Faulty Intelligence

Deep in the wind and snow, Qiu Heixiong retreated all the way behind the snowy slope outside East Woods.

There, the surviving bandits of Black Wind Stronghold were gathering in disarray.

The cries of battle from the northern slope had gradually faded. Several corpses lay scattered across the snow, some belonging to Snow Wolves, others to bandits from Black Wind Stronghold. Firelight flickered through the curtain of snow, casting a grim pall over everyone's faces.

Before long, the second brother, Zhao Xiao, and the third brother, Xue Sangui, also withdrew with their men.

Zhao Xiao carried a bloodstained mountain-cleaving axe, its blade still smeared with scraps of flesh and snowy mud. A fresh gash marked his face; he had clearly just fought a vicious battle.

Seeing Qiu Heixiong's dark expression and noticing someone missing from his side, he immediately frowned. "Big brother, where's our fourth brother?"

Qiu Heixiong did not answer immediately.

He merely raised a hand.

Behind him, two pale-faced bandits struggled to drag a corpse out of the snow.

Its chest had caved in, and blood covered its face. It was none other than Twin-Blade Ghost, Sun Liancheng.

Zhao Xiao's pupils abruptly contracted.

"Fourth brother?"

He rushed forward a few steps, crouched, and seized Sun Liancheng by the shoulder, only to feel icy flesh.

"Fourth brother's dead?"

Xue Sangui's expression changed as well. Clutching his left shoulder, he stepped closer.

"How did this happen?"

Zhao Xiao jerked his head up, his eyes filled with shock and fury. "Who could have killed him? Didn't we have Wang Zhong tied down on the northern slope? Fourth brother was so agile, and sneak attacks were his specialty. How could he have died?"

Qiu Heixiong's face was so dark it looked ready to drip water.

Snow fell onto his bushy beard, quickly coating it in white frost.

"It was that martial artist at blood-moving minor achievement whom the Wang Firm recruited from another county."

His voice was low. "I think his surname was Qi."

Zhao Xiao froze. "Qi?"

Qiu Heixiong nodded, anger simmering in his eyes alongside a trace of wariness.

"The Huang Family's intelligence was wrong."

"That man named Qi hasn't merely reached major mastery in his fist art."

"His fist art... has already reached perfection."

"Perfection?" Zhao Xiao's expression changed at once.

At the beginner and minor mastery stages of a fist art, a practitioner was merely familiar with the moves and knew when to punch and how to exert force.

Only at major mastery did everything become an integrated whole. There was no need to consciously think through the moves; the body would react on its own when facing an enemy, with exertion, transitions, advances, and retreats all flowing together.

Taking another step and reaching perfection meant the fist art had sunk into the bones, transforming the force it produced.

At that stage, a fist art was no longer merely a set of moves. It gave rise to a unique force born from the blood, muscles, and bones. Fierce or enduring, insidious or domineering, its variations were difficult to fathom.

Martial artists who developed such a special force stood out even among those at blood-moving major achievement.

Qiu Heixiong looked down at his arms.

Though they had already been bandaged and treated with wound medicine, blood still seeped through the wrappings, running down his wrists and dripping into the snow.

"That man named Qi developed a special fist force, surging and overwhelming."

"Fourth brother didn't know. When he moved in close for a sneak attack, the man seized the opening and caved in his chest with one punch."

"I exchanged over a dozen rounds with him, too."

"I could only fight him to a draw."

Zhao Xiao also looked at Qiu Heixiong's arms, his grip abruptly tightening around the axe handle.

He knew Qiu Heixiong's strength all too well.

Of the four brothers, Qiu Heixiong was the strongest. His blood energy was powerful, and he already had one foot in blood-moving major achievement. The Savage Bear Crashes the Mountain Art had forged his toughened Savage Bear Body, while his Heart-Shattering Force was vicious and difficult to guard against. Among martial artists at blood-moving minor achievement, he was all but invincible.

If even Qiu Heixiong could only manage a draw, that man might indeed have developed a special fist force.

But Zhao Xiao soon thought of something, and his expression suddenly turned strange.

"That's not right!"

