Xiao Longzi

Xiao Longzi

Yan Tao's expression turned extremely grim, his entire face flushing ashen. Clenching his teeth, he grunted, "Gu Cangyue, you dare mobilize the garrison soldiers and the Divine Crossbow Camp without authorization? This, this is a crime punishable by the extermination of your clan."

Gu Cangyue gently rubbed his palms together and smiled. "Extermination of the clan? Of course, of course, this is a capital offense. However, as the Chief Constable of Suzhou Prefecture, I naturally have the authority to request garrison assistance to apprehend the heinous thief, King of Hell's Sword... Brother Yan, you truly are formidable. The Ministry of Justice in the capital has already issued strict orders to capture you, a grand thief who plunders without restraint. My humble self is merely acting on orders, so what is so strange about this?"

Yan Tao let out an angry rebuff. "Absurd! I have not been to the capital in five years; why would the Ministry of Justice issue a warrant to arrest me? I have killed quite a few people, but such vile acts of plunder are beneath a real man. Do not arbitrarily pin false crimes on me."

Gu Cangyue said with icy detachment, "I am an official, and you are a commoner. How this charge is written is naturally nothing for Brother Yan to worry about. As for this official document from the Ministry of Justice, to tell the truth, it has not yet reached Suzhou Prefecture. However, based on our Cangfeng Fortress's connections with the imperial court, what harm is there in supplementing a document afterward? Brother Yan, you say you have never plundered anyone, but what if we abduct a few beautiful women and pin the crime on you afterward? Wouldn't these charges be complete then?"

Yan Tao cursed bitterly, "Your Cangfeng Fortress really is a bunch of bandits by birth, acting..."

Hearing Yan Tao expose the true nature of their Number One Fortress Under Heaven, Gu Cangyue, Lang Tian, and Zhao Lingtian were consumed by sudden, towering rage. Gu Cangyue let out a sharp cry, "Shoot! Shoot this bastard to death!" The spring mechanisms let out a deafening clatter as a full ninety repeating crossbow bolts, their tips smeared with potent poison and accompanied by a harsh, screeching roar, shot fiercely toward Yan Tao. Yan Tao let out a long sigh, his right hand making a feeble, struggling motion. His sword stirred up a faint wisp of radiance, but he no longer possessed the surplus strength to use sword qi to break the enemy's attack.

Gu Cangyue, the Flower Protector Young Master, and the other two leaders burst into wild laughter. Watching the starry points of cold light envelop Yan Tao's entire body, each of them was so triumphant they felt as though they might float away. As long as they respectively secured the sword pellet and the Azure Spirit Pill, this merit would be astonishingly huge. Afterward, their standing within their respective sects would undoubtedly rise by a major margin, wouldn't it?

Just as Yan Tao closed his eyes to await death, a dark shadow swept past the beauties of Brocade Manor like a whirlwind. With a swift twist and release of its hands, a howling gust swept up more than a dozen slender figures swish, swish, swish, hurling them straight into the dense rain of arrows. The dozen or so subordinates of Brocade Manor could only let out a brief, piercing shriek before their bodies were bristling with poisonous crossbow bolts, dying miserably on the spot.

The Flower Protector Young Master was consumed by fury. Seeing this person actually toss his own subordinates down as human shields, how could he not fly into a rage? He flicked his folding fan and slashed it across viciously, a thread of fierce wind slicing toward the black shadow's thigh. The dark figure let out a sinister, cruel laugh as his body spun at high speed like a top. Hundreds of palm shadows appeared around his body, and amidst a series of thunderous pa-pa-pa-pa sounds, he unleashed thirteen consecutive strikes, neatly dissolving the Flower Protector Young Master's fan wind into nothingness.

Gu Cangyue gasped in alarm, "Thousand Illusions Hand! It's the Thousand Illusions Divine Lord Duan Qing. Attack! Put Yan Tao down!" With that, he leaped into the air, rapidly cleaving two palm strikes toward Duan Qing's chest.

Duan Qing sneered, and as his face turned toward Gu Cangyue, it startlingly morphed into the visage of Lang Tian. A jolt of shock went through Gu Cangyue. He hastily pulled back his palms, retracting thirty percent of his palm force. Following that, Duan Qing delivered five heavy, consecutive kicks to Gu Cangyue's palms, forcibly driving him back to the ground. Duan Qing himself trailed a string of afterimages and lunged at Yan Tao like the wind, coming to a steady halt right beside him.

Duan Qing chuckled softly, "No wonder Brocade Manor's two great elders in Suzhou City both set their sights on me, Lang Tian. It's indeed your cold-faced self who stirred up this trouble. If this Lang Tian didn't have a few tricks for changing faces, I probably would have been sucked dry in bed by that pack of hussies long ago."

The group stared at Duan Qing's face, which was an exact duplicate of Lang Tian's, and listened to him speak in Lang Tian's boisterous tone, a bizarre and absurd feeling welling up in their hearts. Lang Tian was shaking all over with rage. He stepped forward and rebuked loudly, "Duan Qing, you are a prominent figure in the martial world, yet you actually, actually... actually resort to such wretched tactics! You, you..."

Duan Qing simply slapped himself across the face and laughed derisively, "That's right. Disguising oneself as anyone is fine, but turning into old man Lang's appearance really is wretched." With that, he flipped his palm, and his entire face instantly altered, revealing an ordinary countenance with a single pair of eyes, one nose, and one mouth.

Lang Tian was trembling with anger, while Gu Cangyue stepped in to block Lang Tian's front, smiling as he said, "Divine Lord Duan, greetings from humble Gu. It seems the big shots of Brocade Manor failed to detain Brother Duan, which is somewhat beyond humble Gu's expectations. However, Brother Yan Tao is already severely injured, and aside from holding onto his final breath to make a desperate struggle against the few of us, he has no ability to act. How far can you, Brother Duan, carry Brother Yan?"

The Flower Protector Young Master glanced at the corpses of the Brocade Manor subordinates on the ground and said with chilling indifference, "That's right. Hand over the item we want without any trouble, and we will leave immediately. As for Brother Yan and Brother Duan consecutively killing nearly forty of our Brocade Manor men, we'll let that slide." The Flower Protector Young Master was anxious. A sword pellet was something human strength could hardly destroy, but the Azure Spirit Pill was different; a mere squeeze using internal energy could burn it to ashes. If Yan Tao made a desperate final stand and destroyed the Azure Spirit Pill, the blame he would bear as the leader of this operation would be massive.

Duan Qing asked with an unperturbed expression, "Old Yan, what treasure did you acquire? How did you manage to get both Cangfeng Fortress and Brocade Manor set against you? No matter how good an item is, you need your life to enjoy it. Tell your big brother here: what did you obtain?"

Yan Tao gave a bitter laugh. "Damn it, brother, three months ago I was strolling around Mount Yandang when I accidentally blundered into the immortal's dwelling of a sword immortal from seven hundred years ago and obtained a sword pellet along with three Azure Spirit Pills. I originally thought the sword pellet could help me make further progress in my practice of the sword path, while the three Azure Spirit Pills were intended as a sixtieth birthday gift for you, big brother. Who would have known that the moment I stepped off Mount Yandang, I would be targeted? These bastards' noses really are sharp."

