Chapter 139: Chapter 139: The Reaction of the Whale Lake Gang Leader
"That was close."
At the entrance of the cave dwelling, Shi Xiaole scrambled up from the ground, a bit disheveled. He was a mere second away from being buried in the cave.
"I shouldn’t stay here too long."
After all, he had fled from the cave and was afraid that anyone who came after him would discover any clues, causing unnecessary trouble. He quickly left the scene.
"It was actually destroyed."
"Fortunately, I was one step late."
Around the pale stone cave, many martial arts masters had a look of horror on their faces.
Originally, they were worried about arriving too late to seize the goods. Now, they felt extremely fortunate. Should they have entered, it is uncertain whether they could have come out alive.
"I wonder if anyone escaped."
Not far away, Ye Linglong looked at the unextinguished flames with a complicated expression.
She thought of Shi Xiaole. It would be a pity if such a stunning genius died inside.
"He mustn’t be dead, I still have to personally take my revenge."
Ling Tianyu gritted his teeth and said bitterly.
Wangyuan City.
When Shi Xiaole returned to the small courtyard, he did not find Xia Xiaonine and Chang Wei. Instead, he found a note in the room.
"The enemy is near, so I must leave first, thank you."
The handwriting was not bad, and from the tone, it was undoubtedly from Xia Xiaonine.
Concerning Xia Xiaonine’s identity, Shi Xiaole didn’t think much about it at first. It was not until he accidentally discovered Chang Wei’s secret that he began to suspect.
That suspicion frightened him.
If Shi Xiaole was right, the enemy Xia Xiaonine was facing could only be described as extremely terrifying. At least with Shi Xiaole’s current strength, he wasn’t even qualified to help.
Of course, his relationship with Xia Xiaonine was quite peculiar. Even if he had the strength, it wasn’t certain she would want his help.
Perhaps their previous departure was their last meeting.
...
The incident at Dongfang Haoran’s cave was widely discussed among the warriors of Wangyuan City - some regretted it, some gnashed their teeth. There were all kinds of reactions.
In a certain inn, a young man in grey robes angrily smashed his cup and asked, "Have you found out where that kid is?"
The young man in grey was none other than Xue Ang, a direct disciple of the Whale Lake Gang known as the ’Spicy Ghost Hand’.
As a gang with underworld connections, the Whale Lake Gang had more ways to make money than the Righteous Path, so their disciples were well taken care of. For instance, Xue Ang was accompanied by five servants.
One of the servants stepped forward with a sinister smile, "Young Master, we have received information from ’Knowledge Spares None’ that the youngster is in a small courtyard in Wangyuan City."
"Haha, good!"
Xue Ang laughed loudly, "Prepare, we will take action tonight."
His five servants were all at the third tier of Qi Absorption; they couldn’t beat Shi Xiaole one-on-one. But together, with their special Array System, they could easily match a sixth-tier warrior. Combined with Xue Ang himself, he believed they could kill him.
Emboldened by the prospect of having Shi Xiaole under his foot and extracting his powerful secrets, Xue Ang’s face twisted with excitement.
Just as Xue Ang and the others were planning to deal with Shi Xiaole, a mysterious man clad in red attire, a black cape on his shoulders, and a bamboo hat covering his face also walked into ’Knowledge Spares None’.
Upstairs at ’Knowledge Spares None’.
"Where is Xue Ang?"
The mysterious man asked.
"Fulai Inn, room number 3."
A few moments later, the person behind the curtain replied.
Leaving two hundred taels of silver banknotes, the mysterious man left.
"Blood Clotting Divine Claw has a peculiar effect, but since I’ve moved against Xue Ang, once he dies, it will inevitably be linked back to me. I must find a way to divert the attention."
Under the veiled bamboo hat, the mysterious man was lost in thought.
In the dead of the night with a slight chill in the wind,
A group of six individuals skimmed over the silent long street, ready to turn a corner when a figure suddenly blocked their path.
"Please stand aside."
Xue Ang frowned.
The person blocking them was tall, wearing a red robe and a black cape that fluttered in the wind. His face was hidden under a black veil, but his mysterious posture inevitably made them wary.
"Hand over the secret manual, and I will spare you."
The mysterious man said hoarsely.
"How dare you threaten our Young Master?"
One of the servants yelled in reply. He and the other four exchanged glances, preparing to join forces. The mysterious man made his move.
Whoosh.
His claw stretched out, emitting a dark red glow with a strange ominous air, directly aiming at the servant who had spoken.
That servant swiftly evaded, sighing with relief, only to see astonishment on the face of the comrade in front of him. The next moment, he lost consciousness and fell to the ground.
"Devil Claw, are you from the Devil Path?"
Xue Ang was horrified.
People from the Devil Path were like rats on the street, despised by everyone. However, their power could not be denied. Xue Ang would rather face a group of high-level warriors from the Righteous Path than confront a high-level warrior from the Devil Path.
With swift use of the Tianluo step, the mysterious man reached the second servant in an instant, and his claw struck through the air, smashing the man’s heart meridians.
While the Blood Clotting Divine Claw did have a slow effect, it still possessed a basic lethal power.
"Soul Chasing Seven Styles!"
Xue Ang wielded his black knife without hesitation and used his strongest killer move, with layers and layers of knife shadows covering the front.
"I’ll take your life next time."
The mysterious figure released a claw wind towards Xue Ang and then swiftly retreated.
