Immortality begins with exchanging talent attributes.

In the quiet, dimly lit alley, only a few rays of moonlight slanted down from the top of the wall.

Scarface, who was walking at the front, suddenly stopped.

He sensed something was wrong.

It's too quiet.

It was so quiet that there wasn't even a sound of footsteps.

He suddenly turned around.

In the shadows deep in the alley, a figure stood there.

The man covered the mouth of one of his followers with one hand and gripped the other's neck with the other.

Seemingly noticing that he was looking over, the man released force from his hand.

Click.

The sound of bones snapping open was exceptionally clear in the deathly silent alley.

The gang member's body trembled violently, then went completely limp.

The figure let go.

The body fell to the ground silently.

Scarface felt a sudden chill run down his spine.

Only at this moment did he realize that all five men he had brought with him had fallen to the ground.

There wasn't even the slightest decent movement.

It felt like something was dragging them away one by one from the darkness, then silently snapping their necks.

"Who?"

His pupils suddenly dilated and contracted, and Scarface shouted.

  

The figure simply tilted its head to the side without saying a word.

The other person seemed to have completely disappeared into the shadows, and no sound or presence could be heard.

"Brother, let's talk this over. Who sent you to kill me...?"

Scarface suppressed the chill in his heart and reached for his waist with his right hand.

Before he could finish speaking, the figure opposite him moved.

"boom!"

A muffled clap of thunder sounded.

The next instant, Scarface felt the ground beneath his feet tremble, and the person in his eyes appeared before him like a charging bull in the blink of an eye.

fast!

too fast.

The speed was so great that Scarface, who had already reached the second level of mastery, had no time to react.

"Snap!"

The opponent's shoulder and elbow struck his chest like sharp bull horns, causing his sternum to collapse instantly.

"Pfft~"

Blood gushed from his mouth as he was lifted off the ground and crashed horizontally into the stone wall beside him.

boom!

The plaster on the wall was shaken off.

The scar slid down the wall to the ground, and a sharp pain exploded in his chest, making even breathing feel like being scraped by knives.

He struggled to get up, but the more he struggled, the more his chest ached. In the end, he could only manage to turn over and lie on his back.

"Da, da..."

Hearing the approaching footsteps, Scarface barely opened his eyes, his mouth filled with blood, and he said intermittently:

"Spare...spare my life!"

"Brother Dao, it's been a long time."

A slightly familiar voice rang in his ears, and the scarred eyes gradually became clear.

In the dim moonlight, a young face came into view.

His face was cold and hard, with slightly sunken brow bones.

A hint of murderous intent seemed to linger in his calm eyes.

"Zhou...Zhou Yan?"

Scarface's voice was hoarse, and he could hardly believe his eyes.

In his memory, that timid boy, who had only recently become a formal prison guard and could at most sense qi and blood.

It's unbelievable that a martial artist who has reached the second stage of mastery could be so severely injured without even having a chance to react.

"Brother Dao, you have a good memory."

Zhou Yan's lips curled up slightly, as if he were smiling, but there was no smile in his eyes.

Kneeling down in front of Scarface, he placed his hand on the man's shoulder, gently lifting him up and helping him lean against the wall, saying:

"Tell me, why did you want to kill me?"

Scarface was stunned, and for a moment he didn't know how to start the conversation.

He was indeed planning to kill Zhou Yan, but he hadn't made a move yet. How did the other party know?

His first thought was Monkey Head, but he had already dealt with Monkey Head. Who else could it be?

Probing the tunnel with his mouth:

"Little...Brother Zhou, you must have misunderstood, I didn't..."

He hadn't finished speaking.

"Click"

His shoulder was ripped off in an instant, and a sharp pain shot through him, making Scar instinctively want to scream.

But then the other person swung their other hand in front of his eyes, and his jaw was dislocated as well.

"Waaah..."

Scarface finally understood what his underling meant by "going up and down"—it was referring to his chin.

"I ask, you answer! Understand?"

Scarface nodded quickly.

"Kaba"

The chin returned to its original position.

"It was Kan Zhujiang, it was him, he ordered me to get rid of you. It has nothing to do with me, I haven't even made a move... no, I never even thought of doing anything, Brother Zhou, please spare me."

Scarface admitted that he was afraid; he was truly afraid of death. He could clearly feel the intense killing intent emanating from the person before him.

