Severed Arm

Chen Zhuo turned to leave, but then Sun Fei's voice rang out behind him.

"Use the window."

"Huh?"

Chen Zhuo stopped and turned back. Sun Fei's burly frame was just squeezing through the window.

He never touched the ground. The instant he cleared the window, he used some kind of movement technique to drift lightly onto the roof opposite.

Sun Fei stood on the other roof and waved for Chen Zhuo to follow.

"A movement technique..."

Chen Zhuo glanced at Sun Fei on the opposite roof. After only a moment's hesitation, he climbed out the window.

He planted one foot on the sill and pushed off. Like an arrow loosed from a bow, he soared onto the opposite roof.

After all, he had an Immaculate Body. His skin, muscles, tendons, and bones formed a seamless whole, and his control over his strength had reached the pinnacle.

Even when he landed on the roof, he made no sound.

"Nice footwork."

Sun Fei praised him, then pulled on the black robe he had prepared beforehand. He spread his arms, lightly touched his feet to the roof, and skimmed from rooftop to rooftop like a great bird in flight.

Chen Zhuo ran.

He had no movement techniques, so he could only rely on his fine control over his own strength to run and leap across the rooftops.

Even so, he was no slower. In the blink of an eye, he could clear three or four roofs.

The two of them moved quickly. Less than half a teacup's time after the Signal Arrow was fired, they had reached their destination.

"This place is already in the outer city. Given its location, there shouldn't be such an empty street here."

"Could someone have set this up in advance?"

Sun Fei was sharp-eyed. He noticed something was wrong as soon as they arrived.

Buildings stood on all sides, with only an open space in the middle. The only way out was through a few narrow alleys.

If someone blocked those alleys, the open space in the middle would become an isolated island.

"Be careful in a moment. I'm afraid this isn't so simple."

"I'll scout ahead. If anything seems wrong, run at once."

Even Sun Fei, slow on the uptake as he could be, sensed danger in the scene before him.

Chen Zhuo nodded without a word, looking somewhat dazed.

His attention was almost entirely fixed on the buildings not far away.

One, two, three...

A dense mass of demonic aura suddenly entered his perception.

All of it shared one trait: an overpowering fishy stench.

Chen Zhuo estimated that there were at least a hundred demonfolk hidden in the rooms below.

"Is the Long River Gang planning to rebel?"

Even Chen Zhuo felt his scalp prickle at the sheer number of demonfolk.

He suddenly thought of the residence in the Ghost Market, the women kept there to have their blood drawn, and Huang Tiansheng, who could control demons...

It was clear that the Long River Gang was deliberately raising demonfolk.

Chen Zhuo quietly circulated his True Essence, pushing his perception to its limit.

Amid that dense mass of demonic aura, two auras were especially strong and pure.

One of them was familiar.

"Huang Yuan'er. So he really came..."

"I'll go first... Hm?"

Sun Fei had watched for a while and could no longer hold back. He was about to go down and investigate.

But just as he moved, the door of one of the houses opened. Someone in a black robe was suddenly thrown out. Blood gushed forth at once, staining the open ground crimson.

Three daggers were stuck in the black-robed man's back. His arms and legs were bent at grotesque angles as he lay motionless in the pool of blood.

"Yangzi."

Sun Fei growled and leaped down beside the body.

At a glance, he recognized the dead man in black as the coachman he had sent into the gambling house earlier.

Seeing the coachman who had been by his side since childhood die such a horrible death, Sun Fei was overcome with grief and rage.

He said nothing more. He only raised his head, murderous intent filling his brow, and scanned every house around them.

"Come out!"

Sun Fei's furious roar echoed again and again across the empty space.

But no one answered.

Only the shrill, repeated cries of cicadas came from a tree not far away.

Then, in the very next moment,

doors creaked open one after another.

A jumble of footsteps followed.

Gang members from the Long River Gang, dressed in brown hemp shirts and armed with long sabers, emerged from houses on every side and surrounded Sun Fei until he was trapped.

Sun Fei finally understood.

Everything that had happened today had been a setup.

A murderous trap, sprung by someone who had betrayed him and stabbed him in the heart.

He looked around, his expression caught between grief and anger, then shouted:

"Uncle Qian, Yangzi grew up under your watch too. How could you bear to let him be tortured to death?"

As his voice fell, a middle-aged man stepped out from the crowd.

"A little affection—what's that worth?"

Uncle Qian gave Sun Fei a long look and said calmly, "Besides, he brought it on himself. I merely granted him what he wanted."

"And what about me? What about the Sun Family?"

Sun Fei's expression was complicated. "Are decades of affection worth so little too?"

Uncle Qian was silent for a long while before speaking again. "They're worth something, I suppose. But...I want to live for myself for once."

"Will you grant me this one request, young master, for the sake of all these years?"

With a clatter, a dagger landed at Sun Fei's feet.

"Please die, young master."

Uncle Qian's words were cold.

But they were nothing compared to the frost in Sun Fei's heart.

Sun Fei drew a deep breath and slowly picked up the dagger, pointing it at Uncle Qian.

"If that's how it is, then there's nothing left to say."

At last, he let go of every last illusion.

He would purge his own household.

"Haah—hah!"

Sun Fei roared. His blood and qi surged around him, and he blazed like a torch.

"You've already undergone the blood-exchange?"

Uncle Qian's pupils shook in shock.

Sun Fei said nothing. He looked ready to charge forward and butcher the traitor.

But then, quite suddenly, a tremendous crash rang out, accompanied by an inhuman wail that shook everyone's ears.

Sun Fei looked toward the sound and saw a house not far away collapse with a roar.

Two figures immediately bolted out, fleeing like mad.

He focused his gaze.

One was Ruan Jing, the young master of the Firewood Gang.

The other was Huang Yuan'er.

"Who's that fierce?"

Sun Fei gaped, his whole body stiffening. Then, as if he had suddenly remembered something, he looked up toward the rooftops.

The roof was empty.

Could it be... Chen Zhuo?!

Sun Fei turned and stared at the collapsed house, but dust filled the air and blocked his view.

Then he looked at the two fleeing figures.

Ruan Jing was unharmed, save for a footprint stamped on his abdomen.

Huang Yuan'er was in far worse shape.

Not only had his right arm been severed at the root, but one side of his face also looked as if it had taken a punch, swollen high.

"Ah!"

Huang Yuan'er's eyes were bloodshot as he wailed in agony.

All the Long River Gang members rushed over, their eyes filled with bloodlust as they stared at the collapsed house.

As the dust slowly cleared, a tall, slender figure gradually came into view.

Chen Zhuo held a long saber in one hand and planted one foot on the head of a grotesque dog. His expression cold, he said:

"Move again, and I'll butcher you on the spot!"