Outside the courtyard wall.
Yang Jing peered through a crack in the wall, observing the situation inside.
After emerging from the main house, Skinny Zhang Kui picked up the short axe from the stone table, left the courtyard, and headed south down the alley.
'Hmm? He's gone?'
Yang Jing froze, his brow furrowed in surprise.
He had been looking for an opportunity to strike. His original plan was to take advantage of their weakness and kill both the injured Xu Tai and Zhang Kui at once. He hadn't expected Zhang Kui to just leave.
But Zhang Kui's departure was a good thing. It would allow him to focus all his energy on dealing with Xu Tai.
Zhang Kui was just an insignificant minor character. The person Yang Jing truly wanted to deal with was Xu Tai, the Gang Leader of the Great Fortune Gang.
Although Xu Tai was currently injured, he was still an expert at the Peak of Mingjin. To deal with him, Yang Jing had to be on high alert.
After Zhang Kui left, Yang Jing sensed his chance had come, but he didn't act immediately.
The night was as thick as undiluted ink. Not even a whisper of wind stirred the air, and the old locust tree in the courtyard stood as still as a phantom.
After Skinny Zhang Kui left, Yang Jing waited outside the wall for the time it takes half an incense stick to burn. Once he confirmed there were no other movements, he leaped lightly, darted through the shadows at the base of the wall, and vaulted silently into the courtyard.
The moment his feet touched the ground, he crouched like a cat, pressing his ear against the cold brick wall to listen for any sounds from within the courtyard.
There was only the occasional sputtering of the oil lamp and a cough from the main house, nothing else.
He lightened his steps, hugging the wall as he circled around to the window of the main house. He wet his finger with a bit of saliva and gently poked at a tear in the window paper, widening the hole slightly.
Peering inside through the dim, yellow light, he saw Xu Tai leaning against a bedpost, resting with his eyes closed. A large, dark red stain had seeped through the bandages on his chest, and his breathing was as ragged as a broken bellows.
The tension in Yang Jing's heart eased slightly.
'It seems Senior Brother Liu's information was correct. That old scoundrel Xu Tai is indeed seriously injured.'
He took two steps back, focused his hearing on the sounds outside the courtyard, and confirmed no one was approaching. Then, he suddenly kicked the door.
CRASH!
The wooden latch shattered, and the door flew open, slamming against the wall with a gust of wind.
"Who is it?!"
Xu Tai's eyes flew open, a flash of panic in them. But years of combat instinct made him tense up instantly, and he subconsciously tried to dive under the bed.
Just then, a cold glint of light shot from Yang Jing's hand—it was the short blade he had been carrying. It sliced through the air and stabbed straight toward the bedframe!
Xu Tai reacted quickly. Gritting his teeth against the pain, he threw himself sideways. The short blade grazed past his waist and embedded itself deep into the bedframe with a THWACK, the hilt still vibrating.
But the evasive maneuver had aggravated his wound, making him a half-step too slow. Where the wind from the blade had swept past his waist, the bandage instantly split open, and blood gushed out.
Xu Tai let out a muffled groan of pain, cold sweat instantly soaking his forehead. Just as he was about to reach for the saber at his bedside, Yang Jing pounced like a ferocious tiger.
"Who are you?! Does the Yiqi Gang really have a third Mingjin expert?"
Xu Tai stared at Yang Jing, who was dressed in Night Clothes with a blue cloth mask covering his face. His own face was a ghastly mix of blue and white as he tried to guess the intruder's identity.
He struggled to get up, but the moment he stood straight, the world spun around him. He could only stagger backward until his back slammed heavily against the wall.
Yang Jing gave him no chance to breathe. Sinking his waist and twisting his hips, he launched the 'Stone-Splitting' stance of the Mountain-Shattering Fist straight at Xu Tai's chest.
Fueled by Mingjin, the fist carried a ferocious force. Xu Tai hastily raised his arm to block.
With a dull THUD, he felt his arm go numb, as if it had struck a red-hot branding iron. The impact sent him crashing against the wall again, and a metallic, sweet taste rose in his throat.
"Mountain-Shattering Fist? You're... you're Yang—"
Xu Tai's expression changed in an instant.
In that moment, he had a vague idea of his attacker's identity.
But once he guessed the man's identity, he was struck by an unprecedented sense of absurdity. It was preposterous.
Both Sun's Martial Arts Hall and the Great Fortune Gang were located in the Xicheng District. As the Gang Leader of the Great Fortune Gang, Xu Tai naturally knew a great deal about the well-known Sun's Martial Arts Hall. He even had some friends who were disciples there themselves.
Therefore, Xu Tai had some familiarity with the > taught at Sun's Martial Arts Hall.
The moment Yang Jing used the Mountain-Shattering Fist, Xu Tai recognized it.
He had almost no conflicts with the Mingjin Disciples of Sun's Martial Arts Hall. If there was any friction at all, it was with that Yang Jing.
But he hadn't even found the time to deal with Yang Jing yet! As things stood, it was a matter of a little more than ten taels of silver. Could he really be trying to kill him over a dozen or so taels of silver?!
Looking at the silent man in black, whose eyes glinted with icy killing intent, Xu Tai felt an irrepressible surge of regret.
After his men had investigated Yang Jing, he had assumed the boy was just a blockhead who did nothing but practice his fists. Even breaking through to Mingjin didn't seem like a big deal.
'If I had known this guy was such a ruthless, cold-blooded killer,' he thought, 'I wouldn't have just let go of the sixteen taels of silver. I would've given up one hundred taels of silver to smooth things over with him.'
For a gang member like him who fought his way up from the bottom, an enemy's personality was the most important thing. In other words, you bullied the meek and tried not to make enemies with those who weren't. If a conflict was unavoidable, you had to resolve it as quickly as possible with a single, killing blow.
But with Yang Jing, they had misjudged.
Yang Jing wasn't some quiet, honest pushover. On the contrary, he was a ruthless and decisive killer.
"Brother, don't! I have money! I'll give you money! Gold, silver, precious medicines—"
Xu Tai was terrified. At his peak, he naturally wouldn't have feared Yang Jing. But now, severely injured, he couldn't even muster thirty percent of his strength.