Whale Breath Martial Hall

The night was dark and heavy.

In the inner courtyard of the Cai residence, the candlelight flickered as though about to die.

A hunched figure appeared soundlessly before Cai Qiming, his face concealed in shadow, revealing only a pair of cloudy yet sharp eyes.

Cai Qiming focused his gaze and immediately recognized him—the very senior from Star Tower.

Overjoyed, he hurried forward. "Senior! This time, I invited you here to..."

Before he could finish—

The old man flicked his wrist, and a black short blade flew from his hand.

The blade was impossibly fast. It swelled rapidly in Cai Qiming's pupils, and he did not even have time to react.

Pfft.

Like a knife cutting through tofu, the sharp weapon pierced his throat. Its tip burst from the back of his neck and nailed itself deep into the corridor pillar behind him.

Cai Qiming's eyes bulged wide, his face filled with disbelief.

His mouth opened and closed, but no sound came out. No matter how he thought about it, he could not understand why this senior he had once saved would strike such a vicious blow against him.

Before he could figure it out, his consciousness sank completely into darkness.

"I am a man who keeps his promises." The old man approached with his back hunched, a flash of ruthlessness passing through his cloudy eyes.

"Unfortunately, you never got to voice your third request."

"I am not accepting bounty missions now, so naturally I do not need to abide by Star Tower's rules."

Since he had acted, he had to pull up the weeds by the roots.

His figure slowly retreated, melting back into the shadows. Shortly afterward, the entire Cai residence fell utterly silent.

That night, the Cai Family was wiped out to the last person.

Chen Clan Martial Hall.

"Another stance art has reached mastery."

Cheng Yang rolled his wrists, feeling the power inside him swell by another measure.

After Wild Bull Stance reached perfection, the muscles on his body visibly grew several sizes larger. His height had also shot up from 1.8 meters to 1.83 meters. At this rate, before long he would probably grow into a complete giant dick.

"If I exchanged another punch with Cai Qingwen now..." Cheng Yang clenched his fist, his knuckles cracking loudly. "I'm confident I could knock him flat with one punch."

The rise in strength had also inflated his confidence. He figured it was time to pay the Cai Family a visit.

He had always suspected that the previous assassination had been arranged by the Cai Family. Though he had no evidence in hand, that no longer mattered.

Since enmity had already been forged, he had to kill the enemy as soon as possible, lest the night grow long and dreams multiply.

But before that, he first had to solve the problem of food.

The meat supplies in his hands were nearly gone again. The exotic beast meat left behind by the Yan Family, the Chu Family, and the Golden Tiger Gang, together with his master's subsidy—provisions worth several hundred taels of silver in total—had somehow been devoured clean in just a few days.

After breaking through to Flesh Tempering, his consumption had grown even greater. Every day, he ate roughly seven or eight jin of exotic beast meat, which worked out to seventy or eighty taels of silver.

Eating like this was practically treating silver as dirt.

"Money..." Cheng Yang sighed. "I've already taken the initiative to reveal my talent, so why haven't those merchants and wealthy households rushed over to invest in me?

"If they don't invest soon, I really won't be able to afford to train."

Fortunately, he still had the hundred taels of silver seized from the Golden Tiger Gang, hidden in the Cheng family courtyard.

While retrieving the silver, he could also take a look at Old Kui Street's current situation.

Now that the Golden Tiger Gang was gone, who had the final say on that street?

Just as he was pondering this, he looked up and saw Chu Yunjiang striding toward him. His expression was hurried, and his face was full of worry.

"Junior Brother Chu, what's wrong?" Cheng Yang asked.

Chu Yunjiang came closer and lowered his voice, his tone carrying a hint of panic. "Senior Brother Cheng, my Chu Family just received news. The Cai Family is gone."

"The Cai Family is gone?" Cheng Yang froze. "Then shouldn't Junior Brother Chu be happier?"

"The Cai Family was exterminated overnight. Not a single person in the entire residence survived." Chu Yunjiang's brows were tightly furrowed. "This came far too suddenly. I have no idea what kind of baleful star the Cai Family provoked... or whether it was simply an undeserved disaster.

