Secret Passage

When Xia Daoming saw that the masked old man was so accommodating and confident that he had even closed the gate for him, a smile tugged at the corner of his lips. He said to Liu Qiaolian, who stood beneath the covered corridor on the left side of the courtyard, staring warily at the masked old man, "Lian'er, no need to be nervous. Go bring your master a chair."

"Yes, Master!" Seeing how calm and relaxed Xia Daoming was, Liu Qiaolian's taut nerves immediately eased. She answered respectfully, then went into the hall and carried out a chair.

Xia Daoming sat down leisurely and pointed at his shoulders again.

Liu Qiaolian stepped forward and gently kneaded his shoulders with her jade-like hands.

"A mere Fourth-Rank Martial Master dares to be this arrogant. This is getting more and more interesting." Anger burned in the masked old man's eyes as he spoke in a chilling voice.

"No matter how interesting it gets, it can't compare to you, old sir. In the middle of the night, instead of resting at home, you hid outside my door. Tell me, who exactly are you, and what did you come here for?" Xia Daoming asked blandly.

"Once this old man has taken you down, I'll naturally tell you!" The masked old man gave a cold laugh. Hidden Strength burst forth from his legs, and the recoil force launched him into the air like an eagle. Both hands formed claws as he pounced at Xia Daoming.

The instant the old man's Hidden Strength erupted, five meridians gave off the aura of five different currents of qi and blood power.

"A Fifth-Rank Great Martial Master!" Liu Qiaolian's expression changed slightly.

The old man revealed a triumphant, savage grin.

"So what?" At that moment, a scornful voice rang out. Xia Daoming abruptly rose to his feet, both hands forming fists as he met the opponent's claws head-on.

"Fifth-Rank!" The savage grin on the old man's face instantly froze. A powerful sense of unease rose in his heart, and he began to think of retreating.

But before he could retreat, the blow he had been building up could no longer be altered midway.

Bang! Bang! Two muffled, thunderous blasts rang through the courtyard.

Two surges of Hidden Strength collided. At the instant of impact, they not only crushed the old man's force, but swept up the force he himself had unleashed like floodwaters bursting through a breached dike and poured into his arms.

The old man's arms swelled violently in an instant, and his body flew backward like a kite with its string cut.

While he was still in midair, his sleeves suddenly exploded, turning into scraps of cloth that fluttered everywhere.

The skin on his swollen arms cracked open. Beneath the night sky came the sounds of snap! snap! snap! as tendons and blood vessels burst. Blood sprayed out, scattering down alongside the shredded cloth.

Thud! The old man hit the ground.

His entire body then slid another meter across the ground, dragging a streak of blood behind him.

The old man stared at Xia Daoming with utter terror in his eyes, as though he had seen a demon crawling out of hell.

At that moment, the courtyard was exceptionally quiet.

Liu Qiaolian's mouth hung open, her ample chest rising and falling violently, her eyes wide.

She knew that her master was formidable.

Back at that ruined Taoist temple, he had killed a Fourth-Rank Martial Master with clean, decisive efficiency.

But the masked old man before them was a Fifth-Rank Great Martial Master!

To severely wound a Fifth-Rank Great Martial Master with one strike—what kind of terrifying power was that?

Even Xia Daoming was somewhat stunned by the horrifying scene caused by his full-force blow.

He knew his strength had increased greatly, but he had not expected it to have risen to such a degree that one punch could severely wound a Fifth-Rank Great Martial Master.

But Xia Daoming quickly came back to his senses and walked toward the masked old man step by step.

Terror filled the masked old man's eyes. He struggled to get up and flee, but when he had overestimated himself and clashed head-on with his opponent just now, the terrifying Hidden Strength had charged into his body like bamboo splitting under a blade. Many of his meridians had already ruptured, and his power rampaged through his body like wild horses breaking free of the reins. Let alone getting up and running, even moving his body was difficult now.

"Who exactly are you?" The masked old man soon gave up on that unrealistic delusion and asked with despair and disbelief written all over his face.

Though he was already old, with his qi, blood, strength, and body all declining, he was still a Fifth-Rank Great Martial Master. In a frontal clash based purely on strength, even a Sixth-Rank Great Martial Master—and perhaps even a Seventh-Rank Great Martial Master—would have found it difficult to injure him this severely.

This was because ranks five through eight all belonged to the Great Martial Master realm, and the difference in strength between each rank was relatively limited. It was unlike the gap between the fourth and fifth ranks, or between the eighth and ninth ranks, where the nature of one's strength changed and created a sudden, leap-like disparity in power.

The masked old man had once exchanged blows with a Seventh-Rank Great Martial Master, but the strength that person had displayed was definitely inferior, in his memory, to that of the man before him.

Yet this man was only Fifth-Rank!

"Old sir, now this is interesting. You didn't even know who I was, yet you hid outside my home and planned to ambush me?" Xia Daoming said, slightly startled.

"That isn't what I meant. I mean your true identity!" the masked old man said.

"My true identity is the disciple of Liang Jingtang, master of the Hidden Dragon Martial Arts School," Xia Daoming said flatly.

As he spoke, his five fingers suddenly spread into Dragon Claw, and he seized the old man by the throat.

"Lian'er, tell Xia He and the others that everything is fine. Also tell them that nothing happened tonight." Xia Daoming dragged the old man toward the rear courtyard by the neck as though dragging a dead dog, while giving Liu Qiaolian his instructions.

