Sudden Wealth, Escaped Fish

"An expert!"

Seeing this scene, the drunkenness of the others vanished in an instant.

The looks they cast toward Lu Yuan were filled with sheer terror.

The person before them was at most sixteen years old, yet not only was he already at the Dark Energy realm, but he also seemed to have mastered an incredibly formidable hidden weapon technique.

It was not only steady, accurate, and ruthless, but the speed was so great that even they, fellow Dark Energy practitioners, found it impossible to dodge.

Escape was clearly no longer an option.

A desperate fight to the death might be their only chance at survival!

"Attack together! As long as we can get close, he's a dead man!"

After exchanging glances, the men lunged at Lu Yuan in unison.

To avoid the iron pellets that could strike at any moment, they each displayed their own unique maneuvers.

Some moved in serpentine patterns, others leaped and bounded like monkeys, and one even rolled directly to the corpse on the ground, grabbing it to use as a shield.

They were all Dark Energy martial artists, and under the instinct of survival, they performed better than they ever had before.

Not only did they evade the subsequent iron pellets, but they also quickly reached Lu Yuan.

"Kid, beyond three paces, we might have feared your iron pellets, but now that we are within three paces, you are the one who will die!"

Without a moment's hesitation, the men launched their killing blows at Lu Yuan simultaneously.

"As for who will die, just ask my blade!"

Lu Yuan offered a faint smile, then swung the long blade in his hand.

Wind-Slaying! Wind-Intercepting! Wind-Chasing!

These three moves of the Wind-Breaking Blade Technique were wielded with effortless grace in Lu Yuan's hands, moving faster than a gale.

Most terrifying of all was the inch-long white blade aura; it was virtually indestructible and unstoppable, easily shattering all of their defenses.

As the blade danced and the aura bloomed, the men felt a blur before their eyes.

Then, a sharp pain struck, and they instantly lost all strength, collapsing dead on the spot.

"Brother Hu... Transformation Energy... return... you... die..."

Only one man, before drawing his final breath, used his last ounce of strength to roar out these words.

"To think there was a fish that slipped through the net!"

Lu Yuan frowned; he had missed the biggest fish of all.

The "Brother Hu" the man spoke of must be Liu Hu, the leader of the Black Tiger Gang.

It seemed he had to break through to the Transformation Energy realm even faster!

Without delay, Lu Yuan first stripped the men of their silver banknotes, loose silver, and anything else of value.

He even pried out all the iron pellets embedded in their foreheads.

He did this not to reuse them, but primarily to eliminate any clues.

Lu Yuan then searched the entire courtyard, taking anything valuable he could carry. Finally, carrying a large bundle, he quietly vanished into the depths of the night.

After returning home, Lu Yuan burned his black clothes, trousers, the black face mask, and the oversized shoes.

Although this could not guarantee absolute safety, it should buy him more time.

"As long as I can break through to the Transformation Energy realm before that Liu Hu returns, I can handle him with ease!"

Lu Yuan took a deep breath and began to tally his gains from the night.

The loose silver alone exceeded thirty taels, and if the banknotes were included, the total was over two hundred taels.

Once he found a suitable opportunity to sell the jewelry and other valuables at the black market, he estimated he could get another two or three hundred taels.

This money should be enough to support his daily intake of meat and medicinal soups until the martial arts examination.

This made Lu Yuan sigh once more; killing and looting was indeed the fastest way to get rich.

There was only one Black Tiger Gang for now, but if there were a few more, or if he targeted those two truly massive gangs...

Lu Yuan quickly dismissed the thought. Unless absolutely necessary, he would not easily provoke the Black Tiger Gang.

Not to mention whether there were more formidable figures behind the Black Tiger Gang, even a single Transformation Energy expert like Liu Hu would not be easy to deal with.

If a few more appeared, he would truly be in deep trouble.

Especially those two major gangs that had dominated Qinghe County for years; they were not people he could provoke at will.

They were not only numerous, but they likely possessed more than one or two Transformation Energy experts.

Most importantly, there were surely powerful figures behind them; he would do well to avoid them if he could!

"With these two hundred-plus taels, my cultivation progress should finally be able to reach its peak!"

After a simple wash, Lu Yuan quickly drifted off into a deep sleep.

The next morning, at dawn.

"Have you heard? The Black Tiger Gang has been wiped out!"

"How could I not have heard of such a massive event? It seems that apart from their leader Liu Hu, not a single soul survived. The perpetrator was ruthless and decisive—it's terrifying!"

"Can you guess who was behind it?"

Lu Yuan had only just arrived at the backyard of Guangchun Hall when he heard the crowd discussing the destruction of the Black Tiger Gang.

"No need to guess. The Iron Palm Gang just sent word that they were the ones who wiped out the Black Tiger Gang!"

At this moment, Zhang Feng spoke up directly.

"I never expected this newly risen Iron Palm Gang to be so formidable. In less than a month, they've already destroyed the Black Tiger Gang. Do you think they'll really become the third-largest gang in Qinghe County?"

"Impossible. Do you think the Axe Gang and the Jukun Gang would just sit back and let the Iron Palm Gang grow?"

Hearing these discussions, a flicker of surprise appeared in Lu Yuan's eyes.

He hadn't expected the Iron Palm Gang to be so willing to step forward and take the blame for him.

However, regardless of their reasons for doing so, it was not a bad thing for him.

At the very least, it would give him enough time to nourish and temper his blood-qi before attempting to break through to the Hua Jin level.

With sufficient silver to support him, Lu Yuan ensured that he had plenty of meat, Essence-Replenishing Soup, and Qi-Replenishing Soup every single day.

As a result, he was able to maintain a schedule of practicing the Five Animals Fist three times a day.

Although his proficiency level remained unchanged, the limits of the blood-qi within his body were growing day by day.

In just a few days, the blood-qi inside Lu Yuan's body had more than doubled.

At this rate, he would likely be able to undergo his third blood-qi body tempering in half a month at most.

During this period, he had also cultivated the Flick Finger Technique to the Great Perfection stage.

It could be said that he never missed a target from a hundred paces away.

Both its speed and lethality were significantly stronger than before.

He estimated that he could now easily kill even an average practitioner of Dark Jin with a single flick of his finger.

Yet, Lu Yuan realized that aside from continuing to nourish and temper his blood-qi, he seemed to have no more techniques to practice.

There was no helping it; his cultivation progress was simply too fast.

Not only could he learn any technique on the first try, but he only needed to grind for proficiency to improve faster and faster, without ever facing the bottlenecks that plagued people like Zhang Feng.

From the moment he first touched the path of martial arts, his progress had been nothing short of a thousand miles a day.

In just one short month, he had not only successfully undergone two blood-qi body temperings but had also cultivated three different techniques to perfection.

"Perhaps it is time to visit the black market."

Lu Yuan's gaze shifted slightly.

He needed to dispose of the loot he had brought back from the Black Tiger Gang at the black market as soon as possible, and he could take the opportunity to see if there was any chance of acquiring new techniques.