Thunderclap Deacon

Chu Ning rubbed the raised "Rank Ten" characters on the token, the thunderous cheers from the training grounds still echoing in his ears.

Yet before he could step out of the courtyard, figures were already stirring in the shadows.

"They even dared break Instructor Zhou's saber. That brat won't live three days."

"I heard someone put a bounty on him. Ten taels of silver for one arm."

Whispers wrapped in the cold wind brushed past his ears, but Chu Ning did not slow. Beneath his tattered cloth clothes, thunder patterns surged in the dark.

He knew the rules of this martial hall all too well: raise the strong and trample the weak; the strong preyed on the weak.

Today, he had shattered Instructor Zhou's saber. Tomorrow, it might be his own head.

The Medicine Pool should have been steaming with the bitter fragrance of Bone Forging Powder at the hour of the Rooster, but now it shimmered with an eerie indigo hue. The instant Chu Ning's fingertips touched the water, fine beads of blood surfaced on his skin.

"A new formula?" He cast a sidelong glance at the menial servant guarding the pool.

The servant's neck flushed red, and his eyes darted away. "A special supply for Courtyard A. It... it has a better body-tempering effect."

"Does the Wang family's silver burn your hands?"

The servant's neck shrank, and the medicine ladle in his hand clattered to the ground.

Before he could flee, Chu Ning had already seized him by the throat and pinned him against the edge of the pool. Thunder patterns climbed from the web of Chu Ning's thumb onto the man's deathly pale face. "Not a small amount of courage, tampering with things in the martial hall?"

Before his voice had even faded, Chu Ning had forced him into the poison pool by the throat.

Chu Ning bent down and whispered, "Talk! Who ordered you?"

The indigo medicinal liquid boiled like a living thing. The servant screamed and struggled as the exposed skin on his body rapidly rotted and oozed pus.

"It was... it was Instructor Zhou who forced me..." The servant's throat bones clicked. "He said that if I didn't do it, he'd report me for stealing from the martial repository..."

Chu Ning released his grip, and the wail stopped abruptly.

Before his words had even faded, the wooden door of the medicine room burst open.

Instructor Zhou stood with his hands behind his back. His sinister gaze swept over the boiling poison pool, and he shouted harshly, "Chu Ning altered the medicine formula without permission and harmed a fellow disciple! Men, seize him and throw him into the Punishment Hall!"

Four disciples carrying cudgels surrounded him at his command, but the instant they touched the thunder patterns around Chu Ning's body, they were blasted back several paces.

A trace of panic flashed through Instructor Zhou's eyes. He secretly clasped a poisoned silver needle inside his sleeve and was just about to launch a sneak attack when a furious shout came from outside the corridor: "Since when has the Punishment Hall been yours to command, Zhou Kun?"

Lei Wanjun strode in. The pressure of a Rank Nine Martial Artist cracked the blue bricks beneath him. The old man's beard and hair stood on end as his lightning-like gaze swept over Instructor Zhou. "The medicine pool in Courtyard A is a vital place in the martial hall. Since when were you allowed to interfere beyond your authority?"

Instructor Zhou forced himself to remain calm and pulled out a yellowed booklet. "Hall Master, please see clearly! This brat hasn't been in the martial hall for even half a month, yet he's repeatedly fought and injured people. Today, he even poisoned the medicine pool. We have both witnesses and physical evidence!"

Chu Ning sneered, shoved the servant aside, and pulled half a packet of Crimson Scorpion Powder from his robes. "Instructor Zhou, perhaps you should explain how a poison under strict control in the martial repository ended up in a servant's hands?"

Lei Wanjun took the poison powder. His fingertips brushed over the Wang family's private insignia on the seal, and his expression darkened at once.

Seeing that the situation was turning against him, Instructor Zhou suddenly erupted. The silver needle in his sleeve shot straight toward Chu Ning's throat!

Clang!

