Chapter 151: Chapter 151
“It’s over!”
Despair washed across Tang Jin’s face.
He could already see what came next — his left arm torn off, blood spraying, and then a palm smashing through the crown of his skull. Dead on the spot.
But to his utter disbelief… Shen Xiuhan merely gave a light pull.
CRACK!
A crisp pop of bone leaving its socket.
Tang Jin’s left arm went limp as the joint dislocated. A lance of agony shot from shoulder to fingertip.
He grunted, veins pulsing at his temple, sweat rolling like beans — but his face showed no terror. Only bewilderment.
Because Shen Xiuhan had only dislocated the joint. He hadn’t followed through with the kill.
“You…”
Tang Jin’s left hand hung useless at his side. His lips trembled. His eyes were full of baffled suspicion.
On the wharf.
Zhong Kui and his two men traded glances, not daring to breathe.
A moment ago, they’d all assumed Shen Xiuhan was going for the kill.
That arm-lock had clearly been a sinew-splitting, bone-shifting technique. Three more notches of force, and Tang Jin’s one remaining arm would have been done for.
Yet at the last instant, he’d pulled back.
“Why?”
Tang Jin panted, chest heaving like a cornered beast. He stared at Shen Xiuhan, voice scraped so raw it was barely audible.
Shen Xiuhan withdrew his hand. He didn’t answer, but let his gaze slide sideways toward the three men.
Zhong Kui had been craning his neck to eavesdrop. The moment Shen Xiuhan’s eyes met his, his whole body seized.
“Ah… superb technique, Master Shen! It’s getting dark, the wind’s picking up — we’ll just be on our way. Farewell, farewell!”
Zhong Kui squeezed out a grin, clasped his fists in a frantic bow, and bolted. The two underlings didn’t dare linger either — they scrambled after him and vanished around the corner.
The wharf fell quiet at last.
Tang Jin’s expression shifted between light and shadow. His throat bobbed several times, but in the end he said nothing.
He wasn’t stupid.
Shen Xiuhan had dislocated his arm but spared his life. That meant he was still useful.
Tang Jin might have been wallowing in self-destruction these past weeks — drinking himself into oblivion day after day — but that didn’t mean he wanted to die.
If he could live, so much the better.
So once the three were gone, Tang Jin spoke, his voice rough.
“You deliberately held back… what is it you want to ask me?”
Shen Xiuhan didn’t rush to questions.
He stepped forward, lifted Tang Jin’s dangling left arm, pressed his palm against the shoulder joint, and pushed upward.
CRACK!
A sharp pop. The bone slid back into place.
Tang Jin’s face spasmed, but he clenched his teeth and stayed silent. After catching his breath, he raised his head. A complicated emotion had entered his eyes.
Shen Xiuhan stood with hands behind his back, regarding Tang Jin with detached calm.
“Tang Jin, you’re a clever man. Answer what I ask honestly, and I’ll let you walk away alive.”
Tang Jin was quiet for a moment, as though weighing something. In the end, he gave a small nod.
Shen Xiuhan wasted no time. He went straight to the point.
“How many chiefs does Chenjian Wu currently have? What are their cultivations?”
“Five chiefs in all…”
Tang Jin licked his lips, organizing his thoughts.
“The Fourth Chief, Jia Pingxiu — mid-Hidden Strength. The Third Chief, Lu Juncheng — late-Hidden Strength. The Second Chief, the Blood Ascetic — Hidden Strength Perfection. And the Great Chief, Duan Xiao… has now entered Transforming Strength.”
Transforming Strength!
Shen Xiuhan’s heart lurched.
He hadn’t expected the infamous Great Chief of Chenjian Wu to have broken through to Transforming Strength so quietly.
In all of Changyun County, that was enough to walk sideways.
Shock stayed hidden behind a mask of calm. He looked at Tang Jin and pressed further.
“That’s only four. Who’s the fifth?”
Emotion rippled visibly through Tang Jin’s eyes. He paused, then said:
“The last one… is the new Fifth Chief who recently came to the island. Mid-Hidden Strength. His name is… Gao Fu.”
Gao Fu!
Him?
Surprise stirred in Shen Xiuhan’s chest.
The man had been gravely wounded by Zheng Dadao, fled to Nanxiang Commandery, and then thrown in with Chenjian Wu?
The initial surprise faded quickly — on reflection, it made perfect sense.
Shen Xiuhan suspected Gao Fu likely knew about the Diaohailou Blessed Land.
After all, the mysterious jade disc that had contained the Scripture of the Divine General’s Void-Gazing Ascendant Luminary had originally been Gao Fu’s possession.
The entire reason father and son — Gao Fu and Gao Nian — had abandoned the Golden Dragon Gang’s outer-city rackets and territory was to lie low, biding their time until the Blessed Land opened.
But Shen Xiuhan had disrupted the plan and taken the jade disc from Tian Erhu’s house.
In Gao Fu’s mind, the disc had surely been seized by Zheng Dadao of the Raging Waves.
Zheng Dadao was military-trained, backed by deep connections, cultivation formidable, and he had the entire Raging Waves gang behind him.
Gao Fu was wounded and alone. Trying to reclaim the disc from Zheng Dadao was a pipe dream.
His only path was to attach himself to a powerful faction and work the long game.
Chenjian Wu…
Was practically his only option.
Shen Xiuhan’s eyes brightened. The picture was growing clearer.
Having worked through the logic, he continued.
“Who’s currently guarding the fishing island? Are the children on the island still alive?”
Tang Jin heard him lay bare this closely guarded secret and his pupils contracted sharply. Inside, he reeled.
‘This is a secret known only to the chiefs on Dongyi Island — and this man knows it too!’
‘He knows far more than I imagined!’
Not daring to hold back, Tang Jin answered at once.
“After I lost my position, Lu Juncheng took over the island. He’s originally from the Water Dragon Stockade, quite talented. He even served two years in one of Great Qi’s five armies — the Traveling Guard Army. Duan Xiao went to great lengths to win his loyalty — married off his own daughter, showered him with silver, pills, and spirit medicines. Lu Juncheng is utterly devoted to Duan Xiao as a result.”
Here he paused, his voice dropping.
“As for those children… once they’re brought to the island, three days at the shortest, seven at the longest, they’re refined into pills.”
Shen Xiuhan fell silent.
Wind moaned across the wharf, whipping his robe.
The fist at his side clenched slowly. After a time, it loosened again.
A moment later, Shen Xiuhan raised his head, let out a heavy breath, and spoke evenly.
“Which factions are involved in the human-pill operation?”
“The ringleader is the Bai family!” Tang Jin blurted.
That stretch of silence from Shen Xiuhan had set his heart pounding. Now he wanted nothing more than to pour out everything he knew, like tipping a jar of beans.
“As for Chenjian Wu… Duan Xiao only told me to cooperate with the Bai family. Most of the time, I was on the island standing guard. The ones who actually helped the Bai family abduct children from the other counties were Lu Juncheng and Jia Pingxiu…”
Shen Xiuhan caught the self-serving spin and let it pass without comment.
“What about the Luo clan? Are the Luos involved?”
“The Luos…”
Tang Jin’s brow furrowed. He raked through his memory for a long time before shaking his head with some hesitation.
“I never heard of the Luo clan being directly involved. But the Bai and Luo families have been bound by marriage for generations — roots tangled deep. It’s hard to say for certain…”
The Luo clan…
Not directly involved?
Shen Xiuhan’s brow tightened. His thoughts raced.
He didn’t believe it.