Bang Bang Bang Bang Bang

"Hall Master Lü, could we discuss this?"

"Steward Liu, do you think that's appropriate?"

"One thousand taels!"

"Five thousand taels!"

"Two thousand taels!"

"Deal!"

"I'll give you the banknotes tomorrow."

"Then see you tomorrow."

Heavy footsteps rang out, heading toward the rear courtyard of Fierce Tiger Martial Hall at the foot of the mountain.

Su Xinghe shrank back, but the weeds beside him could only cover half his body.

What was going on? Why were they coming down the mountain right from this side?

It was Su Xinghe's first time here too. He could not tell the front courtyard from the rear courtyard at all. Under the cover of night, he had only spotted this landmark hillock and run over.

But there was no time left for him to retreat.

They were only a dozen meters apart, and he was below them on the slope.

The moment he dared stand up, the other party would spot him immediately.

Two breaths later.

A towering figure over two meters tall appeared before him.

"Who's there?!"

Lü Chenggong came to an abrupt halt, but the momentum of descending the slope still carried him two meters forward.

In that instant, one hundred and eighty-eight different plans flashed through Su Xinghe's mind.

For example, he could claim he had a stomachache and was relieving himself in the grass.

Or he could pretend to be drunk, lie on the ground, and play dead.

He could even pretend to be sleepwalking...

But in the end, only one word burst from his mouth.

"Kill!"

He unleashed the Golden Ape Fist move, Leaping Arm Splits the Mountain. Propelled by the power of his blood and qi, his body sprang up in an instant like a spring compressed to its limit.

Layered with the 1.5-fold strength of Transcendent Mastery-level Listening to Tides Art, his strike drove straight at the other man's lower abdomen and dantian.

Seeing a madman appear out of nowhere, Lü Chenggong released the small wooden box in his hand. He swung his two thick arms across, crossing them in front of his little precious.

With a thunderous boom, the two figures separated at the first clash.

One merely staggered several steps uphill before steadying himself, while the other stumbled back a few steps, stepped into empty air, and fell flat onto his backside.

Despite launching a sudden ambush,

Su Xinghe had failed to gain anything from a single strike against an Upper Ninth Rank Martial Warrior.

But how could he let go of the chance to obtain a genuine Eighth Rank cultivation art?

Seeing that the other man had yet to react and was merely standing dumbfounded on the slope, he slapped both hands against the ground, sprang up, and charged uphill.

At that moment, Lü Chenggong was stunned.

Both his arms had been forcibly broken at the shoulders.

He was only at the Bone Forging Initial Stage. Aside from his head and upper limbs, the bones of his torso had not yet been tempered, no different from a Body Tempering Martial Warrior.

Even with his full strength unleashed, he could barely exert around 3,500 jin of force.

That was only because he had thoroughly mastered his stance training and could bring out one hundred percent of his combat power.

Yet that punch just now had contained at least 5,000 jin of force.

But that was not right either.

With 5,000 jin in a punch, the attacker should already be at the Bone Forging Peak. Why would someone like that need to ambush a Bone Forging Initial Stage Martial Warrior halfway down the mountain?

He had no time to think further before a massive fist descended again.

"Steward Liu, save me!"

With both arms crippled, the long saber on his back was nothing but decoration. He could barely even maintain his balance. Even if he dodged this punch, it would do him no good.

Liu Jin on the slope was even more bewildered.

An Upper Ninth Rank Bone Forging Martial Warrior was actually calling for help from him, a Lower Ninth Rank Martial Warrior.

Wasn't this screwing him over?

But he did not dare delay. He drew the saber at his waist and rushed down the mountain, afraid that if he arrived too late, that rare genuine Eighth Rank cultivation art would fly away.

"Boom!"

Su Xinghe's second punch had been aimed at the man's head, but a knee strike knocked it aside.

He staggered back several steps and shook his numbed fist.

Bone Forging Martial Warriors really were hard bones. His peak punching force was over 5,000 jin, yet all he had managed was to send the man flying backward.

"Stop!"

A shrill, slightly trembling cry rang out from the slope as the newcomer was about to arrive.

