Killing Intent Arose (Please Follow)

At nine that night,

After eating and drinking his fill and getting some rest,

Li Xiuwen took a small drink to steady his nerves. Then, wearing loose clothes, he tucked a butterfly knife and "Soul-Crushing Powder" into his sleeves and slipped out into the darkness.

He ran into his sister-in-law downstairs.

"A Wen, you're going out this late?"

"I arranged to practice boxing with some friends tonight."

"Come back early. The Enclave has been getting more and more chaotic lately. They find bodies in the sewers every day... sigh..."

"Don't worry."

"If you run into Brother Ji, don't act on impulse. Better to lose money than invite disaster; endure humiliation and sleep on brushwood, taste gall—when you've got the skills someday, we'll kill our way back!"

"Got it."

For the moment, Li Xiuwen did not tell his sister-in-law that he was meeting Brother Ji that night.

He did not want her to worry, nor did he want to bring trouble upon his family.

Although the Enclave was a lawless place beyond anyone's control, he was still going to kill someone. No amount of caution was too much.

His sister-in-law watched Li Xiuwen vanish into the night wind.

"This kid... learning boxing really changed him. He's gotten bolder, daring to go out at night now."

The Enclave had been far from peaceful these days.

At night, every household kept its doors and windows tightly shut, their lights dim.

On the street, Li Xiuwen arrived at the place he had arranged to meet Brother Ji and surveyed the terrain around him, so he could run if anything went wrong.

A sewer manhole cover opened, and Brother Ji poked his head out with a smile. "You came."

"Brother Ji, tell me what you need this little brother to do. I'm clumsy and useless—I'm afraid I might ruin your important business." Li Xiuwen bent at the waist and smiled.

"You may be timid, but you've got some education. You're suited to making powder." Brother Ji laughed.

"As long as you don't make me take it. My body's weak, and I still want to live a few more years," Li Xiuwen said obediently.

"Come down and we'll talk. I killed someone a while back, and some asshole's been looking for me lately. I need to lie low." Brother Ji beckoned to him.

Li Xiuwen hesitated for a moment, his face showing difficulty as he approached the sewer entrance.

The stench of excrement, sewage, rotting corpses, and blood rushed into his face.

The Enclave's first line of defense against outsiders was this very stink.

After living here for so long, Li Xiuwen had grown used to it.

"Brother Ji, you usually live down here?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"You're not short on money, are you? Can't you find a place to live in the Enclave?"

"You don't understand. For people in our line of work, this is the most comfortable place."

Only after entering the sewer did Li Xiuwen realize there was a whole world within. He thought to himself, This really is... the Dragon Palace.

In the dim light lay an endless crisscrossing network of pipes, like a maze.

"Opened your eyes, huh?" Brother Ji walked ahead, with Li Xiuwen following behind.

"Brother Ji, where are we going?"

"I'm taking you to meet Third Master and recommending you to join the Thirteen Guardians! Remember! The matter of me asking you to make powder dies in your belly. Don't tell anyone, or else—you know what'll happen."

Brother Ji clearly had ambitions of his own. He actually wanted to go solo behind Third Master's back.

Li Xiuwen did not care about that.

He feared Third Master.

He did not know how strong Third Master was.

But as the leader of the Thirteen Guardians, able to keep an unruly man like Brother Ji under his thumb, he was certainly no ordinary man. He was likely already at the Purple Membrane stage.

Third Master had been on the streets for so long that his combat experience was extensive. There were other martial artists around him, and perhaps even guns. For now, he could not be confronted head-on.

After thinking it over, Li Xiuwen casually asked, "Brother Ji, does Third Master know I'm coming?"

"No. To be honest, with your timid personality, whether you can even catch Third Master's eye is uncertain." Brother Ji snickered.

"Understood. I'll perform well." Li Xiuwen breathed a sigh of relief. Third Master did not know. That made things easier.

