"Brother Hu, how are things going with that Li family shop?"
By candlelight, a rather shapely woman stood behind Liu Hu, massaging his shoulders.
Liu Hu cracked sunflower seeds, looking quite pleased with himself.
"It's almost time. I've blocked the front of their shop, so nobody dares buy anything from them. They can't make money, and they can't afford to support that useless grandson of theirs in learning martial arts. They'll naturally come crawling to me."
Liu Hu suddenly let out a cold laugh.
"Heh, don't think I don't know what they're plotting. They're just waiting for Li Chuan to break through to Bright Force, hoping that'll make me afraid to act.
"Who could've guessed their precious grandson had no interest in practicing martial arts and spent every last coin of theirs drinking and chasing women!
"When I told them, they still refused to believe me, insisting their grandson would never do such a thing!
"If you ask me, Li Nian's gone senile, too. He's been training for four months and hasn't even gotten sturdier. Could he possibly have put in any effort?"
The woman covered her mouth and giggled.
"You really know how to handle things, Brother Hu. At worst, we can mix kindness with threats. Give Li Nian another five taels of silver, for a total of ten, and we'll get to keep twenty taels for ourselves. Then we can buy a house in the city..."
Liu Hu roared with laughter and grabbed the woman's buttocks with his right hand.
"Before they sell the shop, I'll also put something in their breakfast food and give their customers diarrhea, completely ruining their reputation. That way, they won't have any chance to turn things around...
"As for Li Chuan, I'll find a chance to kill him on a whim. He's trained in martial arts, after all. Nobody knows what sort of lucky break he might stumble upon.
"If he breaks through to Bright Force one day, what'll happen to my precious life?"
The woman let out a startled cry.
"Brother Hu... this..."
Liu Hu frowned and said coldly, "What, do you pity him? Women are no good at getting things done, if you ask me."
The woman suddenly gave a playful laugh.
"Brother Hu, I mean that we should pull up the weeds by the roots.
"If you kill Li Nian's precious grandson, who knows if the old man might go berserk?
"Why not just wipe out the whole family, so we won't have to worry about them later?"
Liu Hu's eyes lit up.
"What do you have in mind?"
The woman's right hand drifted lower.
"While they're fast asleep, just like this, set a fire and end it all in one stroke!"
The woman squeezed hard.
Liu Hu grinned, baring his teeth.
"You've certainly got my fire burning!"
Liu Hu rolled over and was just about to undo his belt.
"Thud."
The sound of something falling rang out sharply in the silent night.
"What was that?" Liu Hu narrowed his eyes.
Who was outside his door in the middle of the night?
In that instant, Liu Hu's mind raced.
He gestured for her to be quiet, picked up a woodcutter's knife with his right hand, and crept to the door.
One breath.
Two breaths.
"Whoosh!"
Liu Hu yanked the door open and swung his knife down.
"Hm?"
There was nothing there?
Liu Hu froze. He looked around, but found no one.
Only a shabby cloth bag lay on the ground.
One corner of the bag had come open, revealing a flash of silver.
Silver coins!
A vicious grin tugged at Liu Hu's mouth.
"You little brat, trying to play games with your grandpa? Come out!"
"Master Liu, those silver coins are mine. I dropped them."
Liu Hu paused. Why did that voice sound familiar?
By the candlelight spilling from the house, he saw who had come.
Li Chuan?!
His thoughts whirled.
There was no way this kid had come to his door in the middle of the night with good intentions.
Better to strike first and hack him down!
"What are you doing here so late at—?!"
"Bang!"
Beneath the moonlight, a large cloud of white lime flew from Li Chuan's right hand.
"Ah!" Liu Hu clutched his burning eyes, his face twisted in agony.
Li Chuan lunged forward. His right hand snaked up like a spirit serpent, fingers joined like a spike as they shot toward Liu Hu's eyes!
Liu Hu had fought countless times, and even in this desperate situation, he managed to react.
