Banquet

This collision—its timing, angle, and force—was exquisitely precise.

Bang! Crack!

Another dull impact rang out, accompanied by the crisp crack of shattering bone.

The short, stout man felt as if his wrist had struck a sledgehammer. Agonizing pain instantly shot through his entire body, and his wrist bones were pulverized.

He let out a shrill scream, clutching his wrist as he staggered back.

"Big Brother!"

Seeing two of his brothers severely injured in an instant, the solidly built man was both furious and alarmed. Blood rushed into his eyes, and he completely lost his mind! Throwing caution to the wind, he charged like an enraged bull, intending to seize Chen Qing in a bear hug and strangle him alive.

Facing this charge of pure brute force, a cold glint flashed through Chen Qing's eyes. Rather than retreat, he advanced. At the instant the man was about to close his arms around him, Chen Qing suddenly contracted his body and slipped beneath those outstretched arms like a startled ape.

At the same time, his hands formed claws and shot out like lightning. One seized the joint of the man's thick right wrist, while the other clamped onto the gap by his shoulder blade like iron pincers.

"Muscle and Bone Dislocation? I know a little of that too!"

Chen Qing's icy voice sounded beside the solidly built man's ear.

The next moment, Chen Qing united waist and stance, and the strength of his entire body erupted at once.

The hand gripping the wrist twisted sharply outward, while the hand locking the shoulder pressed down. At the same time, his right knee rammed viciously into the vulnerable section of the man's lower back like a battering ram.

"Urgh, aaah!"

The solidly built man let out a scream that barely sounded human! His right arm went numb in an instant, tearing pain exploded from his shoulder joint, and his lower back felt as though it had been pierced by an Iron Cone. His entire lower body was paralyzed.

Thud—!

That massive body crashed face-first onto the ground like a wild dog whose spine had been pulled out, kicking up a cloud of dust.

His right arm was twisted at a bizarre angle. His shoulder joint had clearly been forcibly dislocated, perhaps even with the tendons torn, while his spine had also suffered a devastating blow.

In the time it took a hare to rise and a falcon to swoop, barely a dozen breaths had passed.

The three men who had just been so imposing and coordinated had already lost two.

The tall, skinny man rolled on the ground, clutching his broken leg and howling in agony, while the solidly built man lay limp like a dead dog.

Only the short, stout man remained. He clutched his deformed wrist, his face white as paper as he stared at Chen Qing before him in utter terror.

The night wind swept past, carrying dust and the stench of blood.

Yet Chen Qing's mind was in a strange state of exhilaration.

After his second breakthrough, his Internal Force had strengthened and undergone a qualitative transformation. Naturally, his strength had transformed as well.

"A Hidden Strength master!"

The short, stout man could clearly see the mark of Hidden Strength in the force coursing through Chen Qing's brothers.

As he looked into Chen Qing's eyes, it felt as if he had been targeted by a savage beast. A chill shot from the soles of his feet straight to the crown of his head.

"Spare... spare me!"

With a thud, the short, stout man dropped to his knees. Ignoring the searing pain in his wrist, he repeatedly kowtowed. "Mercy, sir! We failed to recognize Mount Tai before us and offended you, sir. Please show mercy and spare this lowly life! All the money on us is yours!"

As he begged, he fumbled through his robes with his still-functional left hand.

"Once you're dead, your money will be mine anyway."

Chen Qing looked at him expressionlessly, his gaze cold and utterly unmoved.

The short, stout man stiffened. The last trace of luck in his eyes went out, leaving only complete madness.

He knew Chen Qing would never let him go.

"Then die!"

The short, stout man suddenly looked up. What he pulled from his robes with his left hand was not silver, but a small poisoned sleeve arrow!

Twng! Whoosh!

At such close range, a poison arrow gleaming with an eerie blue light shot toward Chen Qing's heart like a venomous snake!

This vicious attack was almost impossible to evade!

But Chen Qing had long been on guard. He leaped forward, landing before the burly man, then gripped his wrist with force.

"Ah!" The short, stout man's wrist was restrained again, and the pain drilled into his heart.

Chen Qing did not hesitate for even a moment! The hand holding the man's wrist suddenly exerted force and twisted.

Crack!

The crisp sound of breaking bone rang out once more! The short, stout man's left wrist was completely ruined.

Chen Qing threw a punch. The wind of his fist howled, carrying a bleak, murderous force as it smashed into the short, stout man's defenseless chest!

Bang!!!

A thunderous boom, dull as a war drum, exploded through the silent night sky.

The short, stout man was like someone struck by a charging wild bull. His whole body flew backward off the ground, blood spraying wildly from his mouth, mixed with fragments of internal organs.

His chest caved in at a visible rate, and even the clothes on his back were torn open by the force that punched through him.

He crashed heavily to the ground several yards away. His body convulsed violently a few times, then went completely still. Only his wide-open eyes still held the terror and disbelief from the moment before death.

Killed with one punch!

Chen Qing walked over to the tall, skinny man, raised his foot, aimed at the man's throat, and stomped down hard!

Crack!

With a soft sound, the tall, skinny man's throat bone shattered. His body jerked straight, then went limp.

