Legs Like Great Serpents, Evil Men Panic

In the dead of night:

Ever since learning of Liu Jun's death yesterday, Chief Subordinate Li Hao had been uneasy.

Although Hall Master Liu said Liu Jun had offended a Fortified Village Disciple and had therefore been beaten to death,

Li Hao did not believe it at all.

Because when he delivered silver to Young Master He Qi today, Young Master He Qi had even asked why Liu Jun had not come.

Later, upon learning that Liu Jun had died and his family property had been confiscated by the yamen, Young Master He Qi had cursed furiously.

"Liu Jun spent a year as chief subordinate, committing every evil imaginable. Who knew how many people he offended?"

"This time, either an enemy killed him for revenge, or some passing hero casually slaughtered him."

"I... have been chief subordinate for three years... I'm even worse than Liu Jun."

"Could someone come kill me?"

Li Hao, broad and burly, his muscles knotted like dragons, grew more terrified the more he thought about it.

He quietly rose, careful not to wake his wife, and gathered up his gold, silver, and valuables. "I'll sleep somewhere else tonight."

With the bundle on his back, he tiptoed over, opened the door, shut it, and turned around.

Li Hao froze.

There was now a burlap-clad Masked Man in the courtyard.

Damn it, he's here to kill me.

Li Hao opened his mouth, wanting to scream.

But the next instant, the figure swayed left and right like a great serpent and reached him in the span of a breath.

Under the moonlight, the Masked Man raised his leg high and lashed it down viciously.

The wind howled, like the hiss of a snake.

Li Hao was stunned. "Who?"

That leg came too fast, too fierce. Caught off guard, Li Hao had no time to dodge and activated his Iron Cloth Shirt with all his strength.

His muscles bulged furiously, and beneath his fine clothes, his skin turned iron-blue.

The long leg whipped brutally into his chest.

His shirt exploded apart. Li Hao flew backward, smashed through the door, and crashed into the room.

Pain shot through Chu Qing's leg, as though he had kicked mountain rocks.

He let out a low roar, his feet weaving like a great serpent as he pursued without letting up.

Another kick.

Li Hao's falling body was launched back into the air.

Li Hao was shocked and furious. I haven't done anything bad these past two days. Why are you trying to kill me?

Chu Qing sprang into the air, overtaking Li Hao. His long leg whipped down from midair like a serpent's tail.

The long leg struck his chest again.

On the third blow, Li Hao's massive body slammed heavily into the ground. His furious, shocked eyes were filled with disbelief.

Without Iron Bone, how could he have such tremendous strength?

How many Iron Sinews had this man cultivated?

The fourth strike followed immediately, lashing his chest once more.

His five viscera and six bowels shook, and the taste of blood surged into his throat.

Li Hao was both horrified and enraged, his eyes splitting wide as he frantically swung his arms.

As long as I block the next strike, as long as I block the next strike...

Damn it, I can't block even one!

Two long legs, like the tails of enormous serpents, lashed down savagely.

The fifth blow, the sixth blow, the seventh blow...

Chu Qing stopped kicking and let out a long breath. That breath even carried a bloody scent.

The burlap trousers around his legs had long since burst apart, and beads of blood seeped from his pores.

"What a hard body."

"Golden Bell Shield? Iron Cloth Shirt? Thirteen Taibao Horizontal Refinement?"

On the ground, the knotted, muscular body had been pounded into mush.

Li Hao was dead!

Finally, he had beaten him to death.

Chu Qing panted heavily.

He had not expected Li Hao to cultivate a defensive hard art.

Fortunately, Chu Qing had more Iron Sinews in both legs, making his Red Snake Leg more powerful, and he had been more decisive as well.

Otherwise... he could not have killed him.

Suppressed sobbing came from inside the room. Chu Qing could not be bothered to look and directly searched the corpse.

There was a bundle?

The commotion just now had been too great. Chu Qing did not dare linger, so he grabbed the bundle, turned, and left.

After a long while, the wife's heart-rending screams rang out from inside the room:

"Murder!"

"Murder...!"

Beneath the dim oil lamp:

Chu Qing opened the bundle.

There were several dozen taels of broken silver, but not a single Silver Note.

