"Lord Ma, are we just going to let this go?" a henchman asked with a puzzled expression.
"Yeah, Lord Ma, that brat looks all skin and bones, and he probably doesn't have much real combat experience either. For a greenhorn like him with no experience at all, you could kill him in three punches at most, Lord Ma." Another henchman also spoke up.
"Let it go? How could we possibly let it go? Spat!"
Ma San spat a mouthful of thick phlegm onto the ground and said viciously.
"There were too many onlookers just now. Even though that brat is only a white runner, he's still a member of the City Guard Office after all. If things get blown out of proportion, it'll be unfavorable for us. It's better to wait until evening..."
"Does Lord Ma mean..." A henchman leaned close to Ma San and made a slashing gesture across his neck.
Ma San fiercely slapped the henchman on the head: "Idiot, do you know how much trouble it causes to kill someone from the City Guard Office? Unless it's an absolute last resort, we cannot take this step."
A henchman couldn't help saying: "As long as it can't be traced back to us..."
"Pockmark! Do you take the people at the City Guard Office for a bunch of good-for-nothings? They had a conflict with us during the day, and then he dies at night-anyone would suspect it was us!"
"Lord Ma, then?" Pockmark was confused.
"Just find an opportunity to beat him up severely, making him half-crippled should be no problem at all."
Ma San turned back to glance at Li Feng's courtyard and sneered viciously.
Once night falls, you're going to get what's coming to you!
Killing you would indeed bring investigation from the City Guard Office, but what if I just beat you up, leaving you half-crippled?
Presumably, the City Guard Office wouldn't go to great lengths to investigate the culprit just for a temporary white runner.
Seeing Ma San and the others walk far away, Li Wan'er spoke to Li Feng: "Constable big brother... thank you. If not for you, the money for Grandpa's injury medicine would have been snatched away."
Uncle Li also wanted to stand up shakily to express his gratitude: "Little Feng, today is all thanks to you, otherwise the two of us grandfather and granddaughter... I just don't know about the future..."
"Uncle, please sit down quickly, watch out for your back injury."
Li Feng hurriedly stepped forward to support Uncle Li, then patted Li Wan'er's little head, gently soothing her: "Don't be afraid, little girl. As long as I'm here, no one will be able to snatch your grandpa's medicine money."
With that, Li Feng helped the two of them tidy up the mess in the courtyard before finally turning around to return home.
"Still not enough... My current strength is still far from enough."
Li Feng sat on the bed, muttering to himself as he thought about the information he had gathered over the past month.
During this past month, taking advantage of his patrols with Zhang San and Chen Song, he made indirect inquiries and finally figured out the strength and power of the Green Bamboo Gang.
The Green Bamboo Gang had nearly two hundred gang members, of whom about a hundred and fifty had no martial cultivation, while the remaining fifty were at least at the Qi-Blood First Stage.
That Lei Hu who had come to collect protection money at his house previously should be at Qi-Blood Second Level Perfection, at the same realm as him.
Going further up, there were three vice gang leaders, each with strength above the Qi-Blood Third Stage, comparable to the chief constables of the City Guard Office.
As for the gang leader, he was a martial arts expert at the Qi-Blood Fourth Stage, and currently in his prime, extremely formidable.
"A gang leader at the Qi-Blood Fourth Stage, vice gang leaders at the Qi-Blood Third Stage, plus a bunch of gang members at the Qi-Blood First and Second Stages..."
With his current strength at Qi-Blood Second Level Perfection, coupled with the Blade Force of the Water-Cutting Saber Art, if he really fought to the death with that Lei Hu, Lei Hu would definitely be the one to die; even adding Lei Hu's two henchmen wouldn't change the outcome.
But what about after killing Lei Hu?
It would be fine if he wasn't discovered, but once discovered, he would definitely face crazy retaliation.
After all, he was a constable of the City Guard Office; while they wouldn't dare make a move against him out in the open, what about in secret? If any random vice gang leader plus an incense master came after him, he would definitely be no match for them. By then, not only would he suffer disaster, but he would also implicate Sister-in-law.
A gentleman takes his revenge ten years later, and it's never too late.
Taking a step back made him more and more furious. He could endure it when he was only at the Qi-Blood First Stage, but now that he had reached Qi-Blood Second Level Perfection, how could he possibly still endure a punk at the Qi-Blood First Stage committing insubordination against him?
Lei Hu couldn't be killed, but killing this Ma San should be fine, right? A gang member at the Qi-Blood First Stage-dead was dead. Presumably the people of the Green Bamboo Gang wouldn't launch a large-scale investigation for the killer.
Nightfall, outside the Spring Breeze House.
"Ugh-ah!"
Ma San let out a drunken hiccup, exuding a heavy reek of alcohol as he walked out of the Spring Breeze House.
Because they had collected the protection money and suffered Li Feng's anger during the day, the few of them had come to the Spring Breeze House to vent thoroughly tonight; although they hadn't practiced the Skin-Grinding Method, it didn't mean they couldn't grind their skin.
"Lord Ma, are we going to find that brat now?" Pockmark rubbed his hands by the side with a sinister smile.
"Go, of course we're going. But before we go, call Brother Six to come with us. He's just like me, a martial artist at the Qi-Blood First Stage. With the two of us, taking that brat down will definitely be no problem!"
"A mere white runner dares to disrespect me? Tonight, I'm definitely going to break both his legs!"
"As for that little girl from the Li family, although she's a bit young, selling her to the Spring Breeze House as a maid should still be worth a bit of money."
Emboldened by his drunkenness, Ma San spat viciously.
The three of them staggered into a dark, narrow alley.