Duan Qing's expression shifted. Naturally, he knew what kind of item a sword pellet cultivated by a sword immortal was. Although this trinket was in a completely different league from a true sword immortal's flying sword that could merge with the body, it was still a treasure capable of making the entire martial world's hearts flutter. With a sword in hand, as long as one understood the methods of deployment and retraction, even the number one martial artist in the world could only flee in disarray. And while the specific efficacy of the three Azure Spirit Pills was unknown, judging by the massive fanfare right before their eyes, they were surely no ordinary goods.

Gu Cangyue said with cold indifference, "Our fortress master has given the order: the sword pellet must be obtained. Our Cangfeng Fortress expended a tremendous amount of effort to acquire the archival records of that dwelling and was just about to dispatch men there when you, the King of Hell's Sword, preempted us. That is somewhat unreasonable, isn't it?"

The Flower Protector Young Master sneered, "Our Brocade Manor's Blood Jade Plum Blossom managed with great difficulty to pry information from their Cangfeng Fortress's vice fortress master. Brocade Manor's main force was still marching toward Mount Yandang when you, Yan Tao, descended the mountain carrying the Azure Spirit Pills. Our Blood Jade Plum Blossom sacrificed her charms for three whole years just to crawl into Cangfeng Fortress's upper echelons, so you need to give us an explanation for this as well."

Gu Cangyue and the other two glared fiercely at the Flower Protector Young Master, who merely grunted in response, completely ignoring the cryptic looks shot at him by the Cangfeng Fortress faction.

Duan Qing let out a long sigh, looked at the growing number of men in black surrounding them, and shook his head, lamenting, "Old Yan, hand the item over. Listen to your brother's advice: how could we ever hope to comprehend the sword pellet of an ancient sword immortal? As for the Azure Spirit Pills, even if they could bring the dead back to life, risking your own life for them isn't worth it. If I hadn't crossed paths with Cangfeng Fortress's old man Lang Tian, I wouldn't have been able to escape from Brocade Manor's two great elders today. Heh, their strength is simply too formidable. The two of us are lone ghosts; pitted against two major sects, even if our bodies were made of iron, how many nails could we withstand?"

Yan Tao wore a stubborn expression, gripping his sword tightly and remaining silent. Duan Qing stared intently at him without speaking either. He knew that a sword immortal's sword pellet held an irresistible attraction for a swordsman. After a moment, Duan Qing finally sighed, "Fine, fine. You, old Yan, came to find me with the best of intentions, and I, Duan Qing, am not a man devoid of loyalty. Come with me, we'll fight our way out."

A chilling, eerie voice drifted over. "Fight your way out? This old woman would like to see where you plan to fight your way out to." With a shift of the chilling wind, before Gu Cangyue and the others could react, two figures flashed before their eyes as a pair of old folks dressed in opulent Brocade Palace robes and holding crutches arrived at the scene. One was an elder who looked like a skeleton, his entire body shrouded in a faint layer of green Qi; the other was a plump old crone with a peach-blossom-like face, enveloped in an unnatural pink radiance.

Gu Cangyue stealthily took a step back. The true powerhouses of Brocade Manor had arrived, and he knew very well he could not defeat these two old monsters.

Joy appeared on the Flower Protector Young Master's face, and he hurriedly leaped down from the eaves, exclaiming happily, "Two elders, you're finally here. Little Jin can finally rest easy. Look, these newly delivered flower slaves are completely useless; before they even met the enemy, a dozen or so were wiped out." Terrified of exposing his own incompetence as a leader, he rushed to pin the blame on the people responsible for training Brocade Manor's flower slaves.

The old man nodded slightly and said, "Very well, Little Jin, this cannot be blamed entirely on you. These recent batches of flower slaves—hmph, aside from their pretty faces, what else are they good for? Truly, each generation is worse than the last... Duan Qing, Divine Lord Duan, I, Old Man Qingmu, am right here. Go on, try escaping for me again. If I let you break even ten zhang away this time, I'll commit suicide on the spot. Do you believe me?" With that, he struck his crutch heavily against the ground, shattering the bluestone paving slab beneath his feet into complete smithereens.

The silver-haired old crone with a peach-blossom face chuckled merrily. "Old Mumu, don't frighten these little youngsters. Duan Qing, this matter has nothing to do with you; go stand aside and cool your heels. Just now, you couldn't even take a single finger from Peach Blossom Granny, so if you flap your gums again, I'll kill you right now... Little brat Yan Tao, you killed our flower slaves, and we aren't done with this. However, hand over the Azure Spirit Pills, and you may leave. We'll call it even."

Old Man Qingmu said coldly, "I'll give you the space of a cup of tea to think about it... Don't try any sly tricks. If you dare destroy the Azure Spirit Pills, I'll make you experience what it's like when begging for death is impossible and begging for life is futile."

The sound of rushing wind echoed consecutively as bulky men clad in luxurious brocade robes silently appeared on the rooftops all around. Brocade Manor's powerful experts in Suzhou Prefecture had finally made their formal appearance.

Yan Tao's expression shifted through a myriad of changes. He glared fiercely at Duan Qing, shook his head, and lamented mournfully, "Damn it, I'm truly having terrible luck. Which minor deity did I offend? I blundered into that grotto-heaven for no good reason and was almost killed by a white tiger, and on top of that, I've been hunted across a thousand miles. What on earth has happened to my luck this year?... Brother, I'll listen to you. We'll just give them the item. Damn it, since I've killed so many of their men anyway, I'm not at a loss."

The expressions of Duan Qing and everyone present relaxed somewhat. To tell the truth, Duan Qing had no desire to risk his life; he was currently enjoying himself far too much in Suzhou Prefecture. As for the others, barring any necessity, none of them wanted to drive the King of Hell's Sword and the Thousand Illusions Divine Lord to a desperate end. They knew that everyone in the martial world had friends and connections. Killing these two was easy, but dealing with the subsequent retaliations would be an endless headache. Most importantly, they feared that if Yan Tao was pushed to desperation and destroyed the items they wanted, the loss would outweigh the gain.

With extreme reluctance, Yan Tao reached out to touch his waistband, and his face instantly turned ashen white. With trembling fingers, he fished out a garment that had a neat, straight slit sliced right through it, and wailed as if his parents had just died: "Damn you, damned heavens! I, the King of Hell's Sword, have capsized in a drainage ditch today... Damn it, I can accept being cornered by you lot from Cangfeng Fortress and Brocade Manor, but dammit, even a petty street thief dares to crap on Yan Tao's head now... I, I, I've walked the jianghu for thirty years; when have I ever made such a blunder?... Brother, I don't want to live anymore. I, I, I am so damn disgraced!"

Yan Tao rolled his eyes upward in a fit of rage, coughed up a mouthful of dark blood, and promptly lost consciousness. Duan Qing hurriedly caught Yan Tao, momentarily rendered utterly speechless.

