First-class Expert

"Who else?"

Wu Yuan's voice was hoarse and cold. It wasn't loud, but it carried a soul-shaking force to the hundreds of Fierce Tiger Gang members surrounding the courtyard.

Bodies carpeted the courtyard!

The blood streaming from the brow of Gang Leader Yang Long was blindingly vivid.

And at the heart of it all stood the burly man in the center of the courtyard, wearing a bronze mask and gripping a long spear.

Who would dare step forward?

"He must be Fierce Tiger Gang Leader Yang Long, a Second-class Expert? His strength and speed weren't bad, but I gave him too much credit. He couldn't even block one of my spear thrusts?" Wu Yuan glanced at the hulking corpse sprawled across the broken wood.

A Third-class Expert had a minimum strength of twenty thousand jin.

A Second-class Expert had a minimum strength of thirty thousand jin.

The gap between them wasn't all that great.

And in that instant, Wu Yuan had unleashed Triple Force, erupting with sixty thousand jin of strength—enough to rival a First-class Expert!

Nearly twice Yang Long's strength.

Add in the gap in combat skill, and one thrust was more than enough!

A battle between martial artists was a matter of life and death in a single instant. Unless their strength was nearly equal, it was rare for a fight to last hundreds or thousands of moves before a victor emerged.

"His spear technique is terrifying." The Beast-clothed Tall and Thin Youth's pupils narrowed.

The Fierce Tiger Gang members present hadn't been able to see clearly, given their limited strength.

But the Beast-clothed Tall and Thin Youth had seen every detail. The instant the man in the bronze mask and Yang Long crossed paths, his speed had erupted to several times what it had been before, and the speed and power of his spear had surged as well!

It was worlds apart from the strength he'd shown earlier.

If the man in the bronze mask had seemed like a Second-class Expert before, that thrust had been on the level of a First-class Expert.

"When did a small place like Li City produce a First-class Expert skilled with a spear? Or is his technique so refined that he's reached Triple Extreme Strength?" Several thoughts flashed through the Beast-clothed Tall and Thin Youth's mind.

First-class Experts were rare even in Hengyun Sect. Every one of them was qualified to rank among its upper echelons.

Each was a renowned and formidable figure.

And Triple Extreme Strength? That was even more terrifying! Even among First-class Experts, those who could reach Double Extreme Strength were few and far between.

Triple Extreme Strength was rarer still!

"Fire! Hurry, fire! Shoot him dead!" the short, stout man Li Ye suddenly roared. Fear rang in his voice, along with a touch of madness.

Most gangsters and bandits joined for money, but they also shared bonds of brotherhood.

Yang Long was the man Li Ye had considered his big brother, his sworn brother through life and death!

"Whoosh!" "Whoosh!" "Whoosh!" The archers on the courtyard walls were terrified, but they still obeyed the order instinctively.

Arrow after arrow shot toward Wu Yuan like lightning.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

Wu Yuan moved like lightning, dodging more than a dozen arrows in succession. As he evaded them, he flipped his left hand, and a throwing knife appeared in his palm.

"Whoosh!"

Backlit by the flames, the knife streaked across the night sky like a beam of light.

"Pfft!" The throwing knife pierced the short, stout man's head, slicing easily through his helmet. His skull burst like a watermelon, and he toppled straight off the high wall.

The Fierce Tiger Gang's second-in-command, Hall Leader Li Ye, was dead!

At last, the sight crushed the last shred of courage in the Fierce Tiger Gang members. Even the only remaining Proficient Expert at the main headquarters, the Fifth-in-Command, looked terrified and didn't dare give another order.

He had no confidence at all that he could stop that terrifying throwing knife.

"The Gang Leader's dead! The second-in-command and fourth-in-command are dead too!"

"Run!"

"The Fierce Tiger Gang's finished! Hurry, get out of here and join another gang! Go!" The gang members retreated like a rising tide.

They had no intention of avenging their leader.

The Gang Leader was dead, and most of the other leaders were dead too. Even if they risked their lives and surrounded the man in the bronze mask until they killed him, what good would it do?

In the blink of an eye, the vast courtyard was left with only the bodies strewn across the ground, Wu Yuan standing below, and the Beast-clothed Tall and Thin Youth standing in the second-floor pavilion.

