Elimination

Two days later.

In the courtyard of the house in Willow Tree Alley, Zhao Feng took out a slip of paper. It had been handed to him by someone from the Three Harmonies Gang waiting outside when he left the martial arts school today.

After reading it, his eyes narrowed slightly. He placed the note beside the oil lamp and burned it to ashes. It was time to cross another name off the little ledger in his heart.

After nightfall, in a secluded courtyard in East Archway Alley of the inner city.

Dressed in black and with his face covered, Zhao Feng silently made his way outside the courtyard. Peering through a crack in the wall, he saw that the small yard was quiet. Dim yellow light shone from the main room, and the faint sound of a woman laughing teasingly could be heard within.

"What's going on?" Zhao Feng frowned. Rather than vaulting over the wall, he looked around, then climbed onto the wall of the courtyard across the alley. Hidden behind an upturned eave, he watched the opposite courtyard.

"According to the information from the Three Harmonies Gang, Feng Second Tiger is hiding here." There had been no news of Feng Second Tiger for several days. Zhao Feng had thought he had left the city, but he was hiding here instead?

Recovering from his injuries? Back then, he had merely suffered a fracture in his lower leg. It was not such a serious injury. And why was there a woman here? Zhao Feng suspected they had the wrong place, or that the Three Harmonies Gang was playing him.

Before long, the door to the main room creaked open. A seductive woman emerged while fastening the buttons of her soft dress.

A sturdy young man followed behind her. It was indeed Feng Second Tiger. He wrapped an arm around the woman's waist, his large hand caressing her plump backside.

"Second Master, don't be in such a hurry. This servant will go buy wine and meat, then come right back," the woman said sweetly.

Only then did Feng Second Tiger chuckle and release her. The woman rolled her eyes at him coquettishly before swaying out through the door.

"Rather than hurry out of the city, he came to visit his lover. He truly has a death wish." Zhao Feng quietly removed the hard horn bow from his back.

It was less than seventy paces from behind the eaves to the courtyard. He was confident.

From Zhao Feng's vantage point, after the woman left, Feng Second Tiger stretched his limbs in the courtyard.

Only after the woman vanished around the mouth of the alley did he turn and prepare to return to the room. I told you, you had a death wish. Zhao Feng held his breath, nocked an arrow, and drew the bow to a full moon. The arrow shot forth like a meteor!

Whoosh! A soft twang of bowstring sounded in the night sky. Almost at the same moment, Feng Second Tiger rolled across the ground.

Smack! A feathered arrow embedded itself firmly where he had just been standing. Feng Second Tiger sprang up from the ground and lunged toward the door. His reaction was undeniably fast enough, honed through years of living on the blade's edge in the prefectural city.

As long as he got inside, arrows could not touch him. Once he got his saber, he would have the strength to fight. Though he did not know who his attacker was, the inner city now had patrols and decent security. As long as he could hold out until the patrol arrived, his opponent would naturally retreat.

Just as his upper body had barely lunged into the main room, his lower leg went numb, followed by a surge of agony. An arrow had struck his calf.

"This archery..." Feng Second Tiger was horrified. Fortunately, he had already rolled into the room, but at that moment, a whirlwind-like figure had already rushed into the courtyard. Feng Second Tiger gripped his saber hilt, drew the blade, spun around, and slashed at the incoming figure, trying to block his opponent outside the door.

Yet his injured leg made him half a beat slower, and the enemy had already rushed into the room!

Iron Mountain Lean!

Overlord Breaks the Reins! Without dodging, Zhao Feng charged headlong into the saber's gleam. His hands pressed down as if gripping reins, instantly seizing the other man's wrist.

Iron Claw Locks the Dragon! Feng Second Tiger immediately turned sideways, abandoning his saber as he tried to reverse-grip Zhao Feng's wrist. But the pain and numbness in his leg made him half a beat slower again.

Almost at the same time, there came a heavy thud.

He felt a sharp pain in his lower abdomen. Zhao Feng's knee had struck him.

Although he had gathered his strength in advance to guard his lower abdomen, the blow still caused agonizing pain. Hidden force penetrated his body. "Pwah!" He spat out a mouthful of bloody froth and hastily retreated.