Qiu Heixiong frowned. "What's not right?"

Zhao Xiao abruptly turned toward the northern slope, then looked at their third brother, Xue Sangui.

"Wasn't that man named Qi on the northern slope?"

Qiu Heixiong's gaze sharpened. "What did you say?"

Zhao Xiao said gravely, "Big brother, the man named Qi was on the northern slope!"

"We lured the wolves into charging the gate as planned, and third brother led our men in the assault. Our people already had Wang Zhong tied down. But just as we were about to break through the gate, that man named Qi came charging out from the side."

As he spoke, he pointed at Xue Sangui. "He's the one who ambushed and injured third brother!"

His face deathly pale, Xue Sangui stepped forward with a hand pressed to his left shoulder.

Part of his left shoulder had visibly caved in, and his thick fur coat was soaked with blood. Every step brought cold sweat to his forehead.

"It was him."

Xue Sangui gritted his teeth. "He used the Heavy Cannon Fist mentioned in the Huang Family's intelligence."

"He charged out of the shadows and smashed a fist into my shoulder."

Xue Sangui glanced down at his left shoulder, his voice chilling. "My shoulder bone is completely shattered."

Silence fell behind the snowy slope.

Only the wind wailed, like the cries of ghosts.

Qiu Heixiong's expression changed drastically. "If the man named Qi was with you... then who was the man I fought?"

Those words sent a chill through everyone's hearts.

Zhao Xiao was stunned as well.

There had been a martial artist named Qi with major mastery in his fist art on the northern slope.

And at the eastern gate, there had been another fist expert who could kill Sun Liancheng with a single punch and fight Qiu Heixiong without giving an inch.

The Wang Firm had actually concealed two trump cards at blood-moving minor achievement in the medicine garden!

And the one at the eastern gate was even more troublesome than the man named Qi.

"Damn it!" Zhao Xiao cursed. "The Huang Family only found one of them and missed the expert whose fist art had reached perfection."

"They got fourth brother killed!"

Qiu Heixiong's face was also filled with anger.

They had spent a long time planning around the intelligence provided by the Huang Family, and had even gone to great lengths to lure a pack of Snow Wolves out of the deep mountains.

Yet not only had they failed to take the medicine garden, they had ended up with one brother dead and another injured.

Lu Chen's unfamiliar face flashed through Qiu Heixiong's furious mind. Thinking back carefully now, he realized that Lu Chen had indeed looked different from the portrait in the Huang Family's intelligence.

The expert named Qi from another county was around thirty, with a square face and a short beard.

But Lu Chen, the man who had fought Qiu Heixiong, still looked somewhat youthful, nothing like a thirty-year-old.

"Where did this brat come from? I've never heard of such a young fist expert in Scarlet Cloud County..."

Qiu Heixiong's head was full of questions.

As Zhao Xiao looked at their fourth brother's corpse, resentment toward the Huang Family filled his heart.

The Wang Firm's medicine garden on Scarlet Cloud Mountain was easy to defend and difficult to attack to begin with.

Though Black Wind Stronghold coveted it, they were not rookie bandits who would recklessly act without weighing the risks.

They would never have come here and taken this risk if the Huang Family had not provided definite intelligence.

Yet the intelligence had turned out to be wrong. Not only had they gained nothing, they had lost their fourth brother.

"The Huang Family must answer for fourth brother's life!"

They had occupied Scarlet Cloud Mountain for years and dealt with all manner of people. The Huang Family had harbored no good intentions in providing intelligence on the Wang Firm and urging them to attack Wang Medicine Garden.

They simply wanted to watch Black Wind Stronghold and the Wang Firm fight until both were wounded, then reap the fisherman's profit.

And Wang Medicine Garden was indeed a succulent prize, its lure too great to resist. If they could take it, Black Wind Stronghold's strength would soar. They might even stop risking their lives raiding merchant caravans, abandon their bandit identities, and switch to selling medicinal herbs.

Now that faulty intelligence had cost them one of their leaders, Black Wind Stronghold would certainly not swallow this loss in silence. They would demand an explanation from the Huang Family, along with compensation.