Killing Intent

In the quiet back hall, the scent of tea curled in the air.

Yan Tieqiao leaned back in his grandmaster chair, clutching a purple clay teapot in his hand. His old eyes, sharp as a falcon's, scanned Lu Zhen up and down for a long time.

It was not until Lu Zhen felt the very air around him grow heavy that Yan Tieqiao slowly withdrew his gaze.

"Not bad. Your bones are solid, your blood is vigorous, and your tendons are like bowstrings."

Yan Tieqiao nodded slightly, his voice devoid of much emotion. "That bloody battle on the river served as an excellent whetstone. To touch the threshold of the late stage of Lianli at thirty—the foundation of your physique is far more solid than I had originally misjudged."

"It is all thanks to Master's wise guidance; this disciple was merely fortunate." Lu Zhen cupped his hands, neither arrogant nor impatient.

"On the path of martial arts, there is no such thing as luck. There is only the true gold that survives the fire, forged between life and death."

Yan Tieqiao took a sip of hot tea, set down the purple clay teapot, and leaned forward slightly, his expression turning solemn.

"Now that you have reached the late stage of Lianli, your vision can no longer be fixed on mere brute force. Let me ask you: do you know what that threshold between the late stage of Lianli and Bright Force truly is?"

Lu Zhen's expression tightened, and he said respectfully, "I ask Master to enlighten me."

"Lianli is the training of skin, flesh, tendons, and bones."

Yan Tieqiao pointed to his own chest and abdomen. "But this is all external strengthening. To truly step into Bright Force, you must achieve 'internal strengthening'! You must permeate your entire body's powerful blood qi into your five viscera and six bowels, making your internal organs as strong as steel, until you can produce the sound of tigers, leopards, and thunder with every breath."

"Only when your internal organs are robust and your blood supply acts like a pump can your blood qi remain long and continuous, eventually condensing into a single 'integrated force' that can be projected through the body. This is called Bright Force!"

At this point, Yan Tieqiao's tone shifted, his gaze locked onto Lu Zhen.

"But strengthening the internal organs is as difficult as ascending to heaven; it is an act of defying fate!"

"For those of us who practice martial arts, thirty is a hurdle. Before thirty, blood qi is at its zenith—the perfect time to permeate the internal organs. Once past thirty, one flourishes and then declines; blood qi gradually goes downhill, and the difficulty of breaking through increases exponentially. By forty, the internal organs begin to age, and all hope of ever reaching Bright Force is completely extinguished."

Yan Tieqiao looked at Lu Zhen and sighed.

"You are exactly thirty this year. You have barely managed to grasp this final sliver of opportunity. Whether you can cross over depends entirely on your fortune and the ruthless determination you show in these next few years."

Lu Zhen felt a chill in his heart.

No wonder thirty was a watershed in the martial arts world; the root of it lay in the waxing and waning of blood qi and internal organs.

"This disciple will keep it in mind."

"Good." Yan Tieqiao leaned back into his grandmaster chair. "Since you are now in the late stage of Lianli, the Iron Arm Martial Arts Hall will naturally not treat you poorly."

"Starting next month, your monthly allowance in the inner courtyard will be raised to twenty silver dollars. The 'Blood Qi Soup' you receive every ten days will be replaced with the higher-grade 'Tiger Bone Strengthening Powder', and you may borrow from the martial arts hall's armory and internal technique manuals at will."

Yan Tieqiao waved his hand.

"Go. While your blood qi has yet to decline, do not let your spirit slacken."

"Many thanks for Master's cultivation!"

Lu Zhen cupped his hands heavily, then turned and exited the back hall.

With a creak, the heavy carved wooden door slowly closed, completely isolating the noise of the front courtyard.

In the quiet back hall, only Yan Tieqiao remained.

He picked up the well-oiled purple clay teapot, but he did not bring it to his lips for a long time, merely staring in the direction where Lu Zhen had left, silent for a long while.

After a long moment, a barely audible sigh echoed through the hall.

"Lame for over a decade... in the end, I have wasted my years."

Yan Tieqiao shook his head, a flash of regret passing through his cloudy old eyes.

If this Lu Zhen had possessed such a terrifying foundation—a late stage of Lianli with the strength of a thousand pounds in a single arm—at the age of twenty, he would have been an unparalleled talent, the likes of which the Iron Arm Martial Arts Hall hadn't seen in a century!

Even if it meant exhausting the hall's entire treasury, he would have pushed Lu Zhen to the realm of Bright Force and passed on his mantle to him.

But unfortunately, there are no "ifs" in this world.

To only just touch the threshold of the late stage at thirty meant his blood qi had already set, and he was about to head downhill.

To attempt "internal strengthening of the viscera" at this time and cross the chasm-like threshold of Bright Force was nothing more than a pipe dream.

Furthermore, although Lu Zhen's four-echo Iron Wire Fist was not bad, it was still a notch below the martial talent of Zhang Lei, whose five-echo technique was already perfected.

On the path of martial arts, one step slow means every step is slow.

"Forget it."

Yan Tieqiao drank the cold tea in one gulp. "The future of the martial arts hall... must ultimately depend on that child, Zhang Lei."

Ocean City Concession.

