Change of Ownership at Zhicheng Martial Arts Academy

"I object!"

Before the words faded, Deputy Director Yang crashed through a wall, tumbling into the adjacent student training area.

Chen Xu stood where Deputy Director Yang had just been standing. His gaze swept over the remaining senior coaches; no one dared meet his eyes, and all averted their gaze.

Hu Liming's palms were slick with sweat. He had not seen clearly at all how Chen Xu made his move, something even Director Xu could not achieve. This man's strength was probably already among the strongest in Jinning Commandery.

"Chen Xu, you are so lawless, the Martial Pavilion will not sit idly by!" Deputy Director Yang brought up the Martial Pavilion, hoping to scare him off.

"What have I done? I am merely acting as an advisor to offer an opinion. Why would the Martial Pavilion meddle in the family affairs of our Zhicheng Martial Arts Academy?"

Chen Xu bared his white teeth, stooped to hoist up Deputy Director Yang, and smiled slightly at the dumbfounded students: "We are discussing some matters, continue with your practice."

A few timid students collapsed onto the floor on the spot. Even when the level-6 Tiger Might was not intentionally unleashed, slightly sensitive ordinary people could still perceive the faint oppressive feeling.

Dropping Deputy Director Yang onto the ground, Chen Xu strode back to the main seat and sat down.

"I'll ask one last time, who is in favor of Chang Wei serving as the director, and who objects?

Those in favor will receive a fifty percent increase in monthly Abyss Coins going forward, and priority promotion to deputy director."

After a moment of silence, a senior coach cautiously raised his hand: "I'm in favor."

"Ma Kaijun, you!" Deputy Director Yang wore a look of utter disbelief. This man was also a veteran who had worked in the martial academy for nearly ten years; how could he be corrupted by the enemy's sugar-coated bullets so quickly?

Once someone took the lead, voices gradually increased. In the end, aside from Hu Liming, who was at odds with Chang Wei, only Deputy Director Yang alone withheld his approval.

"Starting today, Chang Wei will serve as the director of Zhicheng Martial Arts Academy, and Ma Kaijun will serve as the deputy director." After making the announcement, Chen Xu had Chang Wei lead people to the Martial Pavilion to handle the transfer procedures, while he headed straight for the other two martial academies.

Blood Blade Martial Hall.

Several burly, thick-set men leaned against the door, chatting idly.

Their topic, however, was far removed from that of most martial academy students—they talked of nothing but hacking people, street brawls, or which girl gave birth to a pretty face, occasionally breaking into obscene grins.

Openly, they were the so-called Blood Blade Martial Hall, but secretly, they were the largest black-market gang in Jinning Commandery, the Blood Blade Gang.

"Hah, someone is walking up the mountain path." The burly man was stripped to the waist, a lifelike crimson blade tattoo inked across his chest.

"Could it be another idiot wanting to apprentice? Is there still anyone who doesn't know that Blood Blade Martial Hall is the Blood Blade Gang?" A man in a black vest with crossed arms took a few steps forward, as if wanting to see the idiot's appearance clearly.

"What if he wants to join the Blood Blade Gang?" A man whose left pinky had been severed tossed his cigarette butt onto the ground and ground it out fiercely with his foot.

Hearing this, several Blood Blade Gang members burst into loud laughter: "Then let's make a bet."

"I bet ten Abyss Coins, an ignorant brat here to apprentice."

"An out-of-towner who doesn't know the way, fifteen Abyss Coins."

"I'll put down thirty Abyss Coins, wagering he's here to join the Blood Blade Gang."

"Is this Blood Blade Martial Hall?" Chen Xu looked up at the Blood Blade sign and gazed at the gang members present.

"Haha, I told you he came for Blood Blade Martial Hall. Hand over the money, pay up." The shirtless brawny man laughed loudly, reaching his hand out toward the others while completely ignoring Chen Xu.

The shirtless brawny man slammed into the doorway, passing out cold.