Who among the surrounding people was not deeply versed in internal energy? Each of them saw the neat cut on Yan Tao's garment, and these experts could even mentally simulate the angle from which that blade had been swung and the precise amount of force used to slice through Yan Tao's clothes. Old Man Qingmu gave a barking laugh and cursed, "Damn it, this King of Hell's Sword is completely ruined this time. He won't be able to show his face in the jianghu ever again."

Peach Blossom Granny trembled with anger. "Old Mumu, you've lost your mind! Having the item with Yan Tao is one thing, but if it's in the hands of those petty thieves, what do they understand? They might have already discarded the thing. It doesn't matter where the sword pellet is thrown; we can find it eventually. But those Azure Spirit Pills—if they get wet, they'll dissolve into vapor!"

Every single person from Brocade Manor trembled, letting out strange cries as they sprang into the air and dashed away.

Gu Cangyue was left utterly speechless by the sudden turn of events. His lips quivered for a moment before he finally cursed furiously, "You damned King of Hell's Sword! You, you—you who boast of being a martial arts master, yet..." Everyone present believed Yan Tao's story. After all, for a martial artist and a swordsman, honor was above all else. Since Yan Tao had already capitulated and agreed to hand over the item, there was no point in him putting on such a performance, especially since it was completely impossible for him to escape Suzhou City.

Gu Cangyue roared, "Men! Invite the two great masters back to Suzhou Prefecture to be properly entertained, and once we find the item, we'll send the two of them out of Suzhou Prefecture... Capture every single gang leader on the streets of Suzhou Prefecture and beat them half to death! Let's see whose hands are itching and who dares to meddle with the treasures our masters want. Wake up all the brothers on rotating leave and tell them to—dammit, turn Suzhou Prefecture upside down if you have to, but find that item back!"

Gu Cangyue bellowed at the top of his lungs, "I want that petty thief dead! I want to strip off his hide, I want to rip out his tendons, I, I want to send him to the capital to become a eunuch!" Gu Cangyue was exasperated to the extreme. These martial arts masters, who always looked down on everyone else, were shockingly discovering that an item they had fought a whole day over and failed to secure had been pilfered right out from under their noses by a petty hooligan—a lowly street thief at the very bottom of society. Where were they supposed to put their faces? If word of this got out, not only would Gu Cangyue and his men lose face, but Cangfeng Fortress's reputation would be utterly dragged through the mud.

Just imagining how other major martial sects would gloat in the future—Oh, isn't your Cangfeng Fortress famed as the number one in the martial world? How did you deploy over a hundred experts and still have the item stolen by a petty thief? Could it be that your lot are only capable of flashing silver and whoring around?—made Gu Cangyue's scalp tingle. He wished he could instantly capture those petty thieves and hack them into ten thousand pieces.

Duan Qing looked on at this scene of ant-like chaos, finding it both exasperating and amusing. He let out a few gloating chuckles, then silently scooped up the unconscious Yan Tao and followed the bailiffs away. In any case, Gu Cangyue and his cohorts would not break their word. As long as it was proven that the item was not on Yan Tao, they would have no choice but to respectfully escort Yan Tao and himself out. For now, all he had to do was watch the show and treat Yan Tao along the way.

Especially since the whereabouts of the item were currently unknown, Yan Tao's life suddenly appeared exceptionally precious. Gu Cangyue and the others would definitely seek out famous physicians and treat Yan Tao like an ancestral deity to keep him alive, allowing him, Duan Qing, to thoroughly experience the luxury of having a bunch of government runners serving him like grandchildren. Just thinking about it made Duan Qing's mouth curve into a grin he couldn't close.

Following Gu Cangyue's frenzied orders, the two hundred men stationed by Cangfeng Fortress in Suzhou Prefecture mobilized en masse. The Suzhou Prefectural Office's hundred-odd bailiffs and over two hundred runners flooded the streets, joining forces with Brocade Manor's murderous thugs to scour the alleys and haunts frequented by street ruffians, intending to make arrests and extract confessions. Suzhou City had already plunged into night, a time when lanterns blazed bright and song-and-dance houses flourished—the prime hour for petty thieves and thugs to head out looking for extra income. With this massive commotion, things instantly became exceptionally lively.

Li Feng strolled casually around the outside of Chunyi Tower. By now, the clothes on his body had been swapped for a set of neat, long servant attire—the quintessential picture of a young lad accompanying his young master into the pleasure quarters to see the sights. The master had gone inside the brothel for some tender intimacy, so this little attendant naturally ought to wait outside. In just the time it took to make that brief stroll, Li Feng's pockets had gained two extra money pouches and a full three gold ingots. Naturally, his wallets had originally held silver notes and flying cash worth a hundred times more, but for safety's sake, those bank notes had already been disposed of.

Remembering the expression on the third manager of the Huiyuan Money House earlier, Li Feng wore a broad grin, muttering curses under his breath, "That old pimp doesn't even know his own wife is cuckolding him, and when I tipped him off, he actually blamed me, the young master. Now does he know how formidable I am?" Still, it was thanks to the third manager of the money house taking in the stolen goods; otherwise, if he and the others tried to fence those silver and gold notes themselves, they would have been caught for sure.

Swinging his head as he strolled down the avenue, Li Feng heard the shouting match erupting between a guest and a pimp inside Chunyi Tower. A deeply satisfied smile bloomed across his face. Chuckling softly, he turned into a narrow alleyway, muttering low complaints to himself, "Niu Boss, it's not that I, A Feng, haven't been diligent. My monthly tribute silver was paid in full, humph. I'm bringing three gold ingots back, which is more than enough for whatever you need, and I'm heading back to rest... Damn that A Long, always trying to step over me to climb up yourself. I hope you run into those men from Old Tou'er and get beaten half to death, that'd be best."

A string of low curses poured out like a tide against A Long, who had been paired up with him just moments before. Li Feng swayed his body gently, mimicking the rolling, swaggering gait of the major street thugs, and walked forward down the alley with a beaming smile. He was far too familiar with the paths around here; as long as he made seven turns, crossed three grand avenues, scaled that dilapidated city wall, and walked along the riverbank for a stretch, he would reach their hideout.

As Li Feng walked forward with his head lowered, a muffled groan of pain suddenly echoed from the corner of the alley ahead. Having had ample street-fighting experience of taking beatings, Li Feng instantly recognized it as the sound of someone taking a brutal blow to the abdomen, yet having their mouth covered so they could only make that suppressed noise. Li Feng stuck out his tongue and muttered inwardly, Goodness, which brother had such terrible luck? Did he run into Tiger Boss's gang or Zhu Da's crew from the South City? I hope it's not one of our Golden Dragon Gang brothers; otherwise, hiding on the sidelines watching you suffer would make me feel a tiny bit guilty.

Stealthily sticking his head out to take a peek, Li Feng was astonished to discover that the man vomiting incessantly on the ground was none other than Tiger Boss, whom he normally feared like the plague.

Li Feng froze. Tiger Boss controlled more than half of the street thugs in Suzhou City; even well-known martial artists would usually afford him a shred of respect. What on earth had he done to offend some deity today, getting thrashed in such a miserable state?

