The night wind howled, sweeping dark clouds across the heavens. They veiled the moon and blocked its light, plunging the boundless sky into sudden darkness.
Under the cover of such a night, Fang Rui departed from the Xia Mansion and hurried back.
The air was thick with the sickeningly sweet smell of blood mixed with a rotten stench. From time to time, the sounds of smashing rang out, along with agonized screams, weeping, and savage laughter...
On both sides of the road, most doors were shut tight; through the cracks, one could sense pairs of nervous eyes watching. Other doorways were flung wide open, and from within came the sounds of shouting, cursing, and bloodcurdling screams...
In the shadows of streets and alleys, dark figures roamed in groups of three to five... They were beasts in human skin.
Fang Rui moved swiftly, not stopping for a moment, heading straight for Sweet Water Well Alley.
Until—
He passed a house with its door wide open.
A group of seven or eight local thugs emerged from within. A mix of tall and short, fat and thin, most were disheveled and carried weapons like machetes, wooden clubs, or sharpened bamboo poles.
"Hey, kid! Yeah, you! You in the business too? Get over here! Over here!" one of them beckoned.
"How’s the haul? Come on, let your brothers have a look!" said a tall, skinny man with a smirk.
"Take that thing off your face and let me have a look!" This came from the leader, a large, bearded man hefting a machete.
...
That’s right. They were planning to rob one of their own. In other words... a mugging!
Nowadays, going it alone was outdated. These local thugs and petty thieves had all learned to form cliques and travel in packs, or were simply members of different gangs who had teamed up.
—They bolstered each other’s courage, egged each other on, and wreaked havoc everywhere. Doing things this way also lessened their sense of guilt.
Yes, it’s just that strange. A person doing something wrong on their own might feel guilty, but a group of people doing wrong together, for the most part, will not.
Of course, the most important reason was that sticking together increased their fighting strength.
This gang of seven or eight scoundrels, working together, could even take down an Entry Grade Martial Artist. A typical Eighth Grade Martial Artist would be extremely wary and choose to avoid a direct confrontation.
But that didn’t include Fang Rui.
"Out of my way!"
He frowned, his voice cold.
Unless necessary, Fang Rui didn’t want to make a move, as it would be a waste of time. For him, getting back to ensure everything was alright at Sweet Water Well Alley was the absolute priority. Everything else... was secondary.
But why would this pack of thugs listen?
They’d rarely get a chance to prey on one of their own kind who was all alone. If they didn’t take him for all he was worth, how could they live up to their notorious reputation?
As for whether they could win the fight?
What a joke! It was eight against one, and they were all armed. Their opponent, on the other hand, was all alone and empty-handed...
They simply couldn’t imagine how they could possibly lose this fight!
"Oho, quite a temper you’ve got. Let me teach you a lesson... Get him!"
The bearded leader waved his hand, and the others surged forward, fanning out to surround him.
Clearly, this pack of thugs was experienced in group brawls.
"Why seek death?!"
Fang Rui glanced behind him. With his keen perception, he naturally detected another group of thugs watching from the mouth of an alley further back.
A wolf at the front and a tiger at the back?
No. Just a bunch of useless posers.
’Whether I charge forward or retreat, a fight is unavoidable... There’s no getting out of this. In that case... I’ll kill!’
With cold resolve, Fang Rui poured Power into his legs and leaped. He soared like a great bird, landing atop the alley wall.
Under the thugs’ shocked gazes—
FWOOSH!
A cloud of lime powder rained down, a gray-white curtain that instantly obscured their vision.
Immediately after, Fang Rui whipped out a handful of iron nails and hurled them using his Power.
SWISH! SWISH! SWISH!
The sound of projectiles tearing through the air was followed by a chorus of agonized screams.
—That’s right, they were just ordinary Flying Nails. There was no particular skill or accuracy involved. It was purely a matter of quantity, and, thanks to his Power, extreme speed.
But that was more than enough!
By the time the lime powder settled, three men lay dead, struck in vital spots. Four others, including the bearded leader, were injured to varying degrees. Only one had escaped unscathed.
The instant their vision cleared, Fang Rui leaped down from the wall, charging straight for the bearded leader.
—It wasn’t that he didn’t want to just stay on the wall and throw nails from afar. Rather, his aim wasn’t good enough, and it was far faster to get his own hands dirty.
As for the enemy trying to use some underhanded tricks on him?
With Fang Rui’s Middle Grade strength, his attributes—enhanced by Power—had surpassed human limits. There was simply no way these ordinary men could ambush him.
"Die!"
The bearded leader, one leg injured, knew he couldn’t escape. His heart grew ruthless as he charged Fang Rui head-on, swinging his machete.
In this life-or-death crisis, he unleashed his body’s full potential, delivering the fastest, most vicious slash of his life.
But before a triumphant look could even form on his face...
He only saw Fang Rui move like a Ghost, dodging the attack. He appeared at the leader’s side, snatched the machete from his grasp, and delivered a backhanded slash.
SCHLICK!
The man’s head rolled to the ground.
Fang Rui didn’t pause. He spun around and cut down the other three injured thugs, one for each slash of the blade.
"It’s a ghost!"
The last uninjured thug let out a great cry, turned, and fled for his life.
But how could he possibly outrun Fang Rui?
He was caught in moments and cut down with a single slash.
The entire battle was clean and decisive. In just a dozen breaths, all eight men were dead.
Fang Rui, holding the blood-stained machete, glanced back the way he came.
That icy gaze made the other group of thugs at the mouth of the alley shrink back as one. Their scalps prickled with fear, and a chill ran down their spines.
GULP!
One of them swallowed hard. "A real monster! An absolute monster! Good thing we didn’t go over there..."
"Holy fucking shit... Is that... a Middle Grade Martial Artist?!" This one had a discerning eye, his own eyes wide as if he’d just seen a ghost.
"What are you still looking at? Run!" The leader of this group of thugs was the first to take off, setting an excellent example for the rest.