The 18th year of the Da Yong reign: The beginning of the story involves rescuing revolutionaries.

The skinny monkey was much faster than the fat chicken. He hurriedly ran to the backyard. Before he could catch his breath, he looked at Wang Zhi and said, "Greetings, Chief, Master Fu. Chief Sun has discovered something at intersection number three."

"Let's go, we'll talk as we walk." Wang Zhi immediately started walking and brought up his control panel to check.

Inch-Heart Fist (Great Success), a white-quality martial art, is a common fist technique with more structure than street fighting. Upon mastery, it unlocks the Inch-Power technique, making the fist more explosive. Experience value: 101/500.

Master the art of short-range force!

He clearly felt his strength had improved again. His punch exploded in the air, but he suddenly accelerated and unleashed a burst of power the moment he made contact with his enemy.

Cultivation techniques are essential for spiritual practice; without them, one cannot break through to the next level of martial arts. Martial arts, on the other hand, are the means of output.

Even though Afu's training method focused more on defense, he dared not take the Great Perfection Inch Heart Fist head-on without exerting his full strength.

On the way out, I learned from Skinny Monkey that there were three strange people who were covering their faces with veils and whose accents didn't sound like locals, and who were planning to leave Wanliu Street. They were also wrapped up tightly.

They're currently being slowly questioned and stalled by Chief Sun.

In less than the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, Wang Zhi arrived at the location. There was no conflict between the two sides. Chief Sun respectfully clasped his hands in greeting to Wang Zhi: "Chief."

Wang Zhi nodded slightly, his gaze falling on the faces of the three people in front of him. It was obvious that after his arrival, the three of them became much more nervous, their whole bodies tense.

Wang Zhi asked, "What are you three doing wearing masks so late at night?"

"It's chilly at night. The three of us are all businessmen, and we are definitely not rebels. Your Honor, you can see that clearly." As he spoke, the man in the middle took out a money bag from his sleeve and tried to stuff it into Wang Zhi's hand.

Wang Zhi found it amusing, already guessing what was going on. He weighed the money bag in his hand, listening to the clinking of the coins, crossed his arms, and casually asked, "Where did you come from?"

Upon hearing this, the man in the middle paused for a moment, but quickly replied, "We came from the north."

"The rebels in the north are powerful, especially the Cang Sheng Sect. The court is suppressing the rebellion and the war is intense. How much is wheat per pound now?" Wang Zhi continued to ask.

The man in the middle was taken aback again, and quickly protested, "Oh, where is the leader? How would I know?"

"You're a businessman from the north, and you don't even know this?" Wang Zhi's voice turned cold, and before the other party could reply, he suddenly reached out and ripped off the mask from the man's face.

Caught off guard, the man's face immediately showed surprise. He reacted quickly, shouting fiercely, "Attack!" As he spoke, he drew a soft sword, as nimble as a snake, from his tightly wrapped waist and thrust it toward Wang Zhi's heart.

The remaining two men pulled out butcher knives from their clothes; the blades were still gruesome.

He then attacked Sun Qizhu and his gang members.

Just in time, Wang Zhi's eyes narrowed as he watched the sword tip thrust towards him. He easily shifted his body to the side, the blade tearing his clothes but not injuring his flesh. The man changed his move even faster, swinging horizontally, determined to slash through Wang Zhi's chest.

Instead of retreating, Wang Zhi advanced, clenching his right fist and throwing a punch straight at his opponent's chest.

Inch-Heart Fist!

The instant he made contact with the opponent's chest, Wang Zhi's masterful Inch Heart Fist erupted with explosive force, like a torrent of water crashing down, sending the man flying backward like a cannonball.

He mainly wanted to test the full extent of his Inch Heart Fist with this punch, and did not fully unleash the power of his forty-three meridians.

After landing, the man stumbled back several steps until his back slammed against the wall with a thud, creating spiderweb-like cracks.

He swallowed a mouthful of blood, his eyes turning fierce as he looked at Wang Zhi: "Your fist technique is perfected. The leader of the Daxing Gang has quite the skills."

"I am Bald Hawk, the second-in-command of Shibawu. We've kept to ourselves, so let's pretend we didn't see anything today and let me go, okay?"

