Killing and Arson: A Golden Belt

Li Pingsheng did not panic, pushing his Breath Concealment Art to its absolute limit.

He forcibly suppressed his heartbeat, his breathing becoming long and faint as he hid in the shadows of the corner.

The green-eyed man in black gripped his soft sword, preparing to thrust into that patch of shadow.

Outside the treasury, dense footsteps suddenly approached.

Another team of seven or eight men in night-traveling clothes walked in from outside the treasury.

They held cocked military repeating crossbows, the arrowheads coated in poison.

Leading them was Zhao Wu, the head of the Zhao family's death squads.

He asked, "Is it clean outside?"

A death squad member replied, "Yes, boss. We took care of everyone; not a single survivor was left."

Another person asked, "Boss, what about the goods? The gang leader is waiting for us to empty out the Black Water Gang's foundation and cut off their retreat!"

Hiding in the dark, Li Pingsheng pieced everything together.

It was Zhao Zhentian's men.

Taking advantage of the fact that the main force of the Black Water Gang was out, they had sent death squads to wipe out the treasury.

A cunning scheme.

Unfortunately, they were one step too late.

The wooden shelves were empty, and on the floor lay a heavy steel lock with its core destroyed.

The expressions of Zhao Wu and the death squad members turned ugly.

One death squad member spat, "Bah! Damn it! To think someone arrived before us? They beat us to the punch!"

Zhao Wu's expression was grim.

He turned his head, his eyes fixed on the shadow where Li Pingsheng was hiding, and said, "Who is it? Get out here right now!"

A vicious plan to turn the tables formed in his mind.

Li Pingsheng knew clearly that the lightning-attribute cultivation technique he was famous for must never be exposed.

He suppressed the masculine blood energy within his body, sinking his power into his limbs and using the Tiger Bone talent to stimulate his physical strength.

He had to forge the illusion of the Black Water Gang's unique internal force on the corpses of these Zhao family death squad members.

Zhao Wu said, "Don't think I didn't sense you, you rat hiding your head and showing your tail!"

He stopped probing and thrust his soft sword toward the shadow.

Li Pingsheng activated his Wind Treading talent to the fullest.

Ignoring the incoming sword, he emerged from the shadows and closed in on the nearest death squad member holding a repeating crossbow.

That death squad member's finger had just hooked onto the trigger.

A step too late.

Li Pingsheng didn't say a word, landing a straight punch on the death squad member's chest.

The man's chest cavity collapsed; he didn't even have time to scream before he slumped to the ground, dead.

A single punch, a single life.

This instant was their death knell.

Li Pingsheng moved through the treasury, every strike lethal.

Sometimes he crushed a man's throat bone with his hand; other times he pierced another's temple with his fingers.

These elite death squad members raised by the Zhao family were fragile before Li Pingsheng, who had activated his Tiger Bone talent.

"What kind of monster is this? Are you even human?"

Zhao Wu watched as his death squad team was wiped out.

He swung his soft sword, trying to intercept Li Pingsheng.

But his blade landed on Li Pingsheng, unable to even tear his clothes.

Li Pingsheng didn't dodge, letting the blade strike him, feeling only a slight itch.

He stepped forward and backhanded him across the face.

The soft sword in Zhao Wu's hand snapped.

Immediately following, the slap connected with his face.

Zhao Wu flew backward, slammed into the distant wall, rolled onto the ground, and spat out blood mixed with shattered teeth.

Li Pingsheng stepped forward to look at him but did not deliver the killing blow immediately.

He spoke, "Zhao Zhentian... does he really think this old man is dead?"

"How dare he send you lot of trash to touch the foundation of my Black Water Gang!"

The Black Water Gang... they actually have such an old monster guarding them?!

Li Pingsheng coughed violently twice, forcing a trace of blood to his lips with his vital energy to feign the appearance of a spent force.

This display gave Zhao Wu a glimmer of hope.

This old monster seems to be severely injured as well!

As long as I can escape and bring this news back to the gang leader!

