Capturing the Snake (Please Keep Reading)

Chen's Rice Noodle Factory,

In the blink of an eye.

Li Xiuwen struck out with another palm!

The other thug's face changed drastically as he raised both arms to block.

Bang! Invisible force surged outward, sweeping up the flour in the factory and forming visible white waves.

The thug was flung against the wall like a painting, then crashed to the ground. Crackling explosions sounded from within his body. Who knew how many ribs had broken, piercing through his chest cavity.

Li Xiuwen stepped on the thug's neck. With a crack, his carotid artery ruptured and blood gushed out.

His shoe passed over the dead man's terrified, stunned face, his pupils narrowed to slits. Expressionless, he headed toward Venomous Snake.

"Knocking someone onto a wall like hanging a painting... You're a martial artist. So you really were the one who killed Brother Ji!" Venomous Snake stared at Li Xiuwen with vicious disbelief.

As far as he knew, Li Xiuwen had only joined the martial arts school last month. At most, he had been apprenticed for a month and a half.

By all rights, reaching Azure Membrane would already have been extraordinary.

But with skills like these, he would have believed Li Xiuwen had reached Purple Membrane.

Even with help from Ye Nantian's disciples and drugs, there was no way he should have reached Purple Membrane in a month and a half.

The air exploded. Venomous Snake came back to his senses just in time to see a palm as large as a fan strike toward his chest.

He cultivated Water Snake Style martial arts. His footwork was as slippery as a loach's, and he narrowly evaded Li Xiuwen's blow.

"Not bad." Li Xiuwen followed up with a second palm, then a third.

Venomous Snake did not dare face him head-on, weaving and darting through the cramped room.

Suddenly, he drew a dagger from his waist and thrust it at Li Xiuwen.

Li Xiuwen knocked the dagger aside with one hand while using the Sand-Turning Palm with the other.

Power erupted within inches. Venomous Snake was blasted away, his eyes bulging as he clutched his chest and spat out a mouthful of blood.

An ordinary person would have died long ago.

His Azure Membrane protected him, but he had still suffered severe injuries.

Venomous Snake tried to run, but a palm like a thousand-pound weight pressed him firmly to the ground. He stumbled and fell.

Li Xiuwen casually slapped Venomous Snake across the face, knocking this Azure Membrane expert unconscious.

Li Xiuwen looked at his aunt and uncle, who were still shaken, and said calmly, "Keep him alive for now."

The two nodded instinctively.

After coming back to themselves, his uncle asked, "What are you going to do?"

"Find Third Master... and kill him, to eliminate future trouble," Li Xiuwen said.

Since Venomous Snake had come looking for him and had even begun investigating and suspecting him, he might as well strike first.

Besides, his strength would have to be revealed during the martial arts hall challenge matches before long.

He had to kill Third Master before he was exposed, lest Third Master grow suspicious and cause needless trouble.

"Kill Third Master?" His uncle's expression changed. Third Master was the local tyrant entrenched on Longjin Road.

"I'm confident I can kill him. I just don't know where to find him," Li Xiuwen said.

Purple Membrane plus the Binding Armor Skill,

Below Black Membrane, anyone could be killed.

The only concern was whether Third Master had a gun.

That was why he needed to keep Venomous Snake alive.

Knock, knock, knock!

Outside, a neighbor knocked on the door.

"Ying, what's going on? You two fighting in there?" an old woman asked.

"It's nothing. We're trying to have a child," his aunt said with a smile.

Their neighbors were all elderly men and women with poor hearing. They assumed it was just a quarrel between a husband and wife.

After asking out of concern, they left.

His uncle looked at the two corpses and asked, "Awen, how do we deal with them?"

"Hide them first. We'll find a chance to throw them into the sewers at midnight. The rats down there are as big as cats. Who knows how many people they've eaten," Li Xiuwen said.

"Awen, did you kill Brother Ji?" His aunt finally understood. Brother Ji had not disappeared. He was dead.

The timid, cowardly Awen she remembered had killed two thugs. He was terrifyingly calm, nothing like someone killing for the first time.

Li Xiuwen said, "Yes."

"You... you made it?" His uncle was stunned.

"More or less. In any case, dealing with most of the thugs in the district is effortless."

"This..." His uncle fell silent.

His aunt fell quiet as well.

The two truly did not know what to say.

They had watched Awen train hard every day, and he had certainly grown stronger.

But the way he carried himself and his personality seemed not to have changed at all. He was still so timid.

Until tonight, Awen had remained the person they remembered.

Now, everything had changed.

"What's wrong?" Li Xiuwen smiled. "Why aren't you saying anything now that I've made it?"

His aunt laughed through her tears. "It just doesn't feel real... like a dream."

His uncle said, "It's a good thing! I'm even more motivated to earn money now. Being able to support a martial arts expert makes this life worth it."

"You two go get some rest. I'll handle what comes next," Li Xiuwen said.

His aunt and uncle went to sleep, but how could they possibly sleep? Their minds were filled with the sight of Awen sending thugs flying with a palm strike, leaving them mangled and bloody.

Late at night,

Taking advantage of the empty streets, Li Xiuwen carried the two corpses a long distance before throwing them into the sewers.

He washed away the traces with foul water, took several winding detours, and returned home.

A basin of water splashed down, waking Brother Snake. He found himself tied to a pillar.

Li Xiuwen twirled a butterfly knife and said, "Do you want to die quickly, or die slowly?"

"Don't kill me. However much money you want, I'll give it to you. I'll never collect turf money from your family again." Brother Snake pleaded, all his former arrogance gone.

"Tell me where Third Master lives."

"I'll tell you, but you can't kill me."

"You have no choice." Li Xiuwen stabbed the knife into Brother Snake's thigh and sliced back and forth as if cutting pork.

"I'll tell you!" Brother Snake gave in quickly.

Thugs like him had neither underworld loyalty nor martial will.

What relieved Li Xiuwen was that Third Master did not have a gun.

Most street thugs in the district and members of small gangs had no way of getting guns or bullets.

Only core members of major gangs might have them.

Li Xiuwen readily killed Venomous Snake, then entered the sewers to find Third Master.

Suddenly, as if startled by his footsteps, some animal darted through the filthy water ahead of him as a dark shadow.

It was enormous, definitely not a rat.

Under the dim light, he saw it clearly.

It was a somewhat deformed crocodile, over ten feet long, with a severed arm clamped in its jaws.

"Fuck, there really are 'dragons' in this Dragon Palace... Who the hell keeps crocodiles in the sewers?"

Li Xiuwen did not dare linger. He turned a corner and continued toward Third Master.

There were no native crocodiles in Fragrant Sea, so the crocodiles in these sewers could only have been raised by gang members.

Their purpose was naturally to serve as the district's "cleaners."

He had once thought it was merely an urban legend. This time, he had actually seen one.

Splash, splash, splash...

It sounded as though someone was wading through the water.

Third Master opened his eyes from his throne of scrap metal and casually grabbed a machete.

He rose to his feet, hid behind a wall, and waited.

His residence was surrounded by water on all sides. Unless one was an expert with extremely profound movement techniques, it was impossible to walk without making a sound.

The footsteps drew closer.

Old dragons seemed to coil around Third Master's aged arms. His blood and qi surged, while his skin membrane gave off a purple glow in the dark night.

A foot appeared before his eyes.

Third Master raised the machete and brought it down.

Rip—there came the sound of flesh being carved and bones shattered, like butchering a pig for the New Year.

A body split in two, still connected by strands of flesh, crashed toward him.

Third Master looked down and cursed under his breath. "Fuck, Venomous Snake!"