Cloak Saber Technique

Zhao Feng quickly stepped forward and pulled out the arrows. Picking up the Steel Saber, he repeated his earlier trick, hacking the corpse several times, especially where the arrows had struck the leg and throat. He mangled the flesh until the wounds were completely obliterated, then picked up the bundle on the dead man's back and swiftly vanished into the night.

Zhao Feng hid quietly in a large tree, carefully surveying his surroundings from above. The fifth watch had only just begun, and dawn had yet to break, but early-rising vendors, shop assistants, and laborers were already getting to work. Cooking smoke rose along the river.

"Forty-five minutes." He estimated the time. He had spent forty-five minutes watching from the tree. Once he was certain no suspicious person had followed him, he slipped down, but did not hurry home. Instead, he circled in the opposite direction to another filthy stretch of riverbank, stripped off his night clothes, mask, and even his shoes, and threw them all into the murky water. Then he took another roundabout route back to the riverside row houses.

He shut the door, braced it with the support pole, and carefully inspected everything inside. Only after confirming that nothing showed any signs of having been disturbed did he relax.

In this troubled world, until you were powerful enough, you had to remain cautious at every turn.

Looking at the bundle in his hands, Zhao Feng took a deep breath and slowly opened it with trembling fingers. As its contents gradually came into view, his expression froze.

"Is this all?" Aside from Feng Dahu's clothing, miscellaneous belongings, and a little over fifty taels of silver, there was nothing else?

"I don't believe it!" Zhao Feng pulled out all the clothing and miscellaneous items to examine them. At last, he discovered dense stitching inside the lining of a robe. He tore it open and could not help bursting into laughter.

"Just as I thought! Just as I thought!" A whole stack of banknotes had been sewn into the lining! They were Great Yan Bank notes redeemable at any branch.

Zhao Feng counted them and found nearly four hundred taels! With the fifty-odd taels of loose silver added in, he had struck it rich. This time, he had truly struck it rich.

It seemed Feng Dahu had been preparing to flee for some time.

To make his wealth easier to carry, he had exchanged most of his gold and silver for banknotes redeemable at any branch. There were both large and small denominations, too, which would save Zhao Feng plenty of trouble.

Zhao Feng rummaged through the bundle again. Inside was a medicine bottle containing eight red pills.

"These are Vitality Pills!" He recognized them. Wealthy youngsters such as Wei Yuan, Wang Yu, and Zhou Xue used these Vitality Pills as medicinal supplements. Each cost around ten taels of silver, and their effects were far better than those of Vitality Powder.

Aside from those, there was also a martial arts manual, with "Cloak Saber Technique" written on its cover.

"Feng Dahu's saber and leg techniques were both impressive."

Zhao Feng recalled Feng Dahu's desperate counterattack just before his death. Although an arrow had struck his right leg, he had dragged the wounded limb along using only his left leg, yet his footwork had still been as swift as a spinning wind wheel. His single-saber technique had also been impressive, its defense so tight that not a drop of water could have slipped through.

But his injuries and excessive blood loss had greatly diminished the power of both his leg and saber techniques. Zhao Feng had still found an opening and killed him with a single arrow.

Both were undoubtedly fine martial arts, the skills Feng Dahu had kept at the bottom of his chest as his last resort.

"Then there should be a leg technique manual, too." Zhao Feng searched carefully, but found only the saber manual, with no leg technique manual. Even so, his haul was already substantial.

He gazed at the banknotes, loose silver, saber manual, and pills. This was probably everything Feng Dahu had owned. Wild joy welled up in Zhao Feng's heart and gradually spread through his entire body, making him tremble despite himself.

As the saying went, those who killed and burned wore belts of gold. Whether he worked as a guard, escorted caravans, or even accepted financial support, none of it could compare to the windfall from a single job like this. At that moment, he even felt he understood those mountain bandits and river pirates a little.

He quickly suppressed those tangled thoughts, telling himself to stay calm and not get carried away. This matter had to rot away inside his belly; no one could ever learn of it. He had to be exceedingly careful.

With this silver, he would not have to worry about obtaining treasure medicine or ferocious beast meat for dietary supplements for some time. With the pills as well, he could break through to the Hidden Force level even faster.

Naturally, he would also practice the Cloak Saber Technique. But the open ground outside the row houses offered no cover. Zhao Feng did not know whether this saber technique was common, so to be safe, he would have to practice it in private.

I need a courtyard, and it has to be a separate property with its own entrance.

Zhao Feng thought this as he threw all of Feng Dahu's clothing and miscellaneous belongings into the stove to burn.

It was not until late that morning that someone discovered Feng Dahu's corpse amid the ruins in the north of the city. The news immediately caused an uproar throughout the Outer City. After all, the Black Tiger Gang had once been a gang that ran roughshod over the western part of the city. Rumors flew everywhere. Naturally, every finger pointed at their recent mortal enemy, the Three Harmonies Gang. Without a doubt, they had done it.

Many people secretly cheered as well. Let the dogs bite one another; in any case, a scourge had been removed from the Outer City.

The county office sent officers to inspect the corpse, but they concluded that it was an accidental violent death. This surprised no one. The County Magistrate had always kept one eye open and the other shut when it came to deadly gang feuds.

Although Feng Dahu's death sparked heated discussion, it lasted only a few days before people gradually stopped mentioning him, as though he had never existed.

"It's about time to look for a place." Seeing that the commotion had died down, Zhao Feng began to act.

Inside his riverside row house, he tucked the banknotes, martial arts manual, and pills into his robe, then gathered and bundled up his few pieces of clothing. He left the row house to end his tenancy. The lease was nearly up anyway.

After ending his tenancy, he did not look for a house through his previous brokerage. Instead, he went to another brokerage in the south of the city and found a gaunt broker.

Zhao Feng told him he wanted a house with a courtyard.

"You've come at just the right time, sir. Quite a few courtyard houses have recently become available for sale or rent here in the Outer City, and the prices are all reasonable. Are you looking to buy or rent?" the gaunt broker asked.

"I want to rent a separate property with its own entrance, somewhere close to Five-Peace Ward," Zhao Feng said.

Although he could probably afford a courtyard house in the Inner City now, he would wait until he had broken through to Hidden Force and gained sufficient standing before finding an opportunity to buy property there. For now, he had to keep a low profile.

"Near Five-Peace Ward? Then your timing couldn't be better. A separate property with its own entrance became available just two days ago. Come with me." The broker harnessed a donkey cart and had Zhao Feng climb aboard. He took him through four streets to the boundary between Five-Peace Ward and Peaceful Ward, a relatively quiet area, then led him into an alley to the east called Willow Tree Alley. They reached a courtyard at the very end of the alley, pushed open the gate, and went inside.

The first thing Zhao Feng did was inspect the courtyard. It was fairly spacious, a little larger than the one where they practiced martial arts, with enough room for archery, leg techniques, and saber practice alike. It also offered good privacy. It stood at the very end of the alley, with no large trees outside from which anyone could overlook it. Instead, the large willow beside the courtyard wall blocked the view from rooftops beyond the alley. In summer, it would also shield him from the scorching sunlight.

There was also a well in the courtyard, making it convenient to draw water. A hall served for dining and receiving guests, while a main room was used for sleeping. The east and west wings were both empty, and a small side room beside the east wing doubled as a kitchen and woodshed. Some dried medicinal herbs and vegetables remained in a corner by the wall.

"The owner is a medicinal herb merchant who just moved away. He'll be living in the Prefecture City year-round from now on, so this house is available either for sale or for rent. The rent is six hundred copper coins a month," the broker said, watching Zhao Feng's expression.