"Must it come to this? I, Kong Hu, wasn't scared so easily. If we really fought to the death, you might not be my match. Why not just let this go?"
Kong Hu gritted his teeth.
"Fight!"
A chill gleamed in He An's eyes. The Gale Blade Technique erupted in an instant, his speed reaching its limit as he swept through everything like a hurricane.
"Come on!"
Kong Hu's blood was up. His fists howled through the air, and bursts of tearing wind rang out across the small courtyard.
The blade and his fist collided, sending sparks flying.
He Ping stared in disbelief. "He An's only been learning martial arts for a few months, yet he's already this terrifying. Even Kong Hu, who's spent years in the Muscle Condensing Realm, isn't his match."
"With him around, I, his Eldest Brother, seem a little superfluous."
Wang Rou consoled him. "He Ping, no matter what, He An is our family, and you're his own Eldest Brother. We should be happy that he's so capable."
"He's said since he was little that he wanted to repay us. I never thought that day would come so soon."
"That's right. From now on, we can enjoy the good life!" He Ping chuckled, not the least bit worried. After all, judging by what they'd seen, Kong Hu was no match for He An.
He couldn't even put up a decent defense.
He looked at He An, his eyes filled with admiration and praise.
"Father, Mother, you don't need to worry about He An anymore. He can take care of himself now."
A moment later.
Squelch.
The blade sliced through flesh, and a piercing sound rang out.
Kong Hu grunted and looked down at his left shoulder. A wound deep enough to expose bone gaped there, blood gushing from it.
"Kid, stop fighting. I surrender."
"Surrender my ass!"
He An roared. His long blade followed like a shadow, pointing straight at Kong Hu's forehead.
Feeling that icy killing intent, Kong Hu's heart chilled. His desperate will to survive instantly overwhelmed everything else. Using the force of the rebound, he rolled like a donkey and scrambled to the courtyard wall.
"He An, I'll remember this humiliation!"
He leaped up and cleared the two-meter-high wall with ease, as if nothing stood in his way. Even as he fled, he didn't forget to threaten He An.
"The Mad Sand Gang and your He Family will be sworn enemies for the rest of our lives!"
"Think you can get away?"
In the gathering dusk, a flash of cold light streaked across the middle of the street. Icy Blade Qi shot straight toward the back of Kong Hu's head.
"No!"
A roar brimming with hatred rang through the night.
Elsewhere.
After rushing out of He An's home,
the Second Gang Leader didn't dare linger. He hurried back to the gang.
When the gang members saw him covered in blood, they were all shocked.
"Second Gang Leader, what happened to you?"
"Where's the gang leader? Why hasn't he come back?"
"What happened? Didn't the gang leader and Second Gang Leader go to kill someone? Why did you come back covered in wounds?"
"Move! Get the other three gang leaders over here. Our First Gang Leader is barely hanging on!" Ignoring everyone's reaction, the Second Gang Leader roared.
In an instant,
the gang members panicked.
The gang leader was dying?
That was huge news!
The only reason the Mad Sand Gang had grown so powerful was Kong Hu.
Without him, they wouldn't just lose their current standing—the Mad Sand Gang might not even survive. They'd made plenty of enemies over the years, after all.
The news quickly spread through the gang, and the other three gang leaders arrived one after another.
As soon as they saw the Second Gang Leader, they hurried to ask, "Second Brother, what happened? Didn't you and Big Brother go to kill someone? How did you end up in such a state?"
"Yeah, what happened? Did you run into a tough opponent?"
"Second Brother, what happened to Big Brother?"
They looked at one another.
"Don't worry about me. Come with me—we're going to save the gang leader!"
"There's no need to save him."
At the familiar voice, the Second Gang Leader shuddered, his face filled with terror.
"You... what are you doing here? Where's our gang leader?"
"He's dead."
In an instant,
dead silence fell over the gang.
The gang leaders and the dozen or so members still inside were all struck as if by lightning. They stood frozen, unable to recover for a long while.
"The gang leader... is dead?"
The Second Gang Leader murmured, lost for words.
At that moment, even the slowest among them realized that the man before them, He An, had killed their gang leader.
"Kid, who are you?"
The Fifth Gang Leader roared, "Do you know what you'll pay for killing our gang leader? The price is the lives of your entire family!"
"Kid, who are you?"
For certain reasons, none of them knew He An's identity.
The Second Gang Leader bellowed, his voice hoarse, "Kill him! Don't worry about who he is. He killed our gang leader, and now he's stormed into our headquarters. We have to kill him, no matter what!"
"Revenge! Avenge the gang leader!"
That cry sent more than a dozen men into a rage. They roared and charged at He An, their force and momentum no small thing.
"You're asking for death!"
He An's face was cold as ice.
Blades flashed, and screams rang out across the gang's headquarters.
In just a few breaths,
only three of the gang members remained alive.
"Monster! He's a monster!"
"Run!"
They were terrified out of their wits. They no longer cared about their gang leader and scrambled to escape, but He An cut them down one by one, and they slowly fell into pools of blood.
Beneath the dim firelight,
blood trickled through the cracks between the flagstones, gathering into dark red puddles.
"Now it's your turn."
"Kid, what... what are you going to do?" The Third Gang Leader swallowed. They'd only held back for a few breaths to see how strong He An was.
They hadn't expected those few seconds to be enough for him to kill more than a dozen men.
Most of them had been ordinary people, but several were bona fide Martial Artists. Yet under He An's blade, they'd been slaughtered like chickens.
Judging by the strength He An had shown,
there was no doubt that none of them stood a chance. Though they were gang leaders just like the First and Second Gang Leaders, their strength was worlds apart.
The entire Mad Sand Gang had only two Martial Artists in the Muscle Condensing Realm.
The First Gang Leader and the Second Gang Leader.
The First Gang Leader was dead, and the Second Gang Leader was seriously wounded. The gang's other Bone Forging Realm Martial Artists had followed them out at the start. By now, they were probably dead too.
How could a few of them possibly be a match for He An?
The Third Gang Leader dropped his ghost-head saber.
"Little brother, I haven't done anything. There's no need for you to kill me, is there?"
The Second Gang Leader's vision went black. He gritted his teeth and said, "You bastard! You dare surrender? Have you no backbone? When we joined the gang, we all swore to share blessings and endure hardships together!"
"Bah!"
The Third Gang Leader sneered. "When have you ever thought of me when there were blessings to share? You and Big Brother took them all. I was just the one doing the grunt work."
Then he turned to He An. "Little brother, go ahead and do what you have to. Just don't hurt me. From now on, I have nothing to do with the Mad Sand Gang!"
Seeing this, the other two quickly declared their positions.
"Me too."
"Same here."
"You... you..." The Second Gang Leader was so furious he could barely catch his breath.
"Are you done talking?"
He An cut them off. "If you're done, then let's all hit the road together!"
At that, the Second Gang Leader burst out laughing and mocked them. "Want to stay alive? That depends on whether he lets you! You've only got one choice now: kill him with me."
"Otherwise, we're the ones who'll die."
The few men exchanged glances. The Third Gang Leader silently picked up his ghost-head saber.
"Kill!"
Before you continue