"Yes, Master," Liu Qiaolian answered respectfully.

Bang!

When they reached the rear courtyard, Xia Daoming casually threw the old man onto the ground and tore off his face covering in passing. Unfortunately, it revealed an old face he did not recognize at all.

"Now you can speak. Who exactly are you? Why did you ambush me?" Xia Daoming asked.

"Jing Xuanying, steward of Wu Family Fortress. As for why I ambushed you, you should know very well," the old man answered readily.

"Wu Family Fortress?" Xia Daoming was first startled, then frowned. "It seems Wu Changlu really was not so simple. After all this time, you're still investigating that matter."

"It seems you had already noticed something when you killed Wu Changlu. That's right. He was not actually the son of clan elder Wu Yueming, but Wu Yueli's illegitimate son," Jing Xuanying said.

"Wu Yueli not only put horns on Wu Yueming, he even gave him a bargain-bin son! Did Wu Yueming know? Could he really swallow that insult?" Xia Daoming looked surprised and could not help gossiping.

"What could he do even if he knew? What could he do but endure it? Wu Yueli is not only the clan head but also a Sixth-Rank Great Martial Master. He holds the power of life and death in Wu Family Fortress in one hand," Jing Xuanying said, grief and indignation on his face.

"Uh, don't tell me he put horns on you too?" Seeing Jing Xuanying's resentful expression, Xia Daoming could not help looking astonished.

"That bastard Wu Yueli loves nothing more than sneaking around with other people's women!" Jing Xuanying gritted his teeth.

"Damn, I actually guessed right."

The look Xia Daoming gave Jing Xuanying became subtly strange.

Pitiful and tragic indeed. He had been cuckolded, yet still had to serve the man who did it!

"I know I won't escape this calamity, but before you kill me, I hope you can grant me one request," Jing Xuanying said.

"You came to kill me, and now you want me to grant you a request? Don't you find that laughable?" Xia Daoming sneered.

"If I tell you that I know of a secret passage leading directly from outside Wu Family Fortress to the fortress lord's cultivation chamber, and that I also know Wu Yueli's private treasury is inside that chamber, with the key never leaving his person, do you still think it is laughable for me to make one request before I die?" Jing Xuanying asked.

Xia Daoming's expression changed slightly upon hearing this, and he fell into thought.

What he lacked most right now was resources. Jing Xuanying's words could be said to have greatly tempted him.

"Moreover, you are only a Fifth-Rank Great Martial Master and yet, at such a young age, possess terrifying combat strength that does not lose to a Seventh-Rank Great Martial Master. If word of this gets out, it will likely soon draw the vigilance and even killing intent of those top great powers in the city.

"You have kept a low profile and lain dormant here, willing to be only an ordinary disciple of Liang Jingtang. That should be out of the same consideration. But this time, I came to kill you under Wu Yueli's personal secret order. If I die outside, Wu Yueli will certainly realize that you are far from as simple as you appear.

"Wu Yueli is a cunning old fox with many methods. He will surely spread word and make the various powers of Li City take notice of you. By then, before a genius like you has truly grown, you may die halfway along the road!" As Xia Daoming pondered, Jing Xuanying spoke again.

Xia Daoming's expression changed once more.

If he lacked money, at worst he could swallow his pride and live off Ji Wenyue.

But if those top great powers noticed him too early, then he would be in danger.

"When you came to kill me, was Wu Yueli truly the only one who knew?" Xia Daoming asked.

"Rest assured on that point. Wu Changlu has been dead for half a year already. Other than his biological father, who would still care? Besides, Liang Jingtang's strength is far from ordinary. If Wu Yueli wanted to kill you, he also had to consider the risk of information leaking out. That is why he sent me.

"So, as long as you enter the cultivation chamber through the secret passage and assassinate Wu Yueli, you can not only eliminate a potential danger, but also obtain his private treasure. And my request is simple. I only want to see him killed with my own eyes," Jing Xuanying replied.

By the end, a deep-rooted hatred shone from his eyes.

"It seems you hate him deeply?" Xia Daoming said.

"Of course I hate him. Not only did he put horns on me, he even played my beloved concubine to death! Afterward, he thought Yu Yan was merely one of my concubines and did not take it to heart. But he did not know that Yu Yan was already carrying my child at the time.

"Still, a miserable life is better than a good death, and the chance of killing him was simply too low. I never had the courage to avenge her and my child. This time, since death is unavoidable anyway, I have nothing left to worry about," Jing Xuanying replied. When he spoke of his concubine, his facial muscles twisted, making him look somewhat savage.

As Jing Xuanying spoke, Xia Daoming kept his gaze fixed on him like a sword.

PS: Starting tomorrow, Qidian will begin recommending this book. That also means this uncle born in the seventies will officially begin competing against a bunch of youngsters. If the recommendation performs well and more readers bookmark and follow the book, the site will give it more recommendation resources. If it cannot compete, the recommendations will be greatly reduced.

So, I sincerely ask my fellow readers to help promote it and support it more. The competition begins at midnight tomorrow, so I will move Sunday's first update forward to midnight. Afterward, the schedule may change back to one chapter each in the morning and at noon, which should be more favorable for competing on the new book rankings. I hope everyone will understand. Once the book becomes premium, I will return to consecutive updates, or simply release larger chapters for easier reading.

Today's updates are complete.