"You're not a member of the Fierce Tiger Gang, are you?" Wu Yuan's voice was hoarse and low. He kept his spear in hand, fully on guard.

He'd noticed that something was off about the Beast-clothed Tall and Thin Youth long ago.

Not the least bit flustered.

Completely composed.

Besides, when the three Proficient Experts had arrived earlier, Evil Tiger Li Ye had followed behind Gang Leader Yang Long.

But the Beast-clothed Tall and Thin Youth had walked beside him.

Everything.

It all pointed to the youth's special status.

"I'm indeed not a member of the Fierce Tiger Gang, but Yang Long was my fellow disciple." The Beast-clothed Tall and Thin Youth spoke softly. "I don't know why you stormed the Fierce Tiger Gang, but martial artists have always fought to the death. I only ask that you hand Yang Long's body over to me so I can take him back to the sect and give him a proper burial."

"Your sect?" Wu Yuan grew even more wary.

He remembered the intelligence from Stellar Tower. Yang Long hadn't grown up in Li City. Could he have a powerful background?

"I can give you the body!"

"But..." Wu Yuan lightly flicked his spear, its tip passing precisely over the clothing covering Yang Long's corpse nearby.

Clang! A small blue-green jade bottle fell onto the blood-soaked ground.

"Sir, that belongs to my sect. Please leave it here," the Beast-clothed Tall and Thin Youth said hurriedly, a note of urgency in his voice.

"Your sect's property? This is my spoils of war, so it belongs to me." Wu Yuan flicked his spear, sending the jade bottle spinning into the air, then caught it.

"You can take the body." Wu Yuan looked straight at him.

"Leave the bottle." The Beast-clothed Tall and Thin Youth stared at Wu Yuan. "I don't want to fight you, but don't force my hand."

"Force your hand?"

Wu Yuan smiled faintly. Gripping the bottle, he suddenly darted backward, intending to leave the courtyard.

Wu Yuan was certain the bottle was no ordinary item.

"Leave it!" A thunderous shout rang out.

The Beast-clothed Tall and Thin Youth lunged down at him. He moved like lightning, catching up to Wu Yuan almost instantly.

"Boom!" "Boom!" Two enormous hammers appeared in his hands. Heavy and mighty, they cast a storm of hammer-shadows that instantly engulfed Wu Yuan.

"So fast." Wu Yuan's pupils narrowed.

Too fast.

He was the fastest martial artist Wu Yuan had encountered since crossing over. Wu Yuan immediately realized this was a true expert!

Even if he wasn't a First-class Expert, he was close.

"Clang!" "Clang!" Weapons clashed. Wu Yuan's spear shot out like a Flood Dragon breaching the sea, every sinew and bone in his body erupting as he blocked the terrifying hammer blows one after another.

One hammer blow followed the next, like wave upon wave crashing down, battering Wu Yuan backward.

"More than fifty thousand jin of strength!"

"A First-class Expert." Wu Yuan finally judged, his heart heavy with concern as he realized he was in real trouble.

One had to understand:

A First-class Expert couldn't be made through training and eating alone. Their combat skill had to reach a certain level as well.

Why?

Only by reaching an extremely high level of combat skill and gaining sufficient control over the body could one hope to uncover its deeper potential and increase its strength.

Physical strength and combat skill complemented each other. Few were skilled in only one.

"Boom!" "Boom!"

Hammers were heavy weapons, meant to overwhelm an opponent with sheer force.

In the Beast-clothed Tall and Thin Youth's hands, the two enormous hammers seemed as light as toys. Combined with his footwork, they came crashing in with a nearly unstoppable force.

"Clang!"

"Clang!" Wu Yuan's spear whirled, moving like a Flood Dragon. Again and again, it met the hammer blows precisely, deflecting them to either side to avoid taking their full impact. The two of them were locked in a stalemate.

In combat skill, Wu Yuan was clearly superior.

But the Beast-clothed Tall and Thin Youth had an overwhelming advantage in strength, and his hammer technique was no slouch either. In their lightning-fast exchanges, Wu Yuan couldn't make use of even the slightest opening he found.

Only twelve strikes!

"Thump!" Wu Yuan seemed unable to withstand the relentless impacts. The spear suddenly flew from his hand.

His whole body was hurled backward, crashing down beside Yang Long's corpse.