Legendary Gang Leader Xu Ruohai

Having dealt with the uncle and his two nephews, Yun Shou headed straight for the Qing He Gang headquarters.

Two years ago, he had entered the headquarters once, signing an indenture there in exchange for the continued use of the small wooden boat and that wooden hut provided by the gang.

It was only a dozen or so li away, even closer than Qingcheng.

Yun Shou activated his Lightness Skill, bright light radiating from beneath each step. His light frame, combined with the explosive Force Qi, propelled him to speeds nearing a hundred meters per second.

The distance of a running track was crossed in an instant; the time it took him to cover a kilometer was shorter than most people's hundred-meter sprint.

Clad in coarse blue cloth, his figure was like a pale blue specter, flickering along the short path, accompanied by the howl of wind being torn apart.

The Qing He Gang headquarters was built several li away from Green Lake. Though called a gang, its construction was quite substantial, covering over a thousand square meters and standing six stories tall. The gray stone walls were rugged and imposing, the dark wooden beams steady and solemn.

At the main gate, two gang members with sabers at their waists were chatting and joking. When they saw a young boy like Yun Shou approaching, one of them stepped forward dismissively: "Qing He Gang's important grounds, no idlers allowed."

He even put on a eunuch's tone, laughing at his own joke after speaking.

Yun Shou smiled too, stepping forward a few paces: "Trouble you to announce me. I do have business here."

This gang member perked up, a lecherous face twisting into a strange expression: "Oh, small but shrewd, quite polite."

"Stop messing with him." Another young man with a slightly dark complexion stepped forward. His skin tone was somewhere between normal and something else, and his face looked rather honest: "Little brother, are you here to find an elder, or do you have some business? Without permission, you can't enter the gang, but we'll pass along a message for you."

"Not quite what I expected. Did those who fled here earlier not explain things clearly?" Yun Shou's words sounded baffling to the two men.

"Alright then, trouble you to announce me. Have Xu Ruohai—have the gang leader come out. I want to fight him, and while I'm at it, stomp on his face to repay the various kinds of exploitation I've suffered these past two years."

The dark-faced young man was stunned, while the lecherous gang member let out a strange cry: "Kid, have you lost your mind? A little brat gone crazy like some old geezer?"

Hearing his colleague's outcry, the dark-faced young man snapped back to reality. The one who had seemed the most gentle just moments ago was now the first to act, swinging a fist the size of a clay pot: "Young as you are, you shouldn't insult the gang leader!"

He held back some strength, intending to teach this reckless boy a lesson by blackening his eyes and swelling his face.

"Quite loyal." The two gang members only felt a blur before their eyes. Yun Shou had suddenly vanished from his spot, shifting forward as if teleported... Though it was only a shift of less than thirty centimeters forward, they hadn't seen his movement at all.

Yun Shou pushed out a palm. The dark-faced young man, though he didn't feel much force, couldn't stop himself from stumbling backward seven or eight steps before sitting down with a lurch.

That "teleport" of Yun Shou's wasn't for show—dodging the dark-faced young man's punch at a speed beyond normal dynamic vision... It was because his arms were short. If he hadn't stepped forward, that palm wouldn't have reached the dark-faced young man.

"Damn your guts!" the lecherous gang member shouted. In the brief moment of their scuffle, he had already drawn the saber from his waist. The blade was silver tinged with black, made of Green Iron.

(The iron ore found near Qingcheng, so all iron smelted from it is called Green Iron, unrelated to its color.)

The lecherous gang member had been all jokes before, but when it came to fighting, every move aimed to kill. This slash was vicious, aimed at Yun Shou's neck.

"You're pretty ruthless too." Yun Shou's voice came from behind his head, and the boy before him was gone. Alarm bells rang in the lecherous gang member's mind. He tried to spin and slash back—a very effective counter.

But all strength relies on numerical support; technique is just decoration, icing on the cake.

Besides, Yun Shou, a Martial Master with "years of battle experience," wasn't weak even among his peers. The lecherous gang member's instinctive counter-slash was nothing but child's play.

Yun Shou's hand merely rubbed against the lecherous gang member's shoulder, and his entire right arm went limp. The Green Iron Saber slipped from his grip, flying out and grazing his waist as it went, drawing a piercing scream from him.

Yun Shou caught the flying Green Iron Saber by the hilt. Looking at the lecherous gang member, whose clothes were cut open and waist barely scratched, he found his shrieking ridiculous.

He kicked him flying several meters, sending him face-first into the grass, spitting out a mouthful of turf.

The lecherous gang member lay prostrate, right next to the dark-faced young man who had just stood up.

