At a clearing halfway up the mountain.
A few crude wooden huts stood haphazardly, and outside them, several burly men huddled around a fire to keep warm.
In a cave not far from the huts, Yan Bin sat cross-legged, bare-chested. A scabbed-over wound ran the length of his back.
After the time it took to brew a cup of tea, Yan Bin, who had been treating his injuries, suddenly sensed something. He stared at the cave entrance and barked, "Who's there?"
The entrance remained silent.
"Since you're here, show yourself."
There was no sound. Yan Bin didn't let down his guard; he grew even more wary.
He hadn't heard anyone approaching, but his hearing was good enough to pick up his men outside cursing about the bitter cold and the lack of women. Yet just now, those voices had vanished.
Something had to have happened outside.
Still, after waiting more than a dozen breaths, there was no movement at the entrance. Yan Bin frowned. Since the other party had already been spotted, what was the point of continuing to hide?
But Yan Bin soon realized why they weren't showing themselves. A plume of thick smoke drifted in through the entrance.
What a fucking dirty trick!
To silently take out his men and approach the cave, the intruder had to be at least a Second Skin Polisher, just like him.
A dignified Second Skin Polisher, yet they didn't dare face him head-on. Instead, they were using smoke to force him outside.
As a Second Skin Polisher, he naturally wasn't afraid of dense smoke. He could even hold his breath for several hundred breaths with ease. But if the other party kept pumping smoke in, sooner or later he'd have to go out.
Yan Bin was decisive. He threw on his coat, grabbed the long saber lying beside him, and walked toward the entrance. As he stepped out, he remained absolutely alert, lest he fall victim to a sneak attack.
Yet no one attacked him, even after he emerged from the cave and reached the fire. He saw only one person standing ahead.
Very young.
Yan Bin paused, then sneered. "You came alone?"
Lin Yan nodded. He had considered waiting at the entrance to ambush the other man the moment he emerged, but in the end, he abandoned the idea.
Putting himself in the other man's shoes, if he were inside the cave and someone forced him out with smoke, he'd be extremely cautious as he came out. And who knew whether an old hand from a gang like this might be carrying hidden weapons? If the ambush failed, Lin Yan might end up on the losing side.
The smoke was meant to deal with the uncertainty of the cave's interior. He didn't want to risk going in, and since he could force the man outside, there was no need to take that risk.
Yan Bin narrowed his eyes and sized up the young man before him. His clothes were ordinary, but his breathing was steady, and his gaze was composed. He was another Second Skin Polisher.
"You're not with the Four Seas Gang."
Yan Bin gripped his saber hilt. The young man didn't have the vicious air of a gang fighter. More importantly, the Four Seas Gang only wanted territory. They had never continued hunting down gangs that had already given up theirs.
Lin Yan still said nothing.
Yan Bin furrowed his brow. The silence made him uneasy, but he quickly suppressed the feeling. His opponent might be a Second Skin Polisher, but he was so young—how much real combat experience could he have?
"If you won't talk, then die!"
Yan Bin roared. His long saber flashed free, its blade gleaming like a streak of white silk as it chopped straight at Lin Yan's face!
The blade ripped through the air with a piercing shriek.
Lin Yan used Stone Waist Savage Spine. His body twisted at an absurd angle, like the gnarled branches of an ancient tree, and the blade skimmed past him.
Yan Bin's pupils contracted. How could anyone bend their body that far?
But he had no time to think, and a flicker of delight even crossed his eyes. He changed the saber's course and slashed horizontally!
The young man really was green, wasting time showing off and handing him an opening.
With his waist twisted at such an angle, let's see how he dodged this next strike.
Facing Yan Bin's second strike, Lin Yan didn't dodge. He chose to punch.
His body remained twisted, but his fist had already struck the blade.
Bang!
The long saber, forged from fine iron, snapped in half!
Yan Bin stood frozen, gripping the broken half of his saber.
What kind of fist was that?
Before he could react, Lin Yan's second punch was already upon him.
There was nothing fancy about this punch. It came straight at him.
But as the fist cut through the air, it burst with a crack, and an invisible pressure bore down like a mountain.
Yan Bin saw Lin Yan's fist.
But to his eyes, it wasn't a fist.
It was a torrent of fists, surging like mountains and seas.
The fists crashed toward him like a rising tide.
"Fist... fist intent?"
Yan Bin's eyes brimmed with disbelief.
How could a martial artist so young have developed fist intent?
Boom!
The crack of breaking ribs rang out with startling clarity through the silent mountain forest.
Yan Bin flew backward, slammed into the cave wall, then crashed heavily to the ground.
His eyes went vacant. He was already dead.
"Was that Second Skin Polisher really this feeble, or was it because he was injured?"
Lin Yan frowned, surprise written across his face. He had won the fight far too easily.
He remembered what his master had said: once he developed fist intent, any martial artist with comparable qi and blood wouldn't be able to withstand even one of his punches.
If Yan Bin wasn't simply weak, then Lin Yan, now that he had mastered fist intent, really was invincible among martial artists with comparable qi and blood.
Forget it. The man was dead; there was no point dwelling on it.
Lin Yan searched Yan Bin's body for a while, then went into the cave. When he came out again, his face was wreathed in smiles.
This time, he'd made a real haul.
All told, the Green Bamboo Gang members had been carrying more than three hundred taels of silver.
As for the Martial Fruit, Yan Bin alone had contributed seven years' worth of cultivation time. With the others included, it came to fourteen years in total.
"The Mountain Splitting Fist has already developed fist intent. According to Master, it's a mid-grade technique, and developing fist intent is its limit. There's no point practicing it any further, so I'll save this Martial Fruit time for later."
