Chapter 370 - 351: Stone Wall

Chapter 370: Chapter 351: Stone Wall

Chen Li’s figure vanished in an instant, leaving only a faint afterimage.

The next moment, he appeared in the small courtyard like a specter.

BOOM!

On one side of the courtyard, the window of the guest room where Peng Anmin was guarding the three Gang Leaders suddenly exploded.

Amidst the splintering wood, a figure flew backward, spewing blood like a kite with a snapped string. He slammed hard onto the snowy ground of the courtyard and slid for another ten feet, leaving a startling trail of blood.

It was Peng Anmin.

His face was ashen, his clothes were torn across his chest, and his aura instantly weakened.

Almost simultaneously, a figure clad head-to-toe in black, wearing a bizarre, smiling doll mask, shot out from the broken window. The rapier in his hand aimed straight for Peng Anmin’s throat on the ground.

His speed was like a flash of black lightning.

The man in black had clearly not expected Chen Li to return so quickly. When his eyes behind the mask caught sight of the gray figure that had suddenly appeared in the courtyard, his pupils shrank. He let out a short, startled, and angry snort.

He immediately sped up, intending to break through and escape!

"You think you can come and go as you please?"

Chen Li’s eyes turned cold as he jabbed his right hand into the air several times.

SWISH! SWISH! SWISH! SWISH!

Several incredibly condensed, formless yet tangible blasts of sharp finger-wind shot through the air, instantly sealing off all of the man in black’s escape routes—front, back, left, and right.

Vein-Severing Soul-Breaking Finger.

The man in black was mid-air when he felt the fierce finger-wind attacks coming from behind. Terror seized his heart.

He twisted his body desperately, trying to evade, but the finger-wind was too fast, too cunning. Like a maggot burrowing into bone, it reached him in an instant.

PFFT! PFFT! PFFT!

With a few barely audible thuds, the man in black’s body shuddered violently. His forward momentum stopped abruptly, and he fell stiffly from the top of the wall, landing with a THUD on the snow in the courtyard.

He struggled frantically, his Inner Qi surging wildly against his sealed acupoints in an attempt to break the restriction.

However, how could Chen Li give him the chance?

His figure blurred and he was in front of him. Forming a sword with his fingers, a tiny, almost imperceptible golden gleam flashed at his fingertips as he nonchalantly tapped the man’s glabella point between his eyebrows.

The man in black stiffened. The light in his eyes rapidly faded, and with a muffled grunt, he fell completely unconscious, dead to the world.

Only then did Chen Li quickly walk over to Peng Anmin and crouch down to examine him.

Seeing that although his injuries were serious, they were not life-threatening, he channeled a stream of pure, gentle Primordial Qi into him to protect his heart meridian and help stabilize his turbulent blood flow and internal injuries.

"Cough... cough..."

Peng Anmin’s complexion improved slightly. He struggled to pull something from his robes and handed it to Chen Li, his voice weak. "Senior, just now, I was standing guard in the room when a throwing knife suddenly flew into the window lattice, pinning this piece of paper. I was just about to take a look when this person burst through the door to kill me..."

Chen Li took it. It was an ordinary slip of paper, pinned by a small, willow-leaf-shaped throwing knife.

He pulled out the knife and unfolded the note. On it was a single line of text, written in a scrawled yet forceful hand.

"If you want to make an exchange, come to the southern foot of Kao Mountain in three days with our people."

There was no signature, no extra words—only this one cold sentence.

Chen Li’s eyes narrowed slightly, a cold glint flashing through them before disappearing.

He had lingered in Bangmiao County for half a month waiting for a response from the other party. Though he had not let his guard down, his vigilance was ultimately not as taut as it had been at the beginning.

’I didn’t expect the Seven Kills Association to be so patient. I’ve really underestimated them.’

"Kao Mountain. Where is that?"

Chen Li’s voice was calm, but it held a chilling coldness.

Peng Anmin answered, gasping for breath, "It’s in my old hometown, within Heitan County."

Chen Li nodded, his gaze shifting to the unconscious man in black on the ground. "Do you recognize this man?"

Peng Anmin walked over to the man in black and removed the bizarre doll mask.

Beneath the mask was a face crisscrossed with several hideous scars, making his original features unrecognizable.

Peng Anmin studied him carefully, then shook his head. "I don’t recognize him. But judging by his skills, he’s without a doubt a Divine Hall Grandmaster. He’s likely one of the Seven Kills Association’s Hall Masters."

The coldness in Chen Li’s eyes deepened.

He walked up to the unconscious man in black, crouched down, and extended a finger, tapping it lightly on his forehead.

A Dream of Millet Porridge.

...

「Three days later.」

Heitan County, Kao Mountain.

A steep stone peak, almost perpendicular to the ground, rose up. It was grayish-black all over, devoid of vegetation, like a colossal, savage sword thrust from the earth toward the heavens, piercing the clouds.

A half-worn carriage with a blue canopy crunched over the snow, struggling to reach a relatively flat mountain pass at the southern foot of Kao Mountain.

The driver, wrapped in a thick cotton robe with the brim of his hat pulled low, was none other than the still-injured, pale-faced Peng Anmin.

He pulled on the reins, and the carriage came to a stop.

"Senior, we’ve reached the southern foot of Kao Mountain. There’s... someone ahead."

His voice was somewhat muffled by the wind and snow.

The carriage curtain lifted, and Chen Li stooped to step out.

He still wore the wooden mask. The falling snow didn’t touch him, repelled by an invisible layer of Qi.

In the distance, a figure stood silently.

The person wore a cloak and a White Tiger mask. A thin layer of snow had accumulated on their shoulders and cloak, suggesting they had been waiting for a long time.

Seeing Chen Li exit the carriage, the tiger-masked man strode forward, stopping about fifty feet away. "You must be the friend who wishes to trade for the Opium?"

Chen Li gave a slight nod but did not speak.

Seeing Chen Li’s silent acknowledgment, the tiger-masked man wasted no time on pleasantries and asked directly, "Did you bring our people?"

"In the carriage."

Chen Li’s voice was flat, betraying no emotion. "And the goods I want?"

The tiger-masked man turned sideways and pointed toward a dark cave entrance behind him. "One hundred thousand boxes of Opium have all been placed in the storehouse inside the cave. It’s bitterly cold out here in the wind and snow, not a place to stand around. If you are sincere, please enter the cave to discuss the details, inspect the goods, and complete the exchange."