The Assassin Slips In

The waterfall ceased its flow in the span of a few breaths.

Li Pingsheng emerged from the deep pool, a burst of steam rising from his body as his internal energy dried his clothes instantly.

The power of his new move, Thunderclap Explosion, was even greater than he had imagined, though the cost was steep; a single punch drained thirty percent of his blood energy.

And this was only the beginning of the integration.

He mused that if he could complete the Thunderbolt Fist, its power would be even more formidable.

Suddenly, he felt famished.

High-intensity cultivation and the activation of his Blood Strengthening talent consumed a massive amount of his body's resources.

Master Scar's silver had been spent on Blood Coagulation Paste and Monster Beef Jerky, leaving little behind; he needed to acquire more cultivation resources.

Instead of returning to the martial arts hall, Li Pingsheng turned into an alley in the Inner City and entered a black market grocery store.

Li Pingsheng went straight to the stall selling monster flesh.

"Boss, give me half a catty of Blood Coagulation Tiger jerky."

The stall owner, a one-eyed man, glanced at him before weighing and packing the meat.

As he paid, a few burly men who looked like mercenaries were chatting at the table next to them.

"Have you heard? The Black Water Gang has issued a Black Water Order!"

"What could possibly require a Black Water Order?"

"Master Scar and Master Qin took over a dozen men and all of them were wiped out in the Outer City! Their corpses were even gnawed on by wild dogs."

A man with a scarred face lowered his voice:

"I heard the leader of the Black Water Gang inspected the bodies himself; it didn't look like the work of a monster. There's a five-hundred-tael bounty now for any leads on the killer!"

Five hundred taels??

The people around them were stunned into silence.

That amount was enough for an ordinary family to buy a small courtyard in the Inner City.

Li Pingsheng's hand, holding the jerky, didn't falter for a second.

He tucked the oil-paper parcel into his chest, turned, and walked away, quickly disappearing into the crowd.

The Black Water Gang was reacting faster than he had anticipated.

The Black Water Gang headquarters, an underground stone chamber.

Several corpses covered in white sheets lay on the ground, emitting a foul, rotting stench.

The gang leader was a middle-aged man so thin he looked skeletal, his eye sockets deeply sunken, as he crouched beside a pile of bones.

The stone chamber was deathly quiet.

Several branch leaders stood around, not daring to make a sound.

The leader extended two gaunt fingers and picked up a piece of shattered rib.

There were dog tooth marks on the bone, along with one clean, smooth fracture.

"A monster's teeth only tear, leaving behind messy bite marks and jagged edges."

"But look at this."

He held the bone up for everyone to see. "This fracture is smooth, shattered in an instant by a massive force. This was not done by a beast."

He dropped the bone and walked over to Master Qin's corpse.

"Here, the neck bones are also shattered into dust. Master Scar's heart was pierced by a surge of force, his internal organs pulverized."

"This was the work of a martial artist, a master of fist techniques whose strength far exceeds that of Master Scar."

"Someone killed our men on our turf and tried to frame it as a monster attack, treating us like fools."

A branch leader spoke up hesitantly: "Leader, in the Outer City recently... we haven't heard of any such expert."

"Then go find him!"

The Black Water Gang leader flicked his sleeve. "Send out all our scouts! Investigate every martial artist in the Outer City from the last month. Anyone acting even slightly suspicious, keep a close eye on them!"

"To be able to take out Master Scar in one blow, this level of strength couldn't have just appeared out of thin air! Even if you have to turn the earth upside down, you will drag this person out for me!"

"Yes!"

Zhao Family Estate.

A blue-and-white porcelain vase smashed against the floor, shattering into several pieces.

Zhao Ming's eyes were bloodshot, his chest heaving as he smashed everything in the room that he could reach.

The servants huddled outside the door, not daring to approach.

He could not forget that punch from Li Pingsheng at the examination, nor could he forget those four words: "Initial Mastery of Fist Intent."

That was the realm he pursued, the pride of a direct descendant of the Zhao family.

Now, that pride had been snatched away by a "peasant."

"You bastard! What kind of madness is this!"

Zhao Ming's father, a stern-faced middle-aged man, walked in with several family elders.

Seeing the shards covering the floor, the father's face turned black.

"Father..."

"Shut up!"

