Qizhou Prefecture, Lu Region, Thousand-Buddha Mountain

Missing-Tooth Kid died with his eyes wide open, unable to rest in peace.

"Third Master's backers came looking?"

With a single palm strike, Li Xiuwen instantly killed a Black Membrane fighter. He removed the ghost mask and looked at the face, but did not recognize it.

"I have to say, Old Huang's exclusive Soul-Crushing Powder really never fails in actual combat."

In the deserted night, Li Xiuwen picked up the black-clad man's corpse and swiftly vanished.

When he appeared again, he was in the familiar sewers. Faint green ghostfire glowed in the distance—it was the crocodiles.

Li Xiuwen searched the body. The martial artist had only a hundred in loose change on him altogether.

Of course, ordinary people in this world would not carry large sums of cash around, and there were no storage bags or anything like that.

In the darkness, a faint golden gleam flashed in the martial artist's mouth. Li Xiuwen pried it open and found a gold tooth.

"Good stuff." He snapped off the gold tooth, tossed the corpse ahead, and smiled. "Brothers, dinner's served."

As soon as he spoke, dark shadows dragged the corpse away in their jaws.

Li Xiuwen left the sewers by another route.

In preparation for killing Third Master some days ago, he had thoroughly mapped out the sewer network around Longjin Road.

"A peak Black Membrane fighter, a gold tooth, acting under orders, and smelling of smoke..."

"With these clues, perhaps I can find out who it was."

When he returned to Chen's Rice Noodle Factory, his aunt and uncle were both safe and sound.

"No one came to the house these past few days, right?" Li Xiuwen asked.

"No..." His aunt shook her head, then asked, "What happened?"

Li Xiuwen said, "Try not to leave the house these days. If anything happens, call the martial arts hall immediately."

His aunt's eyes widened at once. She looked around and lowered her voice. "Awen, is everything all right?"

Li Xiuwen said, "It's fine. We'll move to the Central District later. It's under Mr. Ming's nose there, so it'll be relatively safer."

His aunt nodded. "All right. We'll do as you say."

That night,

Lying in bed, Li Xiuwen lifted his shirt, exposing five red marks on his abdomen. The blood had already clotted into scabs.

He still felt lingering fear. Since embarking on the martial path, this was the first time he had suffered such a serious... superficial injury!

Fortunately, his Binding Armor Skill was close to minor mastery, and that man had wanted to capture him alive, so he had not used his full strength.

Otherwise, that punch with the knuckleduster would have gone straight into his stomach.

He looked toward the [Incense Burner].

[Binding Armor Skill: Beginner (91%)]

Could a hard qigong technique at the Membrane Gate like Iron Cloth Shirt possibly offer such defense at the beginner level?

The Binding Armor Skill truly deserved to be called a method leading directly to the Tiger-Elephant Gate!

Li Xiuwen pondered. "The enemy was so overconfident because he probably still thinks I'm at Purple Membrane."

If the enemy knew he was at Black Membrane, they would likely send a second-gate expert.

That was why Four Seas Martial Arts Hall had a rule: without the person's permission, fellow disciples could not reveal their true cultivation or martial arts realm.

Huang Sihai was right. In this stronghold, one really had to keep something hidden, show something else, and act with a low profile.

The hidden enemy had placed a sword over the head of Li Xiuwen, who had only just begun living a peaceful life.

"The most pressing matter is getting to the second floor and becoming Huang Sihai's official disciple. Then ordinary people won't dare provoke me."

Li Xiuwen did not sleep a wink that night. How could he dare sleep? He feared the enemy might come straight to Chen's Rice Noodle Factory.

Fortunately, he had worried for nothing. The next day, the sun rose as usual, though it could not be seen inside this stronghold.

During the day, he went to Four Seas Martial Arts Hall.

Li Xiuwen did not take his usual route. He decided that from now on, he would not take a fixed route every day.

The stronghold did not have many advantages, but there were gaps between buildings everywhere to slip through, and countless possible routes.

As he passed an alley, three skeletal punks were beating someone.

"You old bastard, you dare steal our powder? Die!"

"Looking as pathetic as you do, if you're from a martial arts family, then I'm the Heavenly King himself!"

The person being beaten was an old man. His hunched body curled up as he covered his head and endured the blows without saying a word.

After the punks finished venting, one noticed Li Xiuwen looking over and sneered, "Kid, what are you staring at?"

Li Xiuwen ignored him, walked over, and looked at the old man lying on the ground, barely alive.

He seemed to have seen this man once before. He was Dragon-Chasing Duke, the one who had kept shouting about possessing an unrivaled divine art.

The old man's head was split open, blood flowing all over the ground.

Seeing Li Xiuwen ignore him, one of the punks grew angry.