There was only faint starlight in the alley, and visibility was extremely poor.
When the three of them reached the middle of the alley, a figure suddenly appeared at the far end of the alley ahead, quietly blocking the exit.
Ma San had drunk a lot of alcohol, and coupled with the late hour, he couldn't tell who had come at all.
"Where did this blind piece of trash come from? Don't you know we're people from the Green Bamboo Gang? Get lost for your grandpa right now!"
Ma San cursed impatiently.
He was used to running amok on a regular basis and didn't believe that anyone in this area would dare to provoke the Green Bamboo Gang.
Yet this dark figure didn't speak and charged straight at the three of them.
The newcomer was precisely Li Feng.
Tonight, he deliberately didn't bring his saber, only using a black cloth to cover his face.
Tonight, he wanted to use his fists to beat Ma San to death raw, and by the way, test out just what kind of strength Skin-Grinding Perfection truly possessed.
"Courting death!"
Seeing that the opponent actually dared to charge up, Ma San threw a punch in his panic, aiming straight for the newcomer's chest.
"Bang!"
A muffled impact rang out.
Ma San's expression changed instantly. He only felt that hitting down with this punch didn't feel like hitting a person's body at all, but rather like punching an iron plate.
With this single punch, the opponent showed no reaction, but his own arm was shaken until it ached fiercely!
"How is this possible?!"
Ma San's drunkenness sobered up quite a bit instantly, and his heart was filled with despair: "An expert at Skin-Grinding Perfection?!"
Although he only possessed the strength of the Qi-Blood First Stage, his immediate superior, Incense Master Lei, was someone at the Qi-Blood Second Level, an expert at Skin-Grinding Perfection. A person who hadn't practiced the Skin-Grinding Method would only shake their own hand in pain if they punched such a person.
Try as he might, Ma San couldn't figure out why such a figure would make a move against him.
Was it the Black Bear Gang? Or some other gang? Did they want to make a move against the Green Bamboo Gang?
How could they dare?
Before he could snap back to his senses, sand-bowl-sized fists arrived in rapid succession.
"Crack! Crack!"
Sounds of bone fracture echoed one after another.
When Li Feng was at the Qi-Blood First Stage, his single-arm force was around one hundred and fifty catties; now at Qi-Blood Second Level Perfection, the power of a single punch was a full four to five hundred catties. How could Ma San, who was only at the Qi-Blood First Stage, possibly withstand it?
Ma San was beaten dizzy and disoriented, his chest cavity visibly caved inward, and his entire body was sent flying backward, slamming heavily against the wall and sliding down like a lump of mud.
"Puff!"
A mouthful of fresh blood gushed from Ma San's mouth as his life force rapidly drained away. He stared with wide eyes at the dark figure before him, raspy and voice strained: "Who is it? Just who are you? How have I offended Your Excellency?"
Right now, he only wanted to figure out who on earth wanted to kill him-was it an expert from a rival gang or an enemy made in private?
Li Feng looked down at him from above and said slowly, "Lord Ma, please go to your death!"
Boom!
Hearing this familiar voice, Ma San understood instantly.
Li Feng?!
It was actually that Li Feng?!
How could this be?!
Countless thoughts flashed through Ma San's mind, and no matter how he thought about it, he couldn't figure out why a low-level white runner without even his name on the roster would possess the terrifying strength of Qi-Blood Second Level Perfection?
Also, wasn't this Li Feng a constable of the City Guard Office? Why had he come to kill him? Why could a constable of the City Guard Office kill people as he pleased? He had only wanted to give this brat a severe beating!
The instinct for survival made Ma San hurriedly open his mouth to beg for mercy: "Constable grandpa spare my life, constable grandpa spare my life! We don't have an irreconcilable blood feud! Spare me, and from now on you won't have to pay protection money for your house!"
Seeing that Li Feng didn't respond, he anxiously spoke again: "No, wait, I still have over a dozen taels of silver on me, I'll give it all to you, I only ask that you spare my life!"
Regrettably, his pleas for mercy had no effect whatsoever.
Things had already developed to this point, so how could Li Feng possibly leave any living witnesses?
Besides, the commotion caused by the fight might soon attract the surrounding people.
Delays breed changes; Li Feng didn't hesitate any longer, bringing his foot down with a heavy stomp straight onto Ma San's neck.
"Crack!"
The overwhelming, massive force snapped Ma San's neck instantly.
Ma San still wanted to say something, but no matter what, he couldn't make a sound. His head tilted to the side, carrying regret and unwillingness as he breathed his last completely.
"Lord Ma is dead? Lord Ma was beaten to death?"
The two henchmen not far away froze in place, their courage already scared out of them.
All of this happened in the flash of a spark off a flint; by the time they reacted, Ma San had already been beaten to death.
Three punches could kill Lord Ma, and killing them wouldn't take more than two punches.
The two of them instantly lost all drunkenness, let out a strange shriek, and turned on their heels wanting to flee.
"Want to run?"
Li Feng's gaze turned cold. How could he possibly let the two of them go? His legs suddenly exerted force, and his strength at the Qi-Blood Second Level allowed him to catch up to the pair in an instant.
"Bang! Bang!"
Two heavy punches accurately slammed into the backs of the pair's hearts.
The two punks let out miserable shrieks as their hearts were directly shattered by the immense force. They toppled straight to the ground and ceased breathing altogether.
Before dying, the two of them were still thinking: As expected, someone who could kill Lord Ma in three punches wouldn't take more than two punches to kill them.
With his strength having reached Qi-Blood Second Level Perfection, Li Feng had already pulled open a massive gap between himself and ordinary people, beating these three to death in just a few moves.
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