After dealing with his uncle and cousins, Yun Shou headed straight for Qing He Gang's headquarters.
He had entered the headquarters once two years ago, where he signed a contract selling himself into service. Only then had he earned the gang's continued permission to use that little wooden boat and wooden hut.
It was only a dozen or so li away, much closer than Qingcheng.
Yun Shou activated his Lightness Skill. Bright light burst beneath every step, and because he was lighter than most, the eruption of Force Qi pushed his speed to nearly a hundred meters per second.
The length of a running track flashed past in an instant. He covered a thousand meters in less time than others needed for a hundred-meter sprint.
Clad in coarse blue cloth, he was like a pale blue phantom flickering repeatedly along the short route, accompanied by the shriek of wind being torn apart.
Qing He Gang's headquarters stood several li away from Green Lake. Though it was called a gang, its buildings were quite substantial, covering over a thousand square meters and rising six stories high. Its gray stone walls were weathered and imposing, while its pitch-black timber was solemn and austere.
At the gate, two gang members with sabers at their waists were chatting idly. When they saw Yun Shou, a mere youth, approaching, one of them stepped forward dismissively. "Important grounds of Qing He Gang. Idlers are not permitted to enter."
He even pinched his voice into a eunuch's whine, then laughed at his own words.
Yun Shou smiled as well and walked up several steps. "Please report me. I truly have business here."
The gang member grew interested, making a strange expression with his lewd-looking face. "Oh? Small body, big guts. You're quite polite."
"Quit teasing him." The other young man, whose face was somewhat dark, stepped forward. His complexion fell somewhere between that of an ordinary person and... that sort, but his features looked rather honest and simple. "Little brother, have you come looking for an elder in the gang, or is there something else? You cannot enter without permission, but we can report your arrival."
"This is different from what I imagined. Or did the few who fled here earlier fail to explain things clearly?" Yun Shou's words left the two of them utterly baffled.
"Fine, then please report this for 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 a little, repaying the various forms of exploitation I've suffered over the past two years."
The dark-faced youth froze, while the lewd gang member let out a strange cry. "Kid, don't tell me you've gone mad? You're a little brat, yet crazier than some old fossil?"
Hearing his colleague's cry, the dark-faced youth snapped out of it as well. The one who had seemed the gentlest before was now the first to attack, swinging a fist the size of a casserole pot. "No matter how young you are, you should not insult the gang leader!"
He held back some strength, intending only to teach this foul-mouthed youth a bruised and swollen lesson.
"Quite loyal, aren't you?" The two gang members only saw a blur before Yun Shou suddenly vanished from where he stood, shifting forward as though he had teleported... Though he had only teleported less than thirty centimeters forward, neither of them had seen his movement at all.
Yun Shou pushed out with one palm. The dark-faced youth clearly did not feel much force, yet he could not stop himself from retreating. He staggered back seven or eight steps before stumbling and falling onto the ground.
Yun Shou's "teleportation" just now had not been for show. He had dodged the dark-faced youth's punch at a speed beyond the range of ordinary human dynamic vision... but really, his arms were too short. If he had not lunged one step forward, his palm would not even have reached the dark-faced youth.
"You've got some nerve, damn it!" the lewd gang member shouted. During that brief clash of fists and feet, he had already drawn the saber at his waist. The blade gleamed silver-black, forged from green iron.
(The iron ore found around Qingcheng was called green iron after being mined and refined. It had nothing to do with its color.)
The lewd gang member had been all jokes moments ago, but once he fought, every move went straight for the kill. He swung this saber viciously at Yun Shou's neck.
"You're quite ruthless too." Yun Shou's voice came from behind his head, while the youth before him had vanished. Alarm bells rang wildly in the lewd gang member's heart. He wanted to turn and slash backward, an extremely effective way to meet an enemy.
But all strength relied on numerical attributes for support. Technique was merely decoration, merely icing on the cake.
Besides, Yun Shou was a Martial Master who had "fought through many years of battle," and he was not weak even among those of the same rank. The lewd gang member's inspired backward slash was nothing more than a child's game.
Yun Shou merely rubbed his palm across the lewd gang member's shoulder, and his entire right arm went limp. The green iron saber slipped from his grasp, and as it flew free, it scraped across his waist, drawing a shrill scream from him.
Yun Shou caught the flying green iron saber by its hilt. Looking at the lewd gang member, whose clothes had been cut open and whose waist had only suffered a shallow slice through the skin, he was truly speechless at the man's ghostly howls.
He kicked him several meters away, sending him crashing face-first to the ground and biting into a mouthful of turf.
The lewd gang member sprawled flat on the ground, and beside him stood the dark-faced youth, who had just gotten back up.
