Chapter 14

Jiang Ye moved his neck and wrists slightly, his joints making almost imperceptible light sounds.

Inside his body, the force hidden deep in his bone marrow and internal organs flowed quietly, like a fierce beast awakened from hibernation.

The senile, slow, and seemingly falling-apart old gatekeeper from the day had already disappeared.

Standing in the shadows at this moment was a fierce tiger in its twilight years that had put away all signs of aging, restrained all its claws and killing intent, and was ready to hunt.

He did not choose to go out through the main gate.

His gaze swept over the ten-foot-high courtyard wall, and he selected a spot obscured by a cluster of half-withered bamboo in the corner.

Jiang Ye tapped his foot lightly, and his entire body jumped up as gracefully as a spirit deer, then with a flexible somersault, he leaped over the high wall of the martial arts hall and landed lightly on the ground without making a sound.

This rise, this flip, and this landing, seemingly simple and casual, had actually integrated the lightness and swiftness of the "Deer Form," the agility and cleverness of the "Ape Form," and the grace and elegance of the "Bird Form" from the "Five Animals Fist," all at his fingertips.

Jiang Ye stood still in the deeper darkness outside the wall, looked back slightly, and glanced at the high wall of the martial arts hall, which now only had a blurred outline in the night.

He turned around, his gaze cast into the distance.

There lay the area west of the city where the Wild Wolf Gang was entrenched, and it was also the hunting ground for his "hunt" tonight.

As for why he chose to target the Wild Wolf Gang, it naturally had nothing to do with any scripts about seeing injustice and standing up for Lin Xiaohe.

It was purely because the Wild Wolf Gang was what the outer-courtyard disciples of the martial arts hall had been discussing the most and in the most detail over the past two days.

The talk of those young disciples—whether fearful, contemptuous, or angry—when pieced together, had already outlined a clear picture in Jiang Ye's mind.

The leader of the Wild Wolf Gang was said to be an expert who had stepped into the Hidden Force realm, ruthless and rarely appearing in person.

Under his command, there were four hall masters, each guarding one side, all with Clear Force strength; in this Anxi County, they could already be considered a force not to be underestimated.

And Jiang Ye's target tonight was the hall master closest to the martial arts hall, who was responsible for the Zhangxingjie area—Xu Tao.

According to the gossip of those loose-lipped disciples, there was a gambling den on Zhangxingjie whose business was booming, earning money hand over fist, and it was one of the Wild Wolf Gang's important sources of wealth.

And the hall master, Xu Tao, usually sat in command there, living in a small, independent courtyard behind the gambling den.

The information was specific enough, the target clear enough, and the distance "suitable" enough.

For an old hunter who needed silver and, even more, needed to hide himself and test his claws, there was no more ideal first prey.

Xu Tao, Clear Force strength.

Just right to weigh the true weight of his own "Tiger Form like sickness."

He had been wanting to find a "human dummy" to practice on for the past two days.

Jiang Ye pulled a cold arc at the corner of his mouth under the black mask.

He didn't linger, and with a movement of his body, he slid silently into the shadows of the complex alleys toward Zhangxingjie.

Zhangxingjie.

"This is the place."

Jiang Ye, hiding in the shadows, looked at the brightly lit gambling den not far away, his eyes narrowing slightly.

Like a crouching tiger, he slowly approached the gambling den along the shadows, followed the courtyard wall to the side, tapped his foot lightly, and climbed onto the roof like an ape.

In the brightly lit small courtyard behind the gambling den.

"Master Xu, the trap is set tight; that degenerate gambler Yang has fallen for it completely this time."

A Wild Wolf Gang member dressed in a gray shirt, with shrewdness in his eyes, bowed and reported to the burly man sitting in the grand chair.

The gray-shirted gang member's tone was fawning: "After tonight, his wife and daughter will both have to be mortgaged to us."

The one called "Master Xu" was none other than the Wild Wolf Gang hall master, Xu Tao.

This man was as burly as a bear, with a face full of flesh and a hideous, dark red scar running diagonally from his left forehead to his brow bone, adding to his ferocity.

He sat with his chest open, revealing a hairy chest, playing with two shiny iron balls in his hands, and upon hearing this, he grinned, revealing a mouthful of golden-yellow teeth:

"That yellow-faced woman of degenerate Yang's is an eyesore; just throw her to the slave trader to be sold."

He paused, a lewd light flashing in his eyes, and the scar twitched, "But his daughter... I happened to see her once a few days ago; tsk, she's quite spirited, tender enough to squeeze water out of."

He leaned forward, lowered his voice, and carried a nauseating excitement:

"Send her to me first. After I personally 'open her up' and have my fill, it won't be too late to sell her to the slave trader."

The gray-shirted gang member immediately understood, a similarly lewd smile piling up on his face, nodding repeatedly: "Heh, to be personally 'opened up' by Master Xu is the blessing that little girl cultivated in her past life! Others want it but can't get it!"

"If it's done well, there will naturally be no shortage of benefits for you."

Xu Tao leaned back in his chair, his expression satisfied, as if he had already foreseen the "sweet" taste.

"Many thanks, Master Xu! Many thanks for your promotion, Master Xu!"

The gray-shirted gang member bowed repeatedly in excitement, then carefully backed out of the room and gently closed the door.

