Chapter 155

Looking at the disheveled Hei Dan, Li Yan felt complicated.

Since his grandfather passed away, perhaps to avoid that sad place, after handling the family affairs, he left Li Family Fort under the cover of night.

Wandering the martial world, unknowingly it had already been half a year.

After all, having lived there for many years, saying he didn't miss it would be a lie.

Occasionally, he would still dream of the scene where the old man was roaring Qin opera in the sunset, waiting for his return.

When he woke up, his clothes were already soaked with tears.

This playmate, Hei Dan, was perhaps the only person he was still on good terms with in Li Family Fort.

He didn't have time to say goodbye when he left, and he never expected that seeing him again would be like this.

"Yan... Brother Yan, woo woo..."

This child was obviously terrified, and it took him a long time to recognize Li Yan, unable to even speak a coherent sentence.

"Don't be afraid, we'll talk after this is over."

A murderous aura had already risen in Li Yan's eyes.

While speaking, three men had already chased after them angrily, with dragons and tigers tattooed on their chests, daggers tucked into their waists, scaring the common people along the way to scatter in all directions.

"Hey, where did this piece of trash come from? Get lost!"

The leading man cursed, then accelerated and jumped up, raising his right foot, intending to kick Li Yan in the lower back.

Li Yan pulled Hei Dan, then turned sideways and swept his leg.

He didn't show any mercy in his strike, directly using hidden force.

Crack!

Accompanied by a scream, the man fell directly to the ground, his face covered in blood, but he didn't care about that, instead clutching his leg and screaming and cursing: "Damn you, you stinking turtle grandson..."

His left lower leg was already directly broken, the bone fragments exposed, and blood stained the surrounding snow red.

"Kill him!"

The remaining few men were all desperate scoundrels, and seeing this, they were not afraid at all, instead pulling out daggers and rushing over one by one.

Seeing Li Yan's strike, they knew he was a man of the martial world.

Two people lured the enemy in the front, and when they got close to Li Yan, they suddenly rolled sideways, holding their daggers in reverse and rushing over from both sides.

At the same time, the person following behind had already unloaded a cloth bag from his waist, untied it, and shook it violently.

Poof!

White lime powder was sprinkled all over his face.

The tacit understanding of their cooperation showed they clearly didn't lack experience in cheating people.

But Li Yan had supernatural powers, so he had naturally sensed it long ago. He turned his body sideways, used the Red Fist's "Diao Da Chan Si Shou" (Snatching and Entangling Hand), gripped the wrist of the person holding the blade, and twisted it backhanded.

This was the Red Fist's seizing technique, "Golden Silk Entangling Wrist."

Red Fist is good at snatching strikes, so its seizing techniques are naturally not bad.

Li Yan just twisted it lightly, and the man felt a stinging pain in his joints, not only dropping his dagger but also screaming as his body turned sideways, blocking in front of Li Yan.

Stab!

Li Yan's movements were too fast; the person sneaking up from the other side didn't even have time to retract his hand, directly stabbing his dagger into his companion's lower back.

He was flustered and panicked, and just as he wanted to pull out the dagger, the white lime powder fell, covering his and his companion's backs in white.

And Li Yan used another "Ying Feng Tui" (Wind-Facing Leg).

Boom!

These two were kicked flying directly, rolling to the ground together with the companion who had sprinkled the lime, screaming endlessly.

"Careful, this guy is tough!"

On the street, four or five more people chased after them.

These people were also used to being arrogant on ordinary days, and seeing their companions beaten, they cursed and rushed over, wanting to win by relying on their numbers.

"Stop, all of you!"

Just at this moment, a cold shout came from behind.

The men all stopped, but they still had fierce expressions, holding daggers and short axes, surrounding Li Yan and Hei Dan.

"Brother Guo, he's a martial artist!"

"Xiao Liu and the others have been crippled, Brother Guo, finish him!"

The men cursed and shouted, and the pedestrians on the street immediately scattered.

Of course, the people of the Divine Land have loved watching the excitement since ancient times; some would rather not eat than miss such a scene.

Several dozen meters away, they immediately surrounded them three layers deep and three layers out.

"Yo, they're fighting!"

"It's the Fire Bear Gang..."

"Good man, strike quickly, kill one and you'll break even!"

Some troublemakers stood in the crowd and started inciting.

Li Yan didn't pay attention, but narrowed his eyes and looked at the opposite side.

It's the Fire Bear Gang...

He already had his suspicions, and hearing the clamor of the people outside, he was naturally even more certain.

The other men were at most trained in boxing and kicking for a few days, a bit better than the gangs in Xianyang City, but not much stronger, and he could handle them with one hand.

Only the leader in the center was a tricky character.

The man was tall, thin, and no matter how you looked at him, he wasn't in the same weight class as the fat or sturdy men around him.

But in the martial world, it's this kind of anomaly that is to be feared.

Old people, children, women—they look weak, but as long as they can mix in the martial world, they must have one or two unique skills.

This man was the same.

He had a pair of mandarin duck knives hanging from his waist, standing casually, his body slightly bent, his feet neither in a ding nor an eight shape, his arms slightly raised, his palms hovering above the knife handles.