After searching the bodies, Lin Yan dumped them all into the cave. Then he tore down the wooden huts, threw the firewood into the cave, and burned the whole lot to ash.
Over the following days, Lin Yan went to Great Fog Mountain every day, but his findings were meager.
The Earth Vein True Interpretation studied places where the qi of the earth surged forth. Plants and trees in such places were usually noticeably different from those in other areas. But it wasn't yet the season when all things revived, and it was difficult to spot the signs among nothing but withered branches and fallen leaves.
In the end, Lin Yan simply stopped going. He'd have plenty of time to look once he went to Qingshan Town.
With the three hundred taels the Green Bamboo Gang had provided, he wouldn't be short of money anytime soon.
The eighth day of the first lunar month.
The Lin Family moved into their new home.
They didn't make a big fuss, but the sight of a horse-drawn carriage at the gate, loaded with their belongings, still drew the neighbors' attention.
When the neighbors asked about it, Liu didn't hide the move. But when they learned that Lin Yan's family was moving to the southern part of the city, their expressions grew complicated.
Envy mingled with jealousy, and some couldn't even bring themselves to offer congratulations.
"Auntie, let's go."
Lin Yan watched Liu clasp hands with several elderly neighbors she'd known for years as she said goodbye, and reminded her.
People were waiting at the new house.
Lin Yan's feelings toward the neighbors weren't especially good or bad.
Xu Ping's experience had already taught him a lesson: not everyone had a heart that repaid kindness.
Life was hard. Xu Ping was already ruined, and he could understand why the neighbors, acting out of self-interest, didn't want to contribute money. But for that very reason, by helping deal with the Three Heroes Gang, he had also repaid the years of neighborly ties.
After they left, the property agent would put the house up for sale.
Liu was a little more softhearted than Lin Yan. They had, after all, lived alongside each other for years. She gave the neighbors some household items they couldn't take or no longer needed, then followed them into the carriage.
South of the city.
At the new house.
Zhang Wei and Monkey had arrived early. Lin Yan hadn't told anyone else about the move. He didn't have any relatives of his own, while Liu had plenty on her side, but she hadn't notified them.
"Stone, congratulations."
"A house in the southern part of the city! You really are Lord Lin now."
Zhang Wei and Monkey were nothing but happy for him. They didn't have the complicated feelings of not wanting to see a brother suffer, yet being afraid he'd show up in a fancy car.
"Yan'er, sit and chat with Little Wei and the others. I'll go prepare a meal in the kitchen."
"Auntie, there's no need to trouble yourself. I ordered a banquet from a restaurant. It'll be delivered soon."
He'd earned three hundred taels, and it was a joyous housewarming occasion, so Lin Yan indulged himself for once and spent two taels of silver on a feast.
The same spread would have cost just one tael in the northern part of the city.
Different neighborhoods, different prices. He hadn't become a big shot, but he was getting the big shot's prices.
Liu was about to tell Lin Yan not to waste money, but then she thought of the decision she'd made a few days ago and held her tongue.
Her nephew's standing and status were different now. She couldn't keep advising him as if the family were still in its old circumstances.
While Lin Yan and his aunt were putting the Lin ancestors' memorial tablets back in place, guests arrived at the gate.
"Junior Brother Lin, moving house is such a big occasion, yet you didn't tell me. Did you not consider me your senior brother?"
Li An's voice came from the gate. Cai Wanlong had come with him.
"Senior Brother Li, it was only a simple move."
"Moving into a new home is a major event in anyone's life. How can you make it sound so trivial?"
Li An looked serious. That was the difference between people from two different eras.
To the people of Guangping County, moving into a new home was one of life's great events, second only to getting married.
"I was in the wrong. I should have told you, Senior Brother Li."
Seeing Li An's serious expression, Lin Yan smiled and apologized, then led him and Cai Wanlong inside.
"Lin Yan, this is a little something from your uncle."
After entering, Cai Wanlong took out a red envelope. Lin Yan felt how light it was as soon as he took it and realized it must contain a banknote.
"Thank you, Uncle."
Lin Yan accepted it politely. Li An also handed him a red envelope and said with a smile, "Junior Brother Lin, I've got good news for you. The Green Bamboo Gang has been wiped out."
"The Green Bamboo Gang was wiped out?"
Li An chuckled. "The day before yesterday, some martial artists found a lot of bodies in the mountains. From their clothes, they could tell they belonged to the Green Bamboo Gang. Some powerful figure must have wiped out the entire gang. We just don't know which lord did it."
"Then Uncle can save on the tolls."
Lin Yan feigned surprise. Cai Wanlong was delighted too. With the Green Bamboo Gang gone, he wouldn't have to pay tolls anymore, saving him a good sum.
Even though he no longer needed his nephew to handle the matter, Cai Wanlong still gave a full fifty taels as a housewarming gift, hoping to draw the two families closer.
Lin Yan hadn't needed to step in this time, but who could say whether he'd be needed next time?
A Second Skin Polisher this young—even if he never reached the Third Skin Polishing realm, his strength as a Second Skin Polisher would still let him handle plenty of trouble for the family.
With Li An and Cai Wanlong there, Zhang Wei and Monkey grew a little stiff. They could joke around with Lin Yan because the three of them had grown up together, but in their eyes, Li An and Cai Wanlong were important figures.
Fortunately, Li An wasn't the sort to put on airs. And as a merchant, Cai Wanlong was even better at reading the room. Since Lin Yan had invited the two men over, they were obviously on good terms. At the table, Cai Wanlong treated them as equals, and the atmosphere soon grew lively.