Hard fight
Feet were covered in poop, and the body was stained with feces. Even the mouth had been splashed with it. The woman continued vomiting, while a bloody fist came crashing down. She barely had time to react before hastily raising her arm to defend herself.
Bang!
A blood-red fist collided with her snow-white palm, producing a muffled sound that echoed through the silent courtyard, as if a cannonball had been fired. Two large fat pigs cowered in the corner of the pigsty behind the fence, squealing in fright.
In the darkness, the two figures clashed fiercely, each collision causing the dilapidated courtyard to tremble. Sewage flowed on the ground, and pig manure was splattered everywhere. Fists were thrown, and legs were weaving shadows. They met force with force, neither giving an inch.
However, the woman grew increasingly surprised. Prior to the fight, she had received intelligence about the assassination of a newly initiated disciple of the Red Line Fist. But now, in the midst of the battle, she realized that her opponent didn't match the information she had received at all. How could someone at just the initiation level be this skilled?
Her mind raced as she kicked her legs out from under her skirt, delivering a series of powerful blows. A muffled thud followed. Wei Tao felt a tightness in his chest, and a trickle of blood escaped from the corner of his lips. He staggered backward, his body colliding with the fence before finally coming to a halt.
The woman exhaled, fighting back the wave of nausea, and took a step forward. She hesitated for a moment, clutching the giant dung spoon in her hand, before deciding not to immediately attack again. The crescent moon peeked out from behind the clouds, casting a veil-like fog of moonlight over the earth.
Two figures stood ten steps apart on the ground covered in pig manure, silent and motionless. One was slender and graceful, while the other was slightly stout.
"Wei, I never imagined that you could be such a filthy person," she said, her words piercing the stillness of the night.
"Do you know my name?" Wei Tao's complexion slightly changed, his gaze turning cold. "Who are you again?"
A moment later, the woman tossed aside the square kerchief she had been using to wipe her face. She gritted her teeth, suppressing her nausea, and said, "Remember, Bai Qian is the one who will kill you."
"Just because you're a feisty little girl, you think you can kill me? You're just spouting nonsense!"
"When you beg at my feet later, you'll realize how absurd your words are."
Wei Tao exhaled slowly, his breath tainted with the taste of blood. This woman exuded a tremendous oppressive force, catching him off guard. He hadn't expected that the slender, graceful legs beneath her short skirt could possess such power. They were like two iron whips, striking his arm and dispersing his condensed qi and blood. Moreover, the hidden blade concealed behind the heel of her leather boots added to his troubles.
If it hadn't been for the advantage he gained by pouring a few spoonfuls of dung over her earlier, he might have met his end under her legs.
A night breeze swept through, intensifying the stench pervading the small courtyard. Bai Qian squinted, carefully observing his weaknesses. However, she didn't anticipate that after uttering a cruel remark, the man turned around and fled without the slightest hesitation.
"Scared and want to run? You can't escape!" Bai Qian hurriedly gave chase, swiftly traversing the dilapidated courtyards and closing in on the figure ahead.
She leapt onto a stone wall, preparing to jump down. But at the wall's edge, she abruptly halted, her gaze fixed on the violently trembling silhouette below. Disgust and irritation filled her eyes.
She had been wondering why the man hadn't run away, only to discover that he had panicked and fallen into the filthy pigsty.
Bai Qian hesitated momentarily, then with a pop, she jumped down and approached Wei Tao step by step.
In the dim moonlight, Wei Tao half-closed his eyes, his body trembling slightly. His arms were held behind his back, and green tendons bulged, muscles knotting visibly. The golden rune flashed rapidly within his status bar.
The final gold coin silently vanished.
The progress bar of the Red Line Fist also skyrocketed, rapidly ascending from 40 percent to 50 percent.
Bang!
A profound transformation swept through his body. Although the insignia of slight achievement remained unchanged, he could clearly feel his qi and blood surging, a significant improvement from before.