This is the posture of a veteran of knife techniques.

"Shut up, all of you!"

He gave a roar, stopping the shouting of the men around him.

A young boy behind him hurriedly stepped forward and whispered:

"Brother Guo, this is that Li Yan."

Guo Ai narrowed his eyes, murderous intent appearing in them, and spat out four words through his teeth, "Yo, a 'young hero'..."

People in the martial world usually encounter this kind of situation and would exchange a few lines of jargon, secretly threaten each other, and then weigh each other up.

But Li Yan was too lazy to talk nonsense, patted Hei Dan on the shoulder, "Hei Dan, don't be afraid, who hit you?"

However, Hei Dan couldn't care about getting revenge at this moment, instead pulling on Li Yan's sleeve and begging, "Brother Yan, Brother Yan, I'm fine, save my uncle quickly!"

"Uncle?"

Li Yan frowned, then looked at the opposite side, "Where is he? Let him go first, and then we'll settle accounts with you."

"Ho, what a big tone!"

The tall, thin man Guo Ai originally wanted to say something about not meddling in other people's business, but before he could open his mouth, he was amused by Li Yan's words, "Kid, you tell me, what if we don't let him go?"

Li Yan gave a faint glance, "Simple."

"If the person is alive and well, and hasn't lost any arms or legs, I can calm down and talk to you about compensation."

"If something happens to the person, then there's no way to settle this!"

Guo Ai was also a hot-tempered person, sneering, "Damn it, the person is already dead. I want to see how you want to play!"

"Ah?!"

Hei Dan was struck by lightning and sat down on the ground.

And murderous intent rose on Li Yan, "Want to see? Easy!"

"Brother Guo, don't do it!"

Just at this moment, another man rushed in from behind and leaned over to whisper, "Brother Guo, the gang leader told you not to cause extra trouble. Change the person, let them go, and settle accounts after the matter is over."

Guo Ai took a deep breath.

He had also calmed down at this time, remembering that there was a major event in the gang. He looked at Li Yan, sneered, pointed his finger, and turned to leave.

"Stop!"

Li Yan said coldly, "The matter isn't over yet, it's not finished, who the hell told you to leave?"

That Guo Ai heard this, slowly turned around, and stared at Li Yan with unbelievable eyes, "Kid, I wasn't going to settle accounts with you today, are you really looking for death?"

"Looking for death?"

Li Yan laughed, his eyes becoming increasingly cold, "It seems that not enough of you died that night."

"The Eight-Way Plum Blossom Knife is considered to have some fame, but I don't know, compared to Yao San, whose knife is faster?"

He looked at the other's stance, and only now remembered that it was a niche fast knife technique from the Guanzhong martial world, rumored to originate from Ezhou, and those who used it were all experts.

Hearing this, Guo Ai's eyes gradually became solemn.

He had other important matters on the night of the ritual battle and didn't go, but he knew exactly how many people in the gang had died. The funeral expenses alone were quite a lot.

The white funeral services continued for half a month.

But according to the people in the gang, the one who took action at that time was a Mystic Sect expert, extremely fierce and vicious, lurking beside the gang leader without anyone discovering him.

Xiong Xiong Baodong was naturally arrogant, but he forcefully swallowed this anger; one reason was the rules agreed upon before the ritual battle, and the other was his fear of this elusive expert.

As for Yao San, he was the gang leader's bodyguard, and privately, he would do some shady business alone.

His skills were only a little bit worse than his.

Rumor has it that he died under this kid's hidden knife.

Hidden knife?

He just wanted to laugh when he heard it.

This kind of trick to fool people is only good for fooling laymen.

!.

This kid relies on nothing more than those two Mystic Sect experts.

But he didn't dare not listen to Xiong Xiong Baodong's words.

If he really ruined the matter, his own life would be hard to guarantee...

"Good, very good!"

Thinking of this, Guo Ai gave a thumbs up, "Kid is tough enough, I hope when we meet again, you can still be this tough!"

Having said that, he untied a pouch from his waist and threw it directly, "Nothing happened, just a bit of skin scraped, two hundred taels is enough!"

"Let's go!"

Although he was angry in his heart, he still turned and left quickly.

"The Fire Bear Gang actually backed down?"

"They must have hit a hard rock. You don't know, this Li Li Shaoxia in front of us is the one who just made them suffer..."

"Yo, so powerful, he doesn't look like it at such a young age."

"If you have the ability, go and take Xiong Xiong Baodong's head tonight!"

The troublemakers in the crowd started inciting again.

Because of the Fire Bear Gang's fierce reputation, ordinary commoners would hide in time, at most standing on the side to watch the excitement, and would never talk too much.

These troublemakers were all street hoodlums, stealing chickens and dogs, kicking down widows' doors, the kind that are rotten to the core.

Li Yan gave a cold glance, grabbed two stones from the ground, flicked his wrist, and they whistled out.

"Ouch!"

"Ouch!"

In the crowd, two people fell to the ground with blood-filled mouths.

After the people around saw this, they burst into laughter.

They didn't dare to mock the Fire Bear Gang.

