At that moment, a crowd had gathered below the inn, though no one knew when.
Fang Shuwen glanced outside, then gently patted Long Qingzhi.
"Can you still stand?"
Long Qingzhi opened her eyes, looked at Fang Shuwen, and nodded. She rose from the bed, but as soon as she took a step, she swayed unsteadily.
Fang Shuwen steadied her. Suddenly, Long Qingzhi heard a THUD.
Something seemed to have been thrown in through the window. Turning her head, she saw Fang Shuwen reach out, a torch already in his hand.
With a flick of his wrist, he tossed it back out the window.
In that instant, a series of panicked shouts erupted from within the inn:
"Which bastard is throwing torches into the inn?"
"Are you trying to burn your old man to death?"
"This is outrageous! You dogs outside, I’ll see you in hell for this!"
As angry shouts and curses echoed, the entire inn was suddenly engulfed in roaring flames.
At the same time, two figures burst through the window and into Fang Shuwen’s room.
The moment they looked up, they saw Long Qingzhi.
"That’s her!"
"Take her."
After a brief exchange, the two charged toward Long Qingzhi together.
Fang Shuwen said to Long Qingzhi:
"Go pack your clothes."
As his words fell, he struck out with his palm, and one of the two men suddenly vanished.
His companion was stunned. He turned his head to look around. ’We were supposed to charge together,’ he thought. ’How did he just... disappear?’
All that was left was a hole in the floor.
And from downstairs, people cried out in alarm:
"Did someone just fall from the sky?"
"No, it’s a corpse!"
The other man froze for a second. He whipped his head around to see Fang Shuwen standing right before him and bellowed in rage:
"You’re dead!"
Fang Shuwen almost laughed.
Seeing the man reach for the weapon at his waist, he casually threw a punch that landed squarely on the man’s face.
BANG!
The man’s head instantly shattered, and his headless body crumpled to the floor.
Fang Shuwen looked down at his sleeve, his brow furrowed.
’Dirty again...’
’In this world, there are Divine Weapons that remain unstained by blood.’
’I wonder if there are clothes that can remain utterly spotless?’
’If so, I have to find a way to get some. It would save me from having to change clothes every day...’
He glanced back at Long Qingzhi, who had stumbled while packing her clothes. After a moment’s thought, Fang Shuwen tore a piece of fabric from the bed curtains and walked over to her.
"Put your arms on my shoulders."
Long Qingzhi glanced at Fang Shuwen, nodded lightly, and wrapped both her arms around Fang Shuwen’s neck.
Fang Shuwen then used the fabric as a strap to bind her to his body.
The inn was now a raging inferno. The fire was intense, and thick smoke was already pouring into the room from the cracks around the door. They couldn’t stay here any longer.
Fang Shuwen took a single step and leaped out through the shattered window.
He didn’t know the exact background of his attackers this time. The group downstairs seemed to have planned a fire attack, but they hadn’t considered what to do if someone actually jumped out.
Of course, perhaps they had considered it, just not thoroughly enough.
They had probably anticipated their target jumping out and landing in the middle of their encirclement, where they could swarm him. They hadn’t expected Fang Shuwen to flicker across the gap and land directly on the opposite rooftop.
The whole crowd stared up at Fang Shuwen, then at each other, dumbfounded. It took them a moment to remember to jump up and attack.
Fang Shuwen shot them a cold glance. With Long Qingzhi injured, he had no intention of getting tangled up with these people. He turned to leave, but was met with a chorus of whooshing sounds.
Hidden Weapons flew at him from all directions.
Fang Shuwen himself was not afraid, but he had to protect Long Qingzhi. He immediately activated Thousand-Pound Weight. RUMBLE! He crashed straight through the roof and into the building below.
The moment he landed, a fist flew at his face.
Fang Shuwen neither dodged nor evaded. He met it with a punch of his own, shattering the attacker’s fist. The force of his blow didn’t stop there; it continued on to obliterate the man’s head.
The headless corpse slammed into the wall.
Without a second glance, Fang Shuwen started to walk out the door, but paused just before the threshold.
He moved to the side of the doorway and threw a punch. BOOM!
The man behind the wall had been waiting for Fang Shuwen to appear so he could launch a sneak attack.
Instead, he was first struck in the head by the exploding wall, then caught by Fang Shuwen’s Fist Force, which sent him flying sideways.
’That wasn’t what I expected...’ Fang Shuwen mused. ’My original plan was to shatter his head with a single punch through the wall.’
’But I forgot the chunks of plaster from the wall would hit him first.’
’Looks like next time I should hold back a little. Let the noise draw his attention, and when he investigates, I’ll just snap his neck.’
Fang Shuwen mentally adjusted his tactics for the next time.
Unfortunately for the other ambusher in the room, he wouldn’t be the beneficiary of this new tactic.
Seeing his companion’s gruesome death, he didn’t dare linger. He turned and bolted for the door.
But just as he crossed the threshold, Fang Shuwen yanked him back inside and casually slapped him against the wall, killing him instantly.
When he emerged from the main room, another crowd had already formed outside.
"Hand over Long Qingzhi, and we’ll spare—"
Someone started to shout, but Fang Shuwen had no patience to listen. He leaped into the air and brought down a [Vajra Tower Throwing] from above.
SPLAT! SPLAT! SPLAT!
The crowd was packed tightly, and the single palm strike instantly killed seven or eight men.
Only then did Fang Shuwen have a moment to think.
’From the two men who broke into the inn and the words of the man outside, it’s clear they’re really after Long Qingzhi.’
’The situation is taking a turn for the worse.’
’It seems... Long Qingzhi and I are now enemies of the entire world?’