The atmosphere in the room instantly froze.
Shen Momo fell silent at once, her body trembling uncontrollably.
Beside her, Madam Zheng's face turned pale, terror filling her eyes as she said tightly,
"Eldest son, this..."
The smile vanished from Shen Xiuhan's face, and a chill flashed through his eyes.
Really...
It never ended!
He placed the trembling Shen Momo into his mother's arms and said in a low voice,
"Mother, watch over Momo. I'll handle what's outside."
"Eldest son, be careful..."
Madam Zheng held her daughter, her voice shaking.
Shen Xiuhan gave her a reassuring look, then abruptly rose and pushed open the door.
Outside the fenced courtyard.
Four or five burly men in fitted outfits stood there, dressed in black short garments. Their knotted muscles bulged, short blades and daggers hung from their waists, and their fierce eyes turned toward him.
Shen Xiuhan's gaze was like a blade as it swiftly swept across their faces.
The first four were unfamiliar faces he had never seen before.
Only the tall man standing at the back, a thin twig between his teeth and legs as thick as pillars, made Shen Xiuhan's eyes narrow.
It was him!
When Shen Xiuhan had caught Silver-striped Fish and gone to sell them at the fish market, this very man had collected the stall fee.
Isn't this man from the Golden Dragon Gang... Why is he calling himself a member of the Turbulent Wave Gang now?
Shen Xiuhan remembered him clearly.
On the day he sold fish, the wooden plaque at the man's waist had clearly borne the character "Gao."
But now, the plaque hanging at his waist was completely different in style, and the character on it had changed to "Liu."
Even his surname and identity had changed...
Could these people be Golden Dragon Gang members in disguise?
Before Shen Xiuhan could think further, the men outside impatiently slapped the gate, and one barked in a rough voice,
"Kid, what are you standing around for? You're making your uncles stand outside drinking the northwest wind?"
They outnumbered him, and he had no idea whether they had any Bright Force experts among them... To keep them from using Madam Zheng and Shen Momo as hostages, he had to proceed carefully.
Shen Xiuhan piled a terrified expression onto his face, hurriedly pulled open the courtyard gate, bent at the waist, and smiled ingratiatingly.
"Esteemed sirs, it is so late. May I ask what brings you here?"
"What brings us here?"
The scar-faced man at the lead sneered and stepped into the courtyard.
The others followed in without the slightest politeness, surrounding Shen Xiuhan in the middle.
With his arms folded over his chest, the scar-faced man looked down at him and said gruffly,
"Kid, keep your eyes open!"
"From today onward, Little Path Bay is no longer under the Golden Dragon Gang's control. My Turbulent Wave Gang is taking over. Hand over this spring's protection money to us brothers today."
"This spring's... protection money?"
Shen Xiuhan pretended to be stunned. Panic appeared on his face as he rubbed his hands together and smiled apologetically.
"Esteemed sirs... It is not yet time to pay the protection money. There is no spare money saved up at home. Could you perhaps show some mercy and give me a few more days..."
Every quarter, the Golden Dragon Gang collected protection money from every ward in the outer city.
Five qian per household, or five hundred copper coins.
Over a year, that came to two taels of silver, enough to cover an ordinary tenant farmer's food for more than half a year.
That was why poor families in the outer city worked without rest every day, yet still went hungry, even selling off their sons and daughters.
"No money?"
The scar-faced man smiled.
The smile looked especially savage on his scar-crossed face.
He tilted his head, his gaze passing over Shen Xiuhan to settle on the thatched hut behind him, where a dim yellow lamp still glowed. His tone became suggestive.
"If I remember correctly... you have a little sister in there, don't you? If you truly cannot pay, send her to a dark brothel to settle the debt. I can make that call for you..."
Shen Xiuhan's smile froze.
He lowered his eyes and fell silent.
After a moment, as though resigned to his fate, he took out four strings of copper coins from his robes and handed them over.
This was the money he had earned from selling Azure Awl Chicken feathers during the day.
