Treasures

He watched the Beast-clothed Tall and Thin Youth leave with one arm severed.

Even after the other man's figure disappeared into the vast darkness of the night, Wu Yuan remained rooted to the spot, not wavering in the slightest.

For a long time!

For a long time!

"He should be far away by now." Only then did Wu Yuan breathe a sigh of relief. He scanned the surrounding ruins, but there was no sign of any Fierce Tiger Gang members.

Only corpses, broken stones, collapsed houses, and a few distant flames remained.

"I never imagined a First-class Expert would be so hard to kill." Wu Yuan shook his head slightly.

This was the first First-class Expert he had ever encountered.

He was far stronger than Wu Yuan had imagined.

Wu Yuan had to admit that he had underestimated the martial experts of this world. Even a First-class Expert could wield the force of the second level with ease, making him astonishingly powerful.

Among the nine martial ranks of the Central Land World, a First-class Expert was only a Third-Rank Martial Artist.

What about Second-Rank Martial Artists? First-Rank Martial Artists?

And the legendary Heavenly Ranking Experts?

Wu Yuan could not yet begin to imagine how powerful they were.

"Killing an ordinary Second-class Expert isn't difficult for me."

"But a First-class Expert's combat skills are already astonishing." Wu Yuan sighed. "Even though my combat skills are far superior, killing one is still difficult."

Overwhelming strength could defeat a hundred techniques.

If the Beast-clothed Tall and Thin Youth could unleash a hundred thousand jin of force over and over, he could have smashed Wu Yuan to death with sheer brute strength.

No amount of skill would have helped.

In truth, Wu Yuan had not refrained from pursuing him out of lofty pride. He simply had not been confident enough.

The Beast-clothed Tall and Thin Youth had seemed gravely wounded, but Wu Yuan had reached his physical limits too.

He had unleashed the "Extreme Force Blade" dozens of times in succession. Even though Wu Yuan had already touched the "Hard and Soft" realm, which greatly reduced the strain, the toll was still immense.

Their repeated clashes had also sent the other man's terrifying strength crashing through Wu Yuan's body, leaving him with numerous hidden injuries.

Wu Yuan's use of the Thousand Mountain Blade had been his final gamble.

He had forced his opponent to flee for his life, but Wu Yuan's stamina and spirit had reached their limits as well. Even now, his arms ached.

Pursue him?

If the Beast-clothed Tall and Thin Youth had been driven to make a final, desperate counterattack, the outcome could have gone either way. Wu Yuan naturally had no desire to take that risk.

"I only fought him to the death because I had no choice." Wu Yuan reflected on the battle. "This fight affected me deeply. A battle to the death really is unlike anything else."

"But..."

"I can't keep putting myself on the brink of death. If I keep trying, one slip is all it'll take to die for real." Wu Yuan understood that clearly.

Unless he had no other choice, he only needed to keep making steady progress. The more one chased the limits, the more likely one was to fall before reaching them.

As far as Wu Yuan was concerned,

the Fierce Tiger Gang had been scattered, and the clan leader had been rescued. His goal had been achieved. Why risk his life fighting this mysterious First-class Expert?

As for the future?

"If you come looking for revenge, I hope you can keep up with my pace of progress." Wu Yuan believed the other man would never be his match.

What he lacked was time for his body to grow.

If they had the same physical strength, Wu Yuan reckoned he could kill the Beast-clothed Tall and Thin Youth in three moves.

"Let's hurry and search the battlefield. Something this big has happened to the Fierce Tiger Gang, and most of its members have fled. Someone will probably come here soon." Wu Yuan stood still for a while, and felt his fatigue ease considerably.

He wasted no more time.

He began to search the battlefield, first picking up the case that had fallen from the Beast-clothed Tall and Thin Youth's soft armor.

Then he collected the "jade bottle" left behind by the Fierce Tiger Gang's leader.

Wu Yuan naturally paid the most attention to the belongings of the two great experts. Without inspecting them closely, he continued searching.

