Night Journey

At midnight, Zhou Yan left the tea stall with a blue cloth bundle on his back.

He had brought a few things, along with the Edgebreaker Saber wrapped in cloth.

Before leaving, he swept the courtyard that had accompanied him for several years and left a letter for Xue Zhenshan beneath a paperweight on the table.

The soldiers on duty at the north gate yawned as they opened the gate for him, asking what he was doing leaving the city in the middle of the night.

Zhou Yan said there was an urgent matter at home and showed them his martial arts school identification. After checking that everything was in order, the soldiers waved him through.

The official road was pale beneath the large, round moon. Zhou Yan walked swiftly, wind seeming to rise beneath his feet as he hurried onward.

After only a mile, he noticed it.

There were footsteps behind him, and quite a few people—at least a dozen.

After Meridian Opening, his five senses had become more than twice as keen. The night wind blew in from behind, carrying a dense killing intent to his nose.

As he turned a bend, Zhou Yan deliberately kicked a stone away. The footsteps behind him paused for an instant before following again, this time drawing closer.

He sped up, and they sped up. He slowed down, and they slowed down.

They followed with great care, keeping over a mile away and leaving no trace in sight. They had clearly been trained.

At this hour, he was the only one leaving the city.

There was no need to guess. They had to be following him; he just did not know which group they belonged to.

After another seven or eight miles, he came upon a patch of wild forest beside the road. It was deep and dense, moonlight leaking through the gaps between the trees and casting mottled shadows across the ground.

Zhou Yan suddenly turned into it. The people behind him did not immediately follow, lingering outside the forest for a while.

When he reached the middle of the woods, he stopped before a large locust tree, removed the bundle and the Edgebreaker Saber from his back, and set them beside the roots.

He rolled his wrists, his knuckles cracking. "You've followed me all this way. Come out."

More than twenty people emerged from behind the surrounding trees, all dressed in black and carrying sabers, spears, staffs, and other weapons.

The two leaders stepped forward. They were the Azure Cloud Gang's two deputy gang leaders.

Qin Kun, not yet forty, had a pale face and short beard, and carried a Steel-Point Spear. Sun Yanping was tall and thin, with a goatee and a Nine-Section Whip coiled around his waist.

Qin Kun smiled, and the smile was chilling. He spoke first. "Brother Zhou, the Azure Cloud Gang leader requests your presence. If you know what's good for you, come with us."

"And if I don't?"

Zhou Yan smiled, silently cursing. So it really is the Azure Cloud Gang. Looks like they've traced it back to me.

Sun Yanping gave a sinister laugh. "Then this wild forest will be your grave tonight."

Zhou Yan swept his gaze around. More than twenty people formed a semicircle around him, blocking his retreat as well.

Every one of them held a weapon, and the weakest among them had reached Qi Gathering Greater Achievement. The Azure Cloud Gang's elite were likely all here.

Zhao Xiong had truly spared no expense to capture him this time.

"Where is Zhao Xiong?" Zhou Yan asked. "Why didn't he come himself?"

"There's no need for the gang leader to personally act to capture you," Qin Kun said. "Zhou Yan, you've only just entered Meridian Opening. Know when to yield and spare yourself some pain."

"Know when to yield?" Zhou Yan sneered. "More than twenty of you left the city in the dead of night and followed me for ten miles, and now you're telling me to know when to yield?"

As he spoke, he crouched down and took the cloth-wrapped Edgebreaker Saber from his bundle. He weighed it in his hand, then put it back. "Zhao Xiong only sent you? He thinks too little of me."

Sun Yanping's face darkened. "You're only at the Early Meridian-Opening Stage. What are you acting arrogant for...?"

"So what if I'm at the Early Meridian-Opening Stage?" Zhou Yan cut him off. "To kill you, my bare hands are enough."

Qin Kun's expression changed as well. He raised his spear. "Attack!"

Three gang members rushed in first, their saber flashes converging.

Zhou Yan stomped down. The rotting earth beneath his feet sank half an inch, while his body rooted itself firmly in place.

His left fist swung out. The force of his Mountain-Suppressing Fist struck the first gang member's saber from half a foot away. The blade snapped in two, but the fist force did not stop. It smashed into the man's chest, caving in a large section of his ribs and sending him flying backward into a small tree, which broke on impact.

