Bang!
The iron anvil, weighing several hundred jin, smashed into the entrance with ferocious force. It shattered both wooden doors and sent a person behind them flying as well.
Pfft!
Blood sprayed from the person's mouth, but strangely, an eerie white smoke was mixed into the bloody mist.
When the person landed, Wang Hao saw the thin tube in one hand and the broken stick of knockout incense in the other. How could he not understand what the person had intended?
The person had wanted to blow knockout incense into the house and knock them unconscious. It certainly couldn't have been for anything good.
If Little Erha hadn't been alert enough to spot what the person was doing and warn him in advance, he feared he really would have fallen for the trick.
"Haha... impressive skills, brother!"
A burly man with a face full of coarse flesh entered through the gate. He didn't even glance at the subordinate whose chest had been struck by the anvil and who was clearly beyond saving. Instead, he greeted Wang Hao with a smile.
Two burly men in fighting clothes followed him, both carrying sabers. Outside were dozens more figures, their blades glinting. Clearly, they hadn't come with good intentions.
"Don't go pretending we're close. I don't have a brother like you!"
Wang Hao shot back without giving him the slightest courtesy.
The man had been about to use knockout smoke to harm him, so why the hell should he show him any courtesy?
Wang Hao's words made the burly man's expression stiffen, and anger and killing intent rose in his heart.
The two burly men behind him were furious as well and were about to start cursing, but Wang Heihu waved them into silence.
"Wang Heihu, what are you doing here?"
When Wu Tai saw the burly man's face, his expression immediately turned cold. Clearly, he knew him, and there was considerable bad blood between them.
"I didn't come here for you. I came for this bro... master."
After shooting Wu Tai a sidelong glance, Wang Heihu paid him no further attention. He looked at Wang Hao and said with a faint smile, "Master, I, Wang Heihu, invite you to become a guest elder of my Black Tiger Gang, responsible solely for forging divine weapons. Your status will be second only to mine."
"Gang Leader Wang, you can't do this. We agreed before that we'd just take the divine weapons and sharp blades he forged, then kill the brat."
As soon as Wang Heihu finished speaking, a figure couldn't help stepping in through the gate and glaring at him in dissatisfaction.
"Father-in-law? You brought Wang Heihu here?"
When Wu Tai saw the figure's face, disbelief filled his own, for it was his father-in-law, Wang Laosan.
What he had expected even less was that Wang Laosan had brought the bully Wang Heihu here and even intended to kill Wang Hao and seize the divine sword he had forged.
"Do I, Wang Heihu, need to explain my actions to you?"
Wang Heihu glared coldly at Wang Laosan, murderous intent already stirring in his heart toward this old fool who didn't know what was good for him.
"That hundred taels of silver you promised me earlier should be paid too!"
Wang Heihu's glare made Wang Laosan's legs go weak, and he nearly fell to his knees. But when he thought of the hundred-tael reward, he forced down his panic and brought it up.
Wang Heihu first glanced at the anvil, which Wang Hao's greatsword had cut more than halfway through. Then he smiled in satisfaction. "Don't worry. I, Wang Heihu, mean what I say. Since I promised you a hundred taels of silver, I certainly won't go back on my word. Give him a hundred taels."
With those last words, Wang Heihu gestured to one of the burly men behind him.
"Father-in-law, you can't do this..."
Wu Tai was frantic. Wang Hao was practically the man who had saved his life, and he had also shown him the kindness of passing on a technique. He didn't want his benefactor trapped in a cage because of his father-in-law.
The Black Tiger Gang was no good place, and as for Wang Heihu's earlier promise of making him a guest elder, Wu Tai didn't believe a single word.
Who in Chaoyang City didn't know what sort of man Wang Heihu was?
He was a true bully who ate people without spitting out their bones. Even the city authorities were wary of him.
If Wang Hao was taken back to the Black Tiger Gang, he definitely wouldn't come to a good end.
"Wu Tai, haven't you seen what kind of trash Wang Laosan is in all these years? Four years ago, this old bastard married his daughter off to you, then sold that bitch to my casino on your wedding night, to be my concubine.
