Tian Heng Vomits Blood, Reaching New Heights

"Ah..."

Tian Shisi let out another incomparably shrill scream, chilling everyone to the bone.

Then he fainted outright.

At once, the faces of everyone around them twitched.

Watching this scene made them all ache as though it were their own hands and feet being broken.

Especially the warriors of the Black Clothes Gang and Tian Heng's other Adopted Sons—their bodies went ice-cold.

When the rabbit died, the fox grieved! Their hearts chilled! Thirteen and Fourteen had been utterly loyal to their Foster Father, yet the moment trouble arose, they were dragged out first to be sacrificed as scapegoats?

They had never expected their gang leader, who usually acted as though righteousness meant more to him than life itself, to be so cold-hearted.

Today, he had sacrificed Thirteen and Fourteen without hesitation. What about tomorrow?

Would it be their turn? It certainly would!

Thirteen and Fourteen were already the Adopted Sons their gang leader valued most. Compared to them, the rest were likely lighter than goose feathers.

When necessary, their gang leader would surely sacrifice any one of them without a second thought.

Tian Heng's standing in the hearts of his Adopted Sons plummeted at once.

If they had worship meters above their heads, they would have been dropping with a clatter right now.

With this single move today, Tian Heng lost all support within the Black Clothes Gang.

To put it simply, once people's hearts scattered, the ranks became hard to lead.

What was more, countless onlookers stood all around.

Tian Heng had once seemed so imposing and tyrannical in their eyes. Who would have thought that Shen Lang could force him to break the limbs of two of his own Adopted Sons?

His prestige had been swept clean away! And word of what happened today would soon spread throughout Xuanwu City. By then, countless people's fear of Tian Heng would greatly diminish, and his standing in the martial world would plunge.

What happened today would become a disaster, a lifelong disgrace for Tian Heng.

Gritting his teeth, Tian Heng said, "Shen Lang, are you satisfied now?"

"More or less," Shen Lang said. "Gang Leader Tian, you must remember what I told you yesterday very clearly now, right? I truly am a man of my word."

Clearly? It was etched into his bones and soul.

How great a price would he have to pay in the future to make up for today's losses? He truly had not expected that he, Tian Heng, who had roamed unchallenged his entire life, would suffer such a massive setback at the hands of a pretty boy like Shen Lang.

Who could have imagined Shen Lang could really do it?

But Tian Heng still had a chance.

As long as he clung tightly to the Prefect's Manor, once he helped the Prefect and Governor-General destroy Xuanwu Earl's Manor in the future, he would become deputy city lord. Everything would be worth it.

Once he had power, what need was there to speak of brotherhood in the martial world?

But today's humiliation, he had no choice but to swallow alive.

Just wait until later, just wait until later! Shen Lang said, "Gang Leader Tian, it's getting late, and there's just a little left before we can wrap up our business."

Tian Heng's expression changed drastically.

What? It was not over yet? He had already broken the limbs of two Adopted Sons in public, and it was still not over?

"Shen Lang, don't push me too far!" Tian Heng roared.

"Didn't I just win nineteen thousand gold coins at your gambling hall?" Shen Lang said. "Surely that still counts, right? Give me the money. My wife will be calling me home for dinner soon."

At once, Tian Heng's eyes turned bloodshot, and he was about to explode.

There was no way he could pay this money, nor was he able to.

His gambling hall had already paid out more than ten thousand gold coins today. Prosperity Place's treasury was nearly drained. Where was he supposed to find so much money?

It was absolutely impossible for him to pay, unless the Earl himself came to collect the debt.

"Of course, I'm still a very loyal man," Shen Lang said. "What if you can't come up with that much money? I can't exactly force you to sell your wife. How about this: repay me two thousand gold coins first, then write me an IOU for the remaining seventeen thousand. What do you say?"

Shen Lang estimated that this was already the largest sum Prosperity Place could produce at the moment.

Tian Heng truly did not know that someone could push their luck to such an extent.

Heaven above, why had lightning not struck down such a despicable, shameless man?

"Gang Leader Tian, give me two thousand gold coins and write the IOU," Shen Lang said. "Then today's matter will be over. Otherwise, I'm truly afraid that one day I won't be able to control my hands and feet, and I'll wander into your gambling hall again. That would make things awkward when we met."

Then Shen Lang looked at the sky and said, "It really is getting late. My wife must be getting anxious. Food won't taste good once it gets cold."