Instead, there were some gold and silver ornaments.

Unfortunately, such things were difficult to sell.

Fortunately, there was also a secret manual.

Iron Cloth Shirt

"So this fellow really did cultivate a horizontal refinement art."

Chu Qing flipped through the manual and found its pages frayed at the edges. Its owner had clearly read it often.

Chu Qing could read, so he carefully studied the book.

One minute later:

Cultivation Art: Iron Cloth Shirt—train a hundred times daily, enter the gate in a hundred days

Promotion Condition: 1: Wear burlap clothes, enter the gate in five days

This time, the Promotion Condition for the cultivation art was... absurdly simple.

Burlap clothes?

The set he was wearing was ruined, but he still had another set at home.

Put them on.

Chu Qing changed into burlap clothes and set the torn ones ablaze.

"I just wonder how those people at the yamen will respond."

Chief Constable Shi was expressionless. When his subordinates informed him that another chief subordinate of the Blood River Gang had died, his mood turned foul.

Provocation!

The murderer was provoking me.

Xu Zuo reported:

"The deceased, Li Hao, had cultivated forty Iron Sinews. His Iron Cloth Shirt was at least proficient, perhaps even at Great Accomplishment."

"There are snake-like marks on the corpse. He was likely... killed by a perfected Red Snake Leg."

Inside the main hall, Chief Constable Shi remained expressionless.

The many constables lowered their heads in silence.

After a long time, Chief Constable Shi said:

"I just arrested people from the Mantis Martial Arts Hall, Iron Hand, and other martial halls."

"And then a murderer from the Red Snake Martial Arts Hall appears?"

"Is he trying to save someone from a martial hall?"

"Or frame someone from a martial hall?"

"A perfected Red Snake Leg? How many people in Stone Rock County can accomplish that?"

No one dared speak.

Chief Constable Shi said softly, "The previous victim was killed by Mantis Fist, and the Red Snake Leg manual in his home vanished."

"This victim was killed by Red Snake Leg, and his Iron Cloth Shirt manual is gone."

"Tell me, could there be another victim?"

"Will the next victim be beaten to death by a muscular man who has mastered Iron Cloth Shirt?"

Hall Master Liu could no longer sleep.

Because eleven chief subordinates had dragged him out of bed in the middle of the night.

"Li Hao is dead."

"Liu Jun is dead."

"Everyone who died belonged to our hall."

"Hall Master, what do we do?"

Hall Master Liu sighed inwardly. What could they do? Eat cold dishes!

The chief subordinates were panicked, terrified that they would become the next targets.

"Hall Master, how about we all stay at your house for now?"

"There are so many of us. The murderer definitely won't dare attack us."

Hall Master Liu shook his head at once.

What a joke.

None of these chief subordinates were good men. If they moved in, who knew how many of the dozen or so concubines in his house could keep their chastity?

"Ahem... Li Hao cultivated Iron Cloth Shirt."

"Even I would have to put in some effort to kill him."

"But the murderer killed him in just three or five blows."

"How do you compare to Li Hao?"

The chief subordinates were aghast.

Hall Master Liu said calmly, "Tomorrow, go see Young Master He Qi and serve as his guards for a few days. You can curry favor with him and hide from the murderer at the same time. Why not?"

The chief subordinates all nodded and hurried away.

Stone Rock County, with its hundreds of thousands of residents, should have been bustling and prosperous because of the Martial Academy's Preliminary Exam.

But with Liu Jun and Li Hao dead, the whole county was suddenly on edge, as if every rustle of wind and cry of a crane signaled danger.

The gang leaders were filled with dread.

But the common people were jubilant.

Those two dead men had bullied men and violated women, committing every evil imaginable.

No one knew how many families they had ruined.

Now that they were dead, the common people secretly applauded. Some even set up memorial tablets in secret and worshipped Chu Qing as a god.

When Chu Qing learned of it, he could only shake his head with a bitter smile.

"I'm not that great."

"I only want to clip Hall Master Liu's wings and pull up the weeds by their roots."

"And... gather a few more cultivation arts, cultivate more Iron Sinews, and pass the Preliminary Exam."

"That is all."