You promised steampunk martial arts, but you've got an internal combustion engine in your chest

The streets of Shanghai were desolate and somber.

The once bustling street was now completely deserted, with shops on both sides having their doors and windows tightly shut, and not a single peddler in sight.

The entire street was densely packed with members of the Canal Gang dressed in black with hemp ropes tied around their waists.

Most of these people had fierce expressions. The ordinary disciples carried steel knives, while at the front of the line stood a group of core elites who were clearly of higher status.

Their flesh and blood bodies were all tightly riveted with all sorts of steam mechanisms.

Some people had brass pipes wrapped around their arms, and pistons vibrated slightly between their muscles; some were tall, burly men with a miniature gas furnace fixed to their backs with steel nails, spewing out billowing white steam.

The group remained motionless, all eyes fixed on a gaunt figure in the middle of the street, holding a pipe.

Master Yang.

He squinted slightly, fiddling with the prayer beads with his fingertips, and occasionally taking a puff of his pipe.

Before long, a scout from the canal gang came running from the street corner, urgently reporting:

"Master Yang, Baili Jing has broken through the Xuan Tie gate and escaped from prison! Should we brothers...?"

The scout made a gesture of waving a knife.

Master Yang exhaled a puff of smoke, and gave a forced smile: "Chase, but have the men slow down and trail behind. Remember, don't rush into a direct confrontation."

"If we're not going to fight, why did you call me here? To watch the show?"

A deep, thunderous snort suddenly rang out.

Master Yang's face trembled slightly. He turned his head to the side, then slowly raised it.

Standing next to him was a terrifying giant who was at least 2.23 meters tall.

This man was named Miao Han, a renowned master of offerings within the canal gang.

The extent of his modifications was astonishing.

Not only were his spine and arms riveted with a dense array of high-strength steel components, but even the flesh of his chest and thighs was cut open, revealing clearly the copper gears inside. These gears had grown into his own flesh and blood!

Blood mixed with engine oil, slowly dripping down his hairy body.

With each breath he took, the mechanical components in his chest cavity emitted a grinding sound, making him look like a steel behemoth encased in flesh and blood.

Faced with this ferocious beast, Master Yang immediately put on a fawning smile and bowed, saying:

"Master Miao Han, please calm down. Master Ding personally instructed that he wants a complete and lively Baili Jing."

"If you were to take action, that peasant would probably be reduced to dust, not even bones. That would ruin Master Ding's plans. We invited you here to keep things under control."

Miao Han spat impatiently, his voice booming like thunder:

"Then send ordinary disciples to wear him down! I don't have time for these petty tricks!"

"Yes, yes, you are right, sir, but please also listen to my plan."

Master Yang bowed and said with a fawning smile:

"Although Baili Jing is strange, his background is very clean. Before eating that meat, he was just a lowly commoner carrying heavy loads at the dock. Any two constables could have locked him up."

"He has just gone through a bloody battle. That kind of power that defies common sense cannot last... As long as we keep him hanging on and exhaust his strength, he will naturally run out of energy. The lives of all the brothers in the Canal Gang are precious. We can't let them be lost in vain. We invited you experts here purely as a precaution, just in case."

Master Yang adopted an extremely humble attitude.

In this city of Shanghai, the prefects sent by the imperial court were replaced every three years, while the canal gangs had been entrenched for over a century.

As a clerk in a government office, he had to be extremely cautious.

Miao Han looked down at him, a cold smile playing on his lips: "Useless, like taking off your pants to fart."

However, when his gaze swept over the dragon-headed token dangling from Master Yang's waist, the ferocity in his eyes was ultimately suppressed.

In the canal gangs, the leader's orders were more powerful than the heavens.

"Since Master Ding has given the order, then so be it."

Miao Han, his face dark, waved his hand at the hundreds of swordsmen on the street: "Everyone, follow them! Find the right opportunity and bring that kid back to see Master Ding!"

"yes!!"

Hundreds of members of the Canal Gang roared in unison, their voices shaking the heavens.

In an instant, the dense sound of footsteps and the roar of the mechanical furnace intertwined, like a black tide, surging forward in the direction Baili Jing was fleeing.

……

On the other side, Baili Jing was running wildly through the streets.

He was shirtless, holding two large swords upside down in his hands, and wherever he went, wisps of white smoke still rose from his body.

Passersby were terrified when they saw him like this and gradually dispersed.

However, Baili Jing had no time to pay attention to others at the moment. His brows were tightly furrowed, and deep doubts arose in his heart.

Something's not right...

As he ran, he slightly turned his head to glance behind him out of the corner of his eye.

When he first fought his way out of prison, he clearly heard the commotion of a large number of people gathering outside the door, and he was even prepared for a life-or-death situation.

But after running for two blocks, no one chased after him, and no expert came to fight him.

But it's even more unlikely that the other side would give up the pursuit.

