The Martial Saint begins by collecting corpses.

The burly man led two men to stand in front of the blacksmith's shop, and then told the remaining three to go to the silversmith's shop across the street.

The three men grinned and said to the silversmith over there:

"Business has been good this month, hasn't it? Time to pay the monthly allowance. Four hundred coins as usual."

The family hurriedly handed over the four hundred coins they had prepared with both hands, saw the three off, and immediately breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that there would be no trouble for the next month.

In front of the blacksmith's shop, the burly man brandished the wooden stick in his hand and said:

"Old man, your monthly allowance."

The blacksmith took out a string of copper coins from his pocket and respectfully presented them to the burly man:

"Chief Chen, I really only have a little over two hundred this month. Could you please give me a few more days?"

The burly man, Chief Chen, who had been all smiles, gradually lost his smile upon hearing this. He turned and glanced at the residents of Qingyun Street, where many shopkeepers were peeking out of their doors, watching the situation unfold.

Chief Chen said, "It seems that after a month apart, my Fierce Tiger Gang has gone back on its word."

He weighed the wooden stick in his hand, a fierce glint appearing in his eyes. Without saying a word, he raised the stick and struck the blacksmith's leg hard.

"Ah!" Many people exclaimed in surprise, covering their faces and unable to look.

"No!" The old mother and son behind the blacksmith cried out in terror in the blacksmith's shop.

boom!

When the wooden stick struck, everyone opened their eyes and were taken aback.

The wooden stick didn't hit the blacksmith; instead, it was caught by a strong man.

The blacksmith, who had closed his eyes in fear, opened them in confusion and saw the tiger blocking his way. He was stunned and exclaimed:

"This, this..."

Upon seeing this, the other three gang members who had gone to collect protection money from other shops immediately rushed back.

Including the three leaders, there were six people in total, armed with sticks, surrounding the blacksmith shop fiercely, their eyes fixed on Lu Ming and his companions.

Chief Chen waved his hand, stopping his men from immediately starting a fight. He narrowed his eyes, stared at Da Hu for a few moments, then turned to look at Lu Ming:

"Who are you brothers? What gangs are you involved in? Coming to my Tiger Gang's territory without even saying hello, that's not fair, is it?"

He could tell that Lu Ming was in charge of these four people.

Lu Ming ignored him and turned to the blacksmith, saying:

"What you said earlier still stands. I only want two hundred coins."

The blacksmith suddenly remembered that Lu Ming had just said he only wanted two hundred coins, and that Tiger had helped him get rid of him.

Could it be that what this person said is true?

Facing the threatening gaze from Chief Chen, the blacksmith gritted his teeth. Since he was going to die anyway, he immediately handed over the two hundred coins he had to Lu Ming.

"I'll pay, I'll pay protection money."

Lu Ming gestured for Ah Lang to collect the money, giving him a wink.

Ah Lang immediately counted out two hundred coins, handed the remaining few dozen coins back to the blacksmith, and said:

"My elder brother said that if the price is two hundred coins, then it is two hundred coins, not a single coin more."

The blacksmith was stunned again. He had never encountered anyone collecting protection money like this before. Why would they refuse to pay more than they were owed?

However, Lu Ming's aura was too strong, so he didn't dare to say anything more and retreated inside with his wife and children.

Chief Chen glared fiercely at the blacksmith, then turned to look at Lu Ming and said:

"Very well! You dare to come to my Tiger Gang's territory and steal business? Whose patrons are you? Don't let the flood wash away the Dragon King's temple."

Lu Ming said, "Fight."

Chief Chen was taken aback: "What?"

His answer was Lu Ming's fist, which, with tremendous force, struck his chest.

A sharp pain shot through him, and he felt lightheaded. He quickly retreated until he crashed heavily to the ground with a thud. Only then did he realize that he had been knocked several steps back.

"Pfft!" He trembled all over and struggled to sit up, but he vomited blood and was too weak to sit up.

Looking up, I could only see a few brothers who had been knocked to the ground in a short time, completely powerless to fight back.

He was both shocked and furious. The Fierce Tiger Gang had been running rampant in Qingyun Street for months, and nothing like this had ever happened before.

At this moment, the guards standing in front of the Fierce Tiger Gang saw this scene, their expressions changed, and they shouted inside:

"Something terrible has happened! Brother Chen has been beaten up!"

Soon, more than a dozen men emerged from the Tiger Gang's residence, each one looking fierce and menacing. The leader was a burly man who strode in with a powerful and imposing presence.

