In the dark sewers,
Third Master swiftly backed away, but a Dust Attack thick with a pungent, irritating smell reached him first.
Clutching his instantly swollen, reddened eyes, he rolled aside and dodged a cold gleam that flashed through the darkness.
The Rebar Club struck the wall with a metallic clang.
Now Third Master could make out his attacker.
He wore white hemp mourning clothes and held a thumb-thick length of rebar, like a Mourning Staff.
An expressionless mask resembling a Pai Gow tile 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, his Hatchet in hand, his eyes fixed on the intruder.
Li Xiuwen said nothing. His slightly numb hand tightened around the rebar, and he swung again.
He knew palm techniques, but his opponent had a weapon.
If he stubbornly stuck to palm techniques instead of adapting, his current skill might still leave him injured.
Even without knowing Weapon Combat, swinging the rebar delivered far more power than his palm strikes.
As luck would have it, Third Master clearly knew no Blade Technique either. He merely swung according to his instincts from unarmed combat.
The blade and rebar collided, their metallic ringing unending.
"Someone, come!" Third Master was cautious and suspicious, unwilling to let anyone stand guard beside him while he slept. He shouted for a long time, but no one answered.
"They're all dead," the masked man said, forcing his voice into a low rasp.
"I haven't offended you, have I?" A chill struck Third Master's heart, and he spoke hastily.
His Hatchet was a little too short. Every extra inch of reach was an extra inch of advantage, and the rebar's assault forced him steadily backward.
With such strength and reflexes, his attacker was clearly a Purple Membrane Expert.
In all his years of occupying Longjin Road, Third Master had never dared provoke even someone at azure membrane, let alone purple membrane. He only dared bully ordinary people at the very bottom.
The masked man's blows grew increasingly powerful, driving Third Master into a corner with nowhere left to retreat.
"Damn you! Do you know how many people our 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 tomorrow and avenge me!"
Li Xiuwen knew Third Master was clearly bluffing with borrowed authority.
The Children's Gang had plenty of people, but it was utterly disorganized. Any unemployed drifter might claim to belong to it.
It was nothing but a rabble. No one would care whether he lived or died.
Even if Third Master really did have someone backing him, the situation now demanded his death.
Otherwise, it would be Li Xiuwen's family that was destroyed!
Third Master had forced him into this!
"Die!" Third Master abandoned his defense, gripped the blade with both hands, and chopped with all his strength!
Clang! The rebar bent under the blow. Li Xiuwen held the Hatchet at bay and followed through with a palm strike straight at Third Master's chest.
With both hands committed to his attack, Third Master had no time to block. He could only lash out with a kick.
But kicking Li Xiuwen's abdomen felt like striking a great bell, producing a muffled clang.
Li Xiuwen merely took a small step backward, while the recoil threw Third Master off balance and slammed him into the wall.
Seizing the opening, Li Xiuwen unleashed Sand-Turning Palm!
His palm technique had already been close to minor mastery, and without realizing it, he grasped a trace of soft force's essence.
Combined with Huang Sihai's intensive training over the past several days and thousands upon thousands of repetitions,
Li Xiuwen's understanding of the palm technique rose to a new level. As if struck by sudden enlightenment, he delivered a New Palm Strike.
Sand-Turning Palm, Second Layer: Surging Tides!
After hard force came an eruption of soft force!
The palm struck Third Master squarely in the chest. Tidal force layered upon itself, converging before erupting all at once.
Smack! Third Master was slammed against the wall so hard that the earthen surface cracked and shed dust.
He spat blood as his qi and blood seized up. His eyes bulged like a dead fish's, almost bursting from their sockets.
"Hard... Hard Qigong?"
Third Master was stunned. That kick should have sent an ordinary purple membrane fighter flying.
Plenty of people in the Enclave practiced martial arts, but few also trained in Hard Qigong.
When had he offended an expert like this?
That single palm strike left Third Master wilted. Soft force shook his internal organs, his blood churned, and he could summon no strength.
"You know your stuff, old bastard."
