For a moment, the courtyard fell utterly silent.
No one had expected the Ugly Man to do exactly as he said—to actually chop off Du Chong's head with a single stroke!
Who was Du Chong?
He was none other than the young master of the Black Dragon Gang, Gang Leader Du's only son, and an immensely influential figure in Three Rivers County. Now he had been slain on the spot, dead in the backwater of Stone Ox Town.
"Young, Young Master..."
The remaining martial artists of the Black Dragon Gang were all too terrified to make a sound.
After receiving Qin Wu's intelligence that night, they had come to Stone Ox Town under Du Chong's command to capture Cao Lin of the Green Garment Gang. Everything had gone smoothly, and they had practically been certain of victory.
But who could have guessed that an ugly man would suddenly appear out of nowhere?
Not only had he ruined their grand plan, he was also ruthless, leaving their leader Du Chong headless.
How could they not be afraid?
"Get lost!"
Shen Han kicked out, sending Du Chong's head flying into the grass by the wall as if he were kicking a rotten stone.
The young master of the Black Dragon Gang had met such a gruesome end. Everyone present was chilled to the bone.
"Hero, would you be willing to come up the mountain with me?"
Cao Lin endured the pain, steadied himself, and asked cautiously.
He had thought it over. If this Ugly Man could be brought into the Green Garment Gang, its strength would increase tremendously. As for Du Chong's murder, well, the man was already dead, so there was no need to dwell on it.
"Young Master Cao, why do you say that?" Shen Han asked coolly.
"Hero, you saved my life from Du Chong. My father will surely reward you handsomely," Cao Lin said. "Besides, you killed Du Chong, so the Black Dragon Gang will certainly retaliate against you. Our Green Garment Gang can offer you protection."
Cao Lin wore an ingratiating expression as he spoke.
If he knew that the ugly man before him was Shen Han, the physician he had hired, he would likely have frozen on the spot.
"You think I need protection?"
Who would have thought that Shen Han would only give a cold laugh?
Cao Lin hurriedly smiled. "Of course not. It's just that our Green Garment Gang admires heroes. If we join forces, Three Rivers County will be ours!"
The Black Dragon Gang's martial artists exchanged glances.
If this really came to pass, the Green Garment Gang's strength would undergo a qualitative leap. With one side rising and the other falling, the Black Dragon Gang's slight advantage would vanish entirely.
"Young Master Cao, you're getting ahead of yourself."
Shen Han walked toward Cao Lin.
Cao Lin hurriedly said, "Then... Hero, you can name your terms. Our Green Garment Gang will satisfy them!"
Shen Han raised the Heavy Iron Curved Blade. "My terms?"
"Of course. Just name them, Hero."
"Fine. My terms are—your death!"
As soon as the words left his mouth, the curved blade came straight down with the force of a thousand catties, sweeping through the crowd as if no one stood in its way.
Ssh!
Cao Lin felt a sudden pain in his head.
Then, before everyone's eyes, his body fell apart like a log cleaved in two, toppling to either side.
In an instant, blood and entrails splattered across the courtyard.
A scene of carnage.
"Ugh..."
The four Green Garment Gang martial artists gaped in shock.
They couldn't understand why this Ugly Man had saved Cao Lin, only to turn around and kill him.
Shen Han had every reason to kill Cao Lin. To silence the witnesses, Cao Lin had ordered Guan Shu to poison him and Feng Hao. He deserved to die; there was no reason to spare him!
"Run, run..."
At last, one of the martial artists came to his senses.
He immediately dropped his weapon and leaped over the wall.
That ugly man wasn't human. If he stayed here, death was the only possible outcome!
Once he ran, the rest of the martial artists fled as well.
Seeing this, the Black Dragon Gang's martial artists completely forgot about Du Chong's corpse. They made a snap decision and scattered in all directions.
In the blink of an eye, both groups had fled, leaving the courtyard quiet again, with only three corpses behind.
Shen Han didn't pursue them.
First, there were more than ten of them. Although most had only reached Skin Refining, they had fled in every direction, so catching and killing them all was simply impractical.
Second, once he took off the Human Skin Mask, they wouldn't recognize him afterward.
Third, Feng Hao was waiting in the cave for the medicinal ingredients that would save his life. There was no time to waste killing these underlings.
"Let's see what these two young masters had on them..."
Shen Han never passed up a chance to search the dead.
He crouched down and began searching, his movements practiced to perfection.
"Damn, they really were pampered. A young master, and he goes out without carrying any silver?"
Shen Han was a little exasperated.
Neither Du Chong nor Cao Lin had a money pouch on him. He'd only found two taels of silver on a bald martial artist from the Black Dragon Gang—not much, but better than nothing.
"Hm?"
Just then, Shen Han spotted two white porcelain vials in the lining of Cao Lin's clothes.
"Could it be..."
He immediately remembered: weren't these Returning Cloud Pills?
He opened both vials to check. Sure enough, the dark green pills inside were the forbidden Returning Cloud Pills from the imperial palace!
One vial held four pills and the other five, for a total of nine.
"Cao Lin, your death wasn't in vain."
Shen Han put the two vials of Returning Cloud Pills into the Bronze Mirror, then searched Du Chong's corpse again.
In the end, he found a small seal block hidden in Du Chong's shoe.
It was made of jade, square, about the size of a baby's fist, and dark green.
"Wait, this seal block..."
Shen Han's heart stirred. He immediately took the silk cloth from the Bronze Mirror and carefully compared them.
Whoosh!
Unbelievable—the seal block was identical to the Soul-Illuminating Jade Seal in the four illustrations.
Does that mean I've already collected two?
The Dark Iron Brick, the Soul-Illuminating Jade Seal—of the four items depicted on the silk cloth, he already had two. Only the Cold Frost Wood Mirror and the Heavenly Seal-Opening Bead remained.
"Du Chong, your death was weightier than Mount Tai, too!"
Shen Han was delighted. "Not bad, not bad. Apart from forgetting to bring silver, you two young masters had no other faults.
"Time to buy the medicinal ingredients next door!"
Knock, knock, knock!
Shen Han slung the medicine chest over his back, left the courtyard, and knocked on the door of the medicine shop next door.
In truth, the shopkeeper hadn't been asleep at all.
He had watched most of what happened in the courtyard through a crack.
"Hero, you... you..."
The shopkeeper was terrified.
Shen Han smiled. "Don't be afraid, shopkeeper. I may be a little ugly, but I'm a good person. I need eight kinds of medicinal ingredients..."
"Oh, right away!"
The shopkeeper hurried off to prepare the ingredients.
Fortunately, all the medicines Shen Han had asked for were common. Before long, the shopkeeper had bundled them up.
"Here's the silver."
Shen Han placed the two taels he'd taken from the bald martial artist on the counter.
"Hero, that's more than enough..."
"Could I trouble you to give me a medicine stove as well? Keep the rest as payment for disturbing you so late at night."
"All right, just a moment."
The shopkeeper did as he asked.
Once everything was ready, Shen Han took the medicine stove and herbs without another word and disappeared into the night in a flash.
Watching him vanish into the distance, the shopkeeper finally let out the breath he'd been holding.
Who was that Ugly Man?
He'd killed three people right next door, and no one had dared resist!
And the people he'd killed were no ordinary figures. One was Cao Lin, the young master of the Green Garment Gang; the other was Du Chong, the young master of the Black Dragon Gang.
Without a doubt, neither gang would let this go.
It seemed the martial world of Three Rivers County would know no peace. A terrifying storm was about to break...
Before you continue