"Someone’s causing trouble at the gambling house?"
From the incessant shouts and curses, Zou Feng easily came to this conclusion.
Chen Jingsheng’s face immediately darkened. He turned to go outside and see what was happening.
The Guangfa Gambling House was his territory, after all, and no one had dared to cause a scene there for a very long time.
But Chen Jingsheng had only taken a few steps when he faltered.
He suddenly seemed to experience a dizzy spell, closing his eyes and pressing a hand to his forehead as he swayed on the spot.
"Hall Master!"
Wang Xingjian hurried forward to support Chen Jingsheng, and Zou Feng followed to help steady him as well.
The dizzy spell came and went quickly.
Chen Jingsheng soon recovered, but a hint of exhaustion now colored his face. "It’s nothing. Just an old ailment. I’ll be fine after a little rest..."
"Don’t worry about me. Go take care of it!"
"Yes, sir!"
Wang Xingjian shot Zou Feng a look, then led the way toward the stairs.
Once a Maid arrived to help Chen Jingsheng to his room to rest, Zou Feng caught up with Wang Xingjian and asked, "What’s wrong with Master Chen?"
Wang Xingjian sighed. "The Cultivation Skill the Hall Master practices has always been rather harmful to the body..."
"In fact, it’s not just Master Chen. Which of us who practice Evil Skills doesn’t have some problem, big or small?" At this, Wang Xingjian gave a bitter smile.
Whether in the Black Flood Dragon Gang or other factions, it wasn’t so bad for Ninth Grade Martial Artists. But for those at Eighth and Seventh Grade, depending on the side effects of their Cultivation Skills, many were already starting to feel like they’re walking on thin ice.
They may look glamorous on the surface, strutting around Yuan Guang City as they please, but in reality, they either have no future or can barely protect themselves in the present.
Even Bian Yixia, the current de facto leader of the Black Flood Dragon Gang, was suffering in silence.
Zou Feng had once overheard her complaining that the Six Harmonies Reincarnation Skill she practiced was holding her back. Perhaps her adoptive father, Deng Guangxin, had held something back when teaching her, leaving her unable to see any hope of advancing to the Gang Qi Realm.
Zou Feng found this regrettable, but he couldn’t truly empathize.
Moreover, after his fortuitous encounter with the Immortal Treasure, Chen Jingsheng must have pushed his cultivation even harder to break through to the Seventh Grade as quickly as possible.
Although he had long since achieved his goal and advanced, the price was clearly not small.
As for whether Chen Jingsheng’s chronic ailment would affect the upcoming duel...
Zou Feng didn’t think it would be a major problem. After all, even if Chen Jingsheng had another dizzy spell during the fight, Zou Feng had ways to make his opponent, Zhu Qiming, feel even dizzier.
They descended the stairs and walked quickly into the main hall of the gambling house.
Just as they suspected, a conflict had just occurred. Many tables and stools were smashed, and the patrons had mostly scattered.
"What happened?"
Wang Xingjian demanded.
"Master Zou, Wang Incense Master!"
The gang members in the gambling house hurriedly greeted them. One stepped forward to explain, "Someone was cheating. When he got caught, he wouldn’t admit it and even started hitting people..."
’So arrogant?!’
The situation was now under control. In a corner, five gang members were pinning a man to the floor. He was still struggling and cursing nonstop.
When Zou Feng saw the man, his pupils contracted.
It was none other than Han Tao—the scumbag who had gambled away his family fortune, angered his father to death, and even sold his wife.
In Zou Feng’s mind, however, this man was known as Poison Gu No. 1.
’Sure enough, a scumbag is always a scumbag,’ he thought. ’Even after a "fortuitous encounter" and learning a Poison Skill, he still couldn’t kick his gambling addiction.’
In the past, whenever this guy got desperate from losing, he would cheat. But back then, he would just get a brutal beating and be thrown out.
But now, with some martial arts under his belt, when he was caught cheating, he dared to fly into a rage from the shame and beat up the gambling house’s staff.
