This Sword Training Wasn't in Vain

Afterward, Duan Yun went with the accountant to audit the books, leaving behind a floorful of "bear cubs" who had died with their eyes wide open.

After leaving the accounting room, Duan Yun confirmed that the county magistrate was also the chief culprit behind the unreasonable protection fees.

Then tonight, he would have to kill the county magistrate too.

After that, Duan Yun left.

The accountant watched him go.

Even now, he was still dumbfounded, feeling as though everything were surreal.

If not for the searing pain of his severed palm telling him this was no dream, he simply could not understand why someone would audit the accounts before leaving after killing people.

What, was he really going to slaughter the county magistrate too?

But considering what this man had done, he felt it was entirely possible.

Where had this demon lord crawled out from?

Since Gang Leader Yue Langlang had been discussing matters with the gang's upper ranks at the time, the ordinary members sensibly kept away from that courtyard. On top of that, they had been drinking and making a racket anyway. Aside from a few guards who heard the commotion, came in, and were instantly killed by Duan Yun, no one else inside had been alerted.

That was why Duan Yun called the Black Bear Gang a ramshackle outfit.

Its organization was far too loose.

After coming out, Duan Yun killed one person when he met one, and killed a pair when he met two.

He did not head outside until his hand had gone numb.

When he reached the gate, the gang member guarding it saw Duan Yun and asked, "Doctor, how is the gang leader's illness?"

Duan Yun nodded. "He's fine now."

"That's good, that's good." The gate guard looked delighted.

By then, night had completely fallen.

Just like when he had counter-killed Wang Li last time, Duan Yun still felt tense and exhilarated as he killed this time, his adrenaline surging.

There was also a sense of sheer satisfaction.

If killing Wang Li last time had been for self-defense, then this time, he was eliminating evil for the people and carrying out justice on Heaven's behalf!

More specifically, he had temporarily eliminated an extremely unreasonable fee.

As the cool breeze swept over him, he felt that lives slipped away beneath his fingers with absurd ease.

Whether they were elite higher-ups or the red-clothed leader of the Black Bear Gang, none of them were much stronger than mosquitoes in a latrine.

This was the Black Bear Gang's leader?

An expert?

But Duan Yun knew he had only completed half the task of eliminating unreasonable fees. He was about to do the other half.

After asking for directions to the county magistrate's residence along the way, Duan Yun continued onward.

The moon had risen. After killing the county magistrate, he still had to go home for dinner and sword practice. Tonight was rather busy.

That night, after drinking a large cup of Dragon-Tiger Wine, Riverside City's county magistrate got busy with his newly married concubine.

Ten breaths later, the county magistrate climbed off the concubine, feeling that he had maintained himself well and had not lost the vigor of his youth.

The concubine shot him a resentful glance, then turned over and went to sleep.

Just then, a maid's voice came from outside. "My lord, the doctor you summoned has arrived."

The county magistrate was somewhat confused. "What doctor?"

"A doctor for men's ailments."

Before she finished speaking, the door was shoved open.

The county magistrate and his concubine were startled out of their wits.

The county magistrate reacted swiftly. His fat body rolled, and in the blink of an eye, he had shielded the screaming concubine in front of himself.

"Who are you? What do you want?"

"I came to kill you," Duan Yun said seriously.

"Why do you want to kill this official?"

"Because your protection fees are unreasonable."

"What??? Guards, gua—"

A flash of white passed before the county magistrate's eyes, and a neat bloody hole had appeared between his brows.

Duan Yun withdrew his finger and walked straight outside.

Before long, shrill screams from the maids and concubine rang through the late-night residence.

The county magistrate lay there with his eyes stretched wide, even less willing to close them than Black Bear Gang Leader Yue Langlang.

At the moment of death, he even thought it was because the division of profits with the Black Bear Gang had been unfair.

He was the county magistrate. A seventy-thirty split was only natural!

"Stop!"

As Duan Yun walked toward the exit, someone suddenly blocked his path.

"You trespassed into the county magistrate's residence, yet you still refuse to surrender without a fight!"

The person blocking the way was a thin man whose temples bulged like pigeon eggs, and he looked exceedingly fierce.

"An expert?"

Duan Yun's expression turned grave.

This should have been the strongest opponent he had encountered all night.

