Enemy Attack, Kill

His gaze paused slightly,

Su Xinghe walked toward the stone locks in the corner.

A few days after his blood and qi had entered force, as his neural recruitment ability strengthened, his displayed strength had also been slowly increasing.

He stopped before the three-hundred-pound stone lock, gripped the wooden handle with his left hand, lowered his legs, and exerted force through his waist, shoulders, and back at once.

The stone lock rose two feet off the ground before dropping back down.

That will do.

Su Xinghe thought to himself.

To avoid drawing attention just now, he had only used seventy percent of his strength. Though he could not raise the three-hundred-pound stone lock past his shoulder, he could lift it with ease.

His limit should have reached a little over three hundred pounds.

In eleven days, his strength had increased by another hundred pounds. That was equal to the accumulated result of half a year of painstaking martial training since his transmigration.

True martial arts were powerful indeed.

After all, an ordinary mortal body had its limits.

The original owner had been a farmer; having a hundred pounds of strength in one arm had already counted as robust.

After half a year of martial training, he had raised it to a little over two hundred pounds. That was also the limit of most ordinary gang disciples.

But ever since practicing the Golden Ape Fist, he could feel his strength increasing every day.

After testing his strength, Su Xinghe found a corner and assumed a fist stance.

About ten minutes later.

"Diligence makes up for clumsiness; practice a hundred times a day."

"Golden Ape Fist, proficiency +1"

This time, his condition was exceptionally good. The progress bar of his martial realm took another great step forward. He did not stop, remaining immersed in the artistic conception brought by the chant.

Twice...

Three times...

Four times...

A scalding current suddenly surged from his abdomen, rising and falling in his chest with his breathing like flames.

Every drop of blood flowing through his heart became tainted by that blazing heat. It spread back out along his veins, eventually reaching every part of his body.

It was as hot as a sauna, yet it also felt as though several tiny hands were massaging his internal organs.

For a moment,

His mouth brimmed with saliva, and his eyes flashed like lightning.

Even the breeze by his ears became incomparably clear.

Without realizing it, Su Xinghe stopped his fist technique. He closed his eyes and carefully sensed the changes within himself.

His sense of taste, smell, and hearing had all strengthened. Dense currents of blood and qi churned within him. They seemed ready to be summoned by him at any moment, erupting with immense energy.

He knew this was the power of blood and qi produced after blood and qi entered force.

He focused his mind on the translucent panel in his mind.

"Su Xinghe: Great River Gang (cannon fodder disciple)"

"Martial Arts: Apprentice Grade (Inner Tempering 1%)"

"Fate: Diligence Makes Up for Clumsiness"

"Trait 1: Not a Drop Leaks Through, Unyielding Through a Hundred Setbacks"

"Trait 2: Gather Sand into a Tower, Water Reaches Its Channel"

"Golden Ape Fist (Entering the Hall) 967/1000"

"Ascending Dragon Stance (Entering the Hall) 566/1000"

"Red Lotus Treasure Vase Qi (Incomplete) 0/10000"

The familiar hunger came over him, and he opened his eyes.

The entire world had become clearer, as though the night had been stripped of its veil.

The small courtyard in the dead of night looked to him like some sunless dawn.

He did not go back to the stone locks to test his strength, because he knew he had gained at least another hundred pounds this time.

An Inner Tempering apprentice could wield five or six hundred pounds with one arm. He had already stepped halfway into the ranks of the inhuman.

The night was deep.

Old Cripple hugged his kitchen knife and snored loudly in the adjoining room. The food in the kitchen had long since been carried off by those fellows staying up late to gamble with cards.

Even the night market on the long street outside had vanished.

With an empty stomach, he found a corner against the wall in the warehouse hall, closed his eyes, and fell into a heavy sleep.

In his hazy slumber,

A faint breeze swept past Su Xinghe.

It scattered the lingering stench of sweat and sour wine around his nose, bringing with it a different kind of fishy sweetness.

