Intercept and Kill

After the short young man left, Brother Ho did not place the "Green Turtle" among the other fish goods in the horse-drawn cart beside the wooden shed, but instead had the beautiful woman beside him store it separately.

Tran Mac glanced at the "Green Turtle," then prepared to leave with Truong Ha.

However, they were stopped by a Thanh Ha Bang lackey.

Truong Ha quickly forced a smile and said, "Esteemed boss, we are not selling fish."

"You still have to weigh them before you can go," the lackey said.

"No need, the meat in this bucket, no matter how you look at it, isn't a hundred catties," Truong Ha said.

"Whether it is or not, it's not up to you. According to the rules, it must be weighed," the lackey said.

Tran Mac's eyes narrowed. He had Truong Ha give him the wooden bucket.

This bucket of fish, even with the bucket itself, wasn't even fifty catties.

Even if the Thanh Ha Bang wanted to falsely report the weight, they couldn't add more than fifty catties.

However, it was still weighed at over sixty catties.

"Esteemed boss, can we go now?" Truong Ha said.

The lackey nodded: "Pay the respect money, and then you can go."

Hearing this, Truong Ha was stunned: "We have to pay respect money even if we don't sell fish?"

"Do you have a problem with that?" The lackey glared coldly at Truong Ha.

Truong Ha looked towards Tran Mac.

Tran Mac stepped forward and said with a smile, "Esteemed boss, then how much respect money do we need to pay?"

"Six wen," the lackey said.

"But we don't have any money," Truong Ha interjected.

"No money?" The lackey glanced at the two of them, sneered, and directly took the largest fish from the bucket – it was a grass carp – saying, "That's easy to handle. Use the fish as payment."

After speaking, without even weighing it, he left the fish in the wooden bucket and departed with the grass carp.

"We have..." Truong Ha wanted to chase after him and honestly pay the respect fee; after all, that grass carp was three or four catties, worth much more than six wen.

But he was stopped by Tran Mac.

"Brother Mac."

"Let's go," Tran Mac said.

...

After leaving Dai Dong Lake, Truong Ha finally couldn't hold it in anymore and said, "Brother Mac, I'm sorry. It was my big mouth just now. If I had known, I would have honestly paid the respect money."

But Tran Mac instead said, "Which road do they take back?"

Truong Ha: "..."

"Brother Mac, who are you talking about?" Truong Ha said.

"That group from Thanh Ha Bang," Tran Mac said.

"They are from the city. They take that official road from the west, and then..." As he spoke, Truong Ha seemed to realize something was amiss, his eyes widening as he said, "Brother Mac, are you thinking of?"

Tran Mac drew the Tang Dao from within the black cloth, his gaze sharp, like two arrows, and said in a deep voice, "Let's test if this dao of mine is sharp!!!"

Truong Ha's entire body trembled.

...

The snow was vast and heavy, falling thicker now. The world was completely hazy, visibility blurred, and strands of light rain were mixed within the goose-feather snowflakes.

In the distance, a group of people slowly approached.

Inside the horse-drawn carriage, Brother Ho embraced the beautiful woman, eating snow pears, his foot resting on what he called the "Green Turtle." The beautiful woman nestled in Brother Ho's embrace, her face flushed, emitting soft, charming sounds from her mouth.

Brother Ho ate lotus seeds, grinning as he said, "I really didn't expect that this Dai Dong Lake would still hold such a rare treasure as a Zi Yang Turtle. Once I consume this thing, my strength will surely surge."

Hearing this, the beautiful woman said coquettishly, "Didn't Master just say this was just a common Green Turtle?"

"What do you know? If I didn't say it was a Green Turtle and let those ignorant peasants spread it around, if Brother Xiong found out, he would definitely make me hand it over."

Brother Ho continued, "Once Laozi's strength greatly increases, that bastard Tru Dau Tam won't be able to lord it over Laozi anymore."

"Then this servant congratulates Master in advance," the beautiful woman said with a smile.

