Love letters are not allowed in the exorcism notebook!-Chapter 506 - 84: The Opponent’s Military Strength is Not Inferior to Ours

Cold steel sparked flames in the dark night.

Ito Hidemi, holding half a katana, desperately struggled in the midst of a fierce torrential assault.

As for why it was only half a katana... his family heirloom blade had been severed by an axe during the very first exchange.

This was the most preposterous thing he had encountered since arriving in Tianmen from Edo Port.

The opponent was wielding an ordinary wood-cutting axe, the kind commonly seen on the street which could be bought for a couple of cents, and perhaps even discounted in bulk. It was no longer than three feet and not even well-suited for chopping people.

But the opponent’s understanding and mastery of weaponry far surpassed his own, praised as a genius of Fusang swordsmanship. The man had risked taking a slash to close the distance, then, with a backhanded blow, struck the side of Ito’s katana, splitting it in two right on the spot.

From then on, Ito Hidemi never again gained the upper hand.

The two engaged in a fierce close-quarter brawl in the not-so-wide street, trading blood for blood, life for life, like two wild beasts starved of reason, totally disregarding their own injuries, each intent only on killing the other.

Of course, this was just a metaphor.

Despite having four or five bones chopped apart by the axe, and himself managing to land over a dozen slashes on his opponent with the broken blade, Ito Hidemi still maintained his cool internally.

He hadn’t used his full strength.

He didn’t want to employ his most powerful move against a Jianghu man who only knew how to swing an axe.

The air felt wrong tonight; he had inexplicably attracted this kind of trouble, which seemed utterly sinister.

What saddened him, however, was that his opponent also seemed to hold back.

After several exchanges, he realized that this damn thing was an Iron Sparrowhawk!

An advanced form of Heretical Dharma Gate practiced by Garrison Soldiers—Iron Sparrowhawk—transitions from team coordination to the extreme of individual combat prowess, excelling in mano-a-mano battles. The more they bleed, the more berserk they become, doubling their combat effectiveness.

The reason Ito Hidemi understood so much was simple; he cultivated the same Dharma Gate. So, as soon as the opponent made a move, he guessed much of it right and even discerned that the other hadn’t completed the advancement.

And he was hiding something else too.

If it had been anyone else sustaining such severe injuries, they would have likely died from excessive blood loss. But for those who cultivated the Heretical Dharma Gate of the Garrison Soldiers, this was just a mere sprinkle of water, at most a warm-up.

...

Damn, these Fusang devils really have thick blood!

Previously, Eryang and Wormwood together couldn’t even put a dent in that Fusang warrior, proving how tough these Fusang people are.

Wang Yunxiao wielded two huge axes, one in each hand, nearly chopping the son of a gun into mandarin fish, yet the opponent’s presence remained stable, the footwork untangled, even having the energy to counterattack.

The two of them hacked at each other from one end of the street to the other, spilling blood all the way, yet achieving no conclusive results.

Wang Yunxiao of course hadn’t used his full strength, since no matter how suspicious the identity of the opponent was, he was still clad in that police uniform. Among those present at the scene, the only one definitely problematic was the Witch who liked to steal lines.

On the surface, he was engaging the Fusang man, but what he mainly wanted to do was to keep him restrained, devoting most of his energy to watching Zhou Qing and the Witch.

The Magic used by the Witch was quite peculiar. Anything she touched immediately turned into candy and pastries. As for Zhou Qing’s rope, which usually worked fine... saying it was her Lifebound Dharma Treasure wasn’t wrong. It surely worked wonders in a surprise attack from hiding, but in face-to-face combat, it revealed the deficiency of its striking power.

The rope she had wrapped around the Witch instantly turned into hard candy, easily shattering with a light tap.

Zhou Qing was actually not adept at combat; before her death, she was just a dazed young girl, and her combat power now depended completely on the resentment inherent to her transformation into a Soul-Claiming Malevolent Ghost after death.

But the good news was that the opponent also seemed to lack combat skills, probably more adept at casting spells from the shadows.

The two women seemed to be fighting with earth-shattering ferocity on the surface, but in reality, neither had a proper way to deal with the other.

Could this be the legendary excellent matching mechanism of the Tianmen Region?

Wang Yunxiao was distracted for a while but realized this method wouldn’t work.

After all, this wasn’t his home turf, and prolonging the fight would only lead to more complications.

He had to take out the witch first! She was clearly targeting Li Mumu, although he had no idea how Eldest Miss Li had managed to provoke such a person...

Wait a minute, a witch?

Could this be a personal vendetta between factions of witches?

In an instant, Wang Yunxiao’s mind concocted numerous dramatic plots spanning decades.

At that moment, the Fusang person, who had been losing, changed his tactics.

He deliberately exposed a weakness.

To be exact, he presented the broken katana to Wang Yunxiao.

This move was clearly not vicious enough. There was no need to take the hit and trade blows, so Wang Yunxiao instinctively dodged.

But as he sidestepped, the Fusang person also quickly retreated to create distance and pulled out a revolver from his waist.

Have you ever heard a saying, ’A gun is faster beyond seven steps’?

The opponent was clearly not skilled with firearms; otherwise, just like that blonde Patrol Police, he would have drawn his gun right at the start. He probably drew his gun now out of desperation, hoping to change the dynamics of the fight.

But his choice was unwise.

Whether a gun is quicker beyond seven steps is another matter, but unless someone is a particularly skilled gunman, like those cowboys who practice American-style Iaido all their lives, an ordinary person can’t utilize the full potential of a firearm against a Martial Path expert, even at a distance.

Wang Yunxiao closed the distance between them.

The gunshot echoed.

The Fusang man’s hand was steady. The first bullet grazed Wang Yunxiao’s scalp. At the same time, Wang Yunxiao grabbed the arm holding the gun, his fingers sliding under the trigger.

The two men, locked in each other’s arms like tango dancers, exerted force simultaneously.

Damn, Old Silver Coin!

Wang Yunxiao and Ito Hidemi cursed inwardly in unison.

The gun was just a ruse.

Ito Hidemi had been waiting for him to get close, then planned to use his judo skills, which he never showed in public, to throw him to the ground.

But as soon as they grappled, he realized that his opponent was stronger than anticipated.

With a muffled thud, the blue brick wall behind Ito Hidemi burst, and the two men, entangled, rolled disheveled into a civilian’s house.

An oil lamp was lit inside the house, and the woman fighting with a man on the bed let out a terrified scream.

Wang Yunxiao had one hand around Ito Hidemi’s neck and the other pressing down on his gun, trying to disarm him, while Ito Hidemi elbowed Wang Yunxiao in the chest, trying to push him away.

Just then, both men simultaneously stopped their struggle as they noticed a little girl, no more than five or six years old, squatting beside them, staring with wide, bright eyes.