In his sleep, Su Xinghe twitched his nose.

After the battle half a month ago, nearly all the injured disciples had recovered. The warehouse hall had not carried the scent of blood for a long time.

Could it be that my breakthrough in martial arts has made my sense of smell too sensitive?

Su Xinghe felt that his brain had not fully awakened, his thoughts turning extraordinarily slowly.

He wanted to open his eyes and take a look, but his body was as clumsy and uncontrollable as if he were still dreaming.

What is happening to me?

As his will gradually struggled, his brain finally regained clarity beneath the ceaseless washing of the vigorous blood and qi produced by his Inner Tempering breakthrough.

He slowly opened his eyes.

The candles in the hall had long burned out, while snores still rose and fell around him.

Thanks to his improved vision last night, even at this darkest hour before dawn, he could clearly see the entire hall.

First, he looked toward the window.

Six, who was guarding the door, was sprawled over the table, snoring away.

That was perfectly normal.

Not to mention at night—even he himself could fall asleep while guarding the door in broad daylight.

It was just that the ponytailed girl dressed so scantily was no longer beside him. He did not know whether she had already left.

Then he drew his gaze back.

More than twenty Great River Gang disciples lay scattered haphazardly across the floor.

Some of them had been on duty at the headquarters tonight, while others had simply not wanted to go home after drinking and playing cards.

At this moment, every one of them lay on the ground, sleeping soundly.

Originally, this had been the most normal thing in the world.

The Great River Gang headquarters was in the bustling southern district of the city. So-called night duty was merely a good excuse for everyone to drink, chat, and play cards.

Some even spent the night in the alley behind the compound.

After all, Lin County was different from other places.

With the Lu Family holding up half the sky, every gang and faction in the city maintained a basic degree of restraint. Even when arranging fights, they consciously went outside the city.

Nearly everyone submitted beneath that master's fearsome reputation.

Something's wrong!

Su Xinghe suddenly noticed intermittent sounds of flowing water coming from the room belonging to the minor leader beside the hall.

It sounded somewhat like someone relieving themselves in a toilet, but he knew there was no chamber pot in that room.

A rustling sound arose.

The room's door was gently opened a crack.

A girl's head with a ponytail quietly poked out.

"Damn, that's some wild play."

A surge of gossip rose in his heart.

That young girl whom Six had held in his arms last night was actually relieving herself in the room where the minor leader was on night watch.

Did being a minor leader come with this kind of nighttime perk?

Then, a knee-high black leather boot stepped out from the room. Beside it was a delicate longsword, crimson blood flowing down its blade.

The owner of that sword had sharp eyes and was now striding toward Su Xinghe.

"I never expected that aside from the one inside, there would be a little expert like you among these lackeys outside. The Bewildering Incense did not affect you. You must have already begun Inner Tempering your blood and qi, haven't you?"

Su Xinghe's heart sank.

For her to kill the minor leader on duty tonight without a sound, her strength had to be above Inner Tempering.

She could even detect his watchful gaze in the darkness.

And he had only broken through to Inner Tempering last night.

At this moment, there was no time to consider where this ponytailed girl had come from.

"Enemy attack!"

A thunderous roar burst from the depths of his throat as he leaped toward the tooth market in the rear courtyard.

"Kill!"

The ponytailed girl answered with a sharp cry.

Clear as a silver vase shattering, it pierced the silent night.

She strode forward, the longsword in her hand turning into a ghostly bolt of lightning.

A shrieking sound of air being torn apart followed close behind.

Su Xinghe's shout failed to summon reinforcements. Not even the people sleeping in the warehouse hall showed the slightest reaction.

Instead, the ponytailed girl's crisp cry of "kill" drew more than a dozen equally urgent responses from the tooth market in the rear courtyard.

The silent deep night instantly became a bustling marketplace.

From the direction of the tooth market came a series of explosions like a string of firecrackers. Fortunately, there was no roar of firearms—only the crisp clashing of blades and swords.