Chapter 2: Chapter 2
After rifling through the corpse, Li Suifeng pocketed everything of value.
Xiao Qianhe had certainly lived up to his rank as Commander — even on a field assignment, the man carried two banknotes worth a thousand taels each.
“The Embroidered Uniform Guard really is a goldmine, isn’t it?”
Li Suifeng marveled inwardly.
He managed a single street for the Canal Gang, skimming a little protection money off the local shops. That netted him roughly twenty taels a month, with everything else handed over to his superiors.
Yet here was Xiao Qianhe, strolling around with two thousand taels in banknotes and several dozen more in silver ingots.
The gap was staggering.
“No offense, Mountain God.”
Li Suifeng kicked the bonfire. Burning logs scattered across the temple floor.
In moments, the entire temple was engulfed in flames.
Li Suifeng stood outside, watching the fire consume every last trace. Only once the blaze had done its work did he speak:
“System — how do I earn more rewards?”
“Do I just wait for random achievements to unlock?”
【The Host can complete tasks to receive rewards.】
“Then what’s my current task?”
【Villain’s Path, Phase One: A true man born between heaven and earth cannot languish under another’s heel forever. Become the Helmsman of the Canal Gang’s Nanyang Branch within three years.】
【Task Reward: Dragon-Elephant Prajna Art.】
【The Host’s everyday actions may also trigger System tasks. Task rewards scale with difficulty.】
“Dragon-Elephant Prajna Art?”
“Nanyang Branch Helmsman?”
Li Suifeng murmured the words aloud.
The Dragon-Elephant Prajna Art was enormously tempting. If he could master it to completion — thirteen dragons, thirteen elephants of raw power — he might not be invincible, but he could at least trade blows with a fourth-rank Grandmaster.
Becoming Nanyang Branch Helmsman, however, was no simple matter. The current Helmsman was still very much alive. Only if the man were transferred out or dropped dead would Li Suifeng get his chance.
“But it’s not impossible.”
Li Suifeng’s eyes narrowed to slits.
He had been undercover in the Canal Gang for ten years. Without at least some connections, he never could have gathered as much intelligence as he had.
“I’ll need to plan this carefully.”
With that, he gave the ruins of the mountain god temple a final once-over. Finding no loose ends, he turned and set off toward Nanyang Prefecture.
He moved at a brisk pace.
But barely ten li out, Li Suifeng halted in his tracks.
“Come out.”
His cold voice cut toward a cluster of trees up ahead.
“Heh heh!”
“I’d expect nothing less from you, Li Suifeng.”
Over a dozen figures emerged from the tree line, spreading out to block his path.
Torches flared to life one by one, illuminating a row of familiar faces.
“Chen Qi — what’s the meaning of this?” Li Suifeng fixed the leader with a frigid stare.
Chen Qi was also a Canal Gang man. He’d joined even earlier than Li Suifeng, and like him, held the rank of gang boss within the Nanyang Branch. There were eight bosses of their level in total across the branch.
But Chen Qi had arrived from the main headquarters alongside the Helmsman, and his territory covered some of the most lucrative districts in Nanyang Prefecture.
The two of them had butted heads more than once.
“Li Suifeng, I’ve suspected for a while now that you’re a mole planted in our Canal Gang by some outside faction.” Chen Qi’s eyes narrowed, a smile curling across his lips. “Sneaking out of the city in the dead of night to meet with your handlers — quite the nerve you’ve got.”
One of his men had spotted a disguised Li Suifeng leaving the city after dark, and reported back immediately. Chen Qi had stationed himself along this road — the only route back into the city — and sure enough, the trap had sprung.
Skulking out at midnight like a thief — if Li Suifeng couldn’t explain himself, not even Elder Qi at his back could save him.
Killing Li Suifeng would be the same as cutting off one of Elder Qi’s arms. Those old fossils loved butting heads with the Helmsman. They should have been dealt with long ago.
【Ding!】
【A man who isn’t ruthless can’t hold his ground. If the Host’s cover as an undercover agent is blown, the Canal Gang will hunt him to the ends of the earth. Kill every last one of these Canal Gang disciples. Reward: martial art ‘Great Tombstone-Crushing Palm.’】
Trying to bluff me?
A faint smile played at the corner of Li Suifeng’s mouth. Not a trace of panic on his face.
With Xiao Qianhe’s peak seventh-rank cultivation, if these men had been anywhere close, the man would have detected them long ago.