"Haha." Brother Ho laughed heartily three times, then immediately said, "Come, clean me up."

The beautiful woman ducked down.

"Thump..."

Just as Brother Ho was enjoying himself, the carriage suddenly lurched with a thud, his body tilting to the left due to inertia.

Then Brother Ho let out a groan and kicked the beautiful woman away with one foot, angrily shouting, "Are your dog eyes blind?!"

The beautiful woman, kicked to the ground, not only dared not feel wronged but instead knelt trembling on the ground, apologizing, "Master, this servant didn't mean to. I beg Master's forgiveness..."

The lackey's voice came from outside: "Brother Ho, the wheel is in a pit!"

"Then hurry up and lift Laozi out!" Brother Ho cursed. Seeing it was just a minor scrape, he turned to the beautiful woman, "Next time, you better..."

Before he could finish his sentence, a loud "Crack!" came from outside.

The lackey who was using an iron bar to lift the wheel turned pale. He saw that on the mountainside nearby, a pine tree as thick as an adult's waist shrieked and fell, heavily smashing onto the cargo carriage behind theirs.

"Hee hee..."

Men fell, horses toppled. A full load of fish spilled out, and tree branches and snowdrifts buried everything.

"What happened?" Brother Ho tied his waistband and stuck his head out of the carriage window.

But in the next second, his expression changed drastically.

He saw a black shadow descending from the sky.

Brother Ho had achieved his current position through his own fists, possessing rich combat experience. Realizing the situation was dire, he immediately escaped through the carriage window. After landing, he rolled and came to a steady stop.

"Bang..."

Brother Ho turned to look and saw the carriage smashed into pieces. His little concubine inside had died tragically on the spot.

"Thud..."

The black shadow landed heavily on the carriage frame, the wheels beneath sinking three parts into the snow and earth, sending up a spray of snow.

The person was dressed entirely in black, with a rather tall build, a cold expression, and held a "straight dao" in hand, his aura extraordinary.

Brother Ho's pupils contracted; in an instant, his mind was in turmoil like shocking waves and stormy seas.

Single-handedly, and striking with a killing move – this was an enemy, not a friend, and a formidable one at that.

"Who goes there? I am Tran Ho, a branch leader of the Thanh Ha Bang. Your Excellency..."

Swish!

Before he could finish speaking, the light of a blade flashed.

A round head rolled into the snowdrift, spraying a mist of blood.

"You are also worthy of the surname Tran!"

After beheading Tran Ho, Tran Mac consecutively killed his three remaining subordinates.

Slashing four people in a row, the blade's edge wasn't even slightly nicked.

"Good dao."

His gaze swept towards Tran Ho's remaining five subordinates. Tran Mac wiped the fresh blood from his face, a hint of excitement flickering in his eyes. He felt hot blood boiling throughout his body and then lunged out with a roar.

From the wheel falling into the pit, to the pine tree smashing down, to Brother Ho being killed.

All of this happened too quickly, so fast that the five subordinates were still in shock and hadn't reacted. By the time Tran Mac rushed in front of them, their faces had turned pale. It was too late to run now.

Tran Mac swung his dao, and three men fell dead to the ground.

The other two were subsequently struck down by Tran Mac.

"G-Good sir, don't kill me! I have old ones above and young ones below! Good sir, spare my life..."

The two men frantically begged for mercy.

Tran Mac ignored them, glanced at Truong Ha who had come down from the mountainside, took the dagger from his waist, and tossed it to him: "These two are yours."

Truong Ha picked up the dagger from the ground, trembling as he approached. Glancing at the corpses on the ground, he couldn't help but swallow.

"You don't dare?" Tran Mac's gaze turned cold.

"No... Yes, Brother Mac, I'll do it now," Truong Ha said in a trembling voice.

Although he had killed someone once before, seeing Tran Mac so ruthlessly dispatch so many people, he was still somewhat terrified...