"There are only four hundred coins. I am still short one qian. I will definitely gather the rest and make up for it as soon as possible..."
The scar-faced man's eyes lit up. He snatched the money away and weighed it twice in his palm.
"Tsk, tsk. Who would have thought? This poor mud-legged bumpkin is actually quite rich!"
He stuffed the money into his robes, and his expression changed in an instant. With a swish, he drew the short blade from his waist and roared sternly,
"But your uncle doesn't believe you!"
"Get inside and bring out all the money you have hidden. I'm warning you, don't force me to search it myself, or else..."
"Forget it!"
The man outside, who had kept the thin twig in his mouth and had not spoken all this while, suddenly said coldly.
"Young—cough, Chief Liu, that brat had four qian right on him. There must be plenty more hidden in his house!"
"I said, forget it."
"...Yes!"
The scar-faced man was clearly unwilling.
But the tall man outside carried an imposing air, so he could only grit his teeth and obediently step back.
Chief Liu spat out the twig and stared at Shen Xiuhan as he said unhurriedly,
"Within three days, deliver the rest of the money to the Turbulent Wave Gang hall. If you miss the deadline, bear the consequences yourself."
With that, he turned and strode away.
Seeing their leader had spoken, the gang members could only glare viciously at Shen Xiuhan a few times before following him out of the courtyard.
"Consider yourself lucky, kid!"
Before leaving, the scar-faced man turned back, spat fiercely, snorted, and followed after them with his head lowered.
Watching their retreating backs, Shen Xiuhan slowly clenched his fists.
Once they had gone far away, Shen Xiuhan turned and entered the house, giving a few quiet instructions.
Then he quickly left the courtyard and silently followed after them.
"Damn it, they moved away!"
"Fuck, they got lucky!"
Under the night sky, several men kicked Chen An's courtyard gate to pieces, went in and searched around, then soon came out cursing, their faces dark with frustration.
They then changed direction and headed toward East Creek Ward.
Along the way, the scar-faced man slowed his steps, moved beside Chief Liu, and said quietly,
"Young Gang Leader, that brat had four qian on him just now. There must have been money hidden inside the house. Why let him off so easily?"
Chief Liu...
More accurately, the Young Gang Leader of the Golden Dragon Gang, said blandly upon hearing this,
"We used the Turbulent Wave Gang's skin to scrape together a windfall, and stirred the waters while we were at it. That is already a fine thing. There is no need to lose the big for the small... Three days from now, when that kid takes the remaining protection money to the Turbulent Wave Gang, tell me... what do you think their reaction will be?"
The scar-faced man thought with his head down for a while, then shook his head and replied in a muffled voice,
"This subordinate does not know... This subordinate only feels that Young Gang Leader may have collected quite a bit less money just now!"
At that, the Young Gang Leader's mouth twitched speechlessly. He suddenly stopped, turned his head, and sized up the scar-faced man before asking out of nowhere,
"Scarface, how many years have you worked for my Golden Dragon Gang?"
The scar-faced man froze. Without a second thought, he slapped his chest and declared his loyalty.
"In reply to Young Gang Leader, exactly four years!"
"From the very first day the Golden Dragon Gang planted its banner in Longcloud County, the old gang leader took me under his command. These past few years, I have always followed you through fire and water, Young Gang Leader!"
"Four years. That is quite some time..."
A cryptic curve lifted at the Young Gang Leader's mouth, and his voice became distant.
"But what if I told you the Golden Dragon Gang was not established only four years ago? Ten years ago, my father had already founded this gang in Stonepool County, Guangwu Prefecture. Of course, it was not called the Golden Dragon Gang at the time..."
The scar-faced man was utterly confused. He said blankly, "Th-this... This is truly the first time this subordinate has heard of it..."
"Of course you do not know."
The Young Gang Leader laughed softly.
"Because... apart from my father and me, everyone who knew about it back then is already dead."
What did he mean?
The scar-faced man narrowed his eyes slightly, one hand instinctively settling on the short blade at his waist.
