Chapter 109: The Battle of Tigers and Wolves (Part Fourteen)

On a lonely, half-height ridge, Kou Li’s silhouette reappeared. His eyes were tightly shut, though his ears twitched occasionally. After a long while, he slowly opened his eyes and muttered, "Not a fool after all. To think he guessed I was fishing and split his forces—that is indeed a bit troublesome."

Crocodile, now the leader of thousands of dragon-folk in Guangcheng, might still harbor some lingering sentiment from their past acquaintance; no one could be sure. Moreover, he had sustained significant injuries during the life-and-death struggle just moments ago.

One-Eyed Wolf’s "Finger-Sword Jungle" had left ten jagged, bloody gashes across Kou Li’s right arm. Iron-Skin Wolf’s bizarre lead-weighted fists had left a heavy, leaden bruise on his elbow. His shoes were soaked through, feeling as if they were steeped in blood, or perhaps water. Ever since he had consumed the Emerald Fruit and achieved mastery in internal arts, he had never suffered such grave wounds.

The "Four Tigers and Eight Wolves"—with five of the wolves attacking in unison—truly lived up to their reputation as fierce, extraordinary menaces. The superhuman power of their perfected, unique fist techniques could withstand the strength of a Four-Refinement level practitioner, and the lethality of their coordinated assault was far greater than the sum of its parts.

*It seems I cannot afford a head-on collision after all,* Kou Li thought to himself. During the previous fight, he had genuinely considered risking a crippling injury to take all four wolves down with him. But reality had proven that his appetite was not as large as he had imagined.

*Since that is the case, I must use the second method.*

Kou Li wiped his hand across his arm, and the ten upturned flaps of flesh smoothed over; were it not for the lingering scars, there would be almost no visible change. He curled his fingers joint by joint, summoning force from his fingertips while simultaneously shaking his shoulder to channel power from the root. As both forces compressed toward the center, the flesh where the leaden bruise had settled bulged like a tumor. Under the compression of his internal energy and blood, the leaden mark began to shrink inward, growing deeper and more prominent.

Finally, with a whip-like flick of his arm, a bead of molten lead popped out from his skin and struck a nearby tree trunk, shattering the bark into fragments.

Kou Li suddenly realized why Iron-Skin Wolf’s technique felt so familiar. It was eerily similar to the Copper Guards he had encountered at the naval camp. Both were lethal, murderous fist techniques, and both contained that strange, toxic lead. And yet, the one wielding such a specialized, mysterious government technique was a commander of the Water Dragon Gang!

Could it be that the Water Dragon Gang had ties to the Imperial Court?

Kou Li frowned slightly. Though he was at the eye of the storm, he still struggled to see the full picture of this massive reshuffling in Yue Province. What were the underlying motives? Why were these people in such a hurry to act, and what was their true objective?

He quickly pushed these distracting thoughts aside. Now was not the time for such considerations. Since they were now mortal enemies, it mattered little whether his foes had the backing of the heavens themselves.

***

A thousand miles away, in Yue Province City, the Wolf Young Master stood bare-chested, letting the cold wind brush against his lean, sinewy muscles. He gazed coldly at the sky, while in the boudoir behind him lay the limp, exhausted form of the most popular courtesan in the city.

Lingnan was not a place known for its refined literary atmosphere; the Jiangnan region was the true holy land for such courtesans. But with enough money, everything was manageable. Among so many beauties, how many were truly willing to follow a penniless scholar?

"That uncultured Guo Fan is coming back. That 'Tiger of the Town Island' fellow appears loyal on the surface, but secretly he is very close to him. And that idiot Violent Wolf—he truly thinks the throne of the gang leader is so easy to sit upon. A single misstep, and thirty years of the Water Dragon Gang’s foundation will be wiped out in an instant."

Beauty Snake wrapped her arms around him from behind and whispered coquettishly, "Master, what are you thinking about?"

"When Elder Hu sent you from Jiangnan, did he not tell you? I am the son of a disgraced official. My Lu family is forbidden from holding office for three generations. In your parts, I suppose only scholars with official degrees are entitled to be called 'Young Master', are they not?"

"Master, what are you saying?" The courtesan’s face betrayed a flicker of panic.

"Heh, I hear Elder Hu’s son is a man of great literary talent. Not yet twenty, and already a provincial graduate. No wonder they say talented, romantic men are fickle-hearted. He couldn't bear to take your maidenhood himself, yet he eagerly delivered it to my doorstep. Tell me, for what purpose?"