Li Xiuwen sneered in his strained, altered voice and thrust his Butterfly Knife with precision. Third Master raised a hand to block.
The blade pierced his palm, which stopped its advance.
A vicious resolve seized Third Master, and he lunged at Li Xiuwen's neck with his old yellow teeth.
Squish! The rebar stabbed into his throat and pierced through his neck!
Third Master clutched his throat, his dead-fish eyes staring at Li Xiuwen. His major artery had ruptured, spraying blood everywhere, and he soon breathed his last.
Third Master was dead. The Longjin Road Thirteen Guardians had vanished from the martial world.
Brother Ji, Snake Venom, Third Master... I suppose I've eliminated three calamities.
Li Xiuwen drew a deep breath.
In just one short month, he had killed quite a few people, yet he could calmly witness death.
Is this what it means to grow?
Purple membrane experts really are hard to kill. I could finish Snake Venom with one move, but this fight with Third Master was a little challenging. He almost broke my skin... far too dangerous.
Third Master might have been very strong when he was young. His qi and blood only declined with age, dropping him back to purple membrane.
Li Xiuwen looked toward the incense burner.
During the fight, the stick belonging to [Sand-Turning Palm] had burned out.
A longer, thicker stick broke free of the ashes.
[Li Xiuwen] [Martial arts] [Sand-Turning Palm: Minor mastery (1%)]
My combat technique has reached minor mastery. Old Huang's intensive training lately really has been effective.
Of course, my own aptitude had something to do with it too.
Most importantly, the [Incense Burner] has no bottlenecks. Anyone else would have been stuck for ten days or half a month at the hurdle between beginner proficiency and minor mastery.
Combat techniques were skills for killing.
Practicing alone, sparring with others...
None of it compared to truly fighting and killing.
That was the most efficient way to practice.
Li Xiuwen felt he had grasped something.
Hard force is fierce, but it's too obvious and easy to block.
Soft force is like water. It seems gentle, but it can layer upon itself, delivering greater follow-through and making it harder to block. One palm strike can leave a purple membrane expert half dead.
If I can master the transformations between hard and soft force, combining them and switching at will... I'll be able to bring the palm technique to great mastery and master "Startled Shark's Fleeting Shadow"!
After a brief rest, Li Xiuwen began searching the corpse.
Every time he searched a corpse, he felt like an old farmer finally harvesting the fruits of his hard martial training.
Third Master carried nothing but a key.
He rarely left the sewers. His skin was pale, and even his eyesight had deteriorated somewhat. Like a dragon, he spent all day guarding his Throne of scrap metal.
Beneath the Throne, Li Xiuwen found a large locked iron chest and could not help laughing. "Oh, he dropped a treasure chest."
When he opened it, his expression became quite a sight.
Magazines were piled high inside, all pornography of the Dragon Tiger Leopard variety.
Li Xiuwen emptied out the magazines and discovered a square Oiled-Paper Parcel at the very bottom.
He opened it and beamed with delight.
There was a thick stack of banknotes. Without counting carefully, Li Xiuwen estimated it held several tens of thousands.
He hefted a few small pieces of Gold and Silver Jewelry. They weighed roughly half a kilo.
There was also a rather exquisite little bottle. When he opened it, a peculiar fragrance drifted out.
"Could this be some kind of Secret Medicine, like Fish Ball?"
Li Xiuwen checked the bottom of the bottle, and his face darkened.
"An aphrodisiac? Does a purple membrane expert end up this miserable in old age?"
After sorting through his haul, Li Xiuwen sighed.
No martial arts manuals... but a street thug like him probably only learned some crude street fighting. It wouldn't be worth much to me anyway.
This money is the biggest prize. It'll be enough to support my martial training for a while.
Third Master really squeezed plenty out of Longjin Road over the years. He smoked opium every day and still saved this much.
Unfortunately, gold is too cheap in this era. This Gold and Silver Jewelry is only worth a few thousand. I'll keep it for now and spend it last. Who knows? It might go up in value.
Before you continue