Sister-in-Law, You...

"Ouch!"

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A miserable scream broke the silence of the small courtyard.

The one who threw the quicklime was naturally none other than Lin Yanqiu.

She was herself a martial artist of the Qi-Blood Third Stage, possessing exceptionally acute perception. Coupled with the fact that she had spent the past few nights worrying about her inability to practice martial arts in the future, her sleep had not been very deep.

The moment Liu Wu vaulted into the courtyard, she detected the movement, though she chose not to sound the alarm right away.

She was an extremely cautious person; otherwise, she could never have risen from an ordinary person to a Chief Constable of the City Guard Office in just a few short years. Whenever she slept, her constable's blade was always placed beside her pillow, and quicklime was prepared in her room. She made it a rule to carry quicklime whenever she went out, and at that moment she happened to have some leftover, making it perfect for use.

If the intruder was a wanted criminal or an enemy, the quicklime would blind him, giving her the advantage of vision. If the visitor turned out not to be an enemy, the quicklime was not fatal, and there was clean well-water in the courtyard to promptly clear away the lime before rinsing, leaving no harm done.

Liu Wu, caught off guard and struck violently in the eyes by the quicklime, could not help crying out in pain amidst the excruciating agony.

That single cry instantly jerked Li Feng out of his slumber.

"Who is it?!"

Li Feng instantly snatched up his long blade, not even bothering to put on his clothes, and charged straight out of the room.

Rushing outside under the dim moonlight, Li Feng caught sight of a figure in black covering his eyes.

Because earlier in the day he had figured that a wanted criminal worth four hundred taels could not possibly have anything to do with him, he had not bothered to examine the wanted poster closely. Consequently, even though Liu Wu was standing only a few meters away, Li Feng failed to recognize that the man in black was Liu Wu, simply assuming him to be a thief who had scaled the wall in the middle of the night to steal money.

At that thought, a nameless fury instantly surged up within Li Feng. In this lifetime, he hated nothing more than people messing with his money, especially given how desperately short of funds he currently was.

He could afford neither a Skin Grinding method below nor healing medicine to treat his sister-in-law's injuries above. Moreover, his family's courtyard clearly did not belong to anyone wealthy; why on earth couldn't this thief go steal from Butcher Hu next door instead of coming to his house for money?

"I'm already reduced to bare walls, and you damn well still want to come steal money?!" Li Feng roared in exasperation, drawing his long blade and slashing straight ahead.

Lin Yanqiu, standing off to the side, was taken completely aback at the sight.

As a martial artist of the Qi-Blood Third Stage, she saw at a glance that even injured, this man in black possessed at least the cultivation of the Qi-Blood Second Level.

"Xiao Feng, don't be rash, he has Qi-Blood..." Lin Yanqiu opened her mouth to issue a warning, but choked back the second half of her sentence, her lovely eyes widening in shock.

Right in the center of the courtyard, Li Feng was already locked in combat with the man in black.

To Lin Yanqiu's utter surprise, the two of them were actually fighting to a standstill!

The long blade in Li Feng's hand flowed like endless river water, his Blade Force pouring forth as every single move and stance brimmed with the profound depth of the realm of perfection.

As for Liu Wu, he truly lived up to being a martial artist of the peak Qi-Blood Second Level. Even heavily injured and blinded by quicklime, he relied purely on instinct to block Li Feng's onslaught in a state of total blindness, occasionally even managing a counterattack.

"Clang, clang, clang!" The blade edges collided violently, sending sparks splashing through the night as the two figures crossed paths in a perilous dance.

Watching the intertwined figures locked in combat, Lin Yanqiu felt a tempest of emotions stirring within her.

Hadn't Xiao Feng only stepped into the Qi-Blood First Stage a few days ago? How could he wield such a ferocious blade technique? Judging by this technique, even if it wasn't at perfection, it had reached great accomplishment. Granted, he was taking advantage of the opponent's injuries and blindness, but to be able to trade blows with a Qi-Blood Second Level martial artist to this extent far exceeded her expectations.

In the space of just a few breaths, the two long blades had collided over a dozen times in the dark of night.

While frantically slashing away, Li Feng did not forget to dish out some trash talk:

"You petty thief, I never expected you to be an initiated martial artist after all. You probably picked up some trash nameless blade technique from god knows where, managed a lucky initiation, and then had the nerve to come steal things. Also, you going to keep your eyes shut and play the expert without speaking? Speak! Go on, speak!"