Hearing the wind whistle, he instinctively twisted aside.
Li Chuan abruptly changed his move. His fingers dipped down and seized Liu Hu's throat!
"Crack!"
A teeth-aching sound rang out.
Without hesitation, Li Chuan crushed Liu Hu's windpipe!
"Thud!"
Disbelief filled Liu Hu's eyes. He clutched his throat, trying to say something, but nothing came out.
Li Chuan drove a heart-piercing elbow strike into him, caving in Liu Hu's face.
He was dead beyond any doubt!
It had taken just three breaths to do it all!
At the doorway, a woman in a thin robe covered her mouth. She hadn't even realized what had happened yet.
"Sir... spare me!"
Before she could finish, she saw a pebble shoot toward her.
"Bang!"
The pebble struck her eye socket with pinpoint accuracy and tumbled around inside her head.
Her breath stopped at once, and she crumpled to the ground.
Li Chuan quickly searched Liu Hu's body and pulled out a cloth bag.
He glanced inside. It was full of gleaming silver.
He hefted it. It had some weight to it.
"Crack."
Li Chuan struck a piece of flint with a fire striker, sending sparks flying.
He blew the sparks onto some tinder, and it caught fire at once.
He tossed the burning tinder onto the thatched roof.
The wind fanned the flames, and the fire roared to life in an instant.
After erasing his traces, Li Chuan vanished into the night.
Inside the house lay two corpses, their eyes fixed open in death.
To his last breath, Liu Hu never understood that the one who killed him wasn't anyone from the Iron Tiger Gang or the authorities.
It was Li Chuan, the very person he had once thought could never pose a threat.
Li Chuan had been too fast, without a hint of hesitation.
He had finished everything in barely more than ten breaths.
So it wasn't until the fire had completely engulfed Liu Hu's house and thick black smoke poured out that people gradually began to wake.
But when they saw that Liu Hu's house was on fire, they waited in tacit agreement for a little while before shouting that there was a fire!
Li Chuan sprinted through the night, racing back to his own home.
Only after closing the door did he begin to gasp for breath.
He had rehearsed killing Liu Hu hundreds of times in his mind, making sure every move was foolproof.
In his original plan, Liu Hu should have been asleep at that hour. He had intended to play the "gentleman thief."
He would leap straight down from the roof beam and give Liu Hu a quick death.
But unexpectedly, it was already the second watch of the night, and Liu Hu still hadn't gone to bed.
He had even been on the verge of starting a fight.
"Good thing I'd thought through that possibility, too."
Li Chuan looked at the pouch of lime at his waist.
That stuff had come in handy.
The moment it touched someone's eyes, it burned intensely, making it impossible to open them.
Seize the chance, and one strike was enough to kill!
Li Chuan pressed down on his trembling right hand.
The first time he had killed someone, it hadn't been as frightening as he'd imagined.
Apart from the sticky blood making him feel a little sick, all that remained was excitement.
But with his adrenaline surging, he still couldn't control his shaking.
Li Chuan comforted himself.
"The first time's hard, the second time's easy. I'll be fine next time."
In this godforsaken world, you couldn't survive without being ruthless.
Only by devouring others could you rise above them.
Before long, Li Chuan had calmed down.
Once the rush of excitement passed, his expression returned to normal, as though nothing had happened.
Only the pouch at his waist bore witness to what he'd done.
By the faint moonlight, Li Chuan rummaged through the pouch.
"Five qian of silver? Liu Hu wasn't as rich as I thought." Li Chuan raised an eyebrow.
Then again, it made sense. The likes of Liu Hu, who belonged to a gang, could lose their lives at any moment. If they had money, they probably spent it right away.
They were afraid of becoming "misers."
"Better than nothing. Five qian of silver, plus one tael for meals, should be enough to let me eat meat every day for a while."
After all, this money was an unexpected bonus.
The main goal had been to get rid of Liu Hu and buy himself time to practice martial arts.
Before you continue