"A master!"
At the sight of this, the drunken haze in the others' eyes cleared by more than half.
They stared at Lu Yuan in utter shock.
The young man before them was no more than sixteen, yet he had already reached the Dark Force stage and seemed to have mastered an exceptionally powerful hidden-weapon technique.
His attacks were steady, accurate, and ruthless—and so fast that even they, all Dark Force martial artists, could barely dodge them.
Escape was clearly impossible.
A desperate fight might be their only chance to survive!
"All together! If we can just get close, he's dead!"
After exchanging glances, they all charged at Lu Yuan.
And to dodge the iron pellets that could come flying at any moment, each of them pulled out all the stops.
Some moved in winding, serpentine patterns; others leaped about like monkeys. One even rolled straight to the corpse, snatched it up, and used it as a shield.
They were all Dark Force martial artists, and with their survival instincts kicking in, they were fighting well beyond their usual limits.
They dodged the several iron pellets that came flying one after another, and soon they were all right in front of Lu Yuan.
"Kid, from three paces away, we might have feared your iron pellets. But now we're within three paces. You're the one who's going to die!"
Without the slightest hesitation, they all launched their killing moves at Lu Yuan.
"If you want to know who's going to die, ask my blade!"
Lu Yuan merely smiled, then swung the long saber in his hand.
Wind-Splitting Slash! Wind-Cutting Slash! Wind-Chasing Slash!
In Lu Yuan's hands, these three moves of the Wind-Breaking Saber Technique flowed with effortless ease, fast as a gale.
Most terrifying of all, the inch-long white blade gleam was nearly unstoppable, cutting through every defense the men had with ease.
As blades flashed and sword-light bloomed, the men's vision blurred.
Then agony struck. They lost all strength in an instant and dropped dead on the spot.
"Brother Tiger... the Transforming Force... come back... you... die..."
Only one of them managed to rasp out a sentence with the last of his strength before he died.
"So one fish slipped through the net after all!"
Lu Yuan furrowed his brow. He had even let the biggest fish get away.
The Brother Tiger that man had mentioned was most likely Liu Hu, the Black Tiger Gang's leader.
It seemed he had to break through to the Transforming Force stage as soon as possible!
Without delay, Lu Yuan first searched the men and took all their banknotes, loose silver, and other valuables.
He even dug out all the iron pellets lodged in their foreheads.
He wasn't doing it to salvage them for reuse. The main reason was to eliminate the evidence.
Then Lu Yuan searched the entire courtyard, taking every valuable thing he could carry. At last, with a large bundle on his back, he quietly disappeared into the depths of the night.
Once home, Lu Yuan immediately burned the black clothes and trousers, the black cloth mask he'd worn over his face, and the oversized shoes.
Even so, there was no guarantee he'd covered every trace, but it should buy him more time.
"As long as I break through to the Transforming Force stage before Liu Hu returns, I'll be able to deal with him easily!"
Lu Yuan took a deep breath, then began counting up the night's spoils.
The loose silver alone came to more than thirty taels. Including the banknotes, the total exceeded two hundred taels.
Once he found a suitable chance to sell the jewelry and other valuables on the black market, he estimated he could make another two or three hundred taels.
That should be enough to afford a big helping of meat and a bowl of medicinal soup every day until the martial arts exam.
Lu Yuan couldn't help thinking again that killing and arson really were the fastest path to wealth.
And that was only one Black Tiger Gang. If there were a few more—or if he went after the two real major gangs...
But Lu Yuan quickly put the thought aside. He wouldn't have gone after the Black Tiger Gang unless he'd had no other choice.
Who knew whether there were any tough opponents backing the Black Tiger Gang? Even Liu Hu, a Transforming Force master, wouldn't be easy to handle.
If a few more showed up, he'd be in serious trouble.
The two major gangs that had dominated Qinghe County for years were especially beyond his reach.
They had strength in numbers, and each might have more than one or two Transforming Force masters.
Most importantly, there were surely some extraordinary figures behind them. Better to avoid provoking them whenever possible!
"With more than two hundred taels, I should finally be able to push my training to its limit!"
After a quick wash, Lu Yuan soon fell asleep.
The next morning.
"Have you heard? Someone wiped out the Black Tiger Gang!"
"How could anyone not have heard about something this big? Apparently, aside from their leader, Liu Hu, there wasn't a single survivor. Whoever did it was ruthless and decisive—terrifying!"
"Then can you guess who did it?"
Lu Yuan had only just arrived at the back courtyard of Guangchun Hall when he heard everyone discussing the Black Tiger Gang's destruction.
"No need to guess. The Iron Palm Gang just announced that they were the ones who wiped them out!"
Zhang Feng spoke up just then.
"I didn't know this newly risen Iron Palm Gang was so powerful. They wiped out the Black Tiger Gang in less than a month. Could they really become Qinghe County's third-largest gang?"
"Impossible. Would the Axe Gang and the Giant Kun Gang really let the Iron Palm Gang grow unchecked?"
Hearing their talk, a faint glint appeared in Lu Yuan's eyes.
He hadn't expected the Iron Palm Gang to willingly step forward and take the blame for him.
Whatever their reason, it was no bad thing for him.
At the very least, it bought him enough time to build and temper his qi and blood before attempting the breakthrough to the Transforming Force stage.
With enough money to support him, Lu Yuan now managed to have meat and a serving of Blood-Nourishing Soup or Qi-Replenishing Soup almost every day.
As a result, he was able to practice the Five-Animal Fist three times a day.
His proficiency still hadn't changed at all, but the limit of the qi and blood within him kept rising.
In just a few days, the qi and blood in Lu Yuan's body had doubled.
At this rate, it would take no more than half a month for him to undergo his third qi-and-blood tempering.
During that time, he had also trained the Finger-Flicking Technique to Grand Perfection.
At a hundred paces, he never missed.
Both its speed and its killing power had improved considerably.
Now, he could probably kill even an ordinary Dark Force martial artist with a casual flick of his finger.
But Lu Yuan had just realized that, aside from continuing to build and temper his qi and blood, he seemed to have nothing else left to train.
There was no helping it. He was advancing too quickly.
He could learn any martial art in a single try, then grow stronger simply by grinding away at his proficiency. Unlike Zhang Feng and the others, he wasn't held back by bottlenecks.
Ever since he'd first taken up martial arts, his progress had been astonishingly swift.
In just one month, he had not only completed two rounds of qi-and-blood tempering but had also brought three martial arts to perfection.
"Maybe it's time to check out the black market!"
Lu Yuan's gaze shifted.
He needed to dispose of the valuables he'd brought back from the Black Tiger Gang as soon as possible. While he was at it, he could see if there was a chance to get his hands on some new martial arts techniques.
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