"You Qi-Blood First Stage thief scaling walls in the middle of the night-you've got to be a habitual offender. Who knows, turning you in to the City Guard Office might even fetch me a few dozen taels in bounty!" The more Li Feng hacked away, the more energized he became, his blade light completely enveloping Liu Wu.

Hearing Li Feng's words, Liu Wu felt a grievance so profound it nearly made him vomit blood.

In this wretched courtyard that couldn't even afford to keep a mongrel dog, there was actually a brat at the Qi-Blood First Stage! To top it off, this brat was taking advantage of his injuries and blindness to look down on him so despicably!

He was a martial artist of the peak Qi-Blood Second Level, merely a step away from the Qi-Blood Third Stage. When had he ever suffered such humiliation, getting thoroughly suppressed by a brat at nothing more than the Qi-Blood First Stage?

Under normal circumstances, against a kid possessing only technique and a vastly inferior cultivation base, he could have relied on his realm advantage to fight five opponents at once without breaking a sweat!

Yet tonight, he was simply down on his luck to the extreme.

First, his ribs had been pierced and severely injured, leaving him utterly unable to exert force now; a full ten parts of his strength were already reduced by five. And now, to make matters worse, he had fallen for the scummy tactic of having ashes thrown directly in his face, leaving his eyes burning and completely unable to open-stripping away another two parts of his strength and plunging him into total disadvantage.

"I am a..." Liu Wu roared, finally fighting through the excruciating pain to force his eyes open into a narrow slit.

Yet the very second he managed to open them, before he could even clearly make out the person in front of him-

Puff.

Another large handful of chalk-white quicklime came hurtling straight toward his face, with pinpoint accuracy, pasting itself solidly over his eyes.

It turned out that Li Feng never bothered with martial virtue in a fight. He had long since bought plenty of quicklime from the black market, and seeing Liu Wu force his eyes open, he had scooped out a handful with his left hand and flung it right at him.

"Ah!!!"

Liu Wu let out another miserable shriek, completely breaking down this time. That damned brat had actually thrown yet another handful of quicklime straight into his eyes! Unable to catch his breath, he instantly coughed up a mouthful of blood with a loud puff.

Compounded with the Qi-Dissolving Powder Jiang Yue had previously poisoned him with, the drug's effects now fully erupted amidst the intense clash, causing Liu Wu to feel an all-over soreness and weakness in his limbs. He could no longer muster even a shred of strength and collapsed to the ground in despair.

Li Feng let out a cold snort, stepped forward, and brought the back of his blade down hard against the back of Liu Wu's head, knocking him out cold. He then skillfully fetched a length of rope and trussed Liu Wu up like a giant rice dumpling, muttering to himself:

"At first light tomorrow, I'll cart this petty thief off to the City Guard Office. Maybe I can trade him for a few dozen taels of silver."

Right at that moment-

A figure clad in blue constable uniform vaulted out of the shadows. It was Jiang Yue, who had tracked the trail of blood all the way here.

Having followed the bloodstains up to this point and discovering they ended right outside Li Feng's courtyard gate, she had deduced that Liu Wu must have leaped over the wall into the compound, prompting her to quietly follow suit and scale the wall as well.

"You've actually cultivated Blade Force?!"

Gazing at Li Feng, Jiang Yue could not conceal the shock in her lovely eyes.

The moment she vaulted into the courtyard, she had spotted the two of them locked in combat. Others might not have been able to tell, but as a genius who had cultivated Sword Force herself, how could she possibly fail to recognize the technique Li Feng had just displayed?

And wasn't this Li Feng the white runner who had gotten in through the back door not long ago? Hadn't he merely lucked into the Qi-Blood First Stage? How on earth had he mastered Blade Force by now?

She hadn't looked closely that day, but seeing him up close now, this Li Feng was actually a few years younger than herself. It was exceptionally rare for someone of this age to train blade technique to perfection, let alone cultivate Blade Force. She only wondered how his bone structure and innate talent were; if he could display such aptitude while practicing an Internal Training Method, he truly was a rare talent indeed.

Hearing the words "Blade Force", Lin Yanqiu, standing beneath the eaves, was struck as if by lightning, and she stared at Li Feng in simultaneous shock: "Xiao Feng, you've cultivated Blade Force?"

