Chapter Ninety: Slaying the Three Tigers

Jiang Pingchuan stood beside Master Gong. The old man kept fingering the prayer beads in his hand, the beads making a soft rasping sound that had nothing to do with the usual clatter of them turning.

Only after Jiang Pingchuan sensed it carefully did he realize the old man beside him was about to unleash something terrible. As the beads in Master Gong’s hand continued to spin, the quiet darkness within the city lord’s residence filled with a steady, faint friction, and beneath it came a hissing sound.

Jiang Pingchuan looked more closely and saw that Master Gong was indeed making his move. No one knew what he had done with those prayer beads, but he had somehow lured out the hidden venomous snakes.

At a glance, the entire courtyard of the city lord’s residence was covered in snakes, on the ground, in the trees, even along the eaves. They hissed, flicking out their pitch-black tongues. The sight made Jiang Pingchuan shiver despite himself. This old man really did keep his depth well hidden.

“Master Gong, you’re already this old, and you still think you’re young?”

A figure leaped out of the darkness, about the same age as Master Gong. Two more appeared from the other two directions, likewise men of similar age.

Jiang Pingchuan noticed that all three were at the early foundation stage, much the same level as Master Gong. Yet from the look of them, their lives were clearly far more comfortable than his companion’s. Though they were of similar age, they looked far younger than the old man beside him.

“Heh. So it’s the Three Tigers of the Xie family. Since when did you become the city lord’s lackeys? Tell me, do three-legged dogs even walk properly?”

Master Gong sneered at Xie the Eldest Tiger. The other two were Xie the Second Tiger, whose hair was tied into little pigtails, and Xie the Third Tiger, who wore a thin moustache. Xie the Eldest Tiger did not take offense at Master Gong’s words.

Looking at the cultivator at his feet, Xie the Eldest Tiger’s expression hardened. With one palm strike, he smashed the man’s head to pieces, then straightened up and dusted his hands clean of the blood.

“Master Gong has always had a filthy mouth. I, Xie, am generous enough not to bother with you.”

Xie the Eldest Tiger gave a cold snort and spoke to him. Master Gong, meanwhile, looked at the Three Tigers with a faintly amused expression.

“You say my mouth is filthy? Have you no shame? You three should have died thirty years ago.”

No one knew which of Xie the Eldest Tiger’s words had angered Master Gong, but the old man’s face flushed red and the prayer beads in his hand rattled sharply. The venomous snakes in the courtyard hissed as they rushed toward the Three Tigers of the Xie family.

Seeing this, the Three Tigers remained perfectly calm. They simply hurled palm strike after palm strike, and every snake Master Gong summoned was shattered into a spray of flesh.

Jiang Pingchuan once again witnessed Master Gong’s ability to make a show of things. Just moments ago he had thought the old man was about to unleash some devastating trump card, but not a single snake had even reached the three men before being smashed to bits.

“What are you standing there for? Move!”

Seeing that Jiang Pingchuan was still standing beside him, staring blankly, Master Gong grew a little irritated. Jiang Pingchuan glanced at him coolly.

If he had not mistaken Master Gong for someone about to make a major move, he would already have acted. On his left, at the main gate of the city lord’s residence, fighting had already broken out.

In other words, his people were already engaged with the guards of the residence. Jiang Pingchuan clenched an empty fist and thrust it toward Xie the Eldest Tiger. With a thunderous boom, Xie the Eldest Tiger was sent flying backward, crashing into the wall and coughing up a mouthful of blood before barely managing to withstand Jiang Pingchuan’s first strike.

Before absolute strength, there was probably no one in East River City who could endure three moves from Jiang Pingchuan. If only he had time to study more advanced offensive techniques, the battle might have been easier.

As he fought, Jiang Pingchuan thought that once the matter in East River City was settled, he ought to study The Myriad Methods again in earnest. That comprehensive cultivation art was unfathomable in its transformations and terrifying in its power.

This manual was the supreme treasure of the scripture vault of the Maoshan Sect. Hong Wu had once told him that just one copy of The Myriad Methods would be enough to restore the Maoshan Sect to its former glory.

Xie the Second Tiger saw Jiang Pingchuan’s empty fist and rushed toward him at full speed, muttering something like an incantation all the while. In Jiang Pingchuan’s eyes, more than a dozen Xie the Second Tigers appeared.

An avatar technique.

Jiang Pingchuan withdrew the illusory spear in his hand. Purple energy gathered across one palm, and his eyes began to shine with silver light.

Watching the ever-shifting Xie the Second Tiger before him, he thought of all things under heaven: truth and falsehood, substance and shadow. Nothing could escape his scrutiny. No matter how swift the movement, no matter how chaotic the footwork, everything was frozen beneath those silver eyes of his.

Just as Xie the Second Tiger was about to slam into Jiang Pingchuan, Master Gong, who was entangled with Xie the Third Tiger on the side, grew anxious. He cursed himself for being muddle-headed, never imagining that his partner would be such a thickhead.

Master Gong wanted to warn Jiang Pingchuan to snap out of Xie the Second Tiger’s illusionary formation, but Xie the Third Tiger seemed to see through his intention and increased both the force and speed of his attacks.

Driven to the limit by Xie the Third Tiger, Master Gong had no time even to breathe, let alone warn Jiang Pingchuan. Gritting his teeth, he tightened his grip on the prayer beads and met Xie the Third Tiger head-on.

He no longer dodged, nor did he hold back any of his strength. He channeled all the true energy in his body into his fists and exchanged blow after blow with Xie the Third Tiger. Faced with Master Gong’s sudden change in fighting style, Xie the Third Tiger was momentarily thrown off balance.