The father slapped him across the face.

"You can't beat someone, so you come here to throw a tantrum? You've shamed the entire Zhao family!"

Zhao Ming clutched his face, staring at his father.

He had expected a few words of comfort, not a barrage of insults.

One elder shook his head:

"Ming'er, it's not that we want to lecture you. That Li Pingsheng comes from a poor family with no resources, yet he was able to grasp Fist Intent so quickly."

"And you? You've had an endless supply of medicinal pills since childhood and were taught by famous masters, yet you still let him get the upper hand."

"Where are we supposed to put our faces?"

"From now on at the Azure Cloud Martial Hall, it seems all our Zhao family disciples will be overshadowed by him."

These words made Zhao Ming realize that as long as Li Pingsheng existed, he, Zhao Ming, would remain a joke.

A thought emerged.

The rules in the martial hall were strict; one could not resort to violence.

But outside the martial hall... that was a different story.

Zhao Ming thought of the Black Water Gang.

The night was deep.

In an underground teahouse in the Inner City.

Zhao Ming had changed his clothes and donned a bamboo hat, sitting in the shadows of a private room.

Before long, the door pushed open and a lean man entered; he was a trusted aide to the leader of the Black Water Gang.

"Young Master Zhao, a rare guest."

The man sat down with an expressionless face.

Zhao Ming pushed a money pouch across the table.

"Five hundred taels as a deposit. Another thousand after the deed is done."

The lean man weighed the pouch, his eyes gleaming, though he quickly composed himself.

"What kind of business is worth so much money to Young Master Zhao?"

Zhao Ming lowered his voice: "I want someone crippled! Before the grand exam, make it so he can never practice martial arts again!"

"Who?"

"Azure Cloud Martial Hall, Li Pingsheng."

Hearing that name, the lean man paused, then chuckled:

"Young Master Zhao, that's not easy to handle."

"He is from the Azure Cloud Martial Hall, and that Pei Guang seems to value him quite a bit. If we touch him, we'll have a lot of trouble."

"That's why I came to you."

Zhao Ming said, "Your Black Water Gang specializes in such 'troublesome' matters."

Seeing the other man hesitate, he added another line.

"Don't play dumb. Didn't your Master Scar and Master Qin get into trouble precisely because of him?"

"I heard that Li Pingsheng's strength has been rising rapidly lately, and he took out over a dozen of your men by himself. Isn't your gang leader looking for the culprit?"

"I give you the target, you do the job for me. It's a fair trade."

The smile vanished from the lean man's face as he stared intensely at Zhao Ming.

Zhao Ming's lead was too crucial.

Li Pingsheng.

From the Outer City, strength rising rapidly, had a grudge with Master Scar.

All the clues matched up.

"Very well, we accept this deal."

The lean man grabbed the money bag and left; he had to relay this news to the gang leader immediately.

Half an hour later, at the Black Water Gang headquarters.

"Li Pingsheng..."

The gang leader tapped his fingers rhythmically against the table after hearing the report.

"A newly initiated disciple with such strength? And he even grasped Fist Intent? Interesting."

"Regardless of whether he killed Master Scar or not, once someone like this offends us, we cannot let him grow. Better to kill the wrong person than to let one slip through."

He looked into the shadows behind him.

"Ghost One, Ghost Two."

Two shadows appeared before him, dropping to one knee.

There was not a ripple of aura coming from their bodies.

These were the death warriors of the Black Water Gang, specifically tasked with dirty work.

"Tonight, sneak into the Azure Cloud Martial Hall and pay a visit to that genius Li."

"Even if it is a martial hall, we won't give them any face this time!"

"Leave no survivors, and keep your hands clean."

"Yes!"

The two shadows acknowledged the order, stepped back, and vanished.

The night grew deeper.

Dark clouds obscured the moon, and Qingyun County was deathly quiet.

Two shadows vaulted over the high walls of the martial hall, evading the patrolling disciples.

They moved with great speed, landing without a sound, and were clearly familiar with the layout of the martial hall, having scouted the location in advance.

The pair crossed the training grounds and bypassed the instructors' quarters, creeping toward the secluded courtyard of the inner-sect disciples deep within the compound.

Their target was Li Pingsheng.

The two stopped outside Li Pingsheng's small courtyard...