Five Tigers Break the Gate Blade

"So, what does the young master mean...?"

"We'll just have to wait."

The young master spoke calmly, saying, "I sent that good-for-nothing Hu San to cause trouble while we kept watch from the shadows. We wanted to see where the experts in the cloth shop were hiding, to find out the background of that fat Zhao Qian, and to see how many tricks that old fox Huang Shiyun had up his sleeve. I never expected that such a good-for-nothing like Hu San would be taken down by an unknown Su Yang."

He paused, a shadow of malice flashing in his eyes: "Without absolute certainty, any rash action could lead us down the same path as Mokan. Huang Shiyun has been setting up this scheme for a long time; we have plenty of time to wear him down."

The man in gray bowed and replied, "Understood!"

As soon as he finished speaking, three very light knocks came from outside the window, short and sharp, carrying a warning tone.

The young master's eyes narrowed, and he raised his hand to signal the man in gray to be quiet.

The man in gray strode to the window, lightly tapping the windowpane with his fingertips. A dark figure darted along the wall and whispered urgently, "Young Master! There's unusual activity from the Huang residence. Our sentries report that a powerful expert is heading towards the Drunken Immortal Pavilion!"

The young master's expression changed slightly, and he gripped the short blade in his hand tightly: "Huang Shiyun's men? They arrived quickly."

He made a quick decision and said to the man in gray in a deep voice, "We can't stay here any longer. Let's leave immediately and go to the stronghold outside the city for temporary refuge."

"That Hu San..."

The man in gray hesitated.

"Just a expendable pawn."

A ruthless glint flashed in the young master's eyes. "What does his life or death have to do with us?"

With that, he vanished through the window.

The candlelight in the secret room still burned dimly, as if no one had ever been there.

...........

Dark as ink.

At one o'clock in the morning, the lanterns outside Zuixianlou had long been extinguished, and the faint moonlight barely outlined the building's shape. The smell of alcohol and snoring mingled in the backyard, creating a relaxed atmosphere.

Su Yang lightly touched the courtyard wall with his toes, his body as light as a falling leaf, and when he landed, he didn't even disturb the wind chimes under the eaves.

The perfect state of flying on grass allowed him to completely achieve the ability to walk silently on snow.

Following the directions he had memorized, and using the shadows as cover, he quickly arrived outside the west wing of the backyard.

"Damn it! That bastard surnamed Su!"

His fingertips touched the window paper, and his inner energy probed slightly. The sounds from inside the room reached his ears clearly. Heavy breathing mixed with suppressed curses—it was Hu San's voice: "I curse you for eight generations! May your sons be born without penises!"

In the two adjacent rooms, the sound of even snoring rose and fell, indicating that there were about seven or eight people.

A cold glint flashed in Su Yang's eyes, and with a flick of his fingertips, he gently lifted the wooden latch, which fell off with a click.

His movement as light as a breeze as he pushed the door open and entered. It wasn't until his figure stood in front of the bed that Hu San, lying on the bed, suddenly realized what was happening and opened his eyes abruptly.

"Who?!"

Hu San's startled shout was barely out of his throat when Su Yang grabbed his neck with two fingers. The hairs on his body stood on end instantly. When he saw that the person before him was Su Yang, his pupils contracted sharply, filled with terror: "It's...it's you! Master...Master...how did you get here?"

"What? Can't I come?"

Su Yang's voice was extremely low, yet it carried a chilling edge. He tightened his grip slightly, making Hu San gasp for breath: "You brought people to smash up my place during the day and took eight hundred taels of silver from me. I thought you would learn your lesson, but I didn't expect you to still dare to stay here and live a life of debauchery."

Hu San's face turned bright red, and he grabbed Su Yang's wrists haphazardly with both hands, but he couldn't pry them open no matter what he did.

He could clearly feel the force of Su Yang's fingertips; if it were just a fraction more forceful, his neck would break.

"Master Su...Master Su, Grandpa! It's a misunderstanding, all a misunderstanding!"

Hu San stammered, begging for mercy: "I was blinded by greed during the day; I shouldn't have come to cause you trouble. Please spare my life!"

"Who ordered you to do this?"

Su Yang sneered, loosened his fingers slightly to allow him to speak, and his tone carried an undeniable sense of pressure.

Hu San's Adam's apple bobbed wildly, his eyes filled with terror and struggle.

He gritted his teeth, cold sweat streaming down his face—he had witnessed the young master's ruthlessness firsthand, and if he dared to utter a single word, not only he, but his entire family would be torn to pieces.

No matter how terrifying this fiend is, he can't compare to the young master's methods.

"No...no one instructed me to do this!"

Hu San's voice trembled, but he stubbornly insisted, "It was just a moment of confusion on my part; I wanted to grab some benefits. It has nothing to do with anyone else!"

"Yeah?"