The Rusty Saber leaped from its sheath, trailing violet lightning. The silver needle was twisted into dust by Thunderous Force. Chu Ning's blade pressed against Instructor Zhou's throat as he said coldly, "Why don't you tell us how much of a cut the Wang family promised you?"

"Enough!" Lei Wanjun slammed his palm into the table, shattering it. Cold light burst from his eyes. "Detain Chu Ning in the dungeon for now. I'll investigate the truth before passing judgment!"

Chu Ning's brows knitted slightly. The old hall master had clearly seen through the situation, yet he had not acted on the spot.

Sure enough, that very night, a sudden burst of hoofbeats rang out beyond the martial hall. The Wang family's Third Elder, Wang Chongshan, arrived in person. Wrapped in a black cloak and radiating the pressure of a Ranked Martial Artist, he slapped his calling card onto Lei Wanjun's desk. "Hall Master Lei, a murderer from your hall killed a Wang family disciple. The Wang family doesn't mind cleaning house for the Thunderclap Martial Hall!"

He flung out a stack of banknotes. "Lest it end up like the Thunder Saber Sect thirty years ago. What a pity."

Lei Wanjun crushed his teacup and ultimately waved his hand.

When Chu Ning, shackled hand and foot, was shoved into the dungeon, he happened to run into the Scar-faced Brute, who bared his gold-inlaid teeth in a grin. "I'll sell your sister to the filthiest brothel."

Hearing this, Chu Ning was certain that the man had to be from the Wang family.

The bluestones in the Punishment Hall dungeon were soaked in layers of old blood and grime. The Scar-faced Brute entered the cell with a bloodstained iron chain in hand, grinning viciously.

"By order of the hall master!" The Punishment Hall steward unfurled a scroll. "Chu Ning is suspected of harming a fellow disciple and must undergo a deathmatch trial to prove his innocence. If he wins, all past offenses will be pardoned. If he loses..."

"His bones will feed the dogs," the Scar-faced Brute finished, his iron chain whipping through the air with a shrill whistle. He was Wang Kui, a collateral descendant of the Wang family who had been ordered to infiltrate the martial hall. At that moment, killing intent boiled in his eyes.

Chu Ning bared his teeth in a grin. "I accept the deathmatch trial."

In the center of the Punishment Hall dungeon.

Wang Kui stood bare-chested, his muscles knotted like twisted roots, his skin faintly glowing a ghostly blue.

He let out a vicious laugh and stamped his foot. The earth trembled slightly as the Ironclad Body Technique instantly activated. His entire body seemed to be clad in a layer of blue steel armor.

A pungent smell of sulfur spread through the air, while his fists carried a poisonous hidden force in their wind.

"Come on, Chu Ning! Let's see whether your broken saber can get through my iron armor!"

Wang Kui smashed his fists together. Sparks flew in every direction as a violent wave of force wrapped in poisonous fumes thundered toward Chu Ning.

Chu Ning neither dodged nor evaded. Arcs of lightning coursed across his skin, while the shadowy patterns of the Rough Stone Hardening Technique faintly emerged across his chest.

Bang!

The fists collided head-on. A gale roared, and the blue bricks shattered inch by inch.

Chu Ning shifted his footing, borrowing the force to dissipate most of the impact, then suddenly swept the Rusty Saber upward at an angle.

Clang!

Amid the ear-piercing clash of metal, Wang Kui's gauntlets split apart. His finger bones cracked, and blood dripped through the gaps between his fingers.

"How is this possible?"

Wang Kui was horrified. The Ironclad Body Technique was incomparably sturdy, and ordinary weapons could not break through its defense. Yet Chu Ning's saber had actually shattered his gauntlets?

Chu Ning smiled faintly. His saber momentum changed, and lightning suddenly flashed.

"Cloud-Splitting Style!"

The saber move from the remnant manual transformed into violet lightning and a fleeting streak of light, piercing straight through the vital weakness in Wang Kui's chest.

