Pay Them a Visit in Three Days? No, Tonight!

Yang had always been ill-tempered, and before he came this time, the deputy gang leader had secretly promised him that if he collected the protection money from these villages as quickly as possible, he could take over as the man in charge of them.

That was also why he beat or berated the villagers: he wanted to establish his authority, collect the money quickly, and become their new boss.

So when he heard that Zhao Damin could not pay the full amount, he knew this was a good opportunity to establish his authority. After all, the villager before him was not only scrawny but also looked weak and easy to bully.

Gathering all his strength, he mercilessly raised his short club and swung it at Zhao Damin's thigh. The blow came fast and fierce; almost as soon as his words fell, so did the club.

Some of the villagers nearby wanted to stop him, but it was already too late.

"Clang!!"

Yet just as his short club was about to strike Zhao Damin's thigh, an arm firmly blocked it.

The arm gleamed darkly. When the head of the club struck it, the sound was not the crack of bone, but the clang of a blow against metal.

"Son, are you all right? Are you hurt?"

"Zhao Er? How are you? Did you get hurt?"

As soon as Zhao Er blocked the short club, the village chief and his father, Zhao Dazhu, hurried forward. They examined his arm while reaching out to shield him behind them.

"Dad, Chief, don't worry. I'm fine!"

Zhao Er smiled at the two anxious men, then pulled them aside.

Zhao Family Village was tightly knit, and Zhao Er remembered how everyone had treated him. Before he started practicing martial arts, he had been powerless when the villagers were bullied. But now he was a martial artist. If he still sat by and watched them suffer, wouldn't all his training have been for nothing?

"A... a martial artist! You're a martial artist!!!"

Yang's hand was aching fiercely from the tremendous recoil, but he no longer had any attention to spare for the pain. Instead, he pointed at the unharmed Zhao Er and cried out in shock.

The Longwind Gang taught martial arts, and Yang had trained as well. But he had originally been nothing more than a town ruffian, and even after joining the Longwind Gang, he remained an ordinary member. He simply lacked the money to sustain the enormous expenses of martial training. Still, after all these years of practice, his fighting skills were far beyond those of ordinary people.

Yet he had just struck with all his strength while wielding a short club, only for the man before him to block it with his arm. His own hand throbbed from the recoil, while the other man's expression had not changed. Even his arm had already returned to its normal flesh tone.

In that instant, he knew he had kicked an iron plate.

His startled cry brought the two approaching Longwind Gang members to a halt.

When the villagers gathering around heard Yang shout "martial artist," their anger vanished in an instant, and they all turned to Zhao Er.

"Zhao Er, you've become a martial artist?"

The village chief even grabbed Zhao Er's arm and asked loudly.

"Yes. I broke through a few days ago."

Since Zhao Er had stepped forward, he had no intention of hiding it, so he nodded and admitted it outright.

"You... we're from the Longwind Gang! Our leader and deputy leader are both martial artists!!"

When Yang saw Zhao Er admit it, the last of his anxious hopes died. As Zhao Er looked over, he could only shout with a fierce front masking his fear, hoping the leader and deputy leader's names would intimidate him.

"What does the Longwind Gang Leader and deputy leader being martial artists have to do with you...?"

Since Zhao Er had already acted, he naturally had no intention of letting the matter end there. As he spoke, his hand shot out and seized the short club in Yang's grip.

"You... spare me! I didn't know... Aaah!!!"

Yang kept backing away, then tried to beg for mercy.

But before he could finish speaking, Zhao Er had snatched away the short club and brought it down on him.

A sharp crack rang out, and Yang's agonized screams were the only sound in the entire Zhao family ancestral hall.

"You lot..."

After that single blow, Zhao Er looked at the screaming man clutching his twisted thigh, casually tossed the short club aside, and turned to the other Longwind Gang members.

"Sir, good sir... we only came to collect the protection money! We never laid a hand on anyone. It was all this fellow's idea..."

The moment Zhao Er looked their way, the two men's legs went weak, and they dropped straight to their knees.

"Keep collecting the protection money. Collect only what's owed. Once you're done, take this fellow back and tell your leader my name is Zhao Er. In three days, I'll visit the Longwind Gang's headquarters in town and meet him."

Zhao Er looked at the two kneeling men and pointed at Yang as he spoke.

"Yes, yes, yes!!! We'll remember! We'll remember!"

"Thank you, sir! Thank you, sir!!"

Neither man had expected Zhao Er not only to spare them a beating but even to let them continue collecting the protection money. One nodded repeatedly while the other began kowtowing.

"Chief, carry on. The county is demanding this protection money. If we don't pay, the entire village will be in trouble..."

Worried that the villagers might think they no longer had to pay now that he was a martial artist, Zhao Er spoke quietly to the village chief.

"Don't worry. I understand. We won't blame you. This is already a good outcome..."

The village chief nodded repeatedly. He understood what was at stake, and what Zhao Er had done was indeed as far as he could go.

"Good!"

Only after hearing that did Zhao Er nod and leave.

Back home, Zhao Er went into the side room to continue training as though nothing had happened.

Only his parents were a little worried. Though they knew Zhao Er was already a martial artist, learning that he would visit the Longwind Gang in three days still made them anxious.

Zhao Er offered little explanation, however, because in a couple of days, his parents would no longer have any reason to worry about this.

That afternoon, Zhao Er trained as usual, then retired to his room early after finishing.

But in the middle of the night, Zhao Er rose from bed in the darkness, quietly slipped out the door, and headed toward town.

During the day, he had sent word that he would visit the Longwind Gang's headquarters in town in three days because he knew collecting the protection money was their most pressing concern. He had said it to put them at ease.

That did not stop Zhao Er from going that very night to scout things out.

He needed to learn more about the Longwind Gang Leader, then see whether there was an opportunity to set an ambush.

Zhao Er was desperately short of money right now. He urgently needed silver, not just to buy the Halberd Art and metal scraps, but also to purchase a suitable body-tempering manual to merge with the Nine-Turn Golden Armor Art.

He did not dare touch the protection money collected by the Longwind Gang. That stuff was a death warrant. But that did not mean he was afraid to go after the Longwind Gang Leader.

Besides, Zhao Er did not believe that none of the protection money collected from all those villages ended up in the Longwind Gang's pockets.

So although Zhao Er had said he would visit the Longwind Gang's headquarters in three days, he gave himself no more than two.