Chapter 145: Chapter 145: Top Immortal’s Possession

The second watch of the night, nine o’clock.

Near the marketplace in eastern Qingwei Town.

In the middle of the alley was a gambling den. Through its curtain, one could see the light was still on, and from time to time, shouts, jeers, and the sounds of card games drifted out.

All mingling into a cheerful clamor.

Outside the curtain stood two young toughs from the Three Rivers Gang, puffing clouds of smoke from their pipes as they laughed and debated which of the girls in the alley’s half-open doorways was the best lay.

In a hall on the second floor, three men were in a secret discussion.

"Damn it all, this is just bizarre!" The bald man in the seat of honor slammed his hand on the armrest, the flesh of his face jiggling. "That second apprentice of Huo Mingchuan’s, wasn’t he just some punk with a few shoddy moves? How did he suddenly..."

"Boss," the bearded brute in the carved wooden chair to the left quickly interjected. "I heard Liu Mengzi was killed on the spot with a single punch. They say his head looked like a flattened leather ball, and dozens of men couldn’t stop him!"

"And the story about Captain Mao is even crazier. They say the kid caught a bullet bare-handed, then flicked his finger and sent it straight through the captain’s palm... That’s just a tall tale, isn’t it?"

The tall, thin man on the right, who had been silent until now, hesitated slightly before speaking.

"Third Brother, I don’t think it’s a rumor. There were too many witnesses. The boys are all saying the same thing; they wouldn’t all get together to lie to us."

"But it’s just too unnatural!"

The bearded man was clearly unconvinced, his face twisting into a scowl.

"That old bastard Huo Mingchuan is biting the hand that feeds him. I bet he’s plotting something!"

The bald Patriarch in the main seat gulped down his tea and asked with a frown:

"Second Brother, what do you make of all this?"

The Three Rivers Gang had three patriarchs. He and the third were uncultured brutes, but the second, Liang Tao, had attended a private school for a few years. He was sharp, and so was considered the gang’s strategist.

Whenever trouble arose, Boss Tian would ask for the second-in-command’s opinion, and this time was no different.

"Boss, I’m afraid there’s more to this than meets the eye."

Liang Tao rested his hand on the table, his fingers drumming a steady rhythm on the wood as he spoke in a low voice.

"Huo Mingchuan’s second apprentice... I’ve made some inquiries. His name is Wang Xi, with the courtesy name of Xizhi. He drifted to Mao Li Village near Qingwei Town as a boy and was adopted by Huo Mingchuan, who was just passing through."

"He grew up in the martial arts hall, learning to read, write, and fight. But for all these years, he’s been completely average. Nothing about him ever stood out."

"The strangeness started two days ago."

Liang Tao looked at his two sworn brothers, his brow furrowed into a knot.

"Our men beat that kid so badly in the street he should have been crippled for life... yet today, he’s up and about as if nothing ever happened."

"What’s more, his Martial Arts have improved by leaps and bounds. I doubt even his master, Huo Mingchuan, could compare."

"Overnight, he became a completely different person."

Liang Tao took a deep breath and said with a grave expression:

"This... is wrong. Very wrong."

"Second Brother, if what you’re saying is true, you think the kid is possessed by a ghost or something?"

The bearded Third Brother scoffed as he said it.

But to his surprise, Liang Tao actually nodded. The third patriarch’s laughter died in his throat.

"Continue," Boss Tian said, his voice low.

"The kid’s experience is a lot like what martial artists call ’Metamorphosis’—to go through a near-death experience, achieve a great enlightenment, and see one’s Martial Arts advance at a divine speed."

Liang Tao’s words began to quicken.

"There’s another theory. I’ve heard that during the Daluo Yongsheng Period, there were very credible rumors near the Northern Iron Ridge about being ’possessed by a Top Immortal’... The stories say that the great figures of history who achieved enlightenment didn’t truly ascend. They left a sliver of their spirit behind in the mortal world. If someone in a later generation is compatible with that spirit, they can form a bond with the enlightened one and receive their gifts."

