Qingtian Town.
Four months passed in the blink of an eye.
Outside the courtyard, waves of heat rolled through the air. The midsummer sun was so fierce it seemed ready to bake the earth until it cracked.
In the courtyard.
Lin Yan sat cross-legged beneath the blazing sun, bare-chested.
Sweat streamed down his back, only to evaporate the moment it left his skin.
His skin had turned red from the sun, yet he was completely unaware of it. He simply kept his eyes closed, breathing long and evenly.
Inside him, his qi and blood surged like boiling water.
Advancing from the second stage of Skin Polishing to the third was the crucial step of channeling qi and blood into the sinews.
With the Lin Family's backing, money had flowed out like water. Muscle-Generating Pills, secret medicines, exotic meats—he had spared no expense on any of them.
After training hard day and night, he had finally nurtured his qi and blood to their limit.
Now was the time to break through.
Lin Yan took a deep breath and sank his mind into his body.
In his mind, the trunk of the Martial Dao Tree had already grown to two feet and nine inches, just a hair short of three feet.
At a thought, the qi and blood in his dantian surged with a roar, like floodwaters bursting through a dam, and rushed toward the sinews throughout his body!
Although failure was impossible for him, he still had to go through the process of breaking through.
Pain!
The instant the first wave of qi and blood flooded into his sinews, Lin Yan furrowed his brow.
This was no pain of flesh and skin. It came from deep within his meridians, as if countless fine needles were threading through and tearing at his sinews.
But he did not stop.
Keep going!
Wave after wave of qi and blood washed through his sinews like the tide.
With each surge, a trace of impurities was carried away. With each contraction, his sinews grew broader and more supple.
Time passed bit by bit!
Lin Yan's expression gradually softened. The piercing pain that had been unbearable at first became something he could endure, then a familiar sensation. By the end, he could even clearly sense each sinew expanding and every surge of qi and blood.
Who knew how much time had passed!
Boom!
A muffled thud rang out in his mind, and the trunk of the Martial Dao Tree suddenly shot upward, breaking through the three-foot mark!
Third-stage Skin Polishing, achieved!
Lin Yan opened his eyes.
The sun still blazed. The cicadas still sang.
But everything was different.
He could clearly sense every sinew in his body pulsing, his qi and blood surging through them like mighty rivers, flowing with incredible ease.
With each breath, streams of warmth flowed from his limbs and bones into his dantian, then traveled through his body along with his qi and blood.
He rose to his feet and casually threw a punch.
His fist made no sound.
But the air compressed sharply in its wake, then burst into a visible wave. A stone stool a foot beyond his fist exploded, sending chips flying in every direction.
Third-stage Skin Polishing, combined with his fist force.
The power of this punch was several times greater than before his breakthrough.
"Third-stage Skin Polishing. From this moment on, I'm someone to be reckoned with even in the county seat."
Feeling his qi and blood and strength surge, Lin Yan could not help but feel a surge of pride. But a few breaths later, he had already regained his composure.
The path of martial cultivation was long. Third-stage Skin Polishing was only the beginning. He could not let it go to his head.
Especially since Guangping County was clearly on the verge of a great upheaval. He needed to stay discreet and cautious.
Three days later.
Lin Yan had fully mastered the surge of qi and blood within him. As night began to fall, he left Qingtian Town and headed for the county seat.
He was going to get revenge!
When he had not been strong enough, all he could do when facing his enemies was endure.
But if he was strong enough and still could not avenge himself to his heart's content, then all his martial training would have been for nothing.
East of the city, Wang Mansion.
Though it was night, the candlelight in the main room of the inner courtyard shone as bright as day. It streamed through the narrow gaps in the door curtain, illuminating most of the steps outside.
"Master, two of the gangs we secretly supported were wiped out by the Four Seas Gang this month, and another was destroyed by the Patrol Bureau. Our income from them is only three-tenths of what it used to be."
The middle-aged man on the left was tallying the accounts in his ledger. Hearing this, Wang Heng's expression darkened. In the past, the few gangs the Wang Family secretly backed had brought in several hundred taels of silver each month. Their legitimate businesses earned a little less, but now their income had fallen by seventy percent in one stroke. They had lost more than half of everything they brought in.
Most importantly, the Wang Family had invested heavily in training the leaders of those gangs. They had secretly covered the expenses of their martial training, and now that the gangs had been wiped out so soon, some had not even earned back their costs.
"The Four Seas Gang and the Patrol Bureau have gone too far!"
Wang Heng slammed his hand down on the armrest, which instantly crumbled to dust. But after that, he said nothing more.
