I Am the Black Hand

"Those who have not entered the Skin-Flesh Realm are ants in the end."

"You all experienced yesterday's events firsthand."

"Kuai, you speak first. If I had not come to the martial hall, if Hu Rong had not stepped forward out of righteousness—

"When Pockmarked Sun made trouble at the martial hall gates, when that Jackal brutally and savagely forced his way into the martial hall, how would you have stopped him?"

Wu Yi's gaze was like blazing torches as he stared fixedly at Li Kuai.

Li Kuai was like a timid little mouse, slowly lowering his head.

"I... I don't know..."

Seeing Li Kuai's cowardly appearance, Wu Yi's bearing sharpened as he cut him off.

"Hmph! Then let me tell you. Your best possible outcome would have been being dragged into the martial hall by Jackal and beaten to death, only to end up lying dead in the street!"

He stopped paying attention to Li Kuai and turned his gaze toward Zhou Man.

"Zhou Man, if I had not gone to Cloudwater Wharf and brought you back, what would your fate have been?"

"No, I... I definitely would have come back."

Seeing Zhou Man deny it in a broken voice, Wu Yi gave another cold snort.

"What wishful thinking! If I had not gone to Cloudwater Wharf, not only would you have been left without even bones or ashes, with only a wronged soul drifting about, your mother would have suffered herself to death in the bleak, frigid wind as well!"

At those words, Zhou Man's eyes immediately reddened, and he murmured to himself that it was impossible.

Seeing his two disciples so dazed and devastated by his scolding, Wu Yi felt somewhat moved. He wondered if he had been too harsh.

He could only turn around and face away from them.

"Master did not say these things today to crush your confidence.

"I wanted to tell you a cruel truth: in this world, only those with fists large enough have words that count.

"Those as weak as mayflies either eke out a miserable existence and die alone after being stripped of everything, or endure humiliation and bear heavy burdens while secretly gathering strength. When they can endure no longer, what is to stop an ordinary man's fury from splashing blood ten paces away?

"The Wild Wolf Gang is so bold and lawless now, daring to bully my disciples as they please, only because they believe Wu is nothing more than a mere Skin-Flesh martial man.

"If True Intent Martial Hall were at its peak, this tiny Wild Wolf Gang would be nothing more than a roadside—"

At that point, Wu Yi let out a faint sigh, but Li Kuai and Zhou Man, kneeling on the ground, keenly caught it nonetheless.

The two secretly reproached themselves. Why had they not put in more effort while practicing martial arts? Why had they not trained with every ounce of strength they possessed? If they had, they should have entered the Skin-Flesh Realm long ago.

It seemed Brother Yi truly had not had it easy, guarding the martial hall alone all these years...

Then Wu Yi's voice drifted into their ears again.

"From today onward, I will personally supervise and guide the two of you in your martial training every day. Remember well: you must not loaf around or play tricks.

"In the future, this vast True Intent Martial Hall will depend on the two of you."

Wu Yi turned back around, his expression solemn. Under the sunlight, he appeared incomparably tall and imposing.

Seeing Wu Yi's unprecedented seriousness, Li Kuai and Zhou Man immediately said respectfully, "Master Wu, we will engrave it upon our hearts and never dare forget it."

Yet what Wu Yi was thinking was that he would sooner or later need to go to Demon Suppression Pass, but he could not leave the house unguarded.

He had spent four years with Li Kuai and Zhou Man in the martial hall and understood their characters well. One was kind by nature and responsible; the other treated people sincerely, was filial to his mother, and respected his elders.

That was why Wu Yi intended to leave the martial hall for the two of them to manage later on. Before that, however, he first needed them to break through into the Skin-Flesh Realm as Martial Artists.

As he thought, a faint sound of sobbing reached his ears.

When Wu Yi looked over, Li Kuai was wiping away tears with his sleeve.

"Kuai, what's wrong with you?"

Wu Yi could not help falling into self-doubt. Had he truly been too harsh just now and frightened Li Kuai into tears?

"Brother Yi, are you... are you going to die?"

Having said that, Li Kuai seemed no longer able to bear his emotions. Tears surged continuously from his eyes, and he burst into loud sobs.

At those words, Zhou Man, kneeling nearby, and Wu Yi, standing opposite Li Kuai, were both utterly dumbfounded.

