Passing through an alley, Li Xiuwen observed the terrain ahead as mnemonic verses from *Combat Examples of Three Streets and Six Alleys* surfaced in his mind:
*"Keep eyes on six directions, seize anything at hand; let ladders bridge your path, use benches to withstand..."*
A section of bamboo scaffolding loomed just ahead. His chance had arrived.
Mid-stride, Li Xiuwen suddenly darted toward the scaffolding.
Channeling Thousand Waves Drifting Light, he tapped off his toes and vaulted onto the bamboo frame.
"Don't know what's good for you! Then I'll just cripple you completely!"
The ghost-faced man sneered, closing the gap in a single stride before unleashing a ferocious whirlwind flying kick.
Beneath his trouser leg, the muscle surged like a giant serpent waking from hibernation—slithering, twisting, and grinding together with a rattling, rustling hiss.
The Snake Muscle realm was true to its name: every strand of muscle coiled together like vipers. Still at rest, yet once set in motion, the serpents danced wildly, erupting with the force of a dragon.
A whip kick swept through, whipping up gale-force winds like a miniature cyclone that rippled the standing water pooled on the street below.
*Crack, snap, splinter!*
Bamboo poles broke one after another. Catching the brunt of the kick, Li Xiuwen went flying, crashing like a heavy punching bag onto a distant scaffold. He scrambled to his feet as though unharmed and immediately climbed higher.
His face was flushed, his blood-and-breath energy churned violently, and his internal organs trembled.
Li Xiuwen’s heart pounded involuntarily. This was his first time confronting a genuine second-rank expert.
Beneath his training uniform, the skin membrane across his torso had indented over an inch, shattering the dark-gold mystic veins. Yet, as fresh blood-and-breath flooded in, the veins reformed once more.
Had any other martial artist at the peak of the Black Membrane taken that kick, they likely would have been snapped in two at the waist and died on the spot.
The gulf between major cultivation realms was truly an insurmountable chasm.
Even with his skin membrane and the dark-gold mystic veins absorbing the impact, the shockwave had left Li Xiuwen shaken, his blood-and-breath thrown into disarray.
Yet that was all.
This proved that the Armor-Binding Art was fully capable of enduring a full-force blow from an ordinary second-rank expert, setting Li Xiuwen's mind firmly at ease.
*He actually withstood my full-power kick?* Beneath the mask, Za Jiu's eyes widened in disbelief.
As a bona fide second-rank combatant striking with everything he had, he hadn't managed to cripple someone still at the Skin and Membrane Gate? What kind of absurd joke was this?
Moreover, a dull ache radiated from his shin, as though he had struck a solid slab of iron.
Realization dawned on Za Jiu, and he blurted out, "You little brat, you practice hard qigong!"
He now believed that Queya Zai, who had been at the peak of the Black Membrane, might truly have been killed by Li Xiuwen.
"Good, good, good! This is getting interesting!" Za Jiu’s interest was piqued, a bloodthirsty gleam flashing in his eyes.
With a powerful leap, he landed on the bamboo scaffolding, scaling an entire story in a couple of bounds like an agile ape.
Za Jiu sneered inwardly. *I originally intended to bring you to Brother Ming in one piece so Brother Ming could torture you himself... Now, it looks like I have no choice but to turn you into a human pig.*
Two silhouettes chased across the bamboo framework, but Za Jiu, in the Snake Muscle realm, was distinctly swifter and rapidly caught up with Li Xiuwen.
Producing a dagger from out of nowhere, he thrust it viciously toward Li Xiuwen’s back.
"Hard qigong isn't invincible! Fists and kicks might bounce off, but can you block a sharp blade?"
A second-rank expert, armed with a lethal blade, striking with all his might!
Li Xiuwen dared not meet it head-on with his flesh. Spinning around, he raised both bound fists and intercepted the thrust with the cluster of hemp rope.
*Riiip!*
The dagger sliced clean through the cordage.
The instant his arms were freed, Li Xiuwen unleashed Thousand Waves Drifting Light.
A breath of buoyant lightness hoisted him straight up.
His body, dense as a great bronze bell, pulled up from the ground like an onion plucked from the soil. Mid-air, Li Xiuwen lashed out with a flying kick, striking the ghost-faced man’s chest like a battering ram slamming into a monastery bell.
*Boom!*
A white shockwave billowed outward, parting the falling curtain of rain!
Using the recoil, Li Xiuwen executed a backflip, stabilized his posture with the buoyant force, and pivoted to grip the scaffolding. Skimming across the blue tiles, he dropped toward the ground below.
He intended to exploit his movement technique’s terrain advantage to land a single, fatal strike.
Za Jiu staggered back three steps, seizing the fourth-floor security bars to steady himself, and chuckled. "I admit I underestimated you. You've got sharp combat awareness."
Reading truly had its uses; the alley-combat theory Li Xiuwen had just studied had paid off immediately.
