Surging Blood Qi, Uprooting the Weeds and Eliminating the Roots

Within the Red Whale Gang, everyone was filled with righteous indignation, greed flashing in every pair of eyes.

Yet Gang Leader Wei Chen did not agree at once.

They said age turned people into demons. He had roamed the martial world for many years and considered far more than those reckless brutes below him.

Ma San had lived so long because he had backing behind him.

Neither Zhao Dong nor the Red Whale Gang wished to make enemies of the salt smugglers and bandit riders outside the city, but what did Chen the Butcher have?

He was nothing more than a lowborn commoner, his life worth less than a stray dog's.

Who knew what dog-shit luck had let him cultivate a trace of skill? Yet he actually dared to kill Ma San without knowing his own limits and seize the Waterway Map.

Was that not like a child carrying gold and swaggering through the marketplace?

The one truly worth fearing was still that bastard Zhao Dong. They could not wait for him to catch on.

At that thought, Wei Chen sneered coldly and formed a plan.

"Enough. Shut your mouths."

He first slapped the armrest of his chair and sternly shouted down the crowd's clamor before speaking again.

"We certainly have to seize the man, but that bastard Zhao Dong will definitely catch a whiff of something once he returns."

"Since that brat wants us to take the blame, then we'll grant him his wish."

At this point, the old man gave a dark chuckle. Without waiting for anyone to grasp his meaning, he directly issued an icy order.

"Yan Rong, wait until nightfall before moving. Take several capable men and seize that brat under cover of darkness."

"Silence every remaining man under Ma San's command, then spread word that the Waterway Map is in our gang."

"Do you understand the weight of my arrangements?"

As those instructions fell, quite a few people before the hall revealed stunned expressions.

Could Gang Leader Wei have gone senile? Why would he voluntarily spread the rumor and take the blame for that brat?

Yan Rong's eyes spun, and the dark-skinned man chuckled before flattering him.

"Gang Leader, what an excellent scheme!"

"Since we're already carrying this black pot, we might as well use it to draw Zhao Dong's attention away. Then we can seize the man in secret!"

The others found it reasonable upon hearing this.

Zhao Dong still did not know where the Waterway Map had truly gone, so he was surely still plotting to come trouble the Red Whale Gang.

Only by laying out a smokescreen to hold his gaze could Yan Rong act in secret tonight, capture that brat, and torture him viciously.

Once they forced out the Waterway Map's whereabouts, this hen that laid golden eggs would be completely in the Red Whale Gang's grasp!

Having understood this, everyone was immediately greatly invigorated and praised him in unison.

"Gang Leader is wise!"

"Seventh Yan, be clean with your work. Don't leave any loose ends."

Hearing someone remind him, Yan Rong sneered. "Do you need to teach me that?"

After speaking, he clasped his fists toward the seat of honor and said solemnly, "Rest assured, Gang Leader. On this trip, I will not let anyone notice the slightest irregularity."

Wei Chen snorted coldly after hearing this and waved them away. "Go make the arrangements at once. Remember to act in secret and do not stir up unnecessary trouble."

"We accept your orders!"

The crowd immediately scattered in a rush, each leading their subordinates away to act according to the plan.

Two hours later, at Chen Mu's home.

The sky had completely darkened, and only scattered lights shone in Rubble Ward.

There was no snow today. The bitter frost wind howled, while the stars and moon hung dimly in the night sky.

Chen Mu had practiced his saber technique bitterly that afternoon. Having hardened his heart, he swallowed two Bone-Strengthening Pills in succession.

By the depths of night, he had already refined all their medicinal effects.

The instant he stopped and sheathed his saber, dense white mist began to billow from his body.

It was heat escaping after the tightly shut pores across his body had opened.

His skin was also covered in murky sweat stains and grime, as though a thin layer of black mud had been smeared over him, sticky and unpleasant.

Yet Chen Mu felt no disgust whatsoever. Instead, his face was full of delight.

The impurities inside his body had been expelled.

Though practicing the saber had consumed a great deal of strength, he now felt thoroughly refreshed.

He felt incomparably light. With a tentative leap, he shot three or four meters away.

"What a pity. It would be wonderful if I had a lightness technique."

Chen Mu sighed inwardly. Although he currently felt as light as a swallow and could leap two or three meters high from level ground,

he also knew that such trifling skill was not even one ten-thousandth as profound as a true movement technique.

Still, Chen Mu deeply understood that biting off more than one could chew only led to indigestion.

His saber technique had only just improved. There was no need to rush over movement techniques.

"Another 300 Blood Qi, and I can break through to the Body Refining Second Layer!"

