The Overbearing Blood Tiger Gang

The three members of the Blood Tiger Gang stared at the white-haired man climbing out of the coffin. The blood-red light shone upon his face, and his eyes seemed to gleam with a bizarre, eerie sheen, making him look sinister and horrifying. "A ghost!" Chilled to the bone, the three couldn't help but scream in terror. In the dead of night, in a graveyard swept by howling yin winds, a man had crawled out of a coffin claiming they had disturbed his sleep. It was utterly terrifying. Even Zhao Yan, held down on the ground, trembled all over in sheer dread. Much as he respected his master, he certainly didn't want his master's ghost coming back for him. Wang Tong, however, after shaking uncontrollably, seemed to lose his mind entirely. Hardening his resolve, he snarled, "Master, you're already dead—stay dead!" Dagger in hand, he lunged straight at Qi Yuan. "Sigh. I only wanted to quietly transform into a mortal. Why does everyone keep forcing my hand?" Qi Yuan sighed in exasperation. His original plan had been to carry on the white-haired man's mortal transformation. Since the man was dead, Qi Yuan had simply decided to borrow his coffin to continue the process. With his talent, lying in a coffin for a year or two doing absolutely nothing would surely be enough to transform into a mortal and break through to the Ancestral God realm, wouldn't it? Qi Yuan's plan had been flawless. After all, according to what he had gathered from years of watching TV dramas and reading manga, "transforming into a mortal" was essentially living as a recluse—hiding away within the mortal world, untouched by worldly entanglements. Yet so many failed at it. In Qi Yuan's view, their failure came down to poor choice of location. Despite wanting to transform into a mortal, they were constantly harassed by petty thugs or self-righteous protagonists, embroiled in endless trouble. Thus, mortal transformation required a good location: undisturbed, peaceful, and secluded. So... what place could possibly be better than a coffin? After all, who would bother someone resting in a coffin? A coffin was nothing short of a sacred sanctuary for transforming into a mortal! Qi Yuan had calculated everything down to the finest detail. Who could have foreseen that even inside a coffin, people would still come to disturb him? He was furious. "You forced me into this! I just wanted to lie in my coffin and sleep in peace!" "Anyone who pushes me deserves to die!" Qi Yuan pushed himself up and glared viciously at the charging Wang Tong. Lifting the coffin lid, he slammed it down violently against Wang Tong. "That's for disturbing my sleep!" The coffin lid smacked into Wang Tong, instantly rattling him to the core. His head buzzed, and stars flashed before his eyes. *Thud! Thud! Thud!* Qi Yuan kept hammering down with domineering brutality. With several heavy bashes, Wang Tong's head was smashed flat, blood pouring out in streams. Holding the coffin lid, Qi Yuan wore a ferocious expression. "Next life, don't wake people up when they're sleeping!" From the memories he had received, the white-haired man had truly committed to transforming into a mortal, living without ever tapping into supernatural power. Since Qi Yuan intended to carry on the mortal transformation, he naturally had to do the same and refrain from using supernatural power. No skills, no spells, and definitely no divine abilities. However... the robust physique he had gained through his own diligent training and the experience accumulated from slaying monsters was fair game, right? He wasn't employing any supernatural abilities; he just had a bit more strength and a slightly tougher body, that was all. Meanwhile, the remaining onlookers took in the sight of Qi Yuan, dread welling up inside them. Not only had this corpse reanimated, but he was also wielding a coffin lid and had beaten Wang Tong to death with it! "Next! It's your turn! You just had to push me!" Clutching the coffin lid, Qi Yuan looked like a ruthless brigand—no, a ruthless fiend! Xu Jiaoyun was terrified out of her wits. Turning on her heel, she bolted. She was already traumatized; Zichen Woods was filled with burial mounds everywhere, making it overwhelmingly creepy. In her panicked flight, she tripped over a small burial mound and crashed onto a