At that moment, he disregarded all talk of gang leader and grand plans, blurting everything out in one breath.

Zhou Yan knew Kan Zhujiang; he was the leader of the Blackwater Gang, known as Black Dragon. He was said to be very powerful when he was young and quite famous in Qingzhou City.

"Kan Zhujiang? Why would he want you to get rid of me? I've never even met him."

Zhou Yan asked with some confusion.

Speaking of the Blackwater Gang, apart from the man in front of him, he had only dealt with a few hooligans. Why would a "big shot" like Black Dragon want to get rid of him?

"This... Brother Zhou, do you remember the time I asked Monkey to ask you for a favor?"

After Scarface finished speaking, he glanced at Zhou Yan cautiously.

Zhou Yan nodded, and although he just looked at him quietly without saying a word, a sense of oppression came over him.

Scarface hurriedly said:

"It was Kan Zhujiang who asked me to contact you about this matter. Afterwards, that old man made me get rid of you, saying that all those who knew about it had to be eliminated."

The poor monkey was executed by that old man.

As he spoke, Scarface seemed to feel some sadness for Monkey, and there seemed to be tears welling up in his eyes. However, due to the scar on his face, he looked rather ferocious.

"Why? What does that sentence mean?"

If Zhou Yan remembered correctly, Monkey Head had asked him to deliver a message to a prisoner in the hardened criminal area.

The content seems to be something like "The plums are ripe".

At the time, he thought it was just some kind of slang and didn't take it seriously.

In retrospect, this statement was so important that the old gang leader personally ordered the elimination of all those who knew the truth.

"This... I don't know, Brother Zhou. I was just following orders. Kan Zhujiang wouldn't tell me everything."

Scarface stammered.

The plums are ripe...

Zhou Yan narrowed his eyes slightly.

This sentence alone doesn't seem to reveal anything.

But considering that Lu Qingshuang asked him to investigate the Blackwater Gang, and that the Black-Clad Guards wouldn't be so idle as to investigate a small local gang.

So why is that?

Zhou Yan's eyes suddenly sharpened, and a familiar name suddenly appeared in his mind.

"The Wusheng Sect!"

Is the Blackwater Gang related to the Wusheng Sect, or is the Blackwater Gang a subordinate force of the Wusheng Sect, and the "master" that Scarface mentioned is very likely someone from the Wusheng Sect?

Is that really the case?

Isn't this a bit too much of a coincidence?

Did he accidentally stumble upon the affairs of the Wusheng Sect again?

Scarface, sitting with his back against the wall, looked at Zhou Yan, who was lost in thought and somewhat absent-minded. A ruthless glint flashed in his eyes, and his intact left hand quietly reached for the dagger behind his waist.

Seeing that the other party hadn't noticed his little actions.

next moment.

"Go to hell!"

Suppressing the excruciating pain in his chest, Scarface suddenly pulled out the dagger, channeled all his energy, and plunged it into Zhou Yan's head with all his might.

This strike brought together all the power he had gained from his second mastery of the technique; even if there was a steel plate in front of him, he would pierce through it in one go.

He couldn't wait to see Zhou Yan's skull pierced by his own, with blood splattering everywhere.

"clang!"

It felt as if he had stabbed into a solid block of iron; the immense recoil from the dagger in his hand sent a jolt through his body.

Scarface stared wide-eyed at the scene before him, his face filled with horror.

The sharp dagger he held, its tip slightly curled, was now pressed precisely against the other man's temple.

Zhou Yan, however, merely tilted his head; not even a scratch was broken.

"This...this, are you a human or a ghost?"

Scarface's lips trembled, and his arm could no longer grip the dagger due to fear.

Clang!

The dagger fell to the ground with a crisp sound.

Zhou Yan slowly turned his head back, his gaze calmly fixed on the scar, and his lips parted slightly:

"Brother Dao, what can I say about you?"

"Spare me..."

Scarface hadn't finished speaking.

Zhou Yan suddenly made a move, grabbing the other person's head with both hands and exerting force.

"Snap!"

He stood up, looked down at the limp Scarface, and weighed the money bag he had just found in his hand.

"You reap what you sow, Brother Dao!"

The darkness was as thick as ink.

Zhou Yan turned around and entered the depths of the alley, his figure slowly being enveloped by darkness.

……