Green Wolf Grabs the Chest, Black Tiger Takes the Heart

Straw Bag Strategist truly deserved his reputation as a schemer. His patience was formidable; fury churned in his chest, and killing intent toward Ning Chuan had already risen within him.

But recalling County Magistrate Han Zhang's instructions, he still wore a kindly smile. He took out a handkerchief and slowly wiped the vegetable soup from his face.

"Brother Ning Chuan, there's no need for this, no need for this!"

As he spoke, he shot Green Wolf a meaningful look behind him.

Green Wolf understood. He picked up a wooden box from the table behind him and walked over to Ning Chuan.

He set the box before Ning Chuan and opened it. Inside lay ten silver ingots, arranged neatly in rows.

Straw Bag Strategist's voice sounded at just the right moment:

"Young Friend Ning, let us open the skylight and speak plainly. Seeing that you are so young yet so valiant, my County Magistrate has taken a liking to your talents and wishes to recruit you."

"As long as you nod, these hundred taels of snowflake silver, as well as the women by your side, will all be yours."

"And this is merely a gift upon meeting. So long as you serve my lord wholeheartedly in the future, your prospects will be boundless. Silver, beauties—you can have as much as you want!"

"Of course, I advise you to consider this carefully. My lord is the dignified County Magistrate. If you refuse him, I fear you will find it impossible to take even a single step in Qingshan County. You may even invite disaster upon yourself."

Straw Bag Strategist smiled broadly, yet every word carried a threat.

He first offered Ning Chuan a sweet date, then raised the big stick, looking as though he had Ning Chuan completely under his thumb.

"HAHAHAHA..."

Ning Chuan threw back his head and laughed wildly.

"You set people on me first and failed to kill me, and now you want to recruit me? If I refuse, you'll just send more people to kill me, right?"

"Tell me—what's with the County Yamen's wanted notice? What is the relationship between your County Magistrate and Three Tiger Mountain?"

"A dignified County Magistrate who does not seek the people's welfare, but instead colludes with bandits and preys upon the common folk—this kind of scum, I, a proud seven-foot man, would never deign to stand alongside!"

Ning Chuan abruptly rose to his feet and kicked the wine table over.

Straw Bag Strategist was drenched from head to toe in soup. A fist-sized chunk of fatty meat landed atop his head, while vegetable soup and grease streamed down his forehead. A leaf of greens plastered itself over one eye.

Straw Bag Strategist froze for a few seconds. Then he raised a trembling hand to point at Ning Chuan, shaking all over with rage and unable to form a coherent sentence.

His patience had run out. He could endure no more!

"You... you... boy, you dare!"

As the County Yamen's chief strategist and the County Magistrate's most favored man, wherever he went, people fawned over him and flattered him.

Yet today, he had suffered such monstrous humiliation. Unforgivable! Absolutely unforgivable!

He pointed at Green Wolf and Black Tiger.

"You two, are you blind? Get him! Break this brat's legs and chop off his hands for me!"

The two gang leaders had been standing to the side watching the show, and neither had expected things to end like this.

By the time they came to their senses, it was already too late.

The four women, on the other hand, reacted fastest. Letting out shrill screams, they fled in panic.

"Yes!"

Green Wolf and Black Tiger cracked their knuckles and let out piercing, savage laughs as they approached Ning Chuan from either side.

"Boy, don't blame me when you reach the underworld. If you must blame someone, blame yourself for not knowing what's good for you!"

"Green Wolf Grabs the Chest!"

"Black Tiger Takes the Heart!"

The two struck at the same time, emanating the aura of Martial Arts Eighth Rank warriors as they unleashed their signature moves.

A claw went for his throat, a fist for the small of his back.

Claw and fist tore through the air, hurtling toward Ning Chuan with shrill howls.

The savage grins on their faces grew wider, as though they could already see Ning Chuan's miserable end.

Little did they know that, in Ning Chuan's eyes, their attacks were as slow as snails and as feeble as infants.

Before their fist and claw could land, Ning Chuan had already seized both their wrists in one grip.

The two only felt their wrists suddenly clamped by bands of steel, an agonizing pain drilling into their brains.

