Chapter 90: Slaughtering the Tiger (1)
“Bang, bang, bang, bang!”
The sound of m.u.f.fled blows echoed through the alleyway.
After a brief moment, Zhou Hong stopped and said, “I got it out of them. They are from the Evil Tiger Gang, but they’re just doing a routine shakedown. They don’t actually know who owns this shop.”
Li Shu laughed coldly, “The big shots haven’t even showed up yet, but the small fry are already at our door.”
“Once we take care of these guys, more small fry will show up very soon,” Zhou Hong said.
“Let Young Master know. He’ll have something planned.”
Not long afterwards, Su Chen’s plan arrived – he had sent Iron Cliff.
This made feel a bit at a loss for words.
Even though the Evil Tiger Gang was only a second-rate gang in Clear River City, they still had a few experts amongst their ranks. No matter how strong Iron Cliff was, he was still just in the Blood Boiling Realm; fighting off that many people might still be a stretch for him.
Even if you didn’t send some people from the Origin Bureau, why not send some of the Shadow Servants?
Su Chen, however, had dismissed him with a simple “He’ll be enough.”
Li Shu could only clench his teeth and endure helplessly.
Night came.
An ominous calm had taken over the streets.
Most of the shops had shut down for the day. Only the Peaceful Prosperous Shop remained open, the lanterns at the front of the store blazing merrily away. The head shopkeep and a few a.s.sistants remained inside the store, trembling, while Zhou Hong and Iron Cliff sat waiting outside. Iron Cliff’s strength didn’t need to be mentioned, and Zhou Hong was also already a Qi Drawing Realm cultivator with a certain measure of strength. He had already made plans to fight to the death once Iron Cliff couldn’t hold on anymore.
The sound of footsteps could be heard closing in from the far end of the street. Countless figures exuding a killing intent stepped out of the shadows wielding sharp blades in their hands and filling the whole alleyway.
It had to be said that the criminal gangs here always acted this brazenly. With the support of the Bloodline n.o.bility Clans, they would often fearlessly wander the streets and alleyways, using clubs and axes to force the commoners to submit to them and hand over their hard-earned profits.
Most of the time, this tactic was quite effective.
Sometimes, however, they might wind up kicking a steel plate.
Iron Cliff stood in front of the Peaceful Prosperous Shop, watching the crowd as they advanced.
A brief count revealed that there were more than a hundred of them, including a number of Origin Qi Scholars.
In terms of scale, this was quite big.
Iron Cliff still curled his lip disdainfully. Of course, he was not being overconfident, so he called out the metal-eating bug and placed it right in front of the door, blocking it off completely. He said, “Don’t let anyone go in.”
He scattered some iron powder on the ground for it to eat before turning around to face the group of people.
“Let’s get him!” yelled an unknown individual in the crowd.
The crowd burst out into frenzied yelling.
The gang members surged forward.
Iron Cliff cracked his neck but didn’t make any other moves. It wasn’t until the first person got within striking distance that he raised his fist and punched the criminal hard and fast. That person flew backwards through the air.
More people charged forwards.
Iron Cliff didn’t attempt to dodge. He scoffed disdainfully, “A bunch of trash.”
Bang, bang, bang!
A number of blades fell on Iron Cliff’s body, clanging off as if they had struck a boulder.
Iron Cliff swung his ma.s.sive arm, toppling the group of people like dominoes into a pile.
His ma.s.sive fist slammed into the ground repeatedly as if his fist were a jackhammer. Boom, boom, boom!
The ma.s.sive shockwaves spread through the ground as the surface of the earth erupted.
If the Cliff Race had any innate talents, it would be that they were slightly more sensitive to earth-type Origin Energy than any other type, allowing them to put on much more impressive displays in this manner.
Iron Cliff hadn’t learned many earth-type Origin Skills, but his control and understanding of earth-type energy allowed him to transmit his energy anywhere he wanted through the ground within a certain radius from him.
Torrents of mud shot up from the ground, sending people everywhere flying.
The surly and intrepid gang members were suddenly airborne. They began to yell in fright.
