Died with Eyes Open

In a spacious hall, a man in red sat at the head. He looked fair and clean-cut, less like the leader of a local bully gang and more like a graceful young gentleman.

His right hand, however, was large and thick, the back covered in black hairs like steel needles, exuding an overwhelming pressure.

Below him sat several elite gang members keeping him company over drinks.

Aside from an elderly scribe holding a brush, all of them had incomparably thick right hands, like bear paws.

"The gang leader is there," the gang member guiding him said to Duan Yun.

"Thank you."

As he spoke, Duan Yun had already put on a mask.

Seeing this, the guide wore a stunned expression. Has the gang leader's illness become this serious? Even the doctor has to wear a mask. Could it be contagious?

With that thought, he hurriedly slipped away.

Before coming here, Duan Yun had already disguised himself. Now that he wore a mask and dusk was falling, it was even harder to make out who he was.

Black Bear Gang leader Yue Langlang was drinking while discussing gang affairs with several of the gang's higher-ups.

The reason Yue Langlang had made it this far, aside from having cultivated his Black Bear Palm to perfection, was that he loved to reflect.

He reflected on whether his gang members were working hard enough, whether they were collecting enough money, and if not, how they should make up the difference.

Then, a young man suddenly walked in, his face covered by a gray cloth mask painted with a crescent moon. It looked as though it were smiling wickedly.

"Are you the Black Bear Gang leader?" the newcomer asked.

Yue Langlang was somewhat bewildered. "Who are you?"

Without another word, Duan Yun raised his hand, brought two fingers together, and jabbed!

With a swish, a streak of silver-white Sword Qi shot from his fingertips and pierced straight through Yue Langlang's belly from four zhang away.

Yue Langlang looked down at the bloody hole in his abdomen. His wine cup fell to the floor, and only then did he let out a miserable scream.

He had actually been on guard just now, but he had never expected the visitor to pierce through him from such a distance.

As the leader of the Black Bear Gang, Yue Langlang had swaggered through Waterside City for so many years and survived several assassination attempts. He had even practiced the art of catching hidden weapons barehanded.

But this was something he truly could not catch.

It was too fast!

And it could not even be called a hidden weapon.

Who killed people with white light fired from their fingers?

The gang members had been drunk just moments ago, but Yue Langlang's scream instantly sobered them up.

Yue Langlang struggled to cover his wound and said in terror, "I have no grudge with you, sir. Why are you trying to kill me?"

"Your protection fees are unreasonable."

"What???"

Yue Langlang even suspected something was wrong with his ears.

With another swish, a Jade Sword Finger shot forth.

Yue Langlang abruptly dodged. The Sword Qi that should have struck his chest hit his shoulder instead, spraying a string of blood.

"Ah!"

Yue Langlang roared furiously. The black hairs on his bear-paw right hand stood erect like steel needles as he smashed his palm downward.

Yet while bringing his palm down, his belly was struck by another streak of Sword Qi.

In Duan Yun's eyes, this skill's windup was simply too long.

With a boom, the Bear Paw slammed down.

The table and floor shattered, splintered wood and broken stones blasting outward like a sudden rainstorm.

With a hum, Duan Yun drew the cleaver from his medicine box and swept it out in a single slash.

Moonlit Water Sword Qi split the incoming wood and stone like a crescent moon, then slashed toward Yue Langlang as he fled for the window.

Yue Langlang was lunging toward the window, intending to smash through it and escape, when he felt a crescent-shaped streak of silver-white Sword Qi rushing at him. He hurriedly raised an arm to block.

With a smack, a deep gash was cut into his arm, even the bone beneath it split apart. His lunging body was knocked off course, and he crashed sideways into the wall before falling heavily to the floor.

At that moment, without even turning his head, Duan Yun thrust two fingers behind him.

The two charging "bear brats" immediately clutched their throats and dropped to their knees.

When the remaining Black Bear Gang elites saw this, the savage emotion in their eyes receded as swiftly as it had come, and they backed away in fright.

"Ah!"

