Chapter 158: Decisive and Ruthless Han Yanxin!

Although Zhang Ze was dismissed by Woody, Han Yanxin did not leave immediately.

"It is about time we set off for Nanhe Province~"

Whenever he spoke to Woody alone, this rank-eight powerhouse was always extremely cautious.

The shadows of those nine students lingered in the hearts of both, deepening the chasm between them.

Frowning, Woody said, "You are a rank-eight powerhouse; surely you don't need to travel with us?"

"Just hurry up and go~"

……

Returning to his dormitory, Zhang Ze had no choice but to accept the reality that he was now different from everyone else.

In truth, he had always been special.

However, having his meridians and bones reach the stage of secondary tempering brought many benefits, exactly as Han Yanxin had just mentioned.

With his current physique, theoretically, his physical upper limit could also reach rank seven, though he lacked the actual combat strength of that tier.

"Let's continue~"

Li Sanqing and Lu Mingyu suddenly appeared outside Zhang Ze's dormitory door out of nowhere.

Hearing Lu Mingyu's voice, Zhang Ze gave a genuine start of surprise.

"Continue? Continue doing what?"

"Why, plundering treasures and resources for a rapid breakthrough, of course!"

Lu Mingyu spoke with immense excitement.

Li Sanqing also smiled from the side, saying, "You must have heard about the Fourth Star Gate in Nanhe Province by now, right?"

"Mn~"

"The Martial Arts Bureau has authorized students of rank four and above to organize and head to Nanhe Province for reinforcements!"

With Li Sanqing putting it this way, the implication could not have been clearer.

Just as Zhang Ze was agonizing over his depleted wealth value, he hurriedly asked the two of them, "When do we leave?"

"Right now!"

"President Ruan Qi and several other students have already set off. When we noticed your kid was missing, didn't we come straight here to notify you?"

Lu Mingyu chuckled slyly, adding, "Tell me, did Instructor Woody not mention this to you?"

……

Ultimately, the three of them packed up their gear and prepared to rush to Xiangcheng County in Nanhe Province.

Meanwhile, at the border between Nanhe Province and Anqing Province:

A group of four people seemed to be waiting for someone. The sole woman among them asked, "Are you really this certain that kid will come? Why do I feel like after the incident at the Anqing Martial Arts Bureau, he should keep his head down and consolidate his gains?"

"After all, the wealth he carries on him is probably far more extravagant than what any of us possess!"

As the woman finished speaking, the middle-aged man leading the group furrowed his brow and muttered, "Rest assured, that kid is simply not one to stay quiet~"

……

When Woody caught sight of Zhang Ze, a flash of annoyance crossed her face.

Scolding him, she said, "What kind of trouble are you stirring up again? Have you digested everything you gained from before? Have you thoroughly comprehended the old man's Heavenly Emperor God-Slaying Finger? Have you mastered Old Man Fang's Dog-Beating Stick Technique?"

Treated to this lecture by Woody, Zhang Ze nodded repeatedly without offering a single word of rebuttal, let alone mentioning his departure.

What a joke!

Could he possibly tell her that the spoils from the battle in Anqing City had been completely devoured by those two abnormal meridians?

If Woody were to find out about that, wouldn't she flay him alive?

It was simply too damn wasteful!

……

In the end, Woody did not drive Zhang Ze away.

In reality, this team was already the last one dispatched by the Anqing Martial Arts Bureau to Nanhe Province.

Aside from instructors Woody and Xie Xun leading the group, this formation also had a formidable rank-eight grandmaster safeguarding them from the shadows.

Yet, because of Woody, Han Yanxin did not show his face, choosing instead to follow far behind in the air.

Zhang Ze was completely unaware of this; instead, his gaze fell upon Cheng Ren within the group.

He was quite surprised to find that this fellow had actually attained the strength of rank four. Although a combat potency of 1,100 S was not particularly high, a rank four was still a genuine rank four!

Fortunately, the other party did not notice Zhang Ze and the others at the rear of the procession; otherwise, another chaotic scene would have inevitably erupted.

