Huishui County, the docks.
The gates of the Yulong Gang hall were tightly shut.
Wangchuan’s emotions churned violently. He felt as though his blood was boiling in his veins, causing his body to tremble faintly.
Yesterday, he had taken the lives of two players.
Today, he had killed three more.
He knew that the grudge between himself and Black Panther Studio was now irreversible. There was no turning back.
But even if he were given another chance, he would still do the sa.
Those who kill must be prepared to be killed!
He would never show rcy to anyone who raised a blade against him.
Never.
“Hall Master!”
“Hall Master.”
Bai Yuhui and Hong Kaibao approached him.
“The realgar powder has been deployed across the rooftops and every corner of the hall. The arrows from the Weapon Room have also been fully distributed.”
“Pass the order. Let the brothers hide and rest in shifts. Arrange patrol teams. Keep watch over the docks and stay alert for any change.”
“Yes!”
The two withdrew.
Wang Yuehui brushed past them and entered, his expression troubled.
“Hall Master! Black Panther Studio lost an entire land-clearing team. Our situation will only grow more dangerous from now on.”
“Yes… Now I truly understand that saying—once you are in Jianghu, you cannot act freely.”
Wangchuan gave a faint, self-mocking sigh.
“It does not matter. If soldiers co, we block them. If water rises, we dam it. Let them co as they please. Take a squad to the rooftop and keep a close watch. Since Black Panther Studio appeared in Huishui County, the Five Poison Sect will definitely strike tonight.”
“Yes!”
Wang Yuehui wanted to say more, but he knew this was not the ti. He clasped his fists and left.
Wangchuan took out three money pouches from his robes.
These had been taken from Qian Jiangn and the others.
You Shan’s pouch contained only a little over three hundred taels of silver in notes.
Chen Yanhong’s held forty taels of gold.
Qian Jiangn, as captain of the second land-clearing team, had one hundred seventy taels in gold notes and four hundred taels in silver notes.
In total, Wangchuan gained two hundred ten taels of gold and seven hundred taels of silver.
He silently stored the gold and silver notes away, then grabbed his Iron-Reinforced Bow and strode up to the rooftop.
Inside the hall, the forty-six n from Qingfeng Escort Agency stood ready with blades in hand.
On the rooftops were more than eighty Yulong Gang inner disciples and Weapon Room assistants, crouched silently in the shadows with bows drawn.
Bundles of arrows and quivers filled with Armor-Piercing Arrows lay at every man’s feet.
Wangchuan, Wang Yuehui, Zhao Heiniu, and Chen Ergou each guarded a direction.
As ti passed…
Doubt began creeping into the ranks.
There was no movent outside.
Midnight passed.
Huishui County lay in utter silence.
Even Wangchuan began to wonder if the intelligence from Black Panther Studio had been wrong.
Could the Five Poison Sect truly have gone to the Water Stronghold instead?
Another half hour passed.
Inside the hall, so n leaned against walls and dozed.
On the rooftop, others struggled to stay awake, eyes watering with fatigue.
Wangchuan frowned.
In a little over an hour, early market vendors and dock laborers would begin rising.
The Five Poison Sect…
Perhaps they would not co after all.
Just as he considered lifting the alert and sending everyone to rest, Zhao Heiniu—who had been watching both the docks and the city—suddenly twitched an ear.
In the shadows, his eyes narrowed toward the river.
Wangchuan instantly sensed the change and focused on the water.
Moonlight shimred across the surface.
A faint breeze stirred.
Small ripples spread outward.
Mixed with the familiar scent of the river was sothing else—
A strange, fishy odor.
“They are here.”
Zhao Heiniu murmured, nodding subtly as he raised his Walnut Wooden Bow and nocked an arrow.
Wangchuan saw it too.
Sothing in the water was slowly approaching the docks.
Wang Yuehui, Chen Ergou, Bai Yuhui, and Hong Kaibao stiffened.
Dark shapes began crawling up from the river onto the docks.
“Snakes!”
Soone whispered.
All along the rooftop, Yulong Gang disciples snapped fully awake, clinging to the roof tiles and peering down.
Venomous snakes slithered silently across the open dock, weaving through cargo crates and debris, advancing toward the main hall.
“There are boats!”
More figures appeared on the river—swift vessels cutting toward the docks.
Before the boats even touched shore—
Thud!
Thud!
Figures leapt from them, skimming across cargo stacks and landing upright with chilling confidence.
At their head stood a man with a scorpion tattoo on his face—
Lei Zhiyin, the new chief of Blackwind Stronghold.
Behind this Second-Rank martial artist were nurous Five Poison Sect disciples in black garnts. Their expressions were cold, movents sharp and disciplined. Each was either a First-Rank martial artist or an official martial artist.
Upon landing, they moved silently toward the hall.
Seeing the gates shut tight, they exchanged glances, split apart, and executed lightness techniques—scaling walls and rooftops like master thieves.
Step. Step.
The footwork of official martial artists was nimble and controlled.
Four warriors with blades were the first to reach the rooftop.
Their mission: open the gates from within and let the snake tide flood the hall.
But—
The instant they set foot on the roof, they froze.
Before them stood a dense wall of n—
And dozens of bows drawn to full moon arcs, arrowheads gleaming coldly in the moonlight.
“Damn!”
“It is an ambush!”
They barely managed to shout the warning before a storm of arrows shredded them.
Even a First-Rank martial artist could not survive such a torrent of Armor-Piercing Arrows.
Yulong Gang disciples rose from concealnt, dozens of bows unleashing a relentless barrage upon the attackers below.
Outside the hall—
Lei Zhiyin and the remaining martial artists saw the four bodies fall and their expressions changed drastically.
Facing the deadly rain of arrows, they raised weapons to block.
“Armor-Piercing Arrows!”
“Ah!”
“It is a trap!”
Under the ferocious volley, Five Poison Sect martial artists began falling.
One was pierced through the thigh.
Another looked down in shock as an arrow drove deep into his abdon—
Thud!
Thud!
The sickening sounds of arrows entering flesh echoed in succession.
They retreated step by step.
Even Lei Zhiyin was forced to leap backward onto a cargo boat for cover.
Yet the snake tide did not retreat.
The mass of venomous serpents coiled toward the hall’s walls, seeking drainage channels and dog-holes to infiltrate.
But the Yulong Gang had prepared well.
Realgar had been poured thickly around every drainage ditch and crevice. Even door seams were sealed.
The snakes recoiled, unable to advance.
Thud!
Thud!
Lei Zhiyin and his n were pressed beyond the docks.
Then—
The river behind them split violently.
A massive python surged from the water, slithering up the slope and onto the docks.
At the sa ti, four more enormous, thick-scaled pythons surfaced from different directions, gliding swiftly through the swarm toward the hall.
The Snake Elder had arrived.
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