There was no more needless talk.
Su Xinghe turned and walked toward the Black Tiger Gang men still standing at the shop entrance.
"Sorry for the trouble of making you come all this way. I'll treat you all to drinks when I have the time."
Though his words were polite, his expression remained cold and indifferent. He could not even be bothered to put on a show of clasping his fists.
The burly Black Tiger Gang men did not reply, still wearing expressions of aloof indifference, as though it had nothing to do with them.
Su Xinghe did not bother with them further and directly called out to the rest of the onlookers at the entrance.
"Everyone, disperse. With so many people gathered here, if we stay any longer and draw the Public Security Office's attention, they might haul people away to take statements."
As he spoke, his face gradually darkened, and his sharp gaze swept over several street-thug-looking people in the crowd.
"Who knows... they might even take away a few witnesses."
He threatened them outright.
Sure enough, those street thugs who scraped the ground for every scrap of profit grew afraid.
They had come over only to see whether there was any advantage to be gained.
Now that they saw the shop owner was a Martial Arts School apprentice and not someone easy to talk to, they also extinguished any urge to fish in troubled waters or kick someone when he was down.
The moment the words Public Security Office came up, they turned and hurried away.
At that moment, his father Su Cheng also came outside and stuffed several large coins into the hands of the Black Tiger Gang brutes who patrolled the streets.
In the end, only the two "victims" remained outside the Su Family General Store.
Seeing the three grown men of the Su Family present, the two did not dare utter a single fart. With dark faces, they turned and ran.
"Follow them. See who they meet and where they live."
Su Xinghe instructed Little Beggar, who was squatting by the roadside.
After his younger brother got married, his father Su Cheng had mentioned splitting up the family, but Su Xinghe had not agreed.
He liked having a big, lively household.
Perhaps because of what had happened today, no one said much during dinner.
After night fell, Little Beggar hurried back.
He brought news that was neither good nor bad.
The second-floor living room facing the street.
By now, the floor had been repaired.
To prevent such an accident from happening again, he had even laid down two thick layers of carpet.
"Boss, those two brats are cunning as thieves. If my 'Listening to the Tides Art' hadn't improved enough for me to hear ants moving house from six zhang away, I really might have lost them."
The youth wiped away his sweat, grabbed a cup of water, and gulped it down in huge mouthfuls. He had followed them for over two hours without a drop of water; he truly looked exhausted.
However, Su Xinghe had saved him some food, and it was now on the table.
"Go on."
He stood by the window, looking at the nighttime scenery of Narcissus Street below.
The autumn wind blew past, carrying threads of coolness.
It dispersed the inexplicable irritation in his heart.
This area was much safer than Tongzi Ward. Quite a few pedestrians strolled through the streets, while children played at street corners and alley mouths, and laughter never ceased along the road.
"After they left, they first went to Firewood Alley. They stayed inside for the time it takes to drink a cup of tea before the Black Tiger Gang chased them out. There were thugs standing watch and guarding the place, so I couldn't get in. I don't know what exactly they said."
"After coming out, the two didn't go home. They turned straight into the Mingsheng Gambling House at the mouth of the neighboring alley. They played a few rounds of pai gow and quickly lost all twenty large coins. They even pawned off the Travel Pass Talismans on them."
"I slipped into the gambling house, but they were only chatting normally."
"Right now, they found a gambling companion and are drinking at Chen's in Tofu Alley, grumbling and venting. It looks like they won't be leaving the table anytime soon. I was afraid it would get too late, so I came back first to report."
Little Beggar rapidly shoveled food into his mouth, but did not forget to offer his own opinion.
"After all, without Travel Pass Talismans, they can't run far."
Firewood Alley was the territory of the Mountainback Gang. It was filled with small gang alliances made up of people who looked for work in the mountains.
There were herb-gathering gangs, firewood-cutting gangs, mountain-goods gangs, snake gangs—more than a dozen of all sorts. They had no territory of their own in the city and were all sheltered under the Mountainback Gang.
The Black Tiger Gang's headquarters was there as well.
They had originally been part of the Mountainback Gang's alliance, and now they had latched onto the Fierce Tiger Martial Hall's thigh. Or rather, the Black Tiger Gang had always been a spy planted within the Mountainback Gang by the Fierce Tiger Martial Hall.
Su Xinghe quietly listened to the report, then pondered for a moment.