He then walked over to the solidly built man. The man seemed to want to struggle, but his lower body was completely paralyzed, leaving him able only to twist helplessly.

Chen Qing stepped down with one foot as well, ending his life.

Next, he targeted the fatal Vital Points of the three corpses and mercilessly delivered the final blows.

His fingertips stabbed heavily into their temples and cervical vertebrae like Iron Cones; the inch force in his toes erupted as he viciously kicked their hearts and groins.

Every strike was delivered with full force, ensuring that every last trace of life had been extinguished and eliminating any possibility of an "unexpected awakening."

Afterward, he swiftly searched them for their money pouches. Once he had carefully checked that nothing was left behind, he quickly cleared away the traces at the scene before dragging the bodies to a tributary of the South River.

To keep the corpses from floating up and being discovered by chance, Chen Qing brought over heavy, sharp-edged stones from the bank and used strips torn from the corpses' clothes to bind them tightly around their waists and ankles.

Splash! Splash! Splash!

The bodies sank at once, swallowed by the whirlpools without leaving a single trace.

Only after finishing all this did Chen Qing head home.

When Madam Han saw Chen Qing push open the door and enter, her hanging heart finally settled. "A Qing, why are you back so late tonight? You worried Mother half to death."

There was lingering fear in her voice.

Chen Qing casually brushed it off. "Master had some matters to explain, which delayed me for a while. I made Mother worry."

"That's good, that's good."

Madam Han let out a long breath, and her tense shoulders relaxed. "The food was ready long ago. It's warming on the stove—hurry and eat it while it's hot."

As she spoke, she carefully put away several sticks of incense that had been offered on a crude wooden board.

"The River God Festival is only a few days away."

Madam Han's voice lowered. "Your father may be gone, but the two of us still depend on this boat to make a living. We cannot skimp on the incense offerings we ought to give."

Chen Qing nodded silently.

The River God Festival was Gaolin County's grandest sacrificial ceremony and the liveliest annual celebration.

After a hasty meal, the exhausted Madam Han went to rest early.

Chen Qing was left alone in the cabin, where the dim halo of the oil lamp flickered.

Only then did he take out tonight's gains from his robes and lay them out one by one before his knees.

There were twenty taels of loose silver in all, along with four Blood Vitality Pills.

Chen Qing's part-time appointment at River Office Hall earned him only two or three taels of silver a month. Yet by killing three men tonight, he had obtained more than twenty taels—equivalent to over a year's regular pay.

"These three brothers specialized in ambushing people with clubs. Looks like they had their eyes on me because I was alone."

Chen Qing's gaze turned cold as he instantly pieced together the cause and effect.

He lowered his head and looked at his unremarkable old clothes. In the dim night, he truly did look like a soft persimmon ripe for the squeezing.

"Next time."

An incomparably clear thought filled Chen Qing's mind. I absolutely cannot travel at night again.

This time, he had run into three desperate men who worked in seamless coordination and struck with ruthless cruelty. What if next time he encountered even craftier, more vicious monsters and demons, perhaps ones possessing strange arts?

The next morning.

Chen Qing arrived at Zhou Academy as usual, as though nothing had happened the night before.

The other disciples arrived one after another as well, bustling about as they put away the training equipment.

"Did you hear? Senior Brother Qin was invited by Lord Commandant!" one disciple whispered excitedly.

"Really? To Lord Commandant's banquet?" The person beside him immediately leaned closer, his face full of disbelief.

"Absolutely true! It's at Linjiang Restaurant! They say those accompanying him are all the foremost figures of Gaolin County's younger generation: Senior Disciple Brother Zhang Chen of Tianju Martial Arts School, Ding Yiyang of Hongyun Martial Arts School... which one of them isn't a renowned figure?" The well-informed disciple spoke with flying spittle, as if he himself had attended the gathering.

When the disciples in the academy heard that Qin Lie had attended Lord Commandant's celebration banquet, they immediately lost all interest in training and began discussing it heatedly.

"My heavens... Senior Brother Qin actually managed to form ties with the Commander's Mansion?" Song Yufeng was so shocked his mouth would not close, his eyes filled with astonishment and envy.

In Gaolin County, the Commander's Mansion was the sky hanging over everyone's heads.

Even the local tyrants—the Five Great Clans and the two major gangs—could only bow their heads.

Chen Qing said calmly, "Don't envy others. Hurry up and practice your fists."

In his view, this was not a good thing.

The Commander's Mansion was a great tree, lush with branches and leaves, casting its shade over an entire region. Clinging to it could certainly bring temporary glory.

Yet the taller the tree, the fiercer the winds it drew.

Pang Qinghai held great power and authority. He was the sky of Gaolin County, but he was also the bullseye of countless open and hidden arrows.

The tighter one clung to him, the more easily one would be swept into the vortex of storms beyond ordinary imagining.

Song Yufeng hurriedly composed himself, suppressing his restlessness as he followed Chen Qing in practicing stance work.

By evening, Qin Lie returned drunk, though the pride and excitement between his brows were impossible to conceal.

But he had barely spent any time in the courtyard before Zhou Liang summoned him to the backyard.