Neither the Four Seas Gang nor the Patrol Bureau was someone the Wang Family could afford to offend.
"Master, the city is full of undercurrents now. Many gang leaders have been mysteriously assassinated. Perhaps we should temporarily give up on the gangs."
Wang Heng's expression shifted between dark and light. He did not decide right away, instead turning to the young man on his left. "Hao'er, are you confident you can break through to the second stage of Skin Polishing?"
"Uncle, give me another month, and I'll definitely reach the second stage."
Wang Hao looked confident. Half a year earlier, he had failed to break through to the second stage of Skin Polishing, but with the nourishment of many precious pills, not only had his hidden injuries healed, his qi and blood had grown even stronger.
"Excellent. Once you reach the second stage of Skin Polishing, our Wang Family will move out of Guangping County. This place is clearly about to descend into chaos. If we stay, we might get dragged into it."
"Move?" Wang Hao asked, puzzled. Surely Guangping County was not that chaotic yet.
"Hao'er, you don't understand. For all these years, the Patrol Bureau has never set foot in the north of the city, and the gangs in the west have never reached into the north either. The north has served as a buffer zone. But now both the Four Seas Gang and the Patrol Bureau have extended their reach there. There must be a reason."
Wang Heng had raised the Wang Family from a merchant household into a martial family. That was due not only to his strength at the peak of the second stage of Skin Polishing, but also to his knack for scheming and his deep reserves of cunning.
He had sensed that something was wrong in the county seat.
"Now that all three gangs we supported have been wiped out, the Four Seas Gang and the Patrol Bureau have very likely figured out that the Wang Family was behind them. If we stay in Guangping County, it'll bring us disaster, not fortune."
"Uncle, we have the families of those men under our control. For the sake of their families' lives, they shouldn't reveal the Wang Family."
"Foolish."
Wang Heng scolded him. "When your own life is on the line, what does family matter?"
"Your nephew has learned his lesson."
Only after seeing his nephew bow his head and admit his mistake did Wang Heng nod with satisfaction. He dropped the subject and changed the topic. "Any leads on the killer who murdered Steward Li?"
"Nothing yet. The only person even remotely suspicious is Lin Yan, but you said yourself that it couldn't have been him."
"Lin Yan couldn't have killed Steward Li. But he came from an ordinary background and managed to reach the second stage of Skin Polishing so quickly. He may be hiding a secret. Since we're moving anyway, we might as well strike in secret and interrogate him about it."
A murderous glint flashed through Wang Heng's eyes. If the Wang Family were staying in Guangping County, he would not be so rash. He would still have to worry about the Yang Family Martial Arts Hall behind Lin Yan. But he had already decided to move the whole family, so there was nothing left to fear.
Hearing his uncle's words, Wang Hao looked pleased. He did not know why, but he had always suspected Lin Yan—not only over Steward Li, but also over what had happened to the Clear Water Gang. Lin Yan had been nearby both times. It was far too much of a coincidence.
Now that his uncle had decided to move against Lin Yan, he could interrogate him afterward. If Lin Yan really was responsible, then under his brutal torture, he would have no choice but to confess.
"Uncle, Lin Yan is—"
"Who's outside!"
Wang Heng abruptly cut off his nephew, turning his gaze toward the doorway. In the light of the candles, a masked figure dressed in black appeared.
Beneath the black mask, surprise flickered in Lin Yan's eyes. He had originally planned to hide in the dark and launch a sneak attack, but he had not expected the head of the Wang Family to have such keen hearing that he would detect his presence.
After all, this was the man hailed as the strongest second-stage Skin Polisher in Guangping County. He certainly had some ability.
But now that he had been spotted, Lin Yan had no intention of hiding. He feared no one below the third stage of Skin Polishing. He just had to be a little more cautious—old hands like this usually had a few tricks up their sleeves.
Lin Yan's sudden appearance left Wang Hao and the middle-aged man dumbfounded. Someone had actually dared to break into the Wang Mansion in the dead of night. Wasn't that asking for death?
Wang Heng sat in the seat of honor, staring fixedly at the shadow in the doorway.
Something was wrong.
Everyone in the county's martial world knew he was at the peak of the second stage of Skin Polishing. If this man dared to come here and show himself, he must have made preparations. He could not possibly have come here to die.
"Hao'er, take him down."
"Yes!"
Wang Hao sprang into action. He pushed off with his foot and pounced at Lin Yan like a tiger charging down a mountain. Though he had yet to reach the second stage of Skin Polishing, he had spent years honing his skills in the first. He believed few of his peers in the county seat could beat him.
