Reason

Zhao Feng snorted coldly. His muscles and bones cracked as he stepped forward, his iron fist striking like a hammer. Fist met claw. Thump! A muffled sound like tearing leather erupted in the narrow alley! Feng Second Tiger retreated half a step. His broad hand visibly trembled.

"Hidden force?" His expression changed in alarm.

According to Military Strategist Lü Tong, Zhao Feng was only a mud-legged peasant who had entered bright strength a few months ago.

Zhao Feng pressed his advantage without mercy, surging forward another half step. His left elbow smashed down like an iron anvil toward his opponent's heart, while his right palm swept backhanded toward his neck, carrying a fierce gust.

Where that fierce gust passed, the air faintly rippled!

Feng Second Tiger was horrified. He had only wanted to capture Zhao Feng and interrogate him. He had never expected the man to possess hidden force, much less go straight for the kill-a ruthless man of few words. The killing moves were upon him in an instant, forcing him to respond hastily. In a flash, he bent backward into an Iron Bridge, evading Zhao Feng's backhanded chop while kicking his toes upward into the tip of Zhao Feng's left elbow, neutralizing the Heart-Top Elbow.

Yet in that same instant, Zhao Feng's right palm, which had swept through empty air, became a fist and smashed down viciously in a Mountain-Splitting Strike. He actually changed moves midway, before the first one was even spent! Still bent in his Iron Bridge, Feng Second Tiger was aghast. Changing moves midway was not difficult; maintaining hidden force while changing it along with the move was. In his haste, he opened both claws into palms and formed a bridge with his arms, taking the punch head-on.

Thump! With a muffled impact, his opponent's hidden force penetrated his body. Feng Second Tiger was hammered straight into the ground, his back landing heavily and stirring up a cloud of dust. Agonizing pain shot through his arms, and his qi and blood churned. Horror filled him-one wrong step had led to another.

In a flash, he twisted and scissored his legs, spinning his entire body through a full three hundred and sixty degrees. At the same time, he shot backward out of Zhao Feng's offensive and sprang back to his feet.

"Hm?" Zhao Feng narrowed his eyes. That leg technique seemed familiar. It bore a striking resemblance to the technique Feng Dahu had used in his desperate struggle before dying.

The thought flashed past, and he immediately closed in, driving through his heels and moving like thunder! He chopped and struck in succession. Bracing Hammer! Scout Horse Splits the Mountain! Coiling Dragon Hand! Pigua Chain Strikes! Everything revolved around Entangling Force. He knew his movement technique was inferior to Feng Second Tiger's, so he had to bring the Entangling Force of Eight Extremes Fist into play and prevent Feng Second Tiger from opening up any distance.

Feng Second Tiger groaned inwardly.

He had not known at the outset that his opponent possessed hidden force. His careless opening attack had already cost him the initiative, and now his opponent pressed the advantage relentlessly, every step bringing another killing move!

"Brother Zhao, there's been a misunderstanding! Please stop! We can talk this out!" Reduced to defending himself, Feng Second Tiger could not help shouting.

If his opponent possessed hidden force, then he probably was not the one who had killed his brother. There would have been no need to hack him apart with a saber, trying to cover something up only to make it more conspicuous. Even if he was the killer, Feng Second Tiger could not avenge his brother now!

But as his opponent pressed closer and closer, he gritted his teeth. Inner force surged wildly through his arms, and his claws lashed out.

"Shattering Dragon Claw!"

"Wind-Rending Hand!"

"Mountain-Taming Eagle Strike!"

Bang, bang, bang! Their inner force collided repeatedly in solid, head-on exchanges. Already caught off guard and at a disadvantage, Feng Second Tiger was shaken back again and again.

Zhao Feng seized an opening, sank his stance, and closed in. His hips thrust sharply forward, and his knee drove toward his opponent's hipbone like a battering ram. In that split second, Feng Second Tiger twisted his hips and whipped his left leg up in a sweeping block.

Crack! "Aah!" Feng Second Tiger screamed. His leg collided with Zhao Feng's driving knee, and the sound of cracking bone came from his shin.

Under that relentless string of attacks, his hidden force had failed to keep up, leaving him badly disadvantaged in the head-on clash.

Yet he also used the force of that blow to send himself flying backward some three meters. Then, dragging his injured leg, he slid sideways on his right leg and swung it rapidly, darting another several meters away. He charged out of the alley and vanished.