cluster of sharpened bamboo stakes. A huge gash opened across her abdomen, blood spilling freely. Yet she could not care less about the pain, struggling to scramble back up to keep running. Qi Yuan looked at Xu Jiaoyun's wound, a look of pity surfacing on his face. "That looks so painful. I can't bear to see you suffer like this. Let me just send you on your way!" Qi Yuan considered himself someone who cherished tender women. Kindhearted like a venerable elder, he couldn't stomach the sight of Xu Jiaoyun in such agony, so he decided to play the great benefactor and end her misery. Hoisting the coffin lid, Qi Yuan flung it forward with immense force. Xu Jiaoyun looked up just in time to see a dark shadow hurtle down, smashing solidly against her. The overwhelming impact drove her body downward, impaling her clean through on the sharpened bamboo stakes. "Pfft..." Blood trickled from the corner of her mouth, and Xu Jiaoyun breathed her last. The other three Blood Tiger Gang members trembled like leaves. They were mere street thugs, nowhere near powerful cultivators, so facing such a brutal Qi Yuan naturally terrified them. The short, wiry man gritted his teeth and barked, "Are you a cultivator? Our Blood Tiger Gang has cultivators too! You can't kill me—the Blood Tiger Gang will never let you get away with this!" This man was simply too fierce; running away was out of the question. To think of issuing a threat in such a dire situation showed that he still possessed a bit of quick wit. As for the other two brainless lackeys, they were so scared they couldn't even speak. "Don't talk nonsense! How am I a cultivator? I don't possess supernatural powers—I'm just naturally blessed with immense strength!" Qi Yuan denied it at once. He had merely eaten a bit more food and had a bit more strength; how did that make him an extraordinary being? If he exposed his status as a cultivator, how could he continue transforming into a mortal? With those words, Qi Yuan picked up the coffin lid again and, in a fit of rage, battered the three Blood Tiger Gang lackeys to death with heavy thuds. "Phew... I'm exhausted!" Qi Yuan feigned breathless panting, putting on an Oscar-worthy performance. Zhao Yan stared at the white-haired man before him and couldn't resist calling out tentatively, "Master?" Only then did Qi Yuan look over at Zhao Yan. "I am your master, but I am also not." Zhao Yan was dumbfounded, thoroughly confused. What did he mean by he was, but wasn't? "Master, weren't you dead?" Zhao Yan asked, searching Qi Yuan's face. The man before him had a head of white hair and looked almost identical to his master. If there was any difference, it was that his eyes lacked the heavy aura of twilight his master had possessed. Of course, what Zhao Yan didn't know was that his so-called master had originally formed from the drop of blood Qi Yuan had placed into the game. In a sense, he was Qi Yuan's blood clone. Even if their appearances had differed, anyone looking at him would still perceive him as identical. "My soul died, but my body is still alive," Qi Yuan explained. "Your soul died? But your body is alive?" Zhao Yan was completely lost. He recognized every single word, so why did they make no sense when strung together? Qi Yuan cast a glance at the coffin, a look of regret crossing his face. Now that the plan had failed, lying in the coffin was no longer an option. "Let's go home," Qi Yuan said. He intended to return home to continue transforming into a mortal. Zhao Yan froze, his expression instantly tense. "Master, you killed men from the Blood Tiger Gang! They'll never let us off!" Zhao Yan was frantic. In Yunxue City, aside from Thorn Blood and the nobility, the Blood Tiger Gang was the most powerful faction around, and they ruthlessly squeezed the common people at the bottom. Backing the Blood Tiger Gang was none other than a member of Thorn Blood: the Blood Tiger Cultivator. The Blood Tiger Cultivator had originally been a powerful practitioner who, upon joining Thorn Blood, had modified his own body into that of a blood tiger. Against such a gang, ordinary commoners stood no chance and possessed no right to resist. Their only choices were to be exploited or to join the gang themselves. "What? The Blood Tiger Gang won't let me transform into a mortal?" Qi Yuan's eyes widened