Still Have to Thank Him (Seeking Follow-up Reads)

Deep night.

At the entrance of Peace Lane, two burly men leaned on each other, reeking of alcohol.

"Mazi, we drank too much tonight. Wait for me to take a leak."

One of the men released his grip on his companion, stumbled to the base of the wall, unbuckled his pants, and began to relieve himself against the corner with a loud splash.

"Hurry up, I'm freezing," the other man urged, hunching his shoulders and stomping his feet.

"What's the rush? Even if you go back early, there's no woman waiting to hold you."

The man finished his business, shook off the last drop, and was met with the dull thud of a heavy object hitting the ground behind him.

He turned around instinctively, and the sight made his hair stand on end, instantly sobering him up.

His companion lay flat on the ground, motionless.

Before the man could shout, a dark shadow lunged from the gloom, landing a punch squarely in his gut.

BANG!

The man was sent flying backward, his spine slamming hard against the wall. Before he could slide down, a hand clamped onto his throat, pinning him firmly against the brickwork.

Under the moonlight, a young face appeared before him, eyes as cold as midwinter ice.

"I ask, you answer." Lin Yan's voice was soft, yet carried an unquestionable weight of oppression. "Dare to scream, and you die."

The man nodded frantically.

"Are you from the Three Heroes Gang?"

The man nodded.

"Which vice-leader in your gang wants to use pregnant women to change his luck?"

"It's... it's Vice-Leader Zhao!" The man spilled everything without hesitation, his voice trembling violently. "Vice-Leader Zhao failed his second skin-tempering breakthrough twice. He heard that finding a pregnant woman could change his fortune."

"Where does he plan to find these women? If you dare to lie to me, you die!"

"Vice-Leader Zhao originally wanted to look in the brothels, but there were no pregnant girls there. They could provide some, but it would take too long, and he couldn't wait. He decided to scour the neighborhoods under the gang's control..."

"Where does he live? How many people are with him?"

"Willow Alley, the third house. There are two locust trees at the entrance. He... he lives alone."

A glimmer of hope flashed in the man's eyes. "My lord, I've told you everything I know. Can you please..."

"I can."

As the words fell, the hand gripping his throat tightened sharply.

Snap.

A faint sound of dislocated vertebrae echoed. Lin Yan released his grip, and the man's head lolled to the side as he slumped to the ground.

"I can grant your wish."

Lin Yan turned and hoisted the first man up from the ground, pressing his fingers into the man's philtrum. He had only knocked him unconscious earlier, not killed him.

"M-my lord, have mercy."

The man, having regained consciousness, saw his own throat being gripped and his companion lying dead on the ground, and began to tremble uncontrollably.

"I ask, you answer. Dare to scream, and you die."

A quarter of an hour later, Lin Yan dumped the two corpses into the river with stones tied to them, a few taels of silver heavier in his pocket.

According to the two men from the Three Heroes Gang, the vice-leader, Zhao Kui, was indeed targeting pregnant women in the nearby alleys and had already selected his victims, waiting only a few days to act.

The teacher's daughter-in-law was not among the targets on this vice-leader's list.

From a selfish perspective, Lin Yan could choose to ignore this. He had already completed his second skin-tempering; if he simply went to the martial arts hall to exchange for his new disciple robes and paid a visit to his teacher's home, Zhao Kui would never dare to lay a finger on the teacher's daughter-in-law.

But that was not his intention.

Back at the Listen-to-Spring Pavilion, the moment he learned that a Three Heroes Gang vice-leader was targeting pregnant women, he had resolved to kill him.

If he couldn't win, that would be one thing.

But since he could win, and the Three Heroes Gang controlled the very area where he lived, he would never allow such a beast to continue breathing.

If such a man is not killed, one's heart can never be at peace!

As Mencius said: To bully the pregnant is to be less than human.

Willow Alley, the third house. Despite the late hour, the lights were still blazing.

"Vice-Leader Zhao, something major has happened in the gang. The leader has summoned you urgently."

Lin Yan stood outside the door, his voice deliberately lowered to mimic the rough tone of a gang member.

