Gang Fight

After Han Zheng left, Jiang Tai still stood in the study, his face cycling through hesitation and struggle before finally settling into a vicious resolve.

A small man cannot be a gentleman; without poison, one is no man!

He had treated them as his elder brothers, but had they ever considered him?

Since the Three Harmonies Gang was founded, Gao Kaiyuan and Cao Bin each had their own factions. Only Jiang Tai, being the youngest and weakest, had few Gang Members willing to follow him.

The result was that for all these years, he could only offer suggestions on the gang's major and minor matters, unable even to make decisions.

Now that he finally had a chance to turn things around, how could he just give it up?

Having made up his mind, Jiang Tai immediately left for the Hall.

Cao Bin was just over fifty this year. By the standards of a Xiantian martial artist, that wasn't old at all—he should have been in his prime.

A Xiantian martial artist transcends the mortal realm; after Marrow Washing and Hair Replacement, their lifespan greatly increases, and living past a hundred is no problem.

But he had suffered internal injuries in his early years, so by his fifties his blood and qi had already begun to decline, and his hair had even started to turn white.

Now, upon receiving news of his only son's death, Cao Bin was stunned for a moment, and half his hair turned white in an instant.

"Gao Kaiyuan! I will fight you to the death!"

Cao Bin's expression twisted into utter ferocity.

"Big Brother, I heard that Second Brother's men actually killed Cao Rui?"

Jiang Tai pushed the door open, his face full of anger: "What is Second Brother doing? It's normal for us to have some disputes, and no matter how much our men clash, it's usually fine.

But Cao Rui was your own son, his nephew—how could he bring himself to do it?"

Cao Bin roared: "He is not your Second Brother, nor is he my Second Brother!

Gao Kaiyuan has wanted the Three Harmonies Gang for a long time. He even wants to kill me—what wouldn't he bring himself to do?"

Cao Bin had no doubt about the truth of the matter.

After all, Cao Rui had already clashed with Gao Kaiyuan's men before, so it was only natural for them to kill him this time.

Besides, so many of his men had witnessed it—his own son had died at the hands of Gao Kaiyuan's underlings.

Cao Bin suddenly turned his head to Jiang Tai: "Third Brother, Gao Kaiyuan killed my only son. This time, I will fight him to the death!

Given Gao Kaiyuan's nature, once he dominates the Three Harmonies Gang, he will not tolerate you either.

You and I should join forces, strike first, and kill Gao Kaiyuan. The Three Harmonies Gang will become the Two Harmonies Gang, and we can still stand firm in Black Stone County!"

Jiang Tai put on a conflicted expression, then gritted his teeth and said: "Second... Gao Kaiyuan is so ruthless. I am willing to join forces with you, Big Brother!"

"I will gather our men immediately!"

Cao Bin called for his subordinates, mobilized his trusted followers, and headed straight for Gao Kaiyuan.

The Three Harmonies Gang's Hall stretched half a street long, with Cao Bin and Gao Kaiyuan each occupying one side.

At this moment, Gao Kaiyuan still didn't know that his men had 'killed' Cao Rui. He was listening to other subordinates report the results of their recent investigation.

"Gang Leader, over the past few days we took over Hall Master Feng Yuan's investigation results and rechecked the five suspects he had listed earlier.

The process was a bit bumpy—we had a few conflicts with the County Yamen's constables, and a few of our men were detained.

But fortunately, the investigation is mostly done. Four of them can be completely cleared of suspicion.

Only one person remains that we haven't investigated in depth."

"Oh? Who is that?"

"Han Zheng, a disciple of Li Jingzhong at the Zhenwei Martial Arts School. His strength should be around Houtian Late Stage.

He's said to be the most outstanding of Li Jingzhong's current batch of disciples. He once escorted a Merchant Caravan for Shenghe Hall and is rumored to have slain a Demon.

At the martial arts school, he successively defeated Grain Shop Manager Guo's son, Guo Mingyuan, and the Song family's Song Tianqing, earning the right to learn the White Ape Through-Arm Fist.

Behind him stands 'Through-Arm White Ape' Li Jingzhong—after all, he's a Xiantian martial artist. The brothers didn't dare enter the school to investigate thoroughly."

"Zhenwei Martial Arts School!"

A sharp glint flashed in Gao Kaiyuan's eyes.

He was now almost certain that the one who killed Ma Gui, Wang Xiong, and then Feng Yuan was this Han Zheng!

When he had examined Wang Xiong's corpse earlier, he had already seen that Wang Xiong died from the Vajra Fist.

But at the time, Gao Kaiyuan only had slight suspicions about the Zhenwei Martial Arts School.

His visit to spar with Li Jingzhong was just a pretext to pick a fight, merely to show outsiders that he wouldn't let his men die for nothing.

After seeing Li Jingzhong's response, Gao Kaiyuan had also analyzed that Li Jingzhong was unlikely to be the culprit—he had no reason to kill Ma Gui and Wang Xiong.

And the school's disciples, in Gao Kaiyuan's view, were all greenhorns who had never seen blood. How could they have killed Wang Xiong?

Who would have thought that after going in circles, it would come back around—and the prime suspect turned out to be a disciple of the Zhenwei Martial Arts School!

Now everything fit together.

A murderous intent flickered in Gao Kaiyuan's eyes.

Whether Han Zheng truly knew about that matter, or had simply killed Wang Xiong out of a personal grudge against Ma Gui, then killed Feng Yuan—either way, Han Zheng was dead for sure.

Just as Gao Kaiyuan was about to order someone to seize Han Zheng, a subordinate suddenly burst through the door in panic.

