Hammer Kill

Chen Lingxi descended like Mount Tai bearing down, his blood and qi surging through his body, hot as molten copper coursing through his meridians!

The moment he struck, he drove the force-wielding method of Mountain-Crushing Force to its utmost limit. His right fist clenched tight, and a faint crimson aura glimmered over its edge.

The two men guarding the alley had not sensed Chen Lingxi's presence at all before he made his move.

Now Chen Lingxi came crashing down. He neither shouted a challenge nor landed to assume a stance.

He threw his punch in midair!

Mountain-Hoisting Fist!

It was like clasping his fists and lifting a mountain. His surging blood and qi roared forth, while Mountain-Crushing Force seemed poised to shatter peaks apart. An unimaginable power erupted at that instant!

Amid the spring breeze, Chen Lingxi's target was clear. His fist shot straight for the man who had said he wanted to buy a few more refugees to torture!

The man had a scar on his face and looked to be in his thirties. He was tall and heavily built, his muscles knotted and bulging. One look told anyone he was no decent fellow.

But... Chen Lingxi was no longer the sickly, frail youth he had once been.

Now, he was a martial artist who had reached minor accomplishment in the Copper-Red Realm!

His fist drove straight at Scarface's chest.

"Hiss!"

Blood and qi tore through the air!

Scarface reacted quickly. The instant he heard the sound of the wind splitting, he spun around.

Chen Lingxi's cold face reflected in his pupils. His mouth fell open, as though he wanted to shout something.

But the Mountain-Hoisting Fist had already arrived.

"Hiss!"

Another sound rang out, but it was no longer the sound of air being torn apart. It was the sound of a fist entering flesh and bone!

The punch landed squarely in Scarface's chest, its edge sinking deep into his torso.

There was no sound, not even the crack of breaking bone, because the fist had punched straight through his breastbone and pulverized the heart behind it.

Copper-Molten Qi burst from his fist, grinding the heart into a lump of rotten pulp.

Scarface's body stiffened for an instant, disbelief still lingering in his eyes.

His mouth remained open, yet no sound emerged. Only a gurgle rose from his throat, followed by a spray of bloody foam.

Like a severed wooden post, he toppled straight backward and slammed into the mud, kicking up a cloud of dust.

One punch, one kill!

"You!"

Third Brother finally reacted, drawing the saber at his waist only now.

It was an ordinary goose-quill saber, narrow and long, with a thick spine. It gave a piercing metallic shriek as it was drawn.

The hand gripping it was immensely powerful!

At the very least, it possessed the force of perfected Iron Body!

The long saber was about to sweep across, but Chen Lingxi's fist was simply too fast.

Third Brother did not even have time to see Chen Lingxi's face clearly. He only saw Scarface fall, then saw a blood-stained fist smashing toward his face.

Instinctively, he raised his saber to block.

Fist and blade collided with a crisp clang.

The goose-quill saber bent under the blow. The force of Mountain-Crushing Force traveled through the blade into Third Brother's arm, numbing the web between his thumb and forefinger and driving him back two steps.

Only then did Third Brother see his attacker clearly.

It was a young man.

Chen Lingxi was slight of build, his complexion somewhat pale. He looked like a bean sprout that had been raised in a dark room for too long, ready to topple at a breath of wind.

Yet those eyes of his were dark and heavy, devoid of even a trace of the timidity a youth ought to possess.

"Damn it."

Third Brother gritted his teeth. Without another word, he threw himself forward!

Anyone who had spent long enough in the martial world understood that when life and death hung in the balance, words were useless.

What one relied on was still the goose-quill saber in one's hand!

He wielded the goose-quill saber with great familiarity. Each stroke came faster than the last, the blade light pouring down like mercury spilling across the ground as it slashed toward Chen Lingxi's vital points—head, neck, chest, and abdomen.

He drove his blood and qi to the utmost, veins bulging all over his body. Every slash carried a shrill howl as it split the air.

This was his trump card. Even a martial artist newly entered into the Copper-Red Realm, one who had yet to cultivate Copper-Molten Qi, would have to avoid the edge of such an airtight barrage of swift blades.

But Chen Lingxi did not retreat.

He had died once in the Divine Chamber, killed by Lu Baizhong with a single finger.