After just a couple of simple exchanges, he could feel the difference between the two. As martial artists of the same level, he never imagined that he was so much worse than his opponent. He had heard that this gang leader was already forty years old, yet his blood and qi were still so fierce, and his fist technique had also reached a high level.

He had no choice but to reveal his identity, saying that he was also a member of the underworld, hoping that the other party would let him off the hook.

Wang Zhi smiled calmly: "If I were willing to let you go, you wouldn't have left in the night masked. Your Eighteen Docks robbed the imperial cargo ship and are wanted by the county governments along the Yazi River. If I remember correctly, your head is worth seventy-five silver dollars."

"You think you can buy your life with such a small amount of loose silver?" Wang Zhi tossed the money bag in his left hand to Afu.

In just a few words, Afu had already subdued the two bandits wielding butcher knives, after all, these two were not ordinary martial artists.

"How much? Chief Wang, name your price. If I die here today, our boss won't let the Daxing Gang off easily. You merchant ships that travel through the Eighteen Docks by water should be careful," Bald Hawk threatened.

"How much? I'll take your head." Before Wang Zhi finished speaking, he charged forward again, unleashing his Inch Heart Fist and engaging Bald Hawk in a fierce battle.

He gradually became familiar with his mastered Inch Heart Fist during battle.

Seeing that he couldn't escape and that this man surnamed Wang was determined to take his life, the latter also became ruthless.

After exchanging a dozen or so blows, Bald Hawk felt his strength waning, and he was almost always the one being hit. However, his opponent's punches landed squarely on his flesh, and the powerful, inch-force coursed through his body. Furious and anxious, he wielded his soft sword with dazzling skill, and two sharp blades shot towards Wang Zhi's face, forcing the latter back two steps. He then kicked off the wall and flew out of the alley, quickly heading into the darkness.

"Trying to run?" Wang Zhi glanced at him coldly, casually drew the horizontal sword from his waist, and used his swift feet to strike the bald hawk in the back with a slash. The bald hawk tried to block the slash, but he was too scared to do so. With a soft thud, the sword pierced right through his heart.

He drew his knife, and the corpse fell to the ground.

Blood gushed out, quickly soaking the ground.

[Punishing evil and eliminating wickedness, the bandit Bald Hawk Li Yao has been executed. Character biography search in progress. Dropped items generated.]

A beam of white light emerged from the corpse and shot towards Wang Zhi's brow.

It turns out that the bald hawk's cultivation technique is called the "Azure Wave Technique," which is of white quality and focuses on water combat. If you encounter this bald hawk in the water, you'll have to put in a lot of effort.

However, this mere white cultivation technique was useless to him. Wang Zhi immediately crushed it, turning it into a point of experience points which he added to the Golden Essence Technique. The experience points were 44/100, and he opened another meridian.

It seems this bald hawk's life was really simple; he only flashed a white light, not even as good as that crutch from before.

With a wave of his hand, Wang Zhi instructed several of his gang members to dispose of the corpse, and then told Chief Sun to bring the head to the yamen the next day to collect the reward.

Seeing that even their second-in-command was no match for them, the other two bandits were terrified and ran away, kowtowing repeatedly to Wang Zhi and begging for their lives.

"Alright, stop yelling. I'm here to ask you, what is this bald hawk doing bringing you to Liuzhou County?"

The two men eagerly answered, "The second-in-command said he robbed the imperial court of its goods. The first-in-command told everyone to lay low for a while, but the second-in-command was so bored and wanted women that he brought the two of us to the Baihua Tower in Liuzhou County to have some fun."

"Is it that simple?" Wang Zhi's eyes swept across the two faces, and they nodded repeatedly, indeed there was no need to lie.

"Very well, your second-in-command always takes you two along when he's having fun, so you must have a very close relationship. Now that he's lonely on the road, you two can go and keep him company." With that, Wang Zhi didn't wait for the two to argue before swiftly and decisively killing them with two slashes.

This time, however, there was no flash of light or any white glow after killing the two men.

The remaining gang members were instructed to quickly dispose of the two corpses.

At the crossroads, only Wang Zhi, A Fu, and the skinny monkey remained.

Just then, a carriage slowly drove up from around the corner in the darkness.

Wang Zhi stared intently.

White paper lanterns hung on the left and right sides of the vehicle, with a large character "奠" (meaning "offering sacrifice") written on them in regular script.