Counter Kill!

The waning moon hung askew in the blue-gray sky, casting a faint, patchy light over the bluestone path inside the alley.

The horse-head walls on either side of the deep alley cast dark shadows. It seemed a wildcat had darted over one of them, stirring a rustle that made the place feel even more desolate.

"Senior Brother, what are you doing?!"

A wail of fury suddenly burst through the night.

A figure stumbled out of the alley, looking rather disheveled. A black shadow stayed close on his heels, its palms blurring as it fought with ruthless ferocity.

At that moment, the back of Lin Yin's neck burned with pain. His heart shook. He had never imagined Li Qianjiang would really dare to attack him outright. If he hadn't been prepared, that palm strike would have shattered his neck and killed him on the spot.

Yet, in the face of Lin Yin's question, Li Qianjiang still wore a smile.

"Junior Brother was prepared after all. What a disappointment to your senior brother... Your stance skill may not be complete, but you're certainly quick-witted. Too bad... too bad someone wants you dead. What a shame!"

"Whoosh—"

A sharp sound split the air. Li Qianjiang's five fingers curled into a claw and shot straight for Lin Yin's chest. The strike was vicious and swift. Lin Yin's "unsteady footing" forced him to "barely" twist aside and dodge.

"Quick on your feet!"

Li Qianjiang sneered. His left hand formed a palm, its center flushed red. It was the Cloud Palm.

He struck, his palm wind carrying Qi as it descended over the youth's head like dark clouds pressing down.

Lin Yin did nothing but retreat, yet layers of palm shadows filled the space before him, seemingly endless.

His pupils shrank. He twisted from the waist, but his feet stumbled as he retreated half a step, narrowly evading the first palm. With the following strikes coming one after another, however, he could only raise his own palm to block.

Seeing Lin Yin dare to meet his palm head-on, Li Qianjiang's eyes lit up. A sneer curled his lips as the force he had refined within his body erupted.

"An arm trying to stop a chariot!"

Their palms collided with a sharp crack. Li Qianjiang's tiger mouth trembled, and a metallic sweetness surged into his throat. He stumbled backward several steps.

"How is that possible? Your strength!"

He stared in disbelief at the figure stumbling away on the other side, even more "disheveled" than himself.

In response, Lin Yin cried out hoarsely, as if in agony. "Senior Brother, spare my life!"

Hearing the plea, Li Qianjiang showed no sign of relenting. Instead, a vicious glint flashed in his eyes.

Strike while he's down and finish him off!

He was certain that Lin Yin was far weaker than he was.

The next moment, he caught up, his attacks growing more urgent.

His second and third palm strikes crashed out in succession, each more solid than the last, like rolling waves surging without end and forcing Lin Yin backward again and again.

The alley was narrow. At last, the youth had nowhere left to flee and seemed to have no choice but to grit his teeth and endure the blows.

Li Qianjiang had grown more alarmed with every exchange, but now delight showed on his face. He sprang forward and struck with both palms. It was the Cloud Palm's Treading Cloud and Trampling Void.

Lin Yin gritted his teeth. His palms moved like butterflies, now tapping lightly, now sweeping sideways. His technique looked chaotic, yet he always managed to dispel the force of each fierce attack at just the right moment.

But Li Qianjiang was driving his power to its limit, and each palm strike weighed as much as a thousand jun. Lin Yin staggered, and at last he could hold on no longer.

"Junior Brother, stop resisting."

Li Qianjiang grinned savagely. His aura surged again, and the motion of his palms carried the faint sound of wind and thunder.

The instant he saw Lin Yin driven into a corner, he unleashed a palm strike full of fury, determined to kill him with it!

"Senior Brother, I'll fight you to the death!"

The youth let out a sudden, tragic cry. He didn't dodge or retreat, instead striking toward Li Qianjiang's chest with a palm of his own.

"Looking for death!"

Li Qianjiang roared, wild delight on his face. He poured every ounce of strength into the strike, nearly giving it everything he had.

His palm would land first and snuff out his opponent's life. Why should he fear a counterattack?

Young people really were young. He actually thought he could take me down with him? Hahaha!

Li Qianjiang was jubilant. But in Lin Yin's seemingly desperate eyes, a sharp glint flashed, too subtle to notice. Facing a palm strike powerful enough to split stone tablets and crack rock, a long-dormant surge of Internal Force quietly erupted within him.

"Vmmm—"

A faint golden halo, invisible to the naked eye, appeared over Lin Yin's body like a wall of bronze and iron.

The ferocious Cloud Palm slammed into the halo with a muffled hum, like a fist striking a great drum made of cowhide.

"What?!"

Li Qianjiang looked stunned. It felt as if his palm had struck not a person, but some enormous block of iron...

Before he could react, Lin Yin's palm arrived too!

A faint golden glow seemed to shimmer along its edge. The strike was plain and unadorned, yet it contained the strength refined through two stance skills, crashing toward Li Qianjiang's face like a falling star.

"Pfft!"

A crisp crack of bone rang out. Li Qianjiang's eyes bulged, blood spurted from his seven orifices, and the Qi and blood surging through his body suddenly dwindled.

Thud...

A muffled sound echoed through the Dark Alley. Li Qianjiang's body crumpled to the ground, limp and lifeless.

Lin Yin slowly lowered his palm. After driving the Golden Bell Shield's Qi and blood to its limit, he looked down at the blood covering his hand, then at the lifeless corpse on the ground. Fear still lingered in his eyes.

A dull ache throbbed in his chest. He circulated his Qi and blood, and the pain quickly faded.

That vicious counterattack had only taken some strength. The result had been much easier than Lin Yin had imagined!

But Lin Yin wasn't all that happy. He knew that if he hadn't had a hidden trump card tonight, he would likely have been the one lying there!

Silence settled over the deep alley once more, with only the waning moon still hanging high above.

Lin Yin didn't rest for long. Frowning as he thought things over, he quickly searched Li Qianjiang's body, then picked up the corpse and hurried toward Langshi Tavern.

Meanwhile.

Langshi Tavern.

"Brother Ba, can Li Qianjiang really be trusted? Why's he taking so long?"

"Trusted? Hmph. He's that brat Lin Yin's senior brother. What do you think? A senior brother beating his junior brother—what's there to wonder about?"

"Besides, someone from the manor already passed him the news. He must have cornered the kid at the crossroads by now."

Shi Ba sat by the window, leaning against the railing as he looked down at the street below.

At this hour, Langshi Tavern still had a few scattered customers, but no matter where Shi Ba looked, he couldn't spot Li Qianjiang.

Time trickled by, and unease and worry slowly crept across Shi Ba's face.

It really was taking too long!

He abruptly picked up the wine cup on the table before him and drained it. The fiery liquor stung his taste buds but did nothing to soothe the unease in his heart.

This was supposed to be a sure thing, but the longer it took, the more wrong it felt.

Before he left, Li Qianjiang had sworn it wouldn't take even the time needed to burn a stick of incense. But now it was nearly midnight.

Just as Shi Ba grew more and more restless, his companion suddenly cried out.

"He's here! He's here!"

"Hm? He's here!"

The unease vanished from Shi Ba's face in an instant. He sprang to his feet and craned his neck to look.

Following his companion's pointing finger, he saw a familiar figure.

Wearing a green long robe, the man stood tall, his left hand clasped behind his back and his right hand raised. He stood in the dim alley across the street, seeming to wave at them.