Chapter 65 : Chapter 65
Chapter 65. The Street Guard’s Brilliant Insight
“This was all your doing?”
Looking at the devastation covering the ground, Qin Lie’s face darkened further and further. When his gaze fell on Jian Hanfeng’s corpse, his fury nearly exploded.
He had been quietly cultivating at his base and had known about Chen Qimei’s scheme from the start, but he had not taken it seriously. Several Third Meridian martial artists going after one opponent of the same realm should have been an easy matter.
The only one he had felt some concern for was Jian Hanfeng, the junior he thought highly of. The young man was strong, but his arrogance was far too great.
After hesitating for a long while, Qin Lie had decided to follow in secret and take a look for himself. He had not expected that even so, he would still arrive a step too late.
“Your local forces really have no manners at all. Ambushing people in the middle of the night like this? I had no choice but to send them off to meet their ancestors.”
Xu Yuan spread his hands helplessly, his face wearing an expression that made it seem as though he had only acted for their own good.
“You impudent liar! You little beast, hand over your life!”
Those words only enraged Qin Lie even further. At once, he turned into a blur and rushed forward, force surging through his body as he threw a punch!
The power behind that punch was anything but ordinary. Even before it landed, a fierce gale was already rushing straight at Xu Yuan’s face.
“Good!”
Feeling the tremendous power in that blow, Xu Yuan’s expression sharpened, but he did not panic. He planted his feet, sank his waist, twisted his torso, and struck back head-on.
Boom!
The two heavy forces collided with a muffled explosion, kicking up a violent gust that made both their robes snap loudly in the wind.
‘This man’s strength is immense. As expected of a veteran Fourth Meridian martial artist.’
A flush rose briefly across Xu Yuan’s face as he staggered back seven steps, each one carving a deep mark into the ground beneath him.
Qin Lie, by contrast, retreated only three steps and clearly had the advantage on the surface. Yet the foreign force rampaging through his body was so violent that for a moment, he could not suppress it at all.
Qin Lie jolted awake and looked up in horror. “This force... your fist technique has reached Minor Mastery?!”
“Just luck,” Xu Yuan said as he slowly suppressed the surging qi and blood within himself, his heart easing slightly.
This was his first time clashing head-on with a martial artist of the same realm. It looked as though he had fallen behind, but Qin Lie’s force was only at the beginner stage and simply could not do anything to him.
“Luck? Do not get too full of yourself just because you are young!”
Qin Lie was so angry that he laughed instead. Forcibly suppressing that foreign force, he clasped his hands behind his back and said coldly, “Do not think that reaching Minor Mastery in force makes you invincible.”
No matter what, he was still a veteran Fourth Meridian martial artist. His qi and blood had been tempered to an extremely solid degree. If he were willing to pay the price of being injured, it was not as if he could not kill Xu Yuan.
However...
He glanced at Jian Hanfeng’s corpse on the ground and shook his head inwardly. Suffering serious injuries over a dead body simply was not worth it.
Qin Lie had already begun thinking of retreat, but his tone remained as forceful as ever. “Well done, Xu Yuan. At such a young age, you have not only reached the Fourth Meridian, but also pushed your force to Minor Mastery. You truly are extraordinary.”
“Still, in traditional martial arts, one stops at the point of contact. I will give you face this time. Next time, this old man will not show mercy. You had best watch yourself!”
With that, he turned at once and darted backward. But the moment he lifted his head, a fist was already roaring straight toward him from the front!
With a bang, Qin Lie was caught completely off guard and was driven back at high speed. He looked around in shock and fury. “Who?”
“Street Guard Qin, since you have graced our Changshun Street with your presence, why the rush to leave?”
The one who had arrived was Hong Qianshan, who had been waiting for just such a chance.
After Changshun Street had been attacked last month, several suspicious subordinates had appeared in the squad, and Hu Quanshui had also been the sole survivor on his own. It did not take much thought to realize that something fishy was going on.
So Hong Qianshan had decided to use those people as bait and turn the enemy’s own scheme against them, hoping to deal a heavy blow to Changning Street in the process. He had not expected that, through Hu Quanshui, he would actually hook such a big fish.
As for Quan Xiong’s thank-you gift... yes, a thank-you gift. If someone got the privilege of admiring the bearing of a Fourth Meridian martial artist like him from up close, was it not only natural to charge a fee?
“Brother Xu, you have truly given me a great surprise tonight. But let us leave the idle talk for later. For now, join me in killing this wretch!”
Hong Qianshan also looked at Xu Yuan in surprise. Xu Yuan’s silent breakthrough to the Fourth Meridian was indeed an unexpected delight.
Now that they had two Fourth Meridian martial artists joining forces, taking Changning Street should no longer be a problem.
“All right.” Xu Yuan understood everything clearly. He knew Hong Qianshan had used him as bait, but the most important thing at the moment was to deal with Qin Lie first.
“You two... There are rules between the two sides. One street may not station two Fourth Meridian martial artists. Are you trying to break the order?” Qin Lie was so furious his nose nearly twisted.
But when he saw the two of them saying nothing as they attacked from front and back in a pincer assault, Qin Lie’s tone suddenly softened.
“Street Guard Hong, I admit defeat this time. We should always leave each other some room so we can meet again in the future... what, there is no future? I will fuck your mothers!”
