The Tiger-Skin Chair of the Canal Gang!

Wang Jian, the leader of the Night Patrol, led his men to rush up to the third floor, smashed open the door, and were met with a stench of blood. The firelight illuminated the messy bedroom and revealed Liu Meng's cold body lying in a pool of blood in the corner.

"Boss!"

Wang Jian's eyes widened in fury. He reached out to check and found no pulse.

He suddenly looked up, his scarlet eyes fixed on the open west window.

"The assassin jumped out of the window! Chase him! Lock down the entire ship!"

"Send the signal to gather all archers to the back wall! Li Biao, you take your men and block the main entrance!"

"Whoever it is, we must keep him at headquarters! Otherwise, neither of us will be able to explain ourselves!"

He roared furiously, and the gong exploded instantly, tearing through the night sky. The entire headquarters of the Canal Gang erupted in cheers, and countless torches surged toward Tingtao Pavilion like a tidal wave.

Wang Jian's gaze swept across every corner of the room like a knife, especially the messy canopy bed and the overturned bookshelf. A hint of surprise flashed in his eyes—the assassin came quickly and left quickly. What did he take?

now.

Su Yang had already drifted down to the narrow alley behind the pavilion.

The roars and the sound of gongs approached from behind, while flames flickered and shadowy figures loomed ahead; the road ahead was blocked.

"With my perfect grass-skimming ability, you cannot catch me!"

Su Yang sneered inwardly. Without hesitation, he twisted his body and darted into the depths of the densely built, dimly lit backyard. He pushed his Grass-Walking Lightness Skill to its limit, lightly touching the top of the corrugated wall with his toes, like a wisp of smoke, quickly leaving the noisy pursuers far behind.

"Huh? Tiger skin?"

After passing through a spacious training ground, just as he was about to climb over the wall, a brightly lit hall to his side caught his eye: the Hall of Gathering Righteousness.

At this moment, the hall doors were wide open, candles were burning brightly, but there was no one there; the guards had obviously been alerted and transferred.

On the upper steps deep within the hall, a chair covered with a complete, colorful orange-yellow tiger skin stands majestically.

"Searching for tiger bones is to increase my proficiency with the Tiger Soul Blade in order to kill a tiger... Isn't this tiger skin also part of a tiger's body?"

Su Yang looked at the tiger-skin chair, his eyes gleaming.

He glanced left and right to make sure no one was around, then shot into the hall like lightning and pounced on the tiger-skin chair.

"Clang!"

The ring-pommel straight sword was drawn and gently slashed three times across the tiger-skin chair.

[Tiger Soul Blade Proficiency +1!]

At that moment, a panel flashed in Su Yang's mind.

"Cutting off a tiger's skin counts as killing a tiger! This trip was definitely worthwhile!"

Su Yang was overjoyed. He immediately turned his inner strength into his circular-pommel straight sword and swiftly slashed along the seam between the tiger skin and the wooden frame.

With a few soft hissing sounds, the silver thread snapped.

He used all his strength and pulled outwards!

The entire heavy, colorful tiger skin was easily lifted and rolled into a ball by him.

"Search this area!"

"Look, it's the Hall of Righteous Gathering!"

Just then, hurried footsteps and shouts could be heard from afar outside the hall; the pursuers were close by.

Su Yang's eyes turned cold. Without hesitation, he picked up the tiger skin, unfurled his Grasshopper Spear, and leaped out of the Hall of Righteousness, his figure disappearing into the vast night.

..........

Carrying the tiger skin, Su Yang moved silently through the streets and rooftops like a night owl. His perfect flight over the grass made his figure almost blend into the night, and with a few leaps, he completely shook off the noise and firelight behind him.

He did not return to the cloth shop, but instead, relying on his memory of the place he had scouted during the day, he headed west of Jingling City.

There is an old canal that runs through the city. The canal is narrow and the water flows gently. There are few pedestrians at night.

More importantly, there was a dilapidated stone bridge that had been abandoned for many years by the river. At the junction of the bridge and the foundation stone on the bank, a natural stone crevice had been formed due to years of disrepair, which was the emergency hiding place he had chosen in advance.

We arrived at the foot of the bridge.

The damp mud and the fishy smell hit you in the face.

He pushed aside the vines and squeezed sideways into the crevice. The space inside was narrow, barely enough for one person to curl up, but it was secluded enough.

He put down the tiger skin and the bundle on his back, took a short breath, and, by the dim moonlight, began to take stock of the gains he had made from this life-or-death struggle.

The manual "Killing Techniques" has a blackened cover and worn edges, with annotations by Liu Meng on it.