"That sounds a bit like being ’Chosen by the Spirits’."

Boss Tian mused aloud.

But Liang Tao waved his hands dismissively.

"You don’t understand, Boss. They’re not the same thing. A ’Top Immortal’ is an enlightened human, while those ’Chosen by the Spirits’ are enlightened animals. It’s different..."

"What’s all this superstitious nonsense? It’s just street gossip. There’s no such thing as magic in this world."

The Third Brother said with a sneer.

"I don’t care what tricks that kid has up his sleeve. He’s offended the Liu Family and the Black Eel Army. Even if he’s a reincarnated Immortal, he’s doomed! In less than three days, the Defense Bureau will drag him to the market square and make a public example of him with a firing squad!"

CLANG!

CRASH! SMASH!

As he spoke, a commotion erupted downstairs, followed by a chorus of panicked shouts.

"Go! Let’s see what’s happening!"

The three of them shot to their feet and rushed downstairs.

Downstairs, the first-floor hall was a scene of chaos. Tables and chairs were overturned, and bodies were strewn across the floor—gamblers and gang members alike.

The remaining gamblers, silent as mice, were swarming toward the exit, scrambling out from under the curtain.

In the center of the hall stood a young man in a long black jacket.

"?!"

The three patriarchs froze simultaneously.

They exchanged glances, their faces etched with disbelief. ’Wasn’t this kid locked up in the Defense Bureau’s jail? How is he here?’

Boss Tian was the first to react. He snatched a large cleaver from a nearby desk and slammed its spine on the tabletop, producing a loud CLANG.

"Well now, look at you!" he snarled, a vicious grin on his face. "Daring to break out of the Defense Bureau’s jail, and then coming here to die! Brothers, grab your weapons!"

The bearded Third Brother chimed in with a roar:

"Everyone get the hell out h—"

He suddenly realized something. His eyes scanned the room, and his roar died in his throat.

Wang Xi leisurely hooked a bench with his foot and sat down. The wooden legs scraped against the floor, making a piercing noise.

"Save your energy." He looked up, his gaze sweeping over the three men. "They’re all dead."

"You three are the only ones left in this gambling den."

The air seemed to freeze solid.

The hand Boss Tian used to grip his cleaver began to tremble, and beads of sweat rolled down his temples. The Third Brother’s beard quivered uncontrollably, like the spines of a startled hedgehog.

The second-in-command, Liang Tao, felt his Adam’s apple bob. Cold sweat soaked through the back of his shirt, and a look of horror flashed in his eyes.

’It wasn’t a rumor!’

’This young man is genuinely terrifying!’

’Unarmed and alone, in the time it took them to talk, he had silently eliminated more than a dozen of the Three Rivers Gang’s best fighters, both inside and outside the den!’

Boss Tian thought about taking advantage of the kid sitting there, completely defenseless, to bring his cleaver down on his head, but his hand refused to obey.

Finally, he managed to choke out a single question:

"What do you want?"

"Stupid." Wang Xi glanced at the bald man. "Your existence is a waste of rice."

Before the three could react, he snatched a playing card from the edge of the table and flicked it.

WHOOSH—

A paper card, worth no more than a single cent, flew straight into Boss Tian’s throat. Blood gushed out.

CLANG!

The large cleaver fell from his grasp.

Boss Tian clutched his neck, his eyes bulging as he collapsed to the ground.

The remaining two brothers, faces frozen in terror, opened their mouths but dared not scream, terrified it would be their turn next.

"What is your relationship with the Liu Family from the Provincial City and the Black Eel Army? What other plans did you have for the Huo Family Martial Arts Hall?"

The young man asked casually, as if he hadn’t just killed a man.

"It was Patriarch Tian! He had a connection to get the foreigners’ ’porcelain shards.’ He used that to get in with a purchasing Steward from the Liu Family. I... I don’t know him."

