Killing, Upheaval

Closing the files, Fang Xing rose and left the Central Ward Office.

Life as Chief Constable had become much easier.

As long as he was willing to delegate authority, those beneath him would handle the everyday trivialities themselves.

Fang Xing had no interest in these struggles.

The four Constables were more than happy with that arrangement.

Ever since Fang Xing took office, he had not interfered excessively, and that was what they liked most.

Even if he truly wanted to force his hand into matters, there was nothing they could do about it.

After all, Fang Xing commanded all Yamen Runners.

From Constables down to Yamen Runners, with a single word from him, he could appoint or dismiss them.

There was no need to report it to the County Magistrate.

That was the authority of the Chief Constable. A formal official, even if only a ninth-rank sesame-seed official, was still an official!

Constables and Yamen Runners were merely minor clerks.

After leaving the County Yamen, Fang Xing wandered around before heading early to take a look near the Golden Wolf Gang.

"Hm?"

Upon reaching Anqing Ward, Fang Xing suddenly stopped. His gaze fell upon a courtyard entrance where a large crowd had gathered.

He stepped forward and came to the edge of the crowd, looking into the courtyard.

Several Yamen Runners were busy inside, while a corpse lay on the ground.

Blood flowed everywhere.

The death was gruesome.

"Who was the dead man?"

"You don't even know that? He was the Wild Wolf Gang's leader. I heard the Golden Wolf Gang killed him yesterday."

"Served him right. Good riddance. Every one of those scum deserves to die; it'd be best if they all died out."

"Shh, do you have a death wish? If someone from the Golden Wolf Gang hears you, you'll be finished."

"The Wild Wolf Gang's leader, Chen Cheng."

Listening to the chatter beside him, Fang Xing's eyes narrowed. Looking at the corpse in the courtyard, he frowned deeply.

The Wild Wolf Gang had also been part of his cleanup plan.

Yet before he could make a move, the Wild Wolf Gang's leader had already died at the hands of the Golden Wolf Gang.

The Wild Wolf Gang's leader had also been a Bright Force martial artist.

Fifty Enhancement Points had vanished just like that, and his heart ached at the loss.

Standing where he was, Fang Xing looked at the corpse in the courtyard without expression.

After watching quietly for a while, he turned and left.

He had to act tonight.

One dead Bright Force martial artist meant fifty Enhancement Points.

They had disrupted his plan to break through to Transformation Force.

They had to die!

Time passed, and night soon fell.

Late at night, in Linxi Courtyard of Tong District, the door to the main house slowly opened. Dressed in black nightwear, Fang Xing stepped out of the room.

His face was covered by a black cloth mask, leaving only his eyes exposed.

He looked up at the scattered starlight. Then his figure flashed, and like a nocturnal wildcat, he vanished soundlessly from the courtyard.

Shortly afterward, in Anqing Ward of North City, Fang Xing appeared like a ghost in the darkness of a deep, pitch-black alley. His black nightwear blended perfectly into the night.

Leaving the alley, he arrived before a residence and examined it.

His first target was the Golden Wolf Gang's strategist and nominal steward.

Lin Qiu!

This residence was where he lived.

With the Golden Wolf Gang's detailed records in hand, Fang Xing knew this information like the back of his hand.

With a leap, he soared like a bird and easily cleared the ten-foot courtyard wall, entering the courtyard without a sound.

After scaling the wall and entering the courtyard, Fang Xing stood in a corner with his eyes closed, quietly sensing his surroundings.

His ability to perceive the minutest details gave him an even clearer advantage at night.

Besides detecting subtle changes in the air and environment, he could also sense fluctuations in the strength of a person's blood and vitality.

Very quickly, Fang Xing looked toward a room.

"Sleeping quite soundly..."

Beneath the mask, a smile touched Fang Xing's lips.

Sleeping was good. It made things cleaner when he acted!

Whoosh—!

With one step, he arrived outside the room.

The door was tightly shut, with the bolt secured from within. Fang Xing placed a hand on it and activated the Demon Subduing Force, silently shattering the bolt. A crack appeared in the tightly closed door.

He silently pushed open the door and came to the bedside, looking down at the man sleeping deeply on the bed.

His sleeve shifted, and a dagger appeared in his hand.

