Hidden by the corner of a wall, Lu Mian heard their conversation, and a cold smile crept onto his face.
He remained crouched in the corner, quietly waiting for his chance.
With those fellows drinking inside, they were bound to need a piss.
The houses in the refugee district had no latrines, so they would have to come outside.
Sure enough.
Before long, a thug staggered out through the door of the stone house and headed to the mouth of the alley to relieve himself.
He failed to notice the figure hiding silently in the shadows.
The instant he began to piss, Lu Mian surged forward, his right arm coiling around the thug's neck like a python!
Crack!
The muscles in his arm tightened fiercely, unleashing Tortoise-Snake Force. Like a python constricting its prey, he crushed the thug's neck!
The man's eyes bulged. He died without even knowing what had happened.
Lu Mian supported the corpse and quietly lowered it to the ground.
Inside the house, Luo Shi and the pockmarked thug noticed nothing, unaware of the approaching danger.
"Hm... why isn't Toad back yet?"
"Don't tell me he's too drunk to get up again, like last time."
Luo Shi was getting rather tipsy himself.
"Brother Luo, I'll go take a look."
The pockmarked thug staggered to his feet and went outside, leaving the door open.
Luo Shi stayed inside, drinking by himself. Some time passed.
Then he came to his senses.
Why haven't either of my lackeys come back?
Just as he sobered up a little and realized something was wrong, a figure rushed inside.
It was a boy in yellow clothes with a filthy face.
Whoosh!
Luo Shi had managed to become a minor leader in the Black Snake Gang, and he had trained in a fist technique.
The moment he saw the intruder, he swung a vicious punch at him.
But the boy slipped aside like a gliding snake. At the same time, his right hand struck like a serpent's head, jabbing Luo Shi's throat with lightning speed.
Thud!
The force pierced straight through Luo Shi's windpipe. He could not make a sound, and breathing became agonizingly difficult.
A savage gleam filled Lu Mian's eyes. He opened his left hand and slammed his palm against Luo Shi's forehead.
This was Turtle Fist's Subduing the Waves, Calming the Sea.
Bang!
That single strike left Luo Shi bleeding from his eyes, ears, and nose. He toppled over stiffly.
"Whew..."
"So killing someone is this easy."
Lu Mian stared at Luo Shi's corpse, his face expressionless.
He had seen far too many corpses these past few days.
He had even seen supernatural horrors. This could hardly stir his emotions.
He quickly dragged the other two thugs' corpses inside as well, lest someone spot them.
Then Lu Mian began searching the house and the bodies of Luo Shi and his men for valuables.
There was another reason he had been so eager to act.
He was running short of money.
Spending a tael of silver every day had nearly emptied his purse.
But if he wanted his blood and qi to keep increasing, he could not stop nourishing himself with food. His only option was to rob the crooks.
Lu Mian found twenty taels of silver on the three men.
His search of the house, however, yielded nothing.
After all, most people here carried their money on them.
Even Lu Mian did the same.
Next, he had to dispose of the corpses.
For Lu Mian, nothing could have been simpler.
He put the silver away, blew out the candle inside the house, and left.
Lu Mian first returned to his own stone house, changed back into his gray clothes, then went to the Dust-Returning Courtyard.
The Dust-Returning Courtyard's carts were left outside at random, with no one watching over them.
As though nothing were amiss, Lu Mian pushed a cart away and returned to Luo Shi's stone house.
He loaded all three corpses onto the cart facedown, covered them with a straw mat, then headed for the Corpse-Burning Valley.
Nothing happened on his way through the refugee district.
After entering the shanty quarantine zone, Lu Mian deliberately took a longer route to avoid Chen Xiuzhu.
But at an intersection, he happened to run into a patrol.
Lu Mian did not turn to look at them. He kept pushing the cart, his eyes blank.
"Wait."
The leader of the patrol spoke up.
Lu Mian stopped without panicking.
He turned to look.
A broad, powerfully built man was watching him.
"Greetings, Captain Zhuang."
Lu Mian spoke listlessly.
"I remember your name was Lu Mian, wasn't it...?"
"How's the work at the Dust-Returning Courtyard?"
Zhuang Shen still remembered Lu Mian's name.
"It's all right."
Lu Mian nodded expressionlessly.
Corpse collectors were all like this, so Zhuang Shen thought nothing of it.
"Go on, then."
Zhuang Shen waved him away.
Lu Mian nodded and continued pushing the cart.
Something flickered in Zhuang Shen's eyes before he led his men onward on their patrol.
After that close call, Lu Mian left the shanty quarantine zone safely and reached the vicinity of the Corpse-Burning Valley.
Knowing it would be busy tonight, he first hid in the small grove beside the Corpse-Burning Valley to wait.
Before long, Lu Mian saw Chen Xiuzhu pushing a cart out of the Corpse-Burning Valley.
"Good thing I didn't go in. Who knows what might have happened if I'd run into him?"
Lu Mian smiled smugly.
Once Chen Xiuzhu was far away, he pushed the corpses of Luo Shi and his men into the Corpse-Burning Valley.
He had killed these fellows himself. If he failed to burn them, they really might turn into evil spirits or supernatural horrors and come to claim his life.
That was why he had to reduce them to ashes!
After several days of practice, Lu Mian was already well versed in burning corpses.
Soon, the three bodies were blazing in front of him, until they finally turned to ash.
The disappearance of Luo Shi and his two men caused barely a ripple.
The refugee district was enormous, and clashes between gangs were fierce. Death was an everyday occurrence.
Even the Guard Hall usually ignored these gang killings.
That was an unwritten rule of Thousand Chimes City.
The Black Snake Gang sent people to conduct a cursory investigation, but they could not even determine whether the three men were alive or dead. In the end, the gang simply sent a new leader to take charge.
Lu Mian kept as low a profile as ever.
Having learned his lesson after Luo Shi discovered him buying meat, he deliberately wore looser clothes and hid all his food on his person. That way, no one would notice.
Half a month passed in the blink of an eye.
With plenty of food available, the Gluttonous Stomach supplied a steady stream of vital essence. Lu Mian's physique grew noticeably stronger, and he even became a little taller.
After all, the original owner of this body had only been seventeen, with room left to grow.
As his Tortoise-Snake Fist improved, Lu Mian's vitality, energy, and spirit were transforming as well.
"Subduing the Waves, Calming the Sea..."
"Dark Serpent Prowls the Abyss..."
Inside his stone house, Lu Mian was practicing Tortoise-Snake Fist.
This time, instead of following the usual sequence, he combined Turtle Fist and Snake Fist.
His practice over the past few days had made him realize that Tortoise-Snake Fist was no simple technique.
Or rather, the Heart-Eroding Divine Ability had allowed him to perceive its intricacies.
"The tortoise and snake are one to begin with. The moves and forms of their fist techniques can also be switched at any moment."
"Combining elusiveness with stillness is the true essence of Tortoise-Snake Fist."
Lu Mian now alternated between the two fist techniques, one moving and one still. Yet there was nothing jarring about it; the transitions felt seamless and perfectly coordinated.
The Tortoise-Snake Force within him began circulating as well. His sinews and bones cracked like firecrackers, while his blood and qi surged.
"Whew..."
After finishing his routine, Lu Mian breathed deeply.
"My sinews and bones are cracking sharply, and my force has grown much stronger."
"I should have reached minor mastery in Tortoise-Snake Fist now!"
Lu Mian sensed the Tortoise-Snake Force within his body. If it had previously been a little snake, it was now the equivalent of a fully grown green snake.
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