Chapter 6: The Saying

"Ouch!"

Jiang Yi collided into Jiang Xiaonu. She cried out in pain as she knocked the back of her head against the ground. Thankfully, however, her reaction was fast. Seeing the guard continuing to charge forward and attack Jiang Yi once again, she pounced forward and firmly clung to one of the guard's legs. At the same time, she shouted, "Young Master, don't worry about me! Just run!"

"Xiaonu!"

Jiang Yi trembled. To think that Jiang Xiaonu would try overestimate her capabilities despite her clear lack of strength! If the guard tried to kick her off, wouldn't she end up being kicked to death?

His mind seemed to move particularly quickly during such a greatly dangerous moment. An idea came to him suddenly. It seemed as though... during his research that afternoon, when some black essence force was transferred to his eyes, time had slowed down by a smidgen.

I'll give it a try!

With that thought, he hastily transferred a wisp of black essence force to his meridians, merging it with the blue essence force within them before circulating them towards the meridian at the corner of his left eye.

At the same time, he once again transferred black essence force, the last remaining strand in his dantian, towards his right hand.

He had consumed all five strands of black essence force he had previously cultivated that day. If he still could not beat back that guard with power at the third stage of the Cast Tripod Realm, there was nothing Xiaonu and himself could do but to endure more incoming attacks...

Buzz!

A flash of darkness flickered in his left eye as everything in his vision became very clear and vivid, as though the world had changed once again. On top of that... it seemed as though time had indeed slowed down.

He observed the palm in front of his eyes still in the midst of slapping downwards, but moving at a speed several times slower than before. He also witnessed that guard realizing that Xiaonu was on his leg, and that his left leg was in the process of moving as he got ready to transfer his essence force there for a strong kick that would send Xiaonu flying.

"Take this! Silk Hands!"

Holding back the violent rage in his heart and the searing agony he felt ripping through his left chest, Jiang Yi shouted aloud to draw his opponent's attention while using both his hands to entangle his opponent's hands like two sea vines.

Sure enough!

His opponent was indeed distracted by his loud shout and no longer had his attention on Xiao Nu. Instead, he scoffed coldly before swinging his palms in a sweeping movement towards Jiang Yi's hands!

As that guard saw it, his absolute power could crush all martial arts techniques—let alone Jiang Yi's abilities which could not even manifest the innate power of any martial arts techniques. As an example, the Wrestling Hand technique that Jiang Yi used earlier was easily deflected by him.

"Alright!"

That outcome was exactly what Jiang Yi wanted!

If it happened much earlier, or if the opponent moved his palms in a sweeping motion, his own hands would have been deflected away and injured by the shockwave of that sweep. As the opponent's realm level was two times greater than Jiang Yi's, his speed was too fast, leaving Jiang Yi completely unable to clearly see the trajectory of the sweeping motion of his palms.

But now, the condition had changed completely!

The vision of his left eye changed an obscene amount, to the point that even time seemed to have slowed by several moments. As such, he was able to see clearly and with much ease the trajectory of the sweeping motion of his opponent's palms. This meant that he could determine in advance how to avoid the blow and, on top of that, even find the right angle to counter-attack!

He moved a thread of the combined black essence force, circulating around his right hand, towards the direction of his upper left corner. As such he easily avoided his opponent's palm. Manifesting his fingers like claws and using them in a knife-hand strike, he viciously moved his right hand downwards in a chopping move towards his opponent's wrist!

Crack!

A crisp sound of bones breaking rang out. The combined black essence force increased Jiang Yi's strength by two to three times, such that he was weaker by this Cast Tripod Realm guard by just a bit. It was thus a normal phenomenon that this knife hand strike, in which he literally applied all his power to, was able to split open his opponent's wrist bone.

"Hiss..."

His opponent endured his pain, taking in a mouthful of cold air. With a face filled with shock and horror, he instinctively tried to withdraw his palms—yet Jiang Yi would not let him retreat so easily. Creating another knife-hand strike pose with his right hand and using them like claws, he circulated his Silk Hands technique and grabbed his opponent's arm.

Pulling his entire body forward, he shouted, "Twin-Dragon Stealing Pearl!"

Two fingers stabbed forward towards his opponent's eyes like arrows.

"You must be tired of living!"

