Becoming a god starts with one certificate becoming eternal.

The night was very dark.

The oil lamp at the entrance of the alley shook twice, and the flame shrank to a thin line, as if it were being choked by the wind and gasping for breath.

Zhang Tu was grabbing a woman by the hair and pressing her against the wall, the wall stained with blood.

He didn't yell, nor did he seem particularly angry. He simply slammed the bamboo clappers together in his palm with a "snap," like turning the pages of a book.

"Alley money".

Zhang Tu said in a flat tone: "If you still can't raise the money by tomorrow... your two sons will have to kneel at the alley entrance and learn the rules."

The woman trembled with fear, and before she could speak, Zhang Tu pressed down hard with his hand.

Her scalp tingled from being pulled, and her whole body was pressed down and bent.

"Thump."

His forehead slammed heavily onto the muddy ground.

a bit.

Another one.

Blood continued to flow, and she felt dizzy and could only choke out a plea for mercy:

"Master Zhang, please, give me two more days... just two more days."

Zhang Tu then loosened his grip, as if untying a tattered cloth.

The henchmen nearby immediately burst into laughter, their laughter filled with malice as they stood up for the rules.

"Brother Zhang is kind!"

"That kind of person is a despicable scumbag who deserves a beating!"

"If they don't understand the rules, teach them until they do!"

Just as the woman was about to shrink back, Zhang Tu lifted his toes.

It's not about venting anger, it's about setting rules.

"Bang."

A kick landed on her ribs, and the woman slammed into the corner of the wall with a dull thud, like her bones had been struck. Her whole body went limp.

Zhang Tu shook his sleeves, as if brushing off some dust, and said indifferently, "Bad luck."

The henchmen laughed even more unrestrainedly.

One of the henchmen suddenly lowered his voice: "Brother Zhang, the rent in the alleys has been raised way too much lately, hasn't it? If the higher-ups hear about it, won't we be in trouble... especially that household in the third alley?"

Another immediately laughed and cursed, "Are you stupid? That guy who's in charge of the stove is just a tough animal. Why not give him a good stab and let him live through the New Year?"

A faint smile tugged at the corners of Zhang Tu's lips, as if he had turned to the most convenient IOU in his ledger.

"That's right."

His voice wasn't loud, but it was as if his words were nailed to the wind:

"For someone like that, with just one word from me... his whole family would have to kneel down and offer their lives."

The henchmen immediately started chanting, "Brother Zhang is amazing!"

Zhang Tu chuckled, but the smile didn't reach his eyes.

He walked past the woman, then suddenly lifted his foot and stomped on her stomach.

It was a casual remark, but it made the woman curl up even tighter, as if her bones had been kicked apart.

"Drag it away," Zhang Tu said in a low voice. "It's in the way."

The woman was dragged into the alley by her ankle, leaving a dark mark on the muddy ground. The oil lamp flickered twice, and the flame dwindled.

……

At the other end of the alley, the shadows seemed to be gently tugged by the wind.

Ye Xiao pressed himself against a broken wall and looked out through the gap.

Zhang Tu was not far away, surrounded by three henchmen of the Green Owl Gang, who were laughing, cursing, and kicking him.

Ye Xiao could see it very clearly.

Zhang Tu did smell of alcohol, but his steps were steady... He was so used to this alley that he didn't even bother to glance at the shadows.

Needless to say, those few lackeys.

Their eyes were fixed only on the woman on the ground and Zhang Tu; no one looked at the darkness around them.

The miasma seeped into the alleyway, carrying a putrid and cold smell. It tightened in the throat and made the eyes sting.

At this moment, the faint smile on Zhang Tu's face overlapped with the boot print in the room at dusk.

Three strings of cash in ten days, a contract, then it swelled to six strings of cash; the mother's trembling hands, the feeling of Xiaoxue clutching his sleeve in her dazed state...

Scenes flashed through my heart.

He didn't explode.

It just landed steadily.

Like a knife sitting upright in its sheath, cold and gleaming.

Ultimately, it all boils down to a single thought.

Tonight, Zhang Tu will surely die.

Ye Xiao slowly exhaled and drew the wood-chopping knife from behind his waist.