Zhao Wu bit the tip of his tongue, activated the Blood Escape secret technique, and lunged toward the treasury gate.

Li Pingsheng said, "Still trying to leave?!"

He then threw a punch behind him.

The wind from the fist grazed Zhao Wu's back, the force causing him to spew blood again, but he used that momentum to flee the estate even faster.

Watching the disappearing figure, Li Pingsheng straightened up, the blood at the corner of his mouth gone.

Performance over.

Half an hour later, Zhao Family Estate, study.

Zhao Wu collapsed at the feet of Zhao Zhentian, relaying the news—"The Black Water Gang headquarters is guarded by a mysterious old consultant, the treasury was an empty-city ruse, and the Zhao family death squads were completely wiped out"—in broken, intermittent gasps.

Once finished, he passed out cold.

"Useless trash!"

Zhao Zhentian kicked Zhao Wu aside and paced back and forth in the study.

An empty-city ruse?

A trap?

He was convinced in his mind that this was a snare set by the Black Water Gang long ago.

They had feigned weakness to lure him into sending men to raid their home, only to wipe them all out in one fell swoop.

What a Black Water Gang!

What deep-seated schemes!

Their ambition was to swallow the Zhao family whole!

The look of ferocity in Zhao Zhentian's eyes grew increasingly intense.

He could wait no longer.

"Someone come!"

He ordered, "Go immediately and invite Mr. Black Robe to come out of seclusion! Tell him the plan is moved forward! I want the Black Water Gang to disappear from this city completely before the Azure Cloud Martial Hall grand examination!"

At the same time, Black Water Gang headquarters.

The leader of the Black Water Gang, having returned empty-handed with his men, looked at the vacant treasury and the corpses littering the floor, each wearing the waist token of a Zhao family death squad, trembling with rage.

"Zhao! Zhen! Tian!"

He roared the name, "You thief calling 'thief'! You stole my goods, killed my men, and now you dump the bodies back here!"

"Pass my order! All halls, all brothers! Prepare to grab your weapons! At any cost, blood-wash every single property of the Zhao family!"

A conflict ignited by Li Pingsheng, sweeping across the entire Inner City, had officially begun.

Meanwhile, the instigator of this storm was already carrying a large bundle, using the chaotic night to slip back into his private courtyard at the Azure Cloud Martial Hall.

He locked the door tight.

Li Pingsheng threw the large bundle onto the floor.

He steadied his breathing and opened the three Black Iron Heavy Chests he had taken from the Black Water Gang treasury.

Inside the chests were neatly stacked dark red jerky and individually sealed jade boxes.

Prime meat of the Tier 2 demonic beast "Red-Scaled Pig"!

Bone marrow of the Tier 3 demonic beast "Iron-Armored Savage Bull"!

These were far superior to any materials he had bought on the black market.

Li Pingsheng did not hesitate; he grabbed a large piece of Red-Scaled Pig jerky and shoved it into his mouth, chewing and swallowing greedily.

The vital energy of the demonic beast dispersed in his stomach, scouring his meridians.

An ordinary martial artist would likely have had their meridians ruptured by such power.

But Li Pingsheng activated his Blood Strengthening talent, and the vital energy within his body enveloped, refined, and absorbed this surge of power.

The total volume of his vital energy was climbing.

After one piece of jerky, he felt a warmth spreading through his body; he wasn't full, but rather, even hungrier.

He opened a jade box and swallowed the paste-like Iron-Armored Savage Bull bone marrow in one gulp.

Vital energy, more than ten times purer than the Red-Scaled Pig jerky, surged through his body.

Li Pingsheng sat cross-legged, circulating his cultivation technique with all his might to refine this power.

Before his eyes, the potential points value on his attribute panel soared at a speed visible to the naked eye.

0.9...

0.95...

1.0!

An overnight fortune!

Logically, these potential points were enough to light up the fourth specialty:

[Mystic Gate—Primary Specialty: Synesthesia]

But Li Pingsheng felt a vague, throbbing pain radiating from the depths of his meridians...