Just as Za Jiu prepared to give chase, a sharp female shout rang out. A petite figure lightly tapped her toes, scaling the fourth-floor bamboo scaffolding in mere seconds.
Beneath a pair of hot pants were long, pale legs; above, a cropped tank top, her hair tied in a high ponytail.
It was Hesheng Tu's youngest Straw Sandal, Xiao Laba.
Blocking Za Jiu’s path, she spat out her chewing gum, stared at the ghost mask, and said coldly, "Fighting on my turf wearing a mask? What sort of cowardly vermin are you?"
Suppressing his voice into a raspy growl, Za Jiu said, "Little girl, you think you can stop me?"
Xiao Laba let out a light humph, took up a stance, and beckoned with one hand, smiling. "Come on then."
Glancing at the retreating Li Xiuwen, Za Jiu gritted his teeth and launched an ordinary palm strike from common wild boxing straight at Xiao Laba's face.
Xiao Laba made no attempt to dodge. Across her toned, healthy arms, strands of muscle rippled like fine white jade serpents.
A snap, an elastic recoil!
Their palms collided. A visible shockwave blasted outwards, briefly clearing a circle through the curtain of torrential rain and leaving a pocket of vacuum in its wake.
In a brief trance, Za Jiu seemed to glimpse a green-eyed, lion-headed Buddha emerging in the deluge behind Xiao Laba, splaying its five fingers in radiant golden light!
Instantly, agonizing, bone-deep pain shot up through his right arm.
*The renowned technique of the Lion Head Buddha... the Diamond Lion Palm... Xiao Laba actually mastered such a martial art?!*
Realizing things had gone terribly wrong, Za Jiu retreated in haste.
Clenching his fist, he found his arm utterly devoid of strength; his ulna was fractured, and several meridians had been severed.
Xiao Laba crooked her finger and grinned broadly. "So weak... Your blood-and-breath energy feels tired and old. You must be an old geezer who barely managed to break into the second rank near the age of thirty, aren't you?"
Za Jiu’s blood boiled with rage, but knowing he was no match for Xiao Laba, he turned to flee.
"Want to run? Did I give you permission? Stay right where you are!" Xiao Laba gave chase.
Suddenly, a thick cloud of black iron sand was hurled high into the air, blanketing the surroundings. Xiao Laba hastily backed away.
By the time she covered her nose and mouth and opened her eyes, the ghost-faced figure had vanished without a trace.
"Iron sand mixed with poison powder? Hmph! Unorthodox trickery—you'll never achieve greatness with that!"
***
Guangwang Street, Jinghai Casino.
Za Jiu bandaged his injured arm and took a drag from his cigarette.
"Damn it, that brat Xiao Laba had to stick her nose in and ruin everything!"
It was fortunate he had fled promptly; caught in a pincer between Xiao Laba and Li Xiuwen, he might have perished right there.
*Thankfully, no one knows my identity. I went alone without taking a single subordinate, and I didn't even use my school's familiar techniques.*
*As long as Chen's Noodle Factory is there, the monk may run, but the temple stays put.*
*Hard qigong... tsk tsk, what a treasure.*
Za Jiu realized he didn't even need to help Brother Ming find the killer of Lanming Ji.
If he could get his hands on Li Xiuwen's hard qigong secret manual and offer it to Brother Ming, it would be a monumental achievement.
Who in Leigong Shed didn't know that Brother Ming was a body-hardening prodigy obsessed with collecting hard qigong methods?
Despite his temporary setback, Za Jiu felt no despair. Instead, he was wild with joy—this was his great fortune!
With his constitution, bone and tendon injuries of this scale would heal within a month.
Once recovered, there wouldn't be a next time for Li Xiuwen.
That kid might have relied on gorging himself on fish balls to reach the Black Membrane, but stepping past the second rank was not something fish balls could solve; the failure rate was brutal.
So long as he didn't reach the second rank, all the kid's efforts would be futile before that insurmountable chasm of realms.
As for hard qigong? Next time, prepared in advance, Za Jiu had plenty of ways to target the boy's weak spots and kill him outright.
***
Li Xiuwen had previously been agonizing over how to turn the tables on the ghost-faced man, but the crisis was now temporarily averted.
The ghost-faced attacker believed that wearing a mask would keep him completely anonymous.
He had no idea that Li Xiuwen possessed the Illusionary Realm of the Great Void!
Approaching Xiao Laba, Li Xiuwen cupped his fists in salute. "Thank you! I won't forget this favor."
Though he had intended to counterattack, facing a combatant an entire major realm above him had carried enormous risk.
Now he had only suffered minor internal shocks. With his constitution, a few days of rest would see him fully recovered.
Xiao Laba looked Li Xiuwen up and down, smiling. "I underestimated you the other day. Managing to reach the second floor and surviving an encounter with a second-rank expert... you've got some skills, handsome!"
Chapter 56