"He collected your bride price and paid off his gambling debts at the same time. Even I admire the way he worked that abacus. Too bad the little bitch was too unyielding. She'd rather slash up her face than submit to me."
Wang Heihu suddenly chuckled, a mocking look on his face.
"Gang Leader Wang, why bring up that rotten business? We settled the payment and goods back then. When I handed that little bitch over to you, she was in perfect condition. You can't blame me for failing to keep her under control."
Wang Laosan had just taken a silver note from the burly man. He frowned as he spoke, looking somewhat awkward.
"What? Qing'er was... Father-in-law, you..."
Wu Tai's mind went blank in an instant, and he stared at his father-in-law in disbelief.
He and Qing'er were childhood sweethearts who had grown up together and long since pledged their lives to each other. But four years ago, Qing'er had mysteriously disappeared on the night of their wedding. He had searched for a long time, practically wearing out his feet over every inch within a hundred li of Chaoyang City, yet there had been no news of her at all.
He had kept this matter bottled up in his heart for four whole years, but only today did he learn that his "good father-in-law" was the one behind it all!
What made him even angrier and more regretful was that Qing'er had slashed her own face for his sake. For a woman, that was a devastating blow!
"What are you glaring at? I raised her for sixteen years. Of course I should have sold that little bitch for a good price. Too bad she didn't know what was good for her. Instead of becoming Gang Leader Wang's concubine, she disfigured herself for a good-for-nothing like you and wasted all my efforts."
As though displeased by Wu Tai's stare, Wang Laosan flew into a rage out of shame and cursed loudly, his words full of contempt for Wu Tai and resentment and hatred for his own daughter.
After all, how could being the father-in-law of a commoner like Wu Tai compare to being Wang Heihu's father-in-law?
Unfortunately, his carefully laid plans had been ruined by that little bitch.
It was also Wang Heihu's fault. Rather than marry a perfectly good maiden, he just had to fancy other men's wives, forcing Wang Laosan to first marry his daughter to the good-for-nothing Wu Tai, until things had come to this.
Schlick!
Just then, the sound of a blade entering flesh rang out. Wang Laosan looked down in shock at the blade tip protruding from his chest, unable to understand what had happened.
Behind him stood the burly man in fighting clothes who had just given him the hundred-tael silver note.
Grinning viciously, the burly man pulled out his saber and casually took the silver note from Wang Laosan's hand. "Did you think this great one's money would be so easy to take?" he said disdainfully.
Their gang leader hadn't brought any money when he came out. The burly man had merely advanced the hundred taels from his own pocket. He naturally understood what his gang leader meant; after all, they had done this sort of thing many times before.
"You..."
Clutching his chest, Wang Laosan glanced at Wang Heihu in shock and resentment, then fell to the ground, unwilling to accept his fate.
"Master, are you satisfied with this greeting gift?"
Wang Heihu didn't even glance at Wang Laosan lying on the ground. He looked at Wang Hao with a smile.
As soon as Wang Laosan had told him that Wang Hao could forge divine weapons and sharp blades, he had decided to use Wang Laosan's life to temporarily quell the anger in Wang Hao's heart.
After all, one look at Wang Hao's build was enough to tell that he was no pushover. And from what Wang Laosan had said, this was a fierce man who could swing an iron hammer weighing dozens of jin nonstop for three whole hours. Not even a ghost would believe he lacked some martial skill.
The great iron anvil he had just swept out was the best proof. This was a tough opponent not much weaker than Wang Heihu himself.
So it was best to keep him placated for now. Once he reached the Black Tiger Gang, everything would be up to Wang Heihu.
"I am quite satisfied with this greeting gift, but who within a hundred li doesn't know what sort of man you are, Wang Heihu? If you really took me back, I'm afraid I'd end up a guest elder shut in a little dark room, hammering iron."
Wang Hao glanced at Wang Laosan, who lay on the ground with his eyes still open in death, and couldn't help sighing inwardly.