"With the Cai Family as a warning, I'm afraid that our Chu Family might also..."

"Junior Brother Chu's concerns are not without reason." Cheng Yang rubbed his chin, secretly pondering as well. Whoever had exterminated an entire family and spared not even women and children—just who was this person of such ruthless cruelty?

But then again, the Cai Family's destruction saved him the trouble of making a trip.

"Since Junior Brother Chu is worried, why not have the Chu Family prepare its defenses in advance?" Cheng Yang comforted him.

"You're right, Senior Brother. I was just about to return and discuss this with my father." Chu Yunjiang took a deep breath and tried to calm himself. "We'll do everything we can. If we still cannot avoid it, then we can only say our fate is poor."

"Say less of that disheartening nonsense. It'll be fine." Cheng Yang patted his shoulder.

"Then I'll borrow Senior Brother's auspicious words." Chu Yunjiang cupped his hands. "If my Chu Family can safely weather this calamity, next month's support for Senior Brother will increase to seven jin of meat."

With the Cai Family gone, the Chu Family had one fierce rival fewer in the tea business. Naturally, its reserves were somewhat more substantial than before.

"Then I'll thank Junior Brother Chu in advance." Cheng Yang smiled, though a trace of strangeness arose in his heart.

Next month? By then, he would probably no longer be in Qinglin County.

After seeing Chu Yunjiang off, Cheng Yang was about to head for Old Kui Street. He had only just reached the entrance of the martial hall when he suddenly remembered something.

His master had mentioned last night that an honored guest would visit that morning and had specifically asked to see him, telling him not to run around during the morning.

He had almost forgotten about it.

Good thing he remembered.

Otherwise, when the guest arrived, leaving his master alone to awkwardly receive them would have been far too unreasonable.

"Ha ha!

"Old Chen, you're not being fair!" A booming voice came from the reception hall. "You actually took in such a disciple behind your brother's back!"

As Cheng Yang drew near, he saw a burly man standing a full two meters tall, laughing as he bantered with Chen Feiyi.

Beside the burly man stood a young woman in her early twenties. She was strikingly beautiful and tall, with a neat high ponytail and a fitted martial outfit that gave her a spirited, heroic air.

"Disciple, come here." Chen Feiyi beckoned to Cheng Yang. "This is Hall Master Liu of Whale Breath Martial Hall, an old friend of mine for many years."

"Greetings, Hall Master Liu." Cheng Yang cupped his hands in salute. Whale Breath Martial Hall was one of Qinglin County's five great martial halls alongside Chen Clan Martial Hall, and both its foundation and strength ranked among the foremost.

"This is Hall Master Liu's daughter," Chen Feiyi introduced again.

Cheng Yang turned to the young woman. "Greetings, Miss Liu."

Liu Yi returned the salute with graceful ease, her frank gaze falling upon him. "Hello, Young Master Cheng. I'm very interested in you."

Cheng Yang froze on the spot.

No... Miss, are you really being this blunt in front of my master and your father? I really can't handle this kind of social situation.

Chen Feiyi was also dumbfounded and turned to stare directly at Liu Hongquan.

Liu Hongquan did not find it awkward in the slightest. Instead, he smiled and patted his old friend on the shoulder. "Old Chen, the younger generation has its own way of getting along. Let us old brothers find somewhere to catch up slowly and let these young people talk by themselves."

Chen Feiyi knew perfectly well what Liu Hongquan was plotting. Besides, he had something he wanted from Liu Hongquan as well, so he went along with it. "Fine. Come on, Old Liu. I'll show you around my Chen Clan Martial Hall."

The two left the hall arm in arm, soon walking far away.

Only Cheng Yang and Liu Yi remained in the room. The air was silent for several breaths.

"Miss Liu, what you meant just now was..." Cheng Yang chose his words carefully, afraid that he had misunderstood.

"My apologies for misleading Young Master Cheng." Liu Yi pursed her lips in a smile, but her eyes shone with eager anticipation. "What I meant was that I'm very interested in your martial arts.

"Let's have a fight!"

She wanted to engage him in close-quarters combat right away?

Cheng Yang pressed his lips together.