Li Pingsheng didn't panic. He pushed the Breath Concealment Art to its limits.
He forced his heartbeat down, made his breaths long and faint, and hid in the shadows of a corner.
The green-eyed man in black tightened his grip on the flexible sword, ready to stab into the shadows.
Outside the vault, a dense patter of footsteps suddenly drew near.
Another group of seven or eight people in night clothes entered the vault.
They carried loaded military crossbows, their arrowheads coated in poison.
At their head was Zhao Wu, leader of the Zhao Family's death squad.
He asked, "Is everything outside clear?"
One of the death squad members replied, "Yes, boss. We took care of them all. Not a single survivor."
Another asked, "Boss, where's the stuff? The gang leader's waiting for us to empty the Black Water Gang's coffers and cut off their escape route!"
Hidden in the dark, Li Pingsheng put the pieces together.
They were Zhao Zhentian's men.
While the Black Water Gang's main force was away, he'd sent death squad members to raid the vault.
Quite the scheme.
Too bad they were a step too late.
The shelves were empty. On the floor lay a heavy steel lock with its cylinder smashed.
Zhao Wu and the death squad members looked grim.
One of them spat, "Damn it! Someone got here before us? They beat us to it!"
Zhao Wu's expression darkened.
He turned and stared at the shadows where Li Pingsheng was hiding. "Who's there? Come out now!"
A cunning plan to turn the tables took shape in his mind.
Li Pingsheng knew full well that he absolutely couldn't reveal the thunder-based cultivation art that had made his name.
He suppressed the yang energy in his blood, sank his strength into his limbs, and used his Tiger Bone talent to drive his physical strength.
He would fake the Black Water Gang's unique force on the corpses of these Zhao Family death squad members.
Zhao Wu said, "Don't think I can't sense you, you rat hiding in the shadows!"
He stopped probing and thrust his flexible sword toward the shadows.
Li Pingsheng activated his Wind Treading talent to its fullest.
Ignoring the incoming sword, he stepped out of the shadows and closed in on the nearest death squad member, who was holding a crossbow.
The man's finger had just reached the trigger.
Too late.
Without a word, Li Pingsheng drove a straight punch into the man's chest.
The man's rib cage caved in. He didn't even get a scream out before collapsing to the ground, dead.
One punch, one kill.
That moment marked their deaths.
Li Pingsheng moved through the vault, every strike lethal.
Sometimes he crushed a man's throat with his hand. Sometimes he pierced another's temple with a finger.
These elite death squad members, trained by the Zhao Family, were fragile before Li Pingsheng with his Tiger Bone talent activated.
"What the hell are you? You're a monster! Are you even human?"
Zhao Wu watched his death squad get wiped out.
He swung his flexible sword, trying to stop Li Pingsheng.
But when the blade struck Li Pingsheng, it couldn't even cut through his clothes.
Li Pingsheng didn't dodge. He let the blade land on him and felt a little ticklish.
He stepped forward and swung backhanded.
The flexible sword snapped in Zhao Wu's hand.
Then the slap caught him across the face.
Zhao Wu flew backward, crashed into a distant wall, and rolled to the ground, spitting blood mixed with broken teeth.
Li Pingsheng walked up to him, but didn't kill him right away.
He said, "Zhao Zhentian... You really thought this old man was dead?"
"You dare send a pack of vermin to attack the foundations of my Black Water Gang!"
The Black Water Gang... had a mysterious old attendant like this guarding it?!
Li Pingsheng coughed twice, forcing a trace of blood to the corner of his mouth with his blood and qi, making himself look like he was at death's door.
That sight showed Zhao Wu a way out.
The old monster seemed badly wounded too!
If only he could get out and bring the news back to the gang leader!
Zhao Wu bit through the tip of his tongue and used the Blood Escape secret art, darting toward the vault's entrance.
Li Pingsheng said, "You still think you can leave?!"
Then he threw a punch at Zhao Wu's back.
The force of the punch skimmed past Zhao Wu's back. Its power made him spit blood again, but he used the force to flee the estate even faster.
Watching the figure disappear, Li Pingsheng straightened up. The blood at the corner of his mouth was gone.
The act was over.
Half an hour later, at the Zhao Family Estate, in the study.
Zhao Wu collapsed at Zhao Zhentian's feet and stammered out the news: "The Black Water Gang's headquarters is guarded by a mysterious old attendant. The vault was an empty trap. The Zhao Family death squad was wiped out."
After that, he fainted.
"Useless!"
Zhao Zhentian kicked Zhao Wu aside and paced around the study.
An empty-city stratagem?
A trap to lure them in and kill them?
He was convinced this was a snare the Black Water Gang had laid long ago.
They'd deliberately shown weakness, luring him into sending men to raid their home, then wiped them all out.
What a Black Water Gang!
What a deep-laid scheme!
Their ambition was to swallow the Zhao Family whole!
The ruthless gleam in Zhao Zhentian's eyes grew darker.
He couldn't wait any longer.
"Guards!"
He ordered, "Go invite Mr. Black Robe out of seclusion at once! Tell him the plan is moving ahead. Before the Martial Hall Grand Exam, I want the Black Water Gang wiped off the face of this city!"
At the same time, at the Black Water Gang's headquarters.
The Black Water Gang leader had returned empty-handed with his men. Looking at the empty vault and the corpses scattered across the floor, each wearing a Zhao Family death squad token, he trembled with rage.
"Zhao! Zhentian!"
He shouted the name. "You thief! You stole my things, killed my men, and now you've dumped their bodies back here!"
"Pass down my order! Every branch, every brother! Get your weapons ready! At any cost, I want every Zhao Family property drenched in blood!"
A conflict ignited by Li Pingsheng, one that would sweep through the entire Inner City, had begun in earnest.
Meanwhile, the one who'd set this storm in motion had already slung a large bundle over his back and slipped through the night, using the chaos to climb back into his private courtyard at the Azure Cloud Martial Hall.
He locked the door.
Li Pingsheng tossed the bundle onto the floor.
After steadying his breathing, he opened the three Black Iron Heavy Chests he'd taken from the Black Water Gang's vault.
Inside lay neatly stacked dark-red jerky, along with several sealed jade boxes.
The finest meat of a second-tier demonic beast, the Red-Scaled Pig!
The marrow of a third-tier demonic beast, the Iron-Armored Savage Bull!
These materials were far superior to the ones he'd bought at the Black Market.
Without hesitation, Li Pingsheng grabbed a large piece of Red-Scaled Pig jerky and stuffed it into his mouth, chewing and swallowing in great bites.
The demonic beast's blood and qi spread through his belly, washing through his meridians.
An ordinary martial artist would probably have their meridians burst from the force.
But Li Pingsheng activated his Blood Strengthening talent, wrapping the energy in the blood and qi within his body, refining it and absorbing it.
The total amount of blood and qi in his body began to rise.
After swallowing one piece of jerky, he felt warm all over. He wasn't full—in fact, he was even hungrier.
So he opened a jade box and gulped down the pasty Iron-Armored Savage Bull marrow inside.
Blood-and-qi energy over ten times purer than the Red-Scaled Pig jerky surged through his body.
Li Pingsheng sat cross-legged and circulated his cultivation art with all his might, refining the energy.
Before his eyes, the potential points on his attribute panel climbed at a visible rate.
0.9...
0.95...
1.0!
Rich overnight!
By rights, he now had enough potential points to unlock his fourth talent:
[Mystic Gate—Intermediate Talent: Synesthesia]
But he felt a faint, aching pressure deep in his meridians...
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