Deep within the gloomy sewers, Third Master retreated rapidly, but an assault of sand and dust thick with an acrid, choking stench arrived before him.
Clutching his instantly swollen, stinging eyes, he rolled across the ground, narrowly dodging a cold gleam that sliced through the darkness.
The rebar rod struck the wall with a sharp clang of metal.
Only then did Third Master see his assailant clearly.
The man was draped in white mourning hemp, gripping a length of rebar as thick as a thumb like a filial mourner's staff. Over his face was a hollow mask resembling a pai gow tile, concealing every feature.
"Going in for the kill without even announcing your name—you really don't play by the rules," Third Master sneered. Back pressed against the wall, he gripped his woodchopper tightly, glaring intently at the intruder.
Li Xiuwen said nothing. Gripping the rebar in his slightly numbed hand, he smashed it forward once more.
He knew palm techniques, yes, but his opponent held a cold weapon. Sticking rigidly to barehanded palm strikes with his current level of mastery would only invite injury. Even without proper weapons training, swinging a steel rebar yielded far more destructive force than empty hands.
As it happened, Third Master clearly knew no formal blade arts either; he merely hacked and slashed on bare brawling instinct.
Blade and rebar collided again and again, their ringing clashes echoing through the tunnel.
"Someone come here!" Always paranoid and suspicious, Third Master never allowed anyone to guard him while he slept. He shouted for some time, but no one answered.
"They're all dead," the masked figure rasped in a low, muffled voice.
"I've never crossed you, have I?" Third Master's heart turned cold, and he spoke hastily.
His chopper was on the shorter side, and an inch of length meant an inch of advantage; under the unrelenting onslaught of the rebar, he was forced back step by step.
To possess such raw power and reaction speed, this assailant was undeniably an expert of the Purple Membrane.
In all his years entrenched on Longjin Road, Third Master had never dared provoke a Purple Membrane expert—or even a Green Membrane one. He only preyed on the poor wretches at the very bottom.
The masked man's strikes grew heavier and heavier, cornering Third Master until he had nowhere left to retreat.
"Fuck you! Do you have any idea how many people our Tong Gang has in Xianghai? Eight hundred thousand!"
"If you dare kill me, the eight hundred thousand brothers and sisters of the Tong Gang will root you out tomorrow and avenge me!"
Li Xiuwen knew Third Master was merely bluffing and borrowing prestige he didn't have.
The Tong Gang had vast numbers, but it was utterly disorganized. Any vagrant off the street could claim to be one of them. They were nothing more than a rabble; not a soul would care whether Third Master lived or died.
Even if someone truly stood behind Third Master, the present situation left Li Xiuwen no choice but to eliminate him.
Otherwise, the family destroyed would be his own!
Third Master had forced his hand!
"Die!" Giving up on defense entirely, Third Master gripped the blade with both hands and chopped down with all his might!
Clang! The rebar bent under the strike. Li Xiuwen parried the chopper and smoothly thrust a palm straight toward Third Master's chest.
Having committed both hands to his attack, Third Master had no time to parry. He could only lash out with a desperate kick.
Yet when his boot connected with Li Xiuwen's abdomen, it felt as though he had struck a massive bronze bell, ringing out with a dull, heavy chime.
Li Xiuwen merely stumbled back half a step, whereas the recoil threw Third Master off balance, sending him crashing into the wall.
Seizing the opening, Li Xiuwen unleashed the Flipping Sand Palm!
His palm technique was already on the verge of minor success, and in that fleeting instant, he unconsciously grasped a trace of the essence of soft force.
Combining Huang Sihai's recent intensive coaching with thousands of practice repetitions, his understanding of the palm technique rose to a whole new level. As if seized by a sudden epiphany, he struck out with a completely transformed palm.
Flipping Sand Palm, Second Layer: Surging Undercurrent!
Behind the hard force erupted the soft force!
Third Master took the full brunt of the strike to his chest. The undercurrent force rolled in wave after wave, converging before exploding all at once.
Smack!
Third Master was slammed hard against the wall like a hanging picture. The earthen partition cracked, showering down dust.
Spurt! A knot tightened in his chest, and a mouthful of fresh blood sprayed from his lips. His eyes bulged like those of a dead fish, nearly popping from their sockets.
"Hard... hard qigong?"
Third Master was stunned. Had that kick landed on an ordinary Purple Membrane fighter, they would have been sent flying long ago.
Plenty of people practiced martial arts in the Walled City, but those who also cultivated hard qigong were exceedingly rare.
Just when had he provoked such an expert?