Then, taking a look at the person currently mustering their strength to deliver a vicious kick to Tiger Boss's stomach, Li Feng understood: no matter how fierce you Tiger Boss were, there was simply no fighting City Hall. The man beating Tiger Boss right now was none other than Leng Lingfeng, one of the six elite iron-handed constables under Suzhou Prefecture's Chief Constable, Gu Cangyue.

Leng Lingfeng, whose face was a web of rugged, formidable muscles, planted his heavy boot onto Tiger Boss's hand, grinding his sole gently as he asked in a smooth, cordial tone, "Tiger Boss, it's not that I, Leng, want to make things difficult for you, but your subordinates simply have sticky fingers. Our Old Tou'er is currently looking for an item, but the owner claims those two treasures were stolen from him. You see, this makes the problem a massive one."

Letting out a smug chuckle, Leng Lingfeng shook his head and said, "Don't look at me with such a pitiful expression. You've given me, Tiger Boss, plenty of favors in the past, but this is an item ordered by our Old Tou'er's superior. You know it—since the Number One Fortress Under Heaven wants it, how could I dare not pursue it with all my might? So as for our past friendship, I can only say I'm sorry."

His tone abruptly turning vicious, Leng Lingfeng stomped down hard. A crisp crunch of fracturing bone echoed from Tiger Boss's wrist. Just as Tiger Boss was about to scream, a burly man clad in brocade immediately squatted down and firmly clamped a hand over Tiger Boss's mouth, leaving him able to emit only muffled groans of agony.

Leng Lingfeng rebuked in a low voice, "How many petty thieves do you have under your command? Has anyone turned in any strange items to you today? To be precise, a silver or golden pellet, along with three medicinal pills—did you get them? If they are in your hands, you'd better hand them over. Otherwise, Old Tou'er has said that your Vicious Tiger Gang won't have to bother mixing in Suzhou City anymore. Every single one of you will be thrown into the death row prison and be beheaded together in the autumn, slapped with the charge of being remnants of Chen Youliang's faction, and your entire clan will have its property confiscated."

Tiger Boss's entire body struggled frantically, his eyes filled with terror. Several other hoodlums, who were being held down and beaten by bailiffs and men in black and brocade, also let out muffled pleas for mercy. Leng Lingfeng tilted his head. The bailiffs nearby halted their blows, and the brocade-clad man covering Tiger Boss's mouth slowly relaxed his grip.

After panting heavily for a few breaths and drawing in several gasps of cold air, Tiger Boss hurriedly stammered, "Constable Leng, you—you aren't wronging me. I, Yang Hu, have plenty of men under me, but who would dare touch an item the great lords want? My eyes aren't blind; how could I dare touch a martial hero's treasure?... My men didn't turn those items in to me today at all... No, no, wait a moment. My men didn't turn them in, but you know as well as I do that there are two other factions of pickpockets in Suzhou Prefecture: either the Golden Dragon Gang or the Golden Tiger Gang. Rest assured, just give me a sliver of time, and I'll drag all of them before you."

Leng Lingfeng broke into a genial smile, hastily lifting his foot and using one hand to haul the bruised and battered Tiger Boss to his feet. Brushing the dust from Tiger Boss's clothes gently, he smiled and said, "Now this is being a good brother, isn't it, Tiger Boss? Don't blame your brother for making things difficult for you today; Old Tou'er gave the order that whoever stole those items must die. If we can't find them, we're the ones who'll have to take the fall."

How could Tiger Boss dare to speak back? How could he fail to recognize that aside from government bailiffs, the men surrounding him were from Cangfeng Fortress and Brocade Manor? As the saying went, a mighty dragon did not suppress the local river serpent, but these dragons were local river dragons. How could he possibly afford to offend them?

"Rest assured, rest assured, I guarantee I'll fetch the items back for you without a single flaw. Whoever pilfered those things, I promise to make him regret being born into this world."

The brocade-clad man leading Brocade Manor's faction looked coldly at Tiger Boss and said in a sinister tone, "You'd better guarantee it. If those items suffer even a hair's worth of damage, you won't live, and none of your men will survive in Suzhou City either. Our Manor Master has given the command: those three medicinal pills are what our Young Manor Master wants. Even if the sealing wax leaks a single breath of air, every single ruffian, hoodlum, and city-dwelling scoundrel in all of Suzhou Prefecture will have to be buried with them."

Listening in from a distant alley corner, Li Feng felt as though his entire brain had been blasted by a thunderbolt, ringing with a continuous buzz-buzz-buzz. Those three medicinal pills were what Brocade Manor wanted? If the wax seal broke even a tiny bit, they were going to slaughter every single hooligan in Suzhou City? But, but he had already scraped off all the sealing wax from those three pills and tossed them down an abandoned well!

Li Feng's thighs began to tremble as a stream of scalding liquid leaked down his legs, leaving a large, damp patch on his trousers. The only thought echoing in his mind was: Damn it, this time I'm really done for. Dammit, even though I don't know who my father and mother were, and my surname was just drawn from a lot at the temple, I haven't even accomplished the major task of passing on the family line yet! If the King of Hell finds out, he's going to throw me into a boiling oil cauldron. This time, I'm genuinely finished... Ancestors, I, Li Feng, have failed you... Dammit, Cangfeng Fortress, Brocade Manor... Brocade Manor, Cangfeng Fortress... Which of them can I possibly afford to offend?

While Li Feng's soul had barely returned to his body, Tiger Boss was already nodding frantically. "Big boss, rest assured, I guarantee there won't be any mistakes. I—I'll take you all to the Golden Dragon Gang's lair right now. They must all be gathered there right now. Rest assured, there won't be any mistakes. I—I'll lead you there right now."

Leng Lingfeng's chilly voice rang out. "Good enough. We go now. Also, order your men to keep watch across every street and alley in Suzhou Prefecture. If you spot those petty thieves, grab them. If any of them slip through your hands, don't blame Old Leng for being ruthless when the time comes."

A dull thud sounded, resembling a watermelon being smashed to pieces. Peeking out with a single eye, Li Feng saw that one of Tiger Boss's subordinates had his skull caved in by a single punch from Leng Lingfeng, his headless corpse collapsing to the ground with a soft splat. Li Feng nearly shrieked out loud, but fortunately he managed to bite down hard on his tongue just in time. The sharp pain reminded him that he absolutely could not make a sound; the moment he made a peep, he was dead for sure.

Tiger Boss and his men wore expressions uglier than death itself. Their brother had been beaten to death by Leng Lingfeng with a single punch, clearly intended as a display of dominance by the constable. But even knowing it was a show of force, what could they do? Without strength, one lacked the right to speak. Tiger Boss and his crew, despite acting like overlords on the streets on ordinary days, could only watch their brother die a miserable death right before their eyes without daring to utter a single syllable.

