Free Web NovelChapter 23: Chapter 23: Fierce Battle
That night, a panicked Er Gou found Liang Cheng.
"Brother Cheng! I saw Big Head!" Er Gou gasped, out of breath. "He’s at the North Town Wilderness Beach with a few guys I’ve never seen before. They all look like seasoned fighters—not people to mess with!"
Liang Cheng’s eyes narrowed. "Where, exactly?"
"Five li north of Old Crow’s Beak, there’s an abandoned shipyard," Er Gou whispered. "I was going to dig for clams over there when I saw them from afar. They were moving something that looked like Iron Ingots!"
"Are you sure it was Big Head?"
"I’d know him even if he was burnt to a crisp!" Er Gou said, a determined look on his face. "He was still wearing the Sea Snake Gang’s blue linen garb, but he looked shifty, like he was up to no good."
Liang Cheng thought for a moment. "Go home for now. And remember, don’t breathe a word of this to anyone."
"Brother Cheng, are you going alone?" Er Gou hesitated. "Those guys looked tough. Why don’t you wait until tomorrow and gather some men to go with you..."
"I know what I’m doing. Just go home and act like you don’t know anything."
"Be careful, then."
...
「Midnight. The Wilderness Beach.」
The abandoned shipyard was hidden among a cluster of reefs, with only a few faint flickers of firelight visible. As Liang Cheng crept closer, he saw three men standing guard outside a shack. They were all drinking, and each had a Bright Force Cultivation.
"Once this job is done, the Gang Leader said we’ll each get at least two hundred taels. This is easy money. We’d be set if we could pull off a few more hauls like this."
"But Chen Bainian is still investigating. What if something goes wrong...?"
"Don’t worry, just do as you’re told. The higher-ups are handling it, so what’s there to be afraid of?"
Liang Cheng silently slipped past the guards and climbed through a broken window into the shipyard. Inside, wooden crates were stacked up. To his surprise, Big Head was tied to a pillar, a ragged cloth stuffed in his mouth and his face bruised and cut.
"MM! MM!" When Big Head saw Liang Cheng, his eyes went wide and he frantically shook his head.
Liang Cheng swiftly cut the ropes and pulled the ragged cloth from his mouth.
"Brother Cheng, run! It’s an ambush—"
Before Big Head could finish speaking...
BANG!
The door to the shack was kicked open, and Zhang Kui strode in with his men. He sneered, "Liang Cheng, you’ve shunned the path of life and instead come knocking on death’s door."
"And this punk," Zhang Kui said, pointing at Big Head. "This ungrateful little shit. Going on about ’loyalty,’ snooping around until he found this place. He was just asking to die."
Behind him, besides the three men with Bright Force Cultivation from earlier, stood two others dressed in black and masked. Their auras were profound; one was at the Peak of Dark Force, while the other was surprisingly on par with Zhou Hu—he’d apparently touched the threshold of Transformation Force.
"Gang Leader Zhang," Liang Cheng said, cautiously shifting into a defensive stance. "What’s the meaning of this?"
"What’s the meaning?" Zhang Kui sneered. He suddenly kicked Big Head, sending him flying into a wall. Big Head slid to the floor, spitting blood. "You just had to keep investigating those three shipments of cargo, cutting off someone’s livelihood. Today, I’ll teach you a lesson: the martial world is far more treacherous than you imagine."
Curled up on the floor, his breathing faint as a gossamer thread, Big Head choked out, "Brother Cheng... I... I really wasn’t involved... I never meant to hurt you..."
He passed out before he could finish.
"Get him!"
At Zhang Kui’s command, his three Bright Force underlings lunged forward simultaneously. Flashes of steel, shadows of fists, and sweeping kicks cut off all of Liang Cheng’s escape routes.
Liang Cheng remained perfectly calm. He neither dodged nor retreated. His feet rooted themselves to the ground in the Mixed Element Stance as he violently twisted at the waist—
"Fierce Bull Force·Mountain-Breaking Strike!"
His movements were clean and decisive. He took the flat of a blade with his left shoulder and slammed his right fist into one of the men’s chests.
CRACK!
The sharp crack of a shattering breastbone echoed in the air. The man shot backward like a cannonball, splintering a wooden rack before collapsing, all signs of life gone.
The other two men’s attacks—a blade and a fist—were already upon him, aimed at his ribs and the back of his neck. With an uncanny motion, Liang Cheng’s body contracted and then expanded as he activated his Stone Armor Skill to its fullest.
CLANG! CLANG!
The blade struck his skin but rang out with the sound of metal on metal, leaving nothing more than a faint white line.
The two men’s faces paled in horror.
Liang Cheng had already spun around. His fists, like twin hammers, smashed into each man’s temple.
SPLAT! SPLAT!
Their skulls caved in, brain matter splattering.
In the span of three breaths, three men were dead.
Zhang Kui’s pupils contracted. "Worthy of the champion of the Three Towns Tournament. Impressive, indeed."