The back of the blade was pressed against the forearm, not letting a single ray of light through.

The breath of the Crimson Blood Stake settled in his chest cavity, like a piece of red-hot iron suddenly sinking into cold water. The blood no longer flowed wildly, but was instead forced back into the depths of his bones, making his chest feel stuffy, but his ears became clearer.

The soles of the feet gripped the frozen ground, the knees slightly lowered, and the waist and back straight.

The crimson pillar was pressed to its limit, and the power of the muscles continued to accumulate, making the whole person like a bent string.

It doesn't make a sound, but it could disconnect and bounce back at any time.

His blood felt like it was being twisted inward by an invisible hand, getting hotter and hotter until it swelled, yet he held it tightly behind his sternum.

Once released, the heat will rush out along the arm bone.

He moved forward inch by inch.

Every step was taken in the thickest shadows.

The miasma masked the smell, and the wind suppressed the soft sounds.

Aside from the sound of the wind, the only sounds at the alley entrance were the laughter of Zhang Tu and his henchmen.

"Brother Zhang, that woman seems to have stopped moving?"

"What bad luck. Remember this: she crashed into herself. Don't let people say we don't follow the rules."

Zhang Tu tilted his head indifferently. The lives of the people in the mute alley were nothing to him. Even if a few were lost, no one would dare to ask about it... as long as the accounts were clean.

He lifted his foot to leave.

And in that very instant he turned around!

Ye Xiao moved.

The suppressed heat from the Crimson Blood Stake suddenly surged upwards.

He heard a muffled thud from his bones, like wet wood being forcibly pried open; it was the rebound of muscles pushing their strength to the limit.

There were no shouts, no sprints, no unnecessary movements.

Only the force exerted by the Crimson Blood Stake presses down, traveling upwards along the ankles, knees, and hips.

He seemed to grow out of the darkness.

The burst of energy was sent down the shoulder and flicked across the wrist.

The machete slid out close to the shadow, its blade almost invisible.

"laugh."

A sliver of heat splashed onto the back of his fingers holding the knife.

The blade grazed the soft line below the throat, and just as the vocal cords were about to vibrate, air leaked out from the tear first.

Zhang Tu's throat collapsed, as if his trachea had been cut off. His mouth opened, but only a string of bubbly, broken sounds escaped.

He instinctively raised his hand to cover it, but the blood that was flowing out from between his fingers was hot and rapid, and he couldn't push it back in.

He vaguely saw a face, which shocked and disbelieved him. How could he have died at the hands of such a person?

A deep sense of regret welled up inside me.

He wanted to curse, to yell, to shout people's names.

But only a few broken breaths escaped from his throat.

"Cluck...cluck..."

The henchmen were stunned for a moment: "Brother Zhang? Brother Zhang!"

The next moment, Zhang Tu's knees buckled, and he knelt down with a "thud".

This kneeling was heavy, as if all the bamboo clappers he had struck, the accounts he had kept, and the lives he had endured in his life were being forced back into the mud.

A fleeting, lucid terror crossed his eyes, as if he knew there was no hope. His fingers twitched, and he instinctively reached for the bamboo board at his side.

But his fingertips grasped at nothing.

The henchmen finally realized what was happening and rushed forward with screams.

Ye Xiao did not hesitate.

Using Zhang Tu's falling body as a shield, he shifted half a step to the side, his whole body pressed against the shadow, like a drop of ink falling into the night.

The henchman missed his target, slipped, and fell to his knees in the mud.

Zhang Tu fell into a pool of blood, which slowly seeped through the cracks in the bricks, and when the wind blew, it looked like a layer of dark red frost.

Only the faintest footsteps could be heard in the darkness.

One step, two steps... further and further away.

Ye Xiao emerged from the shadows on the other side.

He did not go where there was firelight.

Tonight, he shouldn't let any light capture his image in anyone's eyes.

He walked only along the narrowest and darkest alleyway, his steps extremely steady.

With a flick of the machete, blood splattered along the wall in extremely thin lines, which were quickly suppressed by the miasma.