Yue Langlang struggled to rise, only for another Sword Finger to strike him in the waist.

"Why?" he could not help asking again.

"I already told you. Your protection fees are unreasonable," Duan Yun repeated.

With a swish, blood sprayed.

This time, it was his throat.

Until the moment Yue Langlang, dressed in red, died, he still could not understand why he had been killed.

Because his protection fees were unreasonable?

What was unreasonable about his protection fees?!

The remaining gang members in the room had long since pissed themselves. Those near the door tried to flee, but with a bang, the doorframe was blasted apart by a Jade Sword Finger, splinters flying everywhere.

Everyone dropped to the ground in terror, clutching their heads and not daring to make a move.

"Spare my life, great hero."

"Spare my life, good man."

"H-Hero, spare my life!"

The scene reminded Duan Yun of one from a cops-and-robbers film.

This Black Bear Gang was far too weak.

Trash like this dared to casually beat and kill people, yet charged such outrageous protection fees?

Duan Yun pinched his fingers into a Sword Finger and sat down. "I heard that the further you cultivate your martial arts, the harder it becomes to control your temper."

"No! No!"

One Black Bear Gang elite denied it.

With a swish, his voice came to an abrupt stop, for Sword Qi had already pierced through the center of his brow.

"Liar," Duan Yun said flatly.

"It's true! It's true!" the remaining men hurriedly told the truth.

But then came another muffled sound. One of the elites clutched his pierced throat, eyes wide, and fell dead.

"Since you can't change, there's no need for you to stay alive," Duan Yun said again.

"Bastard, I'll fight you to the death!"

One "bear brat," who normally lorded over others and was used to beating and killing, could endure no longer. Roaring, he charged at Duan Yun.

His eyes were bloodshot, and he looked utterly mad, his momentum mighty and imposing.

A streak of Sword Qi pierced directly through his throat.

He clutched his neck, staring at Duan Yun with an expression of agony and ferocity.

He hated this so much!

He had always been the one beating and killing others, humiliating them however he pleased. Others had not even dared let out a fart; once, someone who farted after being beaten had been beaten to death by him.

But now!

He hated this so much!

Clutching his throat, the man died amid violent hatred and suffocation, his eyes still open in death.

Duan Yun looked toward the next person—the last person left in the room.

"Ah!"

With a piercing scream, the elderly Black Bear Gang scribe chopped off his own right hand with a single stroke. Trembling in pain, he said, "This way... this way, my cultivation will scatter, and I won't lose my temper anymore!"

"Really!"

Duan Yun lowered the fingers he had raised.

He had noticed earlier that this old scribe's palm was probably the thinnest in the room. His cultivation was likely the least advanced as well.

Duan Yun could not help asking, "Fine. Tell me, are the protection fees collected by your Black Bear Gang reasonable?"

"N-No, they're unreasonable!"

"If they're unreasonable, why collect them?"

"It was the gang leader! The gang leader made us collect them! And the county magistrate too! I didn't want to do it either! I was kidnapped by them back then!"

"I used to be a scholar too. I had no choice."

The old man spoke in a trembling voice, his body shaking from the intense pain.

"The county magistrate too? Evidence," Duan Yun asked doubtfully.

"G-Great hero. I'm the accountant. The protection fees have always been split thirty-seventy. The county magistrate takes seventy percent."

"Really? Take me to see the account books," Duan Yun said.

"Gang Leader! Gang Leader! Damn it, who the hell killed Chen Lao'er and the others? They've got several holes in them!"

A burly man rushed in with two others, then froze in place in an instant.

The three saw the gang leader, but he was already dead with his eyes open, and he had no fewer holes in his body than Chen Lao'er.

The newcomers looked at the corpses filling the room, then at the accountant with the severed hand and the masked Duan Yun. Trembling, one of them asked, "Did I come at a bad time?"

"No. You came at exactly the right time."

The moment Duan Yun finished speaking, Sword Qi pierced through the newcomer's head.

Duan Yun recognized him. He was the "What Are You Looking At?" who had been eating noodles during the day.

Fate was a wondrous thing.