But it was fine to beat up these kinds of hoodlums.

Li Yan didn't pay attention anymore, pulled Hei Dan, and left...

…………

"Right here!"

Following Hei Dan, the two turned into a small alley, walked another ten meters or so, and entered the courtyard on the right.

This was a small, ordinary residential house.

The courtyard was messy and in a state of chaos.

As soon as Li Yan entered, he frowned and covered his nose.

No other reason, it was just too smelly here!

On the walls hung skins of all sizes—wolf skins, dog skins, donkey and horse skins, as well as weasel skins and rat skins.

The courtyard was full of leather-making tools, but they had all been overturned.

"Uncle! Uncle!"

Hei Dan was anxious and rushed into the small room, only to see an old man leaning against the wall, bruised and swollen, covering his mouth and sighing.

Seeing Hei Dan, he struggled to stand up and said anxiously, "Why did you come back? Run quickly!"

"Don't worry, Master..."

Seeing that his master was fine, Hei Dan muttered, told the story of what had just happened, and comforted him.

Seeing this, Li Yan nodded secretly.

He had already asked Hei Dan for the reason on the way.

It turned out that after he left, Hei Dan finally couldn't stand the loneliness, had a big argument with his father, and insisted that he didn't want to farm and wanted to go outside to learn a craft.

Hei Dan's father couldn't refuse, so he had to agree.

It just so happened that his uncle was a leatherworker in Chang'an City, so Hei Dan also left his hometown, arriving in Chang'an even earlier than Li Yan.

Learning a craft is not an easy thing.

Hei Dan worked from dawn till dusk, and besides learning the craft from his uncle, he also had to work every day to maintain the shop's business.

Busy from early morning till late at night, he was so busy he didn't even have time to catch his breath, so how would he know that Li Yan had also come to Chang'an.

"Li Li Shaoxia, thank you."

Hei Dan's uncle stood up, trembling as he cupped his hands.

He wasn't like his silly nephew Hei Dan; he was not only a member of the Mystic Sect but also half a man of the martial world, so he naturally had heard of Li Yan's reputation.

He didn't expect that he would have old ties with his silly nephew.

"No need for formalities, let's find a place to talk first."

Li Yan had already been dizzy from the smell, holding his nose as he spoke, his voice muffled, and he couldn't care about any etiquette.

Everything in the world has a corresponding yin and yang.

As he built his building and temple, his olfactory supernatural powers continued to grow stronger, and he became increasingly sensitive to smells.

The stench was his weakness now.

The smell in this courtyard was really unbearable.

…………

"It's also an unprovoked disaster..."

In the private room of the tavern, Hei Dan's uncle took a sip of wine and sighed, "The Fire Bear Gang wanted to ask me to make leather."

Li Yan sneered, "Using force even when asking a craftsman to take action, the Fire Bear Gang is truly overbearing!"

"No."

Hei Dan's uncle shook his head and gave a bitter smile, "The price they offered was reasonable, it's just that I had some trouble, and even if I wanted to make money, I couldn't."

Li Yan asked, "What trouble did you have?"

Hei Dan's uncle was silent, a flash of fear in his eyes, and he gritted his teeth, "I'm afraid you won't believe me even if I tell you."

"I offended a demon immortal!"

"This old man learned his craft from a shadow puppet troupe in Hua County. Later, by chance, I opened my ear supernatural powers and could hear the words of ghosts and gods."

"Originally, what Master taught were all ordinary crafts. That day, everyone in the troupe went out to take jobs. I was drunk and heard a voice in a daze, saying it wanted to teach me how to make spirit leather."

Li Yan listened curiously, "What is spirit leather?"

The old man took a sip of wine, "So-called spirit leather is animal skin that has spirituality. These things don't dissipate their resentment after death, and they often cause trouble."

"Craftsmen who can make spirit leather all know how to suppress it, slowly wearing down the resentment without damaging its spirituality. Only then can the leather made be used to refine ritual implements.

I was bold at the time, and according to the guidance of that voice, I caught a rat with spirituality, and took advantage of the thunder striking the temple to kill an old python whose cultivation was suppressed.

Under the guidance of that voice, I learned step by step how to make spirit leather, and even used the leather to make a shadow puppet. As a result, I brought disaster upon myself.

That thing actually possessed the shadow puppet and caused trouble every night, sucking the essence of the troupe members.

I was afraid in my heart, so I found a chance to secretly tell the troupe leader.

The troupe leader found a shaman, detained the thing, and suppressed it under an old temple's dry well, but because I caused the trouble, I was also driven out.

Later, I wandered to Chang'an, and relying on this craft, I managed to build a business..."

Speaking of this, his eyes were full of fear, and he said tremblingly, "I didn't expect that after so many years, that thing would break free, possess a person, and come to Chang'an to find me."

"That thing dares to come to Chang'an City to cause trouble?"

Li Yan listened, inexplicably feeling that something was wrong.

"Hmm."

The old man swallowed his saliva, "It knew everything about what happened back then, and even cast a poison curse on me, not only seizing my business but also making me swear an oath."

"From now on, I am never to use the spirit leather technique again!"

(End of chapter)