The Master Gong before him seemed like a different man. He was no longer the same opportunistic, profit-driven old fellow, no longer timid or fearful. Instead, he was truly fighting with everything he had.

Under Master Gong’s fierce assault, Xie the Third Tiger no longer held back. Xie the Eldest Tiger also joined in, attacking at the same time. Even then, Master Gong did not retreat. He smashed one fist against Xie the Third Tiger, blocked half a palm from Xie the Eldest Tiger, and still had to endure the remaining half-palm strike.

He was fighting with his life.

The old man was staking his life to accompany Jiang Pingchuan. Xie the Eldest Tiger had already been badly wounded by Jiang Pingchuan, but even so, Master Gong had little energy or true power left to contend with two early-stage foundation cultivators at once.

On the other side, Xie the Second Tiger wore a ferocious grin as he rushed up to Jiang Pingchuan. He spread his hands, ready to crush Jiang Pingchuan’s head. In his eyes, Jiang Pingchuan had already been completely misled by his avatar technique and illusionary formation.

This was the perfect moment to kill Jiang Pingchuan. If he could not be wounded now, then once he awakened, there would probably be no one left in all of East River City who could defeat him.

“Die!”

“Thud, thud...”

As Xie the Second Tiger charged to within arm’s reach, he let out a roar. But then his pupils suddenly contracted. In the darkness he had not been able to see Jiang Pingchuan’s expression clearly, but now that he was close, he realized that Jiang Pingchuan was actually smiling.

He was looking at him with unmistakable disdain.

Xie the Second Tiger did not hesitate and struck at once. Unfortunately, the instant he moved, Jiang Pingchuan snapped his neck cleanly.

Xie the Second Tiger did not die at once. His neck twisted out of place, half of it still hanging from his body while the other half had become a bloody ruin. Jiang Pingchuan patted the stunned face of Xie the Second Tiger, then leaped upward and kicked the head suspended from his neck.

With a boom, Xie the Second Tiger’s head was kicked clear off his body, flying straight toward Xie the Eldest Tiger. Xie the Eldest Tiger was briefly stunned, unable to decide what to do.

That was his own younger brother’s head. Should he catch it, or should he smash it to pieces? If he caught Xie the Second Tiger’s head, the true energy wrapped around it by Jiang Pingchuan would surely blast him into a cripple. But if he did not catch it, how could he ever face his parents?

By the time Xie the Second Tiger’s head reached him, Xie the Eldest Tiger gritted his teeth and smashed it to pieces with a single palm. Then he turned, eyes bloodshot, to glare at Jiang Pingchuan.

Only to find that Jiang Pingchuan had already appeared before him.

Xie the Eldest Tiger felt a sudden chill below the waist as he fell to the ground. His body had been severed cleanly in half at the middle by Jiang Pingchuan’s illusory spear.

“Aah! I’ll fight you to the death!”

Seeing that both his eldest and second brothers had been killed by Jiang Pingchuan, Xie the Third Tiger spewed a mouthful of blood in fury and turned, launching a palm strike toward Jiang Pingchuan.

The moment Xie the Third Tiger extended his hand, Jiang Pingchuan seized it. Then, with a single step forward, he brutally tore off Xie the Third Tiger’s entire arm.

Seeing this, Master Gong punched straight through Xie the Third Tiger’s chest.

The renowned Three Tigers of the Xie family had all fallen this night. Master Gong did not possess the strange robe Jiang Pingchuan wore, and his own body was drenched in blood.

Jiang Pingchuan looked at the blood-soaked Master Gong. The old man was badly injured. To still be standing after taking more than a dozen combined blows from Xie the Eldest Tiger and Xie the Third Tiger was no small feat. Jiang Pingchuan’s impression of the old fellow had changed somewhat.

“Why didn’t you dodge?”

Jiang Pingchuan looked at the slightly panting Master Gong in confusion. Master Gong drew a deep breath and straightened his back, forcing his old spine upright.

“Offense is the best defense. You need someone who can take a beating, so I came.”

Standing before Jiang Pingchuan, Master Gong lifted his head and looked at the young man with great seriousness. For all these years, for thirty full years, he had not made a single move. This was the first time in thirty years that he had fought with such abandon, and the old fellow’s unyielding nature had once again been awakened by Jiang Pingchuan’s blood.

“Are you all right?”

Whenever Master Gong turned solemn, Jiang Pingchuan never quite knew what to say. Just like what Master Gong had said moments ago, Jiang Pingchuan had nearly been moved.

“If I’d known you were this reliable, I wouldn’t have come. These people aren’t even enough to stuff your teeth.”

Master Gong did not answer Jiang Pingchuan directly. Hearing the old man’s words, Jiang Pingchuan only smiled. He had always hidden all of his strength; only by revealing it at such a moment could he deliver a fatal blow to the enemy.

Combat required timing. One could not drag things out for no reason. Strike like thunder, kill with a single blow—that was the way to remain undefeated.

“Let’s go.”

Jiang Pingchuan waved to Master Gong and turned toward the main hall. All five cultivators at the foundation stage in the city lord’s residence had been slain. In truth, Jiang Pingchuan alone could have dealt with them easily.

Only, he felt that this was not his burden alone. Since he was going to leave, he ought to drag more people into this and leave behind some karmic entanglements to share the consequences for him.

Master Gong answered. Just as Jiang Pingchuan turned away, a sweet taste rose in Master Gong’s mouth and a stream of bright red blood slipped from his lips.

As he hurried after Jiang Pingchuan, Master Gong quickly wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth with his ragged robe, afraid Jiang Pingchuan might notice.