A Hammer Decides It, Five Thousand Taels for a Life

A strong gust of wind hit Fang Mo in the face, making the stray hairs at his temples dance wildly.

A massive fist rapidly enlarged in his pupils. Veins bulged on it, and his knuckles were as thick as walnuts, carrying a vicious force that could smash a person's head into a pulpy watermelon.

Zhao Laoxi hadn't held back with this punch. He truly intended to kill, wanting to wash away the humiliation of being hit in the face with banknotes with the blood of the new Captain.

Just as the wind of the fist was about to graze Fang Mo's nose.

Iron Bull, who had been standing by the furnace as if he were an outsider, moved.

He didn't even turn around.

Just as Zhao Laoxi's fist was about to hit Fang Mo, he swung the large forging hammer in his hand backward, seemingly casually.

There was no earth-shattering momentum, no dazzling brilliance.

It was just a simple backward swing of the hammer.

However, the moment the hammerhead passed, the air seemed to be sucked dry, forming a visible white wave of air.

That wave of air, like an invisible wall, struck Zhao Laoxi's chest heavily, arriving later but hitting first.

"Boom!"

A muffled, heavy sound.

Zhao Laoxi's sturdy body was hit head-on like by a battering ram. His feet left the ground, and he flew backward stiffly.

After tracing a pathetic parabolic arc in the air, he crashed heavily onto the street outside the courtyard gate, kicking up a cloud of dust.

His right arm was twisted at an extremely bizarre angle, and a large portion of his chest had caved in. The blood he coughed out stained the bluestone road.

From beginning to end, the hammer had never actually touched him.

Just the wind from the hammer had crippled a master of the Bone Forging Realm!

Dead silence.

Inside and outside the courtyard, there was dead silence.

Iron Bull retracted his hammer and placed the fearsome great hammer back on the anvil, continuing to bend over and work on the unformed iron billet, as if the person he had casually swatted away was nothing more than an annoying fly.

The Captains Zhao Laoxi had brought with him were all pale-faced, their legs trembling like sieves. They looked at Iron Bull with eyes full of fear.

At this moment, Yan Wangchou, who had been squatting in the corner, slowly stood up and knocked the ash out of his pipe.

"Sigh, young people nowadays are just too impatient," he said, shaking his head, his voice hoarse. "They can't even talk business properly. What kind of behavior is this?"

The Captains were jolted by his voice. As if granted amnesty, they scrambled out of the courtyard, lifted the unconscious Zhao Laoxi, and fled in a panic.

Fang Mo strolled to the kicked-in courtyard gate, looked down at the bloodstain on the ground, then bent over to pick up the stack of banknotes Qian Dagui had dropped earlier, blowing off the non-existent dust.

He looked at Qian Dagui, who had an innocent expression, and shook his head.

"See? Such a waste."

Fang Mo tucked the stack of banknotes, slightly stained with dust, into his robes, his movements calm and unhurried, as if he were just tidying up something that had fallen from his own belongings.

He raised his eyes, his gaze sweeping over the courtyard wall towards the fleeing figures of Zhao Laoxi and his men, his voice not loud but clearly reaching the street corner.

"Go back and tell your Captain Zhao that the territory of the Seventh Little Flag isn't a place for any stray cat or dog to run wild."

At the street corner, the Captains' bodies visibly stiffened, and they moved even faster.

The smile on Fang Mo's lips deepened. He leisurely added a sentence, his voice carrying a chilling playfulness.

"Wait."

The Captains, who were about to bolt, froze as if struck by a paralyzing spell, one foot suspended in mid-air, not daring to put it down.

Fang Mo leaned against the broken doorframe, idly playing with his Hundred Refined Steel saber. The blade reflected a cold, chilling light under the sun.

"Go back and tell your backer in the White Tiger Hall, or any other stray cat or dog."

The smile on Fang Mo's face vanished, and a heart-stopping coldness appeared in his eyes. "I don't care what the territory of the Seventh Little Flag was like before. But from today onwards, this place belongs to Fang. If anyone else is blind enough to come here and cause trouble again..."

He pointed to the bloodstain on the ground that had not yet dried.

"Zhao Laoxi is the example."

Hearing this, the men at the street corner felt their scalps tingle. They all nodded their heads like pecking chicks, not daring to utter a single word.

"And also."

"I'll send the bill for Commander Zhao's medical expenses to your Seventh Little Flag later."

"It's not much, just five thousand taels."

"Not a single copper less, or I'll bring Iron Bull and come collect it myself."

"Get lost."

As soon as these words were spoken, even the other Captains hiding in the dark, watching the spectacle, gasped in disbelief.

Ruthless! Too ruthless!

Not only did they beat someone half to death, but they also intended to extort a huge sum of money. This greed was uglier than the most unscrupulous old clerk in the Punishment Department!

With the last word spoken, the Captains let out a strange cry and ran faster than rabbits, carrying Zhao Laoxi, disappearing into the depths of the alley in the blink of an eye, leaving only a mess behind.

Fang Mo watched the direction they disappeared, a playful curve on his lips.

"Master, impressive move."

Yan Wangchou tapped his pipe against the sole of his shoe. A glint flashed in his cloudy old eyes. "Master, Zhao Laoxi has connections behind him. Aren't you afraid Lei Laohu will cause trouble with such a sky-high demand?"