On the banks of the Huangpu River, a Western-style mansion sat in the heart of the French Concession. The interior was furnished with extreme luxury, yet at this moment, it was permeated with a suffocating, murderous aura.

The report of the failed ambush at Soul-Falling Gorge and the total annihilation of the force had arrived here.

"Bang!"

A precious crystal goblet was crushed into powder by sheer force!

Crimson foreign wine mixed with fresh blood, dripping from a hand as thick as a bear's paw onto the pure wool carpet.

"My son, just like that, finished on the river?!"

The man speaking was immensely burly, his bare upper body covered in crisscrossing scars, the black dragon tattoo writhing across his chest as ferocious as a living creature.

This was the leader of the Black Dragon Water Bandits, River-Turning Flood Dragon Duan Hai!

A violent, brutal aura, exclusive to the [Bright Force Mid-Stage], surged uncontrollably from his body, rippling through the spacious hall like a physical force, forcing the servants nearby to their knees.

Sitting on the sofa opposite him was the current head of the Shen Family, Shen Wanlin.

This business tycoon, a [Bright Force Early-Stage] practitioner, had a face as gloomy as water.

"Chief Duan, calm your anger." Shen Wanlin gripped a string of agarwood prayer beads tightly. "That old fox Gu Wanshan used an empty ship as bait, and the death squads my Shen Family raised were wiped out. This debt, my Shen Family will collect it as well!"

"Collect? I'm going to level the headquarters of his Tongjiang Chamber of Commerce right now!"

Duan Hai's eyes were bloodshot, like a beast ready to devour its prey. "No matter how rich the Gu Family is, they're just merchants! I'm going to gather the brothers from the Black Dragon Water Stronghold this instant and twist off that old scoundrel Gu Wanshan's head to sacrifice to my son's spirit!"

"Step, step, step..."

Just then, heavy, rhythmic footsteps echoed from the spiral staircase on the second floor.

Duan Hai and Shen Wanlin's pupils constricted as they turned to look in unison.

The man approaching wore a crisp Kwantung Army officer's uniform and high-top military boots, his face as cold and sharp as if carved by a knife.

The Chief of the Ocean City Concession Guard Bureau, Fujita Shoichi.

Most striking was his right arm, which had been entirely replaced by metal—a high-grade "Type B" steam-powered Western Battle Gear with a dark gold luster!

The restrained yet abyss-like, terrifying [Bright Force Late-Stage] aura he exuded suppressed Duan Hai's violent energy in the hall. Combined with that battle gear, this man's combat power was unfathomable!

"Level the Gu Family?"

Fujita Shoichi looked down at Duan Hai. "Chief Duan, such grand airs you have."

Duan Hai gritted his teeth, forcing down his rage, and muttered, "Chief Fujita! My son was brutally murdered; if I don't avenge this, how can my Black Dragon Water Stronghold stand on the river!"

"Foolish."

Fujita Shoichi walked slowly down the stairs, his mechanical right arm emitting a soft "click." "The Gu Family are merely grasshoppers after the frost; it's a trivial matter. But now is not the time to move against them."

His gaze swept coldly over the two men as he spat out a few words:

"The 'Grand Plan' ordered by the Kwantung Army headquarters is the top priority. If you ruin the military's affairs because of your personal vendettas..."

Fujita Shoichi didn't finish his sentence, but these words acted like a basin of ice water, drenching Duan Hai and Shen Wanlin from head to toe.

Kwantung Army!

In this city of ten thousand temptations, you might disregard the Constabulary, but you could never defy that war machine equipped with heavy artillery and Western Battle Gear.

Duan Hai's aura instantly retracted, and Shen Wanlin broke out in a cold sweat.

Both men were silent as cicadas in winter, not daring to utter another word.

"The plan continues. Do not move."

Fujita Shoichi walked to the liquor cabinet, poured a cup of sake, downed it in one gulp, and said coldly without looking back, "Once the military's plan is complete and the sky over Ocean City changes, you can crush a mere Gu Family however you like. Do you understand?"

"...Understood." The two men gritted their teeth and bowed their heads in compliance.

Half an hour later.

In a hidden alley outside the mansion, Duan Hai boarded a black Ford sedan.

The moment he closed the door, his face twisted into the likeness of a demon, and he slammed a fist into the leather seat, snapping the steel frame inside!

"Chief, are we really just going to swallow this humiliation?"

Duan Hu, the second-in-command of the Black Dragon Water Bandits sitting in the passenger seat, turned his head. He was also a top-tier thug at the [Bright Force Early-Stage], his eyes filled with resentment and murderous intent.

"Swallow it?"

Duan Hai gave a grim laugh, his eyes flashing with a venomous, serpentine light. "The Japanese say the Gu Family can't be touched for now, so I can endure it."

"But whoever killed my son on that ship at Soul-Falling Gorge must be hunted down and identified!"

"Since I can't kill the main members of the Gu Family yet, I'll start by carving up that piece of trash who did the deed! I'll collect some interest on this blood debt first and let him know what kind of torture awaits those who kill my Black Dragon Water Bandits men!"

"Yes! I'll send men to investigate immediately!" Second-in-command Duan Hu's eyes hardened as he nodded heavily.