Feng Xiaofeng rubbed his eyes, then mocked himself, “I haven’t been so happy in a long time. I actually lost control a little.”
But then, he shook his head. “Brother Su, I still advise you against seeking revenge. Even if your cultivation has recovered, those guys’ backgrounds are too prominent, and this is the prefectural capital, their home turf! It’s too dangerous!”
He took a deep breath, then looked up at Su Yi. “When a gentleman takes his revenge, ten years isn’t too long to wait. With your talent, you’re certain to become a Martial Dao Grandmaster one day. You can get your revenge then.”
Su Yi just smiled. “Xiaofeng, I dared come all this way. I naturally am confident that I can settle all of our grudges. Besides, I’m no gentleman; I can’t wait that long.”
Feng Xiaofeng fell silent, then said bitterly, “But I…. I can no longer help you….”
“You helped me many times over back in Blueriver Sword Manor,” said Su Yi gently. “This time, you can leave it up to me.”
He paused, then continued, “I didn’t come here because I needed your help, but because I owe you far too much. If I don’t repay you, my heart will remain unsettled.”
Feng Xiaofeng sighed. “What happened then isn’t even worth mentioning. I’m surprised you even remember.”
“How could I forget?” Su Yi put his hands behind his back and thought back to the past. “It was autumn of the 396th year of the Great Zhou Dynasty. I was just fourteen years old, and it had only been two months since I began my cultivation in Blueriver Sword Manor.
“It was the first day of the eleventh lunar month. I had just received my allotment of three bottles of pills and ten spirit stones, and I was on my way back when Jing Hu and his cronies surrounded me. He wanted to force me to give up my pills and spirit stones.
“I naturally refused, so all of them ganged up on me and beat me. I fell to the ground, covered in blood.?Many other outer sect disciples saw this, but out of fear of Jing Hu and the others’ fury, no one dared step forth to rescue me.
“Only you, some punk kid with no fear of death, charged in like a fool and tried to carry me off for treatment, only for Jing Hu and his cronies to beat you too. Your injuries wound up being even worse than mine. In the end, as soon as I recovered enough to move, I had to carry you back instead.”
When Feng Xiaofeng heard this, he couldn’t help but laugh. “Who hasn’t been young once? I was really pure-hearted then, and compassionate too. I witnessed an injustice, so I had to do something. Even though I got a beating for my troubles, I don’t regret it even now.”
Su Yi laughed. “Afterward, we fellow sufferers became brothers. We endured so many rolled eyes, jeers, barbed words, and attacks, but we endured them together. Without you, I’m not sure I could have held out.”
Feng Xiaofeng sighed wistfully too.
“When I became the Outer Sect Sword Chief, I thought that after I made it into the inner sect, I’d pull you in after me. Who’d’ve thought….” Su Yi trailed off, his expression a little strange. “Who’d have thought I’d become the cast-off disciple of Blueriver Sword Manor and a live-in son-in-law?”
He turned to Feng Xiaofeng and said, “But I’m even more surprised to see you like this. Unless?I mistake?my guess, it was Yunqiao who did it, right?”
Feng Xiaofeng’s expression changed, and his gaze darkened as he said bitterly, “I knew I couldn’t keep it from you.”
Su Yi’s tone was calm and indifferent. “He took both your legs. I’ll make him pay with his life!”
Feng Xiaofeng was immediately frantic. He opened his mouth and was about to say something when Su Yi laughed and cut him off. “You’re definitely about to tell me that Nian Yunqiao has the Nian Family behind him, and that they’re enormously powerful, so I shouldn’t be reckless. Right?”
Feng Xiaofeng sighed. “You already know, so why are you stubborn?”
“This isn’t called ‘stubbornness,’” said Su Yi, but before he could elaborate, someone cried out from beyond the courtyard gates.
“Big Brother Xiaofeng, the Black Tiger Gang kidnapped Xiaoran!” A sallow-faced, skinny young man rushed inside, looking completely frantic. “Big Brother Xiaofeng, what are we going to do? Xiaoran has already fallen into the Black Tiger Gang’s hands! They’re sure to sell her to some brothel!”
Feng Xiaofeng’s expression changed dramatically, as if he’d been struck by lightning.
Xiaoran was his little sister, and she was only thirteen years old!
His chest heaved, and his eyes went red. He gnashed his teeth, saying, “A-Fei, where did you see them take her?”
The youth he called A-Fei said, “Over by Budding Spring Alley, but I suspect they’ve already taken her back to their base.” 𝘯𝑜𝘷𝑙．𝑐𝘰𝘮
“Do you know where the Black Tiger Gang’s lair is?” Su Yi followed up. He couldn’t help but recall the image of a young girl. Her floral-print clothes were old and tattered, and she had two little pigtails, like sheep horns. Her eyes were big and bright, and she was clever and adorable.
During his time cultivating at Blueriver Sword Manor, Su Yi visited Feng Xiaofeng’s family home on numerous occasions. He naturally knew that Feng Xiaofeng doted on his little sister.
“I know!” A-Fei hurriedly nodded.
Su Yi patted Feng Xiaofeng on the shoulder and said, “Don’t panic. You stay here; I’ll bring Xiaoran home.”
His tone was casual, but his words left Feng Xiaofeng overwrought. “Senior Apprentice Brother Su, this time… I’m afraid I’ll really have to trouble you.”
“A-Fei, lead the way.” Su Yi wasted no time. He simply walked right out of the courtyard.
A-Fei hurried after him. When he stepped outside, Su Yi glanced at Huang Qianjun, who’d been waiting outside. “You stay here just in case.”