Liang Cheng wiped the blood that had splattered onto his face. He said nothing.
Zhang Kui wasted no more time. He brought his palms together, his fingers glowing a dark, cyan hue. He lunged like an eagle, a Claw Wind tearing through the air as he aimed directly for Liang Cheng’s eyes.
Instead of retreating, Liang Cheng advanced. He shielded his face with his left hand and clenched his right into a fist. His Fierce Bull Force erupted like a flash flood as he punched out to meet the attack!
BOOM—!
Fist met claw, and a shockwave of energy erupted.
Zhang Kui was driven back five consecutive steps, a sharp pain shooting through the bones in his hand. Horror filled his eyes. "Your Power..."
Liang Cheng remained silent, pressing his advantage with a relentless barrage of fists that fell like a torrential rain.
Zhang Kui could only struggle to parry, but with each blocked punch, his Qi Blood churned more violently. After ten exchanges, he spat a mouthful of blood and staggered back.
"Attack him together!" Zhang Kui yelled, no longer willing to face him alone.
The two masked men finally moved. One’s fists were like sledgehammers; the ground trembled with his every step. He was clearly a specialist in aggressive Hard Skills. Each punch carried the rumbling sound of wind and thunder, and the impacts sent a numbing shock through Liang Cheng’s arms.
The other man’s movements were erratic and ghostly. His Palm Technique was treacherous and soft, his Palm Force coiling like a venomous snake to bypass the Stone Armor Skill’s defenses and strike directly at Liang Cheng’s insides.
Liang Cheng was instantly locked in a desperate battle.
The Fierce Fist Force made his Qi Blood churn, while the Yin Soft Palm Force continuously seeped into his body. If he hadn’t entered the Stone Bone Style, he feared he wouldn’t have been able to hold on for much longer.
Even so, after taking seven palm strikes and three punches, blood began to trickle from the corner of his mouth, and his face grew pale.
’I can’t let this drag on any longer...’ Liang Cheng’s mind raced.
Just then, one of his opponents threw another heavy punch. Instead of dodging, Liang Cheng channeled his Stone Armor Skill to its absolute limit and took the blow head-on!
THUMP!
The impact sounded like a muffled drumbeat. A ringing echoed through Liang Cheng’s body, and his vision nearly went black. But in that same instant, his left hand shot up like a flash of lightning.
Lime powder!
A cloud of white powder erupted, engulfing the face of the masked man on the right.
"AARGH! My eyes!" the man shrieked, clutching his face. A cold glint flashed from Liang Cheng’s boot as a short, cold-iron blade appeared in his hand.
He shot forward like a phantom, his blade arcing up in a diagonal slash that sliced cleanly across the throat of the man still clutching his eyes.
GUSH!
Blood sprayed three feet high as the man let out two rattling gurgles, then fell backward, silent.
"Despicable!"
The remaining masked man’s eyes bulged with fury. He threw a rage-fueled punch at Liang Cheng’s back, pouring all of his life’s cultivation into the blow. Even before the fist landed, the sheer force of its approach was enough to steal Liang Cheng’s breath.
But Liang Cheng didn’t turn. He pushed his Stone Armor Skill to its absolute limit, the muscles across his back and waist tightening like steel plates.
BAM—!
The fist landed squarely on the vital point of his back.
Liang Cheng coughed up a spray of blood, but he used the force of the blow to propel himself forward three steps before stabbing backward with a reverse grip!
SHLICK!
The blade plunged into the man’s side, just under his ribs, and pierced his heart. Liang Cheng twisted his wrist, turning the blade a half-circle inside the man’s chest before viciously yanking it free.
The masked man’s eyes went wide as he slowly crumpled to his knees.
In the blink of an eye, Liang Cheng had killed two more men!
Zhang Kui’s face went white as a sheet. He turned to flee, but Liang Cheng wiped the blood from his lips, closed the distance in a single step, and threw his weapon with all his might.
WHOOSH!
The cold-iron blade became a streak of frigid light, burying itself precisely in the center of Zhang Kui’s back. Zhang Kui stumbled forward a few more steps, stared down at the tip of the blade protruding from his chest, opened his mouth as if to speak, and then collapsed face-first onto the ground.
Ignoring his own injuries, Liang Cheng delivered a final punch to the temple of Zhang Kui and each of the other men, making absolutely certain they were dead. Only then did he collapse to the ground, panting heavily.
Liang Cheng caught his breath for a moment, then forced himself to inspect his injuries. He had two broken ribs and some internal damage, but the bones tempered by his Stone Bone Style were mostly unharmed. He tore a strip of cloth from his shirt and crudely bandaged his wounds.
Tonight had been more dangerous than any other night in his life.
But once again, he was the one left standing.
Now, a dead silence filled the shipyard.
He rested for another moment, regaining some of his strength, before turning and walking over to Big Head.