Footsteps approached from within, accompanied by impatient grumbling: "In the middle of the night, what kind of major event..."

Lin Yan hunched slightly, his right fist clenched and coiled with power, waiting only for the door bolt to slide back to unleash a thunderous strike.

However, the moment his footsteps halted behind the door, the hair on Lin Yan's body stood on end, and a sharp sense of crisis shot from his spine to the top of his head. Without a moment's hesitation, he threw his weight into his waist and rolled to the right.

"Bang!"

A dull thud echoed as a thick-backed saber pierced through the wooden door, its blade gleaming with a cold light as it grazed past Lin Yan's clothes.

"I've been in this game for years, and I saw the gang leader just today. You think I'm some kind of idiot?"

As the words fell, the bolt was yanked back. Zhao Kui stepped out, long saber in hand, his triangular eyes flashing with malice as he scanned Lin Yan up and down.

"Just you?"

Zhao Kui sneered, visibly relieved, and walked toward Lin Yan with his blade raised. "You can't even pull off a simple ambush, yet you're out here playing dress-up with a mask. I want to see what kind of fool you are, letting you..."

Mid-sentence, Zhao Kui suddenly accelerated, swinging his saber in a horizontal slash!

The blade whistled, heavy and powerful.

He appeared to disregard Lin Yan, but the move was calculated.

Lin Yan dodged to the side, retreating two steps.

Zhao Kui's strike missed, a flicker of surprise crossing his eyes before turning even more ferocious. "You dodge fast, but it's a pity..."

He shifted his stance, bringing the blade down in a crushing overhead strike toward Lin Yan's head!

He put his full strength into this blow; before the edge even arrived, the pressure of the blade wind made it hard to breathe.

Lin Yan remained calm. This was his first time facing an armed opponent. Confronting Zhao Kui's strike, he tensed his body like a bowstring, instantly erupting with speed far exceeding his previous movements. He sidestepped the blade and drove his right fist upward, slamming it into Zhao Kui's wrist.

"Crack!"

The crisp sound of a breaking wrist bone was clearly audible.

The saber flew from his hand into the air.

"You... you are a Second..."

Zhao Kui's pupils constricted, a scream of agony tearing from his throat, but before he could finish, Lin Yan's left fist followed.

One punch slammed heavily into his chest.

"Pfft!"

Zhao Kui was sent flying backward, his back slamming hard against the courtyard wall, sending dust raining down. Before his body could even slide to the ground, Lin Yan was already upon him, landing a second and third punch in the exact same spot.

"Bang! Bang!"

Each punch sounded like a muffled drumbeat.

Blood gushed from Zhao Kui's mouth, and his chest visibly caved in.

After the third punch, Zhao Kui's head lolled to the side; he was dead.

Until his final breath, he couldn't understand why a Second-Refining expert would bother ambushing someone at the First-Refining level.

In terms of raw strength, although Zhao Kui had a blade, his speed and power were far inferior to mine, especially after I utilized the Stone Waist Savage Spine bone structure; the gap is even wider.

Lin Yan dragged Zhao Kui's body back into the courtyard, reflecting on the fight.

The reason the battle had stalled was that Zhao Kui had seen through his plan early on, catching him off guard. Combined with the opponent's long saber, it had indeed rattled him, causing those initial steps backward.

It had nothing to do with strength; it was purely a lack of combat experience.

But this served as a reminder to Lin Yan: never underestimate the martial artists of this world. Gang leaders like Zhao Kui were people who lived by the blade; they had survived countless ambushes and schemes.

Within a quarter of an hour, Lin Yan finished clearing the scene, his face filled with disappointment.

Were all these gang members this poor? Zhao Kui's entire net worth was only sixty taels.

It seemed he had misjudged Zhou Wu of the Black Tiger Gang; compared to Zhao Kui and Cao Peng of the Clear Water Gang, Zhou Wu was a wealthy man.

What Lin Yan didn't know was that Zhao Kui had failed his second refining attempt twice, and in order to prepare for this third attempt, he had long since spent all his silver.