"Do you think that by escaping into the pigsty, you can pull off the same old trick and save your life?"
Bai Qian stood a few steps away, a faint smile appearing on her face. "I really despise this kind of place, but as long as I can kill you, I won't mind getting dirty and filthy."
"I had no intention of escaping, and I didn't expect jumping into the pigsty to make you abandon the chase. I simply needed to buy myself a little time," she explained.
Wei Tao's body gradually ceased its trembling, and he straightened himself, bursting into laughter. "Indeed, human nature is inferior to animal instinct in some respects."
"What do you mean?" Bai Qian asked, slightly taken aback.
Ka-cha!
Wei Tao lightly touched his fists behind his back, producing a sound reminiscent of metal.
Qi and blood surged within his body, at least thirty percent stronger than before. The sensation of power was intoxicating and irresistible.
"You think you can kill me with a stroke of luck, you little novice of Muscle Refinement?" Bai Qian sneered. Suddenly, her white, slender legs swelled, covered in densely packed blood-colored lines that looked strange and terrifying.
As she recalled the information she held about this person and compared it to the man before her, an inexplicable chill ran down her spine.
At this moment, she had completely abandoned her initial mentality, replacing it with utmost seriousness and a fierce intent to kill.
"I'm not so easily dealt with. You'll have to try and find out!" Wei Tao let out a low roar and lunged forward.
Bang!
Fists and feet clashed, their impact resembling that of a heavy hammer. The two collided once again, stirring up the putrid sewage.
After a dozen breaths...
Suddenly, Bai Qian staggered backwards, withdrawing from the battle circle. It took several steps for her to regain her balance. Gasping for breath, her expression frozen, she lowered her head, her gaze fixated on her chest. There, where it should have stood proudly, a large chunk had inexplicably collapsed. Blood dripped and fell, not reaching the messy ground.
"You, you're about to touch the threshold of the Blood Condensation level... Xue Xue, she lied to me..." she muttered, her face filled with despair.
Suddenly, a sharp stone shot towards her, striking her left eye and propelling her backward, causing her to fall to the ground. Wei Tao picked up the wooden spoon once again and approached slowly. He splattered a large handful of feces on her face and ruthlessly smashed two stones. After waiting for a while and receiving no response, he exhaled impure air, bending over to empty the contents of his stomach.
In less than fifteen minutes, he had taken the lives of five individuals. However, that wasn't the main reason for his nausea. The smell was simply unbearable. It was no wonder someone had said before that a mop dipped in it would make Lu Bu reincarnate. It was indeed an honest statement. Although what he had dipped into the pigsty was not human waste, the effect was no less than that of human waste, if not more potent.
Throwing all the corpses into the nearby garbage pit as a way to provide some food for the two frightened fat pigs, Wei Tao climbed over two walls and arrived at another courtyard deep in the alley. He walked around the yard, fetched a few basins of water to wash his body, changed into a fresh set of clothes from the clothesline, and quietly disappeared into the depths of the night.
Upon returning home, Wei Tao was exhausted and dispirited. Without even eating dinner, he collapsed directly onto the bed. The sudden attack had left him inexplicably irritated. The bruises from multiple collisions on his body throbbed and burned as if scalded by boiling water.
He couldn't fathom why Wang Yingxue had harbored such murderous intent towards him. Was it simply because of the Blood Activation Pill? But the pill had already been taken by Wang Lianshan. He hadn't overreacted either. Wang Yingxue's animosity seemed unwarranted and irreconcilable. It left him questioning his own rationale.
Unable to sleep, Wei Tao decided to visit the hospital. He followed the internal training method of the Red Line Fist, repeatedly circulating his qi and blood to alleviate the pain from his bruises. The faces of Wang Yingxue's siblings flashed in his mind, gradually calming his emotions and suppressing the growing urge to kill.
Wait a little longer, he thought. It won't be long. They need to understand that many things are beyond their control. Every consequence he faced would be doubled upon them.