Ah Lang whispered:

"He is Li Hu, the leader of the Fierce Tiger Gang."

Seeing Chief Chen and the others on the ground coughing up blood and wailing, Li Hu was furious. His eyes flashed with a fierce light as he said:

"Who are you? How dare you bully my Fierce Tiger Gang?"

Lu Ming patted Ah Lang on the shoulder and said coldly:

"You dare to collect protection money from my brothers, Li Hu! You have some nerve!"

Li Hu frowned as he looked at Ah Lang:

"I've never seen this person before. Are you trying to trick me?"

Lu Ming said, "Why don't you just ask your men?"

He didn't let Ah Lang rest during those ten days.

Although protection money is required, it's not a good image to forcibly steal business.

To ensure a smoother collection of protection money, he had Ah Lang disguise himself as a street vendor and do business on Qingyun Street for ten days. Whether he succeeded or not didn't matter; the most important thing was to attract the attention of the Fierce Tiger Gang.

Sure enough, these people were insatiable and didn't even spare the small vendors. Fortunately, Ah Lang didn't have any money on him and escaped unscathed.

Having had this experience, when he comes to collect protection money again, he will be seen as a hero standing up for his brothers, which is more acceptable than forcing his way out.

At this moment, Li Hu had already learned from one of his subordinates, whose face was grim, that what Lu Ming said was true.

However, he also received some news that immediately made his expression serious. He looked at Lu Ming and slowly said:

"So you're one of the heroes from the Duke's mansion!"

"It's understandable that my men didn't recognize your brother because he was unfamiliar with him, especially since he hasn't received anything yet!"

"You've crippled so many of my brothers, isn't that going too far?"

Lu Ming sneered, "Your brother is a scoundrel who disregards human life, while my brother is a man of great loyalty and righteousness. He was almost beaten up by your Fierce Tiger Gang on this street. Your Fierce Tiger Gang has indeed gone too far."

Li Hu's face darkened: "It seems you're determined to merge with my Fierce Tiger Gang."

Lu Ming said, "There's no need for a fire. You just need to offer five hundred taels of silver to compensate my brother. I'll let bygones be bygones."

Li Hu angrily said:

"Five hundred taels of silver? I don't even have five hundred taels of silver in my entire fortune. Are you kidding me?"

Lu Ming said, "I came here today specifically to amuse you."

With those words, he charged forward, attacking Li Hu. Seeing Lu Ming attacking alone, Li Hu immediately shouted:

"Make way, I'll have a word with him."

The two clashed head-on. Li Hu unleashed a move called "Black Tiger Strikes the Heart," a claw-like strike aimed viciously at Lu Ming's chest.

Lu Ming reached out and blocked the attack, then unleashed a powerful punch.

Li Hu was shocked. As soon as the two exchanged blows, he realized that Lu Ming was also a martial artist who practiced skin techniques, so he immediately dared not underestimate him.

He originally intended to use a Tiger Stance to lure Lu Ming into missing his target before pouncing down, but now he felt it was too risky and immediately took a step back.

They were about to play it safe, observe Lu Ming's moves carefully, and then seize an opportunity to attack.

Unexpectedly, with such a small loss of balance, a strange light flashed in Lu Ming's eyes, and his right hand was placed on the hilt of the ring-pommel sword at his waist.

Clang! That was the last sound he heard.

Immediately, all he could see was a glint of light from a blade. The next moment, he seemed to lose his support and plummeted into endless darkness.

Wasn't he going to test his fists against me? Why the sudden attack with a knife? This sharp swordsmanship seems vaguely familiar...

Frontline.

Lu Ming wiped the blood off the knife with a cloth. This was Sun Dazhi's signature move, and it was the first time he had used it today. It was indeed effective.

However, if Li Hu hadn't taken that step back, he wouldn't have had such a good opportunity to kill his enemy in one move.

"The gang leader is dead?" A dozen or so members of the Fierce Tiger Gang stared blankly at Li Hu, who lay in a pool of blood.

Some were afraid, while others looked on with shock and anger:

"How dare you harm innocent people in broad daylight!"

As early as when Lu Ming killed Sun Dazhi, Monkey, Tiger, and Wolf had already surrounded him, squatted down in front of him, and used Li Hu's thumb to dab his own blood onto a piece of paper.

Lu Ming took the paper, on which were written the words "Martial Arts Declaration." He flicked it in the wind, wiping away the bloodstains from his thumb, and said loudly:

"Li Hu and I had already signed a combat agreement. Now that I have accidentally killed him, there is no risk of legal trouble. You all need not be alarmed."