His claw shot forward with a fierce whistle, aiming straight for Lin Yan's face.
Lin Yan moved in instead of retreating, slipping to the side to avoid it. His right arm swept across like a whip. He did not even throw a punch, just swung his palm at Wang Hao.
Wang Hao was startled. He hurriedly hunched his shoulders and tucked in his neck, while his left hand burst out from beside his waist, five fingers clawing toward Lin Yan's ribs.
The strike was fast and vicious, a killing move he had practiced for years.
Unfortunately, the move he prided himself on was riddled with openings in Lin Yan's eyes. Lin Yan neither dodged nor retreated. He twisted at the waist and spun halfway around like a top. Not only did he evade the claw, he used the momentum of his spin to smash an elbow into the back of Wang Hao's heart!
Thud!
The muffled impact sounded like a war drum.
Wang Hao spat out a mouthful of blood. His body pitched forward and crashed heavily to the ground. He twitched twice, then lay still.
From the moment they engaged to Wang Hao's death, no more than three breaths had passed.
The middle-aged man in the main hall watched Lin Yan with constricted pupils and a face full of terror. He failed to notice that the head of the Wang Family had already disappeared.
It turned out that the instant Wang Hao pounced, Wang Heng had already made his move.
He did not charge at Lin Yan. Instead, he rushed toward the side door behind the screen, not sparing his own nephew so much as a sidelong glance.
"Hao'er, don't blame your uncle for being ruthless."
After rushing through the side door, Wang Heng murmured to himself. He had survived this long not only because he was ruthless, but because he knew how to read a situation.
If someone attacked in the dead of night, and wasn't a fool, they had to be confident they could defeat him.
If he did not run now, he would die. And the reason he had sent Hao'er instead of another subordinate was that he was betting the attacker would not spare the Wang Family.
If he had sent a subordinate to fight while he escaped, the attacker might have let that subordinate go and pursued him directly. But Hao'er was different—his own nephew. Whether out of hatred for the Wang Family or to prevent future retaliation, the attacker would have to finish him off. He would not spare Hao'er.
That would buy him time to escape.
Lin Yan caught sight of the retreating figure from the corner of his eye and frowned. The old bastard was far too decisive. He had not even gauged Lin Yan's strength before choosing to send his nephew to die while he escaped.
What a beast!
He did not hesitate. He strode forward, stepped over Wang Hao's body, and chased after Wang Heng through the rear door.
The middle-aged man stood frozen in place, still unable to process what had happened. The black-clad figure had already flashed past him. Before he could even feel relieved, a sharp pain struck his chest. The next instant, he lost consciousness.
Rushing out through the side gate, Lin Yan swept his gaze across the courtyard and spotted Wang Heng reaching the courtyard wall, about to vault over it.
"Running away?"
Lin Yan pushed off with his foot and shot forward like an arrow. He covered the two-zhang distance in an instant, drew back his right fist, and threw a plain, unadorned punch.
His fist force surged, his punch roaring like thunder.
Wang Heng's expression changed drastically. He abandoned his attempt to climb the wall, spun around, and raised both palms to block.
Fist met palm.
"Bang!"
A muffled impact rang out like a heavy hammer striking the ground. Wang Heng felt a force as immense as a landslide surge from his palms. His arms crackled, his bones as if being crushed to pieces, and his body flew backward, slamming into the courtyard wall. Bricks shattered, and dust rained down.
"Pfft!"
Wang Heng spat out a mouthful of blood, his face deathly pale. He looked down at his hands. His arms hung limply at his sides, already unable to lift.
"Fist... fist force?"
His voice was hoarse, his eyes filled with shock and despair—but above all, confusion.
There were only two such experts in Guangping County: people with the third stage of Skin Polishing and fist force. But neither was the right height, and most importantly, he could not have offended an expert of that caliber.
"Could you at least tell me who you are before I die?"
Lin Yan said nothing. He stepped forward and raised his right fist again.
His fist came down!
The sound of his chest bones breaking exploded through the night. Wang Heng's body was embedded in the shattered courtyard wall. His eyes glazed over, and he slid slowly to the ground, silent forever.
Lin Yan walked over to Wang Heng's corpse and looked down at the pale powder on the thumb of his right hand, a mocking smile on his lips.
Just as he had expected, an old hand like Wang Heng was bound to have a few underhanded tricks.
Wang Heng had thought he had hidden them well and tried to stall Lin Yan with his words. But he had no idea that after reaching the third stage of Skin Polishing, Lin Yan's senses had improved immensely. He had seen Wang Heng's every subtle movement clearly.