Zhao Rui placed the bottle back where he found it and continued to search the room.
In just a few minutes, his search proved fruitful. He found over fifty thousand in cash and a rather antiquated-looking Fine Steel Dagger, complete with a sheath engraved with a complex dragon pattern.
Besides these two items, there were also several condoms, two bottles of aphrodisiacs, and a set of battery-operated "night-time tools" for women...
"Fuck!"
Zhao Rui couldn't help but curse under his breath. 'The more of a good-for-nothing slacker a guy is, the more women he gets.'
'What a fucking joke!'
After searching a bit longer and not finding the Qi-Introducing Pill he was looking for, Zhao Rui didn't linger. He turned and left the room.
He leaped onto the roof and, with a few more bounds, departed from the area.
The moonlight, like liquid mercury, flowed slowly through the clouds. Accompanied by the occasional chirp of a cicada, it spilled down upon the mortal world.
In a deserted alley, several thuggish-looking men, each with an arm around a young woman, staggered deeper into the lane, their breath reeking of alcohol.
"Brother Tiger, can you really give my little brother a talent for the Martial Dao?"
The girl asking was in the arms of the wide-nosed young man at the front. She was of above-average looks, wore exaggerated makeup, and was looking at him with an expectant expression.
"Of course! When has Brother Hu ever lied to anyone!"
The wide-nosed young man didn't answer, but his lackey behind him had already answered for him.
"Once you become our sister-in-law, forget just getting a talent for the Martial Dao. Your brother will be able to do whatever he wants at school, no problem."
Hearing this, the other lackeys burst into laughter and agreement, not forgetting to grope the female companions beside them as they cackled.
Some of the women seemed to enjoy it, responding with coy laughter, while others frowned, their faces filled with fear.
The group laughed and joked brazenly, their noise provoking an incessant chorus of barking from dogs in the area.
Soon, the group reached a small courtyard house along the street and staggered inside.
Not even seven or eight minutes later, the sounds of a woman begging for mercy and shouting, mixed with a man's contemptuous curses and the thuds of kicks and blows, came from within.
"Big bro, please let me go! Big bro, my parents are waiting for me at home!"
"Big bro, stop hitting me! Big bro, I'm begging you!"
"Fuck, quit acting so innocent! You telling me you're a virgin? In that case, there's no way I'm letting you go."
It seemed the girl's defiance had made the wide-nosed man lose face in front of his lackeys, and he began to punch and kick her.
"What about the rest of you? Don't tell me you're all virgins? Shit, Paozi really brought me a fucking surprise."
The wide-nosed young man's words sent the other men in the room into roaring laughter, and they began to grope and harass the women around them.
The girls instantly started trembling with fear, shrinking into their seats, not daring to move a muscle.
Even the girls who had been promiscuous in the past didn't dare show it now. If they gave these men even the slightest spark of encouragement, it wouldn't be just a matter of one or two rounds.
'Anyway, Brother Hu is beating up the girl on the floor right now. There's no need for us to stick our necks out!'
"You should've asked around! In this neighborhood, who dares to defy me, Brother Hu?"
The wide-nosed young man arrogantly leaned down toward the already bruised and swollen girl, reaching a heavily tattooed arm toward her ample, bursting breasts.
Just then, several whooshing sounds, like bullets tearing through the air, shot in from outside. SWOOSH!
Before the young thugs could even react, pebbles struck their acupoints, and they instantly became as still as wooden statues, unable to move.
Brother Hu, having some Martial Arts training, heard the whistle of the projectiles and tried to dodge. But he only managed to move slightly before a second pebble hit him.
He let out a pained howl and collapsed to the ground.
The others were merely immobilized, but the pebble had struck his calf, leaving a large, gushing wound that was bleeding profusely.
At the same time, another pebble shattered the lightbulb, plunging the entire room into darkness.
"Which big brother are you? There must be some misunderstanding! Spare me, spare me!"
Ignoring the pain in his leg, Brother Hu scrambled to hide behind the coffee table.
'I've always been so "cautious,"' he thought. 'I never provoke people from the Martial Dao. How could an expert be coming after me?'
Before his voice faded, a figure drifted down from the courtyard wall like a floating cloud, landing gracefully at the doorway.
In the moonlight, the figure stood tall and straight like a pine tree. Beneath a pair of sharp, sword-like brows, his eyes glinted with a cold light.
"Where is the Qi-Introducing Pill?"
"Qi-Introducing Pill? B-Big brother, you're a Martial Artist. What do you need this for? This... this one's a failure."
Brother Hu wasn't stupid. He knew that if the man was asking for the Qi-Introducing Pill by name, he must have a use for it. What if he gave it to someone close to him and something went wrong...
"If you knew it was a failure, why were you still selling it? Are you trying to get yourself killed?!"
The shadowy figure's face was hidden by a mask, but his tightly furrowed brows clearly indicated he was not in a good mood.
"Big brother, I wasn't the one selling it, it was... AARGH!"
Brother Hu was about to say more, but the shadowy figure had already stomped his foot onto the wound on his calf.
The man who had been so arrogant and domineering moments ago let out a heart-wrenching scream.
"I'll get it! I'll get it!"
Knowing that discretion was the better part of valor, Brother Hu didn't dare act tough any longer and limped into the bedroom.
A moment later, he emerged from a hidden compartment with a bottle of the Qi-Introducing Pill. He also brought the fifty thousand in cash from the cabinet, not a single bill left behind.
"Big brother, this is everything I have. Big brother, please spare me this once. I'll never do it again. I really don't know how I offended you, please be the bigger man..."
Seeing the once-arrogant Brother Hu now scared into such a state, the delinquent girls quickly huddled together in a corner, not daring to make a sound.