417: Chapter 417 Swords and Shadows

As soon as Han Jingyang said this, everyone on the scene was shocked.

An outright robbery?

Although the items were originally his, under the unreasonable wrangling of these people, the truth no longer mattered as much.

What mattered was that once Han Jingyang took direct action, the matter would be characterized as Han Jingyang using his power to bully others.

People loved to watch such scripts and didn't care about the truth.

Therefore, Shi Xiaoya hesitated instead. She turned to look at Han Jingyang, her expression asking if he really intended to do this.

The middle-aged man was also startled, but then he pointed at the sky, feeling secure in the knowledge that he had backing: "Han Jingyang, many people are watching! If you aren't afraid of being condemned by everyone, then go ahead and do it. If we can drag you down with us, it's worth it even if we all die here. Come on!"

Han Jingyang waved his hand expressionlessly: "Surround them!"

Only then did Shi Xiaoya confirm that Han Jingyang was truly angry. She rushed over with her blade, and together with Liu Jing and the others, they surrounded the group.

The scene was a bit comical.

Han Jingyang had only six people in total, yet they faced over sixty—a tenfold difference.

But those six people were attempting to surround an enemy ten times their number.

However, no one could laugh.

No one doubted Han Jingyang's combat strength, nor did they doubt the combat strength of Liu Jing, Shi Xiaoya, and the others. The middle-aged man's group, in particular, was gambling—gambling that Han Jingyang would care about his reputation, prestige, and public opinion and would not dare to take direct action.

But now, it seemed they had lost the bet.

Yet, as things stood, before any real action was taken, they were still unwilling to give up. There was always a sliver of wishful thinking in their hearts, believing that perhaps Han Jingyang didn't dare to actually act and was just bluffing.

Was Han Jingyang bluffing?

Han Jingyang held his yanling saber and pointed at a young man with dyed yellow hair: "Put everything down!"

The yellow-haired youth was covered in bags and bundles, containing at least ten dharma instruments. Hearing Han Jingyang's words, he instinctively shrank back a step, then accelerated and rushed toward the outside of the encirclement.

A six-person encirclement had huge gaps; one could easily rush out.

The next second, Han Jingyang waved his hand: "Flashing Blades and Shadows!"

White qi surged out, condensing into streaks of bright light. The light took the shapes of blades and swords, dense and countless, and then enveloped the yellow-haired youth.

Having rushed less than five meters out, the yellow-haired youth collapsed to the ground without a sound and stopped moving completely. There were no wounds on his body, but he was already thoroughly dead. Although his body still had some vital signs, even if Taishang Laojun himself came, he would be powerless to save him. His soul had scattered.

Having taken the full force of the skill, not even a god could save him.

The surrounded crowd was in an uproar.

The middle-aged man shouted sternly: "Han Jingyang, how can you be so vicious?"

"Too vicious!"

"You won't even leave us a way to live!"

"He was only twenty years old; even if he committed a major error, it shouldn't be a capital offense, right?"

"This Han fellow never intended to let us go; he planned to wipe us all out from the very beginning."

"Fight him! We're going to die anyway!"

"Exactly, even if we die, we'll drag him down with us and let everyone see his true colors!"

"Killing people and seizing treasures without any pretense—how can such scum exist in the current martial world?"

"Scum! Beast!"

"Heavens, how could such a beast gain such powerful strength? The heavens are blind!"

"Come on, you bastard! If you have the guts, kill us all!"

"Han Jingyang, don't act recklessly. If you want to rob us, just rob us. Killing is too much. Even robbers know to only take money and not hurt people. By doing this, aren't you afraid of divine retribution?"

"This is the first time I've seen someone rob so unscrupulously. It's an eye-opener."

"Pah! Disgusting!"

"Everyone, don't be impulsive. Staying alive is the most important thing. Once we leave here, we must expose Han Jingyang's true colors!"

These malicious words made Shi Xiaoya and the others even angrier, almost ready to draw their blades and start killing.

Han Jingyang, however, remained expressionless. He looked at the middle-aged man and said calmly: "I'll count to three!"

"One!"

"Two!"

"Three!"

As the word "three" fell, he raised his hand: "Flashing Blades and Shadows!"

When the word "Shadows" fell, the middle-aged man slowly collapsed. There were no wounds on his body either, exactly the same as the yellow-haired youth who had tried to break out earlier.

At this, everyone was stunned.

The various noises vanished instantly. Everyone looked at Han Jingyang with terror, their eyes filled with disbelief. It was clear they hadn't expected that Han Jingyang would really dare to kill after counting to three, without a hint of hesitation.

Han Jingyang's cold gaze swept across everyone's faces: "Now, line up and hand over my war trophies one by one. If anyone dares to hide anything, die!"

His tone was flat. His volume wasn't high either.

Yet, his cold voice hid endless killing intent, like a cold wind blowing from Siberia—silent but extremely lethal. Wherever it reached, there was dead silence.

The cold killing intent was slowly released at the scene, gradually enveloping everyone.

Even Yang Jinyuan, Xu Xin, and Zhou Changzhu instinctively held their breath.

The atmosphere was extremely heavy. So heavy it was suffocating.

The crowd, who had just been full of resentment, anger, and curses, seemed to have turned into ice sculptures, not daring to move.

It wasn't until Han Jingyang slowly raised his hand that the crowd instantly thawed. They scrambled to put down various dharma instruments, bowing and scraping with obsequious smiles as they lined up in front of Han Jingyang: "Mr. Han, I... I've put everything down. Please search me."

"Yes, yes, yes, I've put everything down too, I didn't hide a single thing."

"Actually, I really didn't want to do this; it was that bastard Wang Qin who tricked us into coming."

"Mr. Han, I'm sorry. I spoke out of turn just now. Please be the bigger person and don't hold it against me. I'm sorry."

"Slap, slap, slap! Mr. Han, I'll slap myself; no need to trouble yourself. The things I dug up are all here."

"Mr. Han, let me kowtow to you."

"I apologize to you; my attitude just now wasn't very good. Please forgive me."

"Sorry, Mr. Han!"

"..."

In just an instant, everyone completely changed their attitude, no longer aggressive or overbearing as before.

Han Jingyang smiled.

See, the distance from being unreasonable to being reasonable is only two lives. So far, yet so close.

Thinking of this, he said in a gentle voice: "Isn't this much better? Let me ask you, whose items are these?"

"Of course they are yours, Mr. Han."

"They're yours, yours."

"These are your war trophies. Everyone saw your heroic actions in Xipo Village."

"Exactly, no one can erase your contributions, let alone seize your war trophies."

"They are absolutely yours, Mr. Han, without a doubt!"

Han Jingyang nodded with satisfaction: "Some people wanted to seize my war trophies, and I successfully took them back. That's reasonable, right?"

"Reasonable!"

"Not a single problem with that."

"Anyone would do the same."

"One hundred percent reasonable!"

"We all support you!"

"That's what should have been done in the first place!"

Han Jingyang smiled again: "So, what was the point? You had to force me to kill. What do you call this? This is what you call refusing to accept courtesy."

"Yes, yes, yes, we went too far."

"We brought this upon ourselves."

"We deserve it."

"It was us who didn't know what was good for us. It's our fault. Mr. Han's handling of the situation is completely fine."

Han Jingyang sighed: "At the beginning, I said I would let each of you take one dharma instrument, pick whatever you wanted, right?"