Seeing that Little Beggar had nearly finished eating, he took out a silver corner from his pouch.
"Go buy something to eat, then keep watching the two of them. I want to know exactly where they are staying."
He intended to send him away, because it was time for tonight's training.
As for how he would get his revenge,
He wanted to let the bullets fly a little longer.
After all, this had just happened today. It would not be good to act immediately. Otherwise, if the Public Security Office followed the vine to find the melon, the trouble would be immense.
"Thanks, Boss!"
Little Beggar accepted the silver, and his heart immediately blossomed with joy.
That one corner was worth at least five qian. It was enough for three months of living expenses.
Boss was becoming more and more generous!
The room was very quiet.
Time trickled by, and the candle flame on the table gradually dwindled.
"Diligence Makes Up for Dullness, a hundred practices a day."
"'Golden Ape Earth-Splitting Art,' experience +2."
Boom!
A huge mass of condensed Qi-Blood power struck his third leg.
An itchy, tingling sensation immediately washed over him.
After so many days, he had trained up his tolerance as well.
The pain of Body Tempering?
Nothing more than a little wind and frost!
"Hiss-ha..."
Feeling the emptiness of the Qi-Blood within his body, Su Xinghe clenched his fists.
Thanks to being able to control two silver figures at once, his training progress doubled once more under Dual Engines. Moreover, he did not need to throw punches himself; he only needed to control the circulation of Qi-Blood within his body.
It was equivalent to turning the moving fist art that was the "Golden Ape Earth-Splitting Art" into a still art that only required moving Qi-Blood through his body.
And its efficiency was doubled.
Of course, the consumption of his own Qi-Blood, as well as Qi-Replenishing Pills, had doubled too.
His limbs had already been fully tempered. Now, only his torso remained.
His base strength had also risen from one thousand jin when he had just broken through to Ninth Rank, to a little over two thousand jin.
Tonight's three rounds of the "Golden Ape Earth-Splitting Art" ended there.
He returned to the table and began eating a midnight snack to replenish his strength.
Half a month had already passed since he broke through to become a Ninth-Rank Martial Warrior.
The ten bottles of Qi-Replenishing Pills, two hundred pills in total, had been completely used up six days ago. In the final few days, as his cultivation rapidly advanced, he needed to swallow two pills at once to sustain this full-power training state.
Without pills these past few days, his Qi-Blood recovery could not keep up.
He had used the extra time to break through in the miraculous secret art known as the "Listening to the Tides Art."
At the thought that he needed to acquire pills again, his head began to throb.
He could not ask Elder Xie for more, unless he dared reveal all his trump cards.
That was absolutely impossible.
Even if it slowed his martial arts cultivation, he still had to advance steadily and securely.
With a long sigh, he focused and opened the Fate Panel.
"Su Xinghe: White Ape Martial Academy (Outer Disciple)" "Martial Arts: Ninth Grade Realm (Body Tempering 51%)" "Fate: Diligence Makes Up for Dullness" "Trait 1: Water-Tight, Unyielding" "Trait 2: Many Grains Make a Tower, Success Follows Naturally" "Listening to the Tides Art (Transcendent Mastery) 1330/100000" "Golden Ape Earth-Splitting Art (Perfect Mastery) 3221/10000" "Ascending Dragon Stance (Hall-Entering) 566/1000" "Incomplete Red Lotus Treasure Vase Qi 0/10000"
He had gained some free time these past few days.
The "Listening to the Tides Art" had advanced rapidly, ascending to the Transcendent Mastery level.
The marvel it brought caused the range of his spiritual perception to surge again. It leaped from its former ten zhang straight to twenty zhang.
The Silver Fish in his mind divided again, gaining four more. Yet he could still only activate two silver figures.
The "Listening to the Tides Art" had become his first martial arts ultimate art to exceed the standard, capable of unleashing one and a half times the art's original power.
This was additive strength, not multiplicative stacking.
Originally, the fifty-one percent Body Tempering progress of his Perfect Mastery-level "Golden Ape Earth-Splitting Art" had given him a base strength of two thousand jin. Once he circulated the Transcendent Mastery-level "Listening to the Tides Art," it soared directly to a massive five thousand jin.
His Body Tempering progress was halfway complete, and all five of his limbs had already been tempered and strengthened. Though he still could not withstand sharp weapons thrust with great force, he no longer feared the cutting of ordinary blades and swords.
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