Leng Lingfeng smiled. "Tiger Boss, have you seen enough? We can move out." With a flick of his finger, a glob of gore flicked lightly onto Tiger Boss's lips. Tiger Boss shuddered violently. As his tongue licked the blood off his lips, he suddenly remembered that this was the fluid from inside his brother's skull, triggering a wave of intense nausea. He doubled over and vomited violently. The brocade-clad man beside him gave him no room to empty his stomach contents; with one hand, he yanked Tiger Boss up by the collar, motioned for a few pale-faced hoodlums to lead the way, and headed off down the opposite end of the alley.

bathed in a cold sweat, Li Feng collapsed limply onto the ground. After a short while, a gust of night wind swept past, causing Li Feng to shudder and snap back to his senses. He gasped in a low voice, "Crap, Niu Boss and the others are either still out on the streets or they've already returned to the hideout... I, I, I'd better go warn them. If I lost those three pills, sacrificing the entire Golden Dragon Gang wouldn't be enough to pay for them!"

He still didn't understand what the Azure Spirit Pill meant to martial artists. Brocade Manor's Young Manor Master had merely intended to use one Azure Spirit Pill to curry favor with the granddaughter of Prime Minister Liu of the current dynasty, while keeping the other two for himself and his aged father to consume, guaranteeing that Brocade Manor's strength in the jianghu would rise by a tier and perhaps even surpass Cangfeng Fortress. Now that Li Feng had thrown away all three Azure Spirit Pills, if Brocade Manor found out, he would surely be sliced to pieces like a fish being scaled.

Glancing in the direction where Leng Lingfeng and the others had vanished, Li Feng didn't dare walk that way. Trembling in his legs like a frightened rat, he peered cautiously around the corner of the alley, pulled a few strands of long hair across his face to cover it, and hurried with lowered head toward the Golden Dragon Gang's lair.

As for fear, Li Feng was scared out of his wits. Although he had been kicking around the streets since childhood, he was only eleven or twelve years old after all; the most violence he had ever witnessed was street thugs smashing each other's heads open over turf. Now that a living human being had been murdered right before his eyes, he had long since been scared out of his guts. As for running away? Aside from the three villages and four towns near Suzhou Prefecture, he had no idea what lay outside, nor did he know what cities existed beyond Suzhou Prefecture. Where was he supposed to run?

Like a frightened child who had done something wrong, his first instinct was to run back to his boss, Niu Boss, to see if any solutions could be found. This was the primary reason he was heading back to report the news, not because he held any particular affection for the Golden Dragon Gang. After all, Niu Boss hadn't spared him from exploitation on ordinary days, and watching Niu Boss suffer misfortune was actually his greatest source of joy.

Along the way, Li Feng cursed continuously under his breath, wondering why all these malevolent spirits had crawled out of the woodwork. Men with shifty, rodent-like eyes and bulges at their waists hiding small daggers were appearing all over the main avenues, their darting gazes scanning their surroundings—these were all Suzhou City's street thugs. Judging by their split lips and bruised eye sockets, they had clearly been given a severe thrashing before being released onto the streets to hunt for people to vent their frustrations on.

Not daring to linger on the main street for another second, Li Feng darted into a pitch-black alleyway, his feet slapping tap-tap-tap against the ground as he hurried toward his hideout. Running away turned out to be the right move; the hoodlums were already familiar with him and didn't suspect a thing. But seeing him sprint off like this, a few sharp-eyed thugs immediately locked onto him. Two of them gave chase at a quick jog, while several others split up to take alternate routes and cut him off from ahead.

Li Feng charged into the complex maze of alleyways like a gale, slowed his pace slightly, and twisted through a bewildering series of crooked alleyways for ages before finally nearing a section of the city wall that was on the verge of collapse. He could already sense someone pursuing him from behind—an instinctive survival skill honed over three years of fleeing from people chasing him down with bricks. Li Feng couldn't help feeling a wave of relief that the street layout in the previous district had been so dizzyingly complex, otherwise he would never have given them the slip.

Nimbly scaling the wall, Li Feng vaulted over like a monkey and sprinted at full tilt toward the Golden Dragon Gang's hideout. He had run a good dozen zhang past it before Tiger Boss and his group were even escorted out of the city gates.

Hearing the wind whistling in his ears, Li Feng felt a slight burden lift from his heart. Among street hoodlums, which petty thief didn't get beaten on sight? It was precisely thanks to this environment that he had forged a solid foundation in running and taking beatings. As he ran now, he was confident that anyone who wasn't a trained martial artist could never hope to catch him.

However, something felt a bit peculiar to Li Feng: his running speed today was exceptionally fast. Normally, when sprinting at a furious pace, his breath would grow ragged and he'd struggle to keep up, but today his breathing remained steady, without a single trace of labored distress. Moreover, his entire torso felt cool and refreshing; there was none of that usual churning blood and internal burning sensation during heavy exertion.

Having listened to plenty of storyteller tales in the teahouses on ordinary days, Li Feng suddenly woke up to reality. Mother of mine, I've messed up big time! Given how nervous those big bosses were over those three pills, they've got to be those legendary treasures from the storybooks where eating just one makes you invincible under heaven. I, I, I actually threw them away! I've made a colossal mistake... But wait, I only took a sniff, and it already gave me such huge benefits. If I had swallowed all three of them, I, I probably could have beaten Old Tou'er!

Filled with overwhelming regret, Li Feng almost let out a lament to the heavens. Fortunately, his survival instincts on the streets were exceptionally strong. Knowing that this was a time for fleeing for his life rather than lamenting to the heavens and emulating Second Lord Guan, he could only pick up the pace further, his heels hammering furiously against his own buttocks as he bolted forward.

Running at such an excessive speed meant Li Feng failed to watch where he was going ahead. He didn't realize that while he was taking massive detours through the pitch-black alleys, four hoodlums had already taken a straight line out of the city and were waiting up ahead for him. The thugs still didn't know their boss had been captured by Leng Lingfeng, and were still pinning their hopes on catching Li Feng so they could collect a handsome reward from Gu Cangyue.

Seeing Li Feng truly charging toward them with the force of a runaway horse, kicking up wind, one of the thugs casually picked up a thick tree branch from the roadside, timed his approach, and swept it across viciously. With a loud thud, Li Feng's body pitched forward, and he took a heavy tumble onto the ground. Because his forward momentum was so fast, he rolled in a wretched tumble four or five times across the earth. The four thugs let out a cheer and pounced like eagles catching a chick, ready to snatch him up.

Li Feng felt a searing pain in his chest, as if his ribs had nearly been broken, and his brain buzzed violently from the harsh impact of the fall. Fortunately, it wasn't his first time having his head bashed with bricks on the streets, so he could still endure this level of assault. Especially now, since the meridians throughout his body had been scoured and cleansed by the medicinal Qi of the Azure Spirit Pill once already, his agility was heightened tenfold. Driven purely by the desire to escape, without even looking back, he scrambled up with frantic speed and continued bolting forward.

The four thugs had already pounced over the spot where Li Feng had just been, only for Li Feng to bounce right back up the moment he hit the ground, sweeping past like a gale. The four hoodlums crashed into one another in a clumsy tangle, and the fellow holding the wooden club leaped up in exasperation, hurling the stick forward with all his might.