Su Xinghe roused the power of his blood and qi again and continued smashing down fiercely at Lü Chenggong's head.

"No!"

Amid a terrified, furious roar.

Descending Mountain Tiger Lü Chenggong lay on the ground and struggled to raise the last leg he could still move to block the attack.

"Crack!"

This time, Su Xinghe understood.

The other man was not unscathed.

Without him realizing it, all four of his limbs had already been crippled.

He now lay sprawled on the ground, limbs spread wide, like a ripe fruit waiting to be plucked.

But wasn't he supposed to be an Upper Ninth Rank Bone Forging Martial Warrior?

Su Xinghe had no time to dwell on it. A goateed old man had already charged down from the pavilion with a saber in hand.

Without another word, Su Xinghe rose to meet him.

"Don't! I'm not from Fierce Tiger Martial Hall!"

Liu Jin only hated that he had not been born with two more legs. How had he been possessed by madness just now and run down to help? The other party could finish off even a Bone Forging Martial Warrior in three moves. What use could a Body Tempering Martial Warrior like him, who only possessed blood and qi, possibly be?

It had to be that genuine Eighth Rank cultivation art's fault!

That was what he thought in his final moment.

"Splat!"

A fist crashed down on the back of his head, and liquid burst across the mountainside. This man, who did not even possess 2,000 jin of strength, had no ability to resist at all.

With a flick of his hand, Su Xinghe tossed the man called Steward Liu toward Lü Chenggong.

Then he pounced after him.

"Spare my life, hero! Take the things! I still have eight thousand taels in banknotes and fifty bottles of Bone-Forging Pills at home!"

Seeing a headless corpse fly over, Lü Chenggong nearly pissed himself. Yet lying on the ground, the only part of his body that could move was his mouth.

Another Lu Family member had lost his head.

This had to be the infamous Head-Chopping Bandits.

Unfortunately, that hero did not give a damn about him.

He watched as the other man found a decorative stone as large as a water vat nearby and walked toward him.

Then darkness fell before his eyes, and his mind thundered like war drums.

"Bang bang bang!"

"Bang bang bang bang bang!"

The head of a Bone Forging Martial Warrior was terrifyingly hard!

Two breaths later, Descending Mountain Tiger became another man without a head.

Su Xinghe searched the two men and found a bulging waist pouch and a money bag.

Blades and swords were prohibited within the city, and their weapons were far too conspicuous.

Taking them home would invite unnecessary trouble.

As for their Travel Pass Talismans, he had no need for such things.

Without even looking at them, Su Xinghe turned and rushed toward the foot of the mountain.

Because when he had thrown his first punch, the small wooden box in the other man's hand had fallen to the ground. It should have contained the pills and cultivation art they had been discussing.

"Crack."

The small wooden box opened, revealing five bottles lying every which way and a scroll about a foot long, crammed inside.

Without examining them closely, he tossed the waist pouch and money bag inside as well, then tucked the box under his arm.

Perhaps the sounds of the battle had alerted Fierce Tiger Martial Hall below the mountain. The courtyard over there was lively now, filled with shouts and the sounds of blades being drawn.

Su Xinghe lowered his head and calculated how credible the other man's claim about eight thousand taels and fifty bottles of Bone-Forging Pills was.

Fortune was sought amid danger?

The instant that thought surfaced, he ruthlessly suppressed it.

Fierce Tiger Martial Hall was not small. It occupied more than ten mu of land.

Moreover, there were two Ninth Rank Martial Warriors inside, and judging by the commotion, no fewer than fifty or sixty other disciples.

Under the current circumstances, there was likely no way to launch a quiet ambush.

Once the constables from the Public Security Office arrived, a dozen firearms firing in unison would leave him with wings yet nowhere to fly.

After weighing the pros and cons, the greed in his heart gradually faded.

Better one bird in the hand than ten in the forest.

He lowered his head to glance at the small wooden box, then turned and sprinted into the distance.

Thanks to his exceptional hearing, the journey went smoothly. Su Xinghe even had time to find a riverside dock and wash the bloodstains from his body.

He quietly climbed in through the window, stood before it, and listened intently for a moment. Finding no unusual activity on the street and everything at home in order, he finally relaxed.