Su Yang's eyes suddenly turned cold, his fingers tightened again, and his sharp gaze swept across Hu San's face like a knife: "Still being stubborn at this point? I'll ask you one last time, who ordered you to do this?"

He raised his hand and lifted the camphor wood chest at the head of Hu San's bed. The bottom of the chest was covered with a layer of oiled paper. On the left side of the oiled paper were silver ingots, and on the right side were gold nuggets and gold cakes. If you counted carefully, it was no less than three thousand taels of silver!

In addition, there were some clothes, a jade pendant of good quality, and a blue-covered thread-bound book with the five seal characters "Five Tigers Severing the Gate Knife" prominently displayed on the cover.

He even found a small, black iron token hidden in the lining of his clothes; it was icy cold to the touch.

"Um?"

Su Yang's eyes flickered slightly. He first picked up the manual and flipped through two pages to confirm that it was a complete sword manual. Then he picked up the black iron token and examined it closely. The front was embossed with a sinister owl with a sharp beak and claws, exuding a sinister aura that could devour people. The back had three intertwined lines of withered bones.

Without any hesitation, he swept the gold cakes, gold bars, silver ingots, jade pendants, secret manuals, and the black iron token into his own pocket.

"You...you're robbing me!"

Hu San was both shocked and furious, but he dared not shout. His men were right next door, but he just didn't dare to yell.

He was afraid that if he shouted, Su Yang would kill him on the spot.

"You're not going to tell, are you?"

Su Yang raised an eyebrow, sneered, and his eyes flashed with murderous intent.

he knows.

Seeing Hu San's unyielding attitude, further questioning was futile; keeping him alive would only pose a threat. With this thought in mind, she already gathered power in her fingers. Seeing this, Hu San was terrified, but still forced a scream: "You...you can't kill me! I warn you, if you kill me, he will never let you go! He will tear you to pieces!"

"Yeah?"

Su Yang's eyes flashed, and he exerted force with his fingers.

Hu San's throat was crushed, his body convulsed, his eyes widened, and he collapsed onto the bed, whereupon he breathed his last.

Su Yang withdrew his hand and straightened his robes expressionlessly.

He took out three ordinary copper coins from his pocket and shot them into Hu San's throat, heart, and forehead, respectively. After doing this, he dusted off his hands, scanned the room to make sure nothing was missed, and then turned and rushed out the window.

...............

Su Yang returned to the main room of the cloth shop like a ghost, and closed the doors and windows behind him.

He did not light a lamp, but stood quietly in the darkness for a moment to shed the chill of the night.

After calming down, he walked to the table and took out what he had obtained.

First, there were twenty-five gold ingots and bullion bars, each weighing ten taels, and the rest were silver ingots, plus several property deeds for houses and shops.

Silently calculating, adding the eight hundred taels at dusk, the total came to nearly four thousand taels of silver.

Even with his resolute will, Su Yang couldn't help but feel a jolt when his fingertips touched the pile of gold ingots and silver that was enough to buy more than a dozen mansions in Jingling.

"As expected, a horse won't get fat without night grass..."

He muttered to himself.

During the day, he still had to scheme for a few taels of medicine, but now he carried the wealth of several lifetimes for an ordinary person. Hu San had been exploiting Nancheng for many years, and behind each of these gold ingots was probably soaked in the blood and tears of others. Now, they had all become stepping stones for Su Yang.

"The money for the soup is enough."

A cold smile curled at the corner of his lips.

This windfall became the first cornerstone for him to establish himself and pursue his martial arts career.

With money, one can purchase all kinds of nourishing substances to replenish qi and blood, and accelerate the cultivation speed of the "Nourishing Life and Strengthening the Origin Skill"—this foundational skill, the more resources one accumulates, the faster the proficiency increases, and the more powerful the internal strength accumulates, forming an advantage like a snowball rolling downhill.

His knuckles tapped lightly on the heavy bundle containing four thousand taels of gleaming silver. Holding this "huge sum," his mind began to race. But going it alone, he knew he couldn't possibly manage it all.

Money needs to be converted into tangible power and resources to leverage a larger situation. Should we find an existing, easily controllable small gang, quietly infiltrate it, and seize its power?

Or should he start from scratch, finding some desperate but promising men and secretly building a team loyal only to himself? Either way, he needs a starting point, someone who can handle miscellaneous tasks, gather information, and even expand his future sources of income.

With this thought in mind, he looked into the distance, as if piercing through the night of Jingling City.

Based on the timeline he knew, the two Yangzhou dragons who stirred up the storm, Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling, should have already been learning the skills of making Tuanyou Rice and Yujing Rice from Old Zhang in Cuishan Town.

Since we've come to this world by chance, some opportunities and some people can no longer follow their original paths.

For example, there's Shang Xiuxun, the beautiful and talented owner of Pegasus Ranch.

A sharp glint of determination flashed in his eyes. This world, this opportunity, and that destined-to-shine person—he wanted to... seize them all first.