Chapter 1503

Shangguan Tianhuo nodded and said, 'Good, then I will learn your staff technique from you!' He wanted to seize the green bamboo staff back with bare hands.

Long Xi Yue cupped his hands toward the surrounding Beggar Gang elders and said, 'Elders, if I defeat him with the Dog-Beating Staff Technique, do you believe I am the disciple of Chief Qiu?'

Mu Sheng said, 'Only the gang leader of the Beggar Gang can fully master the Dog-Beating Staff Technique; if you can win with it, I will naturally believe you are the successor of Chief Qiu.'

Shangguan Tianhuo's face darkened as he coldly said, 'Qiao Fangzheng also knows the Dog-Beating Staff Technique.' He took great offense at Mu Sheng's words, clearly Mu Sheng was beginning to believe the other's statement.

Qiao Fangzheng laughed heartily and said, 'If I knew the Dog-Beating Staff Technique, how could I have fallen into your father and son's hands? With just the thirty-six routes of the Dog-Beating Staff Technique, I could not even crack your father and son's dog heads. I am heavily sinful, what good people are you father and son? Why don't you tell everyone how many sons you actually have? You constantly claim to uphold justice for the gang leader, yet why do you not let him rest in peace after death?'

In fact, many in the Beggar Gang also held this view; just now they were all listening to Shangguan Tianhuo speak, and under his provocation they were filled with righteous indignation, but now they gradually calmed down.

Shangguan Tianhuo began to feel a bit panicked inside; if the situation continued to develop, the scene could easily get out of control, so he must retrieve the green bamboo staff, and he said in a deep voice, 'Hurry up and return the holy object to me!'

Long Xi Yue said, 'I am inferior to you in internal energy, so let our sparring stop at first contact; we must not strike a killing blow against fellow disciples.'

Shangguan Tianhuo assumed she was afraid, nodded and said, 'That's natural!' Yet in his heart he secretly resolved that, as soon as he got the chance, he would surely end his life, regardless of whether he was Qiu Sihai's disciple; he must not let him cause him further trouble.

Shangguan Yunfeng said, 'Father, let me teach her a lesson!'

Hu Xiaotian coldly gazed at Shangguan Yun Chong and said, 'Are you worthy?'

Shangguan Tianhuo, however, softly sighed and said, 'Although I do not know who sent you, heaven has the virtue of cherishing life; if you return the two holy objects to my Beggar Gang, I may let you off.' He was also skilled at putting on an act, and even at this moment he had to display his magnanimity and benevolence.

At this moment Zhu Ba suddenly shouted, 'Shangguan Tianhuo, you are a hypocritical pretender of benevolence and righteousness! You and your son have seized my wife and my brothers, using their lives as leverage to make me bear these crimes, and even framing Elder Qiao...'

Shangguan Yunfeng darted forward in a single leap toward Zhu Ba, intending to seal Zhu Ba's mute point to stop him from speaking nonsense; Hu Xiaotian followed like a shadow, arriving first to block his path, and sneered, 'What are you doing? Trying to silence him by killing him?'

At the same time, Long Xi Yue struck first, a green gleam flashing from his bamboo staff as he thrust it toward Shangguan Tianhuo's chest.

Shangguan Tianhuo did not expect him to dare attack him; he stepped to the right, and one of his subordinates threw a dog-beating staff at him. Shangguan Tianhuo reached out and caught it, then immediately swung it upward in a lifting motion, intending to knock the bamboo staff from Long Xi Yue's hand.

Long Xi Yue flicked his wrist, offering no direct resistance to Shangguan Tianhuo; his bamboo staff, like a long snake, coiled around the opponent's staff and then pressed downward.

Shangguan Tianhuo startled, realizing the opponent's first move was the 'entangling' character of the Dog-Beating Staff Technique. Many in the Beggar Gang know the technique, but usually only a few moves; aside from the gang leader, no one has fully mastered all thirty-six routes. Although the Dog-Beating Staff Technique has many varied moves, it is always guided by the eight-character mantra: entangle, split, entwine, thrust, lift, draw, seal, turn. At its core, this mantra is about skill; the dog-beating staff is generally light and slender—for example, Long Xi Yue's bamboo staff is only five feet long and as thick as a thumb, its killing power even inferior to ordinary swords—but the original purpose of the technique is to drive away vicious dogs, not to kill them.

The best way to counter the Dog-Beating Staff Technique is to oppose it with staff technique; when Long Xi Yue attacks with the entangling character, Shangguan Tianhuo should break it with the lifting character.

If compared by internal energy, Shangguan Tianhuo undoubtedly surpasses Long Xi Yue by far, but when it comes to staff techniques, he is far inferior. Qiao Fangzheng initially passed three staff moves to Long Xi Yue; these three are his hidden ultimate arts, also the most difficult to learn among the thirty-six routes of the Dog-Beating Staff Technique. Yet he found Long Xi Yue's comprehension top-notch, mastering them without much effort, and later, through observation, he increasingly felt Long Xi Yue was kind-hearted and exceptionally talented. Thus, before he decided to go to the Beggar Gang and risk his life to save it, he took Long Xi Yue as his disciple and taught him all thirty-six routes of the Dog-Beating Staff Technique that he had mastered.

Qiao Fangzheng also never imagined Long Xi Yue could master all thirty-six staff routes in a short time; he only hoped that the Beggar Gang's most representative martial art would not be lost.