But the Young Gang Leader paid no heed.
A calm smile hung on his lips. With his hands clasped behind his back, as though recounting some romantic affair, he spoke at an unhurried pace.
"Back then in Stonepool County, I took a liking to the young daughter of a local wealthy family who had just come of age. That figure, that face, tsk, tsk... So I abducted her and forcibly took her body."
He paused, licking his lips as though savoring some great exploit.
"Later, I took her intimate bellyband and extorted a ransom from her father."
"During it all, I heard that she had an elder brother at the Star-Picking Sect in Cangzhou, and that he was even a personal disciple, with cultivation at Peak Hidden Force... So I simply went all the way, took the money, and killed everyone to settle it!"
"To erase every trace completely and ensure not even a whisper leaked out..."
The Young Gang Leader looked at the four gang members ahead, who had sensed something was wrong, stopped walking, and turned around in alarm and uncertainty. A smile curled at his lips.
"That night, my father brought me along, and we personally slit the throats of all thirty-six old brothers in the gang, one by one... Then we gathered up the money and came to Longcloud County overnight... Only then did the Golden Dragon Gang come to be."
Even the wind around them seemed to have stopped.
The flesh on the scar-faced man's face twitched slightly, and beads of cold sweat seeped from his forehead.
No matter how stupid he was, he understood the hidden meaning behind this old story!
"Young... Young Gang Leader..."
The scar-faced man swallowed, unconsciously taking a step back, his voice trembling.
"Why... why are you telling me this? This subordinate has always been utterly loyal to you and the old gang leader, without the slightest divided heart!"
The four men ahead also realized what was happening and fumbled frantically for the hilts of their weapons.
"Loyalty? Only the loyalty of the dead puts one most at ease."
The Young Gang Leader turned to look at them, his eyes like a venomous snake watching prey.
"Besides... I gave you a chance just now... If you were a clever man, I would not have minded sparing your life. After all, raising a loyal and useful dog takes no small amount of effort."
"Unfortunately, just as my father said, you are greedy and lustful, stupid as a pig, and have no value worth cultivating. Keeping you alive... would only affect my family's great plans!"
The scar-faced man's face turned first green, then white. Gritting his teeth, he said, "Young Gang Leader, let us talk this over. We will leave overnight and never return to Longcloud County—no, not even South Township Prefecture..."
"Too late!"
The Young Gang Leader grinned viciously as his blood and qi surged around him. "If you want someone to blame, blame the Turbulent Wave Gang..."
"That Zheng Dadao is no mere former rebel. His origins are mysterious, his methods reach the heavens, and his backing is anything but simple."
"As it happens, we have made enough money in Longcloud County. Once that place opens up... we will simply change territories and live freely and happily elsewhere."
"But since we are leaving, the rules from back then naturally cannot be broken..."
As his words fell, the Young Gang Leader's formerly lazy figure suddenly erupted into motion. Like a hungry wolf pouncing on prey, he closed in on Scarface in the blink of an eye!
"Gao Nian, you..."
Scarface was instantly horrified beyond measure.
He had just tried to draw his blade when a thunderous blast exploded beside his ear!
Gao Nian's right leg rose like an iron whip, the top of his foot taut as it carried savage blood and qi, lashing viciously toward Scarface's temple!
Crack, crack, crack...
Scarface's head was kicked sideways to the left. Fine cracking sounds came from his neck as it twisted into a grotesque angle.
Blood seeped out like little snakes from his nostrils, eyes, ears, and the corners of his mouth.
Before he could even scream, Scarface fell stiffly to the ground, dead on the spot.
"Fuck!"
"Gao Nian wants to kill us to silence us! We'll die either way—brothers, fight!"
The remaining four men's eyes split wide with fury.
Despair turned into the savagery of trapped beasts fighting to the death.
They roared as they drew their daggers and short blades, charging at Gao Nian!
"Even ants dare shake the heavens?"