The guard panicked for a short moment. Although he was injured and had his right arm entangled by Jiang Yi, he was nonetheless a martial artist at the third stage of the Cast Tripod Realm. As such, his reaction speed was shockingly fast. He immediately formed a claw with his other hand and grasped towards two fingers on Jiang Yi's left hand, in the hopes of breaking the two fingers.

Good, he fell for my trick!

Jiang Yi's eyes had been consistently fixed on his opponent to catch his every reaction. Jiang Yi was immediately elated upon seeing that his opponent was indeed trying to catch the left hand Jiang Yi used in his sneak attack at that moment. With a right knee that he had prepared in advance, he suddenly kicked upwards, in the direction of the lower half of the guard's body.

Jiang Yi's opponent was distracted by the two fingers on Jiang Yi's left hand and had much intense fury in his heart and confusion in his mind. How could he have possibly predicted that the true killer move would actually come from Jiang Yi's knees? It was only until his lower body was suddenly struck, and when he felt an intensely acute pain radiate through his body that he suddenly realized what had happened.

The brain and the crotch were the two areas where nerves were the most concentrated in the human body. Thus, even though techniques like "Leg to Provoke the Nether Regions" and "Monkey Stealing the Peach" had always been held in contempt, they were nonetheless moves that achieved the best results.

Even though Jiang Yi's single hit was not combined with the power of the black essence force, the attack was nonetheless had an actual horsepower worth of strength.

At the moment of impact, that martial artist at the third stage of the Cast Tripod Realm immediately cried out in extreme agony as his body instinctively bent downwards. He had even withdrawn the hand that was supposed to grasp Jiang Yi's left hand, instead using it to cup his crotch as he howled aloud over his searing pain.

With such a good opportunity placed before him, Jiang Yi would be an utter idiot if he did not know to take the chance to completely pulverize his opponent. With his right hand having already released his opponent's arm earlier on, he glanced down to see Xiao Nu who was lying on the ground and shouted loudly, "Xiaonu!"

Having grown up with Jiang Yi since a young age, Jiang Xiaonu was deeply in sync with Jiang Yi in mind and spirit. This single shout made Xiao Nu immediately respond in kind — by releasing her hands from their opponent's left foot. At the same time, Jiang Yi sent a flying kick sweeping in, sending this martial artist at the third stage of the Cast Tripod Realm flying back.

In the blink of an eye!

Only a short duration of several seconds had passed, from the time the martial artist at the third stage of the Cast Tripod Realm rushed in, to the time Jiang Yi kicked him out.

At this moment, the last remaining guard outside had thought of following his comrade and rushing in. However, seeing a figure be sent flying out by a single kick left him instantly shocked to the point that he withdrew his head and refused to rush in. In such a short period of time, Jiang Yi was able to consecutively attack and injure two people—and was one of the two not the strongest amongst them, a warrior at the third stage of the Cast Tripod Realm? How could this guard possibly dare to rush in now and end up getting thrashed?

Jiang Yi was able to see clearly the look of confusion and dread in the guard's eyes, even though it had only flashed past for a single moment. Struck with some inspiration, he walked towards the main door with big strides. With a face full of insolence, he glared at the guard and called coldly, "Come on and attack! Why don't you come over here and fight me?"

Jiang Yi surged forward in an aggressive, imposing manner. Relying on the power of consecutively attacking and injuring two persons alone, he had managed to shock his opponent. That person had flinched his body and retreated backward in two steps—yet as he did so, he stumbled and almost fell to the ground...

"You bastard, you clearly want to die!"

He responded very quickly to Jiang Yi; his shame immediately turning to rage. How could he be frightened off by just a small child? He raised his hand at once, posed in the shape of a fist, and swung it in the direction of Jiang Yi.

This is bad!

Jiang Yi sensed that he was in trouble. He had already used up all his black essence force, while coincidentally the dark spark in his eye was also gradually becoming increasingly blurry. It was evident that the black essence force near his eyes had been completely consumed.

Without black essence force, he was in reality just a martial artist at the first stage of the Cast Tripod Realm. How could he be any match for this guard at the second stage of the Cast Tripod Realm?

"Stop!"

Fortunately for him, at that moment that housekeeper suddenly shouted loudly from a not-too-faraway distance, ordering the guard to stop.

That housekeeper took several steps forward, his eyes giving a look of bewilderment. Taking several glances at Jiang Yi from top to bottom, he asked, "Psychedelic Step? Phantom Punch? Silk Hand? Are you a member of the Jiang Clan? Dare I ask, are you a young master, and which family do you belong? This humble servant has indeed heard of some of the young masters of the Jiang Clan."