The bearded man, his head beaded with sweat, explained in a rush.

"As for the Black Eel Army, that was also just the Liu Family’s Steward pulling strings. The Three Rivers Gang doesn’t have the connections to get involved with the garrison."

"E-Elder Wang, you are a man of great magnanimity, please spare my life! This was all Patriarch Tian’s idea! He wanted to find a martial arts expert to do his dirty work, to make a fortune from this business, which is why he targeted Master Huo! His wife and son are in town, making him... easy to control..."

"So it was Boss Tian’s idea, and had nothing to do with you."

Wang Xi nodded.

Just as the bearded man was breathing a silent sigh of relief, he saw Wang Xi pick up a die from the table.

The color drained from his face.

THWIP!

A second later, a bloody hole appeared on the bearded man’s forehead, and he toppled backward with a heavy thud.

"Benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and integrity—the five virtues are all lost on you."

Wang Xi sighed, now toying with a box of matches a gambler had left on the table.

"A man without these five virtues is not worthy of being called a man, and has no reason to live in this world."

"..."

Liang Tao was drenched in cold sweat, his entire body trembling.

’He was almost certain of it now. The young man before him was no mortal. A single card, a single die—they were all deadly weapons in his hands.’

’Who knew if that box of matches he was now toying with would be the instrument of his own death.’

"Lord Top Immortal!"

Liang Tao dropped to his knees with a thud, slamming his forehead against the stone floor. He trembled uncontrollably, tears and snot streaming down his face.

"I confess! The plot against Huo Mingchuan was my idea, I gave it to Brother Tian! He saved my worthless life years ago, and I, Liang Tao, swore a blood oath that I would walk through fire and blades for him!"

"Lord Top Immortal, show mercy! All I ask is that you give me a quick death, so I can join my brother in the afterlife!"

"Such touching brotherly love."

Wang Xi nodded.

He struck a match, and its flame danced.

Liang Tao couldn’t help but look up, his pupils contracting violently. With a flick of his index finger, the young man pulled the flame into the air, where it suddenly swelled into a ghostly, grinning face of fire the size of a millstone.

"Since you’re so sincere, I’ll grant your wish."

Wang Xi said grimly.

Liang Tao cried out, scrambling backward on all fours.

"And here I thought you weren’t afraid to die."

Wang Xi waved his hand, dismissing the fiery face with a sneer.

"A bit clever, but not by much."

"Lord Top Immortal..."

A series of expressions flashed across Liang Tao’s face before he let out a bitter, resigned sigh.

The light in his eyes faded. He knew there was no escape.

But then, the young man spoke again:

"Your Three Rivers Gang has been running rampant in Qingwei Town for years. You must have amassed a small fortune, haven’t you?"

Hearing this, Liang Tao first froze, then a look of ecstatic joy spread across his face.

"Yes! Yes! Patriarch Tian hid most of our assets right here in the gambling den!"

Wang Xi waved his hand.

Liang Tao understood immediately. He scrambled to his feet and scurried upstairs.

A moment later, he returned carrying an iron box, which he placed respectfully on the table beside the young man.

He lifted the lid to reveal a stash of Treasure Notes and silver coins, along with two finger-sized bars of gold.

"There are 200 yuan in Chen Country Treasure Notes, 60 silver coins, and two small gold bars here."

Liang Tao said respectfully.

Wang Xi had previously made a point to ask his junior martial sister about the local currency. Silver coins, commonly called "big money," had immense purchasing power. One silver coin was worth over a hundred copper coins, which were known as "small money" or cents.

A single cent could buy ten pieces of hard candy, a flatbread and a fried dough stick, two fresh pears, or two skewers of water chestnuts. As for other snacks, sweet rice dumplings were two cents, a foreign soda was two cents, fried tofu was two cents, and a bowl of meat noodles was four cents.

Clearly, silver coins were a major currency among the populace.

This iron box contained a veritable fortune.

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