He had sensed that the old fellow was no good as soon as he came to this smithy, but he hadn't expected him to be this vile, or to bring him such trouble.
Even so, he still didn't trust Wang Heihu, and he would never return to the Black Tiger Gang with him.
"Then you refuse the toast only to drink the forfeit!"
His intentions exposed, Wang Heihu's face immediately turned cold, and the killing intent in his heart began to surge.
Since this man can't be used by me, I'll have to cripple and capture him first, then slowly force his forging Secret Method out of him.
But before Wang Heihu could make a move, a flash of sword light suddenly burst toward him. His heart jolted, and he instinctively rolled like a lazy donkey out through the doorway.
He escaped, but the two burly men behind him weren't so lucky. The sword light swept across their necks.
The second man reacted and raised his saber to block, but the blade, forged from refined iron tempered a hundred times, was cut straight through like rotten wood. He still couldn't escape being killed.
Wang Hao looked with some regret at Wang Heihu, who had rolled outside and was now surrounded by Black Tiger Gang members.
He had nearly succeeded just now. Once Wang Heihu was dealt with, the rest would have been nothing but a rabble. Unfortunately, Wang Heihu was too alert, and his strength had reached second-rate, making him considerably stronger than Li Qingfeng, the master of the Qingfeng Martial Arts Hall.
In the end, Wang Heihu had dodged it. Now there would be a fight!
"Take my dog! We'll break out through the back!"
Wang Hao grabbed Little Erha, who wanted to pounce out, and tossed him into Wu Tai's arms. Calling out to Wu Tai, he rushed toward the room at the back, making it look as though he intended to break through.
Wu Tai had only just come to his senses, but he reacted quickly. Forcing down the anger and grief in his heart, he held Little Erha securely with one hand and used the other to snatch up the sabers from the two burly men Wang Hao had just beheaded, then charged toward the rear room.
"Get in there! Don't let them escape!"
Still shaken, Wang Heihu heard Wang Hao's shout and panicked. He hurriedly ordered his gang members to charge inside.
He didn't want to let such a fat piece of meat get away!
The dozens of Black Tiger Gang members standing in the courtyard didn't hesitate. Sabers in hand, they charged through the smithy's entrance, making the fairly spacious smithy crowded for a moment.
But just then, Wang Hao, who had rushed into the rear room, suddenly turned and charged back.
"Sweep Away a Thousand Troops!"
With a thunderous shout, Wang Hao swept his greatsword horizontally, using Sweep Away a Thousand Troops from the Ten Stances of Bloody Battle.
With his formidable strength, a flawless move, and an incomparably sharp greatsword, there was nothing to impede its passage.
Neither their bodies nor the weapons in their hands could stop the blade in the slightest.
That one sweep alone cleared the space within nearly a zhang of Wang Hao, killing more than ten people.
It wasn't over. Before the Black Tiger Gang members on the outside could react, Wang Hao unleashed Sweep Away a Thousand Troops three more times, clearing out nearly everyone inside the smithy.
He had deliberately shouted those words earlier to lure them inside. In such a confined space, Sweep Away a Thousand Troops could unleash its greatest power. Even if they wanted to dodge, they had nowhere to go.
Dozens of people had been killed, and the entire smithy was filled with a sickening stench of blood.
Ignoring it, Wang Hao stomped hard on the blood-covered ground and charged out like a wild horse gone berserk. Raising his greatsword, he slashed at Wang Heihu, who still hadn't reacted outside.
"Break the Cauldrons and Sink the Boats!"
With another furious roar, Wang Hao used Break the Cauldrons and Sink the Boats from the Ten Stances of Bloody Battle. This move had no defense, only attack. It was a move for staking one's life: either you died or I did.
He had to kill Wang Heihu here, or even if he left Chaoyang City, Wang Heihu would hunt him down.
After all, the Black Tiger Gang under Wang Heihu's command had nearly a thousand members. Even if most were only a rabble, they still possessed the strength of third-rate martial artists.
Once surrounded by them, even with a greatsword in hand, he would be hacked to death by their blades.
So he absolutely couldn't let Wang Heihu leave!