The room returned to silence, leaving only the subtle sound of the iron balls rotating and rubbing in Xu Tao's palm.

He narrowed his eyes, the girl's delicate, pale, and terrified face becoming clearer in his mind, and a wicked fire surged in his heart, burning him with heat.

"Damn it, being teased by this little girl..." Xu Tao spat, threw the iron balls on the table, making a dull thud.

He patted his thigh, intending to get up, "Looks like I have to go to 'Red Brothel' to find Cui'er to vent my fire tonight..."

Just as the thought arose, and before his body had completely left the chair—

Creak.

The door was pushed open inward, silently, a crack.

The night wind drilled in along the crack, blowing the lamp flame on the table to flicker violently, the light and shadow trembling.

"You brat..." Xu Tao frowned subconsciously, thinking it was the gray-shirted subordinate from before returning, having failed to do the job properly.

His tone carried a hint of impatience as he raised his eyes to look toward the door.

However, the next instant.

The martial artist's near-instinctive intuition for danger was like ice water suddenly poured over his head.

Every hair on Xu Tao's body stood on end, and a chill shot up his spine!

Wrong!

The doorway was empty, with no sign of his subordinate's usual timid, hunched figure.

There was only a darkness so thick it couldn't be dissolved, as if it could swallow light itself, silently overflowing and spreading in from outside the door crack.

His burly body instantly tensed like iron, the previous laziness and lewdness vanishing, replaced by focused vigilance and a violent nature.

His right hand silently reached for the short blade hidden at his waist, his left foot retreated half a step, his center of gravity sank, and he had already set up a stance to meet the enemy.

"Who—"

His chest heaved, and a low roar was about to break through his throat, mixed with shock, anger, and killing intent.

Just in this split second!

The figure hidden in the darkness of the door crack moved!

No warning, no sound, not even a clear starting stance.

It was as if that piece of thick darkness itself suddenly condensed, collapsed, and then turned into a shadow wrapped in a fishy wind, pouncing forward at a speed that exceeded the limit of human visual capture!

In the reflection of Xu Tao's suddenly contracting pupils, what pounced was not a human figure, but a blurred yet incomparably real tiger with a white forehead!

Fangs bared, a fishy wind blowing in his face, carrying the violence of the king of the mountains and the oppressive feeling of death, it was about to swallow him whole!

"A tiger?!"

Xu Tao's heart was shaken, his scalp almost exploding.

Even though he had licked blood from the edge of a blade for many years, this abrupt and terrifying sight caused him to have a very brief moment of trance.

But, it was only for an instant.

Years of fighting experience made him instantly sober—where would a fierce tiger come from?!

It was clearly an attacker with a black cloth over his face and a hunched figure!

That terrifying illusion just now was caused by the terrifying "momentum" and mental pressure carried by the opponent's pounce!

However, it was this momentary hesitation that decided life and death!

That "fierce tiger"-like figure had already closed in to within three feet, fast enough that only a blurred black shadow remained.

"Looking for death!"

Xu Tao's eyes were about to split, and in his shock and anger, the Clear Force he had cultivated for years exploded in the crisis.

His blood surged, his muscles bulged, and his right hand holding the dagger turned into a snake-like black light, tearing through the air with a piercing whistle, stabbing straight at the attacker's heart.

This stab was ruthless, accurate, and fast, condensing the essence of his lifelong fighting, striving to kill the enemy in one blow.

Facing this tricky, ruthless, and hair-thin stab, the attacker's reaction was strangely contrary to common sense.

The fierce posture of pouncing like a tiger changed abruptly!

Like an ape twisting its body, or like willow catkins following the wind.

The attacker's body, with incredible flexibility and agility, leaned and spun ever so slightly within a square inch.

Swish—

The poisoned short dagger slid past the attacker's chest, cutting only a small piece of coarse cloth and bringing up a few fibers, but failing to touch even a fraction of skin.

A hair's breadth of difference, a chasm between life and death!

Xu Tao's stab, which had gathered all his strength and was intended to succeed, had already spent its force.

New force had not yet been born, and old force was about to be exhausted; it was the most vulnerable moment, the instant of an opening that could not be converted.

And the attacker was waiting for this moment!

The body that had just completed the strange side-spin, borrowing the remaining momentum of the spin, sent out its left fist, which had long been ready, like a sharp claw hidden under the loose fur of a sick tiger, suddenly blasting out.

No whistling wind, no thunder of muscles and bones.

Only a "solid feeling" that was restrained to the extreme, yet heavy enough to be suffocating.

Where the fist pointed, the air seemed to be compressed and solidified.

Bang!

A sound of impact that was not loud, but unusually dull and solid, exploded in Xu Tao's ears.

The last thing he saw were the calm, waveless eyes above the opponent's black cloth.

Immediately, boundless darkness, accompanied by indescribable severe pain, instantly swallowed all his consciousness.

Xu Tao's large head, covered in flesh and scars, was like a ripe watermelon hit head-on by a hammer, and under an irresistible, overwhelming force, it suddenly caved in, deformed, and then—

Pfft!

Red and white matter mixed with broken bones exploded miserably in the dim light.

The headless burly body stood stiff for a brief moment, then collapsed backward like a golden mountain falling, making a heavy thud that shook the dust on the ground.

"Weaker than I imagined."

Looking at the headless body on the ground, Jiang Ye shook his head slightly.