The instant the Rusty Saber sliced across his throat, thunder patterns followed the wound into his meridians. The berserk Thunderous Force invaded his five viscera and six bowels.

"Pfft—"

Wang Kui suddenly spat out a mouthful of charred-black blood. The force within his body collapsed instantly, and the ghostly blue armor vanished. He staggered backward, clutching his chest in terror.

"You... you actually..."

Before he could finish, his eyes rolled back, and he toppled stiffly to the ground.

The Punishment Hall dungeon fell deathly silent.

Lei Wanjun sat upright on a gilded chair, the iron gall in his palm clicking repeatedly.

Chu Ning walked forward slowly and flung the deathmatch agreement onto the desk.

The Wang family's private seal at the bottom of the document was soaked through with blood. Chu Ning raised his eyes toward Lei Wanjun. "I've won the deathmatch trial."

"By the rules, all past offenses should be pardoned."

Lei Wanjun did not raise his eyelids. His fingers squeezed the iron gall faster and faster. The force of a Rank Nine Martial Artist silently churned through the hall, pressing several disciples' faces deathly pale.

The air was so oppressive it seemed capable of grinding a person to dust.

After a moment, he finally spoke slowly. "Very good."

His voice was deep and laden with meaning.

Chu Ning stepped forward and pulled a bloodstained ledger from his robes. "But the martial hall's rules cannot tolerate a poisonous tumor like this!"

The instant the ledger was flung open, its mottled lines of ink stabbed at the eyes.

"Zhou Kun colluded with the Wang family, skimmed medicine funds to exchange for poison, and harmed me today. Tomorrow, he could mix poison into the hall master's teacup!"

"The massacre of the Thunder Saber Sect thirty years ago—the seventy-eight victims all died from poisoning." Lei Wanjun crushed the Wang family's calling card, paper scraps mixed with iron dust raining down. "This Crimson Scorpion Powder comes from the same source as the powder that poisoned my son to death back then."

Instructor Zhou slumped in the corner of the hall. He suddenly sprang up and lunged toward the side door, a poisoned dagger hidden in his sleeve stabbing straight at Chu Ning's back.

"Presumptuous!" Lei Wanjun roared, and the iron gall shot from his hand like a streak of light.

Bang!

The dagger clattered to the ground.

Instructor Zhou sprang up and tried to flee, but Lei Wanjun shattered his kneecap with a palm strike from across the air.

Before he could even scream, Chu Ning's Rusty Saber had already crossed his neck. Thunder patterns crawled along the blade and onto the traitor's bulging veins. "Can the silver the Wang family promised you buy the Thunderclap Martial Hall's thirty-year reputation?"

Lei Wanjun slowly rose. The armrest of the gilded chair cracked apart. The old man picked up the ledger and ran a withered finger across the Wang family's private insignia. Then he suddenly burst into wild laughter, the sound shaking accumulated dust down from the beams. "What a fine Wang family, heirs to poetry and propriety! Thirty years ago, you secretly destroyed my Thunder Saber Sect, and thirty years later, you still want to tear out the foundation of my martial hall!"

The old man rose, and the pressure of a Rank Nine Martial Artist shook dust loose from the beams.

With a sweep of his sleeve, Instructor Zhou slammed into a corridor pillar like a torn sack. "Effective immediately, Chu Ning is promoted to Steward of the Thunderclap Martial Hall and placed in charge of punishments in Courtyard A!"

"Hall Master!" The Punishment Hall steward staggered in with a bloodstained register in his hands. "After investigating according to the ledger, seventeen people in Courtyard C and nine people in Courtyard B accepted the Wang family's money. This is the list..."

Lei Wanjun did not even look at it. Force surged from his palm, turning the register into dust. "Steward Chu, what do you think?"

Chu Ning shook the blood from his saber, his gaze sharp as iron tempered in flame. "At midnight tonight, the Thunderclap Hall will open the prison. Everyone named on the list will lose one finger as a warning. Those who offend again will have their heads hung at the martial hall's main gate."