Murder and Arson, Shifting Blame and Framing Others

In the snowy night, Ma San's blade flashed like lightning, reaching Chen Mu's face in the blink of an eye.

But Chen Mu had long been prepared. He ducked low with the momentum, like a mighty bull turning over, and viciously drove the point of his right elbow forward, straight for Ma San's throat.

Chen Mu had been building up this strike for a long time. It was the fiercest self-sacrificing killing move of the Mighty Bull Fist, yet it struck after Ma San moved and arrived before him.

Ma San's heart abruptly turned cold. He knew that if he forcibly completed this slash, Chen Mu would at most suffer a blade wound across his shoulder and back.

But he himself would likely have his throat pierced on the spot and die an untimely death.

"Brat! You're courting death!"

He flew into a rage and, in that flash of lightning and spark, forcibly withdrew his blade and kicked off the ground to evade.

But how could Chen Mu give him the chance?

"Trying to dodge? Too late!"

He suddenly let out a thunderous roar. His qi and blood surged through his body as he stomped the blue bricks beneath his feet into pieces, his elbow smashing heavily into Ma San's chest.

Struck solidly by that elbow, Ma San spat out a mouthful of blood and flew backward, crashing through the courtyard's water vat and drenching himself in icy water.

Advisor Li, who had been shrinking off to the side, trembled all over in fright and turned to sneak away.

Chen Mu caught sight of it from the corner of his eye. He stopped pursuing Ma San, violently flung out the boning dagger from behind his waist, and with a squelch nailed it into Advisor Li's back, killing him on the spot.

With that brief breathing room, Ma San rose from the snow, clutching his blade, his eyes bloodshot with fury.

"Brat! You dare come kill before me, Ma San? Today, I'll make you wish you were dead!"

He suddenly roared. It seemed he had activated some secret art; the muscles all over his body swelled sharply, and veins like writhing snakes bulged along his neck.

"Stop yapping."

Chen Mu could not be bothered to waste words. He stepped forward in a rush and threw a heavy punch.

Having suffered earlier, Ma San already knew Chen Mu's physique was no weaker than his own. He immediately stopped trying to meet him head-on and instead counterattacked with his blade.

Bolstered by his secret art, his strength and speed were even more ferocious, his blade light sharp as the wind.

Chen Mu did not dare take it head-on with flesh and blood. He also drew the curved blade he had taken from one of the guards and fought back.

But Chen Mu knew only a half-baked Ox-Slicing Saber Technique. After several exchanges, he fell into a disadvantage and was forced back again and again.

Seeing this, Ma San burst into wild laughter. "Brat! With only this much skill, you still dared come here to kill people?!"

Bang!! Their blades collided in midair, bursting with blinding sparks.

Chen Mu was sent flying back by that powerful slash and only managed to steady himself when he reached the wall.

Ma San gave him no chance to catch his breath. He leaped forward, his blade light weaving into a dense net that covered Chen Mu from head to toe.

"Brat! Watch closely! This is what it means to use a blade!"

Swish, swish, swish! Along with his roar, he instantly unleashed three streaks of blade light—high, middle, and low.

The three slashes were so swift they seemed to emerge at once, flashing toward Chen Mu's eyes, throat, and waist and abdomen, sealing off every path of retreat.

Seeing this, Chen Mu knew that he could never defeat this bastard in a contest of blades. His brows sank at once.

"Go for broke!"

Hardening his heart, he hacked apart the blade shadow before him and then rammed sideways.

That ram narrowly dodged Ma San's throat-cutting slash, but the blade light aimed at his waist and abdomen had already torn through Chen Mu's cloth robe.

Yet he showed no fear. Risking being cut in two at the waist, he bent his body and stepped forward fiercely, stomping hard beneath him. His entire body shot into the air, and from above he smashed an elbow toward Ma San's temple.

Ma San was startled by that fearless counterattack and saw that Chen Mu meant to fight to the death.

But who was he, Ma San? How could the life of lowborn trash like Chen Mu be worth more than his own?!

That moment of hesitation slowed his blade by half a beat. Just as it barely sliced open Chen Mu's side, Chen Mu's desperate strike had already landed on his forehead!

Bang!!

A dull sound like a watermelon bursting suddenly rang out in the snowy night.

Riding the force of his flying pounce, Chen Mu concentrated the strength of his entire body into a single point and slammed it into Ma San's head, smashing it to pieces on the spot.

In an instant, red and white matter splattered across the ground. Ma San's head split apart, and more than half his skull collapsed inward.

His burly body dropped heavily to its knees. The long blade slipped clumsily from his hand, and he toppled backward into the snow.

His remaining eyeball rolled aside, smeared with blood and mud, seeming to still stare at Chen Mu, unable to believe it even in death.

Chen Mu was not doing well either, but the ferocity in his eyes did not diminish.

