Cloud Soaring Skill

In the north of Shuofeng City, there was an ordinary courtyard.

One evening, a slightly overweight man with a sinister appearance led a middle-aged man in his forties into the courtyard.

"Steward Wang, this is where I live."

The slightly overweight man led the middle-aged man into the courtyard.

Walking into the courtyard, the middle-aged man glanced around and commented:

"Not bad, I never thought you, Fatty Zhou, would be living in a walled courtyard." His tone seemed to imply something.

Fatty Zhou, the slightly overweight man, hurriedly explained upon hearing this:

"Steward Wang, please understand, this was all bought with rewards from the gang and contributions from below. I would never dare to embezzle anything."

"I don't think you would dare."

Steward Wang snorted coldly.

Fatty Zhou felt a sense of relief and quickly said respectfully, "Steward Wang, please come inside and sit."

"No need."

Steward Wang put his hands behind his back and turned to face him. "I have something for you to do today."

"Whatever you command." Fatty Zhou quickly bowed, assuming a posture of attentive listening.

"Mm."

Steward Wang nodded in satisfaction and reached into his robe. "Here is a hundred taels of silver notes. Take this tomorrow and go to Jade Wind Hall. Tell them this is for the medicinal soup for their disciples injured by the Beggar's Gang the day before yesterday."

"Ah?"

Upon hearing the task, Fatty Zhou's eyes bulged in shock.

Recently, the Beggar's Gang and Jade Wind Hall had been in conflict over control of a restaurant, leading to numerous skirmishes. If it weren't for the City Lord's Mansion and other forces, they would have already engaged in open warfare.

It could be said that the two sides were at each other's throats.

Just the day before yesterday, disciples from both gangs had encountered each other on the street, and a fight naturally broke out.

This battle resulted in a great victory due to the presence of the Beggar's Gang leader's son, while the Jade Wind Hall disciples suffered heavy losses. He heard that several of them were critically injured and had not survived.

Therefore, him going there with a mere hundred taels to pay for medicinal soup was simply an insult.

Furthermore, insulting someone in their own territory raised the question of whether he would even make it out alive.

It could be said that this was sending him to his death.

"Damn it, I don't think I've offended anyone in the gang, so why would they assign this task to me?"

As his thoughts raced, he quickly came up with a possibility: the gang leader needed an excuse to start a war.

Although Shuofeng City had many factions from all walks of life, they generally maintained relative stability under the pressure of the City Lord's Mansion. Large-scale conflicts were rare.

Sending him to deliver a hundred taels for medicinal soup was clearly intended to use his death as an excuse.

One could imagine that when other forces came to investigate, the Beggar's Gang could say: Look, we specifically sent someone to apologize and try to ease the relationship. But they were too arrogant, refused our goodwill, and killed the person we sent. We must fight back.

"What, you're unwilling?"

Seeing Fatty Zhou's prolonged silence, Steward Wang narrowed his eyes, exuding a soul-stirring aura. It seemed as if he would die immediately if he uttered a single word of refusal.

Fatty Zhou's heart tightened, and he could only brace himself and say, "Steward Wang, you jest. Of course, I am willing."

As he spoke, he trembled as he took the silver notes.

"Don't worry, this is a task personally assigned by the gang leader. If you handle it well, you will naturally be rewarded. For example, you will be taught the complete Grass-Parting Cudgel Technique."

Seeing that he had accepted the task, Steward Wang's expression improved slightly. He left this parting sentence and turned to leave directly.

After seeing Steward Wang off, Fatty Zhou collapsed onto the ground as if all his strength had been drained. Then, his eyes darted around, and he stood up excitedly.

"That's right, I can get someone else to do it."

Only after thinking of a solution did he finally breathe a sigh of relief. Just then, a knock sounded at the door.

Fatty Zhou glanced at the sky and knew who was outside. Coincidentally, he was also looking for someone, so he went to open the door.

A thin beggar stood at the door.

"Greetings, leader. I've come to deliver today's contributions."

Fatty Zhou looked at the beggar's dirty palm, where only a dozen copper coins lay. He withdrew his gaze and frowned.

"Why is it just you today? Where is Li San?"

A flicker of strangeness crossed the beggar's face. He quickly replied, "Replying to the leader, Li San, he... Li San froze to death on the street last night. His body was taken to the mass grave outside the city by the City Lord's Mansion soldiers this morning."

"Is that so?"

Fatty Zhou took the copper coins from the beggar and examined them one by one, his tone somewhat cold, clearly not believing him.

"I wouldn't dare lie, sir."

The beggar said nervously.

