Chapter 248 - When Seeing Injustice, Draw the Gun

Chapter 248: Chapter 7: When Seeing Injustice, Draw the GunPassing through Broken Stone Mountain, I arrived at a vast plain where columns of smoke rose from the endless grasslands, and distant cries of despair drifted on the wind.

Without looking for long, Lu Hong saw a group of soldiers surrounding several common women; he didn’t need a brain to know what would happen next.

Such things were absolutely intolerable. Lu Hong charged forth, his War Holy Sword traced a beautiful arc, and three heads tumbled to the ground as columns of blood gushed forth.

"Who is it?"

"Kill him!"

The violent soldiers didn’t waste words and drew their weapons to strike Lu Hong.

The strength of these soldiers from the Kingdom of Cang was not formidable, the strongest merely at Second Transition Level 3. Lu Hong quickly slaughtered them one by one, leaving no survivors.

Turning around, Lu Hong pulled three garments from his Space Ring and draped them over the women.

"Many... many thanks, Lord, for saving our lives."

"Lord, I beg of you, please save our village!" One of the younger women clung tightly to Lu Hong’s thighs, pleading incessantly.

Before Lu Hong could speak, the other two women pulled her back and said, "Don’t speak of it, they are Qingxiao City’s protective army; no one can defeat them."

"Don’t listen to Xiao You’s many words, Lord. We’re already deeply grateful that you saved our lives. There’s no need to risk your own life to be an enemy of Qingxiao City." This woman was rather pragmatic. She could see that Lu Hong was very strong, as he easily killed the soldiers besieging them, but it was the city’s protective army that slaughtered their village, at least three thousand strong. How could one man possibly stop them?

"Interesting." Lu Hong took a liking to the woman who spoke and smiled, "Take me there; I’ll help you solve the problem. However, after that, you’ll need to decide your own course."

Lu Hong could help them in their urgent crisis, but after this event, the village where the women belonged would inevitably be hunted by Qingxiao City, and Lu Hong did not have the time to ensure they found a safe place to settle.

"If the Lord could help us through this predicament, we would be forever grateful."

"Yes, Lord. We’ve heard that there’s a resistance army in the south rebelling against the oppressive rule of the Kingdom of Cang; we could flee there."

After hearing the two women’s words, Lu Hong nodded, "Tell me the direction, and I’ll go to save them."

The woman pointed westward, "Twenty li west from here is our village."

As soon as she had finished speaking, Lu Hong had disappeared from the three of them.

Racing along the way, Lu Hong indeed saw the Qingxiao protective army engaged in slaughter and looting.

"Damn it, I hate these bastards who bully civilians the most." Heaving his War Holy Sword, Lu Hong leaped into action.

"Enemy attack!"

The protective army’s Mage reacted swiftly, casting a slow spell on Lu Hong. Following that was a volley of Ice Arrows and Fireballs lined up in formation, so dense that there was no chance to dodge, surely the work of a battle-hardened regular army.

"Heavenly God descends!" Lu Hong didn’t waste words; a mere Great War Master profession certainly couldn’t handle this group of soldiers.

As the divine light shone, his vital energy cut open a sky river, and angry waves crashed upon the army of the city’s defenders.

"Form up! Cyclone Shield!" The protective army’s commander issued orders rapidly.

Unfortunately, the vital energy of Lu Hong was too overwhelming; the defense constructed by five hundred Mages hand-in-hand couldn’t withstand the force of the Blood River even for a moment.

The commander’s complexion changed and then he shouted, "Defend yourselves."

When the Blood River subsided, only a few soldiers were left standing.

The commander’s face was ashen; he was a Second-Transformation Peak blood executor and had sustained severe injuries himself—his subordinates’ chances were slim.

As Lu Hong approached, the commander shouted angrily, "You dogs of the Disaster Church, may you never die in peace!"

"Huh?" Lu Hong was taken aback. The Disaster Church? What was that? Confused, he asked, "What are you talking about? I don’t understand."

"Hmph!" However, the protective army commander didn’t wish to waste words with Lu Hong, turning his head away, resigned to death.

Lu Hong wasn’t in a hurry to kill. He scanned the village and was surprised to find no living villagers in sight. Were they all dead? Or had they all fled?

"Where are the villagers?"

The cold blade of the sword slapped across the commander’s face.

"Answer my question!" Lu Hong commanded in a low voice, and the man barely managed to say, "What damn villagers, these people are all followers of the Disaster Church."

"?????" Lu Hong was a bit confused, and inside his mind, Ancestor Dragon laughed loudly: "Haha, my little brother, you’ve been played by others!"

