The Chief Takes Turns

Qing He Gang's chief, Xu Ruohai, had completely abandoned any thought of becoming Yun Shou's enemy.

In the Simulator, he had always been good at backing down gracefully. In reality, naturally, he could not be much tougher.

After Yun Shou "shone with great brilliance" and displayed Martial Cultivation at the Martial Master level, Xu Ruohai had thoroughly submitted and conceded defeat within his heart.

The brain he had scarcely used except for martial training spun madly as he considered how to smooth things over and erase the grudge between them.

Especially after hearing Yun Shou's giggling, he secretly cried that this was absurd.

"Little Brother Yun, do you think there might be some misunderstanding?"

"My Qing He Gang did provide you with a boat, after all. We've only been collecting that debt for barely two years, and it still hasn't even paid off the cost of that boat. I'll make the call!" Xu Ruohai patted his chest. "All debts will be wiped clean, and for the fourteen years we delayed you, you'll receive one hundred taels of silver in compensation for each year!"

"You want to compensate me?" Yun Shou laughed. White light erupted as he swept up a leg, while Xu Ruohai raised his saber horizontally to block.

But he could not react in time. Yun Shou's kick was too fast; before he had even gripped his saber firmly, the blade was struck hard across its flat. The Boat-Slaying Saber, weighing dozens of jin, flew away like a plank of wood and, with a hiss, plunged into the nearby earth.

He had put on enough of an act. What remained, naturally, was to vent his anger!

White light flashed as Yun Shou punched Xu Ruohai in the cheek, sending his two-hundred-jin body flying sideways several zhang. Several white teeth shot from his mouth like bullets.

Xu Ruohai flung his limbs about as dark-blue Force Qi surged forth desperately, but before his feet could touch the ground, Yun Shou hooked another kick beneath him and sent him soaring into the air.

Bang!

The battlefield shifted from the ground to more than ten meters in the air. Yun Shou leaped even higher and came down from above, stomping toward Xu Ruohai's chest!

"You're going too far!" Xu Ruohai reached both hands for Yun Shou's shoe, intending to seize Yun Shou and drag him down with him, but Yun Shou changed his stomp into a kick.

Originally, he had intended to stomp directly on Xu Ruohai and let him fall half to death.

Now, he instead delivered a vicious kick, making it impossible for Xu Ruohai's hands to hold on. Xu Ruohai was kicked diagonally downward instead.

Crash!

Xu Ruohai's burly body smashed through the gang's main gate and scraped across the ground for nearly twenty meters before stopping. His clothes had been shredded into rags, while his skin was rubbed bright red without breaking.

"Weren't you having a great time barking those few 'dog' lines at the start?" Yun Shou stepped through the air. Though he stood in midair with nowhere to borrow force from, he used Force Qi as footholds, like an immortal flying through the sky. He crossed dozens of meters and landed, shattering the stone bricks beneath his feet.

"Being too invincible really does take away a lot of fun." Yun Shou muttered as he planted his shoe on the gang chief's face.

"I've wanted to step on that face of yours for a long time."

Xu Ruohai's face twisted, but he said nothing. He abruptly shut his eyes and went still.

Yun Shou ground his foot down a few more times.

"What a pity. It doesn't feel as good underfoot as I imagined. My youth is over."

Around them, the other Qing He Gang members had already gathered. But the battle had broken out too quickly and ended too urgently, so only several dozen had assembled thus far. Eight of them wore clothing different from ordinary gang members; they were the gang's leaders, Second-rate Martial Artists.

When they discovered someone fighting, they had acted as though facing a formidable enemy.

When they discovered that their invincible chief had fallen and was even having his face stepped on by the intruder, some of them quietly began backing away.

Fight my ass! Even a First-rate Martial Artist got beaten like a dog. Who among us could do anything if we went up?

This intruder clearly came for some big shot in the gang. As long as us little gang members run fast enough, he'd have to be bored out of his mind to chase us down and kill us.

But... why is this intruder a child?