As luck would have it, the wooden club whirled through the air and struck Li Feng right across the ankle. Li Feng stumbled, kicking the club into a spin that wedged it squarely between his legs. With a violent jolt to his entire body, Li Feng let out a miserable shriek and crashed heavily to the earth. To make matters worse, right where he fell lay a sharp rock, which made intimate contact with his forehead. Blood immediately gushed out, smearing warm and wet across his entire face.

Wiping away the blood without a second thought, Li Feng dug out the three gold ingots from his pocket and hurled them backward, yelling at the top of his lungs, "You bastards have no loyalty! Coming to rob my money again—is the Golden Dragon Gang the only one you lot pick on? I, your grandpa, accept my bad luck today! Take the money, and I'm going to find Niu Boss to settle accounts with you!" With that, not daring to linger for a second, Li Feng forced his battered body up and prepared to run.

The four thugs froze. Catching sight of three glinting yellow objects flying toward them under the moonlight, one of them cried out in alarm, "Damn it, this little punk harvested quite a haul today! We lucked out." Three of the thugs immediately lunged forward, reaching out to grab the gold.

Fortunately, their leader possessed a slightly clearer head and shouted angrily, "Damn it! Have you forgotten the five hundred taels of gold promised by Old Tou'er? I'm certain it's on this kid—it has to be on this kid, otherwise why would he run? And didn't Tiger Boss mention this afternoon that if the brothers didn't do it, the case must have been pulled off by these little punks from the Golden Dragon Gang?... Didn't A Gao say they didn't find these punks when they searched their lair?"

The three thugs had already grabbed the gold. Hearing their leader shout, they snapped to their senses. Gu Cangyue had made it crystal clear: if they failed to recover the sword pellet and the pills, every single hoodlum in Suzhou Prefecture was doomed. None of them wanted to cross paths with Gu Cangyue, let alone forfeit such a heavy reward. Overcome by greed and simultaneously terrified of Gu Cangyue's methods, they leaped to their feet, hurling curses as they took off in pursuit of Li Feng.

Li Feng was just a kid after all. No matter how hardened his body had become from street brawls, or how thoroughly it had been conditioned by the medicinal power of the Azure Spirit Pill, his stamina still had its limits. Having sprinted for so long, taken two successive tumbles, and suffered a massive gash on his forehead, how could he keep running? He managed to force himself forward another dozen zhang before his legs turned to jelly. At the same time, the more anxious he grew, the more vividly he recalled Leng Lingfeng casually executing Tiger Boss's subordinate, causing his legs to betray him entirely. Staggering a few more steps, he collapsed limply to the ground in a wretched heap.

The four thugs cheered and closed in with massive strides.

Hardening his heart, Li Feng made a fierce resolution. Damn it, I've already thrown away those three medicinal pills. If they catch me, I won't make it out alive anyway; I might as well put up a desperate fight. The savage, fearless attitude of a street hooligan flared up instantly. As the saying went, even a cornered dog would vault over a wall—was he, Li Feng, somehow inferior to a dog? Besides, back when he used to help Niu Boss muscle in on the Golden Tiger Gang's territory, he had smashed people's heads open from behind with clubs before; the courage to risk it all was certainly there.

Disregarding the massive disparity in size between himself and the four pouncing thugs, he snatched a rock from the ground, covertly fished out his preferred black blade—which was an index-finger long and half a finger wide—from his left hand, widened his eyes, tilted his head, and stood defiantly on the roadside grass, screaming curses at the top of his lungs, "Come on! Come on, bring it on, you bastards! If I don't crack your skulls open today, I'm not your son... Tiger Boss didn't set any rules like this; I gave you my money, so why are you still chasing me?"

The thug leader let out a grotesque laugh. "Damn it, you little punk, you still dare act tough with us? We've been through blood and wind in Suzhou City; you think we're scared of a little street rat?... If you know what's good for you, hand over that thing called a sword pellet, or I'll skin you alive." The four hoodlums had already formed a tight circle around Li Feng, closing in with sinister chuckles.

Li Feng eyed the four thugs cautiously, shuffling his feet inch by inch to press his back as close as possible to a roadside tree. He shouted loudly, "What sword pellet or blade pellet? Trash like that—how could I possibly have it? Don't come any closer... Don't come any closer... I'm warning you, stay back, or I won't be polite."

The thugs sneered endlessly. "Damn it, if you don't have that sword pellet, let us search you then. If you have any other treasures, we won't touch them; as long as you don't have anything strange on you, I'll let you go immediately... Well? Let us search you."

Cold sweat beaded densely across Li Feng's forehead, and he inwardly cursed his terrible luck a thousand times over. If I'd known, I wouldn't have kept this damned piece of junk on me! Why did I keep carrying it? As long as there's no evidence, who could prove we did it?... I, Li Feng, have been wise my whole life, so why did I act so stupid today?

A hoodlum with a clump of yellow hair on his face sidled up to him with a thief's grin, lowering his voice to persuade him, "Brother Feng, don't make things difficult for us; just obediently hand the item over. If the thing isn't on you, what harm is there in letting us search you? Damn it, don't act like we don't know what you do for a living—aren't you just a thief? You just stole some stuff, what's there to be scared of? We're not going to report you to the yamen, so what are you afraid of? Be a good boy and let us take a look..." His hand shot out, reaching to grab Li Feng's lapel.

Li Feng swung the rock in his right hand with all his might. As the thug jerked his hand back, he let out a roar, "You vicious little bastard! Brothers, grab—ah!" The final sound turned into a shrieking howl.

Taking advantage of the thug dodging the stone, Li Feng lunged straight into his embrace, his left-hand blade slicing a vicious slash across the man's thigh. When Li Feng picked pockets, he always applied force based on the target's clothing material, hardness, tensile strength, and slipperiness, meaning it had essentially become an instinct for his blade to always follow the path of least resistance. Consequently, with this single slice, a gash over three inches long and two inches deep opened up on the thug's thigh, exposing white bone.

Clutching his thigh, the hoodlum crashed to the ground, emitting a shrill, piercing shriek. Li Feng whipped his head around, delivered a brutal kick to the downed thug's head, and bolted.

The remaining three thugs stood frozen in place. Glancing at their fallen companion's blood-spurting thigh, they let out a furious roar and gave chase in hot pursuit.

After taking a moment to catch his breath, Li Feng had already recovered the bulk of his stamina. Tossing the stone aside, he pulled the sword pellet from his pouch and casually hurled it deep into the roadside weeds. Then, dragging out his herbal ointment, he smeared it across his forehead while spitting out the bloody froth welling up from his mouth wounds. He muttered under his breath, This is bad. The evidence is gone, but those guys won't let me off alive. Damn it, that slash seemed a bit too deep.

Running, applying medicine, and looking back in panic all at once had a direct consequence: Li Feng slammed head-first straight into a tree. Dazed and seeing golden stars spinning before his eyes, a heavy blow suddenly descended upon him. The three thugs pounced in unison, raining heavy, brutal fists down onto Li Feng's body. Li Feng collapsed flat onto his back on the spot, whereupon three heavy boots came stomping down, kicking him mercilessly as he wailed on the ground.

