Master's Blade, Not Fast or Ruthless Enough!

Inside the Black Dragon Gang, Liu Chu was practicing his saber technique. The saber momentum was fierce and ruthless, whistling like thunder and flashing with cold light that enveloped the entire hall.

"Come in!"

Liu Chu suddenly stopped his practice and called out toward the hall entrance.

"The gang leader's strength has greatly increased; you could hear my footsteps from such a distance."

Han Qi stepped into the hall, looking at Liu Chu with surprise and sighing with emotion.

"Haha, when there's no one else around, there's no need to be so formal."

Liu Chu looked at Han Qi and said with a smile.

"I'm used to it."

Han Qi felt a bit helpless. Having stayed in the Black Dragon Gang for so long, switching back and forth between two ways of addressing him made him feel a bit troubled.

He simply decided to call Liu Chu gang leader even when they were alone, which saved him the trouble of switching back and forth.

"Right, the person the gang leader wanted us to find has been located!"

Han Qi didn't dwell on the address and reported the news directly.

"Oh? So fast?"

Surprise appeared on Liu Chu's face.

Han Qi revealed a smile: "Our Black Dragon Gang now rules over the former Golden Fish, Wild Wolf, and Qinghu gangs. With so many people and such vast territory, finding one person in the city is naturally not a difficult task!"

"Very good!"

Liu Chu's eyes were sharp, and a flash of killing intent vanished in an instant.

Clang!

The long saber slid into its sheath, hiding the icy murderous intent.

"Master, your saber is not fast enough, nor is it ruthless enough!"

Liu Chu whispered softly.

"Lead the way."

He signaled to Han Qi.

"Yes!"

Han Qi led Liu Chu toward the target. Before leaving the gang, he asked, "Do we need to bring men? We have strength in numbers now; we could gang up on him..."

Liu Chu shook his head: "The opponent is very strong; numbers may not be useful. I am enough on my own. You just bring a few people who are clean at their work to collect their corpses afterward!"

"Collect their corpses!"

Han Qi was startled, thinking to himself that the gang leader was truly domineering.

However, having witnessed Liu Chu's capabilities, he also knew that he had the qualifications to be domineering!

Not long ago, he had killed the leader of the Wild Wolf Gang with six saber strikes, which was extremely domineering. Now that his strength had greatly increased, he wondered what level he had reached!

In front of a dilapidated temple.

"It's actually this place?"

Liu Chu looked surprised. He hadn't expected a Bone Refining Realm expert like Gu Hualong to choose to stay in such a broken place instead of an inn.

"It does have a bit of a martial arts world feel to it..."

Beyond his surprise, Liu Chu had a few other thoughts in his mind.

"This person seems to be a martial arts expert. He probably didn't stay at an inn to hide his tracks, which is why he sought out such a remote, broken temple!"

Han Qi laughed.

After all, he had spent several years in the Golden Fish Gang, and in terms of experience in the martial arts world, he had more than Liu Chu. He wasn't surprised by this and instead offered a reasonable guess.

"That's fine, it avoids harming the innocent!"

Liu Chu nodded slightly. Just as Han Qi guessed, Gu Hualong was indeed a martial arts expert, and because he wanted to seize the Jinding Technique from Yang Wenhuai, he was secretly plotting and naturally dared not expose his residence.

That's right, his target for this trip was none other than Gu Hualong and his disciple!

Perhaps Yang Wenhuai was thinking of old times and was unwilling to kill Gu Hualong.

Or perhaps it was because "the older one gets in the martial arts world, the more timid one becomes," and he dared not fight Gu Hualong to the death.

In any case, he chose to let Gu Hualong go, hoping that after failing, the other party would voluntarily give up on seizing the Jinding Technique and leave on his own.

But Liu Chu was not so naive. He had injured Gu Hualong's disciple and ruined his plan to seize the Jinding Technique; there was no guarantee the other party wouldn't hold a grudge because of it.

Liu Chu knew well the principle of striking first to gain the advantage!

Being targeted by a Bone Refining Realm expert was enough to make him unable to sleep or eat in peace!

At this moment, Gu Hualong was inside the broken temple, taking care of the disciple who had been injured by Liu Chu.