As a former Chief Constable of the Qi-Blood Third Stage, her heart was likewise shaken to its core.

While martial Dao body tempering was undeniably difficult, as long as one had sufficient silver, one could forcefully pile up their realm using purchased medicinal cuisine and various tonics. At the end of the day, it was merely slow, grinding effort and had little to do with comprehension.

A transformation in technique, however, was entirely different. It depended purely on individual comprehension. Far from being at the Qi-Blood First Stage, in truth, even martial artists at the Qi-Blood Third Stage-those experts who had reached the "Flesh Training" realm of body tempering-might not necessarily be able to touch the threshold of "Force" in martial techniques.

A martial artist who had mastered "Force" possessed combat power sufficient to rival several individuals of the same realm. That single step was a world away from ordinary realms; the two were quite simply separated by heaven and earth.

How long had Xiao Feng even been practicing martial arts?

He had actually cultivated Blade Force!

Faced with the shock of the two women, Li Feng openly admitted, "Just a lucky epiphany."

Jiang Yue took a deep breath, suppressing the tumultuous waves in her heart. She cast a complex look at Li Feng, then pointed at the unconscious Liu Wu on the ground and said, "I'm taking this man with me. The credit will go to my name."

At these words, Li Feng raised an eyebrow slightly, opening his mouth to speak.

Jiang Yue added a supplementary remark: "Rest assured, though, I won't treat you unfairly. Come find me in my Administrative Office tomorrow morning."

With that, she dragged the dog-like Liu Wu away and vanished into the night.

Watching Jiang Yue depart, Li Feng turned back toward Lin Yanqiu and said, "Sister-in-Law, that person just now was the new Chief Constable, Jiang Yue. But she's far too stingy-she actually wants to rob me, a lowly little white runner, of the credit for a petty thief worth only a few dozen taels of bounty."

As Li Feng sheathed his long blade, he continued, "Still, that petty thief really was too arrogant just now. Running into our shabby courtyard in the middle of the night to steal things was one thing, but he actually dared to fight me with his eyes closed the entire time. He completely didn't take me seriously. Serving him right that he got caught!"

Hearing this, Lin Yanqiu's expression grew somewhat peculiar.

Hesitating slightly, she spoke up quietly: "Actually... it wasn't that he wanted to keep his eyes closed. I was the one who threw a handful of quicklime at him from behind the door at the very beginning and blinded him."

As her voice trailed off, the air in the courtyard instantly froze.

The expression on Li Feng's face stiffened abruptly, plunging into dead silence.

He stared at his sister-in-law with wide eyes, a raging tempest instantly churning within his heart.

Never in his wildest dreams would he have imagined that his sister-in-law-usually spirited, upright in her actions, and possessing quite the heroic air of a woman among men-would actually set an ambush behind the door and resort to such a low, underhanded tactic as throwing quicklime!

Seeing Li Feng gaze at her with such bizarre eyes, Lin Yanqiu felt her face grow rather hot as well.

To break the awkward silence, she hurriedly changed the subject, pointing to the spot where the two had just clashed and asking, "By the way, Xiao Feng, earlier I saw that while you were fighting, you suddenly whipped something out-what was that?"

Li Feng's old face flushed red. He gave two dry coughs, guiltily rubbed his nose, and muttered in a small voice, "Uh... it was quicklime."

Now, it was Lin Yanqiu's turn to fall silent.

She likewise widened her eyes, fixing Li Feng with a look of extreme disbelief.

In her impression, Li Feng had been an honest, dutiful, and steady child since he was small, even coming across as somewhat slow-witted at times. Yet this honest-looking kid actually resorted to underhanded tricks like throwing quicklime when getting into a fight!

Moreover, judging by how smoothly he operated, he used it even more proficiently than she did!

Beneath the dim moonlight, the atmosphere in the courtyard turned utterly bizarre.

The two of them stared at each other with wide eyes.

After a long moment.

"Ahem... well, the moon is quite round tonight." Li Feng scratched his head.

"Yeah, the moon really is quite round tonight." Lin Yanqiu awkwardly smoothed down her collar, looked up at the half-moon, and remarked.

With tacit mutual understanding, neither of them continued the topic further. They turned on their heels, strode quickly back to their respective rooms, and slammed their doors shut to go to sleep.