The Martial Saint of the Defiled World

Tianjin Port, Old Street.

The conditions here are not as good as in other places; the whole street exudes an air of antiquity and lifelessness.

Deep in the alleys, in a sizable courtyard, a different scene unfolds.

A small pond was dug in the center of the courtyard. The water was so clear that you could see the bottom. A dozen or so plump koi fish swam leisurely around. The red ones were as red as fire, the white ones as white as snow, and the gold ones had an air of wealth and nobility.

The artificial mountain made of Taihu stones by the pond is quite well-organized, with slender parts where it should be slender, transparent parts where it should be transparent, and leaky parts where it should leak just right.

Early in the morning, a burly man with a shaved head moved a rattan chair and sat by the pond to fish.

He was humming off-key lyrics.

"On the third day of the third month, I fish in the bay."

"If the fish don't bite, the women won't come knocking."

"If they don't come to my door, I'll be heartbroken; if they're heartbroken, I'll just be miserable by myself."

"I'm so bored my crotch hurts, and if my crotch hurts, I'll go find a prostitute."

"The prostitute said, 'If you don't have money, get out of here! Get out, get out!'"

He hummed to himself, holding a fine bamboo fishing rod in his hand, his eyes fixed on the plump koi carp swimming slowly in the water.

He had someone buy these koi from Suzhou for a total of more than ten silver dollars. He personally fed them until they were plump and strong, then released them into the pond by hand, and finally caught them one by one with this fishing rod.

In his words, this is called "fun".

But this interest is now testing his already limited patience.

Half an hour passed, and the fishing float remained motionless, as if it were welded to the surface of the water.

Behind him, a row of henchmen in black short jackets stood in a line, not daring to breathe.

Cold sweat trickled down their foreheads and temples, and they were all silently praying that some foolish fish would take the bait.

"Damn it, they eat my food, drink my water, they all look like pigs, but they just won't take my bait!"

Finally, the leopard couldn't hold back any longer and began to mutter curses under its breath.

"They have absolutely no sense of propriety, just like those other useless people!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the buoy on the water surface suddenly sank.

"It moved! It moved!"

"Master is awesome! The fish has taken the bait!"

The henchmen behind him immediately perked up, their faces beaming with ingratiating smiles, even happier than if they had caught the fish themselves.

A cold smile appeared on Jinqianbao's face. Just as he was about to exert force with his wrist, a muffled thud was heard, and a figure tumbled and crawled into the yard.

"Master! Something terrible has happened!"

Liu San'er, with his squinty eyes, was running too fast and didn't pay attention to his footing. He tripped over the threshold and fell flat on his face.

Because of this sudden movement, the fat koi in the pond that had just taken the bait was startled. It flicked its tail, spat out the bait with a "plop," and darted under the artificial hill, never to resurface again.

Upon seeing this, the smiles on the faces of the underlings behind them froze.

The leopard turned its head, and its face, which had been somewhat smug, was now as black as the bottom of a pot.

He stared at Liu San'er, who was still lying on the ground and hadn't gotten up yet, his eyes seeming to spit fire.

Liu San'er also sensed that something was wrong. He looked up and met Jin Qianbao's murderous gaze. He shuddered and turned pale with fright.

"Master...Master!"

Jinqianbao didn't say anything. He slowly put down his fishing rod, stood up, and walked over to Liu San'er.

Liu San'er was so frightened he almost jumped out of his skin. He scrambled to his knees and cried out in a trembling voice, "Master, I have something extremely important to report! Something of utmost importance!"

The leopard walked up to him and raised its hand.

Liu San'er instinctively shrank his neck and closed his eyes.

With a loud thud, the leopard's large palm slapped solidly onto the back of Liu San'er's head.

Liu San'er was so badly beaten that he saw stars, his head buzzed, and he almost fell to the ground.

"Is your business more important than my fish?"

"I've been raising this for three months, a full three months! Do you know how much effort I've put in? Just waiting for this piece of trash to walk in and ruin everything?"