"I originally thought Lin Bei was the only one at Dragon Tiger Martial Arts Hall worth worrying about. I figured that if I just poisoned him, Yang Wenhuai would obediently hand over the secret manual!"

Gu Hualong's face turned ashen, his expression shifting uncertainly: "I never expected that Dragon Tiger Martial Arts Hall would be hiding a Tendon Refining Realm expert, and one with such extraordinary strength that he could defeat you in a single move..."

"It is this disciple's fault!"

The short-haired youth hurriedly tried to climb off the bed to admit his mistake.

"It is fine. This matter cannot be blamed on you. His strength truly exceeded expectations. Even I did not anticipate that this boy would be so powerful; he was actually able to take a palm strike from me head-on. His strength is likely approaching the Bone Refining Realm!"

Gu Hualong shook his head and pressed the short-haired youth back onto the crude wooden bed.

A flash of killing intent crossed his eyes: "It seems we have no choice but to wait a while longer. Once he thinks we have retreated in the face of difficulty and lets his guard down, we will strike and cripple him!"

"Master, I have a question."

The short-haired youth's eyes flickered as he said: "Since you and the senior martial uncle have a grudge against the Lingjian Sect, why don't we just ask the Lingjian Sect to intervene? Wouldn't it be easy to obtain the manual that way?"

Gu Hualong frowned and shot him a look of dissatisfaction, thinking to himself that while his disciple had decent strength, he was arrogant and lacked common sense.

I hope this crushing defeat can change his personality.

Gu Hualong thought to himself that his disciple had good talent—better than his own—and because he had never experienced failure, he had become so arrogant.

Perhaps this failure would dampen his spirit, causing him to restrain his brilliance and stop being so brazenly conceited.

He patiently explained: "The reason Yang Wenhuai has a grudge against the Lingjian Sect is that the disciples of the Jinding Sect and the Lingjian Sect share a blood feud. I am also a disciple of the Jinding Sect, even though I have been expelled..."

"In short, if we asked the Lingjian Sect for help, Yang Wenhuai would certainly die, but the Lingjian Sect would most likely not give the Jinding Technique to me."

"In fact, as a former traitor to the Jinding Sect, not only would I not be appreciated by the Lingjian Sect, but I would likely be killed by them on the spot as a warning to others!"

He looked at his disciple and said earnestly: "Traitors never have a good ending. Back then, I never intended to betray the Jinding Sect."

"If it weren't for the daughter of the Third Elder deceiving my feelings and causing me to commit a grave error by accidentally killing her, I would never have wanted to leave the Jinding Sect!"

"Even after the Jinding Sect sent people to hunt me down multiple times to purge the sect, leaving me with a brush with death, I never once thought of betraying my sect!"

"Even the contingency plan I have left behind now is not the Lingjian Sect!"

Gu Hualong's tone was sincere.

Although he was a traitor, he had not truly wanted to betray the Jinding Sect, and he certainly did not want his disciple to become a traitor like him.

If that happened, wouldn't the disciple he had painstakingly taught be a waste of effort, squandering half a lifetime of his heart's blood?

The short-haired youth seemed to understand, though he dared not bring up the Lingjian Sect again.

"Who's there!"

Suddenly, Gu Hualong's gaze sharpened. Sensing unusual movement outside the temple, he hurriedly stood up to investigate.

The short-haired youth also noticed his master's grave expression; he braced his body, stood up, and followed him out to check the situation.

The two arrived outside the temple and were shocked to see Liu Chu leading several gang members, having surrounded the dilapidated temple.

"It's you!"

When the short-haired youth saw Liu Chu, he immediately gritted his teeth, his anger burning as he glared at him with hatred: "Good, good, good! There is a path to heaven, yet you refuse to take it; there is no gate to hell, yet you force your way in!"

"Young people truly do not know the immensity of heaven and earth!"

Gu Hualong's expression also relaxed slightly. He had thought he was being surrounded by Yang Wenhuai and his men.

Although he did not fear Yang Wenhuai, their cultivation levels were similar, and he had no desire to engage in a life-or-death struggle with him.

Especially since he was currently on the other party's turf, where the other party might be able to summon one or two experts.

As it turned out, it was merely Liu Chu, a Tendon Refining Realm martial artist. It was truly a false alarm!