though it was tailor-made for you.”

Shen Leng scraped Mu Xiaofeng’s face as hard as he could with the scabbard. Just like that, a layer of skin and flesh got scraped off.

“Let me scrape your face with my scabbard.”

Shen Leng did it a second time. Half of Mu Xiaofeng’s face was only left with nothing but bones. It looked so horrifying that it made one’s hair stand on end.

“I don’t like to torture people. The biggest punishment one can face is death. Killing them is enough. However, for you, I have plenty of ideas and thoughts. If people can truly be reincarnated, I hope that the torture you’ve been through today will be engraved on your brain, and that you will never forget this memory. It’s for your own good. Don’t harm others in your next life.”

Shen Leng took a deep breath for the third time. “It’s written like that in novels – bad people will ultimately be killed. I feel that I’m a good person – the kind that makes sure justice gets served.”

He kept the scabbard. After that, he dragged Mu Xiaofeng to the door. He drew out Mu Xiaofeng’s peidao and stabbed it into Mu Liu’er’s wound on her head. He did not break Mu Xiaofeng’s right arm intentionally because he wanted to set up a scene that was a bit more crude. Whether or not the scene would play a role in helping him depended on his luck.

Mu Xiaofeng was on the ground; he had a sword in his hand. The edge of the sword was on Mu Liu’er’s head, and the latter died with her eyes opened.

It was a setup as such.

Shen Leng used his hand to cover Mu Xiaofeng’s mouth and nose. He squatted there and looked into Mu Xiaofeng’s eyes. “Actually, I have another reason to kill you. After I kill you, your father’s mind will be in turmoil. He will be unable to continue doing a lot of things. Great Ning is so rich and powerful; stable and peaceful too. As a Ning person, how can I allow you people to destroy her?”

After saying that, Shen Leng felt as though he was very majestic.

Shen Leng suddenly thought about what he said to Meng Changan at Feng Yan Tai before he killed Pei Xiao. He told him to say a phrase or two to make himself sound cool, and that in the future he would do the same when killing his enemy. However, Meng Changan could not be bothered to say anything.

At this moment, Shen Leng thought of a very tasteful phrase. Hence, He said it in his most solemn way possible.

“I love this country, I want to protect her.”

Mu Xiaofeng’s eyes became bigger and bigger. His body was twitching violently, and his face gradually turned purple. He wheezing and making sounds, but it did not last for long. Shen Leng covered his mouth and nose, causing him to be unable to breathe. He was too heavily injured – there was absolutely no way he could withstand for long.

Shen Leng quietly waited for Mu Xiaofeng to die. After that, he stood up and took a deep breath for the fourth time.

“At that time, Mr. Shen asked what my biggest dream was. I said, I wanted to kill every single water bandit in the world. Mr. Shen said that my outlook is somewhat narrow…later on, I understood what Mr. Shen meant. Speaking of harming others, people like you are even more harmful to others than water bandits.”

Shen Leng examined the scene and removed his footprints. Thereafter, he took the repeating crossbow, that was used to kill the soldiers outside, and placed it in Mu Liu’er’s hand. The repeating crossbow originally belonged to Guan Tang Kou. There was absolutely no way it could be traced back to its origin.

Thereafter, Shen Leng took a broom and lightly swept away the footprints that he left behind in the small yard. He walked backwards and returned to the door of the room before placing the broom back at its original place. He took out two pieces of black cloth and wrapped it around both feet and returned to the room. He opened the back window and looked out. After he made sure that there was nobody around, he leapt out.

Shen Leng turned around and looked at the house. He thought to himself: Tuming, I have already avenged you. There’s one more left. I hope you’re not too impatient waiting down there. Give me a bit more time.

He had thought of the route a long time ago. How would the present Shen Leng do things without planning in advance? In truth, Shen Leng even suspected that at that time, perhaps when Zhuang Yong gave this courtyard, which was located in a remote place, to Mu Xiaofeng, he already had other thoughts in mind. That old cunning person was capable of thinking a lot; he would even think of things that were unnecessary.

After coming out of Mu Xiaofeng’s couryard, one would get to the Navy’s camp’s sewers. There were weeping willows planted on both sides of it. They could perfectly block one’s line of sight. Shen Leng thought about whether or not he should thank Zhuang Yong. After much deliberation, he decided to forget about it…

He followed along the sewers and went out of the Navy’s camp. When Shen Leng was about to leave, he suddenly sensed something amiss. He drew out his black cord sword, which was tied to his back.

“Don’t swing it carelessly.”

Hei Yan appeared from behind a tree. He narrowed his eyes at Shen Leng. “You like to tell lies.”

Shen Leng shrugged.

Hei Yan said, “We rushed over to Wei village first, but your house was empty.”

He looked at Shen Leng. “You intentionally made us run to that side. Are you afraid of implicating us?”

Shen Leng replied, “You can think of it that way too. By taking all of you with me, you would have somewhat hindered me.”

Hei Yan looked unhappy.

“Go. There are more important things to attend to.”

“We hinder you, huh.”

Li, who was still squatting on the fork of a tree like a cat, looked rather unhappy as well. “I am someone is exceptionally good at holding grudges. I don’t forget the bad things people say about me. Especially the ones that were said in front of me.”

Duan, who was leaning against a tree trunk, nodded. “Oh…yeah. Holding grudges.”

Shen Leng said, “I will cook personally.”

She, who had a sword with black tassels on his back, shrugged. “You want us to forgive you with just one meal? Please specify how many dishes and soups are you cooking for us.”

Hei Yan said, :Yeah…trying to make amends with just one meal? That’s not good enough.”

“Two meals!”

Shen Leng gritted his teeth.

“Fine, barely enough though.”

The three men, Duan, She and Li leapt out. Hei Yan looked at Shen Leng. Suddenly, he started laughing, “This fella is really suitable to work in the underworld. The method and way of thinking are best suited for this line of work. You are a natural-born talent – you will become a good boss in the underworld. But you became a general instead, what a pity…truly a pity.”

Shen Leng was speechless.

Hei Yan asked, “Mu Xiaofeng has been killed?”

“Yes.”

“Mu Liu’er has been killed?”

“Yes.”

“Is that woman difficult to deal with?”

“I don’t know, one sword attack was enough to take her life.”

“That sloppy?”

Hei Yan shot Shen Leng a glance. “You’re not bragging, right?”

Shen Leng walked straight ahead while casually answering. “She…is only but a three.”

“What about Mu Xiaofeng?”

“He’s only a two. An idiot, a fool, a dumbass.”