Because every time he turned the corner, he could see several members of the Canal Gang dressed in black with their straw hats pulled low, hanging a hundred paces away at a distance.

They did not encircle, fire arrows, or launch a surprise attack.

Whenever Baili Jing sped up, they sped up too; whenever Baili Jing slowed down, they stopped as well.

"With the power of the Canal Gang, if they really wanted to ambush and kill me, this place would be packed with people by now. Why are they just following me?"

Baili Jing's running figure suddenly jolted.

In an instant, a bolt of lightning pierced the fog, and he understood!

呲!

Baili Jing stopped abruptly in place.

He turned around abruptly.

As expected, the gang members who had been watching from a distance saw him stop, and at the same time, they gripped the steel swords at their waists and stopped a hundred paces away, watching him menacingly from the shadows of their low-hanging straw hats.

"As expected, they're wearing me down!"

Baili Jing cursed under his breath:

"Damn it, it must have been that old fox, Master Yang, who planned this!"

"He knows I used to be a laborer, and he also knows that I only became strong after eating that meat feast. That old dog guessed that my power was being depleted, and he was waiting for the ebb and flow of energy in my body to subside!"

If this continues, I will surely die.

This place is three main streets away from his home.

In his current state, even if he ran at full speed, it would take him at least 15 minutes, but he could clearly feel that the surging heat in his body was almost completely depleted.

When he finally made it home, his energy completely depleted, and he couldn't even lift his knife, that was when the two brothers were wiped out by the Canal Gang.

Perhaps the members of the Grand Canal Gang were already waiting at home, or even had captured the younger brother, just waiting for him to come to them...

In that situation, how should I fight?

"What to do...what to do?!"

Baili Jing was drenched in sweat, his brain cells working frantically.

Just then, he suddenly remembered the scene at the dockside canteen at noon earlier that day, where the bodyguards hired by the canal gang sat together, chewing on the flesh of a demon beast...

Yes! Monster meat!

"The dockside canteen... definitely has a stock of monster meat!"

Bai Lijing's eyes suddenly lit up in a frightening way.

His home was very close to the dock, and Master Yang and his gang must have thought that he just wanted to go home and help his younger brother escape. They never expected that he would do the opposite and storm the dock's canteen!

As long as he can get a meal of monster meat to make his blood and qi surge again, he is confident that he can completely crush these bastards and lead his brother out of Shencheng!

However... the dock is the stronghold of the Canal Gang, where at least ten steam cultivators of the Canal Gang reside.

If you rush in, you'll be walking into a trap, surrounded from both sides, and die without a trace.

"Let's do it! Let's take a gamble!"

Baili Jing gritted his teeth.

Without any hesitation, he twisted his foot and plunged headfirst into a narrow, dirty alley.

"Hurry up and keep up!"

As soon as Baili Jing made his move, the Cao Gang disciples who were keeping watch behind him shouted in unison.

The previously loose following formation tightened instantly, and they drew their gleaming steel knives, rushing into the alley after him.

Night fell.

In the narrow, damp alley, Baili Jing weaved among the clutter and clotheslines.

But the situation is getting worse.

He could clearly feel that the burning sensation inside his body had completely subsided, and there was no longer any white steam escaping from his skin.

There was no longer a sense of strength in my chest, but a terrifying hunger that was tearing at my internal organs!

Strength is slipping away like sand through an hourglass.

His legs grew heavier and heavier, and the two large swords in his hands became increasingly heavy as well.

The shouts behind me were getting closer and closer.

"We can't let them trap us in a dead end..."

While panting heavily, Baili Jing grabbed a long robe that was drying by a roadside house.

He casually wrapped the robe around his body, then tore off a piece of black cloth and covered his face tightly, leaving only his bloodshot eyes exposed.

Taking advantage of the darkness and the terrain of the alley, Baili Jing, despite his weakness, began to "stealth".

It was called stealth, but in reality, they just climbed into a stinking ditch and pretended to be a starving beggar.

This place was full of filthy and smelly poor people and beggars. The members of the Canal Gang probably never imagined that someone who had just been killing everyone would now be stuffing himself into a stinking ditch.

"Where did they go? I clearly saw them run this way!"

"Split up and search! He's at his last gasp; he can't have gone far!"

A group of thugs from the canal gang ran past the stinking ditch menacingly.

High-pressure steam was expelled from their joints, and the foul-smelling hot wind even swept over Baili Jing's scalp.

Baili Jing held his breath until the footsteps gradually faded away.

He then slowly stood up from the shadows, ripped off his disguise, leaned against the mottled wall, and coughed violently twice.

At this moment, he was extremely weak, and his stomach began to churn wildly, sending waves of burning sensation through him.

He looked up and gazed into the distance.

Beyond the low rooftops ahead, the shimmering waves of the sea could already be seen.

We've arrived at the familiar Shanghai port.