Three Men of the Big-Ears Gang

The moonlight was black as ink.

At the end of a narrow alley in Willow Leaf Lane, Cheng Yang stood before Zhao Tiankuo's courtyard.

His courtyard was not large, but it had three successive sections, and its walls stood three feet higher than those of ordinary homes.

Cheng Yang did not enter through the front gate, because guards were stationed there.

Zhao Tiankuo, a Four-Ping Gang hall master, was being absurdly cautious...

Cheng Yang grumbled inwardly, then circled around to the side wall. Borrowing force with two light steps of his toes, he silently vaulted over the wall and landed inside the courtyard.

As he landed, the balls of his feet touched down first, his knees bending slightly to absorb the impact. He practically skimmed the ground as he dropped into the shadow of the grass.

The courtyard was pitch-black, with only a faint glimmer of lamplight coming from the main house.

Burly men carrying weapons paced back and forth through the courtyard, patrolling again and again.

To keep them from interfering with his plan, Cheng Yang spent a little effort knocking them all unconscious in short order.

The strongest of those guards was only a Skin Tempering Martial Warrior. None of them could withstand a single exchange with him now.

His feet stepped over the blue bricks without making much sound as he quickly reached the window beneath the main house. Tilting his ear slightly, he heard three people talking inside.

"It truly was not in vain that we abandoned the mountain stronghold. As long as we can seriously wound that bastard Wei He, everything will have been worth it."

"Ah... it is just a pity about those brothers of Big Ears..."

"There was no helping it. Those were necessary losses. Without them as bait, Wei He and the others would never have taken the hook..."

"As long as we kill Wei He and his City Guard, we three brothers can show ourselves openly and establish another 'Big Ears' in Qinglin County..."

Those words, that tone...

The three men inside were the vanished bandit leaders of Big Ears?

Cheng Yang made his judgment.

Their appearance here also confirmed his suspicions from another angle.

The Big-Ears Gang had secretly cooperated with the Four-Ping Gang and laid this trap.

As for why the three men were in Zhao Tiankuo's home? That was easy enough to guess.

Zhao Tiankuo had simply offered his courtyard to the three men as a temporary hiding place.

"I did not find Zhao Tiankuo, but I ran into you. This really is an unexpected delight."

A nameless fire rose from the depths of his heart.

The seven Chen Clan Martial Hall disciples who had died yesterday, and that junior brother whose arm had been severed, ruining his future in martial arts...

Senior Brother would avenge you today...

Since that was the case...

Cheng Yang no longer hesitated. He stepped back half a pace and raised his foot.

With a muffled boom, the door flew open, and the three men inside sprang up at the same time.

When Cheng Yang stepped into the main house, his saber was already halfway out of its sheath.

Under the dim lamplight, he saw three faces suddenly turn toward the doorway within the halo of the oil lamp.

Two lean middle-aged men sat at the table, while a burly man reclined on the couch. All three reached for their weapons at nearly the same instant.

"Who goes there?!"

The man on the couch reacted first.

He flipped upright with no lack of speed. His strong upper body was bare, a saber scar running across his chest. The crisp, practiced motion with which he snatched up a thick-backed chopping saber from beside his pillow showed plainly that he had rolled on the edge of a blade before.

The other two were a beat slower, but not by much. The two lean men grabbed their weapons from the table. One held a pair of short spikes, while the other carried a sheathed longsword. They spread out to either side, forming a three-sided encirclement with the burly man on the couch.

Their positioning was not bad. It was clear they were seasoned hands who had worked together many times.

Yet after they took their positions and saw the figure in the doorway, they still visibly paused.

Black robes, a fanged mask, and a saber already half drawn.

The newcomer stood behind the threshold, his figure framed by the door as a dark silhouette. The blade gleamed with a cold white light beneath the weak lamplight.

Cheng Yang's gaze swept swiftly across the three faces.

The Copper Bone Realm brute on the couch was likely He Jiayi, leader of the Big-Ears Gang. The other two were the second and third brothers. All three chiefs of the Big-Ears Gang were here.

Gripping the saber hilt, he crossed the threshold. His boot landed on the inner room's brick floor with an extremely soft tap.

"Who are you?" He Jiayi demanded in a low voice, holding his thick-backed chopping saber across his body.

Cheng Yang did not answer.

He took a step forward, fully drawing his saber. The blade traced an arc of cold light beneath the lamp.

The moment that step landed, the atmosphere in the room changed.

He no longer deliberately suppressed the fluctuations of his blood and qi. The Silver Bone foundation accumulated through the Four-Gate Perfection Stance Art was like a covering cloth being lifted away, slowly spilling out from his body. Like a red-hot iron block thrown into icy water, it instantly raised the temperature of the entire room by a notch.

"You are a Force Tempering Martial Master?" He Jiayi's pupils contracted slightly.

He was a Copper Bone Realm martial warrior. Feeling the enormous gap in blood and qi, he mistook Cheng Yang for a Force Tempering Martial Warrior.