Zhao Feng stopped. He knew his movement technique was lacking; even with one leg injured, his opponent was too fast for him to catch.

This man seems to have only recently entered hidden force too. All his hard training and inner force are concentrated in those eagle claws. He should belong to the Eagle Claw Skill lineage. The hidden force in his lower body is clearly insufficient, and he hasn't practiced his leg techniques for long either. His mastery falls a notch short of Feng Dahu's, Zhao Feng thought.

He was different. Zhao Feng's stance training was exceptionally solid, stronger than that of every disciple in the Martial Arts School. Moreover, Eight Extremes Stake Skill emphasized cross-shaped sinking force, making the flesh, sinews, and bones of his lower body tougher and their channels more open. Though he had only just entered hidden force, his power flowed freely, so that single knee strike had cracked his opponent's shinbone.

Fortunately, his master had taught him exactly how to exert his force that evening. And just like that, an excellent sparring partner had arrived-an opponent who had also only recently entered hidden force.

Yet Zhao Feng could not find it in himself to smile.

Why did Feng Second Tiger come after me? Why? Carrying that question with him, Zhao Feng returned to his courtyard in Willow Tree Alley.

"I thought I'd done everything without a seam showing. He should have gone to the Three Harmonies Gang for revenge. Why did he come after me?" Zhao Feng murmured as he sat down in the courtyard.

He reviewed the entire process of killing Feng Dahu, along with how carefully he had checked afterward for anyone following him. There had been no problems. No one could possibly have seen him or identified him as the killer.

He thought of Huang Biao, Leopard Bro, and all the ways he had still ended up being targeted afterward. Gradually, he began to laugh, silently at first, then louder and louder, until he was roaring with laughter.

"I was caught up in appearances. This world doesn't need evidence at all. Suspicion alone is enough."

How could a chaotic world of the Martial Dao unravel threads and peel away cocoons in search of evidence, as a society governed by law would? Once someone uncovered even a slight connection or a trace of suspicion, they might strike at you. This was a chaotic world where the weak were meat for the strong. If you were weak, there was no reason to argue at all! The root of everything was that you were not strong enough.

Thus, increasing his own strength was the only unassailable truth. Only when he was strong enough would others hesitate to entertain any designs against him, even if they suspected him. Of course, a sufficiently powerful backer would work too, but as the saying went, lean on a mountain and it falls; lean on a person and they run. Nothing could compare to becoming strong himself.

Still, even so, he had to make such deeds as watertight as possible in the future and keep himself out of the picture. At the very least, that could buy him enough time. This incident was a perfect example. If he had not been careful enough to leave no telltale traces, forcing Feng Second Tiger to spend so long investigating, an earlier attack would have left him at a terrible disadvantage.

"If I hadn't succeeded in my gate breakthrough tonight, things would probably have turned out completely differently just now."

That evening, Zhao Feng had succeeded in his stance training's gate breakthrough, brought his Eight Extremes Fist to great mastery, and received Huo Shan's painstaking guidance. Fortunately, all those prerequisites had been in place. Instead of being captured or humiliated, he had injured Feng Second Tiger and forced him to flee in disgrace.

Of course, Feng Second Tiger himself had only recently entered hidden force, and his initial carelessness had cost him the initiative.

What Zhao Feng did not know was that before coming to him, Feng Second Tiger had already sought out several other people who might have held grudges against Feng Dahu, sparing none of them. He truly did want revenge for his elder brother, but even more than that, he wanted to recover the valuables his brother had taken with him. They were worth several hundred taels of silver. He also knew perfectly well that many of those people could not possibly be the killer; he was merely using the pretext to extort them.

"Now that he's escaped, he's a potential threat." Zhao Feng might not fear him, but he still had family. A desperate outlaw like that, who was also a hidden force expert, had to be eliminated completely before the danger could be removed.

Now that Zhao Feng had broken through the gate into hidden force, he possessed a measure of strength. Naturally, he would no longer wait passively for his opponent to come knocking. He would take the initiative instead.

Since taking every precaution and covering every trace had still left him under suspicion from someone who would rather kill the wrong man than let him go, he might as well strike first.

But where could he find him?

Zhao Feng thought for a long time, and a plan took shape in his mind.