Translator: Cinder Translations
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Bidding farewell to the Auntie, Song Wen arrived outside house number 15.
The house appeared somewhat dilapidated; it seemed no one had lived there for a while.
Song Wen turned and left Tong Luo Lane.
Auntie said Gou Hang had moved out more than twenty days ago, which was around the time he was attacked by Tang Liang.
It was clear that Gou Hang was an extremely cautious person, anticipating that Song Wen might come looking for trouble and had moved out ahead of time.
Song Wen returned to the main road. When passing by a ready-made clothing store, he pondered for a moment and went in.
A moment later, he changed into a set of sturdy clothes, donned a bamboo hat with a thin veil covering his face, giving him the aura of a wandering swordsman.
Song Wen made his way to a restaurant not far from the entrance of the Tian Sha Gang. He sat on the second floor by the window.
This position had an excellent view, perfectly overlooking the entrance of the Tian Sha Gang.
He waited there for almost half a day. It wasn't until afternoon that he saw Gou Hang, accompanied by two of his men, leaving the Tian Sha Gang.
Song Wen did not disturb the three, but instead followed them from a distance.
From early afternoon until nightfall, he witnessed firsthand what real thugs were like.
Extorting small vendors, dining and dashing, harassing roadside women, oppressing beggars...
If he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, Song Wen wouldn't have believed that someone could do so many bad things in just one afternoon.
Finally, the three entered a cheap brothel. Just when Song Wen thought he would have to wait outside the brothel for a long time, they came out in less than a quarter of an hour.
"Darn, did tigers change their stripes? That was fast!"
Unable to help himself, Song Wen muttered. Under the cover of night, he followed the three to a residential house.
The house was low and consisted of three rooms. Only the middle room had a large door leading in and out. The other two side rooms had no doors to the outside, only windows.
Gou Hang and his two men were living alone. During this period, the three of them stayed in this residential house.
Glancing at the sky, Song Wen realized it was past midnight, the time for moonless nights and killing.
Song Wen adjusted his sleeves, concealed a bag of powder in his hand, and stepped forward, approaching the door with determination.
"Who's there? It's the middle of the night."
A burly man grumbled as he opened the door.
"Song...?"
The burly man's face showed surprise when he saw Song Wen. He couldn't understand why Song Wen would appear at his doorstep so late at night.
Before he could finish his sentence,
"Bang!"
Song Wen kicked him into the room, knocking over a table behind him.
The commotion quickly attracted the attention of the two men in the side rooms. Gou Hang and another big man rushed out from the side rooms.
Seeing Song Wen suddenly appear, Gou Hang turned pale with shock.
"Song Wen, how did you find this place?"
With a wave of his left hand, a cloud of powder billowed out, engulfing Gou Hang and the others, instantly filling the entire main room with white powder.
This white powder was a mixture of lime and alkali.
Caught off guard, all three of them were instantly affected.
"Ah... my eyes..."
They all frantically covered their eyes, crying out in pain. One of the big men even had blood coming out of his eyes.
"Song Wen, you despicable scoundrel! What are you trying to do?" In the chaos, Gou Hang shouted angrily as he retreated.
Gou Hang still harbored a glimmer of hope. He hadn't directly clashed with Song Wen, attempting instead to deceive and escape unnoticed.
"What do you want? Of course, it's to repay Lord Gou's favor of nurturing and to settle the score—you colluded with Tang Liang to attack me," said Song Wen, his voice chilling.
"Tang Liang attacked you, so go find Tang Liang. What's it to do with me?"
"Don't worry, soon enough, he'll meet you in hell."
"Song Wen, you, a dignified cultivator, resorting to such lowly tactics like sprinkling lime, do you not feel ashamed?"
As he spoke, Gou Hang had already felt his way into the side room. Both front and back of the side room had windows; if he escaped through the rear window, there might still be hope of survival.
"Enough talk, it's pointless. You've already played your sinister tricks. Go to hell."
The reason Song Wen hadn't acted earlier was because the powder hadn't completely settled yet; he didn't want to inadvertently harm himself and end up blind like the three.
By now, the powder had settled.
With a dagger in hand, Song Wen leaped forward like an eagle spreading its wings, pouncing on the nearest person.
"Splut!"
The incredibly sharp dagger directly pierced the person's skull.
With a forceful twist, Song Wen didn't care if the person was dead or alive. He pulled out the dagger, took two steps forward, and stabbed the second person in the chest.
Then, dagger in hand, he dashed towards Gou Hang at the rear.
Thinking he had the upper hand, Song Wen suddenly saw Gou Hang raise his right hand. Through his sleeve, one could see a set of sleeve arrows strapped to his wrist.
Seeing the sleeve arrows so close, Song Wen's heart skipped a beat, quickly lowering his stature.
Shoo!
The sleeve arrow grazed Song Wen's scalp and shot past.
Just narrowly avoiding the sleeve arrow, Song Wen plunged the dagger into Gou Hang's chest.
Watching Gou Hang gradually lose his breath, Song Wen felt a wave of lingering fear.
Luckily, he had poisoned the three beforehand; otherwise, he might have fallen victim to Gou Hang's sleeve arrows.
Gou Hang was also a patient man; he had only revealed the sleeve arrows at the last moment.
Afterwards, Song Wen began to absorb the blood essence of the three. During this bloodsucking, Song Wen intentionally experimented.
He found that he had to touch the wound area of others to rapidly consume their blood essence. Once his hand left the wound, the bloodthirst slowed considerably, almost imperceptibly absorbing the dispersed blood essence in the air.
Moreover, the bloodsucking process was controllable.
As long as Song Wen willed it, he could stop or start absorbing blood.
A moment later, the three had become dry corpses.
After consuming the blood essence of the three strong men, Song Wen's body surged with vitality, every cell trembling.
From the elation of consuming the first person, his spirit gradually became excessively energetic, causing slight dizziness.
Perhaps due to his experience in consuming blood for the first time, both his body and spirit gradually adapted to the sudden surge without losing control this time, just feeling uncomfortable.
Having planned this murder, Song Wen naturally didn't handle the bodies unprepared like the first time.
He threw all three dry corpses onto the bed and then piled up combustible items like clothes and bedding.
Song Wen took out a water bag from his pocket, containing naphtha, somewhat similar to gasoline from previous centuries, highly flammable.
Pouring the naphtha over the dry corpses, he tossed a match onto them and left without looking back.
Instantly, the room erupted in fierce flames. As the house was wooden, it didn't take long for the entire structure to catch fire.
Neighboring residents quickly woke to the blaze, watching the roaring fire. Due to their grievances with Gou Hang, not a single person dared to attempt to put out the fire.
The nearest house to Gou Hang was about thirty feet away. These neighbors were not afraid the fire would spread to their homes.
(End of the Chapter)