Yet that savage, unyielding viciousness within Li Feng flared up as well. In street brawls, when one was being swarmed, the golden rule taught by Niu Boss was either to protect your head while taking the beating or fight desperately against one opponent to the bitter end. Thus, letting out a piercing shriek, Li Feng clamped his arms tightly around the thug leader's leg, tripping him hard to the ground. Opening his mouth wide, he sank his teeth viciously into the man's ear while his hands clawed wildly at the leader's groin and eyes.

The thug leader shrieked in agonizing pain, especially when his most vulnerable spot was gripped in a death-grip by Li Feng, who was desperately squeezing, pinching, and pulling. The excruciating, heart-piercing agony nearly caused him to faint. Seeing Li Feng employ such venomous tactics, the other two thugs grew furious, driving their heavy boots toward Li Feng's head and chest with total disregard for whether they might kick him to death.

Li Feng felt as though his entire body was being hammered like a drum, his ribs emitting dull thud-thud sounds. A foul taste of blood welled up from his chest, and his vision went pitch-black, plunging him into total darkness. He thought to himself with grim despair, Crap, these two bastards are going to beat me to death... Well, if I die, I die, but I'm dragging one down with me to the grave! With that, his grip tightened further, and his teeth clamped directly down toward the thug leader's neck.

Before his teeth could even graze the leader's neck, however, one of the thugs drew a dagger and thrust it viciously toward Li Feng's chest.

The wind was gentle and the air clear, with a crescent moon casting a cold, serene radiance down upon the earth.

A refined Daoist priest of around forty years of age, wearing a green Daoist robe with a small red-wood gourd hanging at his waist, gentle and benevolent features, and a wisp of five-stranded willow beard floating down a full chi in length, walked leisurely along the narrow path. As he walked, he chanted in a low voice, "The Great Dao flows everywhere, it can go left or right. All things depend on it for life without refusing; it achieves its merit without claiming fame... Therefore, the sage never strives to be great, and thus can achieve true greatness."

The wind stirred, fluttering the Daoist's robes gently. Matched with his archaic, ethereal countenance, he seemed to possess an otherworldly aura. Yet the Daoist was murmuring softly under his breath, "This road hasn't been walked in a full eighty years, I suppose?... The world changes like floating clouds and changing dogs... My parents' graves are almost impossible to find, my brothers have all become dust, my nephews have nearly gone to their graves, and my grand-nephews are sixty-five years old. So where on earth am I supposed to go find a disciple?"

Shaking his head, the Daoist suddenly pointed toward the heavens and cursed under his breath, "You, Chen Songzi, I, Xiao Longzi, am supposedly your disciple, yet just because I ruined a single furnace of your Fetus Gathering Pills, you chased me down the mountain to find a disciple. Are disciples really that easy to find?... Sect Leader Uncle-Master says our Yiyuan Sect has sparse manpower, but surely it shouldn't be my turn, the lowest in seniority, to come running out to recruit disciples? How can it be such a coincidence that the moment I come to stroll around my old home, I'm supposed to find a hundred disciples with deep foundations to drag back?"

After standing on tiptoe to curse for a spell, the Daoist continued forward with feeble steps, letting out long sighs and lamenting, "Pity me, having just completed the art of Qi Transformation, my Golden Core is still a distant dream, and the Nascent Soul is like the moon in the water or a flower in a mirror. I should be at a critical juncture of single-minded diligence in mountain seclusion, yet you old codgers are slacking off, leaving me, Xiao Longzi, to suffer... Ah, in broad daylight and beneath the bright sun, you actually dare commit public violence! Could it be there is no longer any law in this land?"

Catching sight of a thread of cold light stabbing toward Li Feng's chest, the Daoist calling himself Xiao Longzi completely forgot that it was the dead of night and an isolated, deserted wilderness. He let out a couple of random shouts and charged forward on foot. Strangely enough, despite looking thoroughly refined and scholarly, a single shout from him boomed like a bronze bell and a great drum, making a radius of a mile tremble. Then, with a slow-looking gait that instantly flashed a hundred zhang with a single lift of his foot, he tapped two fingers lightly against the wrist of the dagger-wielding thug.

The three thugs were still reeling from that single shout, their minds buzzing and vision blurring, when the dagger-wielding thug felt as though his wrist bone had been struck by a blacksmith wielding a twenty-pound heavy hammer. His entire arm went entirely numb and unresponsive; his grip loosened, causing the dagger to clatter to the ground, while his wrist instantly ballooned up before his very eyes like a rising mantou bun. Following that, a wave of excruciating pain wrung a miserable cry from the thug's lips, and his vision turning black, he collapsed and fainted on the spot.

Just as the thug leader managed to tear himself away from Li Feng's death-grip and prepared to strike back with a punch to knock Li Feng out, he felt a gale-force wind surge before his face. A heavy boot, packed with the force of a horse's hoof, made intimate contact with his face. Hearing his own prominent nasal bridge let out a miserable crack, he too lost consciousness and slumped over.

Seeing a green-robed Daoist flying forward like a ghost, hovering three inches off the ground, the remaining thug let out a terrified shriek and turned to flee. But how could Xiao Longzi allow him to escape? Catching up in a single stride, he delivered a savage kick to the thug's backside. The hoodlum soared over three zhang high into the air like he was riding the clouds, wailing miserably as he pitched head-first to the earth and knocked himself out cold as well.

Xiao Longzi blinked in surprise, then quickly raised his hands in an obeisance salute and chanted, "Sin, sin. Grand Supreme Elder Lord, Three Pure Supreme Venerables, and immortals of all directions, this is Chen Songzi's sin! He failed to inform this humble Daoist that a single casual kick or punch of mine would knock people cold. Everything is his fault... Strange, strange, when I kick tigers on the mountain, they don't pass out, so why is the physique of people down here so frail? Could it be that having not been down the mountain in eighty years, the folks here have had nothing to eat or drink, starving themselves into this state?"

Li Feng staggered to his feet, spat out a mouthful of bloody froth, and dizzily listened to Xiao Longzi muttering to himself: "Still, according to the senior brothers who went down the mountain to wander, the Mongols were causing quite a ruckus some thirty or fifty years ago, but ever since a fellow named Zhu became emperor, hasn't the fighting stopped? How can these people still be starving?"

Panting for breath, Li Feng's vision gradually cleared, and he wheezed out a grateful acknowledgement: "Old Daoist, many thanks. If you hadn't come over, your grandpa here would have crossed over to the netherworld today. Damn it, these three damned bastards raised by wretched women—if I don't castrate them today, they'll think I'm scared of them!" The thought currently spinning in Li Feng's head was to hurry up and finish them off so word wouldn't leak out and drag him into trouble.

Of course, Li Feng didn't dare commit murder himself; the most he had ever done was ambush someone from behind with a brick. But seeing an eccentric old Daoist right before his eyes who could be utilized, why not take advantage of his sympathy and trick this Daoist into wiping out the four thugs?

