Intelligence Error

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

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

The shouts of battle from the northern slope had gradually weakened. Several bodies lay scattered across the snow—some snow wolves, some Black Wind Stronghold bandits. Firelight flickered through the curtain of snow, casting everyone's faces in a sickly iron-blue.

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

Zhao Xiao carried a bloodstained mountain-opening axe, its blade still smeared with bits of flesh and slushy snow. A fresh gash cut across his face; clearly, he had just weathered a brutal fight.

Seeing Qiu Heixiong's grim expression and noticing that one person was missing from his side, he immediately frowned. "Big Brother, where's Fourth Brother?"

Qiu Heixiong did not answer at once.

He merely raised a hand.

Behind him, two bandits with pale faces laboriously dragged a corpse out of the snow.

The corpse's chest had collapsed inward, its face covered in blood. It was none other than the Twin-Bladed Ghost, Sun Liancheng.

Zhao Xiao's pupils abruptly contracted.

"Fourth Brother?"

He rushed forward in several strides, crouched down, and grabbed Sun Liancheng by the shoulder—only to touch ice-cold flesh.

"Fourth Brother is dead?"

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

"How could this happen?"

Zhao Xiao suddenly lifted his head, his eyes filled with shock and fury. "Who could have killed him? Wasn't Wang Zhong tied down by our men on the northern slope? Fourth Brother's movement technique was so good, and he was best at sneak attacks. How could he have died?"

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

Wind and snow fell onto his bushy beard, quickly forming a layer of white frost.

"It was that minor-achievement Blood Moving martial artist Wang Firm recruited from another county before."

His voice was low. "His surname seems to be Qi."

Zhao Xiao froze. "Someone surnamed Qi?"

Qiu Heixiong nodded, fury suppressed in his eyes, along with a trace of wariness.

"The Huang Family's intelligence was wrong."

"That man surnamed Qi is definitely not merely at major attainment in boxing."

"His boxing... has already reached the perfect realm."

"The perfect realm?" Zhao Xiao's expression changed at once.

When one first entered boxing, or reached minor attainment, one was merely proficient in the moves—knowing when to throw a punch and how to exert strength.

Only at major attainment could one be said to have fully mastered it. There was no need to deliberately think about one's punches; when facing an enemy, the body would react on its own. Power, changes of move, advance and retreat all became one.

But if one went a step further and attained perfection, the boxing would seep into the bones, and one's force would undergo transformation.

At that stage, boxing was no longer merely a set of moves. A unique force was born from one's qi and blood, sinews and bones. It might be fierce and violent, long and unceasing, sinister and yielding, or domineering and tyrannical—its variations impossible to predict.

Martial artists who cultivated such special force stood among the finest even among major-achievement Blood Moving martial artists.

Qiu Heixiong looked at his own arms.

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

"That man surnamed Qi cultivated a special kind of fist force, surging like storm waves."

"Fourth Brother did not know that. When he closed in to launch a sneak attack, that man seized the chance and caved in his chest with one punch."

"I also exchanged more than a dozen moves with him."

"It ended in a draw."

Zhao Xiao looked at Qiu Heixiong's arms as well, and the hand gripping his axe haft abruptly tightened.

He knew Qiu Heixiong's strength all too well.

Of the four brothers, Qiu Heixiong was the strongest. His qi and blood were robust, and he already had one foot in major-achievement Blood Moving. Savage Bear Crashes the Mountain Art had forged his body into the tough physique of a savage bear, while Heart-Shattering Force was sinister and difficult to guard against. Among minor-achievement Blood Moving martial artists, he was practically invincible.

If even Qiu Heixiong could only fight the man to a draw, then that person truly might have cultivated special fist force.

But Zhao Xiao quickly recalled something, and his expression suddenly turned strange.

"That's not right!"

Qiu Heixiong frowned. "What isn't right?"

Zhao Xiao sharply turned his head toward the northern slope, then looked at the third brother, Xue Sangui.

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

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

Zhao Xiao said gravely, "Big Brother, the man surnamed Qi was on the northern slope!"

"Just now, we followed the plan and lured the wolves into charging the gate. Third Brother led men to break their formation, and Wang Zhong had originally been tied down by our people. But just as we were about to break through the gate, that man surnamed Qi came charging out from the side."

As he spoke, he pointed at Xue Sangui. "Third Brother was wounded by that man surnamed Qi in a sneak attack!"

Xue Sangui's face was deathly pale as he clutched his left shoulder and stepped forward.

His left shoulder had visibly caved in, and his thick fur coat was soaked through with blood. Cold sweat seeped from his forehead with every step.

"It was him."

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

"He came out of the shadows and smashed my shoulder with one punch."

Xue Sangui lowered his head to look at his left shoulder, his voice turning icy. "My shoulder bone was shattered completely."

For a time, silence descended behind the snow slope.

Only the wind wailed, like ghosts crying in the night.

Qiu Heixiong's expression changed drastically. "The man surnamed Qi was with you... then who was the one who fought me?"

The moment those words were spoken, a chill ran through everyone's hearts.

Zhao Xiao was stunned as well.

There was a major-achievement boxing martial artist surnamed Qi on the northern slope.

And at the eastern gate, there was another boxing expert who could kill Sun Liancheng with one punch and fight Qiu Heixiong without falling behind.

Wang Firm had actually hidden two minor-achievement Blood Moving trump cards in the medicine garden!

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

"Damn it!" Zhao Xiao cursed. "The Huang Family only uncovered one of them and missed that expert whose boxing had reached perfection."

"They got Fourth Brother killed!"

Qiu Heixiong's face was also filled with rage.

Based on the intelligence provided by the Huang Family, they had plotted for a long time and gone to great pains to lure a pack of snow wolves out from the deep mountains.

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

Amid Qiu Heixiong's furious eyes flashed Lu Chen's unfamiliar face. Thinking back carefully now, he realized Lu Chen truly did not match the portrait in the Huang Family's intelligence.

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

But Lu Chen, who had fought Qiu Heixiong, still had something of a youthful look. He did not resemble a man of thirty at all.

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

Qiu Heixiong was full of doubts.

As Zhao Xiao looked at Fourth Brother's corpse, his heart filled with resentment toward the Huang Family.

Wang Firm's medicine garden on Scarlet Cloud Mountain had always been easy to defend and hard to attack.

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

If the Huang Family had not provided solid intelligence, they would never have come here to take such a risk.

Yet the intelligence had been wrong. Not only had they gained nothing, they had even lost a fourth chief.

"The Huang Family must give us an explanation for Fourth Brother's life!"

They had occupied Scarlet Cloud Mountain for many years and dealt with all kinds of people. The Huang Family had supplied them with intelligence on Wang Firm and urged them to attack Wang Medicine Garden with no good intentions.

They merely wanted Black Wind Stronghold and Wang Firm to fight until both sides were ruined, so they could reap the profits like a fisherman watching snipe and clam fight.

And this fat piece of meat, Wang Medicine Garden, was indeed too tempting. If they could take it, Black Wind Stronghold's strength would certainly soar. They might even no longer need to risk robbing merchant caravans, abandon their identities as bandits, and turn to selling medicinal herbs instead.

Now that the intelligence had been wrong and one of their chiefs had died, Black Wind Stronghold naturally would not swallow this bitter loss in silence. They would surely demand an explanation from the Huang Family and compensation for their losses.