He achieved the pinnacle of martial arts starting with breaking through the limits of Tiger Fist.

About seven or eight miles north of the north gate of Changning County, there is a town called Shahe Town.

At this moment, not far outside the town, Zhou Ping's body lay quietly by the roadside.

A single, fatal blow.

There were no signs of a struggle at the scene, indicating that the incident happened suddenly and Zhou Ping died before he could even put up a fight.

A hundred feet away from Zhou Ping's corpse, a circle of disciples from the "Xingyi Quan School" surrounded him.

Another body lay at their feet.

This corpse was far more gruesome, with a total of twenty-two stab wounds all over its body, a truly horrific death.

Li Zhenguan and Wei Song, the owner of the "Xingyi Quan School", stood side by side.

"What do you think, Brother Wei?"

Li Zhenguan spoke calmly, not losing his composure because of what was happening. He had seen too many feuds and killings in the martial arts world in his life, and he would not lose control of his emotions because of this little thing.

Wei Song, also a seasoned veteran, calmly stated, "This is a fast-moving blade; there are no similar sword techniques around Changning County."

"Brother Li, what do you think? Is it one person or two?"

After thinking for a moment, Li Zhenguan said with certainty, "There is only one murderer."

Everyone, including Jiang Lin, looked at Li Zhenguan.

How could this be the same person? The methods of killing are completely different. Two martial artists died; one was hacked to death with a flurry of blows, and the other was killed in a single strike.

Jiang Lin didn't understand how his master made that judgment either, so he asked, "Please enlighten me, Master."

"We must still give face to the true disciples," Li Zhenguan said slowly. "Zhou Ping died from a sneak attack, so he was killed with a single blow, while Zhao Qing died in a direct confrontation. This shows that the murderer is good at sneak attacks and assassinations, and direct combat is not his forte. In addition, the murderer has good lightness skills."

How can this be considered good lightness skill?

Seeing Jiang Lin's confusion, Li Zhenguan deliberately instructed, "The murderer deliberately ambushed Zhou Ping here, catching him off guard and killing him with a single blow. Zhao Qing happened to witness it."

As he spoke, Li Zhenguan pointed to a footprint next to Zhou Ping's body, and then to the location of Zhao Qing's body in the distance. "Except for the one where the force was slightly heavy, the footprint is almost invisible over the remaining hundred feet without close inspection. This indicates that the assassin has excellent lightness skills, which is consistent with his identity as an assassin."

"Zhao Qing immediately realized that the murderer was highly skilled in lightness and lightness, so he abandoned his plan to escape and chose to confront the enemy head-on. However, he was not good enough and was eventually defeated. This is also the reason why the two died in different ways."

He was indeed a seasoned veteran; his analysis was crystal clear, and everyone around him was convinced.

Even Wei Song of the Xingyi Quan School nodded repeatedly, agreeing with Li Zhenguan's statement.

"This is a provocation."

Wei Song picked up where Li Zhenguan left off, saying, "After killing someone, they didn't even dispose of the body, just left it lying by the roadside. This shows they completely disregard our two martial arts schools."

Li Zhenguan nodded in agreement, "There's no clue about this matter yet. Let's go back to the martial arts school first, and then decide on a plan with Brother Wei after we've investigated it thoroughly."

Each of the two martial arts schools left a few disciples to look after the place, while the rest of them hurriedly returned to the city under the guidance of their respective masters.

Zhao Qing's family members had arrived, and immediately burst into tears, creating chaos.

Brother Zhou was unmarried, his parents had long since passed away, and he only had one older sister who married and moved to a neighboring county.

With no other options, the group could only find someone to carry Zhou Ping's body to the mortuary to await burial.

Death is a common occurrence in this world, and the business of mortuary estates has become extremely mature.

As long as you pay, everything will be arranged perfectly for you.

Under the guise of a martial arts school, Jiang Lin paid for the funeral expenses out of his own pocket, and even paid an extra sum for the cost of erecting a tombstone so that his relatives could find the grave in the future.

By the time I finished all this, it was already dark.

Upon returning to the martial arts school, all the inner disciples were summoned by Li Zhenguan.

"Does anyone know if Zhou Ping has made enemies outside?"

There are a total of six disciples in the inner courtyard today, but only Jiang Lin is a true disciple.

The rest of the people were all wealthy young men in the city, and they rarely paid much attention to Zhou Ping and had very little contact with him. How would they know who Zhou Ping had a grudge against?

Jiang Lin hesitated, unsure whether he should reveal the matter in public.

Seeing that none of the disciples spoke, Li Zhenguan frowned.

The inner court disciples are different from the outer court apprentices. This one is considered to have truly entered the sect. Even if he is not the true disciple, in the eyes of outsiders, he is still Li Zhenguan's disciple.

Now that his apprentice has been killed without cause, if Li Zhenguan does nothing, wouldn't he be ridiculed?

"Jiang Lin, you speak."

Li Zhenguan was a cunning old fox; he had seen through Jiang Lin's hesitant manner earlier.

"As far as I know, Senior Brother Zhou does have some grudges with the Eagle Claw Sect, but I can't be sure that this matter started because of that."

Jiang Lin carefully chose his words before slowly opening his mouth.

"What kind of conflict?" Li Zhenguan frowned even more deeply. If this matter involved the Eagle Claw Sect, it would be quite troublesome.

First of all, the Eagle Claw Sect is very powerful, with many martial artists among its members, and its sect leader's cultivation level is no less than that of Li Zhenguan.

Secondly, as a supporter of the Long family, he knew that the current situation was critical. As the saying goes, "pulling one hair affects the whole body," and he did not want to make a big fuss and disrupt the current situation because of the death of a disciple.

Furthermore, Eagle Claw Sect has government support behind it, and a high-profile investigation would definitely encounter resistance, making it easy for their side to fall into a passive position.

"This disciple is also unclear about the specific reasons..."

Jiang Lin certainly couldn't reveal the truth in public, so he could only try to cover it up.

Even if we say it, it won't help. Are we supposed to go to their door in a big way?

Regardless of whether they can win or not, this approach is highly problematic.

At this time of year, even Eagle Claw Boxing knows to seek external help, so Tiger Legion Boxing Club can't afford to go in bare-chested.

It was precisely because of the time sensitivity that Senior Brother Zhou would not have died from the quick blade, but from the "Eagle Claw Kung Fu".

"Alright, you guys go back first. Jiang Lin, stay here. I have something to tell you."

The disciples nodded in agreement and took their leave.

Jiang Lin naturally understood why his master had kept him behind alone, so before Li Zhenguan could ask, he told him everything.

After listening, Li Zhenguan pondered for a while, but didn't seem to care that Zhou Ping had killed the other party first.

Having spent decades in the underworld, he was long past the age of simply talking about right and wrong. He understood better than anyone that this world was all about fists, and there was no room for reason.

Zhou Ping killed someone first, and was killed in retaliation; that was because he himself was incompetent.

Li Zhenguan's purpose in investigating this matter was not to avenge Zhou Ping, but to protect the reputation of "Tiger Legion Boxing Hall".

"I suspect it was the group that crossed the border the night before last who did it," Jiang Lin said confidently.

"How do you know that someone crossed the border the night before?"

Li Zhenguan looked at the disciple in front of him with some surprise. Could this kid be even more well-informed than him?

"what?"

Jiang Lin was also completely bewildered.

Wait, is Senior Brother Li really that tight-lipped? He didn't even tell his own father?

Or is there some problem in the relationship between you and your father?