“Get out of my way!” Iron Cliff punched out again. The waves of energy coming off of his punch swept the people away, only leaving a few people there untouched.
Criminals loved to conceal experts amongst their common gang members, using these martial artists as concealment to launch sneak attacks.
The waves of energy, however, from Iron Cliff’s attack were at least able to expose who were his real opponents even though he wasn’t able to defeat all of the enemies with a single blow.
The eyes of one of the criminals who was able to withstand the blow lit up. “This guy does have some talent, but this amount of skill alone won’t be enough!”
As he spoke, a thick killing intent began to gather around him. A wave of blood-colored light began to surge from his body, revealing the aura of a Blood Boiling Realm cultivator. As this criminal revealed himself, the other gang members began to display their true strength as well, but they were all Qi Drawing Realm cultivators.
Iron Cliff shook his head. “You should have sent more people here. But no worries; once I defeat you guys as well, the others will come.”
“You’re looking to die!” The Blood Boiling Realm cultivator’s figure flashed as he closed in. His speed was exceptionally quick. A short dagger was already slas.h.i.+ng toward Iron Cliff’s midsection from an inconceivable angle. The other people also simultaneously attacked, their spear and blade attacks intersecting.
This was the Tiger Garrotte, a combined attack technique developed by the Evil Tiger Gang. No matter how powerful you were, as long as you weren’t an expert in the Yang Opening Realm, you would find this attack hard to deal with. All you would be able to do would be to retreat.
And if you retreated, the Evil Tiger Gang’s eighteen-attack combo would only continue to grow stronger, eventually wearing the opponent to death!
Even if they weren’t able to kill their opponent immediately, they could exhaust them and take turns attacking to grind their opponent to death.
This was quite a useful technique that the Evil Tiger Gang often used to deal with powerful opponents whose cultivation bases weren’t that high.
When faced with Iron Cliff, however, it was totally ineffective.
This was because Iron Cliff didn’t attempt to dodge or retreat.
Instead, he charged!
His powerful muscles began to glow with a faint golden sheen, making him look almost like a metal statue as he charged at the group of opponents.
When the blades and spears landed on his body, none of the attacks could penetrate his skin. Iron Cliff bulldozed his way forward, cras.h.i.+ng into the Blood Boiling Realm cultivator in the lead. That Blood Boiling Realm cultivator felt as if he had been hit by a Prehistoric Beast as blood flew everywhere.
If the Tiger Garrotte was dealt with in a single blow, the outcome of the rest of the battle could be easily antic.i.p.ated.
Iron Cliff casually broke the hands and feet of the gang members as if they were rotten wood, then tossed them on the ground. He didn’t leave, because he knew that very quickly more members of the Evil Tiger Gang would arrive.
The street was filled with the piteous cries and howls of the Evil Tiger Gang. From time to time, people living in the nearby buildings would poke their heads out to take a look before quickly going back inside.
“Let me see, let me see!”
The Peaceful Prosperous Shop’s a.s.sistants were probably the most excited. They fought each other to be the first to get out the front door and were in extremely high spirits.
Only the old shopkeep sighed, “Aiya, you attacked both the subordinates and some of their higher-ups. This clan has a lot of people and influence, but our grudge with them is only becoming deeper and deeper. How could this end well?”
Zhou Hong was sitting to the side, playing around with the metal-eating bug as he laughed, “Shopkeep Zhang, just wait and watch. Don’t worry; you won’t be hurt at all.
They didn’t have to wait long.
Shortly after, a few more people appeared in the alleyway.
This time, there weren’t too many people – only five or six had come.
At the very front was a brawny, blade-wielding man.
He walked over and clasped his hands. “I don’t know who this esteemed sir is. My underlings were ignorant……”
Iron Cliff raised his hand. “You want to say that your underlings were ignorant and that it was their fault, but I also need to pay a price for wounding so many of your subordinates. If I am willing to pay reparations and apologize, we can forget about the matter, right?”
That person was stunned. How did this guy know what he wanted to say?
Iron Cliff laughed, “You guys all like to play this game. Let’s not waste our time talking; since you’ve come here, you might as well stay.
A ma.s.sive shadow appeared behind him.