He drew a deep breath and spoke, his voice low and even:
“You’re right. I was an undercover agent for another faction.”
What?
Chen Qi and his men stared in open-mouthed disbelief.
What was that supposed to mean?
He just… confessed?
Chen Qi was especially stunned. He’d clashed with Li Suifeng for years. He knew the man’s style — even caught red-handed, Li Suifeng would argue his way out of anything.
How could he just admit it like that?
Li Suifeng ignored Chen Qi’s reaction and continued:
“Before, I didn’t have a choice. But now, I want to be a real Canal Gang man — and put in the work for the gang.”
“Give me a chance.”
Chen Qi laughed. “Sure thing. Come with me to see the Helmsman. Let’s see if he’ll let you keep ‘putting in the work.’ Though more likely, it’ll be three cuts and six holes for you…”
Chen Qi was grinning from ear to ear.
“Hah.” Li Suifeng shook his head. “You’re asking me to walk to my own death?”
“And when someone wants me dead…”
Before the words had fully left his lips, Li Suifeng’s gaze turned razor-sharp. A sigh escaped from between his teeth:
“I have no choice but to send them on their way first.”
Chen Qi’s heart clenched — but then he remembered: he himself was peak ninth-rank, Li Suifeng was only peak ninth-rank as well, and he had two more ninth-rank fighters backing him up. The tension in his chest eased.
“Save your theatrics!”
“Grab him! We’ll let the Helmsman deal with this!”
At Chen Qi’s command, the dozen-plus Canal Gang disciples surged forward.
SHING!
The Hundred-Forged Blade cleared its sheath.
A dazzling arc of blade-light flashed through the darkness. Every single one of the charging disciples — including the two ninth-rank fighters — was split clean down the middle.
All of them. From the crown of the skull, down through the brow, the nose, the mouth, the chest… as if measured with a ruler. Perfectly, symmetrically bisected. Seventeen men became thirty-four half-corpses. Blood and viscera splattered across the ground.
One strike.
Just one strike.
Men who had been strutting around Nanyang Prefecture that very afternoon were now nothing but cooling meat.
Chen Qi’s lips were chattering so hard his teeth clacked together. His legs shook like he was being sifted through a sieve.
That single slash had severed every last shred of his courage to fight back.
Now, he didn’t even have the courage to run.
“You… I knew it… you’re from another faction!”
“You’re not ninth-rank at all. Seventh at least.”
“You’re this young and this strong — which faction would waste someone like you on undercover work?”
“My men know I came out here to wait for you. If anything happens to me, you won’t escape suspicion either!”
Chen Qi’s voice cracked into a desperate shout.
“Dumbass.”
Two syllables dropped from Li Suifeng’s mouth.
A flash of blade-light.
Chen Qi’s body split into two halves and toppled into the spreading pool of blood.
Looking down at the remains, Li Suifeng shook his head.
“Besides — I’m just a peak ninth-rank nobody. How could I possibly have killed all of you this cleanly?”
“I’ve already killed this many. You think I’d leave you alive?”
“Was your brain busted?”
He surveyed the field of bisected corpses and wrinkled his nose.
Forget looting these ones.
He’d already made out well enough from Xiao Qianhe’s body.
【Ding!】
【All targets eliminated. Task complete. Claim reward now?】
“Claim!”
No hesitation.
At his current level, using the Divine Blade Slash was like a child swinging a greatsword. It worked fine against weaklings, but against a seventh-rank or even sixth-rank expert, a few full-powered strikes would drain his internal energy completely.
It could only be used as a trump card.
And now that he’d killed Chen Qi and his men, he couldn’t afford to reveal that technique anyway.
The Great Tombstone-Crushing Palm, on the other hand, fit perfectly. He’d been practicing palm techniques in the Canal Gang all along — this was a seamless addition to his repertoire.
BOOM!
A lifetime’s worth of Great Tombstone-Crushing Palm mastery surged into his mind, as though he’d practiced the art for decades.
In an instant, his understanding of the technique rivaled that of the grandmaster who had created it.
“This Great Tombstone-Crushing Palm — the timing couldn’t be better.”
A grin spread across Li Suifeng’s face. He didn’t bother dealing with the bodies and headed straight for Nanyang Prefecture.
About half an hour later, Li Suifeng returned to Green Stone Alley in the city. After confirming he hadn’t been followed, he slipped through the gate of a private courtyard.