The Spoils

"Little brat, I won't let you go even as a ghost!" Xu Donglai's eyes were bloodshot. Even facing death, he managed to keep his courage, cursing Zhao An with a hideous expression.

"Unfortunately, since you died by my blade, you're destined not even to become a ghost." Zhao An's expression remained calm. He spoke lightly, then cleanly slit Xu Donglai's throat and finished him off.

A ghostly soul burrowed out of Xu Donglai's body. Wearing an expression of terror, he watched helplessly as Zhao An grabbed him in his palm and tossed him into the Soul Pool.

As a soul, he couldn't speak. He could only wail in agony within the Soul Pool, enduring torment far worse than death.

"The gang leader is dead!"

"The gang leader is dead!!"

"..."

Xu Donglai's sudden death completely shattered the gang's morale.

The remaining members of the Python Gang dropped their clubs and fled, afraid that if they were a moment too slow, Zhao An would catch up and cut them down too.

Every one of them knew full well that after today, the Python Gang would be no more in the Outer City.

Zhao An let out a long breath, feeling as if a weight had lifted from his heart.

Ever since the first day he crossed over, trouble with the Python Gang had kept coming one thing after another.

First Xu San, then being forced to go through those damned Three Trials, followed by Cao Li leading men to surround and kill him, and finally today's assassination.

He and the Python Gang had accumulated a deep-seated grudge, reaching the point where one side had to die.

Today, he'd cut his way through the Python Gang and wiped them out, finally bringing the whole affair to an end!

From this day onward, the score between him and the Python Gang was settled!

"Brother Zhao?!"

Elsewhere, after dealing with He Song's body in the small courtyard, Li Gou'er and Zhao Chunzi had grabbed two short clubs and run over through the rain.

Seeing the corpses strewn across the ground, how could they not know the fight was over?

Their amazing big brother had truly wiped out the entire Python Gang all by himself!

Once word of this got around, it would surely leave countless people dumbstruck.

"You came at just the right time." Zhao An told them to search the Python Gang's headquarters and carry off anything valuable or useful.

He naturally wasn't about to leave these spoils for someone else or the authorities.

They kept at it until nightfall before finally returning to the small courtyard.

The money and valuables they brought back weren't much—just one small chest. By a rough estimate, it came to a little over two hundred taels of silver, less than Zhao An had expected.

But on second thought, it made sense.

These gang members weren't the sort to live steady lives. They were much like the previous Zhao An: men who lived for the moment, without the slightest notion of saving.

Most of those two hundred taels of silver had come from Xu Donglai's purse.

Besides that, they'd found thirty taels on He Song, the black-clad man who had tried to assassinate him.

All told, he now had nearly three hundred taels of silver in hand—enough to make him fairly well-off in the Outer City District.

For the time being, he wouldn't need to worry about having enough money to practice martial arts. He had plenty.

Aside from the money, he'd also found a pair of gauntlets among He Song and Xu Donglai's belongings.

And a martial arts manual.

The booklet had been found wedged between the boards of Xu Donglai's bed. Li Gou'er had spotted it with his sharp eyes; otherwise, it might well have been left behind.

The booklet's cover was blank, with no writing on it. It looked like a handwritten copy.

Zhao An flipped through it. The handwriting inside was somewhat sloppy, and he hadn't been studying characters for long, so he still couldn't recognize them all.

By guessing and piecing things together, he managed to get the general idea. It seemed to be the palm technique studied by Xu Donglai and He Song, the senior and junior brothers!

The discovery immediately piqued his interest.

Money was an external possession, easily spent, but once he mastered a martial art, it would be his for good.

Ever since learning the Fierce Tiger Blade Art and experiencing its many subtleties, he'd become deeply interested in all the martial arts in the world. He couldn't wait to get his hands on them and test them against each other.

He decided that once the rain stopped, he'd go to the clinic and ask Doctor Meng to help him translate it.