He had even used the Five Poison Palm.
Zou Feng only needed a brief glance to see that several of the wailing staff members on the floor showed clear signs of being poisoned.
’He lacked the ability to do evil before. Now that he has power, his depraved nature is being amplified without limit...’
He’d used the Five Poison Palm. Though the staff members only seemed to be injured and on the ground, with nothing seriously wrong, if Zou Feng hadn’t been here, at least half of them wouldn’t have survived until morning.
’So, I’m afraid I can’t keep "raising" him anymore.’
Otherwise, even if Zou Feng didn’t deal with him, with his hopeless personality, it wouldn’t be long before someone else did.
In the next moment, under the authority of his title as the Black Flood Dragon Gang’s Medicine Hall Master, Zou Feng logically began to detoxify the staff members on the floor.
The detoxification method was simple: he used his Inner Qi to help them force the poison out.
The poison was even drawn to his Inner Qi, and as if answering a summons, it was rapidly extracted.
The moment he came into contact with the poison, Zou Feng could tell that Han Tao’s cultivation over the past few months had been quite decent.
His Five Poison Palm had reached the realm of being Slightly Accomplished, and he was very close to Entering the Hall and the Room!
Of course, this progress had a lot to do with the occasional "feedings" from Zou Feng.
"You again?!" Wang Xingjian had clearly recognized the scoundrel who used to cause trouble in the gambling house all the time.
"Oh ho, so you learned a trick or two and think you can run wild in my territory?"
Wang Xingjian’s voice turned cold. "It seems we were too merciful to you in the past, giving you the wrong impression!"
"Men, bring me a blade! Chop off his hands!"
Zou Feng couldn’t help but shoot Wang Xingjian an appreciative glance. ’Brother Wang gets me!’ he thought.
But this wasn’t Wang Xingjian reading his mind. For serious cases of cheating in a gambling house, chopping off the offender’s hands was standard procedure.
However, to prevent anyone from doing a sloppy job, Zou Feng planned to step up and do it himself.
Unexpectedly, Han Tao just snorted coldly and shouted, "You dare?!"
This response left even Wang Xingjian stunned. He couldn’t help but scoff, "And why wouldn’t I dare?"
"I’m with the Mountain and River Association now! My boss is Wu Chen! You just try and touch me!"
As soon as he said this, the scoff on Wang Xingjian’s face actually faltered.
He truly hadn’t expected Han Tao to have joined the Mountain and River Association.
Then again, the Mountain and River Association hadn’t always been so indiscriminate. They would take in trash like this?
Didn’t they have any idea what kind of person Han Tao was?
But Wang Xingjian quickly recovered and sneered, "You say Wu Chen is your boss? Heh, does he even know he has a subordinate like you?"
With that, he was about to order his men to proceed.
But in the next moment, the sound of heavy, approaching footsteps suddenly came from the entrance.
"Who dares to touch my man?"
Before the voice had even faded, a burly man with a fleshy, fierce face strode into the hall.
The man made no effort to conceal his Inner Qi, which radiated from him.
The roiling Qi Force around him made it clear he was undoubtedly an Eighth Grade Martial Artist.
Behind him, more than a dozen menacing men followed.
Three of them were Ninth Grade.
Such a display of force was quite considerable in Yuan Guang County.
Needless to say, the man who had "coincidentally" arrived just in time was none other than the one Han Tao had mentioned: Wu Chen of the Mountain and River Association.
For him to show up so "promptly" to save the day, it would be stranger if it wasn’t premeditated.
In that instant, both Zou Feng and Wang Xingjian had a moment of realization.
No wonder the Mountain and River Association would even recruit someone like Han Tao. It turned out they had intended to use him as a pawn from the start.
Speaking of which, if it weren’t for the chaos caused by the remnants of the Ten Directions Sect, the Black Flood Dragon Gang would certainly still be at a disadvantage, suppressed by the Mountain and River Association and the Danxin Alliance.