The second gang member slashed at him from the side. Without even turning his head, Zhou Yan drove his right elbow backward, striking the man squarely on the wrist. With a crack, the saber flew from his hand. Zhou Yan grabbed the back of his neck and pressed him down, then drove his knee upward. Blood and brains splattered across the ground from his face.

The third gang member recoiled in terror. Zhou Yan stepped before him in a single stride and slammed his Mountain-Suppressing Fist into his temple. The man flew sideways, crashed into a tree root, and did not move again.

Three breaths. Three men.

And all three had been at Qi Gathering Perfection!

Even Qin Kun was shocked. He knew that even he could not slaughter three Qi Gathering Perfection gang members so quickly.

Everyone surrounding Zhou Yan froze. No one dared advance again as Qin Kun roared, "He's tough! Attack together!"

More than twenty people charged at him despite themselves.

Zhou Yan moved among the crowd. The Limit-Breaking foundation of his Mountain-Settling Stance made every step incomparably firm, and the ground trembled with each rise and fall of his feet.

Every punch was deadly. Whenever his Mountain-Suppressing Fist struck out, its force extended a foot beyond his fist. Whoever it hit died.

A staff-wielder attacked from behind, swinging an iron staff in a full arc toward the back of his head.

Zhou Yan twisted aside to avoid the staff tip, then blasted the shaft with a Mountain-Suppressing Fist. Both of the man's arms were jolted out of their sockets.

Someone took the chance to throw a handful of lime powder.

He hurriedly held his breath and swept most of it away with his sleeve, then closed in and chopped a palm into the man's throat. The man clutched his neck and fell straight to the ground.

Zhou Yan fought like a madman, his fists rising and falling, every move aimed to kill. Yet he remained calm to the extreme.

Since he had acted tonight, he had no intention of leaving anyone alive. Every one of Zhao Xiong's men left alive would become a future threat!

Qin Kun seized the moment and thrust his Steel-Point Spear through a gap in the crowd. The spear tip carried the force of the Early Meridian-Opening Stage, tearing through the air with a sharp whistle.

Zhou Yan sidestepped, grabbed the spear shaft with one hand, and clenched his fingers. His force traveled down the shaft, splitting Qin Kun's tiger's mouth on the spot and knocking the spear from his grasp.

Zhou Yan seized the weapon and swung it backhandedly. The spear butt struck Qin Kun across the waist, sweeping him more than ten feet away.

At that moment, Sun Yanping's Nine-Section Whip arrived.

The whip shadows writhed like snakes, lashing in from three directions at once. Rather than retreating, Zhou Yan advanced. He stomped his left foot and threw a punch—the very Mountain-Breaking Fist the Azure Cloud Gang had been desperately searching for.

Three waves of force were contained within that punch.

The first wave shook. The whips scattered trembling the instant they touched the fist wind. The second wave broke. The whip itself snapped into three segments. The third wave shattered. Sun Yanping only had time to cross his arms in defense, but both arms broke at once. The fist force passed through his body, blasting a hole through the clothing on his back and sending him flying into a pine tree. When he slid down, his mouth was full of bloody foam.

At the Limit-Breaking level, the Mountain-Breaking Fist was even more explosive than the Mountain-Suppressing Fist.

"Mountain-Breaking Fist!"

Sun Yanping leaned against the tree, his eyes filled with terror. "It was you! You were the one who stole the fist manual!"

However, he had never imagined that Zhou Yan's Mountain-Breaking Fist would be far more terrifying than the gang leader's. It looked as though he had trained it to at least Perfection!

Zhou Yan walked over, crouched before him, and admired Sun Yanping's fear. "I'll ask you a question. Answer well, and I'll let you go. What is Zhao Xiong's current cultivation?"

There was a hole in Sun Yanping's chest, and blood bubbled out with every word. "Gang Leader... the gang leader broke through two years ago. He's now at Mid Meridian Opening..."

"Besides you two and Zhao Xiong, does the Azure Cloud Gang have any other Martial Adepts in the Meridian-Opening Realm?"

"No... only the gang leader remains now..."

"How many people are left at the headquarters tonight?"

"The elite... are all here... only some gatekeepers are left at headquarters... a dozen or so..."

"Where is Zhao Xiong waiting for your report?"

"The council hall..." Sun Yanping struggled to raise a hand toward Zhou Yan's collar, then realized something was wrong. "Why are you asking this... What do you want to do...?"