Long Xi Yue's speed in grasping the Dog-Beating Staff Technique is truly beyond imagination; many people train martial arts forever without getting started, the reason being they have not found a suitable art for themselves. Hu Xiaotian had previously taught Long Xi Yue the Spirit Snake Nine Swords, but Long Xi Yue is kind-hearted and inherently resistant to killing weapons like swords, so his progress in swordsmanship is slow. Qiao Fangzheng noticed this, taught Long Xi Yue to use bamboo twigs instead, and unexpectedly achieved great results.

Shangguan Tianhuo actually learned thirty-three routes of the Dog-Beating Staff Technique from his son, though to date he has mastered no more than twenty routes; his biggest trouble is that he dares not display it in public. Everyone knows his son Shangguan Yun Chong has mastered only six routes; if he were to use them, explaining within those six would be fine, but if he used more routes, others would surely question where he obtained them.

Shangguan Tianhuo's martial arts are still inferior to Shangguan Yunfeng's; at first, because he hesitated whether to counter with the Dog-Beating Staff Technique, he ended up letting Long Xi Yue catch him off guard.

Shangguan Yunfeng immediately understood his father's crux and, via voice transmission, reminded him: 'His staff technique is exquisite, but his internal strength is lacking!'

After his son's reminder, Shangguan Tianhuo secretly felt ashamed, channeled his internal energy into the staff, and thrust upward sharply—a move from the Dog-Beating Staff Technique. Long Xi Yue, lacking experience, was freed from the entanglement of his bamboo staff by Shangguan Tianhuo, who then stepped back a step, increasing the distance between them.

The onlookers' faces all showed disappointment; as the Beggar Gang's leader, Shangguan Tianhuo was actually forced to retreat by a young beggar, and it appeared he knew less of the Dog-Beating Staff Technique than his opponent, suggesting this young beggar might truly be the Chief Qiu's disciple—otherwise how could he know so much of the technique?

Although Qiao Fangzheng could not see, his ears could detect the movements on the field, as if he were watching them himself; he chuckled and said, 'Shangguan Tianhuo, you are using the lifting character of the Dog-Beating Staff Technique. I taught your son six routes of staff, yet none of them includes the lifting character—where did you get it? Could it be that the three transmission elders entrusted Shangguan Yun Chong to deliver the staff, which you father and son secretly learned?' In fact, Qiao Fangzheng had taught Shangguan Yun Chong the lifting character; otherwise Yun Chong would not dare to use it publicly. But Qiao Fangzheng spoke offhandedly, and the beggars believed him seventy to eighty percent. Especially several law-enforcement elders, they have begun to suspect Shangguan Tianhuo, with a few protecting Zhu Ba and now inquiring what exactly happened to him.

Shangguan Tianhuo, how cunning he is, instantly felt something was off; these people should not suddenly change their stance just because of an iron rice bowl—impossible. He bit his lip, decided to temporarily set aside distractions and first retrieve the bamboo staff. He shook the dog-beating staff in his hand, gathered all his strength, and with a 'whoosh!' swung it downward toward Long Xi Yue's head; if this blow landed, it would surely smash the opponent's skull and burst his brains.

Hu Xiaotian constantly monitored the battlefield; seeing Shangguan Tianhuo's move was a killing blow, his heart leapt to his throat. He prepared to rush forward to rescue Long Xi Yue, but then heard a familiar voice in his ear: 'Don't move, do you think the Beggar Gang's Dog-Beating Staff Technique is such a pushover?'

Hu Xiaotian immediately recognized the voice as his grandfather's; at that moment he saw Long Xi Yue's bamboo staff come forward to meet Shangguan Tianhuo's thunderous strike, then immediately turned and swept downward diagonally, cleverly redirecting Shangguan Tianhuo's force to the ground. His strike missed, smashing into the blue‑stone‑paved floor and actually cracking the stone slabs, showing the tremendous power of that blow.

Most of the onlookers' faces twitched slightly; everyone could see that Shangguan Tianhuo's strike held no mercy at all—it was outright lethal.

Qiao Fangzheng shouted loudly, 'Shangguan Tianhuo, where did you learn this move? You have also mastered the splitting character of the Dog-Beating Staff Technique.'

Upon hearing his grandfather's voice, Hu Xiaotian's heart eased at once; seeing Long Xi Yue indeed successfully neutralize Shangguan Tianhuo's attack, he then looked around for his grandfather's figure, but the crowd was thick and he could not find him. It seemed his grandfather had already arrived at the gathering and had been secretly assisting; Zhu Ba's sudden recantation earlier must have been his doing. Hu Xiaotian secretly rejoiced—his grandfather's presence proved the old man was safe; indeed, Hu Xiaotian had never believed his grandfather could be easily harmed, and hearing his voice today finally put his mind completely at ease.

Zhu Ba had already explained his experience to several elders; the law‑enforcement elders led by Mu Sheng all turned their gazes toward Shangguan Yunfeng, their former respect gone, replaced by suspicion. Shangguan Yunfeng secretly thought, 'Oh no,' sensing the situation was quietly shifting. He looked at Hu Xiaotian, saw him intently focused on the match, and thought this was a great chance to retrieve the iron rice bowl. Without warning, he lunged at Hu Xiaotian, gripping the tail of the dog‑beating staff with his left hand, drew out a hidden thin sword from within, and thrust it swiftly at Hu Xiaotian's throat.

Statement below, this is indeed today's Third Update; Zhangyu never does the thing of posting a First Update and leaving it hanging for two days. The Dot Lady's Premium Updates Ranking, I am first on the word count ranking—this itself proves the point. Today there are Three More updates, and there will be another First Update in the early morning! (To be continued~^~)