"Not dead yet?"

He lifted his foot and crushed that lone eye, then picked up Ma San's blade and drove it into his back once more.

[ Ding! Killed one Body Tempering martial master. Seized blood qi: +80. Gained killing karma: +10 ]

The bully's corpse suddenly twitched violently. A moment later, it finally stopped moving, thoroughly dead.

Looking at the panel that appeared before him, Chen Mu finally relaxed. He dropped to one knee and gasped for breath, blood gushing from his waist like a spring.

Having taken that slash head-on, the pain now bored into his bones, yet it could not suppress the exhilaration in his heart.

He had won!

This was the first time he had faced a martial master head-on and killed an enemy with his own fists.

Chen Mu had been cautious and timid ever since crossing over, but now he felt utterly refreshed from head to toe.

He did not dare delay. He took out a Blood-Qi Pill and swallowed it, then wrapped a rag around the wound at his waist, barely stopping the bleeding.

After doing all this, Chen Mu did not even have time to check the changes to the Slaughter Register's panel. He swiftly began cleaning up the battlefield and tying up loose ends.

He first inspected the courtyard and dragged every corpse beneath the old locust tree in the rear yard.

By a rough count, he had killed more than ten people tonight.

Only some of Ma San's men had been here; the rest were scattered outside.

Unfortunately, most of them carried little silver. Chen Mu had scavenged less than thirty taels in total.

Ma San, however, had several banknotes on him, worth two hundred and eighty taels of silver altogether, though that was clearly not all his wealth.

Chen Mu searched everywhere but failed to find Ma San's hidden stash.

He only found several low-grade fist manuals in the main room, along with a copy of the "Black Tiger Blade Technique."

Remembering Ma San's fierce blade light from earlier, Chen Mu was somewhat invigorated, but he did not dare linger for long.

It was a pity he had not found the secret art Ma San had used to suddenly explode with strength.

Chen Mu suppressed the urge to inspect everything on the spot and packed all the items away.

He then piled all the corpses beneath the tree, brought over several bundles of firewood from the kitchen, and splashed lamp oil all around them.

Chen Mu intended to destroy the corpses and erase the evidence, but he still needed to handle a few details.

He had heard clearly earlier that Ma San not only had dealings with salt smugglers outside the city, but was also colluding with Battalion Commander Zhao at the military camp.

These officials and bandits colluded, wallowing in the same mire. Once news of Ma San's death came out tomorrow, it would definitely bring a vigorous investigation.

But Chen Mu quickly thought of a way to divert the trail.

"Let them bite each other like dogs first. At least that will buy me a few days."

He thought of the Red Whale Gang Ma San had mentioned. These two groups had always fought each other in secret, with plenty of dirty dealings over profit.

Chen Mu made his decision at once. He seized Ma San's bloodstained finger and scrawled two crooked characters in blood beside his corpse:

Red Whale!

After doing that, Chen Mu did not linger any longer and tossed down a torch.

In an instant, towering flames rose beneath the old locust tree in the courtyard. The drifting snowflakes vaporized into mist before they could even fall.

Before the flames could spread, Chen Mu swiftly withdrew. He deliberately took several detours through different streets before returning to Rubble Ward.

Separated by two or three streets, he could still see the flames soaring into the sky in the direction of Central Peace Street.

Outside, the night watchman was frantically beating a gong and drum as he ran and shouted:

"Fire! Come put out the fire!!"

Chen Mu knew the matter was done. A fire this large could not possibly be extinguished.

By tomorrow morning, all the dead would be burned into charred husks.

Even if someone investigated deeply, they would at most find a pile of mangled corpses and the blood-written characters he had deliberately left behind, then trace the matter toward the Red Whale Gang.

As his mind relaxed, the pain in his waist and abdomen suddenly became somewhat unbearable.

He did not dare let A-Ning see him in such a miserable state in the inner courtyard. Gritting his teeth, he returned to the side room in the front courtyard and collapsed heavily onto the cold bedboards.

"Xi'er, Brother has avenged you."

He closed his eyes and sighed silently, the image of the lively, adorable little girl next door flashing through his mind.

Chen Mu secretly swore that he would never let anyone around him be hurt again.

Just as he had that thought, midnight arrived.

The Slaughter Register's daily settlement panel appeared on its own, crimson blood-red words floating in the air.

[ Slaughter Register · Today's Settlement ]

[ Studied fist scriptures by day, tested their edge by night. Body Tempering was first achieved today; more than ten wicked men were slain by force, and a small sum of ill-gotten wealth was gained. ]

[ Evaluation: Grade C, Lower · Middle Rank ]

[ Reward: fifty taels of silver, three Bone-Strengthening Pills. Upper-grade Yellow-rank martial art: "Black Tiger Baleful Heart Art." ]

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