Some people wanted to chase after them, but they stumbled after taking only two steps because of the cracks in the bricks. When they looked up again, there was only cold wind in the alley, and they couldn't even tell whether the person was tall or short.

The only thing I remember is... the shadow was fast, but the knife was even faster.

……

Ye Xiao had already left and was walking in another alley, his pace neither fast nor slow.

A metallic taste rose in his throat, and he swallowed the sweet, metallic taste back down.

The crimson blood stake pressed down too hard, and when it was released in an instant, it felt as if a piece of heat had been pulled out from his bones.

After a moment, his breathing returned to a steady rhythm.

Like that slash just now, it was just an extra punch on the way of practicing boxing.

There was no sense of pride.

There was no lingering fear.

There is only one inexplicable smoothness.

That was a breath that had been suppressed for a long time, finally being exhaled smoothly.

The character "光" (light) quietly appears in the destiny chart:

[Collapse Mountain Fist - Beginner Level: 215/250]

【Crimson Blood Stake - Minor Completion: 230/600】

Both stance training and fist techniques were forcefully pushed forward by that last strike.

Combat is a form of training.

The knife moves along the same force line as the collapsing mountain, but it's not as smooth as a punch.

Ye Xiao did not stop, remaining in the shadows.

He didn't turn around.

The night in the Silent Alley has fallen silent once again.

For the first time, he was certain: the rules of this alley could be changed by the knife in his hand.

But once the knife is drawn, there is no turning back.

With Zhang Tu dead, the alley might finally be able to breathe a sigh of relief.

But rules never die.

To break the hand reaching towards your door... you have to be faster, harder, and stronger.

……

Before dawn, the damp cold woke up the mute alley.

Someone's dead!!

"Zhang Tu is dead! His throat was slit!!"

"Master Zhang has been killed with a single stab!"

Someone was running wildly through the wet mud, their roar echoing throughout the alley.

The doors of the dilapidated house were pushed open one by one.

The emaciated man, the woman holding the child, and the huddled old man were all awakened, like a group of shadows forcibly dragged out of their nest.

Ye Xiao stood on the door frame of his own house.

His mother was behind him, her face almost transparently white, her hands gripping the door frame so tightly that her fingertips turned blue.

Xiaoxue huddled behind her mother's legs, her eyes wide with fright, shining black, like a startled fawn.

Ye Xiao didn't squeeze into the crowd; he just looked through the crack in the door.

The noise was poured into the narrow well, vibrating back and forth.

"A slit throat with a woodcutter's knife, a single, deadly blow, not like indiscriminate killing."

"The fact that only he died is clearly targeted at him!"

"Who dares to kill him? Aren't they afraid of Qing...?"

He stopped abruptly halfway through his sentence.

People in the Silent Alley instinctively lower their voices; there are some things they cannot say, nor can they let those who shouldn't hear them hear them.

Someone glanced around and muttered, "Could it be the Tiger Fang Gang? I've heard they're expanding rapidly lately, but do they really dare to mess with the Green Owl Gang?"

Someone next to him immediately grabbed his arm: "Are you looking for trouble?!"

The air suddenly tensed up.

Fear is something branded into the silent alley.

The mother's voice trembled:

"Xiao'er... Zhang Tu came last night, could it be... could someone misunderstand and think this has something to do with us?"

She spoke haltingly, as if fear had choked her.

Ye Xiao said calmly, "No."

The mother was stunned: "But he did yesterday..."

Ye Xiao interrupted, his tone so calm it was reassuring:

How many people die in Silent Alley every month?

"Even if they do investigate, it won't be our turn."

"As long as we don't panic like thieves, we won't be the ones being targeted first."

The mother nodded.

Xiaoxue timidly raised her head, her voice as soft as a feather:

"Brother...is our nightmare... over?"

Ye Xiao raised his hand and gently touched her head, his fingertips lightly saying, "Mmm."

Xiaoxue seemed to have her fear suppressed, and her breathing became a little lighter.

The mother first loosened her grip, then tightened it again.

It was Zhang Tu who died.

The crucial point is that the other party did indeed come to their house last night, which is ultimately a potential problem.

The people of the Silent Alley are not afraid of ghosts.

What I fear most is being implicated in others' misfortunes.