"Sir, if you have something to say, we can discuss it properly. We..." The fingers gripping the thick-backed chopping saber unconsciously tightened.

"Why waste words with him, Big Brother? The three of us brothers together can still cut down a Force Tempering Martial Warrior!"

The lean middle-aged man to his right, holding the short spikes, interrupted him. He quickly stepped forward and thrust both spikes out at once, one aimed at the throat and the other at the waist and abdomen, from vicious angles.

But in Cheng Yang's eyes, his movements seemed a beat too slow. The saber edge struck first, sweeping upward from below. The instant the blade collided with the short spikes, a crisp clang of metal rang out. The lean middle-aged man felt his tiger's mouth go numb, and the short spike in his left hand flew free.

Cheng Yang's saber did not pause. It turned with the motion, and the back of the blade smashed into the crook of his elbow. With a crisp crack, the entire arm drooped limply down.

"Second Brother!" He Jiayi roared. No longer able to care about anything else, he swung his thick-backed chopping saber down with a howl of wind.

That slash borrowed the momentum of his rise, the full strength of the Copper Bone Realm pressed into its edge. The sound of the blade tearing through the air was much heavier than an ordinary chop, enough to force anyone facing it head-on to retreat.

But Cheng Yang did not retreat.

He turned sideways, his blade sliding along the back of He Jiayi's saber with an ear-piercing metallic scrape. Sparks burst between them. At the same time, he lifted his knee and drove a short, powerful blow into He Jiayi's lower abdomen.

The force was not great, but the angle of Cheng Yang's knee strike was exceptionally precise, landing right on a node where He Jiayi's blood and qi circulated.

He Jiayi let out a muffled grunt. His forward charge was brought to a dead halt, and he staggered back two steps before steadying himself.

"Third Brother! Together!"

The remaining gaunt middle-aged man had already drawn his longsword, its tip stabbing straight at Cheng Yang's back.

The angle of that sword thrust was vicious, and it was fast as well. He had clearly practiced swordsmanship for many years.

But Cheng Yang seemed to have eyes in the back of his head. Just as the sword tip was about to touch his clothing, he twisted his waist slightly. The blade grazed the fabric at his side, failing to pierce him and only cutting through a layer of cloth.

At the same time, Cheng Yang's left elbow slammed backward, striking the man's ribs dead-on. The force was precise. A clear crack of breaking bone sounded, and the man's entire body curled up like a shrimp. His longsword fell from his hand, and he dropped to his knees with it.

He Jiayi charged forward for the third time. This time, his eyes were bloodshot. He had clearly been forced into a desperate corner. His thick-backed chopping saber came straight down with the savage momentum of a last-ditch gamble, the blade wind blowing the oil lamp's flame on the table crooked to one side.

Cheng Yang met that strike by taking half a step forward. His longsaber rose from below to block it, and the two blades collided with an ear-splitting explosive clang.

He Jiayi's all-out Copper Bone Realm strike was forcibly stopped. The rebounding force traveled back through his arm, numbing his tiger's mouth. The thick-backed chopping saber bounced up slightly, exposing a sliver of an opening at his center.

Cheng Yang saw that opening, and it lasted only half a breath. He spun, his blade carving a short arc from left to right, passing squarely across He Jiayi's right shoulder.

The blade cut into flesh, severed sinews, and lodged in the gap of the shoulder blade. The entire motion was clean and efficient, without any unnecessary dragging.

He Jiayi gave a hoarse roar. His thick-backed chopping saber slipped from his grasp, and he sank to one knee.

Blood poured from the wound where his right arm had been severed at the shoulder, quickly soaking a dark-red patch into the floor.

The commotion in the room stopped.

Only a few breaths had passed from beginning to end.

The armless Second Brother slumped against the wall, still clutching one short spike in his left hand, but he was shaking too badly to hold it steady.

Third Brother lay on his side on the floor, clutching his ribs and curled into a ball. His breaths were rapid and shallow.

He Jiayi knelt in the middle of the room, blood still pouring from his right shoulder. Supporting himself with his left hand on the ground, he raised his head to look at the black-robed figure before him. His lips moved a few times, but no sound came out.

Cheng Yang stood before him with his saber lowered, blood dripping from its tip onto the ground drop by drop.

He looked down at He Jiayi's face, which was gradually turning pale from blood loss. After a breath of silence, he spoke his first words of the night.

"People died because of you yesterday. Today, I will collect their debt from the three of you."

He Jiayi opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something.

But Cheng Yang gave him no time.

The blade flashed. A head rolled down beside the shoulder, spun twice across the floor, and came to rest beside a table leg.

Cheng Yang then turned and walked toward Second Brother and Third Brother.

The saber rose, then fell.

The room fell completely silent.

The oil lamp still burned on the table. The night wind pouring through the door crack made its flame sway slightly, casting flickering, shifting shadows across the walls.

Though he had killed the three men, Cheng Yang still felt a breath of anger lodged in his chest, unable to ease the hatred in his heart.

"Four-Ping Gang, we will settle this..."

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