Chapter 11
Under the cover of darkness, I quietly surveyed my surroundings.
As I ventured farther from home, a faint red glow clung to the streets—it was the red lanterns of the Honglou.
From within the buildings, muffled cries of women and the sounds of debauchery reached my ears. The vacant eyes of cheap courtesans gazed up at the moon from their windows.
Not a pleasant sight.
After a moment of staring at the courtesans, I shifted my focus and continued walking.
Before long, I noticed a large, impressively designed building in the back alley. It was the Black Tiger Gang. I clicked my tongue as I looked up at the wall.
“Clean up the trash, grab medicine for Chun-bong, and maybe even stuff my pockets in the process.”
If it’s not just a simple get-rich-quick scheme, it’s worth giving it a try.
“Phew…”
I clenched and relaxed my trembling hands, steadying myself. The moonlight was dim tonight, cloaking me in shadow. The heavens were on my side.
Utilizing the Crossing the Yellow Dragon, I gracefully leaped over the wall and began to examine my surroundings.
The security didn’t seem overly tight. But where to go from here?
My eyes sparkled as I spotted one particularly grand building.
With the elegance of a dragon crossing the dusk, I moved stealthily, hugging the wall to avoid torch-bearing guards.
It didn’t look like the idiots were smart enough to set up a secret entrance. Then, straight through the front!
Pap-pat—!
A flying dart pierced the brow of the guard stationed at the entrance. The man crumpled silently to the ground. I hadn’t been discovered yet, but it was only a matter of time.
I hurriedly pushed the door open and found myself in a long hallway.
“Who goes there at this hour…?”
So much for sneaking around! I unsheathed my sword.
“It’s me, Chun-bong’s big brother.”
With a shick-, the guard’s head rolled as more footsteps echoed closer.
The night was still long.
*
The leader of the Black Tiger Gang was a true king in the back alleys. That was the mark of a top-tier gangster. A position that would soon be elevated to the level of “master.”
In the eyes of true martial arts masters, he would be nothing special, but to the ordinary folks, his status was akin to that of a legendary figure.
And of course, a master with nothing to do wouldn’t be idling away in some back alley, meaning this alley was his kingdom.
“Ahh~ So naughty.”
“Come over here, let me show you something.”
“Hey, don’t be like that! Try this, won’t you?”
“Hehe, I’d rather feast on you than any meat!”
“Eeeek!”
Crack—!
The leader, who was drinking with women on either arm, frowned at the sudden commotion.
“What kind of nonsense is this?”
“Let it be. A little ruckus isn’t a bad snack, is it?”
“That’s true…”
Bang—!
The door swung open violently as a lackey rushed in. The leader frowned at the rudeness, but the lackey yelled without concern.
“B-Boss…! We have a big problem!”
“A big problem? What, did the head of the martial alliance come to crash the party?”
The lackey looked pale, shouting urgently, “It’s a killer! A killer’s invaded…! Gah!”
A blade protruded from the lackey’s throat.
“Ahhhh…!”
The women screamed, scrambling into the corners, terror written all over their faces while the leader chuckled wryly.
“What an insane fool to barge in here alone!”
As the lackey’s body fell, the figure of the killer was revealed—a blood-soaked boy with only a few scratches on himself. The rest was merely the blood of others.
He was young, but was this little brat the infamous killer? The leader clicked his tongue in disbelief.
I tilted my head, surveying the scene.
“Hey, old man. You got any healing elixirs?”
“Healing elixirs? You think I’d give any to scum like you?”
“Hmmm.”
I extended my hand towards the leader, who ignored me. He figured the worst he had to deal with was a simple dagger. He’d handle that with ease.
But when I flicked my fingers, releasing a ray of energy that shot through the air like a beam of light, the leader couldn’t help but be shocked.
“Peak level!?”
He dove away as my left arm struck and left him hanging limply.
In pain, the leader glared at me.
“Why would a peak-level master have a grudge against the Black Tiger Gang?”
“…”
I said nothing, just kept glaring at him.
The leader glanced sideways, assessing the positions of his underlings, and slowly began to move, speaking.
“No matter how skilled you are, you can’t take on all my men alone. Right now, I could easily let you go—… Damn!”
I moved. The leader instinctively grabbed a woman by the collar and hurled her aside.
“Ahhhh…!”
I fired another dart without missing a beat.
