Who Was He?

Staring at the broken lock on the cell door, the dozen or so people in the various cells froze, hardly daring to believe it.

Those imprisoned here were either wealthy or noble, which meant there was still money to squeeze out of them.

Most of them were no weaklings.

Several were Martial Masters. Though most had been tortured and injured, they could still unleash thousands of jin of force. Nearly all of them had tried to wrench open the locks and bars, but to no avail.

Yet the mysterious man in the bronze mask had swung his saber a dozen times, slicing through more than ten locks?

And without so much as nicking the bars.

How powerful was he? How masterful was his control?

"The Mountain Splitting Saber he's carrying looks like the weapon of Yang Long, the Fierce Tiger Gang's leader," a voice suddenly called from one of the cells. "A weapon is a martial artist's second life. Why would he abandon it? Could Yang Long be dead?"

"And where are the guards? They're gone, too."

"There was fighting outside just now. The man in the bronze mask even came in once a little while ago."

"Has the Fierce Tiger Gang really been wiped out?" Several people in the prison yard had keen eyes and broad experience. They quickly pieced together part of the truth.

At last.

Clang! A young man in a tattered purple robe pushed open his cell door and cautiously took his first step outside.

Then he took a second. Though injured, he picked up speed as he walked, soon rushing to the yard entrance. With effort, he opened the iron gate.

It swung open!

Outside, flames soared into the sky. In the distance, the shattered wall of a courtyard was faintly visible.

But there wasn't a sound.

"They're all gone. The Fierce Tiger Gang members have vanished!" the young man in purple whispered excitedly, looking back. "We're saved. We're free!"

Without lingering, he immediately dashed out of the prison yard without looking back.

"Quick, go!"

"Run! Get out of here!" Seeing him, the people in the other cells no longer hesitated. They didn't even care that night had fallen; they flung open their doors and charged out of the prison yard.

Among them was Wu Qiming, covered in blood and wounds.

He was one of the strongest among the prisoners, but since his arrival, he had also suffered the worst torture.

"Saved?" Wu Qiming was dazed. Though he knew there might be danger, he still struggled to his feet.

He staggered as he walked.

He left his cell, then the prison yard.

The past few days in the prison yard had been a nightmare. He couldn't bear to stay another moment.

"This way." Wu Qiming bit his tongue to keep himself alert. He hadn't been captured; he had come to the Fierce Tiger Gang's stronghold of his own accord, so he knew something of its layout.

He struggled toward the main gate.

Along the way,

he saw collapsed buildings and courtyards, corpses everywhere, and flames still burning in the distance.

The tall walls around the stronghold had suffered little damage.

"Did an expert charge straight into the stronghold? Then did he slaughter the Fierce Tiger Gang until they were beaten?" Wu Qiming thought in alarm. "Are all the corpses members of the Fierce Tiger Gang? Could the attackers have come through without losing a single man?"

He couldn't imagine how powerful that would make them.

At last,

Wu Qiming left the stronghold. By then, most of the Fierce Tiger Gang members and the prisoners had already fled.

Suddenly,

Whoosh! A blur flashed through the darkness, appearing before Wu Qiming in an instant and startling him badly.

"E-Elder?" Wu Qiming stared at the newcomer in fear.

The man wore a bronze mask. He was the mysterious expert who had cleaved open the prison yard's gate, a man whose strength surpassed anything Wu Qiming could imagine.

"Don't move." The bronze-masked man's voice was hoarse. "I'll take you."

Before Wu Qiming could react,

a pair of strong arms had already clamped around him.

Then Wu Qiming felt himself flying.

He realized at once that he wasn't actually flying. The mysterious expert was carrying him as he raced and leaped along!

In the pitch-black night,

Wu Qiming could still feel gusts of wind howling past. Every so often, he heard beasts shriek and trees shudder.

So fast!

The man moved even faster than Wu Qiming had at the peak of his strength, running over level ground. In the mysterious expert's eyes, it seemed as though everything in the darkness was clear. Rocks, trees, even cliffs were no obstacle to him.

"A Second-Rank Expert?" Wu Qiming was stunned.

He was a Sixth-Rank Martial Master and had seen the strength of many Third-Rank Experts. None came close to this mysterious expert.

Second-Rank Experts were renowned figures throughout Li City.

In fact, Wu Qiming felt that even the few Second-Rank Experts he had met might not be as powerful as this mysterious man.

But a First-class Expert? Wu Qiming didn't dare even consider it!

After all, there wasn't a single First-class Expert in the entire Li City region at present. How rare were they?

Would a First-class Expert really come to the tiny headquarters of the Fierce Tiger Gang?

Besides,

along with his shock at the mysterious expert's strength, Wu Qiming was even more puzzled by why the man had taken him alone.

