THUD!
The muffled sound of a shattering skull was like smashing a ripe watermelon.
The man didn’t even let out a scream as he flew backward, snapping a tree as thick as a bowl before slumping limply to the ground.
The four remaining men were stunned.
They hadn’t even processed it. How had their Hall Master been sent flying like that?
"Kill him!"
One of them finally came to his senses and roared.
The four men drew their blades in unison, but Lin Yan was faster.
After killing the first man with a single punch, Lin Yan didn’t break his stride, using his momentum to crash into the midst of the other four.
THUD!
Another punch. It landed squarely on the chest of the man to his left. The man’s chest visibly caved in, and he spewed a fountain of blood, already dead by the time he hit the ground.
The three remaining men finally panicked. Forgetting their blades, they turned and fled.
"Run!"
One man turned to escape.
Lin Yan shifted his footing, caught up to him, and slammed a fist into the man’s back, right over his heart.
The man pitched forward, twitched twice, and then lay still.
The other two used the opening to put more than ten feet between them and their pursuer.
Lin Yan took a deep breath, exploded forward, and caught up in a few strides, striking out with both hands.
THUD! THUD!
Two bodies crumpled to the ground.
From start to finish, the entire fight had taken less than five breaths.
Lin Yan stopped. After taking a moment to steady his breathing, he walked over to the leader’s corpse, squatted, and began to search it.
Loose silver, copper coins, and a Wooden Token.
The character for "Cyan" was carved on the front, and on the back was a carving of bamboo.
’What a coincidence. They’re from the Cyan Bamboo Gang?’
Lin Yan’s eyes widened in surprise when he saw the Wooden Token.
Just yesterday, Senior Brother Li had asked him to be the one to parley with the Cyan Bamboo Gang. And today, he’d run into their members.
The Cyan Bamboo Gang had been driven from the city and had become bandits in the surrounding forests. ’Did these five attack me on sight because their hideout is nearby? Were they worried I’d expose its location if they let me go?’
Lin Yan’s eyes flickered. The next instant, his gaze snapped to the left, and he shot off in that direction.
In the woods to his left, a man was fleeing for his life. He’d fallen behind the Hall Master’s group after stopping to relieve a stomachache and had caught up just in time to see his Hall Master and the others being slaughtered.
’This guy killed our Hall Master in a single move! I’m no match for him.’
However, a mere three breaths later, a whistling sound from behind sent despair across the man’s face. He threw himself to the ground in a desperate dive, simultaneously crying out, "Don’t kill me! I can tell you a secret about the gang!"
"Speak."
The man looked up at Lin Yan standing before him and stammered, "Our Gang Leader... he was badly wounded by your gang’s Vice Gang Leader. He died of his injuries less than three days later. Your Vice Gang Leader was hurt too. Our Vice... our Vice Gang Leader is leading us to hold this mountain and collect tolls, but it’s just a ruse. As soon as he’s made a quick fortune, he plans to take us and leave Guangping County."
The man hadn’t heard the exchange between Lin Yan and the others. In his mind, Lin Yan must have been sent to hunt down the Cyan Bamboo Gang, and only the Four Seas Gang would do something like that.
Desperate to save his skin, he spilled everything he knew.
"To be honest, I’ve wanted to defect to your gang for a long time. But with the Vice Gang Leader and the Hall Masters watching, I never got the chance."
Lin Yan looked down at the man spewing sycophantic words. His own expression remained unchanged, but inwardly he mused, ’That Vice Gang Leader of the Cyan Bamboo Gang is a clever schemer.’
’He hid the Gang Leader’s death, then made an outrageous demand for a fifty-percent toll from the merchants. He was just waiting for them to hire people to negotiate. In the end, under pressure from the Martial Artists the merchants would surely hire, he’d be "forced" to lower the toll to ten or twenty percent. Then, to save face after being strong-armed, he’d demand a full year’s worth of tolls paid in advance.’
’Neither the merchants nor the Martial Artists they hired would see anything wrong with that demand. They’d just assume the Cyan Bamboo Gang was trying to save its last shred of dignity.’
’It’s true what they say. In any organization, it’s always the second-in-command who’s the real talent.’
The only reason this man knew all this was because the Vice Gang Leader had shared the plan with the remaining members. He’d done it to boost morale and stop the rest of them from deserting.
With the promise of a quick fortune, the members naturally wouldn’t run off.
"How many people are left in your gang?"
"Besides the Vice Gang Leader, there are... were three Hall Masters... no, wait, only two are left now. And fifteen other members. A lot of guys ran off when the Vice Gang Leader led us out of the city."
As Lin Yan listened, he calculated the Cyan Bamboo Gang’s strength. ’An injured Second-Time Skin Smoothing Martial Artist, two Single-Time Skin Smoothing Martial Artists, and about fifteen regular members... This... might be something I can work with.’
’Assuming, of course, that the man was telling the truth.’
"Is there only one patrol?"
"N-no, there are two. Another team is patrolling on the next mountain over."
"How long are their shifts?"
"One hour."
Lin Yan glanced at the mountain opposite them. At his speed, it wouldn’t take long to get there.
"Your Vice Gang Leader... how long has it been since he achieved Second-Time Skin Smoothing?"
"H-half a year."
THUD!
With a single kick to the man’s chest, Lin Yan ended his life. He had never promised to let the man live.
He dragged the corpse into the bushes, piling it with the other five bodies, then turned and sped toward the opposite mountain.
The mountain path was treacherous, but for Lin Yan, a Second-Time Skin Smoothing practitioner, it was like walking on level ground.
In the time it took to drink a cup of tea, he had already reached the opposing mountainside.
Voices drifted from up ahead.

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