No, kid, are you cursing me to death here?

Wu Yi then came to his senses. The problem was with that last thing he had said.

The more he thought about it, the more it sounded like last words. Coupled with Wu Yi's strange behavior recently, Li Kuai had concluded that Wu Yi was acting this way because he did not have long to live. Suddenly, everything made much more sense.

Wu Yi stared at the sobbing Li Kuai with black lines all over his face.

"Stop that at once, you rebellious disciple.

"Are you really in such a hurry to mourn me?

"Even if the sky collapses, I will not die!"

At those words, Li Kuai actually quieted his crying somewhat.

Wu Yi glanced at Zhou Man beside him, who was nearly holding in an internal injury from stifling his laughter.

"Why are you still standing around? Go train! Whoever does not hold a stance for two hours today will not be allowed to eat!"

After tossing out those words, Wu Yi turned, clasped his hands behind his back, and strode away in a dashing manner, leaving only his back for the two to admire.

Zhou Man could only complain to Li Kuai, "Kuai, it's all your fault for making Brother Yi angry. Looks like we won't be eating lunch today."

But as he spoke, he saw Li Kuai crying until his face looked like a painted cat and could not help laughing.

"Ha ha..."

Late at night, Wu Yi opened his eyes from his bed.

He pushed open the door and glanced at Li Kuai, sleeping soundly in the room next door.

These past few days, both he and Li Kuai had been staying in the martial hall, not only to guard against the Wild Wolf Gang striking from the shadows again, but also to prevent them from coming to vandalize the martial hall under cover of darkness.

But tonight, offense and defense had changed places...

Thinking of that, Wu Yi smiled to himself.

He took out the night-traveling clothes he had prepared long ago and changed into them.

I've already recovered to the Peak Meridian Passage Realm, and I'm still supposed to avoid your edge? Wouldn't that mean I recovered for nothing?

Tonight, Wu would play the black hand for once and let your Wild Wolf Gang see what evil truly was.

In the southwestern corner of Cloudwater City lay the Wild Wolf Gang's headquarters.

Though it was already deep into the night, the Wild Wolf Gang's headquarters remained brightly lit.

Patrol squads of five moved continuously across the grounds, while people in the watchtowers above kept an eye on every movement in the darkness.

Inside the main hall, Chen Dao sat on a beast-hide seat, endlessly drinking himself into a sullen stupor. There was neither sorrow nor joy in his eyes, only exhaustion.

The taciturn second-in-command saw the empty jars scattered around his elder brother's feet and stepped forward, snatching the wine jar from Chen Dao's hand.

"Big Brother, you can't keep drinking. Look how many jars you've already had."

Chen Dao lifted his eyes toward the second-in-command beside him. Rather than scolding him, he merely stared blankly ahead.

"Second Brother, when will these days ever end?"

Chen Dao spoke slowly, without the slightest trace of emotion in his voice.

Hearing this, the second-in-command knew Chen Dao was referring to their upside-down days and nights within the gang.

Ever since learning that the current Wu Yi might be a demon wearing a human guise, they had remained in the gang headquarters, sleeping during the day and guarding the gates through the night.

The reversed schedule had left them all somewhat mentally unbalanced.

And ever since Chen Dao returned from the Zhang Household that day, he had been gloomy and dispirited. Whenever asked what they should do next—

He would only say that they should remain in the gang headquarters and wait for the Zhang Household's next instructions.

"Big Brother, perhaps we can return to normal as soon as tomorrow."

Hearing that, Chen Dao raised his eyes toward the second-in-command again, feeling that his second brother was being far too optimistic.

He gave two hollow chuckles and said no more.

"By the way, Second Brother, where has Third Brother run off to again?"

"Maybe... maybe Spring Fragrance House again."

At those words, veins bulged on Chen Dao's forehead as he stomped an empty wine jar on the ground to pieces.

The shards flew in every direction before falling back to the ground with crisp clattering sounds.

"At a time like this, he's still fucking out there chasing pleasure and having fun! He's fucking nothing but a lecherous worm!"

Chen Dao's brows stood upright, flames flickering in his murky eyes. Clearly, rage had surged into his heart.

Just then, a sudden thud came from outside...

"Not good..."