The foot-long dagger glinted with a chilling light.

Slash—!

With a light sweep, a bloody line appeared across the man's neck, and blood immediately seeped out.

One cut to the throat!

A wisp of crimson energy rose and entered Fang Xing's body.

There was no struggle or resistance. Everything had gone smoothly.

As the crimson energy entered his body, Fang Xing gently wiped the blood from the blade and swept his gaze around the room.

After searching through it, he found some gold, silver, and valuables, which he put into a bag. Then he silently left the room and disappeared into the night.

After the time it took for an incense stick to burn, Fang Xing arrived before a second residence.

Using the same method, he dealt with the second target without the slightest mishap.

With two targets eliminated, he soon arrived at another residence.

"The last one, Jin Xiong."

Looking at the residence, Fang Xing moved and swiftly scaled the courtyard wall, entering the estate.

Using his powerful senses, Fang Xing quickly located Jin Xiong's room.

He silently broke open the door and quickly entered the room.

At the bedside, a man and woman slept soundly on the bed.

Just as Fang Xing was about to act, Jin Xiong, who had been sleeping deeply, groggily opened his eyes.

As soon as he opened them, he saw a masked face and a pair of icy eyes. Jin Xiong froze slightly, but in the next instant, he jolted awake and immediately understood.

"You..."

Jin Xiong had just begun to speak when a hand clamped tightly around his throat.

Like iron pincers, it left him unable to move.

His face instantly turned red, the veins on his forehead bulged, and an intense suffocating sensation surged into his mind.

"Take a deep breath. Feeling dizzy is a normal reaction." A ghostly voice drifted into his ear.

The terror of death engulfed Jin Xiong's mind. He instinctively tried to resist, but he could not summon even a trace of strength throughout his body.

Crack—!

A crisp snap rang out, and a wave of weakness swept over him. His expression froze forever in that instant.

Terror, shock, unwillingness...

His consciousness sank into darkness, utterly swallowed.

Fang Xing's expression remained unchanged as he slowly released his hand.

A wisp of crimson energy instantly entered his body. Having dealt with Jin Xiong, Fang Xing looked at the beautiful woman still sleeping soundly on the bed. A cold glint flashed.

A bloody line appeared across the woman's neck, blood flowing out as the stench of blood instantly filled the room.

After dealing with them both, Fang Xing searched the room, found some gold and silver, then left without a sound.

Returning home, Fang Xing changed out of his clothes and sat on the bed, glancing at the panel.

Name: Fang Xing

Cultivation: Dark Force Peak

Enhancement Level: Two Stars (0%)

Enhancement Points: 162

"Three... not bad."

Looking at the Enhancement Points, Fang Xing let out a breath. Then he lay down and closed his eyes.

Morning.

After breakfast, Fang Xing made his usual trip to the County Yamen.

With the Golden Wolf Gang's three leaders eliminated, word had already spread by morning, causing quite a stir.

However, it quickly subsided. People often died in conflicts among underworld forces; it was nothing particularly strange.

With Jin Xiong and the others destroyed, the Golden Wolf Gang quickly crumbled like a mountain collapsing.

A gang without martial artists to hold it down could not maintain its footing.

The other factions swiftly carved up the Golden Wolf Gang's territory.

It took less than a day.

And all of it had been within Fang Xing's expectations.

The Golden Wolf Gang was merely the beginning. His cleanup plan was about to officially draw back the curtain.

Time flowed on, and a month passed in the blink of an eye.

It was now late autumn.

Yet during this month, enormous waves had been stirred across Qingshan County!

Numerous factions and gangs were destroyed one after another.

North City in particular had been nearly swept clean of all small and mid-sized factions.

Several dozen factions had been cleared out almost entirely in the span of a single month.

Without exception, the few remaining factions all had ties to the two major gangs.

For a time, rumors sprang up everywhere.

Some said that the two major gangs wanted to seize complete control of North City, which was why they had moved to eliminate the other factions.

Others said the three great families had acted in secret to clear away these factions.

There were even rumors that demonic cults and monsters were acting from the shadows.

All kinds of rumors filled the air.

The many versions of these rumors filled Qingshan County's remaining small and mid-sized factions with intense fear, and they flocked toward the five major powers in search of protection.