"You won't be treated badly as my underling. One day, among the Thirteen Guardians of Longjin Road, there'll definitely be a place for you." Unaware that death was at hand, Brother Ji continued handing out empty promises.

"Brother Ji is righteous!" Li Xiuwen echoed him, lowering the other man's guard to its weakest point.

As they passed a corner, he staggered, his foot slipping. With an "Ow," he crashed into Brother Ji.

"Fuck, what's wrong with you?" Brother Ji cursed.

"I stepped on something. Probably a rotten banana peel. Sorry, Brother Ji."

"You're a limp-legged shrimp. You can't even walk steadily—how are you supposed to follow me on the streets in the future?"

"Brother Ji is right, so I... won't be following you anymore!"

Before the last few words had even fallen, Li Xiuwen moved.

Splurt!

The butterfly knife sank hilt-deep into Brother Ji's chest. Warm, fishy blood sprayed along the blade, splashing across half of Li Xiuwen's face.

Brother Ji's entire body jolted as he turned around in disbelief.

A handful of pungent, irritating powder flew into his face, choking him full-on.

"Cough, cough..."

Brother Ji's eye sockets instantly swelled red, his eyeballs webbed with blood vessels as his vision began to blur.

A cold knife stabbed in from his back and plunged into the left side of his chest. It hurt so badly.

"You..." Only one word squeezed from his throat.

"Eat shit!" Li Xiuwen's face twisted as both hands clenched the knife handle, driving it forward with all his strength.

The blade pushed another inch deeper, piercing straight through.

The butterfly knife was rather small, disappearing completely inside him.

Brother Ji's pupils shrank into two black dots.

At death's door, his viciousness erupted. He slammed Li Xiuwen away with one shoulder.

His right fist, as large as a sandbag, swung in a full arc toward Li Xiuwen's face with a howl that split the air.

He was confident that this punch would cave Li Xiuwen's face in.

With his Azure Membrane cultivation, if he had not been ambushed by a sharp blade, how could this brat have hurt him?

Without the knife, Li Xiuwen raised his hands.

Beneath his loose sleeves, the membranes of his arms faintly glowed with a dense azure light.

Veins writhed beneath the membrane. A dormant dragon had awakened.

He knocked aside the incoming fist with one palm. The sound of shattering bone mingled with Brother Ji's muffled groan.

Brother Ji's fist was slapped flying sideways, and his whole arm went numb.

Before he could pull it back, Li Xiuwen's second palm was already upon him.

A stab from behind!

A cloud of powder!

A palm strike!

This chain of attacks came like lightning. Brother Ji had no time to react.

The thousand-tempered Sand-Turning Palm struck solidly against his neck.

Crack.

The sound of bone breaking was like dry firewood bursting in a blazing inferno. Brother Ji's head snapped sideways at an unnatural angle.

Before he could fall, Li Xiuwen followed with another palm.

Under that overwhelming force, Brother Ji's entire body flew sideways.

His head slammed into the metal pipe wall with a thud, the dull impact echoing through the narrow passage.

Sand-Turning Palm, Waves Sifting Sand!

Li Xiuwen had no experience killing people and had no idea whether Brother Ji was dead.

One palm, then another!

Only when red and white matter ran down Brother Ji's cheek, when his body stopped twitching and went still, did Li Xiuwen stop.

He stood there gasping for breath. The smell of blood calmed him down.

Brother Ji's eyes remained open, his pupils spreading wide, still holding the final instant of shock.

"Azure Membrane..."

Even in death, Brother Ji could not understand one thing.

The weakling he had slapped unconscious a month ago,

The worthless trash who had not even dared to fight back,

How had he suddenly become an Azure Membrane expert, stronger than Brother Ji himself and seemingly steeped in this path for many years?

And an expert at this level had actually gone to such lengths to ambush him from behind and use hidden weapons.

Timid to this extent... he was still the A Wen Brother Ji knew...