The next day!

Wei Hai, leader of the Three Heroes Gang, and his deputy, Liu Song, stood in the courtyard, their expressions grim as they looked at Zhao Kui's corpse on the ground.

"Judging by the wounds on Deputy Leader Zhao's body, it was clearly the work of a fist expert. He must have been immersed in his art for over a decade."

The middle-aged man who had examined the body looked up and gave his verdict to Wei Hai and Liu Song.

"Coroner Zhou, can you identify the style?"

"I cannot."

"Thank you, Coroner Zhou."

Wei Hai cut off Liu Song's attempt to press further, pulling out a silver ingot and handing it over.

"No trouble. I'm just doing my job for pay."

Watching Coroner Zhou depart, Liu Song said with lingering resentment, "Big Brother, it's clear to me that this Coroner Zhou wasn't telling the whole truth."

"And so what if he wasn't?"

Wei Hai's retort left Liu Song stunned, until he seemed to realize something. "Big Brother, what do you mean by that? Are we not going to avenge Second Brother?"

"Revenge?"

Wei Hai gave a bitter smile. "The killer is undoubtedly a second-stage skin-tempering expert who has been immersed in fist techniques for over a decade. Furthermore, he could make Coroner Zhou prefer to earn less money rather than tell the truth. What kind of background do you think this person has?"

Liu Song fell silent. Only after a long while did he spit out a few words: "A wealthy disciple from a martial arts hall!"

Among the many martial artists in the county, only those disciples from martial arts halls—specifically those from wealthy, influential families—would focus solely on practicing fist techniques. People like them, who had to take on jobs or find their own ways to make money just to afford martial arts resources, would always practice with a weapon as well.

No matter how strong one's fists and kicks are, if one hasn't reached the third stage of skin-tempering, they will still be at a disadvantage when facing a martial artist of the same level who uses a weapon.

"Third Brother, these are troubled times. This matter should be a personal grudge between the Second Brother and this person; there is no need for our Three Heroes Gang to get involved."

Wei Hai set the tone, and Liu Song did not refute him. The facts were exactly as stated.

If a second-stage skin-tempering expert from a wealthy background were truly targeting the Three Heroes Gang, then it wouldn't just be the Second Brother who was assassinated last night.

The fact that the other party only killed Zhao Kui showed they were not venting their anger on the rest of them. In that sense, they should even be grateful to this person for being so clear about their grievances.

Yang Family Martial Arts Hall.

Yang Qingfeng looked at the disciple before him and asked indifferently, "Who do you think it is?"

"Master, according to Coroner Zhou's analysis, this person has been immersed in the Mountain Splitting Fist for at least ten years and is at the second stage of skin-tempering. The only ones who meet these two conditions are Junior Brother Wang and Junior Brother Fang. However, Junior Brother Wang is not in the city, so the only possibility is Junior Brother Fang."

Hao Jingnian gave his assessment. As one of the only two third-stage skin-tempering martial artists in the Yang Family Martial Arts Hall, Hao Jingnian served in the Patrol Bureau. Because the killer used the Mountain Splitting Fist, Coroner Zhou dared to hide it from Wei Hai but specifically informed Hao Jingnian about the matter.

"Coroner Zhou told me about this to do me a favor. Zhao Kui was a gang member who committed all sorts of evil; Junior Brother Fang killing him can be considered ridding the people of a scourge."

Yang Qingfeng did not rush to express his stance but continued to ask, "Where is the Three Heroes Gang's territory?"

"The Three Heroes Gang's original territory was in the west of the city, but due to the Four Seas Gang, they were forced to retreat to the north. They control Willow Alley, Peace Lane, Yuliu Alley, and Daping Street."

"I see. Let this matter rest here; there is no need to investigate further."

"Yes."

Hao Jingnian quickly agreed. He was not surprised by his master's attitude. Regardless of which junior brother killed Zhao Kui, his master would certainly not blame them.

On the contrary, if the Three Heroes Gang dared to pursue the matter relentlessly, then as a senior brother, he would inevitably have to clean up the mess for his junior brother.