In that brief instant, the situation had reversed. Inside the room, he was instead at a disadvantage—a fatal disadvantage! He had to rush back out the door before he could use his leg technique to escape. Zhao Feng blocked the way to the main entrance. Gritting his teeth, Feng Second Tiger charged toward the window.

Bang! He smashed through the window and flew out. But Zhao Feng followed immediately, throwing a punch.

"Damn it!" His lower leg had been hit by an arrow, and now the bone had fractured again.

The excruciating pain made it impossible for him to use his leg technique to open the distance and flee. Instead, he staggered, took the punch, and was blasted several meters away, coughing up blood.

Seizing the opportunity, Zhao Feng unleashed the fierce, close-range short strikes of Eight Extremes Fist, each move targeting vital points.

"Brother Zhao, it's a misunderstanding! Spare my life!" Feng Second Tiger now knew who his attacker was. Unable to fend him off, he took punch after punch, blood spraying from the corners of his mouth as he could only beg repeatedly.

Regret filled his heart. Seeing the cold eyes behind the black cloth covering his opponent's face, a chill rose within him. His opponent was ruthless and meticulous in his planning, clearly the sort who would never rest until he achieved his goal. Why had he provoked such a vicious man? Had I known this would happen, even if he truly killed my elder brother, I should never have provoked him!

Just as that thought crossed his mind, Zhao Feng's right hand, like iron pincers, broke through his already feeble eagle-claw defense and clamped around his throat. With a crack, it crushed his neck.

"I shouldn't have..." Feng Second Tiger's eyes widened as his corpse went limp.

Zhao Feng swiftly dragged him back into the room. He felt around the corpse and found a money pouch and a small booklet. Without examining them closely, Zhao Feng tucked them into his clothes. He then poured lamp oil over the corpse, set it ablaze, and swiftly departed, vanishing into the night.

Before long, thick smoke rose behind him. From far away, he could even hear a woman screaming.

After returning to the courtyard in Willow Tree Alley of the outer city, Zhao Feng changed out of his night clothes, face covering, and soft-soled cloth shoes, throwing them into the kitchen stove and burning them to ashes.

The string of grudges with the Black Tiger Gang had finally come to an end. Zhao Feng did not regret anything he had done. Any potential threat within one's ability to handle had to be eliminated as early as possible, otherwise one could not sleep soundly.

He crossed Feng Second Tiger's name off the little ledger in his heart. Opening the money pouch, he counted the contents. There were a little over a hundred taels of silver inside—not much. This was after Feng Second Tiger had already extorted quite a bit of money. After breaking through to hidden force in the prefectural city, Feng Second Tiger had exhausted all his resources. That was why he had come from the prefectural city to Big Stone County, mainly for the Black Tiger Gang's assets.

For Zhao Feng, the greater surprise was the small booklet. Its cover read Wind God Leg Technique, clearly a leg technique. He opened it and saw a line of large characters at the beginning:

Wind God Leg Technique lies in comprehending the unpredictability of the wind. Wind rises without form, sweeping fallen leaves, rolling flowing clouds, splitting stone and piercing the sky!

Zhao Feng continued reading several more pages, and his expression grew grave. This leg technique was not as simple as he had initially thought. Though it was also a supplementary external martial art, once Wind God Leg Technique reached a certain level, one could sweep fallen leaves and roll up flowing clouds like a wind wheel. It was incredibly fast and endlessly variable. It was an excellent movement technique, making it difficult for an opponent's attacks to land solidly. It was useful for advancing, retreating, and evasion alike. Yet in terms of leg attacks alone, it was relatively weaker.

"The essence of this Wind God Leg Technique bears a striking resemblance to the Cloak Saber Technique. Could they be a matched set of martial arts?" Zhao Feng suddenly recalled Feng Dahu's desperate counterattack before his death. One leg had spun rapidly like a wind wheel, while the steel saber in his right hand had swung like a gale, leaving almost no opening.

In truth, Zhao Feng did not know that Feng Dahu had built up the Black Tiger Gang and secured a place in the outer city by relying on the Gale Saber Technique combined with the footwork of Wind God Leg Technique. Back then, he had also escaped the Three Harmonies Gang's encirclement through this matched set of skills. Had he not been injured and shot in the leg by an arrow, Zhao Feng would never have been able to catch him.