The thin man truly was an expert Attendant whom the county magistrate had hired at great expense. Not only did he have a reputation in this tiny city of Riverside, he was known even in larger cities.

If not for old ties, he would never have come to a little city like this to throw his weight around.

The next instant, the thin man charged over. His robes rustled, and his momentum was astounding.

Duan Yun did not dare hold anything back. He raised his sword fingers and went all out.

Under the moonlight, the thin man in black looked imposing, his movements nimble. In only a few breaths, he made sixteen evasive maneuvers, then was pierced by Duan Yun's Sword Qi twenty-one times. It could be said that he was nearly riddled into a sieve.

Watching him twitch in a pool of blood, Duan Yun complained, "Why scare people when you've got nothing better to do?"

After leaving the county magistrate's residence, Duan Yun went straight to the riverbank. He stripped off his clothes, trousers, shoes, socks, and face covering, then used a tinderbox to set them alight.

Only then did he put on the clothes he had brought with him. After kicking the burned clothes and footwear, now reduced to ashes, into the water, he left along a branching stream.

Water was best at carrying away evidence and scents.

Even Duan Yun himself was somewhat surprised by how practiced he was at this.

All he could say was that the novels and television dramas from his previous life had given him ample theoretical support.

After taking a roundabout route home, Duan Yun was hungry.

Truly hungry.

He began cooking noodles.

The cooked white noodles sat in noodle broth, drizzled with fiery chili oil, then sprinkled with finely ground Sichuan pepper and chopped scallions he had bought during the day. They were fresh, fragrant, and delicious.

Duan Yun ate with great relish, and he was in quite a good mood.

Because he knew that, at least for the time being, he should no longer need to pay that unreasonable protection fee or live in fear of the Black Bear Gang coming to his door. This sword training had not been in vain.

Duan Yun felt satisfied.

Satisfied as never before!

So this was what it felt like to solve the people causing a problem when the problem itself was hard to solve.

Not bad.

This terrible world was not entirely without merit after all, because he possessed the means to solve problems.

Power.

At dawn, Duan Yun woke as usual full of vitality, took a cold shower, and changed into a clean pair of underwear.

Just like after killing Wang Li last time, he had killed people yesterday—many people—and thought he would have nightmares.

Instead, he had another erotic dream.

Still with several wives, and still several times.

Unlike the obscure nobody Wang Li, whom he had killed last time, this time the entire small city of Riverside had exploded into uproar before noon.

Because many people had died last night, and the dead were important figures.

Black Bear Gang Leader Yue Langlang and County Magistrate Wang Defu had both died violently in a single night. One had died in the gang's headquarters along with the overwhelming majority of those there, while the other had died in his own residence. Riverside City's underworld and officialdom had both been turned upside down.

By noon, even the old women selling vegetables were discussing it.

"Who has the means to kill the Black Bear Gang from top to bottom and the county magistrate all in one night?"

"Who knows? Maybe some passing expert?"

"A place as small as Riverside City has experts like that passing through?"

"But an expert needs a reason to kill people, doesn't he?"

"What martial arts master isn't extreme? Why the hell would he need a reason to kill you?"

"I heard it was because the Black Bear Gang's protection fees were unreasonable."

"What? You can kill people for that? Isn't collecting protection fees only natural? Then it must have been the work of some evil Outer Dao—"

"Hey, don't talk nonsense. Be careful, disaster may come from your mouth."

"Will those lords from the Black Bear Gang still collect protection fees next month?"

"They collected fees on the fifteenth, and before the sixteenth even arrived, the gang leader and county magistrate were dead. Who would dare collect them?"

"Ah, if no one is collecting them anymore, what are we supposed to do?"

For a time, everyone was in a panic.

Listening to their conversation, Duan Yun could not help frowning.

It was obvious that these neighbors had grown accustomed to paying protection fees—had become numb to them. Now that no one was collecting them, they actually found it strange.

They would need some time to adapt.

Friends who often killed people all knew that after killing someone, there was always an urge to return to the scene and take a look.

Duan Yun was no exception.

He went back and joined the crowd of onlookers to watch the excitement.

And he actually saw someone he knew!

That buxom female constable from the Clear Qi Bureau. He did not know whether she was the older sister or the younger one.

This made Duan Yun slightly worried.

Could those sisters have some method of finding him?