in sheer outrage. "How can people be so wicked?! I never offended them; I just wanted to live quietly as an ordinary person. And yet... they actually dare seek revenge on me!" Qi Yuan was genuinely incensed. When an honest man was pushed too far, blood would splatter within five paces. He had merely been lying peacefully in his coffin, sleeping. Then he had been disturbed. Now he was heading home to continue transforming into a mortal, and this Blood Tiger Gang dared to be so utterly overbearing! Zhao Yan blinked, still bewildered, but he nonetheless ventured cautiously, "Master... should we leave Yunxue City? If the Blood Tiger Gang comes after us, we'll die a horrible death." Even though his master had displayed terrifying combat prowess just now, easily matching a cultivator, the belief that Thorn Blood was invincible had been ingrained deeply within Yunxue City. After all, Thorn Blood could commune with guishen! Those were gods exalted high in the heavens! "Running away won't solve anything." Qi Yuan shook his head, his tone carrying deep meaning. "If I run, wouldn't I be letting them bully me for free?" "Are we... going to get revenge?" Zhao Yan muttered. How could common folk possibly contend with a gang? Aside from a few lone wolves outside the city, no one dared provoke them. And those lone wolves never dared enter the city either; the moment they stepped inside, Thorn Blood would capture them. "What revenge? This is called legitimate self-defense," Qi Yuan said matter-of-factly. "Then again, we might just be judging the hearts of gentlemen with the minds of petty scoundrels. What if the Blood Tiger Gang doesn't come looking for trouble?" A thought struck Qi Yuan. Since he was transforming into a mortal, he shouldn't harbor too much hostility. What if the people of the Blood Tiger Gang were actually sweethearts? What if they were remarkably polite, even as villains? After all, Chief Eunuch Cao, that great villain from a certain TV show, had been extraordinarily polite too. He shouldn't go misjudging good people. "Come on, let's go back and sleep." Qi Yuan prepared to head home for some rest. After lying in the coffin for so long, he felt as if he smelled like a corpse. *** Lixi Street. The morning light shone down, looking like splashed blood. The commoners here rose early, donning coarse clothes to head out for labor. Perhaps because they ate so little and so poorly, the people were all sallow, emaciated, and visibly malnourished. Wu Xiang wore a robe that seemed stripped from a corpse. Frowning, he said, "That white-haired man actually died?" Wu Lian nodded. "He passed away just a few days ago. High-ranking figures from Thorn Blood even came to examine him." Mentioning this brought a tinge of sadness to Wu Lian. That white-haired man had been her neighbor. On Lixi Street, where everyone was malnourished, he had been exceptionally handsome. Wu Lian had often stolen glances at him. Over the course of more than a decade, the white-haired man's appearance hadn't aged a bit, leading Wu Lian to surmise he was a cultivator. "A shame. He was a cultivator; if we could have recruited him, our strength would have grown," Wu Xiang remarked. He came from outside the city and was a member of the rebel army. They recruited numerous cultivators for the sole purpose of overthrowing Thorn Blood's rule. Yet the disparity between them and Thorn Blood was far too vast, forcing them to survive outside the city like stray dogs. Pushing these thoughts aside, Wu Xiang lowered his voice. "Wu Lian, you have to leave with me this time. I've already cleared all the routes." Wu Lian's face lit up with delight. Though life inside the city was better than outside—where one constantly worried about being devoured by wild anomalies—she was different. Thorn Blood had already marked her; the moment she turned eighteen, she would be sent to the Hall of Rebirth to serve as an incubator for guiling. "Okay!" Wu Lian nodded emphatically. Right then, Wu Xiang's expression suddenly shifted. "Not good—the Blood Tiger Gang!" He peered outside the courtyard to see over a dozen men clad in Blood Tiger Gang uniforms marching aggressively in their direction. Wu Xiang's face drained of color in an instant. He knew a traitor had emerged among the rebels; someone had sold him out. "What do we