What about everyone else in the prison yard?

It was as though the man had come specifically to rescue him!

Whoosh!

In just a quarter of an hour, the bronze-masked man had carried Wu Qiming over several mountain peaks and reached the foot of the Nine Cloud Mountain Range.

Thud~

Wu Qiming felt his body grow light, then landed on the grass. A muddy road lay faintly visible nearby.

"Remember this! Don't reveal my existence. If you do, and your entire family is wiped out, don't say I didn't warn you!" The bronze-masked man was mysterious and cold. "Take care of yourself."

Before Wu Qiming could reply,

Whoosh!

The bronze-masked man moved, vanishing into the endless darkness and leaving Wu Qiming stunned and bewildered.

"My entire family wiped out?"

Wu Qiming thought, "It seems this mysterious expert knows me. He didn't bring me down the mountain by chance. He warned me not to reveal his identity because he has a powerful enemy?"

"Who helped me? Could it be an enemy of the Xu Household?" Wu Qiming wondered.

He thought for a long time but still couldn't figure out which friend or relative he knew could call upon such a terrifying martial expert.

He never considered Wu Yuan.

For one thing, the man's height, build, and voice were completely different. For another, Wu Yuan was merely a promising young member of the clan in his eyes. It never occurred to him to connect the two.

"I have to heed this expert's warning," Wu Qiming decided. "Besides, the Fierce Tiger Gang's destruction is a major event. It's bound to stir up a storm."

"I only hope the Xu Household will let the matter drop and stop causing trouble."

Wu Qiming recalled what the "Second-in-Command" had told him: "You took our money and don't know enough to return it on your own? You even dare to haggle? Since you're so clueless, we'll teach you to behave."

Without a doubt, the Xu Manor had ordered the Fierce Tiger Gang to move against the Wu Clan!

"I wonder how things are in the clan now." Wu Qiming was deeply worried. "I hope nothing's happened."

Wu Qiming put the matter aside.

He struggled to the Official Road, got his bearings, and headed toward Li City.

"Taking the clan leader down the mountain was the most I could do to keep him from running into scattered members of the Fierce Tiger Gang on the way." In the darkness, Wu Yuan silently watched the clan leader limp away.

He didn't want to reveal that he had come to rescue the clan leader.

Nor did he want the clan leader to learn his true identity—not yet.

Having inherited his predecessor's memories and feelings, and with everything that had happened over the past few months, Wu Yuan felt deeply grateful to Wu Qiming and valued their bond.

But that didn't mean he had to reveal all his secrets.

Besides,

whenever he thought of the green jade bottle that might contain Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures, and the mysterious token, Wu Yuan felt troubled.

"This is too important. I'm not strong enough yet. I can't bear the weight of it." Wu Yuan thought. "Besides."

"Even if I were as powerful as a Heavenly Ranking Expert, how could I protect the entire clan at all times on my own?" Wu Yuan shook his head slightly.

He suddenly understood why some powerful figures always joined major factions or founded organizations of their own.

Many hands make light work!

There were plenty of mundane affairs they didn't need to handle personally. They could leave them to their subordinates, who might even do a better job.

"I hope the clan leader takes my warning to heart and doesn't reveal anything." Wu Yuan sighed inwardly, then silently followed Wu Qiming.

Two hours later.

"He's entered a town." Wu Yuan watched from afar as Wu Qiming entered a large town. Only then did he finally relax.

"Back to Li City."

Wu Yuan forced himself through his exhaustion, picked a direction, and hurried toward Li City, more than a hundred li away.

At last, just as the sky began to brighten, Wu Yuan spotted the city's imposing walls, some five zhang high, in the distance.

The gates were open.

"Into the city." Wu Yuan checked his banknotes and the two treasures again, straightened his clothes, and only then swaggered through the city gate.

Yang Long's Mountain Splitting Saber?

It was a fine weapon, at least a Fourth Grade blade, worth more than ten thousand taels of silver. Wu Yuan had been sorely tempted.

But to avoid exposing himself, he had abandoned it without hesitation.

Not long after Wu Yuan entered the city, news from two county towns and numerous villages near the Nine Cloud Mountains had already flown back to Li City like snowflakes, reaching the prefect and the Garrison General.

The Fierce Tiger Gang had been wiped out.

The entire upper echelon of Li City was shaken!

Deep within Xu Manor, inside the central hall arranged like a military camp,

"Yang Long, leader of the Fierce Tiger Gang, is dead! So is Li Ye, the second-in-command... A man wearing a bronze mask? Skilled with the spear, and he swept through the entire Fierce Tiger Gang alone?" General Xu stared at the report in his hand in shock.

"Who was he?"