Gao Nian sneered. His blood and qi surged. Rather than retreat, he advanced, twisting his waist and hips as his legs whipped out in succession like a windmill gone mad!
Bang, bang!
The two gang members who had rushed forward were like men struck head-on by galloping warhorses.
Their chests caved in. Their bodies flew back four or five steps like sacks, blood and shattered organs spraying from their mouths. They twitched twice, then fell silent.
Seeing this, the remaining two men were so terrified their livers and gallbladders nearly burst. Cold sweat instantly soaked their clothes, as if they had fallen into the icy prison of the ninth netherworld.
What kind of battle was this?
It was clearly a one-sided slaughter!
The gap between ordinary people and Bright Force martial artists was as vast as heaven and earth!
The two exchanged terrified looks, then shouted in tacit unison:
"Split up and run!"
"Run?"
Gao Nian burst into laughter, his blood and qi surging into his lower body like a rising tide:
"What a pack of fools. You spent all these years in my Golden Dragon Gang for nothing!"
The Gao family's inherited stance art, the "Twenty-Four Collapsing Mountain Legs," was fierce and domineering, specializing in offense.
Its defining trait was tempering the large tendons of the legs until they became incomparably supple and resilient, making it equally adept at rapid pursuit and killing chases.
Never mind splitting up—today, even if these two sprouted wings, they were doomed to escape death's net!
Yet at that moment—
A ghostly gray shadow burst soundlessly from the darkness. Accompanied by a thunderous shout:
"What madman dares cause trouble on the Turbulent Wave Gang's turf!"
Hearing this, the two Golden Dragon Gang members felt as though they had heard heavenly music, and were overjoyed.
In that desperate brush with death, they squeezed out every last scrap of strength and plunged into the dark alleyways without looking back.
The gray shadow paid them no heed. A razor-sharp howl of wind tore through the air, hurtling straight at Gao Nian's face!
"Get lost!"
Alarmed and enraged, Gao Nian immediately met it with a heavy kick!
Fist and leg collided, blood and qi crashing together!
In the span of a breath, the two exchanged three moves!
Dull impacts of flesh against flesh echoed out, kicking up a ring of gale-force dust.
The gray shadow's arms suddenly spread like wings. His body traced a nimble arc through the air, like a soaring eagle circling with spread wings, before slowly landing and steadying himself.
By contrast, Gao Nian's foot plowed a print more than an inch deep into the rammed-earth road.
His chest heaved as he suppressed the churning blood and qi within him. Staring at the masked man as though facing a great enemy, he gritted his teeth and shouted:
"Who are you?"
"My father is Gao Fu of the Golden Dragon Gang. He stepped into Hidden Force years ago. Are you truly going to fight my Golden Dragon Gang to the death?!"
Though Gao Nian spoke fiercely, his heart had already grown exceedingly grave.
This man's blood and qi are thin. He seems to have only just entered the Blood Tempering Realm, yet that bizarre method of exerting force lets him clash head-on with me, someone at Blood Tempering Great Accomplishment, without falling behind...
I cannot let down my guard!
The gray shadow snorted coldly, deliberately speaking in a rough, hoarse voice:
"My name remains the same standing or sitting—Turbulent Wave Gang's Second Boss, Shen Erdao! I'm here to beat the shit out of scum like you Golden Dragon Gang bastards!"
"You..."
Gao Nian nearly laughed from anger.
But before he could waste another word, the gray shadow had already lowered himself.
Then, wrapped in incomparably fierce blood and qi, he charged low across the ground at Gao Nian like a death god come to claim a life!
So fast!
Gao Nian's eyelid twitched as he twisted his body, feigning an escape.
The instant the gray shadow closed in, his left leg shot upward without warning like a venomous dragon emerging from its lair, driving a fierce backward kick with the force of his twisting waist!
"Twenty-Four Collapsing Mountain Legs—Returning Wind Leg!"
This move was sinister and vicious, specifically targeting vital points.
An ordinary Blood Tempering Realm martial artist struck by this kick at such close range would be crippled if not dead.