Chen Mu set down his saber, went to the bluestone well, scooped up cold water, and dumped it over his head despite the freezing weather, washing away the grime on his body.

Taking the opportunity, he summoned the panel to inspect it. Today's cultivation results had been remarkable.

[Slaughter Register · Chen Mu (Common Bone)]

[Realm: Martial Master (Body-Tempering First Stage)]

[Martial Arts: Rampaging Bull Force · Initial Glimpse of the Doorway (90/100), Hundred-Slash Baleful Blade · Entering the Hall (50/1000)]

[Blood Qi: 720/1000]

[Karmic Slaughter: 2]

After the Ox-Slicing Saber Technique and Black Tiger Blade Technique fused, only the upper-grade Yellow-rank "Hundred-Slash Baleful Blade" remained on the panel.

Chen Mu had practiced bitterly all afternoon. Bolstered by the muscle memory infused through added points, his proficiency had forcibly risen another 50 points.

He had now thoroughly mastered the saber technique, comparable to a martial-world expert who had wielded a saber for most of his life.

Two Bone-Strengthening Pills, supplemented by meat and paired with stance training, had raised Chen Mu's Blood Qi by 300 in one breath!

The surging Blood Qi had also pushed Rampaging Bull Force, this internal cultivation breathing method, to the threshold of breakthrough.

If he had another two Bone-Strengthening Pills, he could skip the two or three years of effort ordinary people required and directly break through to the Body Refining Second Layer!

Unfortunately, pills were hard to obtain. Now that he had exhausted his stock, he could only dream of them.

Suppressing the agitation in his heart, Chen Mu quickly washed himself clean, changed into dry clothes, and returned to the backyard.

He first lit a lamp to check on A-Ning. After taking her medicine today, she had fallen asleep early. Her breathing was even, and the fever on her forehead had subsided.

Chen Mu quietly shut the door, then withdrew into the courtyard.

There were still two or three hours until midnight. He had no desire to sleep. Instead, after practicing the saber all afternoon, his hands itched unbearably.

Chen Mu decided to go out under cover of night and clear away the loose ends left from yesterday.

After obtaining the Waterway Map, Chen Mu had discovered several strongholds Ma San had left within the city, and there might still be men he had stationed there.

Tonight was the perfect time to uproot the weeds and eliminate the roots, lest anyone who had seen him leak the news.

At once, Chen Mu put on a bamboo hat and straw rain cape, then slipped out into the darkness with his single saber.

He moved cautiously all the way until he reached a residence near Central Peace Street.

This was one of the covert strongholds marked on the map. It looked like the home of ordinary law-abiding citizens from the outside. Tree shadows swayed in the courtyard, and no lights could be seen.

Chen Mu vaulted over the wall. The moment he landed, his brows drew tight.

Something was wrong! There was a smell of blood!

Chen Mu's heart tightened. Following the scent, he rushed into the house to investigate, and his pupils abruptly constricted.

Several burly men dressed like street thugs lay dead inside, blood flowing from their seven orifices. Their limbs were twisted at strange angles, as though someone had snapped them apart with bare hands.

There were five of them altogether, not one survivor.

Chen Mu swiftly crouched down to examine them and found several money pouches on their bodies, containing a few taels of broken silver.

"This wasn't murder for money..."

Chen Mu's gaze immediately narrowed as he judged the killer's purpose.

This was clearly silencing witnesses!

It was the very same thing Chen Mu had intended to do tonight, except someone had acted before him.

Who could it be?

Thoughts raced through Chen Mu's mind. Zhao Dong's cold, ruthless face surfaced in his mind, but he then shook his head.

No. Zhao Dong acted domineeringly. If it were him, he would certainly have brought troops to surround the place, seize the household, and wipe them out.

"Could it be the Red Whale Gang?"

Chen Mu's heart jolted. If it was the Red Whale Gang, then they had definitely seen through the scheme he had played.

They were clearing out the stakes in advance, preparing to capture him alive and monopolize the secret!

Those people might already be in motion, hunting down Ma San's remaining strongholds everywhere!

He knew that returning to hide now would be no different from sitting still and waiting for death. Only by taking the initiative could he find a chance to live.

With that thought, Chen Mu dared not delay. He leaped across two streets and arrived at another residence in a deep alley.

Before he even drew near, he heard waves of barking dogs carried on the night wind.

Chen Mu immediately held his breath and focused, then jumped onto a snow-covered tree to hide.

Once he stood high above, his field of vision suddenly broadened. He followed the barking toward its source.

In the courtyard ahead, several vicious men in black were dragging the corpses of Ma San's subordinates!

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