"Young Master truly is formidable, he actually repelled..."
But as the remaining three attendants were about to offer their praise, they saw Xue Ang’s eyes bulging out, a gurgling sound coming from his throat, and then he collapsed to the ground, lifeless.
From the time of summoning from the cave mansion, three days had exactly passed.
If you were to cut open Xue Ang’s skin at that moment, you would find that his blood had congealed like gruel, unable to flow.
"It must have been that claw wind just now! Young Master has been ambushed."
"Young Master is the number one genius of the Whale Lake Gang. If he dies outside, the Gang Leader will certainly kill us."
"Should we... run away?"
All three attendants originated from the underworld and were not good people. They were planning to hide the body and escape, but then they suddenly heard shouting from all direction as a group of Martial World’s travelers were sent their way.
All three turned pale.
...
In the small courtyard, the mysterious figure took off his veil and revealed a somewhat immature yet handsome face.
Who else could it be if not Shi Xiaole?
"With those three men as witnesses, the Whale Lake Gang should direct their attention towards the Devil Path. However, my conflict with Xue Ang will eventually be exposed, so I need to increase my strength as soon as possible."
Conspiracy and deception can only help avoid trouble temporarily. To truly fear nothing, you have to rely on one’s own absolute power.
Shi Xiaole decided not to linger in Wangyuan City anymore.
He decided to take a trip to the Will Sect.
The Will Sect is a top-tier righteous force in the Floating River Area. He went there because Shi Xiaole discovered in his investigation that the previous owner of the Shattered Snow Blade was an elder of the Will Sect.
He wanted to use this connection to investigate his parent’s past. As for the clue related to He Bugui, it involved the Revenge Gathering, that Shi Xiaole was not intending to touch for now.
Also, he heard that the Will Sect had a unique bridge that could stimulate inspiration. If possible, he’d like to give it a try.
...
At the edge of a boundless lake, there were lines of stilt houses extending for hundreds of meters.
In the largest one of these houses, a tall, fierce-looking man finished reading a letter and burned it to ashes using his internal power.
A man from the Devil Path?
The fierce man had a murderous look in his eyes. After a few heavy breaths, he couldn’t hold back his anger and slapped the surface of the lake, causing a massive column of water to shoot up.
The large commotion attracted the attention of many Whale Lake Gang’s experts.
"Whoever kills my son, be it an expert from the Righteous Path or the Devil Path, I’ll kill them all!"
The fierce man, Whale Lake Gang’s leader Jiang Zhenglin, snarled.
As one of the kings of the underworld, Jiang Zhenglin’s boldness was undoubted, but because of this, in the dozens of years since he founded the Whale Lake Gang, he has offended countless people.
Xue Ang was Jiang Zhenglin’s favorite son, so he intentionally concealed the former’s identity to prevent him from being assassinated ahead of time.
Originally, Jiang Zhenglin planned to wait until his own hundredth year and then pass the position of gang leader to Xue Ang. Now, all his plans had been shattered.
"Dispatch thirteen riders, at the fastest speed, bring my son and those three fools back. I want to interrogate them personally."
Jiang Zhenglin yelled to the air.
The next moment, a figure shot out from the house’s beams and quickly disappeared amongst the crowd of stilt houses.
...
In the cold wilderness, a figure dressed in a green robe walked alone, stepping on the moonlight, his steps steady.
In front of him, a vast plain came into view.
This plain was not composed of soil and vegetation, but countless grey rocks. Many people were wandering among the piles of rocks, seemingly searching for something.
Shi Xiaole didn’t think much, he saw a ruined temple nearby and decided to stay there for the time being, planning to set off the next day.
Before long, four dispirited men walked in. When they saw Shi Xiaole, they seemed rather irate.
"Kid, you’ve taken our spot, get lost!"
There were still quite a few people in the ruined temple. Upon hearing this, they all turned to look, a gleeful expression on their faces.
"These four brothers have been looking for something for so many days and they haven’t found anything, they are holding in a lot of anger. This kid has taken their spot, he’s likely in for a rough time."
"I hope he can safely get out."
From the discussions around him, Shi Xiaole roughly guessed that these people were searching for something nearby and each person had claimed a spot within the ruined temple and minded their own business.
Thinking of this, he didn’t want to make trouble, so he prepared to leave.
"Wait! You dirtied my brother’s rest area, and you want to leave without saying a word? At the very least, you should show some sincerity!"
One of the four men, a man with meaty face, sneered.
Seeing Shi Xiaole dressed cleanly and acting leisurely, he guessed that he probably had something valuable and thus gave rise to the idea of robbery.
Shi Xiaole looked at the man’s grime-covered body and asked, "What kind of sincerity are you looking for?"
"A hundred thousand taels of silver, not a penny less."
The man with the meaty face wagged his finger, looking confident. The other three kept their silence, looking amused as if they were watching a good show.
Shi Xiaole simply sat back down, leaning against the wall with his eyes closed to rest.
"Kid, how dare you ignore me?"
The man with the meaty face was furious, he threw a palm at Shi Xiaole’s head. His revealed aura was unexpectedly at the Fifth Tier of Qi Absorption.
Bang!
Without opening his eyes, Shi Xiaole waved his hand and directly sent the meaty-faced man flying.
His casual gesture made the other inhabitants of the ruined temple, who hadn’t bothered to look, turn their attention to him.