Huang Qianjun hurriedly agreed.
“She’d better be alright. If something happens to that girl, I’ll….” Murderous intent coursed through Su Yi’s heart, and his calm gaze frosted over.
It was the first time since reawakening his memories that he truly felt murderous, for no other reason except that this time, he really cared.
……
Where there was light, there was inevitably darkness as well.
The Cloudriver Prefectural Capital was bustling and prosperous, but it was its very prosperity that gave rise to numerous underground organizations.
The Black Tiger Gang was just one of them.
This particular faction made their living selling women. Their methods were debased and despicable.
But they were smart, too: the girls they sold all came from the lowest rungs of society, from the poorest families, those without backers or influence. Such families naturally had no means of getting revenge.
Spring Jade Alley, the lair of the Black Tiger Gang.
The gang occupied the entire area, so under ordinary circumstances, none dared draw near.
The skies blazed like fire, the blood-colored sun setting slowly disappearing over the horizon.
“Big Bro, that alleyway in the distance is Spring Jade Alley, but I…. I don’t dare go any closer.” A-Fei stopped when they were still far away, his young face filled with unconcealed terror.
Su Yi nodded, then proceeded ahead on his own. He carried his bamboo staff, and although his gait looked unhurried, he was moving quickly. Beneath the light of the setting sun, his tall, lean frame cast elongated shadows.
A-Fei initially planned to just turn and leave, but he hesitated, gnashed his teeth, then stayed put. Instead of fleeing, he hid himself in a corner beside a wall.
“Young Lord, what are you here for?” As Su Yi drew closer to Spring Jade Alley, two stalwart men rose within the darkness. They looked Su Yi up and down, and when they saw how he was dressed, their cold words were still somewhat polite.
“Where’s the little girl you people just kidnapped?” said Su Yi, gazing further down the alleyway.
Night had fallen, and lanterns hung from the buildings. He could vaguely discern the sound of distant partying and revelry.
One of the men was instantly on guard. “What little girl? Young Lord, I’m afraid you’re in the wrong place. We’re well-behaved, law-abiding citizens who keep to ourselves.”
The other frowned. “I advise you to get out of here right now. Or else, you’d best be careful you don’t ‘trip and fall’ in the darkness!”
Su Yi’s thumb shifted, and Mortal Edge popped from its sheath with a clang. He then stabbed without so much as a second look.
A streak of cold radiance burst like starlight.
Splurt! Splurt!
Both men’s eyes widened as blood coursed from the new holes in their throats. Their lips quivered, but they couldn’t speak.
Shortly after, both of them thudded to the ground.
Su Yi then proceeded further down the dimly lit alleyway, completely at ease.
A-Fei was watching from a distance, and when he saw this, he was so stunned, he almost screamed. Fortunately, he clamped his hands over his mouth in time.
Even so, waves of shock coursed through his heart.?Is… Is this the power of a martial artist?
At the end of the alley.
Su Yi stopped before a courtyard gate of blue-grey brick and black tile. Large lanterns hung from the gates, and their mottled, orange radiance dispersed the darkness.?Two Black Tiger Gang guards stood by the red-lacquered gate, whispering amongst themselves. From time to time, they laughed obscene, ambiguous laughter.
Suddenly, they saw a tall figure walking through the darkness.
“Who are you?” One of them asked instinctively. The figure was only partially visible beneath the mottled lamplight, his handsome features indistinct, save for that cold, inscrutable gaze.
Those eyes merely swept across them, but both guard guards felt chills course down their spines, and they shuddered involuntarily.
Afterward, there was a sharp flash of sword light.
Both guards felt sharp pain in their throats. Then, awareness left them, and they thudded limply to the ground.
Su Yi didn’t even look at them. He simply pushed open the gates and walked inside.
There was a lively banquet within the courtyard, with five or six tables and at least twenty members of the black Tiger Gang drinking, shouting, laughing, and carousing. The sound of clinking glasses filled the air. In?a shadowed corner, some were even brazenly enjoying each other’s bodies. It wasn’t just one couple, either.
The scene was downright foul; there was no better way to describe it.
Surprisingly, when Su Yi walked in, he didn’t attract much attention.
“Who are you? Why haven’t I seen you before?” A man pulled up his pants and emerged from the corner. His breath reeked of booze; he was obviously intoxicated.
A red-faced, half-dressed, flirtatious woman trailed after him.
The man looked Su Yi up and down and barked drunkenly, “I asked you a question! Didn’t you hear me?”
Su Yi glanced at him.?It was just one look, but the man trembled from head to toe, as if he’d plunged into an icy abyss. His intoxication faded somewhat.
Su Yi asked, “Tell me: where do you usually imprison the girls you kidnap?”
“In… In the dungeons,” the man stuttered. He didn’t know why, but he was incomparably terrified, like an ant being interrogated by a god.
“And where are the dungeons?”
The man pointed toward the main atrium beyond the courtyard, his finger trembling.?He was just about to say something when…
Splurt!
With a flash of metal, Mortal Edge went right through his throat.
“Big Brother Yong, I still want more…” The flirtatious woman had yet to realize something was amiss. She winked seductively, searing desire written all over her face. She walked up and tried to snuggle up against the man, only for blood to gush from his throat and splatter all over her face.
She froze, then shrieked. “Ah—! Murder! Murder!”
The sound of her terrified voice cut through the night sky.
The lively atmosphere came to a sudden standstill. Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked toward the shrieking woman.
They then saw the figure lying beside her in a puddle of blood, and their expressions changed.