Hou Chun of the Black Mountain Gang

A few days later, a piece of news spread like wildfire through the city.

Hundreds of miles beyond the city, three Red Spider Matriarchs had gathered at Hanging Cliff Mountain. No one knew when they had appeared. Each was a centuries-old beast, with skin as tough as leather and flesh as thick as a demon from hell. Their combat strength was actually on par with a Martial Master!

Martial Master realm!

Martial artists had to cross three barriers: Bright Force, Dark Force, and Transformation Force. Above that came the Martialist ranks—first, second, and third step—and only then the Martial Master realm!

Every bottleneck, every breakthrough, held back more than half of all martial artists. Of those who surpassed layer upon layer of bodily limits to reach this point, fewer than one in ten thousand remained.

A Martial Master–realm Exotic Beast was even more powerful. Forget towering heavy cavalry in full armor—even the giant crossbows defending the city could do little more than scratch it.

These were no longer Exotic Beasts. They might as well have been monsters made of steel!

But that wasn't even the worst of it. The Red Spider Matriarchs had an extraordinarily high reproductive capacity. They could mate more than ten times a day, laying hundreds of eggs that hatched into male Red Spiders.

If they were left to multiply unchecked, their numbers would surge like a monstrous tidal wave. Under their ravages, how could a single soul in Black Lion City survive?

This was an uncontrollable calamity!

Just as expected, at noon, a government proclamation sent the city into an uproar!

The gist was simple: disaster was upon them, and every able-bodied man must serve!

Each household was to keep one adult male. All other able-bodied men would be conscripted into the army to hunt down the Matriarchs! It was a fight to the death!

Anyone who refused would be executed in the street!

It was the rainy season, and the Matriarchs were still in their vulnerable breeding period. This was the perfect chance to kill them.

The government knew better than anyone how urgent the situation was. It moved swiftly, organizing the conscription that very day!

At the Shen Family home, Chen Han sat with the whole family. Not a word was spoken. The atmosphere was so heavy it was hard to breathe.

Chen Han's lips were pressed tight, his gaze solemn. No one could tell what was going through his mind.

At last, Shen Wuren spoke. "Xiao Chen, I'm leaving the family in your hands. There's not much more I can say.

"If I come back from this, you'll have twenty taels of silver. If I don't... fifty taels."

Shen Wuren seemed to have aged ten years overnight. More white hairs showed at his temples. His gaze was heavy and still; the spirited man he had once been was nowhere to be seen. The Shen boy who had grown stronger with every training session and never backed down from a fight had grown old.

Now he was simply an aging man, fretting over his descendants and wringing out the last of his worth for their sake.

"Father!"

Shen Wan'er, Shen Yue, and Lu were already sobbing uncontrollably, struggling to catch their breath.

Today might be their last farewell.

Chen Han said nothing. He certainly wasn't going to refuse.

Now he was the pillar of the family. As long as he stayed standing, they could all go on living.

Before leaving, Shen Wuren asked Chen Han to stay behind. There was a pleading look in his eyes. "Xiao Chen, I was wrong about you before. I gave you plenty of grief. Let me apologize... Wan'er is frail, and Yue'er is still so young..."

Chen Han knew what he meant. In troubled times, it was hardly uncommon for someone to abandon his family in pursuit of his own gain.

Shen Wuren was clearly worried that Chen Han might do the same.

"Father, you don't need to say any of that. I, Chen Han, am not that kind of person."

Chen Han cut him off. "Rest assured. If I have even a bite to eat, I won't let them go hungry."

Shen Wuren froze for a moment, then broke into a smile. "Good, good. Xiao Chen, you stay well. All of you, stay well..."

Shen Wuren left. The three women tearfully said goodbye, hoping they might meet again someday. Chen Han remained silent, lips pressed together, watching the slightly stooped figure disappear down the street. Complicated feelings welled up in his heart.

He rarely spoke. When his mood was complicated or low, he said nothing at all.

Everything was in his eyes. He needed no words; his gaze said more than a thousand. That was the greatest reassurance Shen Wuren could have as he went off to war.

Half a month slipped by in a flash.

Chen Han and Shen Wan'er kept up their grueling daily work. Yet they were still able to eat their fill, making them the envy of the neighbors.

They had Shen Wuren's early efforts to thank for that.

Brother Wang, who lived across the street, had been unable to scrape together a meal for several days. All he could do was fill his stomach with rice bran.

A few days earlier, he had sold his daughter to a wealthy household as a maid. He'd gotten five dou of rice for her; at least she wouldn't starve alongside them.

His wife often lingered in the nearby alleys, deliberately baring her cleavage and casting coy glances at passersby. She hadn't even spared Chen Han, her neighbor.

Word was, for a dozen or so copper coins, a man could go inside and have his way with her.

Business in the inner city had also taken an unprecedented hit, but it had yet to collapse completely as it had in the outer city.

For most people, the Red Spider calamity was a matter of life and death. Only a handful of powerful nobles, with martial artists of high realms at their command, could lead armed bands through the wilderness and flee to other cities.

The Black Mountain Gang, on the other hand, had secretly sent quite a few Martial Artists and Martialists to join the army's campaign against the Red Spiders.

They and Black Lion City were bound together like lips and teeth. If Black Lion City fell, they could flee to another city just like the high officials and nobles.