He still remembered that pale golden bolt of lightning. It had been too fast—so fast that he had not even had time to think of dodging.

This saber was fast too.

But after witnessing something truly fast, this saber became slow.

He turned sideways to evade the downward slash. His left fist shifted, his blood and qi becoming incomparably solid and powerful beneath the driving force of Mountain-Crushing Force.

Taking advantage of the opening after that slash, he smashed his fist down with explosive speed, striking Third Brother's right shoulder.

The immensely condensed blood and qi penetrated straight through the bone. A sharp "crack!" sounded from Third Brother's shoulder.

Something seemed to have shattered.

Third Brother let out a muffled groan. His right arm instantly went limp, and his saber momentum faltered. Chen Lingxi's fist was already crashing into his right elbow joint.

This punch was the River-Entering Stance. Fist force poured in through the elbow, shattering the joint inch by inch.

The saber flew from his hand, embedding itself in the mud and swaying twice.

Chen Lingxi pressed his advantage without mercy. His left fist followed, Mountain-Crushing Force surging through its surface as it struck solidly against Third Brother's left knee.

It was like someone smashing a brittle-shelled walnut with an iron hammer. The kneecap caved inward, and jagged fragments of bone pierced through flesh, jutting out stark and white.

Third Brother howled miserably as he fell, his back slamming into the mud and splashing filthy water everywhere.

Chen Lingxi bent his knee and pinned his chest down, his left hand gripping his throat as his knuckles slowly tightened.

Third Brother's miserable cries stopped abruptly, turning into hoarse, rasping gasps.

His face flushed deep red, his eyes bulging as he stared fixedly at Chen Lingxi.

A few broken words squeezed from his throat. "You... you're that government slave..."

Chen Lingxi ignored his horror and merely asked, "Where is Wang Kong?"

His voice was not loud, yet it was exceptionally calm. There was not even the sound of labored breathing.

Third Brother's Adam's apple bobbed. His lips moved a few times, as though he still wanted to put up a show of defiance.

But Chen Lingxi's fingers tightened further around his throat. His nails pierced the skin, and beads of blood seeped out between his fingers.

"Drum-Calling Alley..." His mental defenses completely collapsed, and his voice turned muddled. "In the brothel at Drum-Calling Alley..."

"Drum-Calling Alley?" Chen Lingxi confirmed.

Third Brother could no longer form a complete sentence. He only nodded desperately.

Chen Lingxi pressed his fingers down.

Blood and qi surged, instantly crushing his windpipe.

Third Brother's body convulsed violently a few times. His legs kicked twice in the mud, then went still.

Chen Lingxi rose from atop him and lowered his gaze to his hands, which were covered in blood.

Today, he had hammered two men to death.

The blood was warm, thickly smeared between his fingers.

He watched it silently for a moment, then walked to the well beside the wall. He drew up half a bucket of water and carefully washed the blood from his hands.

For a first killing, it was not as terrifying as he had imagined.

Perhaps it was because he had seen too many corpses during the past two years at the Duguan Office and Baosu Marquis Residence, until he had long since become numb.

Or perhaps it was because he knew that, given his current circumstances, if he did not kill, if he did not make himself stronger, then others would kill him!

He dragged both corpses into the half-collapsed mud-brick house.

The house had long been uninhabited. Its beams and pillars were rotten, weeds grew thick at its foundation, and it was ideal for concealing what had happened.

Then he kicked dirt over the ground to cover the bloodstains.

Only after finishing all this did he look toward Drum-Calling Alley.

Drum-Calling Alley was a famous pleasure quarter in Yuan River Prefecture.

By day, it rang with the songs and laughter of courtesans; by night, it blazed with red lanterns and green wine. The sound of silk and bamboo instruments could drift across two whole streets.

Such a place swarmed with people. If he rashly barged in to look for someone, then even if he found Wang Kong, he feared he would be unable to do much.

He withdrew his gaze.

The scene in the Divine Chamber surfaced in his mind once more.

—Wang Kong was hurrying down the street with two burly men, cursing as he went.

Chen Lingxi raised an eyebrow slightly, a faint smile appearing at the corner of his lips.

"Having seen no results for so long, Wang Kong is most likely already on his way to Willow Street Alley."

He stood and dusted the dirt from his robes.

"I'll wait here."

"Since I've started this, I might as well do it cleanly."