Thwak—!
The flying woman hit the dart and spun out of control before collapsing. The fallen woman trembled as I scoffed.
“Brutal, huh? Just tossing an innocent woman aside like that!”
I hadn’t killed her; she just fainted. Wasn’t that me throwing her?
Chuckling to myself, I unleashed the Crossing the Yellow Dragon and charged forward. The leader hurriedly drew a glamorous sword to defend himself.
Swish—!
A trail of dull blue light shimmered in the air. My eyes sparkled. Was that sword energy?
“I won’t let this happen that easily!”
The leader slammed his sword into the ground, aiming for my back, where the exit was.
Frowning, I launched a series of darts in rapid succession.
Ting—!
With a deft maneuver, the leader deflected the darts as he stepped into the corridor. Corpses lined the hallway, and the dismal sight made him grit his teeth.
“So it’s really a killer…”
Dodging the darts that continued to rain down, the leader began to feel something was off.
Why was he only throwing darts? No matter how masterful he was, he should be worried about joining forces with my underlings, right?
Moreover, the power of those darts felt surprisingly weak. Darts from a top-tier master should be tough to block. Yet here the I was, effortlessly deflecting them.
“Is he toying with me?”
Swallowing a surge of anger, the leader joined forces with his approaching underlings, baring his teeth.
“What’s your next move?”
He had a dozen second-rate underlings and himself, a top-tier fighter. There was no way they’d go down easily.
“Bit of a pickle here.”
I rolled my qi over my hands, deciding on the outcome. The leader’s assumption that I was peak level was based on nothing. Fighters who could easily unleash qi were already in the peak realm.
Wasn’t I close to that level too?
Splat—!
My feet stained the dirt with blood as I raised my sword high.
Anxiety faded as excitement took over. Ever since I had fallen into the martial world, it had been like this. Fighting was fun.
I wanted to see the end of this qi I’d been learning. Just because it was fun; I couldn’t wait to find out what lay beyond.
“Phew…”
Exhaling, I calmed my excitement. My hands instinctively gripped the sword tight.
“Not today.”
I hadn’t come here just for the sake of fighting. I was here to save Chun-bong. The very thought sobered my mood.
Crack—
The Crossing the Yellow Dragon I had spent a year mastering smoothly unfurled, and like a dragon parting the air, I lunged into the midst of the Black Tiger thugs.
Boom—!
The underlings charged in. My vision blurred with a faint haze of a misty aura. I squeezed into the gaps and swung my sword wide.
Swish—
Blood scattered. The three-phase sword technique flowed seamlessly, hungering for blood. In such an intense moment, I preferred the three-phase technique over the Yellow Cloud Divine Sword.
“Freak!”
The furious leader charged. The faint light of his sword lurked behind him, chasing me.
Focusing on the underlings rather than the leader, I danced among the thugs until their chaotic footsteps finally halted, leading the leader to realize.
“You…! You’re not peak level!”
Not peak level? I pondered, sword aimed forward.
I was seeing enough sword energy to recognize the flow of the leader’s internal energy through his blade.
Suddenly, realizing something, I concentrated my qi into my own hand—not the sword this time. It was similar to the sensation of accessing the Energy Manipulation technique. I didn’t release it; I let the qi linger in my palms.
“Ah…”
A faint golden aura gathered in my hands. I couldn’t help but chuckle at my own foolishness.
“So that’s why I couldn’t unleash sword energy—because I lacked comprehension of the blade.”
The weapon was not a part of me. Thus, to infuse it with qi, one must conceive it as an extension of oneself.
The phrase “Sword and Body as One” is exactly that kind of understanding.
But hands were different. Naturally, my hands belonged to me. With just the thought of it, my qi flickered in my palm.
Under normal circumstances, wielding qi would be more complex than sword energy. If the qi became dense enough to manifest outward, my hands would be bruised from the strain.
But my innate talent dismissed that. Just briefly feeling out the qi led me to an epiphany, causing a smile to creep across my face.
“Nothing too special.”
That comprehension flowed seamlessly into the sword. Thoughts about the sword were swapped out for thoughts about qi.
Reflecting deeply, I realized my talent was in mastering qi. I had all I needed to achieve success based on that alone.
A smile crept across my face as the sword glimmered with a brilliant golden hue.
“Finally reached it. Top-tier.”
Martial arts? It was nothing special.
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