Yet the gray shadow twisted and slipped aside strangely in midair, like a nimble swimming fish, narrowly evading it with graceful ease!
"Movement technique!"
Gao Nian's eyes widened, his scalp tingling numb.
Even as he cried out in shock, the change in his leg techniques was not the least bit slow.
When that strike missed, he lifted his knee and sank his waist in one fluid motion. His legs turned into a sky full of afterimages, unleashing piercing shrieks as they rained down a tempest of savage linked kicks at the gray shadow's face and chest!
"Twenty-Four Collapsing Mountain Legs—Shadowless Leg!"
But the gray shadow swayed left and right, shifting up and down, never allowing Gao Nian to so much as brush the corner of his clothes!
Besides his force-exertion method, this man also possesses a movement technique. No, I need to retreat!
Alarm bells blared in Gao Nian's heart.
He roared, his long leg thrusting straight out like a great spear, hoping to force his opponent back half a step so he could seize the chance to escape.
"Twenty-Four Collapsing Mountain Legs—Spear-Thrusting Leg!"
But unexpectedly, a brilliant gleam suddenly burst from the eyes of the gray shadow, who had been dodging all along!
His right hand fiercely formed a claw, fingertips streaking out five gray flashes as they clamped straight toward Gao Nian's right leg!
Like a goshawk from the nine heavens tearing its prey apart alive.
The five fingers of that huge hand hooked like talons, plunging directly into the flesh of Gao Nian's thigh. Then, wrapped in violent blood and qi, they ripped viciously downward!
"Ahhh!!"
Gao Nian let out a shrill, miserable howl.
Five horrifying bloody furrows, deep enough to expose bone and with flesh peeled outward, had been torn across his right leg. Blood sprayed from the wounds!
This is bad!
Gao Nian was horrified!
His thigh was badly wounded, stripping away eighty percent of his strength. Escaping would be difficult now!
Disregarding his pride, Gao Nian decisively rasped out a plea for mercy:
"Sir... no! Brother, spare my life! If you let me go, my Golden Dragon Gang is willing to offer one hundred taels of silver with both hands..."
But the gray shadow gave him no chance at all. His left hand became an afterimage, shooting directly for Gao Nian's throat, his fatal gate!
Gao Nian's expression changed wildly as he hurriedly said:
"Brother, spare my life!"
"I have a great opportunity to tell you about. There is a blessed—"
But the gray shadow simply ignored him, the wind from his claw making Gao Nian's back go numb!
"You're going too far!"
Gao Nian roared, pouring all the blood and qi in his body into his right fist. With a furious bellow, he punched upward at the gray shadow's chest!
A dull thud rang out.
He had hit him!
Wild joy surged in Gao Nian's heart.
But in the next instant, the joy froze on his face and turned into boundless despair.
The gray shadow who had taken his punch remained as still as an iron tower, utterly unharmed!
The other man had clearly only just entered the Blood Tempering Realm, yet his body was as indestructible as that of a Bone Tempering Realm martial artist!
A huge hand like iron pincers tore through the night wind and clamped around his neck!
Gao Nian's eyes bulged, blood spilling from his mouth. Feeling the hand at his throat continuously tightening, he forced out three broken words:
"Body... tempering... art?"
Beneath the mask, Shen Xiuhan's expression remained impassive.
He exerted force with one arm, slowly lifting Gao Nian over his head as though he were a chick.
Then, his right hand changed from claw to fist. Blood and qi surged toward the fist's edge, like a heavy hammer smashing viciously into Gao Nian's chest!
"Boom!"
It was like striking a broken drum.
The aftershock of blood and qi pierced through his body and exploded into a cloud of blood from Gao Nian's back!
Every rib in his chest shattered completely, and his heart was instantly crushed by the force.
The next moment, Gao Nian's body crumpled limply to the ground.
When you encounter advertisements such as "Are you a True Person?", there is no need to pay attention to them. Just close them; never scan the code or send text messages!
Before you continue