Once she was certain the unwelcome guests had gone, Madam Zheng came out of the room trembling, her face filled with despair and panic.
“Dalang... we can't afford to offend such fierce and malicious thugs. What—what are we going to do?”
“Mother, don't panic.”
Shen Xiuhan turned around, his expression already returning to calm. He stepped forward and comforted her softly, “First thing tomorrow morning, I will prepare a generous gift and head to the martial arts hall. I'll ask the senior brothers there to step in and speak with the Golden Dragon Gang on our behalf. The local thugs wouldn't dare ignore the face of an inner courtyard senior brother.”
Madam Zheng remained deeply worried, but she had no other choice. She could only pray that the martial arts hall's reputation would indeed be enough to deter those vicious thugs.
...
The night grew deep and silent, and all was quiet.
A crescent moon hung in the night sky.
Shen Xiuhan lay flat on his wooden bed with his eyes closed. His breathing was deep and even, as if he had already fallen into a deep sleep.
Just past the hour of Zi.
In his sea of consciousness, a golden light pierced through the darkness.
【Today's Intelligence has been refreshed!】
【Intelligence 1: Ma Xianyang, the third disciple of the Tongbei Martial Arts Hall's inner courtyard, has been stuck at the peak Blood Tempering Rank for a long time and desperately needs a Precious Fish to break through his bottleneck. He is highly knowledgeable about the habits of various Precious Fish. Silverback Fish usually dwell in the deep waters of Cloudwater Lake and rarely swim in the shallows.】
【Since you caught this fish without a boat or net, Ma Xianyang has concluded that you might possess some secret method for tracking Precious Fish in shallow waters. If you refuse to hand over this method, he will kill your entire family to eliminate any future trouble!】
【Current Location: Inner City, Ma Residence.】
【Intelligence 2: Yu Zhe, a member of the Golden Dragon Gang, has no blood qi. He originated from the outer courtyard of the Tongbei Martial Arts Hall and was assigned by Ma Xianyang to monitor you.】
【Current Location: A gambling den on Locust Tree Street in the Inner City. He is currently drinking and rolling dice, and is expected to return drunk to his mistress's house—a prostitute in Dongxi Ward—during the hour of Chou.】
【Intelligence 3: Tian Erhu, a member of the Golden Dragon Gang, has no blood qi. He also originated from the outer courtyard of the Tongbei Martial Arts Hall and is dispatched by Ma Xianyang alongside Yu Zhe.】
【Current Location: Lodging in Yeci Ward of the Outer City, the fifth house from east to west on Erfu Street.】
Whoosh!
In the darkness, Shen Xiuhan's eyes suddenly snapped open.
Ma Xianyang's wild speculation was completely wrong in its reasoning, yet by some bizarre stroke of luck, he had actually guessed Shen Xiuhan's trump card!
He wasn't targeting the fish at all.
He was after a non-existent "treasure-hunting secret method"!
However...
I can't afford to provoke Ma Xianyang for the time being...
But how dare two mere ants, who haven't even broken through the blood qi barrier, bark so arrogantly?!
They must really be tired of living!
Shen Xiuhan held his breath and listened intently to the sounds in the room.
On the other end of the bed, Madam Zheng was snoring softly, while Shen Momo was curled up in her mother's arms, her breathing soft and even.
After confirming that his mother and sister were fast asleep, Shen Xiuhan silently peeled back the corner of his blanket.
He slipped into an inconspicuous grey coarse cloth robe, tightly tying the cuffs and trouser legs.
Creak...
The wooden door let out an extremely faint groan before being shut once more.
Shen Xiuhan first made a trip to the kitchen, then silently vaulted over the wicker fence. Merging into the dark night, he dashed toward Locust Tree Street.
The moon was dark and the wind was high—the perfect weather for killing!
...
Locust Tree Street.
“Master Yu, your luck is red-hot tonight! Are you really leaving just like this? Why not play a few more rounds and sweep the table?”
“Get lost! I have official business to attend to tomorrow. I'll come back another day!”
Yu Zhe lifted the windproof curtain and stepped out of the gambling den. As the night wind blew against him, instead of feeling cold, he felt a wave of heat wash over his body.
He weighed the money pouch in his chest, an uncontrollable look of smugness on his face.
Tonight, he had been blessed by the gods. In just two short hours, he had won nearly two taels of silver!
Adding the three taels rewarded by Senior Brother Ma when they returned from that mud-leg's house earlier in the evening...
“Damn, I've finally gathered enough.”
Yu Zhe muttered with a curse.
This money would finally allow him to buy another Blood Vitality Pill!
His natural talent was abysmal. He had scraped together the tuition fee by selling everything he owned, but after half a year of agonizing effort in the Tongbei Martial Arts Hall, he hadn't even touched the threshold of blood qi.
