Heaven rewards diligence; he fought his way through chaos to become a saint.

"I remember you taught me that if you're not ruthless, you can't stand firm..."

Ye Ci grabbed the tall, thin man by the neck and lifted him up. With a snap, the latter quickly collapsed to the ground.

"How come someone as ruthless as you can't even stand still?"

Seeing the tall, thin man's life cut short, Ye Ci sighed.

He turned to look at the trembling Li Dabiao, grabbed his hair, and lifted him up:

Do you recognize me?

"Waaah..."

Li Dabiao, lying on the ground, shook his head in pain. How could such a ruthless person be born in such a remote and impoverished place!

"I was sent to perform forced labor by you two years ago."

"Waaah..." Li Dabiao shook his head.

"You've done so many bad things, you might not even remember me."

Ye Ci sighed: "Let's not talk about the past. I'm actually very easy to talk to, I just want some money to make ends meet."

As he spoke, his gaze suddenly fell on a gray cloth bag on the ground. When he opened it, he found at least several thousand copper coins inside.

"The money you prepared to buy your life?"

"Bu Yao Sha Wu," Li Dabiao said with difficulty.

"Five is wrong."

"Wrong?"

Ye Ci shook his head, then looked up as if lost in memories.

"If it weren't for you, how would I have learned combat skills? Martial arts training is for developing strength, but you don't need to develop strength to deal with you. Anyway, I'm grateful to you. To express my gratitude, I've said so much to you. Now go and take out all the money in your house... I will show you the utmost mercy."

Ye Ci felt that he had learned how to speak from Li Dabiao. In the military, when asking someone for something, you would say "You fucking give it to me," while in the marketplace, when asking someone for something, you would praise yourself for being kind.

Upon hearing this, Li Dabiao felt as if he had grasped a lifeline. He struggled to climb into the inner room and finally found an iron box.

Ye Ci opened the package and found over thirty taels of silver. After counting it, he put the silver in his pocket and sighed.

"I owe you three taels, you gave me over thirty taels, and I think my contribution is worth fifty taels, so I'm still short a dozen taels."

"Among three people walking together, there must be one who can teach me." I learned this saying from a captain back then.

Li Dabiao's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets, but he endured the pain and spoke:

"Ha You Lu Bao..."

"Six packets of silver?" Ye Ci's eyes lit up.

Li Dabiao pointed to the gray cloth bag in Ye Ci's hand.

"well……"

Ye Ci realized she was overthinking things.

He raised his right foot and stomped down hard, and with a crack, the latter's neck bone broke.

His movements were clean and efficient. He searched through the other corpses and found a total of ten taels of silver on them.

This trip earned me over forty taels of silver, which is much more lucrative than farming.

Ye Ci stuffed everything into his cloth bag, then went to the stove, took out firewood, and took the oil lamp into the inner room to search around.

I didn't find anything of value.

It's really hard for a man to save money if he doesn't start a family.

Ye Ci set the bed and blankets on fire.

Back in the outer room, meat was still simmering in a large pot, and the whole room was filled with white steam and a fragrant aroma.

What a waste of a pot of meat.

Ye Ci reflected on his wastefulness, and then poured the lamp oil he had found in the inner room onto the corpse.

After doing all this, he stood in the pool of blood, wiped the blood off the wood-chopping knife with a cloth, and then tucked it into his waistband.

He waved his sleeve, leaving not a trace of mist behind.

Moments later, a raging fire erupted behind them.

The figure disappeared into the deep alley, leaving only the lingering smell of blood and smoke in the wind.

Niu Erdan, who was hiding far away at the intersection, saw Ye Ci return and his lips trembled with panic.

"Nephew Ye, how did the talks go?"

"The negotiation went well; without saying a word, he waived your three taels of silver."

With that, he strode forward.

Upon hearing this, Niu Erdan couldn't help but turn around and look...

In the distance, flames soared into the sky.