"Gang Leader, something terrible! The First Gang Leader and the Third Gang Leader are leading men to attack us!"

Gao Kaiyuan's expression shifted sharply. "Have they lost their minds? Everything was fine yesterday, and now they want a bloody showdown? And when did the eldest manage to convince the third?"

The subordinate urged anxiously, "The First Gang Leader has truly gone mad this time! We killed Cao Rui—how could he not lose it? Boss, you need to think of something fast; they're already heading straight for our Hall!"

"What did you say?! We killed Cao Rui? Who killed him?"

Gao Kaiyuan's eyes went wide.

Even if he had been locked in open and covert struggles with Cao Bin all along, there was no way he would have killed the man's son—that would be nothing short of forcing Cao Bin into mutual destruction.

The subordinate was stunned too. He had always assumed Gao Kaiyuan had ordered Deng Bao and the others, and that they had carried out the killing.

The subordinate quickly said, "Wasn't it your order, Boss? This morning, Deng Bao took men to Shenghe Hall to collect the Spiritual Medicine, and Cao Rui showed up with his own men trying to seize it. The two sides clashed over words and started fighting. Deng Bao's underling, Wang Tie Zhu, was ferocious and fought his way straight to Cao Rui. But that bastard Cao Rui broke the rules and went for lethal force with his weapon, only to be killed in return by Wang Tie Zhu."

Gao Kaiyuan froze for a moment, then burst into curses: "Bastards! Who told them to act on their own?"

Before Gao Kaiyuan could react, the sounds of battle cries rang out from outside.

His heart sank. He hurriedly pushed open the door and went out.

Outside, Cao Bin and Jiang Tai had already surrounded Gao Kaiyuan's Hall, leaving no gap unblocked.

Gao Kaiyuan took a deep breath and said, "Big Brother, this is all a misunderstanding. I truly never intended to kill Cao Rui! I watched that boy grow up. You and I have had our disputes, but how could I ever kill my own nephew? The jianghu code says grudges don't extend to family. We are sworn brothers—how could I do such a thing? This was a tragedy born of men losing their heads in the heat of battle, unable to hold back. I will give you an accounting, Big Brother. I'll hand over everyone who was involved in the fight for you to deal with!"

"A misunderstanding?"

Cao Bin gave a bitter laugh. "Gao Kaiyuan, even at a time like this, you're still playing games with me! If you hadn't given the order, how would those Gang Members dare to kill my son? And now you pretend to be innocent, thinking you can just offer up a few scapegoats and this will all blow over? Wishful thinking!"

Cao Bin's face twisted more and more savagely. "The blood debt for my son leaves no room for coexistence under heaven. Today, it's you or me, to the death!"

Jiang Tai's voice was heavy with grief. "Second Brother, this is the last time I'll call you that. The three of us brothers rose from nothing, and we fought tooth and nail to build the Three Harmonies Gang. And now, for the sake of power and wealth, you struck down Cao Rui. Your heart is truly cruel! When he was little, he admired you most. He even said that when he grew up, he wanted to be a man like Second Uncle. How could you bring yourself to do it? I never wanted to get involved in the feud between you and Big Brother, but now I have no choice."

"Listen to me, let me explain..."

Gao Kaiyuan's forehead was already beaded with sweat.

If it were only Cao Bin, Gao Kaiyuan wouldn't be afraid. But with Jiang Tai added to the mix, he had no confidence he could take them both.

He couldn't understand how his own men could have killed Cao Rui out of nowhere. Deng Bao was his trusted man, clear-headed—he should have known the consequences of killing Cao Rui. Besides, Cao Rui himself was a martial artist at the Peak Acquired Stage, and his Eight Snake Strikes were a true inheritance from Cao Bin. When the two of them fought, the outcome was anyone's guess.

Instinct told Gao Kaiyuan something was off. He had to stabilize Cao Bin and the others first, then investigate. But the blood debt for a son left no room for coexistence. Every word of Gao Kaiyuan's explanation was, in Cao Bin's eyes, nothing but excuses—an insult to him!

"Kill!"

Cao Bin flipped his hands, and two green serpent-shaped daggers appeared in his palms. At the same time, a faint bluish-black tinge spread across his hands, giving them a somewhat eerie look.

Cao Bin was called the Green Scale Hand for two reasons: one was his mastery of the Eight Snake Strikes, and the other was a poison technique he had once cultivated, passed down from the Miao borderlands of western Hunan. He refined various toxins into his hands, allowing them to corrode an opponent's inner energy and flesh. Even when using short weapons like daggers, the blades themselves became steeped in poison—a truly insidious art.

However, Cao Bin is now also suffering the backlash of this poisonous technique.

His qi and blood are currently in decline because, after his injury, he could no longer suppress the poison technique, allowing the toxins to invade his meridians. Now, most of his cultivation must be used to contain the spread of the poison within his body.

As for Gao Kaiyuan's Shattered Jade Hand, it can split metal and shatter jade, making both its offensive and defensive capabilities extremely formidable.

He can even directly use the Shattered Jade Hand to clash head-on with Cao Bin's Poisonous Snake Dagger, as his technique inherently restrains Cao Bin's.

Jiang Tai, standing to the side, immediately joins the fray.

His nickname is Positive Sun Hand, and his signature skill, the Solar Palm Technique, is bold and unrestrained, blazing and fierce.

In terms of cultivation, he is slightly weaker than both Cao Bin and Gao Kaiyuan, but he still barely reaches the Late Xiantian Mortal Transformation Realm.

Now, with two against one, they instantly suppress Gao Kaiyuan.

The disciples of both gangs also swarm forward, beginning to fight.

The vast Hall of the Three Harmonies Gang is instantly stained with blood.