"Alright now. Go in and announce me." Yun Shou twirled the Green Iron Saber between his fingers, creating a dangerously thrilling fan of blades from the entire saber.

Pure finger technique, with a little Force Qi to assist.

The dark-faced young man realized this boy had come to pick a fight. Neither he nor his colleague had generated inner force from within their bodies; they couldn't stop this boy. He had to go inside and find those with ranked positions.

Ranked positions referred to the Xth Seat, those who sat on the Xth chair: these were all inner force experts, Second-rate Martial Artists.

The entire Qing He Gang only went up to the Twentieth Seat, representing a full twenty Second-rate Martial Artists, plus the gang leader: First-rate big shot Xu Ruohai!

But just as the dark-faced young man stepped through the gate, he saw a burly strong man striding out like a tiger, followed by several figures who held ranked seats.

"Gang Leader!" The dark-faced young man quickly clasped his fists.

The burly strong man Xu Ruohai waved a hand, signaling him to stop: "What's going on outside? What's that dead monkey screeching about?"

Dead monkey referred to the lecherous gang member.

"Outside came a..." Before the dark-faced young man could finish, the lecherous gang member, hearing the gang leader's voice, scrambled and crawled through the gate, spitting out grass roots and dirt, pointing outside as he shouted.

"Gang Leader, outside there's a little runt! He said not only does he want to fight you, he wants to beat you down and stomp on your face!"

"Bold words!" Xu Ruohai almost laughed, brushing aside the lecherous gang member with a broad hand: "Let me see who dares to fight me, who can fight me!"

First, a sell-out kid from Qing He Village beat his gang's Twentieth Seat into a dog, and now a little runt comes to challenge... Wait!

Looking at the boy before him, Xu Ruohai thought, how could there be such a coincidence: "You're the kid who beat up Old Wood in my gang, and not satisfied with that, you've got the audacity to come straight to my Qing He Gang?"

Yun Shou stopped twirling the saber. The faint light between his fingers wasn't particularly striking, and it faded unnoticed.

This burly strong man Xu Ruohai was a tyrant in the eyes of the dozen or so villages along the Green Lake shore. Now forty-four, he had stepped into the First-rate realm six or seven years ago.

In those six or seven years, he had acted more than once, and each time his invincible posture was etched into everyone's memory.

Three years ago, when Yun Shou's parents were still alive, he had followed some friends to the neighboring Red Scale Village to watch a spectacle: the punishment of a Fisherman.

That Fisherman had moved from the other side of the lake, bringing his own fishing boat. But on Qing He Gang's turf, he sold his catch in the city, and was reported to the gang.

Selling fish on the sly—such a trivial matter usually didn't warrant disturbing the gang leader. Having a ranked Seat in the teens come over was already a lot, even if he sold a lot.

But this man was selling an entire nest—two large and seven small, nine "Little Black Dragons" in total!

The Little Black Dragon is an extremely rare and precious fish with ink-black blood. (Mentioned in Chapter 2)

It has the wondrous effect of invigorating blood and qi, accelerating the progress of Third-rate Martial Artists. The Qing He Gang classifies it as a "Fish King," yet it lacks the protection of a school, nor is it larger or fiercer—it is simply pure rarity.

To have nine of these precious fish from the Qing He Gang's territory (waters) secretly sold off in Qingcheng all at once—if the receiving tavern hadn't tipped off the gang, the loss would have been enough to make Xu Ruohai's heart ache, as if flesh were being carved from his body!

Thus, the Fisherman who broke the rules was tied to a boat, which was rowed out into Green Lake, over a hundred meters from the shore.

The villagers of Red Scale Village and those from nearby who had come to watch crowded the shore and the docks, guessing how the Qing He Gang would punish the Fisherman—would they let him drift on the lake for days until he starved, or capsize the boat and drown him?

But what unfolded surpassed their imagination and left an indelible mark in their minds: never defy the Qing He Gang.

They saw—Xu Ruohai step across the lake, waves rising to form his footholds. In just a few strides, he reached the boat.

He raised his blade and struck.

Force Qi condensed, extending the blade's edge. With one slash, wood chips flew, blood sprayed, and the water parted.

A wooden boat that several grown men could barely lift was cleaved in two by Xu Ruohai's single strike!

By the time Yun Shou arrived, he was a step too late, seeing only the two halves of the hull floating on the lake, already pushed hundreds of meters from shore by the waves.

He had only heard tales of Xu Ruohai's prowess, never seen the man himself in action.

Now, the first time he witnessed his skill, they were pitted against each other.

To be honest, he was pretty excited right now.