Yun Shou looked around, saw that eight Second-rate leaders had arrived, and that the master of the gang was beneath his foot.

He declared loudly, "Since I've already come knocking at your door, that means it's fate."

The Qing He Gang members: "???"

What kind of fate was this?

You beat the chief into a dog, and now you were telling them it was fate?

Yun Shou nudged the unconscious-playing Xu Ruohai with his foot. "Wake up. I'm not hitting you anymore. I have something to ask."

Xu Ruohai's tiger eyes flew wide open. Just as the other gang members thought he was about to rise up and strike, they saw the chief answer obediently, "What is it? Go ahead."

His expression was calm, his tone steady, and it was as though the shoeprint on his face did not exist. The other gang members could not help but feel admiration. Worthy of being their... enemy's chief. Even after being beaten and having his face stepped on, he still spoke with such overwhelming presence.

"Alright, hurry up and get up. Look at the state you're in—is that any way to look?" Yun Shou gestured for him to straighten up his appearance.

Xu Ruohai rose to his feet, dark-blue Force Qi sweeping the dust from his clothes. Then his face suddenly reddened, blood washed over it, and he spat out a mouthful of congealed blood with a puff.

His bear-like body swayed somewhat after standing, carrying the air of mountains collapsing and jade pillars toppling. But after swaying for a moment, he gradually steadied himself.

The most serious injury he had suffered came only from Yun Shou's first saber strike. The instantaneous impact had gravely injured his internal organs, whose strengthening progress was only seventy to eighty percent complete. Aside from that, all his other injuries were merely flesh wounds.

For a First-rate Martial Artist, at most two or three months of recovery would see him fully healed. Forcing himself to stand with Force Qi now was no difficult matter.

The other gang members: Worthy of our chief. Even the way he swallowed his pride and endured humiliation was so domineering. Though grievously wounded, he still had to stand up. Haki Hai, chief, you really make our blood boil!

"I'm just curious—how did you become the chief of Qing He Gang?"

Xu Ruohai said in a deep voice, "Hai joined the gang twenty-seven years ago and practiced the family-inherited Water Dragon Skill. Later, I dared to fight and dared to struggle, earning the appreciation and guidance of the chief at the time. Ten years ago, I succeeded to the position of chief, and several years later, I broke through to First-Rate..."

"Hey, Little Hai." Yun Shou's form of address made Xu Ruohai's eyelids twitch, but he forcibly endured it.

"I, Yun, have lived in Qing He Gang since childhood. It's been fourteen years now. You'd say that's not a short time, right?"

Xu Ruohai: "..."

"Even a mere Second-rate Martial Artist can spend seventeen years building seniority and become chief. Oh, no, he's now a passable First-rate Martial Artist."

"Tell me, if someone like that can become chief, then, ahem, I'm not talking about myself, alright? I'm simply raising a possibility. If there happened to be a powerful Martial Master with fourteen years of seniority, could he become chief?"

"Of course... he could."

Xu Ruohai spoke with great difficulty. He was in despair.

A Young Martial Master was saying he wanted to seize his damn position, after beating him within an inch of his life beforehand. What could he do?

"Then work hard from now on." Yun Shou held out his hand.

Only after several seconds of silence did Xu Ruohai understand. He bent over.

After patting his shoulder twice with a pat pat, Yun Shou said with a trace of nostalgia and a sigh, "Since we've already decided, then that's how it'll be. Let all the unpleasantness from before pass with the wind."

Yun Shou had no intention of traveling outside to adventure. With a Martial Master's strength, he could leave those matters to Old Yun in the Simulator.

Leaving aside Zhu Baowen, that stat monster at the "third step of martial arts," even from the information Yun Shou already knew, this world had a whole host of Grandmasters and Great Grandmasters above him.

Since he was only a Martial Master now, he might as well peacefully become the chief of a gang.

The other gang members: Worthy of the chief. He gave up his position the moment he was told to, without hemming and hawing or stubbornly clinging to it. Truly worthy of being our former... number two!