The Black Tigers Provoked Trouble, a Furious Lash Was Thwarted

Arrogant curses carried over from far away.

Below the silk shop's steps, an old shop assistant with blood all over his face clutched desperately at a bolt of moon-white satin that had just been thrown out, pleading through his tears:

"Good sirs, have mercy! This is tribute satin bestowed by the palace just this autumn! A single bolt costs a hundred taels of fine silver. If muddy water gets on it, it'll be completely ruined! Our Cloud Silk Shop has always settled its accounts in cash. We've never borrowed any usury loans from your Black Tiger Gang. Have you come to the wrong shop?!"

"The wrong shop? It's your Marquis of Zhenbei's Residence I came to make trouble for!"

In the middle of the steps, a burly, bare-chested man with a scarred face, one eye, and heavy folds of flesh across his cheeks gave a vicious grin. Raising his right foot in its large cowhide boot, he drove a savage kick into the old assistant's chest!

Bang!

The old assistant screamed as the kick sent him tumbling down the steps. The precious tribute satin in his arms spilled loose and immediately soaked in the black, foul-smelling mud water beside the street.

A black tiger descending a mountain, baring its fangs and claws, was tattooed across the scar-faced brute's chest. In his right hand, he carried a thick-backed refined-steel cleaver as wide as a door panel. With his left, he lifted a wine gourd and gulped down a mouthful of strong liquor, then spat it all over the bolt of moon-white tribute satin. Laughing wildly in a voice like a cracked gong, he roared:

"Listen up, all of you! Your first branch's steward lost three thousand taels in cash at our Black Tiger Gang's underground gambling den last month. He put this Cloud Silk Shop up as collateral, in black and white! Today, either slap those three thousand taels, principal and interest included, onto the back of my blade, or this shop takes the surname Black from now on! Anyone who dares stop me will end up just like this old bastard!"

"Hiss... Isn't that the Black Tiger Gang's top enforcer, 'Beheading Blade' Liu Bazi? I heard that vicious bastard reached the Middle Stage of Ming Jin with his body-hardening arts ages ago. Those iron arms of his can tear a live ox apart!"

"They even dare rob and smash the Marquis of Zhenbei's Residence's flagship shop in broad daylight? Has the Black Tiger Gang eaten a bear's heart and a leopard's gall?!"

The onlookers and nearby shopkeepers pointed and murmured, but not one dared step forward to stop them.

From horseback, Chen Xuan keenly detected the ferocious fluctuations of blood and Qi coming from the scar-faced man three zhang away. His skin bulged, and his breathing rasped like bellows. He was indeed a genuine Middle Stage of Ming Jin expert, and his was the sweeping, forceful style of the jianghu's body-hardening arts.

"Third Miss, those men are all carrying sharpened refined-steel weapons, and their scar-faced leader has a Middle Stage of Ming Jin cultivation. From the look of this, they clearly planned to come wreck the place."

Chen Xuan lowered his voice in warning:

"That talk about the first branch's steward putting the shop up against gambling debts is most likely just a pretext. They're waiting for us to jump into their pit ourselves."

"So what if they planned it?! I'm already here! Am I supposed to stand by and watch them turn the shop Mother entrusted to me into a wreck?!"

Xiao Ling'er already had a temper like a lump of coal that exploded at the slightest spark. Seeing her own assistant beaten until he coughed blood and fine cloud brocade trampled into the mud, her pretty face instantly went deathly pale with fury!

She gave Chen Xuan no chance to dissuade her further. Clamping her legs hard around her horse's belly, she rode straight through the crowd:

"Insolence! In broad daylight, who gave you mongrels the dog's courage to run wild outside property belonging to the Marquis of Zhenbei's Residence?!"

Neigh-!

The magnificent Treading Snow let out a long neigh that could pierce metal and split stone. Its snow-white forehooves reared high, then slammed down onto the bluestone paving outside the silk shop with crushing force. Sparks flew, forcing the three thugs at the front to scramble and tumble backward!

"Third Miss! The Third Miss is here! We're saved!"

At the sight of that fiery-red martial outfit, the old assistant lying in the mud and the bookkeepers cowering behind the door panels burst into tearful cries as though they had seen their savior.

The dozen or so Black Tiger Gang thugs hacking at the counters with their blades also stopped what they were doing and turned their heads in unison.

Standing at the top of the steps, the scar-faced Liu Heng narrowed his lone eye and looked toward the voice, up at the rider.

At that sight, the ferocity in his lone eye instantly turned into thick, cloying lust and greed!

"Well, well! I was wondering who was bristling at me. Turns out our precious, pampered Third Miss of the Marquis of Zhenbei's Residence has graced us with her presence!"

The scar-faced man burst out laughing. Swinging the heavy refined-steel cleaver onto his broad shoulder, he cocked his head and brazenly swept his gaze from Xiao Ling'er's delicate, oval face, whose skin looked as though a breath could break it, down over her full breasts, slender waist, and the long, lovely legs gripping her horse's belly:

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. Take a look, brothers! This is the Third Miss, raised like a golden branch and jade leaf in the marquis's residence! That sweet little face makes even me ache for her. Third Miss, why aren't you being a good girl in your embroidery tower, stitching flowers and chasing butterflies? What brings you to this foul, smoky marketplace in the west of the city? Could you be lonely in your secluded chambers and have come out specially to meet us rough big brothers?!"

"Hahahaha! Brother Bazi's right! This little bitch from the marquis's residence is so fresh and tender. Wrapped in those red clothes like a ripe red chili, she's making half my bones melt!"

"Third Miss, why not come down and have a few cups with us brothers? Just keep our Brother Bazi happy, and forget those three thousand taels in gambling debts-we'll even leave you this lousy silk shop for your dowry!"

The dozen or so thugs whistled lewdly and roared with laughter, their mouths spilling filth.

"You're courting death!!"

As the Third Miss of the Marquis of Zhenbei's Residence, when had Xiao Ling'er ever suffered such vile harassment in the street? She trembled all over with rage, killing intent surging in her almond-shaped eyes as her right hand shot to her waist!

Shing-!

The fiery-red whip, woven from the vertebrae of red-tailed venomous snakes and black-gold wire, suddenly slid free. With a flick of her wrist, it became a crimson afterimage that tore through the air, shrieking as it lashed savagely toward the scar-faced man's foul mouth!

"Filthy bitch, you've got some fire! Come on, then!"

The scar-faced man let out a strange cry. Rather than retreat, he unleashed the violent blood and Qi of his Middle Stage of Ming Jin cultivation. The muscles of his bronze-colored arms bulged high as he gripped the refined-steel cleaver's hilt in both hands and raised it straight into the snake-like whip's path!

Clang-!!

A deafening clash of metal erupted in the middle of the street, dazzling sparks spraying from the blade's thick spine!

Although Xiao Ling'er was also at the Middle Stage of Ming Jin, she was, after all, a seventeen-year-old young lady who had trained in the practice grounds of her secluded residence with partners feeding her moves. Her whip techniques relied on lightness and tricky angles. The scar-faced man facing her, however, was a hardened bandit who had spent years licking blood from his blade, with body-hardening arts and strength exceeding five hundred jin!

In a head-on clash, the difference was immediately clear!

"Ugh!"

Xiao Ling'er felt an overwhelming, violent recoil surge back along the snake-bone whip, jolting her right arm until it ached and tingled as though about to split. A tiny cut burst open in the fair, tender web of her hand, and her whip looped limply through the air, nearly flying straight out of her grip!