The courtesan’s face turned deathly pale. Her slender fingers instinctively gripped her hairpins, but in a flash of shadow, a silver needle pierced her forehead. Blood began to drip down.

The Wolf Young Master watched her charming face without expression and said coldly, "The gang spends money and effort to let these old fools enjoy their twilight years in the pleasure houses of Jiangnan, yet these old dogs are still not satisfied. They collude with outsiders and covet the foundation of our gang. Those old things—I will send them to their graves sooner or later!"

"Once I fully seize control of the gang—"

***

Elsewhere, the young man with eyes like flowing amber, whom Kou Li had seen at the bustling Buddhist temple, arrived at the ruins of the Putian Arhat Temple, which had been burned to the ground.

Once a temple of immense prosperity, it was now reduced to a chaotic pile of charred beams and cobwebs, the only remnants testifying to its former glory. The young man walked into the famous Hall of a Thousand Monks. Though broken and misshapen, the floor still contained four rows of forty-eight pits, three feet in diameter and half a foot deep—the footprints worn into the stone by generations of martial monks standing in their stances.

This was the only thing that remained perfectly preserved.

The young man bowed respectfully three times toward the footprints. When he rose, a dozen figures—some tall, some short, some fat, some thin—had gathered around him, all wearing the same look of pious devotion.

"Diao Fengsheng was our pawn planted in the Water Dragon Gang. Even if Old Man Lu knew, he was too greedy for the secret of eternal youth to do anything. It is a pity he died at the hands of some nameless nobody," one of them remarked.

"That is of no consequence to the bigger picture. We have basically mapped out the foundation of the Water Dragon Gang over these years. Once the time is right, chaos will naturally erupt," the young man said dismissively, waving his hand.

"Kong Sheng, you are the direct disciple of Master Fu Hai, which is why we follow your lead. But you should at least tell us a little about what you are doing. Otherwise, how can we assist you?" someone could not help but ask.

The face of that person was none other than Master Guo of the Eight-Gate Fist, who had appeared on the ship earlier.

"Soon," Kong Sheng smiled mysteriously. "A perfect opportunity will arise shortly. Once this is done, the pirates will rise from the ashes, and the assassins of the Wonu Kingdom will ravage the Southeast. Currently, nearly thirty percent of the Imperial Court’s taxes come from the Southeast. Once the Southeast descends into chaos, the entire realm will be shaken."

"Rest assured, the maritime disasters of the past will repeat themselves soon. When that happens, the followers we have secretly cultivated in various regions will rise up. And when the rebellion starts, it will not just be us."

Kong Sheng’s amber eyes flickered. Before that, he still needed to sever the claws of certain individuals.

***

Several mysterious figures in black robes appeared at Guanchao. One of them crouched down, kneading the soil in his hand, and said in a flat tone, "Where does this direction lead?"

"Soul-Falling Valley. It is a famous echo valley in Guanchao. Because of its unique topography, sea winds blow in but never escape. Over the years, whenever the poor in Guanchao died without money for a tomb, they would dump the corpses there. Combined with the remains of fish, shrimp, and debris, it has gradually seeped a strange, foul corpse-mist. No one has entered it for a long time."

"It seems they intend to have their showdown there," the man in the black robe whispered. "It provides us with the perfect opportunity to wipe them all out in one go. Lead the way, Brother Yue."

One of the black-robed men raised his head, revealing the face of Yue Wuhuo, the head instructor of the martial arts academy. A flash of complex emotion crossed his eyes before he said in a deep voice, "Indeed, it is time for a final settlement."

In another direction, several "Blood-Stem" assassins gathered. Among them was the middle-aged man with one arm who had crossed paths with Kou Li earlier. He remained expressionless.

A young girl with a raspy voice spoke up: "Word from above has arrived. This time, besides the bounty, someone has placed a 'dark stake'."

"Who is the stake placed on?" a seductive man asked, gesturing with a delicate orchid-finger, his voice dripping with sycophancy.

"On the dead," the girl paused. "On all of the dead."

***

Deep in Soul-Falling Valley, the figures of "Ghost Shadow" Wu Ying and "Mad Blade" Chu San flickered by.

"Good, good, good! As long as this succeeds, we will surely sever an arm from the Water Dragon Gang," Chu San said, his rugged face full of excitement. "If I hadn't come to you for a drink, how could I have stumbled upon such a good thing?"

"Is it a good thing?"

"How could it not be? That brat is a practitioner of Tiger Fist, isn't he?" Chu San let out a booming laugh. "So, let us call this game: The Fight of Tiger and Wolf!!"