In less than half a quarter of an hour,

Wu Yuan had gathered a large stack of banknotes and a heap of miscellaneous items from among the corpses scattered across the courtyard.

A quick estimate put the banknotes at more than thirty thousand taels!

Most were banknotes from Stellar Tower, with a few from Hengyun Sect.

Of course,

the banknotes carried by the gang leader Yang Long and several Proficient Experts alone came to nearly twenty thousand taels. The small fry had not contributed much.

"The Fierce Tiger Gang has been entrenched in Li City for years, plundering countless people."

"Even if Yang Long handed most of the spoils over to his Household's sect and the powerful figures backing them, he must still have a considerable amount of money."

"The main stronghold should have at least a hundred thousand silver taels," Wu Yuan thought.

But he did not set off to search every corner of the stronghold.

First, though the Fierce Tiger Gang's stronghold wasn't especially large, searching the whole place alone would take forever.

Second, the hundreds of gang members who had fled had probably carried off most of the gang's money. There wouldn't be much left.

"Besides, as long as I have enough money, that's all I need." Wu Yuan sighed. "When I first regained consciousness, I was still worrying about five hundred taels. And now?"

This one battle had earned him more than thirty thousand taels of silver.

That was the power of force.

Wu Yuan believed that as long as he was strong enough, getting his hands on a vast amount of money would be easy if he wanted to.

This trip had brought him quite a haul.

"Whoosh~" He swept the banknotes into his robe.

After a moment's thought, Wu Yuan uncorked the blue jade bottle. A wave of fragrance immediately wafted from it, dispersing the stench of blood in the courtyard.

"What is this?" Wu Yuan inhaled the scent and felt refreshed. He paused for only an instant before quickly sealing the bottle again.

"Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures?" Wu Yuan recalled some descriptions from the texts he had read. The fragrance was somewhat similar to what they described.

But he wasn't sure.

He had never seen a treasure like this before.

The Central Land World was vast and boundless, with countless treasures. Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures were certainly precious relics, little more than legends to ordinary people.

How had Yang Long, a Second-class Expert, obtained such a treasure?

There had to be a reason.

"Let's take another look." Wu Yuan opened the case too, but found no Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures or banknotes inside.

There was only a gleaming golden token.

"A token?" Puzzled, Wu Yuan reached in and took it out. The token was heavy, but it didn't feel like gold. It was much heavier than gold.

It had also been crafted with exquisite skill.

"Chu Jiang?"

Wu Yuan turned it over in his hands. When he saw two ancient characters engraved on one side, his pupils contracted slightly. "Could it be..."

In an instant, Wu Yuan understood.

If his guess was right, he had probably gotten himself into serious trouble this time.

"If the Fierce Tiger Gang's leader, Yang Long, and that First-class Expert really belong to the same sect, and they're connected to the long-fallen Chu Jiang Empire, then they must be part of a truly terrifying power."

"But Li City is just an unremarkable prefecture. Why would they be here? What could the reason be?" Wu Yuan was baffled.

But there was one thing he knew for certain.

"No time to waste. I need to get out of here!"

Whoosh!

Wu Yuan put the token back in the case, then carefully stowed it and the jade bottle in his bundle before hurrying toward the prison courtyard.

...The battle had affected only a limited area and hadn't lasted long. The prison courtyard was untouched, but the underlings who had been assigned to "guard" it had all fled.

The people locked in the prison's rooms had long since noticed the commotion outside, but none of them had dared to act rashly.

The Fierce Tiger Gang was infamous for its brutality!

Suddenly,

"Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" Brilliant flashes of blade light streaked across the doorframes. One after another, the chains fell to the ground, and the doors swung open.

"The Fierce Tiger Gang has been destroyed. You can all go home now." A cold voice rang out from the courtyard, leaving the dozen or so people in the rooms stunned.

They stared in disbelief at the figure wearing a bronze mask.

The Fierce Tiger Gang had been destroyed? Could that be true?

Before the prisoners could react, the figure leaped into the air and swiftly vanished from their sight.