Silver Snake Hand

"Are you sure his name was Zhao An?!" Zhao Ke asked again and again.

"The truth couldn't be clearer. Quite a few of the Python Gang members who escaped saw it with their own eyes. Yesterday, Zhao An single-handedly slaughtered his way through the entire Python Gang, from the inside out!"

The constable reported all the results of the investigation.

"So it wasn't Zhou Hu's doing after all..." Gao Baoding murmured.

"Then who is this Zhao An? How could he be so powerful?"

Lu Yixiu looked at Zhao Ke and said gravely, "Brother Zhao, care to explain? If I remember correctly, Zhao An is your own younger brother."

"..." Zhao Ke fell silent.

Seeing the other three chief constables looking his way, he finally shook his head. "Zhao An is indeed my younger brother, but with his measly skills, there's no way he could have killed Xu Donglai, let alone single-handedly wiped out the Python Gang. That sounds utterly absurd!"

Zhao Ke was ashamed to even acknowledge Zhao An, given how useless he was.

Worried that Zhao An might cause trouble and ruin his career, he had simply kicked him out of the house and washed his hands of him.

Come to think of it, it had been quite some time since he'd seen his younger brother.

He never expected the next thing he'd hear about Zhao An to be this outrageous.

He couldn't even imagine Zhao An charging into the Python Gang, cutting his way in and out, and laying waste to everyone in his path.

"He doesn't even qualify as a Martial Master. How could he have done it?" Seeing the strange looks on his three fellow chief constables' faces, Zhao Ke reluctantly offered a few more explanations.

"What about the Python Gang members' testimony?" Lu Yixiu asked skeptically.

Zhao Ke was at a loss for words.

One person might lie, but when a whole group gave the same detailed account with such conviction, it was hard not to believe them.

Gao Baoding suddenly spoke in a low voice. "Brother Zhao, could it be that you used underhanded means to take the Python Gang's money, then staged this whole show to cover your tracks?"

"Brother Zhao, that's pretty low of you. The four of us were all entitled to a share of the Python Gang's money, but now you want to keep it all for yourself?" Chen Song said with a cold snort, his spirits lifting.

After all, Zhao An and Zhao Ke were brothers. It was hard not to suspect something.

Zhao Ke felt terribly aggrieved. He defended himself again and again, and only just managed to shift their suspicions onto the Tiger Head Gang.

Still, their words had given Zhao Ke an idea.

If Zhao An really was involved, he probably had quite a bit of the Python Gang's money in his hands!

He might even have a hundred taels of silver!

No, I have to find that fool! Zhao Ke thought.

"Silver Snake Hand, a ninth-grade palm art from the Silver Snake Sect of Clear Lake..."

Inside the medical clinic, Meng Wanyi leaned over a desk in the back room, pointing to lines of text in the booklet as she explained them to Zhao An.

They were sitting close together. Meng Wanyi wasn't wearing a cap; she had simply pinned up her hair with a hairpin, and a few loose strands brushed against Zhao An's face, carrying a faint, fresh floral scent.

As Zhao An watched and listened, his gaze drifted unconsciously to the young woman's fair face.

Then he heard Meng Wanyi's voice grow fainter and fainter, while two blushes gradually spread across her cheeks.

"Zhao An, don't stare at me," Meng Wanyi said, trying to sound stern.

"Doctor Meng, you don't use ordinary soapberry. You smell lovely," Zhao An said.

"I make it myself..." Meng Wanyi realized just then how close they were and immediately shifted a small step to the side.

But then she thought about it and felt inexplicably annoyed. Why should she be the one to back away?

So she leaned closer again and said to Zhao An with displeasure, "You move over a little."

Zhao An smiled softly. He didn't argue with her and obligingly shifted over.

His gaze returned to the booklet. Compared with the Golden Scale Mountain Piling Art, the Silver Snake Sect's manual was clearly much more straightforward.

It contained detailed written explanations and proper diagrams demonstrating the moves. It was complete and clear, with none of the cryptic sections that he had to puzzle over and study by himself.

"A ninth-grade palm art, huh." Zhao An's guess had been right.

This was the very palm art Xu Donglai and the black-clad man, He Song, had used.

