Grass-Treading Flight, a Lightness Skill Movement Technique

Several banknotes, along with some loose silver and gold-and-silver jewelry, lay inside the hidden compartment.

Wearing gloves, Zhao Ya picked up the banknotes and examined them.

All of these banknotes had been issued by Treasurelink Exchange, Cloudsky Commandery's largest bank.

The largest denomination was one hundred taels, while most of the rest were worth twenty or thirty taels. Altogether, they amounted to a little over three hundred taels.

Naturally, Zhao Ya did not stand on ceremony. He accepted all the banknotes with a smile, then stuffed the remaining loose silver and jewelry into the deerskin pouch he had prepared beforehand.

"Is that all?"

"Sir, that really is all. The Black Snake Gang is just an insignificant little gang. We usually have no real source of income. Even these banknotes were accumulated over many years," Fan Hao said bitterly.

But Zhao Ya read his expression and noticed Fan Hao's shifty gaze as he spoke. He was clearly still hiding something.

Without hesitation, Zhao Ya raised his hand and drove the short blade into Fan Hao's thigh.

Blood splattered, and Fan Hao howled in agony.

"Still refusing to tell the truth?" Zhao Ya said coldly, gripping the hilt and slowly twisting it.

Fan Hao's fat face turned deathly pale from the pain, and his entire body shook uncontrollably.

"Spare me, sir! I'll talk, I'll talk!"

Fan Hao knew that the man before him was a genuine killing god. If he dared conceal anything further, Zhao Ya really might chop him down with one stroke. He had no choice but to confess everything.

It turned out that beside the hidden compartment under the bed was another loose floor tile. Once the tile was pried up, an oilcloth bundle was revealed underneath.

"Open it," Zhao Ya said. At the same time, he stepped behind Fan Hao to guard against any further trap inside the oilcloth bundle.

Seeing how cautious Zhao Ya was, Fan Hao groaned inwardly. Enduring the pain, he obediently opened the bundle. Inside was a book.

By the light in the room, Zhao Ya saw several words on its cover.

Grass-Treading Flight.

It was actually a manual for a lightness skill.

Suppressing the excitement in his heart, Zhao Ya took the manual through his gloves and flipped through it. Sure enough, it recorded several secrets of lightness skills.

Yet it was different from the lightness skills he had imagined, the kind that let one leap across roofs and leave no trace upon snow.

It was more like a movement technique manual.

After mastering it, one would not be able to soar into the air with a tap of the toes, but it could greatly improve one's agility and running speed.

That was exactly what Zhao Ya needed most right now.

He put away the manual as well, then looked at Fan Hao before him.

Fan Hao shuddered violently and hurriedly waved his hands. "Sir, there's really nothing else. This manual was my most treasured possession. I relied on it to establish myself in the eastern district and found this little Black Snake Gang."

"Now it's yours. I ask for nothing else, only that you spare my life. I'll be forever grateful. From now on, I'll do good deeds and build virtue. I'll never do evil again."

By the end, Fan Hao was weeping bitterly.

Someone else might truly have felt pity for him.

But after several days of investigation, Zhao Ya had already learned the Black Snake Gang's true nature.

Fan Hao might not have been particularly capable, but he had committed no shortage of crimes.

He especially lusted after women. Few women he took a liking to escaped his clutches.

Over the past few years alone, no fewer than twenty or thirty respectable women had been driven to their deaths by him.

So Zhao Ya merely gave a cold laugh.

"These things were mine to begin with. What do they have to do with you?"

"Yes, yes, sir is right..."

Fan Hao nodded frantically, but at that moment, he suddenly caught a flash of blade light from the corner of his eye.

Then Fan Hao felt his head grow light. He actually saw the ceiling above him, as well as a bright red cavity.

Damn it, he didn't keep his word!

That was Fan Hao's last thought before he sank into darkness.

Splurt!

Blood sprayed out as the corpse toppled to the floor.

Zhao Ya checked again, making sure he had left behind no trace before turning and heading to the front courtyard.

The guard dogs in the front courtyard were still sound asleep.

Zhao Ya had originally wanted to burn down the Black Snake Gang's headquarters, but the surrounding low shanties changed his mind.

If he set a fire here, the nearby residents would suffer along with them.

In any case, all the Black Snake Gang members were dead, and Zhao Ya was certain he had not left behind the slightest trace of himself. He would leave the rest for others to worry about.

Zhao Ya vaulted over the wall and vanished into the vast night.

By the time he crossed Dancing Elephant City and returned home, it was nearly the fourth watch.

Zhao Ya tidied up briefly, put away the bulging deerskin pouch, and only then lay down on the bed and fell into a deep sleep.

He slept exceptionally well. It was not until Zui'er had finished cooking and came to call him that Zhao Ya woke up.

After breakfast, Zhao Ya told Zui'er that he might return late that night. He told her to eat early and lock the door, without waiting for him.

Then he took some things from the deerskin pouch and went to the Prosperity Escort Agency.

Everything at the escort agency was as usual.

But that afternoon, explosive news rapidly spread.

"What? The Black Snake Gang in the eastern district was wiped out overnight? Wonderful! Those scum should have died long ago."

"Retribution, pure retribution! I wonder which passing master vented this anger for us poor common folk!"

For a time, the people who had long suffered under the Black Snake Gang's oppression clapped and cheered.

Yet when the news reached the Prosperity Escort Agency, the reaction was rather muted.

After all, the Black Snake Gang was nothing more than a rabble. The people of the Prosperity Escort Agency could at least be considered half-members of the martial world, so naturally they looked down on such people.

Zhao Ya observed in secret and found that, as expected, almost no one was interested in the Black Snake Gang's destruction.

Six Doors sent only a few people to collect the bodies of Fan Hao and the others, considering the matter settled.

After all, in this day and age, martial world vendettas and killings happened endlessly. The deaths of a few people were simply too commonplace.

Especially since those who had died were lowly thugs with neither status nor backing, no one cared even less.

Only then did Zhao Ya set his mind at ease.

That evening, Tan Dong indeed called for Zhao Ya. The two first ate something outside, then disguised themselves and covered their faces with black cloth before heading for the Southern City Ghost Market.

They arrived early. Only a few scattered stalls had been set up, displaying all kinds of strange beast meat.

"These are all fake. They're mostly made from pheasant or wild dog meat, meant to swindle inexperienced fools. Eating them will do nothing except give you diarrhea," Tan Dong explained.

Zhao Ya nodded, then withdrew his gaze from the dragon-like carcass displayed at one of the stalls.

These people certainly had vivid imaginations!

They even dared sell dragon meat so openly?

As the night deepened, more stalls finally appeared.

Tan Dong led Zhao Ya around for a while before stopping at a stall.

The stall displayed the same dried earthworm meat that Tan Dong had once given Zhao Ya.

The vendor wore a mask and did not greet them even after seeing customers approach.

"What's the price today?" Tan Dong asked.

The stall owner held up three fingers.

Tan Dong frowned. "It went up again?"