The overflowing laughter cut off abruptly, and the hilltop plunged into a dead silence.

"Is this Blood Blade Martial Hall?" Chen Xu repeated every single word.

"Your mother's!" Far from being afraid, several burly men swarmed forward.

Unfortunately, their striking speed, in Chen Xu's eyes, was as slow as a crawling turtle.

Knocking down the sentry gang members outside in two or three moves, Chen Xu raised his hand and slammed a punch into the red-lacquered gates.

Two men who were planning to push the door open to check what was happening outside were caught in the flying fragments of the shattered door and blown backward.

Nearly a hundred men dressed in black Federation-style suits stared straight at Chen Xu.

"Who goes there? Don't you know that the Blood Blade Gang, Sky Wolf Society, and Bamboo Cloud Sect are holding a Triple Alliance Meeting today?"

While speaking, they rushed swiftly toward Chen Xu. Clearly, the act of kicking in the door was equivalent to heavily slapping the three major gangs across the face; if they failed to catch the culprit, the consequences for them could be imagined.

"Although firearms are banned in the Great Abyss, one still needs to tread carefully in a place like this."

Chen Xu did not plan to entangle with them head-on. No matter how strong he was, he had not reached the point of completely ignoring numbers. A short-range fierce battle was fine, but if he were truly surrounded, breaking away would not be easy.

Taking a step two or three meters long, he knocked the foremost rushing gang members down to the ground and slaughtered his way toward the interior of the building.

A strength of 5.9 and a physique of 5.3 allowed him to move through the surrounding and intercepting mob of gang members as if entering an uninhabited realm.

Swish.

Shattering the glass, Chen Xu lunged into the building, forcing the outer perimeter gang members to halt their steps.

The gang maintained strict internal rules; without authorization from a boss, they lacked the qualification to enter the building. Doing so would lead to them being treated as intruders and beaten half to death on the spot.

If they happened to run into a boss in a bad mood, dying on the spot was not entirely impossible.

Crowds wearing three different styles of attire rushed toward Chen Xu, wielding various weapons in their hands.

Relying on the eighth-layer Bronze Body Technique, Chen Xu offered zero defense, and every strike of his Tiger Howl Fist sent three or four people flying.

"It's a martial arts expert! He cannot be matched, go quickly and invite Master Cui!" Someone roared loudly.

Swiping a horizontal kick, Chen Xu struck a circle of nearly ten people, causing them to vomit large mouthfuls of blood. A few of them looked unlikely to survive.

Seizing the opportunity to leap several steps in succession, he rushed up to the second floor. He remembered that this building covered an extremely large surface area; by making a few more detours, he could shake off this group of clingy parasites.

Agility might be Chen Xu's weak point, but compared to ordinary people, it far exceeded them. Turning left and right, within two minutes, the gang members lost track of him.

Have most of the personnel been arranged on the first floor and outside? Chen Xu solved a patrolling gang member with a casual hand-chop and walked deeper into the second floor.

Two minutes later, Chen Xu stared at a fire hydrant he had seen a moment ago and fell into deep thought. Unfamiliar with the layout of this building, he—who was handsome and grew stronger entirely thanks to talent—seemed to have gotten lost.

Chen Xu was unwilling to use the emergency exit; running toward that was practically walking right into a trap and picking a fight.

Let's find a window first. With outside views, it should be easier to identify my location, and it's best to find someone to ask for directions. If I'd known I'd get lost, I wouldn't have killed that guy earlier.

Choosing a different path once more, Chen Xu strode forward.

As his martial arts improved, his hearing had been greatly enhanced. He faintly caught the intentionally lowered footsteps in the passage ahead and to the right, and Chen Xu's muscles tensed slightly.

As the footsteps drew near, Chen Xu lunged out fiercely, pinning a blond woman—whose appearance differed from that of orthodox Great Abyss women—against the wall.

"I ask, you answer." Chen Xu could not be bothered to waste time; he needed to figure out the general layout of this building from the woman before him.