Cao Li

"Zhao An is here!"

At those words, a group of thugs at a nearby tea stall immediately set down their bowls and blocked both ends of the alley, their faces full of menace.

"Bad news, Brother Zhao! Someone's set you up!" Seeing their escape route blocked, Li Gou'er panicked despite having expected something like this. There were simply too many of them.

Zhao An looked over and curled his lips into a smile.

"So you're all here."

The thugs blocking the alley now all had red names above their heads.

At their head stood a man with a hideous scar slashing across one eye, his nose, and his lips. Only one eye remained to glare at them.

He was no nobody. A seasoned veteran of the Python Gang, his name was Cao Li.

Whenever his name came up, even the few Tiger Head Gang leaders seated in their main hall would blanch, their hearts filled with dread.

That was because he was known to be vicious—a madman who didn't care whether he lived or died.

"We're done for. Why did it have to be Cao Li..." Seeing the hideous scar on the man's face, Li Gou'er recognized him and felt his legs go weak with fright.

Cao Li narrowed his single eye and sized up Zhao An as well.

"Just a brat. I really don't know how you made it through the Three Trials that day."

"The gang leader orders us to hack Zhao An to death today!"

Cao Li didn't waste words, nor did he intend to duel Zhao An. He waved his hand, and a crowd of red-named gang thugs charged toward Zhao An in unison.

Most carried short clubs, with a few blades mixed in. None of them feared Zhao An.

After all, no matter how strong Zhao An was, even if he'd passed the Three Trials, that only proved his skill in one-on-one combat.

In a chaotic brawl like this, even Zhao An's strength would be useless. A few clubs to the head would be enough to kill anyone.

The families living along the alley hurriedly shut their doors and windows, afraid the coming clash between the two gangs would drag them into it.

Facing the pack of red-named wolves charging at him, Zhao An didn't flinch. He didn't even retreat. Instead, he drew his Big Ring Blade, calm and composed as he stepped forward.

As the first Python Gang member reached him, Zhao An took a perfectly timed step and swept his blade across the man's arm in an apparently effortless stroke.

The Python Gang member was caught completely off guard. The blade sliced his throat.

Then Zhao An abruptly leaned to one side, twirled his long blade in a flourish, and spun it around to slash another Python Gang member's throat.

In the blink of an eye, two men fell. Zhao An's movements grew fiercer still, like a raging tiger roused by the scent of blood. He drove off his foot and lunged forward, dodging the heavy blows of club after club as he put his strength behind a swing.

One slash sent three men stumbling back!

He turned and struck again, bringing the blade down in a vicious sweep. Another man died!

Zhao An's footwork was precise, and every step flowed seamlessly into a blade technique of startling ferocity!

After every slash, at least one man fell dead!

Whoosh!

The blade roared like a tiger. Many of the Python Gang members heard the tiger-like howl and felt their blood run cold.

In no time, Zhao An had cut through the ranks and reached the one-eyed man.

Cao Li stared in disbelief, then blurted, "You're a Martial Master?!"

Zhao An didn't answer. Before Cao Li could raise his blade to defend himself, Zhao An had already struck.

The wisp of Internal Breath inside him surged through his body and flowed into his sword arm, combining with his physical strength and erupting in a single blow.

The next instant, his long blade cleaved through Cao Li's chest. His body split in two, innards and blood spilling across the ground!

Cao Li's eyes widened. He tried to say something, but blood flooded his throat, and he couldn't get out a single word.

He had recognized the blade technique—like a fierce tiger charging down a mountain. It was clearly Zhou Hu's Fierce Tiger Blade!

But how had Zhao An learned it? He had never heard that Zhou Hu intended to pass it on to anyone.

This was a ranked martial art, after all. Zhou Hu treasured it dearly. How could he pass it on as casually as a Martial Master at the Martial Academy?

Most importantly, in his final moments, Cao Li had become certain that this young man had already entered the realm of a Martial Master!

"Good kid... You've been hiding your strength well..."

Cao Li's thoughts turned to mush. Before he could think any further, he breathed his last.

[Having committed countless evils, your sinful soul has been captured!]

Another soul was taken into Zhao An's Soul Pool. Along with the nine red-named Python Gang members he had just cut down, it wouldn't be long before the number of Soul Slaves he could control increased by ten!

The Soul Pool, once empty, was gradually filling with a crowd of souls.

For Zhao An, this was naturally a wonderful thing.

Only by acquiring more Soul Slaves, especially high-quality ones, could he keep raising his strength!

Though he had now entered the ranks of the Martial Masters, for him, this was only the beginning.

After all, only a few days had passed since he'd crossed into this world.

The times were turbulent, with wars breaking out one after another. Calamities both natural and man-made lurked amid the chaos. Ninety-nine out of every hundred people would be swept along by the tide of events and sink beneath the raging waves.

To survive in times like these—and even gain the freedom to make more choices—he had only one option: become stronger.

As long as he was stronger than everyone else, no one could threaten him!

Zhao An was grateful that this world allowed people to practice martial arts and attain extraordinary, superhuman strength!

"Brother Zhao!" Zhao Chunzi came running to Zhao An, a short club in hand.

As soon as Zhao An had started fighting, he'd noticed that this younger man from his home village had fought desperately alongside him, going after the Python Gang members with everything he had.

Zhao Chunzi was now panting like an ox, blood trickling down his head. He'd also taken several blows and looked rather battered.

Li Gou'er had hesitated at first, but in the end, he too had gritted his teeth and followed Zhao An. He was injured as well, though he looked better off than Zhao Chunzi.

Compared to those who ran at the first sign of trouble, these two younger brothers might not have been particularly capable, but they were decent enough. At the very least, they hadn't fled in panic and had been willing to stand by their leader through thick and thin.

"Search them and take every last coin they have," Zhao An ordered.

"Right away." Zhao Chunzi was still able to move. Without a second word, he began searching the bodies.

Li Gou'er, meanwhile, still looked shaken as he stared at Cao Li's body, split in two on the ground.

"Brother Zhao, now we really are locked in a fight to the death with the Python Gang..."

Cao Li held an extremely high position in the Python Gang. In the eyes of everyone who belonged to a gang, this man had once been a fearsome and famous figure.

Now he had died at the hands of Zhao An, a junior, and to Li Gou'er, it felt almost unreal.

Cao Li was really dead?!

Once he came to his senses, he realized that there was no longer any room for compromise between them and the Python Gang.

The next people to come for them might be Xu Donglai, leading dozens or even hundreds of ruthless men to hunt them down.

If the Tiger Head Gang didn't back them up then, would the three of them even be able to fight back?

Xu Donglai was a bona fide Martial Master. And as for the hundred or so gang thugs, just one spit from each of them would be enough to drown the three of them!

The more Li Gou'er thought about it, the more panicked he became.