"That should do it. Can you go in and report me now?" Yun Shou gripped the green iron saber and spun it between his fingers into a heart-stopping, dangerous fan, its blades formed from the entire saber itself.
It was purely finger technique, with only a little Force Qi used for assistance.
The dark-faced youth realized that this boy had come to kick up trouble. Neither he nor the colleague beside him had yet produced Internal Force, so they could not stop the youth at all. They could only enter the gang and find those ranked experts.
Having a rank meant being the Xth Seat, someone who sat upon the Xth chair. They were all Internal Force experts, Second-rate Martial Artists.
The entire Qing He Gang had ranked as far as the Twentieth Seat, signifying a full twenty Second-rate Martial Artists, as well as its gang leader: the First-Rate powerhouse Xu Ruohai!
But just as the dark-faced youth entered the gate, he saw a burly man striding forward with the gait of a tiger, followed by several figures who held seats.
"Gang Leader!" The dark-faced youth hurriedly clasped his fist.
The burly Xu Ruohai waved a hand, signaling that he could dispense with the salute. "What's going on outside? Why is that dead monkey screeching like a ghost?"
The dead monkey referred to the lewd gang member.
"There's someone outside..." The dark-faced youth had only gotten halfway through his words when the lewd gang member heard the gang leader's voice and scrambled into the gate as well. Spitting grass roots and dirt from his mouth, he pointed outside and shouted.
"Gang Leader, there's a little runt outside! Not only did he say he wanted to fight you, he even said he'd knock you down and stomp on your face!"
"Bold!" Xu Ruohai nearly laughed when he heard it. With one broad hand, he shoved aside the lewd gang member blocking his way. "Then I would like to see who dares fight me, and who can fight me!"
First, that kid from Qing He Village who had sold himself into service had beaten the gang's Twentieth Seat until he looked like a dog. Now there was this little runt challenging him... Wait!
Looking at the youth before him, Xu Ruohai thought, How could there be such a coincidence? "You're the kid who beat Old Wood from my gang. Still not satisfied? You've got the audacity to come straight to Qing He Gang and pick a fight?"
Yun Shou stopped spinning the saber. The faint light between his fingers was not eye-catching, and no one would have noticed even if it went out.
This burly man, Xu Ruohai, was viewed as an overlord by the dozen or so villages lining this stretch of Green Lake. He was now forty-four years old and had entered the First-Rate realm six or seven years ago.
Over those six or seven years, he had acted more than once. Each time, that invincible bearing had been branded into everyone's minds.
Three years ago, when Yun Shou's parents were still alive, he had gone with several companions to the neighboring Red Scale Village to watch the excitement: the punishment of a fisherman.
That fisherman had migrated from the far side of the lake and brought his own wooden fishing boat. Yet on Qing He Gang territory, he had sold the fish he caught in the city instead, and someone had reported him to the gang.
Secretly selling fish was usually too trivial to alarm the gang leader. If he sold enough, at most a Seat ranked in the teens would be sent over.
But what he had sold was an entire brood—two large and seven small, nine Little Black Dragons in all!
Little Black Dragons were an exceptionally precious strange fish with ink-black blood. (They had been mentioned in Chapter Two.)
They could invigorate one's blood and vitality, accelerating the progress of Third-rate Martial Artists. Qing He Gang classified them as "Fish Kings," yet they had no school of fish protecting them, nor were they larger or fiercer. They were simply rare.
He had privately sold nine precious fish from within Qing He Gang's territory—its waters—to Qingcheng. Had the inn that bought them not reminded the gang, the loss would have pained even Xu Ruohai. It was like carving flesh from his body!
Thus, the fisherman who had broken the rules was tied to his boat, which was rowed into Green Lake more than a hundred meters from shore.
Villagers from Red Scale Village and nearby places crowded along the shore and docks to watch. They guessed at how Qing He Gang would punish the fisherman. Would they leave him adrift on the lake for days to starve alive, or overturn his boat and drown him?
But what happened exceeded their imagination and branded into their minds the lesson that Qing He Gang must never be defied.
They saw—Xu Ruohai walk upon the lake. The rippling water surged up and became his stepping stones, and in only a few steps, he reached the boat.
He raised his saber and swung it down.
Force Qi gathered, lengthening the blade. With one slash, wood chips flew, blood spurted, and waves were driven apart.
A wooden boat that took several grown men to lift was cleaved into two by Xu Ruohai's single saber strike!
Yun Shou had arrived a step too late then. He only saw the two halves of the boat floating on the lake, already pushed several hundred meters from shore by the waves.
He had only heard tales of Xu Ruohai and had never seen him fight in person.
Now, the first time he saw him make a move, they were enemies.
Honestly, he was quite excited now.
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