……

Since everyone present was at least a rank-four martial artist, their pace naturally did not slow down.

Even without taking any vehicles, this group of over twenty people reached the provincial border by the afternoon of that very day.

Until this moment, Zhang Ze had no idea that he was already being targeted by four rank-six powerhouses!

"Ring, ring, ring~"

The middle-aged man leading the group answered his phone. "Speak~"

"The last reinforcement team from the Anqing Martial Arts Bureau has just passed my location. Led by two instructors, and that kid is among them!"

"Good!"

"Keep trailing them. Strike simultaneously once you are within two hundred meters of us!"

"Understood~"

With these brief instructions given, the middle-aged man signaled the two powerhouses beside him.

All three quickly concealed their auras, hiding within the forests on either side of the path.

……

This location was no longer far from Xiangcheng County.

Furthermore, with Wolf Fang Mountain situated in the eastern part of Xiangcheng County, the moment Zhang Ze and his group arrived here, they could already make out the hazy outline of Wolf Fang Mountain!

Yet neither of the two rank-six powerhouses, Woody and Xie Xun, detected any anomaly, failing to realize that their entire team had been locked onto by four rank-six adversaries.

To say whether these four rank-six cultists posed any genuine threat to the Anqing Martial Arts Bureau's team, the truth was: virtually none!

To begin with, Woody herself was a peak rank-six powerhouse with a combat potency exceeding 9,000 S, someone who had once single-handedly suppressed Zhu Wu!

Against these four rank-six cultists, Woody alone could easily keep two of them occupied without facing any mortal danger.

Even without fearing injuries, she would not flinch in the slightest when facing three ordinary rank-six opponents.

And that was not even mentioning Xie Xun leading the vanguard!

He was another flesh-and-blood rank-six powerhouse of solid reputation.

Moreover, the Anqing Martial Arts Bureau's detachment boasted over twenty senior students.

Take Ruan Qi, the president of the Martial Arts Club, for instance—he had already reached the realm of rank five, alongside two other veteran fourth-year students who were also rank-five martial artists.

Could anyone claim that these three couldn't pin down a single rank-six powerhouse?

Surrounding and executing a rank-six enemy wouldn't even require much effort, would it?

Not to mention the dozen or more rank-four students, including Zhang Ze himself!

To put it bluntly, these four rank-six cultists looked as though they had simply come to deliver their own heads on a platter!

……

However, within the minds of those four individuals, calculations of their own were churning away!

The only person they wanted to kill was Zhang Ze!

The sole objective was to deliver a clear message to the Anqing Martial Arts Bureau:

Our cult's setbacks in Anqing Province and Beijiang Province were not due to incompetence on the part of the cult, but merely the personal failures of fools like Zhu Wu!

Moreover, they simply refused to believe that four rank-six powerhouses—launching a sneak attack with such an overwhelming lineup—would fail to deal a devastating blow, even if their target happened to be a rank-seven powerhouse who let down his guard!

The four of them waited anxiously, soon catching sight of Woody and the others approaching.

To avoid detection, the four exerted every ounce of their strength to suppress their auras, quietly locking their focus onto Zhang Ze.

……

A sudden shiver ran through Zhang Ze, a strong sense of impending doom washing over him in an instant.

Yet he could not detect a shred of abnormality.

Even Xie Xun and Woody, positioned at the front and rear of the formation, showed no unusual reactions whatsoever, leaving Zhang Ze somewhat bewildered.

"Number Two, intercept Woody!"

"Number Three, withstand the assaults of Xie Xun and the students!"

"Number Four and I will kill Zhang Ze. It will take no more than three seconds!"

"Understood~"

Just as the four finished their whispered directives and prepared to strike, the figure of the middle-aged man suddenly materialized behind them. With a chilling voice and a palpable intent to kill that locked onto the four figures before him, Han Yanxin barked: "Whom are you trying to kill?"

As the words left his lips, the image of Woody’s smile toward Zhang Ze flashed through Han Yanxin’s mind, hardening his resolve!

In a flash!

Four heads tumbled through the air……