do?!" "What do we do?!" While panic seized his heart, someone else was panicking even more. That person was Zhao Yan. Ever since returning to the courtyard the previous night, he hadn't slept a wink. With dark rings around his eyes, he had kept constant watch outside, terrified the Blood Tiger Gang would come looking for trouble. Sure enough, at the crack of dawn, over a dozen menacing figures from the gang had arrived. Judging by their uniforms, they were inner hall disciples. The strength of inner hall disciples far surpassed that of ordinary lackeys. "Disaster! Master, it's a disaster! The Blood Tiger Gang is here to slaughter us!" Zhao Yan yelled in panic. Inside the house, Qi Yuan, who had been sipping porridge, suddenly lost his appetite. "Sigh... It seems I still viewed this world through rose-colored glasses!" "Didn't I just accidentally kill a few of your men in legitimate self-defense?" "How dare you come back for revenge!" "I only wanted to quietly transform into a mortal and remain aloof from worldly affairs. You forced me into this!" Gritting his teeth, Qi Yuan smashed his bowl onto the floor. Snatching a hoe leaning against the wall, he strode out of the courtyard with grand, imposing strides. "Scum of the Blood Tiger Gang, you push people too far!" Qi Yuan exited the courtyard, his voice resounding like thunder. Hoe in hand, he blocked the path of the dozen or so inner hall disciples. He slammed the hoe down against the ground with a resounding *boom*! Utterly domineering! The only flaw was that he had swung too hard. The wooden wedge holding the hoe head flew loose, and the tool broke in two. Qi Yuan was left holding nothing more than a wooden staff. The Blood Tiger Gang disciples froze, completely bewildered. "Who is he?" "What are you doing?" "Wait, isn't he that white-haired cultivator? Didn't he die?" "How is he alive?" "Did his corpse reanimate?" The inner hall disciples muttered among themselves, baffled and confused. In the neighboring courtyard, Wu Lian covered her mouth in shock. "How is he alive?!" She had personally mourned him and even attended his funeral feast. Yet here Qi Yuan was, brandishing a hoe and blocking the Blood Tiger Gang. What on earth was happening? The Blood Tiger squad leader's expression shifted repeatedly. The situation before him was bizarre. However, their mission was to capture the rebel; they had no time to waste on Qi Yuan. "Hey, is there a misunderstanding? We're here to arrest your neighbor—she's harboring a rebel in her courtyard!" the squad leader shouted. The man before him was a cultivator after all, and his strength remained unknown. If a delay allowed the rebel to escape, they would suffer a massive loss. "Hmph, do you take me for a fool?" Qi Yuan sneered contemptuously. "You're pretending to hunt a rebel just to lower my guard so you can seize me!" The squad leader stared blankly. Had they run into an idiot? "Hmph, I won't fall for the same trick twice," Qi Yuan said indifferently. "Last night, I trusted you too much, assuming you were magnanimous enough not to come after me. "Yet here you are today, not only looking for trouble, but pulling the same old trick to lower my guard! Did you really think I'd fall for it again?!" "???" The squad leader was thoroughly baffled. What last night? What trick? Why couldn't he understand a single word coming out of this white-haired man's mouth? Not only was the squad leader lost, but Zhao Yan was also only half-comprehending—feeling as though he understood, yet understanding nothing at all. The squad leader's face darkened, dropping all pretense of civility. "Refusing a toast only to drink a forfeit! Brothers, kill him!" Seeing this, Qi Yuan's face radiated the glow of wisdom. "See that? Now that my brilliant intellect has seen through you, you've dropped the act, haven't you?" Holding the headless hoe—or rather, the wooden staff—Qi Yuan stood firmly in front of the gang members. "Anyone who dares stand in the way of my mortal transformation must die!" A thought flashed through Qi Yuan's mind. Transforming into a mortal here meant someone would disturb him every single day. What if... he just killed everyone who wanted to disturb him? Wouldn't that allow him to transform into a mortal in total peace? With that thought, a new plan took shape in Qi Yuan's mind.