Demon Monk (Please Read On)

By the rules of the martial world, whenever someone invited a wandering martial artist like Duan Yun to lend a hand, it usually meant the fight would not actually break out.

If a procession this vast truly fought until their eyes turned bloodshot, it would wound both sides to the bone.

Standing amid the Yellow Fish Gang's ranks, Duan Yun could clearly feel that their momentum was noticeably weaker.

At that moment, the Yellow Fish Gang's leader stepped forward.

He was a burly man clad in black leather armor. Duan Yun could not understand what kind of hobby made someone insist on wearing leather in the middle of an unfinished summer.

In any case, the man looked like he had something to do with the creatures of the water. His arms were covered in fish-scale-like lesions, and Duan Yun had long smelled the thick fishy stench rolling off him. Whether it was caused by martial arts practice, he had no idea.

The man merely stood there, yet he resembled a human-shaped salted fish.

The Yellow Fish Gang leader bellowed, "Hong Laowu, aren't you reaching too far? The West Wharf has always been Yellow Fish Gang territory! I've always respected you as someone worthy of respect, and we've kept to our own waters without offending one another. Yet now you're taking a mile after being given an inch!"

Across from him, the person called Hong Laowu stepped out.

To Duan Yun's surprise, the opposing gang leader was actually a woman.

A woman who had retained quite a bit of her charm.

The woman smiled. "Chen Salted Fish, stop hemming and hawing like an old granny. You make it sound like you don't have those two dangling things. At the end of the day, in Yellowwater City, whoever has the bigger fist calls the shots."

"You occupied this wharf before because my dear little brother had not returned. Now that he has, why should we let you keep growing so fat? There's no such logic."

"Everyone knows that living off the water is profitable. The protection fees from the fishermen come in smoothly, and the wharf's cut is no small sum either. I'm a woman—I'm narrow-minded, I'm jealous, so what?"

Hearing that it was protection fees all over again, Duan Yun, the terminator of unreasonable charges, felt a surge of irritation.

Along the way, he had come to feel that the martial world was rotten everywhere.

Anywhere with even a few people was basically controlled by forces large and small.

He was already more than a thousand li from his hometown, Riverside City, yet everywhere felt like Riverside City.

Or rather, after the Black Bear Gang had been slaughtered clean, Riverside City actually seemed more peaceful. People there even lived more like human beings.

Outside, it was all demons and monsters.

Other than Hua Wen, Hua Wu, Zhang Tielan, and Huang Shi, he had encountered scarcely any martial folk who seemed remotely normal.

Martial folk without backing were just hooligans and ruffians, scrounging free meals here, shamelessly taking advantage of widows there, yet calling themselves heroes of the martial world. Those with backing were these gang types, naturally supported by even greater forces behind them and colluding with the authorities besides. When all was said and done, it was still the same old business of squeezing the common people dry.

Not to mention freaks like Thunder Crazies and the Red Tower Fairy, who went mad and killed people at the drop of a hat, or hunted handsome men to rape at the drop of a hat. They were utterly deranged.

The most miserable were ordinary people like him. The martial gangs took one bite, the authorities took another. They worked like oxen and horses every day, yet even getting a full meal was a problem.

At least corporate slaves in his previous life still looked human. Corporate slaves in this life were genuinely little different from livestock.

And if one had even worse luck and happened to be a little handsome like him, then simply walking down the road made one tremble with fear, worried about being killed or raped.

Yes, in this region, it was not only the fairies of Red Tower who enjoyed raping people. There were also plenty of men fond of male beauty.

Duan Yun could not understand it. The closer they got to Springwatch City, the more men with a taste for the passion of the dragon and the sun seemed to appear. He often saw a bearded brute lying bashfully in another man's arms and acting coquettishly, a sight so horrifying it made his scalp crawl.

He had never held any prejudice against homosexuality, but if people kept shoving eye-searing scenes in his face, then that was another matter.

"My sister said she wants one of your wharves. Did you hear her?"

At that moment, a demonic voice rang out.

The crowd opposite parted of its own accord, revealing the figure of a monk.

He was quite a young monk, with incense scars marking his scalp. His expression was devout and gentle, and he looked no different from the monks who sat beneath Buddhist lamps in temples, cultivating in bitter solitude.

Yet his behavior was anything but monk-like.

He was seated in a bamboo chair, drinking a cup of bright red grape wine, with a great slab of fresh, tender beef beside him.

He took a bite of beef and a gulp of wine. His feet were bare, while two young women knelt beside them, constantly licking his toes as if they meant to keep his feet forever untouched by the slightest speck of dust.

What the hell kind of monk was this?

Duan Yun had never seen a monk who knew how to enjoy himself so well.

At that moment, the young monk waved a hand, and the two young women licking his feet withdrew.