Was I being used as a pawn?

Lu Hong continued to inquire, "If they are from the Disaster Church, what are you looting in the village for? What are you burning?"

"It’s a tradition in Cang Country; whatever is looted in warfare belongs to the soldiers. If we don’t loot, who should we leave it for?"

"Uh... what the hell are you burning then?"

"The Disaster Church is adept at poisoning; we must burn these things, or they might trigger an epidemic...wait!" The commander also realized something was amiss, the masked man in front of him seemed ignorant about the Disaster Church, not resembling an ally: "You aren’t a follower of the Disaster Church?"

"Nonsense, I don’t even know what the Disaster Church is," Lu Hong now felt extremely guilty. Good Lord, it turned out the three women before were deceiving him.

"Then why did you help them escape?!" The self-righteous commander became assertive: "You’ve killed my brothers for no reason, you moron! Return my brothers’ lives!"

The commander stood tall and charged fiercely at Lu Hong.

Knowing he was in the wrong, Lu Hong kept retreating, but the other man, inflamed with rage, relentlessly attacked with his axe, forcing Lu Hong back three hundred meters.

"Are you done being angry?" Lu Hong said with a wry smile, looking at the breathless commander: "I couldn’t discern right from wrong, blinded by deceivers, I apologize."

Having vented his anger, and seeing that the masked man was strong and could leave unchallenged if he wished, the commander realized that Lu Hong’s staying at least made him half-decent.

In the end, he was just another person deluded by the Disaster Church, so the commander could only charge all accounts to their name. He said to Lu Hong: "You must help me eradicate the Disaster Church’s branches, a life for a life!"

"Agreed." Lu Hong nodded. Being used as a pawn was something he didn’t need anyone to tell him to rectify. Once he was free, he’d surely seek vengeance.

"Fine, follow me back to the city to report and establish a contract, and I shall forgive you." Without delay, the commander helped up three of his surviving brothers and hurried with Lu Hong towards Qingxiao City.

Although the man was impolite, Lu Hong eventually learned the commander’s name, Kado. A rather rare Berserker profession—such a vocation was very scarce, transitions purely relying on luck.

Many planes generate Heavenly Gods, but these tend to be weak compared to those in super continents like Shen En. They have their own legacies, which aren’t spread through Holy Temples. As for how exactly they are passed on, probably only those who receive the legacy can tell; anyhow, Lu Hong hadn’t managed to find out.

"You’re not from the Umbra plane?" Kado struggled to believe he was a native since Lu Hong had never even heard of the Disaster Church.

"Yeah, otherwise I wouldn’t have been deceived by those women." Lu Hong’s face was full of regret: "My fault for not thinking it through; those women indeed showed no sign of being professionals, their only slip-up was the distance they had fled, but at the time, I was too anxious to save them to consider it."

"Three women..." Kado’s expression softened slightly as he said indifferently: "Those are the three major external Holy Women of the Disaster Church, with exceptional acting skills. Many innocent citizens were lured into the church by their deceit. Their most formidable skill is disguise, all three being Second-Transformation Peak Deceivers."

"Deceivers?" Lu Hong was stunned again, having never heard of such a profession before. As rare as Berserkers, indeed.

"That’s right, innately deceptive and incredibly skilled in disguise and poisoning. Their words naturally carry a strange bewitching power that makes people unconsciously believe them. It’s no wonder you were deceived by them." Kado continued: "But don’t think I’ll forgive you so easily; the lives of over three thousand of my brothers can’t just be sacrificed in vain. You have to help me take down those three wicked women!"

"Agreed, but my arrival in Umbra was for an urgent matter that I must take care of before I can fulfill our contract."

"Thinking of running away?" Kado sneered: "Who knows if you’ll return once you leave?"

"If I didn’t intend to honor the contract, I could kill all of you right now." Lu Hong said coolly, unflinchingly meeting Kado’s gaze.

A moment later, Kado nodded: "Alright."

As they reached an agreement, Kado’s tone became a bit more cordial.

Through Kado’s explanations, Lu Hong gradually understood the turmoil in the Umbra’s Disaster Church.

The chaos in Umbra was inextricably linked with the church.

The Disaster Church specialized in spreading plagues and disasters, inciting wars.

The seven nations of Umbra were already at odds; spurred on by the Disaster Church, warfare was ceaseless, leaving citizens destitute.

"What a detestable church!" Lu Hong exclaimed, considering that compared to the Disaster Church, even hellish sects seemed almost kind.