After Meng Wanyi had explained and translated it for him, Zhao An handed the palm art manual to one of the Python Gang's Red Name Soul Slaves to practice.

Before, he had used the inferior Black Tiger Blade Technique to work backward and deduce the Fierce Tiger Blade Art. Now he had a complete martial arts manual to give to a Soul Slave.

The Soul Slave no longer needed to waste time figuring out the art's principles and could start practicing right away.

Perhaps before long, Zhao An would have mastered both blade and palm, and could begin growing stronger in multiple ways!

Meanwhile, when word spread that the Python Gang had been wiped out overnight, the entire Tiger Head Gang was shaken.

And it wasn't just the Tiger Head Gang. All the gangs, big and small, lurking in the streets and alleys were badly frightened too.

"Zhao An did it..."

Once the news had been fully confirmed, the leaders and core members gathered in the main hall, most of whom had never liked Zhao An. Now they were all silent.

Some were already sweating, their hearts uneasy.

Thinking of all the ways they had targeted Zhao An in the past, they wished they could slap themselves.

"There's no doubt about it. He's reached the Martial Master realm, and his skills are far beyond anything anyone could have imagined!" Zhou Hu's expression was especially grave. He had even stopped calling Zhao An by name.

With Zhao An's current strength, he could no longer treat him like an ordinary junior gang leader who would come at his beck and call.

"When you spoke with him last time, didn't you notice anything unusual?" Zhou Hu asked Hao Wei, who had been sitting quietly beside him, fanning himself with a folding fan.

"Gang Leader, Zhao An hid his abilities so well. How could a mere scholar like me have seen through him..." Hao Wei said helplessly.

He had certainly recognized Zhao An's potential early on and wanted to work with him to build something bigger and stronger.

But he had never imagined that Zhao An would already be powerful enough to carve his way through the entire Python Gang alone.

Thinking carefully about what he and Zhao An had discussed that day, Hao Wei figured Zhao An probably wouldn't spare the Tiger Head Gang either!

He had never been on the same side as Zhou Hu to begin with. Now he was already considering how to get away.

As for Zhao An himself, he had no idea how much commotion he had caused, or how many people suspected him and worried themselves sick over it.

Perhaps the medical clinic had been quiet that day; Zhao An stayed there until sunset before heading back.

When Li Gou'er saw Zhao An return to the courtyard, he immediately said,

"Brother Zhao, someone from the Tiger Head Gang came by today. They also brought you twenty taels of silver."

"Did you take it?" Zhao An asked.

"No. You hadn't given the word, so how could I dare accept it?" Li Gou'er said with an awkward grin.

Zhao An nodded. Good thing he hadn't taken it; otherwise, it might get in the way of his plans to draw his blade later.

"So, Brother Zhao, have we already left the Tiger Head Gang?" Li Gou'er asked cautiously.

"Mm. There's no future in it," Zhao An said, heading toward the inner room.

"Oh, right, Brother Zhao. Your older brother came looking for you today," Li Gou'er added as he remembered.

"My older brother?" Zhao An thought it over, memories flooding back. It seemed there really had been someone like that.

During a famine years ago, nearly everyone in their village had died. Zhao An's parents had also perished while fleeing, leaving only the two brothers to make it to Lianjiang City.

Later, his older brother had somehow gotten lucky and become a constable at the county office. After that, he had become a chief constable.

Because Zhao An had been such a disappointment in his previous life, the brothers had grown estranged and hardly ever saw each other.

Since transmigrating, Zhao An still hadn't met his older brother.

From the memories he had inherited, his brother didn't seem like a good person.

Back then, the county office had actually wanted Zhao An for his strength, but his supposedly good older brother had talked his way into getting that constable's position instead.

He had never once honored his promise to look after Zhao An. Then, after becoming a chief constable, he had driven Zhao An out when he went to visit.

In his older brother's eyes, family ties were worthless, nowhere near as important as his own future.

Looking back, his older brother's actions had played no small part in turning Zhao An into a villain.

"What did he want?" Zhao An asked.

"He was probably here about the Python Gang. He asked whether you were the one who killed them, and also..." Li Gou'er said honestly.

"Also what?"

"He asked where the Python Gang's silver went."