Chinese Martial Arts: My Super Beast Clone

Chapter 91 Green Bamboo Gang's Red Flower Bounty

Arimura Heibei felt the hairs on the back of his head stand on end, and a layer of cold sweat broke out on his forehead.

This scene is all too familiar. Not long ago, five or six members of the Black Dragon Society disappeared or died overnight. When the bodies were found, the scene was also filled with this kind of churned-up dirt and mutilated limbs.

Now, in broad daylight, on the street, right in front of a group of dozens of people, it has happened again.

"It wasn't done by a human—it was a monster—" A ronin next to him said, his hand holding a sword trembling and his voice shaking.

"Shut up!" Muramasa gritted his teeth, glancing around and suppressing his fear. "Everyone, three people per group, back to back! No one is allowed to be alone! Hurry back to the hall!"

He gripped the knife tightly with both hands, his eyes fixed on the soil, as if afraid that another gaping maw would leap out from under his feet. The hundred or so men quickly formed a defensive formation, not even daring to clean up the corpses on the ground, and hurried back towards the Black Dragon Guild Hall.

wilderness.

Lin Hai sat in the shack.

"They're on guard now, they've formed a formation, it'll be easy for us to get entangled if we make another move," Lin Hai thought to himself.

Muramasa is a master of the Dark Force stage. Although the Earth-Splitting Crocodile Dragon is elusive, if he gets entangled with it, he will probably have a hard time escaping unscathed.

Lin Hai gave the order for the Earth-Splitting Crocodile Dragon, which was lurking underground in Yangcheng, to turn around and swim towards the wilderness outside the city.

The Black Dragon Club, located in the inner city of Yangcheng.

The vast Japanese-style house was eerily quiet at the moment.

Murahiro knelt outside the sliding door of the inner room, his forehead pressed against the back of his hand, motionless.

The sliding door wasn't closed completely, leaving a crack. The room was dimly lit. Shinichi Yagyu had changed his clothes and was now wearing a white undershirt, sitting cross-legged on a cushion. A katana lay horizontally on the sword rack in front of him.

Arimura Heibei gave a detailed account of the underground attack he encountered on his way back.

After the report was finished, the only sound in the corridor was the faint crackling of an oil lamp wick. A long time passed before Yagyu Shinichi's calm voice finally came from inside.

"Half a body, and an underground entrance?"

"Yes," Muramasa replied, bowing his head, his voice slightly strained. "I examined the traces, and they match the scene left by the missing members a few days ago. I suspect that some kind of large monster might be lurking beneath Yangcheng—"

"Baka!"

Shinichi Yagyu suddenly spoke up, interrupting Heiji Arimura.

With that shout, a surge of powerful true energy burst forth from the crack in the door. Arimurabe felt as if he had been kicked hard in the chest, and he rolled backward, crashing into a wooden pillar in the corridor. A sweet taste rose in his throat, and he spat out a mouthful of blood.

Shinichi Yagyu pushed open the door and walked barefoot into the corridor. He looked down at Arimura Heiwa, who was struggling to get up.

Shinichi Yagyu scoffed, "Are you telling me that dozens of Imperial samurai fled back with their tails between their legs without even catching a glimpse of the murderer?"

"Please forgive me, Your Excellency! I deserve to die!" Arimura Heibei didn't even bother to wipe the blood from the corner of his mouth before he immediately got up and knelt down again.

"There are no ghosts or gods in this world, only fists and the way of the sword. Even if there are demonic beasts, they are no match for the blade of a martial artist." Yagyu Shinichi raised his head and looked at the newly planted cherry blossom tree in the courtyard. "You have been thrown into disarray by such despicable means, which is a disgrace to the empire."

Arimura Heibei dared not refute, and could only bow his head in submission.

Yagyu Shinichi turned around and faced away from him.

"Zongxiu is dead, and all my years of hard work have gone to waste. Guo Canghai wants to protect Lu Zhengchuan, so I won't confront him head-on for now. But this score can't be settled like this."

He paused for a moment, his tone revealing murderous intent.

"There is a village."

"Your subordinate is here!"

"I'll give you three days." Yagyu Shinichi held up three fingers, his voice devoid of any emotion. "Find that kid named Lin Hai even if you have to dig three feet into the ground."

"I'll keep a close eye on the Guo family myself. As for that charlatan hiding underground—"

A flash of murderous intent crossed Yagyu Shin's eyes.

"If it reappears, drag it out and crush it!"

Arimurabei's heart skipped a beat, and he immediately obeyed, "Yes, sir! Understood!"

Just as he was about to leave, Yagyu Shinichi's cold voice came from behind him again.

"Remember, if you can't bring his head back—"

Shinichi Yagyu slowly turned his head, his gaze falling on Arimura Heiwa's neck as if he were looking at an inanimate object.

"Then I'll have no choice but to take yours off."

Just as dawn was breaking, the Black Dragon Society's ronin kicked open the door of a teahouse in the eastern district of the outer city.

This is a branch of a small local gang called "Green Bamboo Gang".

The leader of the Green Bamboo Gang was a bald man in his forties, who was now being held down on an octagonal table covered with tea, with two samurai swords at his neck.

"Mr. Arimura! We have no grudges or enemies, and I have never shortchanged you on my monthly gift money. What are you up to?" The bald man trembled with fear.

Arimurabei pulled over a long bench and sat down, then took out a piece of paper from his pocket and slapped it on the table. The paper contained a portrait of Lin Hai.

"Have you seen this person before?" Arimura Heibei asked.

The bald man squinted and examined it for a moment, then shook his head repeatedly: "Never seen it before, absolutely never seen it before."

Arimurabei stood up, drew his katana from his waist, and swung it casually.

The blade grazed the bald man's scalp, slicing off a bloody piece of scalp in the process.

"Ah!" the bald man screamed.

"I'll ask one last time." Arimurabe pressed the bloodied blade against the bald man's face. "With such a commotion at the Fuhu Martial Arts School yesterday, your Green Bamboo Gang's spies couldn't have missed it. Where did they go?"

The bald man, writhing in pain, shouted at the top of his lungs, "I remember now! Yesterday afternoon, Chang Yun from the Fuhu Martial Arts School flagged down more than a dozen rickshaws at the entrance. These rickshaws went into Dingwu Lane and came out shortly afterward, their canopies drawn tight, and they split into several groups to leave the city!"

Arimura Heibei paused for a moment.

A dozen or so rickshaws dispersed and left the city. It was a decoy setup. That kid had already left.

"Outside the city?" Muramasa put away his sword, his face darkening.

The wilderness outside Yangcheng is vast, making it too easy to hide a person.

But he had to find the person.

Arimura Heibei turned and walked out of the teahouse, instructing his trusted subordinates guarding the door: "Spread the word to all the major gangs in Yangcheng that anyone who provides clues about that kid will be richly rewarded."

He gritted his teeth and added, "Hang a red flower on the black market as a reward. Three thousand silver dollars for anyone who brings Lin Hai's head!"

Three thousand silver dollars. In those days, that amount of money was enough to buy hundreds of lives.

Under the reward, there must be a brave man.

People from all walks of life in Yangcheng, even hunters and bandits who live on the edge of death in the wilderness, would flock to the wilderness for this money.

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