Mute Bay, in a small Tiger Gang courtyard.
Er Ma Zi leaned against the doorframe, arms crossed, yawning out of sheer boredom.
SMACK!
A small, hard wad of paper suddenly flew through the air and struck him squarely on the forehead.
"Who's there?!"
"Who is it?!" Er Ma Zi jolted to his feet, his hand dropping to the hilt of his saber as he warily scanned the empty alley.
There was no answer. He suspiciously bent down, picked up the paper wad, and unfolded it. It was covered in densely packed writing.
"Dammit..." Er Ma Zi cursed under his breath. He was completely illiterate; he couldn't recognize a single word.
But he wasn't stupid. He knew this thing had to be important.
Clutching the note tightly, he turned and rushed back into the courtyard.
"What's the hurry?" Just then, Xu Chengfeng stepped out of the courtyard, his face dark.
"Brother Feng! Someone... someone threw this!" Er Ma Zi quickly offered it to him.
Xu Chengfeng took it suspiciously. After scanning it quickly in the dim light, his face twisted into a look of savage glee. "Son of a bitch! To think I've been searching high and low for him! The old dog is hiding on Locust Street!"
He waved the note and lowered his voice. "That treacherous bastard Liu Laizi! He's turned on them! This is Song Tie's hiding place!"
Er Ma Zi looked completely bewildered. "Liu Laizi? He..."
"You! Take two sharp brothers and get over to the outskirts of Locust Street right now! Keep an eye out for any Jinhe Gang rats sniffing around! Go!" Xu Chengfeng ordered sharply.
"Yes, sir!" Er Ma Zi didn't dare hesitate and immediately took off running.
Xu Chengfeng stared at the note, a vicious glint in his eyes.
He was already seventy or eighty percent convinced by the intel. He knew Liu Laizi's character—a coward who sways with the wind, afraid of death. This was exactly the sort of thing he'd do.
But just in case, he still needed to confirm if it was true.
Before long, Er Ma Zi came panting back, his face alight with excitement. "Brother Feng! It's true! There are a couple of Jinhe Gang bastards standing lookout at the entrance to Locust Street."
"Gather the brothers!"
A murderous light exploded in Xu Chengfeng's eyes. "Grab your weapons! Surround that alley on Locust Street! Don't let a single fly escape! There's a huge reward for whoever chops up Song Tie!"
"Yes, sir!" The courtyard instantly filled with the sound of drawing sabers and low growls.
Er Ma Zi leaned in and asked in a low voice, "Brother Feng, what about Liu Laizi...?"
The corner of Xu Chengfeng's mouth twisted into a cruel sneer. "Save him for New Year's? I hate a backstabber more than anything! We'll take care of him at the same time!"
Then, a dozen or so Tiger Gang members drew their long sabers. Like a pack of ravenous wolves, they descended on Locust Street—silent, yet radiating killing intent.
...
「Locust Street.」
The Tiger Gang members, pumped full of adrenaline, all drew their long sabers. Led by Xu Chengfeng, they were like a pack of hyenas that had scented blood, silently and murderously surging toward Song Tie's hiding place.
Chen Qing hid in the shadows, quietly watching the thugs disappear into the depths of the alley. 'I won't be at ease until I see Song Tie's corpse with my own eyes.'
CRASH!
"Kill them!"
"Song Tie! Get out here and die!"
Soon, the sounds of a door being smashed open, furious roars, the clang of clashing weapons, and piercing screams filled the air.
A flicker of firelight appeared from the direction of the dilapidated courtyard, painting the narrow patch of sky red.
Song Tie, his eyes bloodshot, leaned against the doorframe, hacking wildly while using two of his subordinates as human shields.
At the same time, the wound in his abdomen tore open again from the violent movements, and blood gushed out.
"Who was it?! Who sold me out?!"
Song Tie roared in despair. Mustering his last ounce of strength, he threw himself at the rickety wooden window behind him.
"Watch out for his Poison Darts! After him! Get after him, now!"
Xu Chengfeng's furious, frustrated howl came from the courtyard; it sounded like he'd been injured.
'Escape!'
'I have to get out!'
Like a wounded beast cornered and pushed to the brink, Song Tie's survival instinct exploded with astonishing force.
He ignored the tearing pain in his abdomen and, relying on his familiarity with Locust Street's complex terrain, fled for his life through the narrow, junk-filled back alleys.
He didn't dare take the main roads, sticking to the darkest, most twisting crevices he could find.
Every ragged breath he took was thick with the smell of blood.
His vision began to blur, and waves of dizziness from blood loss assaulted his consciousness.
But he didn't dare stop!
'As long as I can just break out and blend into the crowd outside, or jump into the nearby river, I have a chance to live.'
A final, crazed light erupted in his eyes. He bit down hard on the tip of his tongue, using the sharp pain to jolt his senses and wring out his last bit of strength as he staggered forward!
Three steps! Two steps! One!
WHOOSH!
A shadow flashed from the eaves of a nearby house! Chen Qing pounced like a hunting owl.
He used the Hand Stretching Mountain Binding technique from the Long Arm Fist. His right hand, fingers like iron hooks, latched onto Song Tie's right elbow. With a surge of force from his fingers—
CRACK!
The sharp sound of bone fracturing was enough to set one's teeth on edge.
Song Tie had barely cried out in pain when Chen Qing's left hand snaked around with lightning speed, gripping the inside of his elbow. Twisting his waist and legs, Chen Qing unleashed his full body strength in a vicious pull and tear.
RIIIP!
With a sound of tearing flesh, bone shards were exposed as his entire right arm was brutally ripped from its socket.
The excruciating pain made Song Tie's vision go black, and his body swayed on the verge of collapse.
Chen Qing gave him no chance to recover. He threw his right fist, backed by the full force of his body, like a hammer striking an anvil.
BANG!
The punch landed squarely on Song Tie's face. He was sent flying nearly ten feet, crashing to the ground, unable to rise as blood gurgled from his mouth.
He struggled to open his eyes, trying to get a clear look at his attacker.
The next moment—
CRUNCH! SQUELCH!
His sternum shattered, his internal organs trampled to a pulp. Song Tie's body convulsed violently once, the whites of his eyes rolled up, and he went still.
"Haaaah."
Chen Qing let out a long breath. 'Good thing I waited on the perimeter. Otherwise, Song Tie might have actually escaped.'
He quickly searched Song Tie's body and found a heavy pouch.
Opening it, he found over twenty taels of glittering silver!
'I'm rich!'
A sharp glint flashed in Chen Qing's eyes.
Last time, when he ambushed Qian Biao, he had only found a few taels of broken silver.
But now, he had found twenty taels of silver on Song Tie.
This was a huge sum of money!
'How many years would it take for my mother and me to save this much silver, even if we starved ourselves?!'
Besides the silver, there was also a thin booklet: the Gale Saber Technique.
Chen Qing landed several more blows on the vital points of Song Tie's corpse to ensure no tell-tale marks from his Long Arm Fist were visible. Only then did his figure flicker and vanish into the shadows of Locust Street.
「The next day,」 news that the Jinhe Gang's leader had been killed by the Tiger Gang was all over Mute Bay.
...