Their hearts jolted in horror. With a fierce roar, they used every ounce of strength in their bodies to desperately yank their hands back.

But their wrists seemed trapped beneath a mountain. Their arms were nearly pulled from their sockets, yet Ning Chuan did not budge an inch.

Ning Chuan sneered.

"Heh. Green Wolf Grabs the Chest? What chest are you grabbing? Black Tiger Takes the Heart—what heart are you taking? Tricks you use under the blankets with your wives, huh?"

Faced with Ning Chuan's mockery, their gazes grew even more vicious, but neither said a word.

"Kill!"

The two were seasoned hands of the martial world, rich in combat experience. Their free hands darted to their waists, each drawing a dagger that gleamed with cold light.

One stabbed at Ning Chuan's chest, the other at his neck. Their coordination was exceptionally seamless.

Ning Chuan suddenly tightened his grip. With a crack, he crushed both men's wrist bones, their wrists going limp like noodles.

The two were tough enough that they did not even grunt. Their daggers did not pause in the slightest as they viciously stabbed down at Ning Chuan.

Ning Chuan sneered, seized their wrists, and gave them a violent shake and shove, sending the pair flying like rag dolls.

Reaching out, he snatched up a teacup in each hand and hurled them at the two men.

With a thunderous bang, their bodies crashed onto the dining table, smashing it to pieces as grease, soup, and food splattered everywhere.

The instant Green Wolf and Black Tiger hit the ground, they rolled sharply away, retreating several feet from Ning Chuan and narrowly dodging the teacups he had thrown!

Another deafening CLANG rang out as the teacups smashed into the room's wall, embedding themselves more than half a foot deep.

"Kill!"

Ning Chuan let out a furious roar and lunged forward in a single stride, appearing before Green Wolf.

His huge foot aimed at Green Wolf's head and came crashing down from midair!

Green Wolf's pupils shrank violently. He had no time to dodge and hastily raised an arm to block.

"Crack... splat..."

His arm snapped with a crisp crack!

His head burst open with a wet splat!

Red and white matter sprayed everywhere, staining an area the size of a winnowing basket.

"Ding, you gained 11 attribute points!"

Black Tiger had only just gotten to his feet when he felt as if a real tiger had fixed its gaze upon him. Every hair on his back stood on end, and he hurriedly rolled across the ground.

With a thunderous bang, Black Tiger hastily turned his head to look—and was scared out of his wits!

Beside where he had been standing moments ago, a door pillar as thick as a foot had been shattered by Ning Chuan's kick, and another huge foot was swinging toward his waist!

Black Tiger screamed in terror!

"Stop! Spare me!"

How could Ning Chuan possibly heed his pleas? He blasted out with a kick.

"Crack!"

"Aah!"

Black Tiger let out a bloodcurdling scream. His waist had been kicked cleanly in half!

"Ding, you gained 13 attribute points!"

After killing the two, Ning Chuan looked around.

"Eh, where's Straw Bag Strategist? Where did he go?"

Walking out of the private room and looking outside, he saw a lone rider already racing away in a cloud of dust—the man on horseback was none other than Straw Bag Strategist!

"Damn, he runs fast!"

It was already too late to chase him now!

That horse was swift as the wind and fast as lightning, vanishing from sight within a few breaths!

"What rotten luck!"

Ning Chuan shook the scraps of flesh from his trouser legs, picked up the silver from the ground, wiped away the soup and dust, and put it into the wooden box.

"I'll take this silver as my fee for making a move!"

With these hundred taels added in, Ning Chuan's savings now came to exactly two hundred and fifty taels.

Thinking of the silver made him somewhat satisfied, though the number did not sound particularly pleasant.

In the distance, Straw Bag Strategist spurred his horse madly toward Qingshan County.

"Ning Chuan, I will repay today's humiliation a hundredfold!"

"Since this old man has survived, on the road ahead, I will personally find you a fine burial ground with perfect feng shui!"

He gnashed his teeth, his eyes gleaming with terrifying murderous light. All he wanted was to kill Ning Chuan.

As for the recruitment task the County Magistrate had assigned him, he had long since tossed it beyond the clouds.