Little Blade Wen (4,000 words; please vote with your monthly tickets)

White Cloud Alley, the Sewers.

Pig Butcher lay on the ground, huffing and puffing like an ox.

He tried to grab his Pig-Slaughtering Blade, but Li Xiuwen pinned his hand beneath one foot.

Hard-Soft Force burst through it, blasting flesh and bone into fragments that splashed into the sewer water.

With a cold laugh, Li Xiuwen slid a gleaming short blade from his sleeve and severed Pig Butcher's other hand.

Screams like a pig being slaughtered echoed through the Sewers.

Li Xiuwen kicked aside Pig Butcher's battered blade, its edge chipped and stained with blood. Two more thudding kicks shattered his legs.

If Li Xiuwen hadn't wanted to capture him alive for double the reward, Hard-Soft Force would already have blown his head apart.

Pig Butcher passed out from the pain.

Li Xiuwen took out a hemp rope and tied him up, then exhaled slowly. Looking at the coils on his arms, he smiled. "Pretty handy."

Who said only Iron Wire Style could use Golden Wire Rings?

They worked with punches and kicks too.

The force of the steel rings stacked with his own, giving his punches a slight boost.

He couldn't use them well, but they were good for defending against sharp blades.

At worst, when he killed someone now and then, they could muddy the waters and make people think he belonged to Iron Wire Style.

Beneath the coils, Mysterious-Pattern Bodyguard had kept his arms completely unharmed.

Li Xiuwen searched Pig Butcher and found a wallet containing three thousand in cash. He happily pocketed it.

Tucked inside the wallet was a thin blue booklet. Delight lit Li Xiuwen's face.

"He even dropped a martial arts manual? Pig Butcher was a good man."

"Cook Ding's True Interpretation... So Pig Butcher was a successor of Cook Ding Style."

In many