Zhou Yan took a bronze token from his robes. The front bore the words "Azure Cloud," while the back had Sun Yanping's name engraved on it. It was a deputy gang leader's token.

He tucked the token into his clothes, glanced at Sun Yanping, and smiled. "You guess."

Sun Yanping's eyes widened abruptly. "You... You want to kill the gang leader! You're insane... Our gang leader is at Mid Meridian Opening..."

"You guessed right!"

With that, Zhou Yan smashed a fist into his crown. Sun Yanping's words died in his throat as he slid down the old pine tree.

Zhou Yan rose and looked around.

Qin Kun had had his ribs broken by the spear butt and was crawling toward the edge of the forest, dragging his legs behind him.

The few remaining gang members were already terrified out of their wits. Some turned and ran.

Zhou Yan bent down, picked up the Nine-Section Whip that had broken into three pieces, and flung the segments one by one.

The three whip segments embedded themselves in the backs of three fleeing gang members' heads. The three men fell to the ground almost simultaneously.

One remained—the fastest runner, already more than ten paces away.

Zhou Yan strolled after him as though taking a leisurely walk. He picked up Qin Kun's Steel-Point Spear, tested its weight, then sent it through the night. The spear pierced through the man's back and burst out through his chest, pinning him to a tree.

When Zhou Yan turned back, he found Qin Kun still crawling. He walked over and planted a foot on the back of Qin Kun's neck.

"Brother Zhou, spare me. I'll return to the county with you and testify..." Qin Kun's words were already incoherent as he trembled. "When Zhao Xiong falls, I can help you. I'll make you the Azure Cloud Gang's new gang leader. Spare my life. Coming to kill you was never what I truly wanted!"

"You're not regretful. You just know you're about to die. Go back and tell Zhao Xiong..." Zhou Yan paused, then shook his head. "Forget it. You won't be going back."

He pressed down with his foot.

With a crack.

The wind passed through the treetops, carrying the stench of blood.

More than twenty corpses lay scattered throughout the woods, with dark and light patches of blood everywhere.

Zhou Yan stood amid the corpses. Quite a few drops of blood stained his clothes, but he himself had not suffered the slightest injury from beginning to end.

He took a few taels of loose silver from Sun Yanping and pocketed them. He did not search Qin Kun closely, only taking his token.

He could not bury more than twenty corpses, so he only dragged the most conspicuous bodies blocking the forest entrance deeper into the woods, then kicked a few shovelfuls of dirt over the bloodstains on the ground.

If anyone passed along the official road, they would not see anything in the darkness.

By the time someone discovered it at dawn, he should have already finished what he needed to do.

Zhou Yan stood at the edge of the forest and tightened the bundle on his back.

Zhao Xiong was at Mid Meridian Opening, one minor realm above him.

At first, he had known that the Azure Cloud Gang had three Martial Adepts in the Meridian-Opening Realm, so naturally he had not dared to storm in.

Now that he had killed two of them, this was the best possible opportunity.

Zhao Xiong had sent out every last one of his best men at once.

But going all in came with a price. His headquarters was now empty.

More importantly, Zhao Xiong knew nothing. He did not know that his elite had been wiped out. He was probably still waiting for his subordinates to return with Zhou Yan and report their success.

Once dawn arrived, the news would reach him sooner or later. If Zhao Xiong failed to see anyone and grew suspicious, killing him would become difficult.

He had to go. If he fled, Zhao Xiong could trace matters through the Sun Family and the martial arts school. The Sun Family was a prominent clan, and Zhao Xiong might not dare touch them, but Zhao Shan, Zhou Yan's brother-in-law, was a guard for the Sun Family. His elder sister Zhou Xing was in Li Family Village, and there was a large family in Willow Village. If Zhao Xiong vented his fury, not one of them would escape.

Zhou Yan left the wild forest and turned back toward the city.

By the time he returned, the city gates had already closed.

He circled around to the stretch of wall west of the north gate. Using the old willow tree outside the wall, he took a few running steps, climbed the brick gaps to the top of the wall, and quietly flipped down the other side.

The county town was terrifyingly quiet in the latter half of the night. The clapper of the night watch drifted over from far away.

Zhou Yan kept close to the walls, turned down two streets, and the Azure Cloud Gang headquarters appeared before him.

He straightened his collar and walked toward the headquarters gate.