His immaculate bare feet stepped onto the ground. He walked forward and said to Chen Salted Fish, the Yellow Fish Gang leader, "Do you need me to repeat myself?"

There was a wickedness about this monk, one that gave off tremendous pressure.

Even Duan Yun, standing some distance away, could feel it, let alone the Yellow Fish Gang leader facing him directly.

Duan Yun was not worried for either side. It was merely dogs biting dogs.

If he had to favor one side, he disliked the Yellow Fish Gang somewhat less, since they provided meals and paid silver.

At that moment, the young monk smiled, revealing teeth white as bone.

"Sorry, sorry. I nearly forgot that no matter what, you are still the leader of a gang. Speaking to you like that would make you lose face before your subordinates."

As he spoke, he looked toward someone beside Chen Salted Fish and said, "You've practiced martial arts too, so you come. I'll give you three strikes—cut as you please. Once you're done, this humble monk will return only one strike. How about it?"

"Not only you. For all of you standing in front, I'll still give each person three blows, and I'll only strike back once. If this humble monk falls first today, the wharf will remain yours, and I'll even compensate you with that street of gambling houses."

As he spoke, the young monk raised his brows, giving him an eerie, demonic air.

At that moment, the monk's sister, Hong Laowu, walked over and said with a beaming smile, "My good little brother, don't frighten them."

"Surely not? Such a huge gang, so many people, and they wouldn't dare accept even this?" someone on Hong Laowu's side said in a mocking tone.

The Yellow Fish Gang fell silent. Some of them gripped their weapons tightly.

One man was challenging their entire group, even giving each of them three strikes and returning only one. If they did not dare accept that, then they truly had no face left to demand the wharf.

"Gang Leader, let me do it."

"Some ugly monk from who knows where, not knowing the height of heaven or the depth of earth."

The man whom the young monk had just stared at stepped forward.

His right hand, like that of Gang Leader Chen Salted Fish, was also covered in fish-scale-like lesions.

In his hand was a fish-slaughtering knife.

Wang He, deputy leader of the Yellow Fish Gang, was a renowned quick hand. He had once hacked his way from Eastside Alley to South Alley without blinking or taking a single heavy breath.

Only those who had taken his blade knew that it was not only fast, but vicious.

More Red Crane Society members had died beneath his knife than could be counted on both hands.

Wang He stepped forward with his blade. His entire bearing changed, turning cold, and he looked at the young monk as though he were looking at a dead fish.

"You said you'll let me strike three times first, then return one strike?" Wang He asked.

The young monk still looked utterly relaxed. "That's right—"

Before he could finish, a flash of cold light had already slashed across his neck.

The strike was abrupt and sinister, and packed with force, carrying a sharp whistle through the air.

The young monk's head snapped back. A line of blood appeared across his neck, and surprise flashed in his eyes.

It was not only he who was surprised, but everyone who saw the scene.

The sight made the monk's sister, Hong Laowu, jump in alarm.

Yet in the next instant, the surprise in the young monk's eyes turned to excitement. In a hoarse voice, he said, "Keep going. Put more strength into it. I can still take it."

While he spoke, his wound wriggled and actually closed up in a grotesque fashion, like a mouth sealing itself shut.

Wang He did not hesitate again. He slashed at that spot on the neck once more.

Then came the third slash!

The three consecutive strikes landed almost in the same spot. Wang He's blade was both precise and ruthless, clearly intending to chop off the other man's head.

Unfortunately, the young monk still did not fall. The wound continued to wriggle, while a chilling smile hung on his face.

At the sight of that smile, the quick-handed Wang He was drenched in cold sweat from forehead to back.

"My turn."

The young monk spoke gently, then suddenly brought down a slash.

With a swish, blood sprayed through the air, and Wang He's head fell to the ground.

The young monk had returned only one strike, also to the neck, yet the result was utterly different.

The Yellow Fish Gang members retreated in fright, while an expression of extreme grief appeared on Chen Salted Fish's face.

Duan Yun only felt that this monk was truly sinister.

At that moment, someone behind him began explaining.

"Could he be one of Dusk Temple's demon monks?"

"You mean that Dusk Temple which keeps producing renegade monks?"

"Yes. That temple is wicked. After many monks comprehended divine abilities, they either betrayed their masters and destroyed their ancestors, or rebelled against the temple. In the end, they became renegade monks feared throughout the martial world."

Duan Yun's brow furrowed slightly.

There really were far too many lunatics among martial artists.

"Next."

The young monk looked toward the people at the front of the Yellow Fish Gang.

Other than Gang Leader Chen Salted Fish, every Yellow Fish Gang member could not help taking a step back. Duan Yun was among them, retreating like a lowly lackey.

Yet to his considerable surprise, the young monk looked directly at him at that moment.