But they could never make a comeback there. If they tried to return to their old line of work, the local government forces and gangs would join hands to crush them.

They wouldn't leave Black Lion City unless they had no choice.

Nearby cities and even the imperial capital of the Xu Kingdom had sent plenty of troops to reinforce them. Heavy cavalry on black horses stood tall in their armor, forming a hundred-man phalanx in front of Black Lion City's gates. The sight had deeply shaken Chen Han, who had gone to watch the commotion.

The outer city, meanwhile, had fallen into utter chaos. After learning of the Red Spider calamity, some commoners who lacked the strength to cross the wilderness had begun robbing, raping, and even murdering people in the streets!

If the inner-city residents hadn't patrolled from time to time, the entire outer city might have become a wasteland of the dead.

[Taiji Health Cultivation Technique (Proficient): 90/500]

That evening, after finishing the last piece of Exotic Beast meat, Chen Han tried practicing his martial arts again. His progress bar finally stopped at ninety.

On average, a pound of meat gave him thirty proficiency points.

But the meat was gone. Without it, he couldn't train, and his muscles and bones would stop rebuilding.

Chen Han had thought the meat would be enough for his muscles and bones to rebuild. He hadn't expected this stage to consume so much vitality. A fist-sized piece of meat was often enough for only two hours of practicing the Taiji Health Cultivation Technique.

That was several times more than he'd needed back when he was at the Chen Family home.

"Silver... What a headache."

Chen Han thought it over, but even after a long while, he couldn't come up with a good way to earn money.

Then again, he'd been short on silver for ages. If there had been an easy way to earn it, he would have thought of it long ago. The last time he'd had two hundred taels of silver in his pocket was when he'd killed someone for Master Bear and lost an arm in the process.

It really was true: a man needed unexpected riches to get ahead.

"Maybe I should go kill another Black Mountain Gang underling?"

The moment the thought surfaced, Chen Han stamped it out. He'd lost an arm just managing to kill Master Bear, a Mingjin Martial Artist. If he was unlucky enough to run into a Dark Force expert, he'd be dead for sure.

The Taiji Health Cultivation Technique had indeed brought tremendous changes to his body. His meridians and bones were approaching the condition of a normal person.

But it wasn't enough. Not nearly enough. He hadn't even regained a tenth of his condition before he was injured.

Without a sneak attack, he couldn't even beat a Mingjin Martial Artist.

Knock, knock, knock~

A sudden pounding at the door made Chen Han's heart clench.

The outer city was in chaos. He'd seen people hacking others down in the street and snatching women by force. His family didn't even dare step outside.

"Chen boy, time to pay your dues."

The Black Mountain Gang!

Chen Han opened the door, and sure enough, a rough-looking man stood outside.

His features were sharply defined, with prominent cheekbones and a reddish sheen on his lips, as if he wore rouge. He toyed with a flower-patterned fan in his hand, and his every gesture had the air of a dainty young lady. Just looking at him made people uncomfortable.

His name was Hou Chun. He had been sent from Black Mountain Town to take over Master Bear's position as the new boss of this district. He wasn't as vicious as Master Bear, but he was still a ruthless character.

He was no less skilled than Master Bear at squeezing every last drop out of people.

With the city in such a state, he was even more relentless, driving people right to the brink of death.

"Marquis, heh heh, didn't I pay just a few days ago? You've got a lot on your plate, so you might have forgotten."

Chen Han smiled sheepishly.

A few days earlier, Hou Chun had brought a group of men to collect silver. Ten whole taels! If Chen Han didn't pay, they'd ransack his home.

Left with no choice, Chen Han had nearly emptied his savings just to scrape together the money.

Hou Chun was clearly tailoring his demands to each household. He took a few hundred copper coins from poor families, while he calculated a much larger sum from someone like Chen Han, who was better off than most.

He wanted to drain Chen Han's savings dry!

Besides, Shen Wuren had gone off to war. The family's pillar of support for decades had left just like that, and their silver was naturally dwindling.

These past few days, Chen Han hadn't even been able to practice martial arts. Even the white flour they ate had been replaced with hard-to-swallow bean rice.

After a few meals, Xiao Mei's throat had grown hoarse. Chen Han saw it all and felt a pang in his heart.

At that moment, Marquis ignored him and walked past Chen Han into the courtyard. A large group of burly men followed. Among them was another Mingjin Martial Artist!

Marquis looked around, assessing the household's means as he considered how to wring it dry.

Most of the city's soldiers and martial artists had gone to fight the Red Spiders. The Black Mountain Gang had sent off quite a few men too. For now, the city was divided among three powers.

First came the martial arts schools led by the martial-arts family, the Chen Family; then the powerful inner-city nobles who controlled martial resources; and finally, the Black Mountain Gang.

So even though they were short on silver, they didn't dare go too far. At the very least, they couldn't openly rob people in the street like those commoners.

"Oh?"

Just then, Shen Yue caught his eye.

"This little girl is quite a pretty thing."

He sauntered up to her and looked her over. Shen Yue, frightened, ran behind Chen Han.

Hou Chun suddenly smiled and murmured, "These are troubled times. An Exotic Beast could get into the city any day now. Why not let this little girl become my concubine? I'll keep her safe and make sure she has food and drink."

"Fifty taels of silver. How about it?"