Aside from these tangible gains, another major reward for destroying the Python Gang was the sharp increase in the number of Soul Slaves in his Soul Pool!

After taking a quick count, and excluding those that had already turned into Karma Fruits and been absorbed by Zhao An, there were nearly thirty souls in the Soul Pool now!

Once the cleansing was complete, they'd all be usable Soul Slaves.

Of them, He Song and Xu Donglai's souls were the ones he paid the most attention to.

They'd both been Martial Masters while alive, with the greatest abilities. As Soul Slaves, they'd also have the greatest usefulness and potential.

He wondered just how much stronger these two Martial Master Soul Slaves could make him.

The next day.

After a night of rain, a group of constables and yamen runners stood in front of the Python Gang's headquarters, staring at the wreckage inside. They exchanged glances, speechless.

Suddenly, a yamen runner hurried out of the main hall, looking a little pale. "Squad leader, they're all dead. Not a single survivor!"

"Xu Donglai's dead too?" Chen Song asked with a frown. He wore a dark official robe and a soft-winged hat.

An iron badge hung at his waist, marking him as a Chief Constable of the yamen.

"He's dead. He died right in the main hall!" the yamen runner quickly replied.

"Who did this?" Chen Song irritably gripped the hilt of the saber at his waist.

None of the constables or yamen runners could answer.

Yesterday, the rain had been so heavy that the officers on patrol had mostly stayed in the yamen, playing cards and drinking to pass the time. It was practically an unspoken rule.

And when the rain was that heavy, people dying outside was nothing unusual.

Who knew who had killed them?

"Find out who wiped out the Python Gang. Also, send someone over to the Tiger Head Gang!"

After giving his orders, Chen Song cursed under his breath and headed back to the yamen.

In a side room of the yamen,

Constables and yamen runners had gathered in groups of three or five, playing cards and cricket fights, drinking and carousing. The place was a complete mess.

"Get to work!" Chen Song flew into a rage at the sight and drove all the constables and yamen runners out.

"Chen Song, did you lose money again?" Lu Yixiu, also a Chief Constable, sat on a long bench drinking. Seeing Chen Song, he asked with a faint laugh.

"Worse than losing money. Our moneybag's gone." Chen Song dropped into a chair, took off his official hat, and tossed it aside.

"What do you mean?" Gao Baoding, another Chief Constable, looked over at that.

"Someone took down the Python Gang with ruthless efficiency. Xu Donglai's dead too!" Chen Song said, drinking a bowl of rough liquor.

At those words, all the Chief Constables frowned in unison.

The Python Gang had run rampant through the streets and bullied the poor without anyone interfering because they'd been paying bribes to people above them.

The four of them, as serving Chief Constables, had all received a monthly payment from Xu Donglai.

It wasn't wrong to call the Python Gang their moneybag.

Now that the moneybag was gone, how could they not be furious?

"Who did it? Could it have been Zhou Hu?" Lu Yixiu asked.

When he heard what had happened, the first person who came to mind was the fierce tiger of the Tiger Head Gang.

"We don't know yet. I've already sent people to investigate," Chen Song said, shaking his head.

"Don't worry, gentlemen. Even if the Python Gang's gone, a Wolf Gang or Rat Gang will crop up sooner or later. When they do, we'll still be collecting just as before." Zhao Ke smiled.

Of the Chief Constables, he was the most composed. The Python Gang's destruction didn't seem to bother him.

Just then, a constable came running over in a hurry.

"Squad leader, we have news!"

"Speak!" Chen Song demanded at once.

"It was the Tiger Head Gang that wiped out the Python Gang yesterday. More precisely, it was one man from the Tiger Head Gang!" the constable said.

"It was Zhou Hu!"

"No, not him. It was someone named Zhao An!" The constable wiped the sweat from his forehead and hurriedly replied.

"?" Zhao Ke's previously composed smile stiffened. His voice turned awkward.

"Who?!"