Jiang Yi gave the housekeeper a cold stern look. He thought to himself that this Fengyue Brothel did indeed have someone powerful backing them—otherwise, how would a mere housekeeper be able to recognize the martial art techniques of the Jiang Clan?

He grumbled bitterly in his mind. Although the housekeeper recognized that he was a member of the Jiang Clan and was certainly didn't dare to beat him to death; however, should the incident that day get publicized, and should the Jiang Clan Disciplinary Court find out... It was a small matter for him to get punished, but he was afraid that Xiaonu would be beaten to death for damaging the family's reputation...

He could only clench his fist and restrain himself. Instead, he coldly retorted, "Why do you care whose son of which family I come from? You people viciously beat up my maidservant today—anywhere you go to seek any justice, I will not be afraid to counter you."

"Hahaha!"

The housekeeper laughed aloud. He stared at Jiang Yi and replied sarcastically, "Justice? Your maidservant works for me. Have I ever not paid her a cent less? She did not do her work properly, you know? Not only did she brazenly run to the inner court, she even destroyed a famous painting that our Fengyue Brothel boss bought at an exorbitant price.

"On top of that... you, little brat, you did not bother finding out what happened, and just rushed in and attacked our guards here at Fengyue Brothel indiscriminately! Since you say you want to serve justice, then should we go over to your Jiang Clan Disciplinary Court to seek that justice? Hmph... if you can't give us an explanation or a solution, we will be at an impasse and the problem will not go away."

"Huh..."

Jiang Yi was dumbfounded, shaken by the fact that the other party was going to report to the Jiang Clan Disciplinary Court. Taking a deep breath, he silently calmed his frantic heart. His mind racing, he tried to think of a way out.

He quickly cleared his thoughts. He had, after all, already injured two of his opponent's men; additionally, his opponent recognized the martial arts techniques of the Jiang Clan and had evidently become apprehensive. Why else would that housekeeper not retaliate against him, but rather call for his guards to stand down? Since the opponent temporarily did not dare to fight any longer and asked to negotiate, why not? It would probably be easier to deal with—so long as he could protect Jiang Xiaonu's life as well as that of his own, anything else would be secondary.

He silently told himself to remain calm. He raised his head to look at the housekeeper and coldly asked, "How do you want to settle this?"

"Very easy!"

The malicious eyes of the housekeeper glanced at Jiang Xiaonu, who was standing behind Jiang Yi, before coldly laughing and replying, "Either you pay up, this girl stays here as a slave for ten years, or... you leave one hand behind!"

"Ah?"

Jiang Xiaonu stood up behind him, her frail weak body trembling violently as she held tightly onto Jiang Yi's arm. Free-flowing tears gushed out of her eyes. She clenched her teeth and pleaded in a low voice, "Young Master, it's all my fault. You can just leave; don't worry about me anymore."

"What kind of rubbish are you saying? If I stop caring about you, who else will?"

Jiang Yi turned around and stared, sternly reprimanding Xiaonu. His mind, however, was still racing. Thinking back about how he had heard the sound of Xiaonu crying when he first entered the building earlier, though he did not know at the time the specific details of what exactly happened, he was still able to guess the gist of it.

Evidently, the housekeeper must have seen Xiaonu and thought that, though she was skinny, weak and pale-faced, she still had exquisite and pretty facial features; as such, he was ready to groom her for a few years before using her to receive guests. Thus, he deliberately set up a trap to make her sell herself to this brothel, and in turn, help them earn dirty money after a few years.

However, regardless of whether or not it was the housekeeper's sinister plot, there was no solution for the incident that day!

If he chose to fight, there was no more black essence force in his body. To say nothing of the two uninjured guardsmen still available, the housekeeper himself evidently had power at a level that was not considered weak. There would only be one outcome should they fight: that of Jiang Yi crawling back to the Jiang Residence...

If he chose to complain further... that option was even more improbable. The Jiang Residence was not far from here. Should this incident get spread to the Jiang Clan, the consequences would be even more severe. That left only one solution, which was to give in to his opponent's requests.

It was just that...

Leaving behind one hand was impossible—the loss of one hand would make him completely useless. As for the option to leave Xiaonu behind and not care for her anymore? That option would be worse than death.

Then there was no choice but to pay for the damages!

The problem was... he was so poor that he had not gotten new underwear for the past two years. What money could he possibly have?