He jogged over and shoved Li Xiuwen hard, only to find that the other man did not move an inch.

Li Xiuwen merely glanced at him. "Try pushing me again."

How could the punk not realize he was dealing with a martial artist? He immediately dropped to his knees with a thud, snot and tears streaming down his face.

"Boss, we were wrong! This is all the money we have to risk our lives for. Spare us!"

The punks emptied all their loose change and handed it to Li Xiuwen, three hundred in total.

Taking the money, Li Xiuwen smiled. "You're sensible enough... Do you have a boss?"

The punks shook their heads. "Boss, we grew up on this street. We're just small-time hoodlums. We have no martial arts foundation, and no boss wants us."

Li Xiuwen nodded and smiled. "Fine. Since you have no boss, I'll teach you a lesson. I'll tell you how to survive in this stronghold."

The punks assumed the boss was letting them go and showed grateful expressions. "Thank you, Boss."

Li Xiuwen suddenly swung his palm.

Slap! Slap! Slap!

Three resounding slaps.

The three punks flew away and slammed into the wall. They fell coughing blood foam, stars spinning before their eyes, their heads bleeding badly.

He walked up to one of the barely conscious punks, grabbed him by the collar, lifted him up, and smiled. "Learn anything?"

Feeling the threat of death, the punks pissed themselves. Yellow fluid seeped out as they cried, "Boss, just tell us straight! We're stupid, we don't understand!"

Li Xiuwen said gravely, "It's this: harmony is precious, and people should be treated with courtesy... Otherwise, you might provoke someone you shouldn't and get beaten to death. Understand?"

The punks' smiles looked worse than crying. "Boss, we understand."

"If you understand, get lost... Don't appear before my eyes again."

"Okay, we're leaving right now!"

The punks truly lay on the ground and rolled away.

After being smashed into the wall, their legs had all broken. They were already crippled.

Seeing how quickly the three punks had knelt to beg for mercy, Li Xiuwen could tell this was not their first time provoking martial artists.

All he could say was that some people never learned, no matter how often they were beaten.

With that slap, these three walking corpses whose bodies had been hollowed out by opium likely would not survive until tomorrow in this lawless stronghold.

They would most likely be devoured by other punks or Dragon-Chasing Duke. Any barely usable "parts" on their bodies would be sold on the black market for money to buy powder.

Li Xiuwen was being kind, helping them leave this sea of suffering without pain.

Had it been someone with a nastier temper, they would have twisted off the three men's heads and used them as chamber pots. They would not even have left whole corpses behind.

There was no helping it. These days, there were too many fools in the stronghold whose minds had been eroded by opium. They had long since lost all reason and judgment.

"It's you..." The mad old man opened his eyes and looked at Li Xiuwen. "You practice martial arts now."

"Oh, you still remember me?" Li Xiuwen was slightly surprised.

"I'm from a martial arts family. I was well-read from childhood, and I have a good memory." With death approaching, the mad old man no longer sounded mad. He spoke like a normal person.

Previously, Li Xiuwen would not have believed that nonsense.

The stronghold was a mixed bag, filled with refugees from all over.

Of those who claimed to be descendants of martial arts families or nobles from the previous dynasty, if there were not a thousand, there were at least eight hundred.

Ninety-nine point nine percent of them were liars who ran off as soon as they got the money.

But after meeting Old Chen, his opinion had changed somewhat.

A century ago, the Great Gan Dynasty had its gates breached by those demon-like foreign martial artists and their guns and cannons.

Over the long war, who knew how many martial arts families had become dust in history.

"Which martial arts family are you from?" Li Xiuwen asked with a smile.

The mad old man fell silent for a moment, then began to cry. Tears mixed with blood as he muttered, "I don't know anymore."

"What about that peerless inherited technique from your Prosperous State? I'll buy it."

With the mindset of giving it a try, Li Xiuwen took out fifty and handed it to the old man.

He was a martial artist now, so he was not afraid of being tricked by this old man. At worst, he could beat him to death and take the money back.

The mad old man accepted the money and asked, "Is this enough to buy a coffin?"

Li Xiuwen shook his head. "Not enough."

"Then forget it." The mad old man shook his head and did not take the money.

He coughed and said, "Young man, judging by your accent, you're from Prosperous State too?"

"Yes."

"Will you go back someday?"

"I will."

Prosperous State was the birthplace of every martial arts school in Fragrant Sea, a nation of martial arts.

Once he had enough strength, Li Xiuwen would certainly go and see it for himself.

"If one day you set foot in Prosperous State, please take this item to Thousand-Buddha Mountain in Qizhou Prefecture, Lu Region. I only know that I came from there..."

As the mad old man spoke, he took off his tattered shoe, lifted the foul-smelling insole, and pulled a piece of golden silk cloth from a hidden layer.