I Can Merge Techniques-Chapter 140 - 106: Promotion to Small Leader, Zhao Tianxing Severely Injured, Chu Fan’s Night Raid on the White Tiger Gang
Morning light slanted into the deep alley, illuminating one half while the other seemed even darker.
Along the side of the dim alley, members of the Seven Stars Gang had formed a semicircle, silently staring at the two corpses on the ground. They were none other than Xia Huanhuan and Zhou Ye.
Though the manner of their deaths differed, the fatal injuries were several blade wounds.
The flesh around the wounds was mangled and rotting. A thick Evil Qi enveloped their bodies, so much so that even a Bone Tempering Realm expert wouldn’t dare approach.
The forensic doctor said the two had been dead for little more than an hour, but because of the Evil Qi, their bodies were already rapidly decomposing.
"Blood. Saber. Sect!"
Zhou Tianci stood before the two corpses, his face ashen, the killing intent in his eyes practically overflowing.
The gang members standing by all assumed it was his nephew, Zhou Ye, and his niece-in-law who had been murdered.
Only Zhou Tianci himself and Zhou Ye’s mother knew—Zhou Ye was actually his biological son!
’Though Zhou Ye was a dullard, he was still his own flesh and blood...’
’His daughter-in-law, Xia Huanhuan, reached the Bone Tempering Realm at such a young age. She was his capable right hand. Yet now, both of them had been killed, right here in the city!’
’How could this have happened...’
’Now, only one of the Blood Saber Sect’s five Hall Masters remained. The Sect Leader, his deputy, and the Guardians were all holed up in the Inner City, afraid to show their faces. The other powers were rapidly carving up their territory; the Blood Saber Sect’s destruction was imminent.’
’So what good would it do the Blood Saber Sect to kill Zhou Ye and Xia Huanhuan at a time like this?’
’What impact would it have on the bigger picture?’
Zhou Tianci couldn’t figure it out.
Qi Blood Power swirled around him as he bent down to inspect the wounds. He could sense that the Evil Qi was both immense and pure; even he didn’t dare to touch it casually. This was definitely not the work of an ordinary Blood Saber Sect disciple.
Based on his experience, only a master at the Hall Master level or higher could conjure such a vicious fiendish energy.
Frame-ups were common in the martial world, but the Nine Blood Soul Blades was the exclusive Saber Technique of the Blood Saber Sect. Even if an outsider obtained it, mastering it to this degree would be nigh impossible. Even within the Blood Saber Sect, there weren’t many who could cultivate the Nine Blood Soul Blades to such a level!
’So the one who killed Zhou Ye and Xia Huanhuan was a Hall Master Level expert who acted personally?’
’What in the world was going on?!’
"Master Zhou."
A heavy voice shattered Zhou Tianci’s train of thought.
Xia Huanhuan’s uncle, Xia Zhonghai, strode over, his expression grim.
He was also an Incense Master for the Seven Stars Gang and had rushed over the moment he heard the news.
After exchanging a few words with Zhou Tianci, Xia Zhonghai crouched before the two corpses. His face, too, was ashen, and his eyes glinted with cold, murderous intent.
After a long moment, he finally stood up and met Zhou Tianci’s gaze. Each saw the same churning fury and profound confusion in the other’s eyes.
"Is the Blood Saber Sect just lashing out in its death throes?"
Xia Zhonghai’s voice was hoarse. "Aren’t they afraid we’ll join forces with the Iron Armor Sect and wipe them out, root and stem?"
Zhou Tianci silently shook his head. Just as he was about to speak, one of Zhou Ye’s trusted subordinates timidly approached.
"M-Master... I have something to report." The man looked terrified.
When the two Entering the Realm of Strength masters couldn’t suppress their emotions, their Qi Blood Power flared. Everyone nearby felt as if a great mountain was crushing their chest, making it difficult even to breathe.
He was merely in the Blood Nourishing Realm. Standing before these two men now, he felt like a lone skiff in a raging storm, liable to be torn to shreds at any moment...
Zhou Tianci frowned.
At that moment, he was so agitated he didn’t want to deal with anything, no matter how important it was.
But he still suppressed the rage and killing intent in his heart. Lifting his gaze, he snapped, "Speak!"
The man said in a low voice, "It’s... it’s about Chu Fan’s reward... Boss Zhou... he... he pocketed all of Chu Fan’s rewards and only gave him ten taels of silver."
"What?" Zhou Tianci and Xia Zhonghai were both stunned.
A few days ago, in a contest between the Seven Stars Gang and the Iron Armor Sect, Chu Fan had utterly crushed the Iron Armor Sect’s Liang Yuhen in the very first match.
The reward from the Seven Stars Gang was six hundred taels of silver, two vials of Blood Refining Pills, and one vial of the precious Red Shark Marrow Pill.
The reward had passed through Zhou Tianci’s hands and ended up with Zhou Ye.
Zhou Tianci had known Zhou Ye was going to pocket part of the reward, but he’d only told him to skim three hundred taels of silver.
He hadn’t expected the greedy idiot to pocket the entire reward!
’An act that foolish was bound to make enemies!’
Zhou Tianci and Xia Zhonghai exchanged a glance, then simultaneously turned to look at the corpses on the ground.
A moment later, they both shook their heads.
’Chu Fan?’
’Completely impossible.’
The boy had only been in the gang for three months. And while he’d shown astonishing talent by defeating Liang Yuhen—an expert at the peak of the Blood Refining Realm—he was, in the end, still in the Blood Refining Realm himself.
Compared to Xia Huanhuan of the Bone Tempering Realm, the difference in their power was like that between the heavens and the earth!
To say nothing of mastering the Nine Blood Soul Blades to the Hall Master Level.
’Absolutely impossible!’
Zhou Tianci and Xia Zhonghai immediately dismissed the absurd notion.
However, once the seed of doubt is planted, it will quietly take root.
Though Zhou Tianci felt it was impossible, the idea had already begun to form in his mind.
Zhou Ye had pocketed Chu Fan’s reward and was now dead in this alley; he, of course, had no intention of compensating Chu Fan.
’But the coincidence is too great. I’ll have to send someone to keep an eye on Chu Fan.’
’If it really was Chu Fan’s doing...’
’I’ll have him flayed, his tendons pulled, his bones ground to dust, and his ashes scattered to the winds!’
After a brief discussion, Zhou Tianci and Xia Zhonghai decided to return to the gang to report to Master Qin and gather men to retaliate against the Blood Saber Sect.
「Almost at the same time...」
In an empty alley not far from the Cyan Yang River, Long Ruohai, Incense Master of the Seven Stars Gang’s Dragon Flame Hall, gazed at his son Long Zhan’s corpse, no longer able to suppress his emotions.
"Blood Saber Sect! I swear, we are enemies to the death!"
Long Ruohai roared.
The few men following behind him couldn’t help but shudder.
A storm was brewing.
...
Splitting Elbow, Raising Elbow, Striking Elbow, Spinning Elbow...
While chaos reigned outside, Chu Fan was in his courtyard, completely absorbed in his practice of the Twelve Forms Fist.