Steward Zhou snorted, knowing the other party was hiding something from him, and said:

"I have something for you to do, come in first."

The beggar was a little flattered. He knew that usually, this Skin-Peeler wouldn't even let them step over the threshold, afraid of dirtying the floor.

But today, he was allowed inside.

Fortunately, it was to do something for him.

"What are your orders, leader?"

The beggar became even more cautious.

"How dare you!"

After closing the door, Fatty Zhou didn't answer. Instead, he suddenly shouted, startling the beggar into kneeling on the ground.

"Leader, wh-what did I do?"

"Hmph, where is Li San? Is he alive or dead, escaped or hiding, tell me the truth!"

Fatty Zhou had already picked up a smooth bamboo stick, his gaze icy.

Facing the interrogation, the beggar prostrated himself on the ground. He never expected that the other party didn't believe his previous story. Coupled with Fatty Zhou's past authority, his heart instantly turned to ice.

"L-leader, I wasn't lying."

"Hmph, still playing tough? It seems you've forgotten my methods if you don't suffer a little."

Fatty Zhou approached, holding the bamboo stick.

Hearing this, the beggar's mind couldn't help but recall past events, making him even more flustered. Thus, he dared not hide anything and shouted:

"I'll tell you, I'll tell you everything! Li San is indeed dead, but he didn't freeze to death, he was killed."

"Oh?"

Fatty Zhou stopped and frowned, "Tell me the specifics."

He suspected it might be retaliation from Jade Wind Hall. If so, he would have to be careful when going out in the future.

However, to his surprise, Li San's death had nothing to do with Jade Wind Hall.

It turned out that Li San and his companion were staying in a dilapidated temple last night when they accidentally encountered a severely injured person. This sparked greed in them, but they were counterattacked by the injured person in their dying moments, and Li San was killed with a single palm strike.

"To be able to kill someone with a single palm strike while severely injured, this person must be a martial arts master."

Fatty Zhou's eyes narrowed. He had initially just wanted to interrogate and control the beggar in front of him, then make him loyal to do his bidding. He didn't expect such an unexpected gain.

He then shouted again, "Speak, what did you get from that person? Hand it all over, or else..."

The beggar knew he couldn't hide it any longer, so he gritted his teeth, pulled out a thin booklet from his clothes, and held it above his head, presenting it:

"I dare not deceive you, leader. This is what I got from that person."

"Just this? No money or anything?"

Fatty Zhou took the booklet.

The beggar quickly said, "Replying to you, leader, I searched his whole body, and this was all I found. Not a single copper coin of money."

"I don't think you'd dare to deceive me again."

Fatty Zhou didn't have much doubt this time. After all, if the beggar had found a large sum of money, he would have disappeared long ago and wouldn't have come back to him.

Therefore, he didn't ask further. He opened the booklet, and upon seeing the large characters on it, he was instantly overjoyed.

"Cloud Soaring Skill! It really is a martial arts manual, and a lightness skill at that. Its level has actually reached Human-grade Mid-tier."

He became more and more surprised as he flipped through it.

On the ground, the beggar was also very excited to hear that the booklet he obtained was indeed a martial arts manual. However, he felt a pang of sadness thinking that now the manual had been taken, there was no way he would get it back.

He could only grit his teeth and say, "Congratulations, leader, on obtaining this divine skill manual. You will soar to new heights from now on. I only hope the leader can give me some support, even if it's just to keep me by your side as a servant, it would be better than begging for food outside every day."

After speaking, he kowtowed heavily on the ground and then looked at Fatty Zhou with anticipation.

Fatty Zhou remained noncommittal. He slowly closed the booklet in his hand and then asked, "Does anyone else know about this?"

The beggar naturally knew that Fatty Zhou was asking if anyone else knew about the manual. He quickly replied:

"Only I know, I didn't dare to tell anyone."

"Mm."

Fatty Zhou nodded, his gaze suddenly sharp. He raised the bamboo stick in his hand and swiftly pointed it at the beggar's throat.

Crack!

His throat instantly caved in.

"You, you..."

The beggar's eyes widened, wanting to say something but unable to speak. Soon, he fell to the ground, filled with extreme unwillingness.

"Don't blame me. You can't imagine how precious martial arts manuals are, let alone one of Human-grade Mid-tier. Even the gang leader would fight for it."

Fatty Zhou said it nonchalantly, killing someone as easily as slaughtering a chicken.

Then, without even looking at the corpse, he walked into the house, intending to hide the manual first.

However, as soon as he stepped inside, he felt a sharp gust of wind rush towards him, instantly making his hair stand on end.

"Who!"