He was filled with fear, as if he had guessed something.

Didn't we agree that I'd come to apologize tonight?!

He turned back again, and the fire was even more intense.

In the firelight, the honest farmer realized that Li Dabiao, the local bully who had sided with the Black Tiger Gang, had his house burned down.

Then he turned back and caught up with the young man's back.

"Brother Ye, I, I, I..."

"Don't be afraid, I won't burn your house down."

Niu Erdan breathed a long sigh of relief, thinking that Ye Ci was still reasonable and didn't kill anyone after doing something bad.

He certainly wouldn't dare say a word, since he was the one who brought the person with him.

******

back home.

Mumu was still awake, wrapped in blankets, guarding the bedside and watching out. She would shudder at the slightest sound.

"Aba..."

"I'm back."

Ye Ci took off his clothes, and Mu Mu quickly covered him with the warm quilt, whispering ingratiatingly:

"It's still warm."

"Go and hide the money under the bed, and take some out for your own use when needed."

He commanded.

Mumu, with her small and thin body, tumbled off the bed. She didn't turn on the light, groped around on the floor for a while, and then stood frozen.

She didn't feel like she was suddenly rich; she was just afraid.

"A gift from a friend."

Knowing that Mu Mu could understand, Ye Ci reassured her, "Don't worry, they're just a few hooligans. The Black Tiger Gang won't bother with them."

"Those who are truly capable look down on them. Even if Li Dabiao dies, there are still Erbiao and Sanbiao."

"Those who lack ability dare not seek revenge, because I killed four of them in one go."

"In gang matters, it's all about saving face. If I were to kill them in broad daylight, it would be a slap in the face. But in the dark... who would bother to investigate?"

The words were meant to comfort me.

Ye Ci knew that outlaws like Li Dabiao relied solely on ruthlessness, and he could easily handle a few of them with his current strength. However, if the gang really investigated further, his strength would be no match for them.

The only way is to develop strength as soon as possible.

Otherwise, if Li Dabiao is the one who died this time, what if someone even more powerful comes next time?

In this world, only strength can protect oneself.

Even gangs have to give face when it comes to strength; no gang would easily offend a young master of internal strength.

The reason he dared to kill like this was because he was certain that he could develop internal strength.

Even if the Black Tiger Gang comes knocking, they'll have to think twice.

Now that I've earned over forty taels of silver, I can speed up my martial arts training.

******

That night, the wind fanned the flames, and the towering flames turned half the sky red.

Li Dabiao's house crackled and popped in the flames, burning to a charred black.

The next day.

As the fire gradually died down, people rushed into the ruins and found four charred corpses.

"Li Dabiao and his gang are all dead?!"

"Shh, keep your voice down. This has nothing to do with us. Don't mess with the unregistered gang."

"You dare not speak out while alive, but you can't speak out even after you're dead? That's fucking awesome, good riddance!"

Those who had been bullied by him in the past clapped and cheered when they saw the ashes.

Those who commit many evil deeds will eventually face retribution.

Songjiang County, inner city.

Song Qing, the leader of the Black Tiger Gang, was practicing boxing in the courtyard. He looked to be about fifty years old, with a strong physique. His boxing routine was powerful and impressive.

"Boss."

Someone rushed in to report.

"Li Dabiao and his three henchmen died last night."

Upon hearing that Li Dabiao was a lowly gang member in Longpan Township responsible for collecting money, Song Qing suddenly remembered.

"How did he die?"

"The house burned down, and it's still unclear whether they were burned to death or killed by someone else."

"Alright, let's send someone else first."

He waved his hand dismissively, saying, "Doesn't someone die every day in Songjiang County? There are plenty of people like Li Dabiao who can't improve their martial arts skills."

At this point, Song Qing seemed to remember something and reminded him:

"How's things going in the west of the city?"

"Be careful what you do; this is a connection our gang worked so hard to establish..."

The servant's face immediately tensed up when he heard the words "west of the city".