Even two thousand gold coins were more than Tian Heng was willing to give, because this would be the final straw crushing him.

Even if he had to fall out with Shen Lang in public, he was unwilling.

But just then, a voice suddenly reached his ears.

"Give it to him..."

It was Zhang Jin's voice, coming from the second floor of Prosperity Place.

He had remained upstairs all this while, watching coldly.

Zhang Jin said, "Xuanwu Earl's Manor has strict family traditions, and the Earl is old-fashioned. Money won from gambling is the lowest and filthiest sort. If Shen Lang brings it back to the Earl's Manor, the Earl will only be deeply disappointed in him and may even beat him half to death."

Zhang Jin was right.

If Shen Lang lost money at a gambling hall, it would greatly damage the Earl's Manor's reputation.

But if he won money and even brought it home, that would be an even greater trampling of the Earl's Manor's reputation.

You were a noble house of a hundred years, yet you actually made money through such lowly means?

Just how far had the Jin Family fallen? Once Tian Heng thought it over, he immediately realized Zhang Jin made perfect sense. He said coldly, "Fine, I'll pay!"

"Men, Young Master Shen won money at our gambling hall. Go to the treasury at once and bring him two thousand gold coins."

A moment later, two of his Adopted Sons carried over a chest, packed full with two thousand gold coins.

"Where's the IOU?" Shen Lang asked.

"I'll write it," Tian Heng said.

But everyone knew that this IOU would never be repaid.

After writing the IOU, Tian Heng handed it to Shen Lang. "Young Master Shen, are you satisfied now?"

Shen Lang accepted the IOU and examined it carefully from beginning to end.

Then he opened the chest, grabbed a handful of gold coins, and savored their wonderfully heavy weight.

That glittering golden light nearly blinded everyone around them.

Tian Heng sneered inwardly. Take it, take it. I'll wait for Xuanwu Earl to break both your legs.

The more pleased Shen Lang was now after taking this money, the more miserable he would be upon returning to the Earl's Manor.

The damage to the Earl's Manor's reputation would be irreversible. Tian Heng could practically imagine how furious and heartbroken the Earl would be upon seeing those gold coins.

Yet Shen Lang smiled, his smile capable of toppling a city, and his face suddenly became righteous.

In a tone of solemn righteousness and impassioned fervor, he said, "How could a mere two thousand gold coins possibly catch my eye?"

"Tian Heng, over the years, how many people have lost everything in your gambling hall, their families shattered and torn apart? How could your conscience bear it?"

"I, Shen Lang, regard money as dung. I came to your gambling hall not to win money, but only to teach you a lesson for your heartless wealth, to seek justice for countless families, and to uphold the true path of chivalry."

"My Father-in-Law has always told me to love the people as my own children. Today, I taught Prosperity Place a lesson not for myself, but for the countless citizens of Xuanwu City."

"I will not take a single gold coin from this money. What was taken from the people shall be returned to the people!"

Shen Lang grabbed up the gold coins and scattered them toward the countless spectators.

"Fathers and elders, fellow townsfolk, this money belongs to you!"

Shen Lang scattered the gold coins with all his might.

At once, the entire crowd went utterly mad.

Two thousand gold coins was an enormous fortune.

Yet Shen Lang had simply distributed it all to the citizens of Xuanwu City.

The several hundred people present boiled over completely.

Ten minutes later, Shen Lang had scattered every last one of the two thousand gold coins.

This... was what it meant to spend gold like dirt! It felt so damn good! "Long live Shen Lang!"

"Long live the Earl's Manor!"

All the onlooking citizens shouted in unison.

Tian Heng watched this unfold, utterly unable to stop it.

He was truly about to explode!

Not only had Shen Lang forced him to break the legs of two Adopted Sons, he was even using Tian Heng's own money to buy people's hearts? Not only was he humiliating Tian Heng's character, he was humiliating his intelligence too?

Tian Heng had already been holding in a stifled rage. Now he could endure no longer, and that surge of air in his chest and abdomen crashed about wildly.

A stabbing pain twisted through him.

He truly could not hold it in any longer. He suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood.

"Shen Lang, I, Tian Heng, will never coexist with you!"

"Never... coexist... with... you!"

With that, Tian Heng staggered and nearly toppled backward.

Inside Prosperity Place, Zhang Jin and City Lord Liu Wuyan were completely stunned at the sight.

"Fuck, he could even put on an act to this extent?! That pretty boy is cunning beyond belief!"