Adopting the most polite demeanor of his entire life, Li Feng bowed deeply to Xiao Longzi and said, "Daoist master, greetings from Li Feng. However, as the saying goes, if you're going to rescue someone, rescue them to the end; if you're going to send them across a river, send them all the way to the other shore. You can't save me just to get me killed later, right? These fellows are no good sorts; they're the underlings of the most heinous villains in Suzhou Prefecture. They wanted to rob my gold and murder me. If you let them go, I'm done for."

With malicious flair, Li Feng piled a mountain of crimes onto Tiger Boss and his men—accusing them of everything from bullying the weak and seizing markets to imposing exorbitant taxes and taking human lives arbitrarily. Afterward, he claimed that he was the son of a respectable family in Suzhou Prefecture, but unfortunately his parents had been murdered by men sent by this damned Tiger Boss, forcing him to scrape by as a servant boy. Today, these fellows had wanted to rob his gold, and if Xiao Longzi didn't kill them, he, Li Feng, was a dead man.

In his haste, Li Feng hadn't thought the lie through thoroughly. Since when did a mere servant boy possess so much gold?

Xiao Longzi didn't pay attention to Li Feng's words, however. He merely smiled warmly at Li Feng, his eyes suddenly shifting into double pupils that radiated a faint green glow as he looked Li Feng up and down from head to toe, letting out sounds of inexplicable wonder: "Ha! Both parents deceased? Excellent, died wonderfully... No relatives? Even better, died cleanly... No friends or family either? Splendid, having them thoroughly wiped out is even better... Hm, destitute and with no way to survive? Absolutely wonderful... Haha, not bad, not bad at all. Truly marvelous."

Li Feng's expression shifted. Hearing Xiao Longzi speak words no normal person would utter, coupled with that bizarre gaze, a chill crept up from the bottom of his heart. He stepped back slowly, looking at Xiao Longzi with a hint of fear as he forced a smile. "Ha, Daoist master, thanks for saving my life; I, Li Feng, will certainly repay this in the future... The hour is getting late, and I haven't even had dinner yet. I should probably be taking my leave."

Smiling broadly, Xiao Longzi nodded repeatedly, muttering to himself, "Fascinating! A young novice with no attachments, and he looks quite young too—even younger than I was when I first went up the mountain. Hm, fine bone structure, a well-rounded crown, bright eyes; his innate aptitude isn't bad at all... Ah, even better, he's unflustered in the face of chaos. To be able to speak calmly right after escaping a major disaster is what they call the composure of a still mind, and I never expected this little toddler to possess it as well... What's even rarer is that the hundred meridians throughout his body are completely unblocked, almost as if someone used primordial breath-energy to clear them out for him. Wonderful, simply wonderful..."

Xiao Longzi suddenly broke into an exceptionally brilliant grin. "Little toddler, are you truly unattached, without parents, and without neighbors either?"

Subconsciously, Li Feng nodded. "Th—this... Daoist... Daoist master, I really am an orphan, but I do have a few neighbors, and as for attachments... I have plenty of attachments, and I'm not ready to die just yet."

Xiao Longzi burst into wild laughter. "Die? How could I let you die? If you die, how long would it take me to find such fine, high-quality material again, and how long before I can return to the mountain? Heh, little brother, I saved your life today, so you ought to fulfill my wish as well, shouldn't you? Well, I don't have many excessive demands—just take me as your master and let me bring you back to the mountain. That will be your repayment." With that, Xiao Longzi stroked his beard and smiled, looking at Li Feng with complete composure.

Li Feng froze, his mind erupting with frantic curses: Damn it, I become a disciple to an old madman like you? Do you take your grandpa here for a fool? Not a chance...

Without missing a beat, Li Feng flatly refused. "Daoist master, your martial arts are profound and peerless under heaven, and I'd love nothing more than to take you as my master. Unfortunately, I once swore an oath before the Buddha: unless it's an immortal descending from the heavens, I will never take anyone as my master. Ordinary mortals just won't do. If I violate my oath, I'll be struck down by five thunderbolts... Look at the sky, it's getting darker by the minute, and the moon is right overhead. I really must be heading back to empty my chamber pots, or my master will scold me." As he spoke, Li Feng began inching backward, sliding his feet across the dirt inch by inch.

Xiao Longzi's smile grew even more radiant. He took a light step forward, blocking Li Feng's path, and asked with a chuckle, "What if an immortal stands right before you? Will you take him as your master then?"

Nodding repeatedly, Li Feng seized the opportunity to retreat another step. "Daoist master, as long as an immortal is standing before me, how could I refuse to take him as my master? An immortal showing up at your door is such a great fortuitous encounter; naturally I'd take him as my master! But the thing is, where do you find immortals? Who in this world has ever laid eyes on one?... The hour really is getting late, I should..."

Xiao Longzi burst into wild, uproarious laughter, so delighted he grabbed his own beard and crowed, "If it's an immortal you'll take as master, then that settles it! Wonderful, simply wonderful! I've been wandering down the mountains for half a year, traveling from the Northwest to Jiangnan, and from the Southwest to the Eastern Sea, and I've finally run into a little toddler like you! Hahaha, I can finally report back to old Chen Songzi and clear my debt, and I can finally return to the mountain to cultivate in peace and single-mindedly polish my Golden Core Dao... Little toddler, fortune has truly smiled upon you today! I am an immortal... Hahaha, even if I'm not one right now, I soon will be, hahaha, soon, soon."

Scared out of his wits, Li Feng became thoroughly convinced that the old Daoist was completely insane. He stood there trembling and speechless, while Xiao Longzi grabbed hold of him with enthusiastic excitement and declared, "Since that's the case, and you have no attachments anyway, just follow this humble Daoist back to the mountain. Becoming an immortal—how hard could that be?"

Before Li Feng could cry out in protest, he felt his body suddenly grow heavy, then feather-light, before inexplicably soaring a thousand feet into the sky.

Directly overhead, the crescent moon hung as though a mere inch away, close enough to touch; wisps of pale silver-edged clouds drifted past his flanks like a gale. Beneath his body lay the vast earth—faintly visible were the twinkling lights of Suzhou City, while the tallest peaks outside the city looked utterly insignificant from this height.

Xiao Longzi laughed aloud. "Little toddler, this humble Daoist is indeed an immortal! Your luck has finally arrived."

Having never experienced such a bizarre phenomenon of soaring high through the heavens, Li Feng let out a few choked, rattling sounds in his throat and fainted dead away from sheer terror.

Careless Xiao Longzi assumed Li Feng was laughing happily, so he joined in with hearty laughter. A flash of cyan radiance—a streak of azure light the thickness of a water vat and five or six zhang long—whirled and shot northward like a falling star or lightning bolt. Its speed was so ferocious that compared to the sword rainbow conjured by the King of Hell's Sword Yan Tao earlier, it was the difference between a firefly and the sun.

The wind howled, the sword light sped onward, traversing a thousand miles in a single breath. Acting almost like a kidnapper, Xiao Longzi carried the unconscious Li Feng far away into the distance...

Damn it, who else is saying I'm writing wuxia?! Step right up, brothers, let's settle it in a single duel. Winner gets a beer, I'm buying!

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