Eliminating Three Evils (Please Read On)

In the dark sewer,

Third Master quickly retreated, but an attack of sand and dust reeking of a harsh, pungent smell had already struck first.

He covered his instantly reddened, swollen eyes and rolled aside, dodging a cold flash that cut through the darkness.

The steel rebar struck the wall with a clang of metal.

Only then did Third Master see his attacker clearly.

The man wore the white hemp mourning clothes of a funeral procession and held a thumb-thick steel rebar like a mourning staff.

He wore a hollow, domino-like mask that concealed his face.

"You don't even announce your name before killing someone. You really have no respect for the rules."

Third Master sneered, his back against the wall, machete in hand as he stared fixedly at his opponent.

Li Xiuwen said nothing. His slightly numb palm gripped the rebar as he swung it down again.

He knew palm techniques, but his opponent had a bladed weapon.

If he stubbornly used palm techniques without adapting, then with his current level of skill, he might get injured.

Even without knowing weapon techniques, a steel rebar wielded with force was far more powerful than palm techniques.

As it happened, Third Master clearly did not know any blade techniques either. He was merely swinging on the instincts he had developed from fistfighting.

Blade and rebar collided, their metallic clanging unending.

"Someone!" Third Master was cautious and suspicious by nature. He never dared let anyone stay beside him while he slept. He shouted for a long time, but no one answered.

"They're all dead." The masked man rasped in a low voice.

"I haven't offended you, have I?" Third Master's heart sank, and he hurriedly asked.

His machete was too short. An inch longer meant an inch stronger, and under the rebar's assault, he was steadily forced back.

With such strength and reaction speed, this man was clearly a Purple Membrane expert.

After occupying Longjin Road for all these years, Third Master would not dare provoke even an Azure Membrane martial artist, much less a Purple Membrane one. He only dared bully the common folk at the very bottom.

The masked man's strength grew greater and greater, forcing Third Master into a corner with nowhere left to retreat.

"Damn it, do you know how many people the Children's Gang has in Fragrant Sea? Eight hundred thousand!"

"If you dare kill me, the Children's Gang's eight hundred thousand brothers and sisters will drag you out the very next day and avenge me!"

Li Xiuwen knew Third Master was merely borrowing the tiger's might.

The Children's Gang had plenty of people, but it was also the loosest organization imaginable. Any random unemployed vagrant might call himself a member of the Children's Gang.

They were nothing but a disorganized rabble. No one would care whether he lived or died.

Even if Third Master truly had someone backing him, Li Xiuwen still had to get rid of him in this situation.

Otherwise, it would be Li Xiuwen's family that was destroyed!

Third Master had forced his hand!

"Die!" Third Master abandoned defense, gripped his machete with both hands, and slashed down with all his strength!

Clang! The rebar bent from the blow. Li Xiuwen raised the machete to block it, then struck out with a palm toward Third Master's chest.

Third Master had committed both hands to the attack and had no time to defend. He could only kick out.

But when his foot struck Li Xiuwen's abdomen, it was as though he had slammed into a massive bell, producing a dull clang.

Li Xiuwen merely took a small step back, while Third Master was jolted off balance by the recoil and crashed into the wall.

Seizing the chance, Li Xiuwen unleashed the Sand-Turning Palm!

His palm technique had already been close to minor mastery, and without realizing it, he had grasped a trace of the essence of soft force.

Combined with Huang Sihai's special training over the past few days and his countless repetitions in practice,

Li Xiuwen's understanding of palm techniques rose to a new level. As if struck by enlightenment, he unleashed an entirely new palm strike.

Second level of the Sand-Turning Palm: Surging Tides!

After the hard force came an eruption of soft force!

Third Master took the palm squarely in the chest. The tidal force surged layer upon layer, converging before erupting all at once.

Smack! Third Master was slammed viciously into the wall. Even the earthen wall cracked, dust falling from it.

With a muffled spurt, his blood and qi stagnated and he vomited blood. His eyes bulged like those of a dead fish, nearly popping out.

"H-Hard qigong?"

Third Master was stunned. If that kick had landed on an ordinary Purple Membrane martial artist, they would have already been sent flying.

There were quite a few martial artists in this stronghold, but few also cultivated hard qigong.