There were several gold ingots and gold cakes, each one heavy and substantial, and more than a dozen pieces of gold jewelry inlaid with gemstones. A rough estimate puts their value at no less than five thousand taels of silver.

There was a thick stack of house deeds, land deeds, and shop and dock deeds. Su Yang quickly flipped through them, his heart slightly shocked—a rough count revealed that there were four properties, and as many as seven or eight shops, docks, and warehouses of various sizes, scattered throughout different areas inside and outside Jingling City. Clearly, these were all secret properties acquired by Liu Meng under various pretexts, and were by no means public property of the Canal Gang.

Su Yang's gaze finally landed on the token.

The token is entirely black, heavy in the hand, and has an icy feel. It is made of neither gold nor jade. The front is carved with a crouching black tortoise. The most peculiar thing is the tortoise shell. The pattern is not a regular square, but rather layers upon layers, intricate and complex, like hexagonal frost flowers condensed on a windowpane in winter.

"The tiger skin is too big. If I cut off a piece and take it back, will whittling a small wooden knife increase my skill level?"

Looking at the enormous tiger skin, Su Yang suddenly had a brilliant idea.

Do it when you think of it.

He drew his ring-pommel sword, cut off a palm-sized piece of tiger skin, and lightly slashed it a few times with the sword.

[Tiger Soul Blade Proficiency +1!]

Three slashes were made, and the mental panel flashed.

"It really works!"

Su Yang's eyes lit up, and he immediately sheathed his knife and stuffed the palm-sized tiger skin into his pocket.

"The remaining tiger skin, along with these gold ingots, gold bars, shop deeds, tokens, and so on, are a hot potato; they must be buried!"

Su Yang acted on his idea immediately. He wrapped the gold cake, gold nuggets, contract, and token in a tiger skin, stuffed it into a crevice under the bridge, and then carefully covered it with a thick layer of gravel, mud, and existing weeds, perfectly concealing all traces.

Finally, he tightly bound his blood-stained night clothes, mask, and several heavy river pebbles together, walked to the water's edge, and silently sank into the canal, watching the bubbles rise and disappear, the water returning to calm, as if nothing had ever happened.

Having done all this in the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, Su Yang listened intently for a quarter of an hour before setting off towards the South City Cloth Shop.

........

Ruifeng Cloth Shop.

In Su Yang's own room, he held a foot-long wooden sword in his hand, the sword emitting the fragrance of camphor wood.

This was cut down by the canal on the way back.

[Tiger Soul Blade Proficiency +1!]

【……】

Su Yang held a small wooden knife and chopped at the palm-sized tiger skin. Every three chops, a panel would flash in his mind.

at the same time.

Before him lay the Killing Blade Technique manual he had obtained from Liu Meng, along with some annotations.

While watching the killing technique, he also cut tiger skins, occasionally glancing at the tiger picture next to him, a hungry tiger pouncing on its prey—killing three birds with one stone.

【Killing Technique (Beginner 0/350)】

[Martial Arts Killing Knife Technique Detected (Beginner Level 0/350)]

[You can use 35 simplification points to simplify. Simplify now?]

Time passed, and a quarter of an hour later, the Killing Blade Technique appeared on Su Yang's mind panel.

"simplify!"

Su Yang immediately confirmed it in his mind.

These past few days, Su Yang has been drinking ginseng soup every day, and the simplified points he has accumulated are already sufficient, which are now coming in handy.

[You have consumed 35 simplification points to simplify the "Killing Blade Technique"... Simplifying... Simplification successful... Killing Blade Technique = Killing!]

"Killing animals increases proficiency?"

A thoughtful look appeared in Su Yang's eyes.

Does this mean that as long as you kill someone, you can increase your proficiency in this killing technique?

So, does that mean we'll be killing people indiscriminately?

"Wait a minute, Buddhism says that anything in this world that has life is considered a living being... So, should I take some time to go to a slaughterhouse? Or find a restaurant kitchen to kill chickens and ducks?"

"Or maybe we should go find some bugs and crush them tomorrow?"

Su Yang's heart stirred.

"Forget it, I'll focus on mastering the Tiger Soul Blade and the Killing Blade Technique first. I'll deal with them tomorrow! I'm late for tonight, I'll go to the black market tomorrow night!"

Su Yang made up his mind, put away the Killing Blade Technique manual, and began to chop tiger skin with a small wooden knife. While improving his proficiency with the Breaking Army Tiger Soul Blade, he also studied the tiger diagram to improve his proficiency with the Overlord Blade.