“No, no, no, I was joking just now! Xu Yuan, I have an exclusive secret manual here... Hong Qianshan, what the hell does it have to do with you? I am offering it to the boy! A sneak attack? You people have no martial virtue at all!”
Qin Lie completely lost his composure. Fighting Xu Yuan alone had already been difficult enough. Now that he was facing two opponents of the same realm attacking together, he was instantly reduced to a desperate, chaotic defense and placed in constant danger.
After barely a dozen exchanges, Xu Yuan landed a punch on him. Qin Lie’s body stalled for an instant as he tried to suppress Xu Yuan’s force. But Hong Qianshan seized the opening from behind and slammed a palm into the center of his back, blasting him away.
Qin Lie crashed heavily onto the ground ten paces away, unable to move. Only the faint rise and fall of his chest showed that he had not yet fully died.
Hong Qianshan stood firm as a mountain, slowly withdrawing his palm before strolling over to Qin Lie’s side. He looked down at him and said blandly,
“For plotting to assassinate martial artists of Shangyang Residence, your crime is beyond pardon.”
Then he lightly lifted his foot and stepped down.
Crack.
With a crisp sound, Qin Lie’s head twisted to one side, and his final breath vanished completely.
Once everything had settled and the dust had fallen—
Hong Qianshan finally turned around, and by then his face had already changed into a warm smile. “I arrived late with the rescue. I hope you will not take offense.”
“But Captain Xu truly is a young genius. You had only just entered the Fourth Meridian, yet you were able to kill several experts from the Bai Family in battle. Even a veteran Fourth Meridian martial artist like Qin Lie was no match for you!”
His words were earnest, as though he truly admired Xu Yuan to the utmost.
‘So you use me as bait to lure out the snake, and now you start saying all the pretty things.’
Xu Yuan mocked him inwardly, but not the slightest displeasure showed on his face. With a faint smile, he said, “You flatter me, Street Guard Hong. If you had not arrived in time to intimidate those villains, I fear things would not have gone so smoothly for me.”
He did not mention splitting the spoils from Qin Lie at all. Instead, he lowered his posture and yielded the initiative in the conversation, waiting for Hong Qianshan to bring it up first.
Seeing how tactful Xu Yuan was being, the satisfaction in Hong Qianshan’s eyes deepened.
Still, since Xu Yuan had shown him ample respect, he could not just wave the matter aside.
The battle merit from a Fourth Meridian martial artist was certainly no small thing, but offending a talented young man who knew when to advance and when to retreat would be utterly foolish.
“Oh, Brother Xu, why be so polite?”
Hong Qianshan laughed heartily. His form of address shifted from “Captain Xu” to “Brother Xu,” and his tone grew intimate.
“Rest easy. The credit earned from the two of us watching each other’s backs tonight will naturally be split evenly... However, Changning Street is now leaderless. This is the perfect chance for us to expand our gains!”
“Exactly so. But before that, there is still one small matter left unresolved...” Xu Yuan nodded, then turned to look at Hu Quanshui.
Thump!
Hu Quanshui dropped to his knees in terror at once. He knew perfectly well that he had already been exposed, so he immediately began kowtowing.
“Please spare me this once, Captain Xu! I was just blinded by greed for a moment and failed to notice what I was doing. I did not deliberately betray Shangyang Residence!”
‘Did not deliberately?’
Xu Yuan shook his head with a faint laugh. He said nothing more. With a casual flick of force, he pierced straight through Hu Quanshui’s heart, and the man’s voice cut off abruptly.
At that moment, the sound of approaching footsteps drew near.
Zhou Yu and Yang Yan hurried over with their squads.
When they saw the scene before them, both froze. After learning what had happened from one of Zhou Yu’s squad members, they immediately looked at Xu Yuan in shock.
‘Impossible! He actually broke through to the Fourth Meridian? How long has it even been?’
A storm surged inside Zhou Yu’s heart, and even her usually cold face changed color.
She looked ahead at the figure standing shoulder to shoulder with Hong Qianshan, speaking with him on equal terms. By now, Xu Yuan had already left her far behind.
Yang Yan’s lips moved twice, but he likewise had no idea what to say. Had Xu Yuan not only broken through to the Third Meridian not that long ago?
“Why are you only arriving now?”
When Hong Qianshan looked at the two of them, the smile on his face vanished, replaced at once by a stern and cold expression. “Compared with Captain Xu, you are practically negligent beyond words. Have I been too lenient with you all this time?”
Zhou Yu and Yang Yan both froze. Tonight had been his patrol, and if he was not going to be cautious, then who would be?
Hong Qianshan paid no attention to what they thought. Sweeping his gaze around once, he ordered,
“Wang Huan, take a few squad members and stay behind to clean up the aftermath. Everyone else, follow Brother Xu and me. Tonight, we will take Changning Street!”
“Yes.” Wang Huan struggled to his feet and answered. The look in his eyes when he turned toward Xu Yuan grew even more complicated, and there was now a trace of awe within it as well.
After this battle, there would probably be a gulf between them and Xu Yuan that could never be crossed.
Hong Qianshan nodded. Then, with delight on his face, he said, “This battle is unlike any before it. We truly hold every advantage of timing. That flourishing vitality, that scene of all things bursting into life, is still right before my eyes...”
“Profound insight, Street Guard!”
Everyone immediately cupped their fists and echoed his praise.