Chapter 76: Such Dao Protection

Chapter 76: Chapter 76: Such Dao Protection

SPLASH~~

A torrential downpour flooded the streets of Black Stone City with a dense mist. Curtains of rain interlaced, weaving a vast sheet of water that hung from the sky to the earth.

In an ordinary little courtyard.

SMACK!

The fat cook was smacked across the face. An old man wearing a black turban had struck him, sending his head cracking against the stove. Blood immediately streamed down his forehead.

The old man, Shan Longg, said coldly, "Who let you sneak flour paste into the whelps’ food?"

The fat cook, having been slapped, didn’t dare cry out in pain. He only clutched his face, his body trembling as he cowered in the corner. He stammered weakly, "They’re just children. How can they survive on bran and husks every day? A few days ago, Xiaoliuzi couldn’t... relieve himself, and his bowels ruptured. We only just buried him. I... I couldn’t bear it."

The old man sneered. "Feed the little beggars that well and they’ll start looking healthy. Who’s going to pity them then?"

The cook didn’t dare argue. He just clutched his face and got to his feet.

Just then, a knock came from the courtyard gate.

The old man’s eyes shifted, his tirade against the cook interrupted. "Xiao’er, get the door."

A handsome young man in a simple tunic had already run out. He opened the gate to reveal a sturdy man holding an umbrella.

The young man, Xiao’er, peeked behind the man. "Brother Dalong, you brought all the whelps back? None missing, I hope?"

He stepped aside, letting the children trailing the sturdy man shuffle in, each one clinging to the doorframe as they entered.

The moment the children were inside, their stomachs began to growl. But they all carefully clutched their bellies, terrified of making too much noise.

"It’s not time for food yet,"

the young man, Xiao’er, said coldly.

"Go wait in the house. Huddle together for warmth. I don’t care if you get deathly ill, but if it’s just a small sickness, *I’m* the one who has to get you medicine!"

The sturdy man strode past the youth herding the children inside and approached the old man.

"Elder Shan," he said, "something felt off today when I was picking up the whelps. A young man and woman... they were watching them."

Elder Shan’s brow twitched. "Who were they? Did they follow you?"

Sunx Dalong gave a sinister smile. "They followed me all the way here."

With his hands behind his back, Elder Shan’s lips moved, his voice inaudible. "Good. Let them follow."

Sunx Dalong leaned in and whispered, "They look young. Probably greenhorns, fresh to the Jianghu. Still, even greenhorns can have a few tricks up their sleeves. So, on my way back, I secretly sent a message to the Wild Flood Dragon Gang. I guarantee they won’t be leaving this street tonight."

As he spoke, Sunx Dalong noticed Elder Shan’s ears twitch. The old man shot him a look.

He froze, immediately falling silent and scanning the area.

Elder Shan shot him another cold glare before clasping his hands behind his back and calling out loudly,

"My two little guests on the roof, how long do you intend to keep spying? You came for these whelps, didn’t you? Why not come down and get a closer look?"

On the rooftop.

Qii Zhengyi was startled.

’We’ve been discovered.’

Lin Qingqing, on the other hand, remained calm, thinking to herself:

’He knew we were following, yet he shows no sign of panic. He’s a true Jianghu veteran, just like the uncles at the Escort Agency said. Just from his ability to pinpoint our location by sound, he must be at least a Second-class Expert.’

"Junior Sister? We’ve been discovered. What do we do?"

Qii Zhengyi’s whispered question reached her ears.

Lin Qingqing whispered back, "Even if there’s a First-class Expert in this courtyard, I can hold my own for a while. I’ll do my best to take down their strongest fighter and keep them busy. Senior Brother Qii, you focus on getting the poor children in that house to safety."

Qii Zhengyi knew his Martial Arts were far inferior to Lin Qingqing’s. He hesitated for a moment but still nodded. "Alright. We’ll rendezvous later."

"Since you know why we’re here, hand over the children in that house. Let us take them away."

As Lin Qingqing’s crisp, cold words echoed,

she and Qii Zhengyi leaped down from the roof.

Instantly,

the sturdy man, the young man Xiao’er who had just closed the house door, and Elder Shan formed a loose triangle, surrounding the pair.

With his hands clasped behind him, Elder Shan sized up Lin Qingqing and Qii Zhengyi, a faint smile on his lips.

"The two of you don’t seem like ordinary folk. Dare I ask who your master is?"

"We have no sect or school."

Lin Qingqing knew that she and Qii Zhengyi were merely registered under Chen Sha; they couldn’t truly be considered disciples of Dao Yi Mountain. Therefore, she didn’t dare use Dao Yi Mountain’s name. She began again,

"Hand over the children..."

But upon hearing her say "no sect or school,"

"No sect? Then you’ve come here to die?"

A glint flashed in Elder Shan’s eyes. Instantly, seven or eight men burst out from the inner rooms. They moved with practiced ease, lunging from the duo’s blind spots to kill.

Each man brandished a sword or a blade, their synchronized slashes making the air WHISTLE.

’What a treacherous old man!’