Once the deadline arrived, since he didn't have the money to renew his tuition, he was quickly kicked out.
Fortunately, he was quick-witted. He managed to curry favor with Ma Xianyang, doing a lot of dirty work for him in exchange for being taught a few basic martial arts moves.
With these few superficial techniques, Yu Zhe had managed to make a name for himself in the Golden Dragon Gang.
But he knew in his heart that in Changyun County, the Golden Dragon Gang was absolutely nothing.
The Golden Dragon Gang was merely a dog working for the Bai family, controlling the West Market Fish Stalls and the docks for their master. Every month, they had to hand over fifty percent of their earnings as regular dues without fail.
As long as they paid on time, the Bai family didn't care whether they were the Golden Dragon Gang or the Black Dragon Gang.
Take the recent events, for instance: the Tongbei Martial Arts Hall had fallen out with the Bai family, and the Golden Dragon Gang's income from the fish market had been targeted by the Luanbo Gang, a group formed by retired veteran soldiers.
The leader of the Luanbo Gang, Zheng Dadao, was not someone to be trifled with.
He was a master of both fist and saber, possessing a heavy, murderous aura.
After several turf wars, the Golden Dragon Gang had already lost three or four of their top fighters!
But what about their master, the Bai family?
They stayed aloof and turned a blind eye!
Because they had never regarded the members of the Golden Dragon Gang as their own.
In this world, only martial artists who had broken through the blood gate were considered true human beings!
If you weren't a martial artist, even if you managed a hundred thugs under your command, you were nothing more than livestock that could be discarded at any moment!
But with my poor aptitude, how could it be easy to break through the Blood Tempering Rank? My only option is to forcefully pile up my progress with pills!
Yu Zhe clenched his fists.
A Blood Vitality Pill from the Tongbei Martial Arts Hall cost a whopping five taels of silver!
Over the past two years, he had gritted his teeth and bought three pills to consume, but aside from gaining a bit of brute strength, his blood qi remained as stagnant as dead water.
He had been on the verge of complete despair.
Who would have thought that the heavens would suddenly drop such an immense opportunity right into his lap?
A mere mud-leg from the Outer City actually knew how to catch Precious Fish.
Ma Xianyang's words surfaced in Yu Zhe's mind once more:
“Silverback Precious Fish usually dive deep to the bottom of Cloudwater Lake, making their traces extremely difficult to find on normal days... I managed to pry some information from his childhood friend. He has no boat or net, yet he definitely caught the Precious Fish from the shallows. How difficult is that! So I suspect... he might possess some kind of secret recipe or method for finding fish!”
“Hehehe...”
“A mud-leg is just a mud-leg. He doesn't even understand the concept of 'harboring a treasure is a crime.' He's being played like a fiddle by Senior Brother Ma!”
Walking down the alleyway, Yu Zhe's lips curled into a greedy grin.
The show they put on earlier tonight was a "test of the waters" scheme designed by Ma Xianyang!
They would first feign pressuring him, demanding another Precious Fish to "settle the score."
If Shen Xiuhan really buckled under the pressure and caught another Precious Fish to present to them...
Then the existence of the secret method would be completely confirmed!
When that time came... he and Tian Erhu would tie up the boy's entire family.
They would chop off two of his widowed mother's fingers. He didn't believe the kid would dare keep the secret method to his grave.
Once the secret method was in his hands, he, Yu Zhe, would also be able to harvest Precious Fish continuously...
The Blood Tempering Rank?
It would be just around the corner for him!
“Hahaha!”
At the thought of his brilliant future, Yu Zhe couldn't help but laugh out loud.
He licked his dry lips, a trace of lust flashing deep within his eyes.
“And his little sister... tsk, though she hasn't fully matured yet, she is exceptionally pretty...”
Whoosh...
A gust of night wind blew past, pouring down his collar and making Yu Zhe shiver, instantly extinguishing most of his burning lust.
He instinctively shrank his neck and looked around. The surroundings were pitch-black, so dark that he couldn't even see his own hand in front of his face.
In the distance, some dog barked twice before falling silent again.
Yu Zhe felt an inexplicable chill in his heart, but he shook his head and laughed mockingly at himself.
“I've done too many dirty deeds. Now I'm getting paranoid just walking at night... I'm really losing my edge!”
He let out a sigh of relief and strode toward his mistress's house, humming a discordant ditty:
“The groom is named Qi, the bride is named Qi, and even the dowry maid's surname is Qi. The Qi daughter marries into the Qi family, and when they roll over at midnight, they're perfectly aligned...”
Still humming?
Your reaper has arrived!
A fierce, icy wind swept from behind without warning!
Yu Zhe's body froze, every hair on his body standing on end.
“Oh no!”
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