That single palm strike left Third Master withered and feeble. His internal organs churned beneath the vibrations of the soft force, his blood-and-breath energy tumbling in chaos, leaving him powerless to muster any strength.
"Sharp eye, old bastard," Li Xiuwen sneered, his voice still low and raspy.
A butterfly knife shot forward with lethal precision. Third Master raised a hand to block—the blade pierced clean through his palm, halting its momentum.
A desperate viciousness flared in Third Master, and he lunged with his yellowed teeth, aiming straight for Li Xiuwen's throat.
Squelch!
The rebar plunged into his throat, punching straight through his neck!
Clutching his neck, Third Master glared at Li Xiuwen with dead-fish eyes. His carotid artery ruptured, blood spurting in all directions, and he drew his final breath moments later.
Third Master was dead. The Thirteen Taibao of Longjin Road vanished from the underworld once and for all.
"Brother Ji, Viper, Third Master... I suppose I've eliminated the three pests as well."
Li Xiuwen exhaled deeply.
In just one short month, he had taken quite a few lives, yet he could now witness death with complete composure.
Was this what growing up meant?
"Purple Membrane experts truly are tough to kill. I could take down Viper in a single move, but this bout with Third Master was still a bit challenging. He almost broke my skin... Truly perilous."
"This Third Master might have been formidable in his youth, but with old age and the decline of qi and blood, he's dropped back to the level of Purple Membrane."
Li Xiuwen turned his gaze toward the incense burner.
During the fight, the incense stick representing [Flipping Sand Palm] had burned to ash.
A longer, thicker incense stick now pushed up from the ashes.
[Li Xiuwen]
[Martial Skill]
[Flipping Sand Palm: Minor Success (1%)]
"My fighting techniques have reached minor success. Old Huang's intensive training these past days really paid off."
"Of course, my own comprehension played no small part either."
"Most important of all, the [Incense Burner] has no bottlenecks. For anyone else, crossing the threshold from entry to minor success would take at least ten days to half a month."
Fighting techniques were arts meant for killing.
Sparring with others or practicing in solitude could never compare to the genuine experience of brawling and taking a life.
Only that was the most efficient way to hone them.
A spark of realization dawned on Li Xiuwen.
"Hard force is fierce, but it's too obvious and easily parried."
"Soft force is like water. It seems placid, yet it layers endlessly, carrying greater staying power. It's difficult to ward off, enough to beat a Purple Membrane expert half to death with a single strike."
"If I can grasp the balance between hard and soft, weaving them together and shifting between them at will... my palm art will reach major success, and I will master 'Startled Shark Fleeting Shadow'!"
After a brief rest, Li Xiuwen began to search the body.
Every time he looted a corpse, he felt the honest satisfaction of a peasant farmer finally bringing in the harvest after a season of hard labor.
Aside from a key, Third Master's person was completely empty.
The man rarely left the sewers; his eyesight had deteriorated, his skin was sickly pale, and like a foul dragon, he spent every waking hour guarding his throne of scrap metal.
Beneath the throne, Li Xiuwen discovered a large locked iron chest. He couldn't help but chuckle. "Well, well, looks like a treasure chest dropped."
Opening the chest, Li Xiuwen's expression grew colorful.
Inside were mountains of magazines, all of them cheap erotica—publications like Lung Fu Pao and its ilk.
Clearing out the magazines, Li Xiuwen discovered a neat, square oilpaper package at the very bottom.
Unwrapping it, he beamed with delight.
A thick stack of banknotes. Without counting them carefully, Li Xiuwen estimated several tens of thousands of dollars.
There were also some small gold and silver trinkets; weighing them in his hand, they amounted to roughly one jin.
In addition, there was a rather exquisite little bottle. Opening it, he caught a whiff of an exotic fragrance.
"Could this be a secret medicine like fish balls?"
Li Xiuwen glanced at the bottom of the bottle, and his face instantly darkened.
"An aphrodisiac? Has an old Purple Membrane expert really fallen this low?"
Sorting through his haul, Li Xiuwen let out a sigh.
"No martial arts secret manuals... Then again, a street thug like this probably only learned wild boxing from the alleys, which would be worthless to me anyway."
"This money is the real prize. It's more than enough to sustain my martial training for quite a while."
"Third Master really lined his pockets on Longjin Road over the years. Smoking opium every single day, and he still managed to hoard this much."
"It's just a shame gold is so cheap these days. These gold and silver ornaments are only worth a few thousand. I'll hold onto them for now and spend them last—just in case they appreciate in value."
Chapter 29