Hearing the sounds behind her, Lin Qingqing instantly realized she’d let the old man distract her.

But she had already mastered the Seventy-Two Paths of Void Clarity Fist. Dodging a few common thugs was trivial. In a flash, she vanished from before the eyes of the men who had charged from the house.

Then, a fair, delicate fist appeared before each of their eyes. It looked soft and powerless, but the moment it made contact with their skin, it felt as if a dozen nails had been hammered deep inside their bodies...

In a single breath, Lin Qingqing weaved past three of them. With a few quick strikes, her targets spat up chunks of their internal organs, their eyes bulging as they collapsed, dead before they hit the ground!

"ARGH..."

"This one’s tough!"

"Elder Shan, this girl’s Martial Arts are unbelievable!"

The panicked shouts of the remaining thugs echoed through the courtyard.

’A Second-class Expert, and so young...’

Elder Shan’s eyes narrowed. He exchanged a look with the sturdy, umbrella-wielding man.

"No sect or school? Clearly, she has a powerful background."

’But thankfully, his man had the foresight to secretly send a message to the Wild Flood Dragon Gang on his way back.’

’How else could their brokerage have operated so smoothly for so long without a major local power backing them?’

THUD THUD THUD...

Lin Qingqing dispatched three more men with a few effortless punches. Suddenly, the doors of several other rooms in the courtyard were kicked open, and another ten or so burly fighters charged out.

"Senior Brother Qii, watch out!" Lin Qingqing cried out.

’So there were nearly twenty of them hidden in this small courtyard.’

As the courtyard erupted into a chaotic brawl,

His men were clearly outmatched, but the old man remained perfectly composed, his sharp, wolf-like eyes fixed on Lin Qingqing and Qii Zhengyi.

’This girl’s skills are at the Second-class level. Even so, it won’t be easy for her to defeat all of my men in a short time...’

As a brokerage head, he had scraped by in the Jianghu for decades. Now, at sixty, he knew he had little talent for Martial Arts. Even after practicing his Bone Dislocation Hand for fifty years, he had only reached the Second-class level.

Yet, Elder Shan felt no need to intervene.

The experts from the Wild Flood Dragon Gang, to whom he paid a hefty annual tribute, would naturally take care of matters like this for him.

That bunch loved preying on naive youngsters from prominent backgrounds. The reason was simple: such greenhorns usually possessed impressive inherited Martial Arts. If captured and interrogated, the prize would be a business of immense profit.

As for the fear of offending the powers behind these youths, that all depended on the circumstances.

If elders were accompanying them, the gang wouldn’t dare make a move, of course.

But a pair like this, traveling the Jianghu alone with no guards or elders, was the tenderest, fattest lamb for the slaughter. Butcher them, chop up the bodies to feed the dogs, and who in the heavens would know they died in Black Stone City?

Far too many people died in Jianghu feuds each year. If the cause of every death were easily discovered, there wouldn’t be so many missing persons reported annually.

’My men can probably hold out for the time it takes half an incense stick to burn. At their speed, the experts from the Wild Flood Dragon Gang will arrive by then...’

And so, Elder Shan stood in the courtyard, hands clasped behind his back, utterly unconcerned.

’This little brat’s Fist Technique is extraordinary. After we capture her, I could try and negotiate for a copy from the Wild Flood Dragon Gang. I may be too old to learn it myself, but I could adopt a son, train him, and make my future dealings much more convenient.’

He had no idea, however,

that at this very moment, two li away from his courtyard, a group was riding on swift horses.

「The night rain fell in torrents.」

"Old Man Shan’s roped in another pair of youngsters. I hope we can squeeze a First-Class Martial Arts manual out of them this time. If we can, the Gang Leader might break through his bottleneck, and our Wild Flood Dragon Gang’s power in Black Stone City will grow even stronger!"

There were eight riders in total, each an expert with a Flood Dragon tattooed on his sleeve.

Judging by their breathing and their high, bulging temples, it was clear that every one of them was a seasoned martial artist.

The one leading them was Han Huo’Er, the Wild Flood Dragon Gang’s top expert. He had already claimed the lives of no fewer than five Second-class Experts and was the most capable disciple of the gang’s leader, Song Kuyan.

The swift horses galloped on, splashing through the rain-soaked streets.

Suddenly, a figure in a black cloak and a wide bamboo hat appeared on the street ahead of them.

"Who goes there!" one of the Wild Flood Dragon Gang experts shouted, already raising a fine steel saber. An ambusher blocking their path forced them to be cautious. "Ready your blades!"

However, just as he spurred his horse toward the cloaked figure, ready to cut him down in cold blood,

the person in the bamboo hat moved.

SWISH!

It was too fast. None of them, not even Han Huo’Er, could see the movement clearly.

In the rain.

CRACK!

CRUNCH!

CRUNCH!

...

A moment later, on the rain-swept street, only eight masterless horses remained, galloping wildly into the night. Like sandbags being shaken loose, bodies with snapped necks tumbled from the saddles one after another.

Of the eight men, none survived.

The guardian in the bamboo hat adjusted its brim, then turned and walked away, hands clasped behind his back.