When had he ever provoked such an expert?

That single palm had left Third Master listless. His internal organs trembled under the soft force, his blood and qi churned, and he could not muster any strength.

"You know your stuff, old man."

Li Xiuwen sneered hoarsely. The butterfly knife shot out with precision, and Third Master raised a hand to block it.

The blade pierced through his palm, stopping the knife.

Third Master's savagery flared up, and he opened his yellowed old teeth to bite at Li Xiuwen's neck.

Spurt! The steel rebar pierced his throat and passed through his neck!

Third Master clutched his throat, his dead-fish eyes glaring at Li Xiuwen. His carotid artery had ruptured, blood spraying everywhere, and he soon breathed his last.

Third Master was dead. The Thirteen Guardians of Longjin Road had vanished from the martial world.

"Brother Ji, Venomous Snake, Third Master... I guess I've eliminated three evils."

Li Xiuwen took a deep breath.

In barely a month, he had killed quite a few people, yet he could now witness death with a calm heart.

Was this growth?

"Purple Membrane experts really are hard to kill. I can take out Venomous Snake in one move, but fighting Third Master was still a little difficult. I nearly broke my skin... That was too dangerous."

"Third Master might have been very strong in his younger days, but old age had weakened his blood and qi, dropping him back to Purple Membrane."

Li Xiuwen looked toward the incense burner.

During the fight, the incense stick belonging to [Sand-Turning Palm] had burned out.

A longer, thicker incense stick emerged from the ashes.

[Li Xiuwen]

[Martial Arts]

[Sand-Turning Palm: Minor Mastery (1%)]

"My combat technique has reached minor mastery. Old Huang's special training these past days was truly effective."

"Of course, it also has something to do with my talent."

"Most importantly, [Incense Burner] has no bottlenecks. For anyone else, the hurdle from beginner to minor mastery would have held them up for ten days to half a month."

Combat techniques were killing techniques.

Sparring with others, training alone...

None of it compared to actually fighting, to actually killing.

That was the most efficient method of practice.

Li Xiuwen seemed to gain some insight.

"Hard force is fierce, but too obvious. It is easy to block."

"Soft force is like water. It seems gentle, yet it comes layer upon layer, with even greater force afterward. It is difficult to defend against. One palm nearly beat a Purple Membrane expert to death."

"If I can master the transformations between hard and soft force, combining them and switching freely... then my palm technique will reach major mastery, and I'll grasp Shark Shadow Strike!"

After resting briefly, Li Xiuwen began searching the corpse.

Every time he searched a body, he felt like an old farmer finally reaping the harvest after working hard in the fields.

Aside from a key, Third Master had nothing on him.

He rarely left the sewers. Even his eyesight had deteriorated somewhat, and his skin was pale. Like an evil dragon, he spent every day guarding his throne of scrap metal.

Beneath the throne, Li Xiuwen found a locked iron chest and could not help smiling. "Oh, a loot chest dropped."

When he opened the iron chest, Li Xiuwen's expression became rather interesting.

There was a mountain of magazines, all pornographic ones, things like Dragon Tiger Leopard.

Li Xiuwen cleared out the magazines and found a neat oil-paper package at the very bottom.

After opening it, he beamed with delight.

There was a thick stack of banknotes. Without counting them carefully, Li Xiuwen estimated there were tens of thousands.

There were also some small gold and silver ornaments. He weighed them in his hand; there was roughly a pound's worth.

There was also a rather exquisite little bottle. When he opened it, an unusual fragrance wafted out.

"Could it be some secret medicine like Fish Ball?"

Li Xiuwen looked at the bottom of the bottle, and his face darkened.

"An aphrodisiac? Did this Purple Membrane expert really decline so miserably in old age?"

After sorting through the loot, Li Xiuwen sighed.

"No martial arts manuals... But a street thug like him probably learned nothing more than crude roadside fist techniques. They hold no value to me."

"This money is the greatest gain. It's enough to support my martial arts training for a while."

"Third Master sure skimmed plenty from Longjin Road over the years. He smoked opium every day and still managed to save up this much."

"Too bad gold prices are so low these days. These gold and silver ornaments are only worth a few thousand. I'll keep them for now and spend them last, in case they go up in value."