"Understood!"
Upon hearing Wang Daolu's command, the Taoist priests behind him immediately whipped out their horsewhips and charged towards Jiang Yan.
Seeing that these guys dared to make the first move, Jiang Yan grinned, accelerated with a stomp, spun around, dodged the whip lashing towards him, and with a counter-punch, directly knocked down the foremost Taoist.
This clean, swift strike immediately sent a chill through the remaining Taoist priests.
While this person also knew some martial arts, he was no match for a trained death warrior like Jiang Yan.
Despite being outnumbered, they fought fiercely.
In just a few exchanges, all dozen or so Taoist priests were groaning and sprawled on the ground.
"What did you say, you old geezer?"
As Jiang Yan spoke, he strode over to Wang Daolu.
"I, I..."
Seeing Jiang Yan's sinister grin, Wang Daolu instinctively felt that this fellow had ill intentions towards him.
"You dare to curse my son-in-law? I think you old fogey are really tired of living!"
Jiang Yan was not one to talk without action. With a backhand punch, he smashed directly onto Wang Daolu's nose bridge.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk. Good thing I didn't mess with this kid. He's too brutal. People say don't hit the face, why does this guy only target the face?"
Just by the sound, it was clear that Wang Daolu's prominent nose was probably beyond saving.
Lü Ying watched the spectacle, munching on beans with a loud crunch, showing no intention of intervening.
"You dare to hit me? Do you know who I am?"
After that punch, Wang Daolu was enraged. His livelihood depended on his face, and with this punch, how could he pretend to be an immortal anymore?
After all, what immortal had a flattened nose?
"I'm hitting you specifically because of who you are!"
Jiang Yan was also mischievous, deliberately aiming for Wang Daolu's face when he struck.
After just a few punches, Wang Daolu's face had completely swollen into a pig's head.
His originally bloody molars were now uneven.
With his current appearance, if he put on beggar's clothes and stood in Bianliang City, he could probably beg an extra hundred or eighty copper coins a day.
"I'll fight you to the death!"
Seeing his current state in a bucket of water nearby, Wang Daolu completely lost his mind.
With his current appearance, let alone pretending to be an immortal, he probably wouldn't even be able to get a meal at the Taoist temple.
In this era, the Taoist priests of the Shenxiao Sect were different from others. Lin Ling Su was a master of presentation. Basically, for all the abbots of Shenxiao Wanshou Palaces across the land, the primary selection criterion was appearance.
After appearance, then came the evaluation of their professional abilities.
He relied on his own face, coupled with vast sums of money, to climb to his current position.
Now that his face was ruined, it was highly likely that his position would be lost.
Although, fifty percent of the income from all Shenxiao Wanshou Palaces had to be submitted annually.
Moreover, of the remaining fifty percent, one percent was kept for temple repairs, another percent was equally divided among the Taoist priests of all ranks, and two percent was retained as the temple's savings. He, as the abbot, could at most receive one percent of the profit.
But the problem was, besides these, their business was truly without capital.
Even though he could only legally obtain one percent, he manipulated things on one hand and created pretexts on the other. At the end of the year, the money he received, apart from his daily expenses and enjoyment, was at least tens of thousands of guan.
No hard labor, no meticulous effort, just chanting scriptures in the temple and playing along with the pilgrims, he could earn tens of thousands of guan annually, in addition to good food, drink, and occasional companionship from beautiful women.
Such a good deal was truly hard to find even with a lantern!
Upon realizing that such a good position was slipping through his fingers, Wang Daolu wished he could skin Jiang Yan alive.
Of course, life is often like this.
Ideals are grand, but reality is stark.
With his mediocre martial arts skills, he was not only unable to gain any advantage in front of Jiang Yan, but he didn't even have the strength to fight back.
In less than fifteen minutes, his Taoist robe was torn into shreds.
Now, even the beggar's attire was ready-made.
"Cough, cough, cough..."
Seeing that Jiang Yan had finished his workout and Wang Daolu was lying on the ground, only having the strength to breathe, Han Mo slowly stood up, stretched, cleared his throat a few times, and leisurely walked over.
"Arrest these bandits who attacked the immortal!"
Seeing Han Mo's gaze, Lü Ying immediately understood. He shouted and waved his hand, signaling his confidantes to make their move.
"The wind is strong, let's go!"
"Old geezer, our names are honest, and our surnames are real. I am Wang Xingye, a great general under King Li. I will come back to settle the score with you another day!"
Jiang Yan and the others were quick-witted. Upon hearing Lü Ying's words, they immediately took to their heels and ran.
As they fled, they shouted loudly.
After hearing Jiang Yan's words, Lü Ying almost burst into laughter.
King Li? Wang Xingye?
It would be truly foolish for Li Mao'er to dare to return to Neihuang County at this time!
As for Wang Xingye?
His head was still hanging from a flagpole!
The excuses these fellows came up with were too perfunctory!
"Immortal Wang, are you alright?"
Seeing that the show was almost over, Lü Ying quickly tucked the soybeans back into his懷, stepped forward to help Wang Daolu up, and asked with great concern.
"You, you!"
It was better when he didn't speak. Upon hearing Lü Ying's words, Wang Daolu nearly fainted from anger.
"What kind of county magistrate are you? How can there be such bandits in Neihuang County? Go and find a painter immediately, draw their likeness, and issue a general notification throughout the land. Even if we have to search every corner of the world, we must capture these bandits!"
"Understood!"
After Lü Ying finished speaking, he turned and ran.
The bailiffs behind him also followed with strange expressions. After running for over a mile, they all burst into laughter.
They originally thought Lü Ying was excessive, but they never expected Han Mo to be even more so.
"Immortal Wang, you have suffered! Rest assured, no matter how far we have to chase them to the ends of the earth, this official will definitely capture these bandits for you!"
Hearing the laughter from Lü Ying's side, Han Mo cleared his throat, his face not blushing, and said righteously.