Now that things had quieted down regarding the Ten Directions Sect remnants, it was only natural that these other two factions were starting to get restless again.
One shouldn’t underestimate this kind of disruptive troublemaking. It was merely a probe designed to wear them down. Once the enemy discovered an unfavorable response, the trouble would only escalate.
"Wang Xingjian, let him go!"
"If you can’t make the call, then get Chen Jingsheng out here!"
Wu Chen walked to the center of the hall, hopped onto a table, and stared arrogantly at Wang Xingjian.
He even dared to challenge Chen Jingsheng, which clearly meant he didn’t know Chen Jingsheng was already at the Seventh Grade.
Of course, Chen Jingsheng hadn’t made this public yet.
"Let him go?" Wang Xingjian laughed again. "Your man was caught cheating in my territory, and you’re telling me to let him go?"
Wu Chen waved his hand dismissively. "Alright, alright, cut the act. This filthy place of yours exists to swindle people out of their money. My subordinate was just giving you a taste of your own medicine!"
"Well said. If the Mountain and River Association didn’t also run a gambling house, I might have actually believed you!" After a pause, Wang Xingjian’s eyes sharpened. "Wu, if you want to make a move, then make it!"
Seeing the two of them bickering back and forth, Zou Feng lost his patience.
"Brother Wang, stop wasting words on this clown. Let’s just follow the rules!"
With that, before anyone else could react, Zou Feng grabbed a nearby gang member’s saber. In one swift motion, the blade fell.
"AHHHH..."
Amidst a blood-curdling scream, Han Tao’s hands were gone.
Not far away, Liu Chun, who had come with Zou Feng, had already received an instruction from him while Wang Xingjian and Wu Chen were having their war of words.
He had been told to "package" the severed hands afterward...
Although he didn’t know what Master Zou meant by this, he could only obey immediately.
Seeing this, both Wang Xingjian and Wu Chen were stunned.
Wu Chen then sprang up from the table, roaring with fury, "You punk, how dare you!"
As he roared, Wu Chen lunged toward Zou Feng, his hands forming claws. The faint sound of a tiger’s roar echoed around him.
To the onlookers, Wu Chen’s attack was shockingly powerful. Those standing closer felt a chill of fear.
Although Zou Feng was also at the Eighth Grade, Wu Chen had been cultivating at this level for many years. His Inner Qi was profound, and it seemed he was on the verge of becoming another Seventh Grade expert for the Mountain and River Association.
Because of this, even Wang Xingjian was sweating for Zou Feng, almost tempted to break the rules of the Jianghu and intervene.
But in Zou Feng’s eyes, Wu Chen’s Cultivation Skill was an absolute mess.
’Still,’ he thought, ’as much as I’d love to turn him into a human firework in mid-air with a single palm strike, I have to consider that doing so would be a bit too conspicuous.’
So, Zou Feng suppressed the impulse and feigned an exchange of blows with Wu Chen for about twenty rounds before finally grazing Wu Chen’s shoulder with the original Karmic Fire Red Lotus Palm.
Wu Chen cried out in pain and staggered back five steps, clutching his shoulder as the smell of cooked meat filled the air.
Only then did Zou Feng cup his fist. "I was lucky."
Wu Chen wasn’t a fool. He had long since realized how difficult the fight had been for him and that his opponent likely hadn’t even used his full strength...
"So, Master Zou isn’t just skilled in medicine... I’ll remember this. We’ll meet again!"
Knowing that continuing to make a scene would only lead to further humiliation, Wu Chen had no choice but to swallow this loss for now. After a few symbolic threats, he scurried away with his men.
His original plan was to find an excuse to spar with Chen Jingsheng, but Chen Jingsheng hadn’t even shown his face...
"Wait!"
Wu Chen shuddered and slowly turned back, his expression attempting to look tough.
"Isn’t this your man? Aren’t you taking him with you?"
Grabbing Han Tao, who had fainted from the pain, Zou Feng flung him toward Wu Chen.