Liu San'er clutched the back of his head, wincing in pain, his face full of grievance, but he didn't dare to utter a single word in rebuttal, only daring to curse in his heart.

The fish isn't dead, why are you making this up for three months?

After hurling his rant, Jinqianbao's anger seemed to subside a little.

He took a couple of deep breaths, sat back down on the chair by the pond, and asked irritably, "Speak! What's the big deal? If you dare to lie to me, I'll chop you up and feed you to the fish today!"

Only then did Liu San'er dare to speak. He scrambled to Jin Qianbao's feet, lowered his voice, and hurriedly said:

"Master, it's about the Fuchang Goods Store. Last night, Xiao Liu saw with his own eyes a group of people sneaking around to the warehouse in Yulin Lane!"

Upon hearing this, Jinqianbao raised an eyebrow, and his expression finally became more serious.

"Oh? You've made it outside the warehouse?"

"yes!"

Liu San'er nodded quickly.

"However, it seems that the group was just scouting ahead. They alerted the guards inside, and then they ran away in a hurry without daring to make a move."

The leopard stroked its smooth chin without saying a word.

"They ran away after alerting the guards? What's going on here?"

Seeing his master deep in thought, Liu San'er quickly chimed in, "Master, could it be that those people just went to scout the terrain and plan their move in the next couple of days?"

With a glare, the leopard flicked Liu San'er's forehead with its other hand.

Bang!

"If you can guess that, do you think I don't know it? Why are you interrupting?"

Liu San'er covered his forehead in grievance, his lips trembled, and he dared not utter another sound.

The leopard ignored him, its eyes darkening as it muttered to itself, "Scouting out the location, huh? Could it be that Lian guy is up to no good?"

Upon hearing this, Liu San'er's eyes lit up, and he immediately forgot his pain, quickly chiming in, "Master is wise! Now that you mention it, I also think it's most likely that Lian Qi is dishonest! Besides him, who else knows about that shipment?"

"The worst thing you can do when you're doing something big is to be hasty."

The leopard snorted coldly, a hint of disdain on its face.

"This Lian Qi looks so refined, but it turns out she's a brainless idiot who can't keep her composure."

He recalled the scene a few days ago when the man who called himself Lian Qi came to his door.

The man was dressed in a long robe, wearing a black hat and gold-rimmed glasses. He spoke in a soft, gentle voice, even more pleasant than the songs sung by the courtesans on the Gu River.

"If the goods are sold at a 3:7 ratio, I get 30%, and you get 70%. Is this a fair deal?"

"Mr. Lian, you're too kind. Sanqi it is."

"Master Jin is indeed a straightforward person."

He uttered these words in a sophisticated manner, making a robbery seem as respectable as partnering to open a trading company.

Jinqianbao immediately sensed that this person was not simple. He readily agreed verbally, but kept a hundred thoughts in mind.

Golden Leopard turned his head, staring at Liu San'er, his eyes turning unfriendly again: "By the way, I asked you to find out about Lian Qi's background, how much of it did you find out?"

Liu San'er's smile froze, and the cold sweat that had just subsided on his forehead suddenly reappeared.

His eyes darted around, and he stammered for a long time before finally uttering two words in a barely audible whisper.

"No...no..."

"waste!"

The leopard raised its foot to kick, but stopped abruptly halfway through.

He pointed at Liu San'er's nose with exasperation, his hand trembling with anger.

"You can't even handle this simple task! What's the point of keeping a bunch of useless trash like you?!"

Liu San'er was so frightened that he lay on the ground, not daring to lift his head.

Just then.

In the northeast corner of the courtyard wall, the shadow of the old, crooked sycamore tree, whose branches reached into the yard, suddenly swayed slightly.

There was not a breath of wind in the courtyard at this moment, and even the surface of the pond was completely still.

No one present, including Jin Qianbao and Liu San'er, noticed this detail.

In the shadows cast by the intertwined eaves and tree branches, a person had silently appeared.

The person was dressed in black and stood in the shadows; you couldn't tell he was there unless you looked closely.