He had not known A Chang for long.
But A Chang had saved his life.
Some time ago, when Niu Er and his men had ambushed him and beaten him gravely injured, A Chang had found him in time and carried him to a clinic for treatment. Only then had he been lucky enough to escape death.
At this moment, A Chang was very excited.
The moment he saw Wei Sheng, he could not help shouting, "Brother Sheng, good news! Wonderful news! That bastard Niu Er is dead!"
"Dead?!"
Wei Sheng looked astonished. "How did he die?"
"Dunno. This morning, I went to get medicine for my dad. When I passed the moat, I saw a whole crowd gathered there, and the officers had come too... I squeezed in and saw Niu Er... his corpse was all bloated from soaking in the water..."
A Chang gesticulated excitedly, stopping just short of setting off firecrackers in celebration.
Wei Sheng was not surprised.
A Chang's father, Uncle Xie, ran a small stall and had suffered plenty of extortion at Niu Er's hands. Not long ago, Niu Er had even broken two of his ribs, and he was still bedridden at home.
A Chang's family had already been poor. After Uncle Xie's injury, they had lost their income while still having to pay for medicine. For a household already unable to make ends meet, it was frost atop snow.
A Chang hated Niu Er, the author of all this misery, so much his teeth itched.
Now that he had seen him dead, he was naturally excited.
"What did the officers say?"
"They suspect it was retaliation by the Wild Wolf Gang."
"The Wild Wolf Gang?"
"Yeah. I heard Niu Er went drinking at a brothel last night and stole the Wild Wolf Gang boss's woman... Of course, someone from another gang might have done it too. That cur had offended far too many people, after all..."
Hearing this,
Wei Sheng felt a little more at ease.
As any friend who killed people often knew, killing was easy; disposing of the bodies was hard.
After killing Niu Er and his men last night, he had thrown them straight into the moat, thinking the current would carry the corpses away.
He had not expected
the corpses to run aground.
But he did not panic. Niu Er had offended far too many people, yet those capable of killing him could be counted on one hand.
And those people certainly did not include a "sickly weakling" like him.
More importantly...
He had done a clean job. Even experienced veteran constables would find no trace of a clue if they investigated.
"Brother Sheng, your color looks pretty good. How's your recovery going?"
"I wasn't quite better yet, but hearing that cur Niu Er died has left me refreshed in body and spirit. Feels like all my injuries have healed. Shame I couldn't slaughter that cur myself..."
Wei Sheng sounded quite regretful.
Wei He, who had just come out of the kitchen, could not help giving Wei Sheng an odd look when he heard this.
"Then get some proper rest, Brother Sheng. I'll head back." Having delivered the good news, A Chang was about to leave.
"Wait!"
"What is it, Brother Sheng?"
"A Chang, will Brother Fire Ox be overseeing the hall today?"
"No. As you know, Brother Sheng, our Gaoliu Branch Hall is just the gang's temporary office on Gaoliu Street. Brother Fire Ox has plenty of branch halls like this under him. He can't stay stationed here all the time... But he'll be here in five days."
"How come?"
"Have you forgotten, Brother Sheng? When Brother Fire Ox taught us the Savage Bull Fist, he said there'd be a test a month later. Anyone who reached the beginner level would get a special reward... Five days from now is the day of the test!"
"A test?!"
After A Chang left, Wei Sheng finally remembered the matter.
Fire Ox had indeed said something like that when he taught them the Savage Bull Fist.
A special reward?
What could it be?
So hard to guess.
Wei Sheng shook his head with a chuckle. Casting aside these stray thoughts, he assumed his stance and soon threw himself into practicing the Savage Bull Fist.
Now that he had achieved major mastery of the fist technique, every movement carried an intimidating might. He was a savage bull come to life, charging and crashing through the courtyard.
"Savage Bull Charges the Wilds!"
"Savage Bull Parts Its Mane!"
"Savage Bull Thrusts Its Horns!"
"..."
Five days passed in the blink of an eye.
Over those five days, Wei Sheng never went out. Aside from eating, drinking, and relieving himself, he spent each day practicing his fist technique or pondering the White Crane Skin Refinement Method.
During that time, A Chang visited once more and told him what had followed Niu Er's death.
"The officers only took a look once, then left it alone and handed it over to the gang to deal with themselves..."
Wei Sheng was not surprised by this outcome.
Niu Er had been the sort of creature loathed by people and dogs alike.
Not one of the nearby residents had failed to clap and cheer at his death.
Moreover, Niu Er had no family and no one to run about on his behalf. With the real killer nowhere to be found, the matter naturally petered out.
For Wei Sheng, this was naturally a good thing.
And clearly, it was not his only piece of good fortune.
[Dao Origin points +5]
Looking at the information on the panel, Wei Sheng revealed a faint smile.
He had saved up for five days precisely for this moment!
"Dao Origin, let me see your limits. Max it out!"
Wei Sheng focused, and with a thought, invested all five Dao Origin points in the Savage Bull Fist.
"Whoosh!"
Wei Sheng's body shuddered, and a vast flood of insights into practicing the Savage Bull Fist surged into his mind once again.
Five years of arduous practice finally let him break through the final threshold, advancing from major mastery to perfection!
And,
years of grueling practice had turned the fist technique into instinct. Every move could flow forth at will.
Each move also contained astonishing power.
His attainment in the Savage Bull Fist now surpassed even Fire Ox, who had taught him the technique.
"So this is what perfection feels like? Truly wonderful!"
Wei Sheng narrowed his eyes slightly,
the pleasure brought by this improvement in his skill intoxicated him even more than receiving the full service from several people after winning a boxing match in his previous life.
And that was not all.
As the Savage Bull Fist reached perfection, the total blood and qi within his body surged to twelve strands.
The speed at which he condensed blood and qi had also increased considerably.
"With the Savage Bull Fist perfected, my strength has soared, and my physique seems to have reached the limits of a normal person. I can control my blood and qi and start practicing the skin refinement method."
But now was clearly not the time.
Fire Ox's test was about to begin.
"Little He, I'm going out for a bit..."
After a word to Wei He, Wei Sheng left the little courtyard under Wei He's slightly worried gaze, lengthened his stride, and hurried toward the Fish-Dragon Gang's branch hall on Gaoliu Street.
The branch hall was not far from his home, only a little over twenty minutes away.
Before long,
Wei Sheng arrived at the branch hall, a somewhat dilapidated single-story building.
Inside was a large courtyard, where twenty or thirty Fish-Dragon Gang disciples had gathered.
They were scattered around the courtyard in twos and threes, chatting with one another in a lively bustle.
When Wei Sheng entered, quite a few noticed him and looked surprised.
Wei Sheng swept his gaze over the crowd and found A Chang hiding in a corner behind them.
After one look, Wei Sheng frowned slightly.
A Chang was in poor shape. His face was bruised dark, and his nose was still bleeding, staining his chest and sleeves with blood. He looked utterly bedraggled.
No one stood beside him. Everyone else kept their distance, as though avoiding a god of plague.
"A Chang."
Wei Sheng walked over to his side.
"B-Brother Sheng?!"
A Chang was truly startled to see Wei Sheng.
The change was simply too great!
His looks had not changed much, but his bearing had become extremely rough and savage, faintly exuding a sense of pressure that made him feel like a stranger.
But the words he spoke still had that familiar flavor, as cutting as ever:
"Did a pig hit a tree, and you hit the pig?"
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