My Cultivation Techniques Upgrade Automatically

Chapter 45: Chapter 45: The Inventor of Gangs Is a Real Genius

He burned the Martial Arts Manual he had finished reading in the brazier in his room.

He stirred the ashes a few times to make sure not a single scrap remained.

Only then did Wu Chen relax. He ate a few bites of crushed flatbread, went to the window to air out the room, and then lay down on the hard bed boards, falling asleep in his clothes.

He slept until the afternoon, when he was awoken by a clamor of noisy voices.

Wu Chen rubbed his bleary eyes, looked around the second floor of the inn, then grabbed his saber and went downstairs, heading toward the back courtyard where the noise was coming from.

”Sir, you can’t go there! You can’t!” The shop assistant, who had just tiptoed back from the rear courtyard, stopped Wu Chen, a look of terror on his face.

”What’s wrong?” Wu Chen yawned, still not fully awake.

The shop assistant pointed toward the back and whispered, ”Sir, there are two gangs having an all-out brawl in the alley back there. The fighting is vicious!”

”Two gangs brawling? Why?”

Wu Chen’s sleepy eyes snapped open, his drowsiness clearing considerably.

”Yes, it’s a real headache!”

The shop assistant’s face was grim. The inn already had no business, and now this had to happen right behind his shop.

What if this scared away their only two guests? What would he do then?

Frustrated by the thought, he began to ramble, recounting the cause and effect of the gang war he had just overheard while eavesdropping by the wall.

”The gangs causing trouble behind the inn are the Profound Snake Gang and the Black Scorpion Gang.”

”Their territories are right next to each other, so they inevitably clash when collecting their monthly protection money. They’ve had bad blood for a long time.”

”Last night, several members from both gangs mysteriously died. Their hearts were all gouged out, and their deaths were horrifying.”

”The two rival gangs both suspect the other is behind it, claiming they hired a fiend from the Blood Slaughter Sect to kill their members.”

”Today, a few grunts from each gang ran into each other while wandering around behind the inn. They exchanged a few sharp words, started cursing each other out, and then both sides called for backup. That’s when the full-blown fight broke out.”

”It’s gotten really ugly. Someone’s probably been killed. I reckon the Officials will be here any minute...”

Wu Chen almost laughed out loud. So, after all that, he was the cause of everything.

Just then, Wu Chen heard the rattling of iron chains and a powerful voice coming from the alley behind the inn:

”Official business!”

”Stop, all of you bastards!”

”Didn’t you hear me!”

”...”

”The constables are here, run!”

After that shout, all the clanging sounds of the fight stopped.

Wu Chen had expected the constables to at least arrest a few gang members and drag them to the yamen for punishment, or at the very least, give them a verbal warning.

But he never imagined the gang members would just scatter like birds and beasts.

After the sound of chaotic footsteps faded, only the Officials were left, cursing as they cleaned up the bodies.

”It seems the authorities can’t control these gangs!”

Wu Chen muttered to himself, his expression thoughtful as he considered the situation.

He had previously thought the chaos in Black Stone City was condoned by the authorities, that they were all in it together like a nest of snakes and rats.

But now it seemed the local gangs had grown so powerful that the authorities were simply incapable of managing them!

They could only let them expand and run amok in Black Stone City.

’If this continues, in ten or twenty years, these gangs will have fought and merged, possibly evolving into minor sects with considerable power and immense control over Black Stone City.’

’But since I’m here now, they can forget about it.’

’The authorities can’t control the gang wars.’

’So if I start killing the gangs, they’ll have no reason to get involved with me, right?’

His drowsiness completely gone, Wu Chen turned and walked out of the inn.

He was going to be doing more killing, and one set of clothes wouldn’t be enough. He needed to find a tailor shop and get a few new outfits.

The trip took less than the time it takes an incense stick to burn. He returned to the inn with extreme speed.

On the second floor, in his room.

Wu Chen looked at three plain, unadorned sets of black combat attire.

The coarse fabric wasn’t expensive, but it was sturdy and durable. Even so, the three sets cost him one tael of silver, which made his heart ache for quite a while.

Wu Chen sat quietly in his room, his eyes fixed on the window as the sky outside turned from light to dark.

He waited until the sky grew dim and the already quiet streets fell completely silent.

He stood up and changed into clothes more suitable for killing.

When darkness finally fell, he seemed to melt into the night.

Just like the previous night, he gently opened the window.

CREAK~

As luck would have it, the window of a room one door down to his right also opened at the exact same moment.

”What a coincidence~”

Wu Chen called out a friendly greeting, but the young woman didn’t even glance at him. She landed lightly on the ground and vanished from sight.

’She’s just playing hard to get.’

Wu Chen wasn’t embarrassed. He scoffed inwardly, landed with a soft THUMP, and his figure also vanished into the alley.

”The Profound Snake Gang, at the end of the eastern alley.”

This was the information he had gotten from interrogating the gang members yesterday, so Wu Chen was now rushing toward the eastern part of the city.

The specific location wasn’t hard to find. Seeing the firelight in the large courtyard, Wu Chen knew he was in the right place.

After all, the only ones who stayed up all night with money to spend on food, drink, and carousing were these idle gang members.

Inside the courtyard, a group of people were shouting and clamoring:

”Screw it, let’s go all out against the Black Scorpion Gang!”

”Yeah, all this daily squabbling is getting nowhere.”

”If we take those guys out, we can collect protection money from another street!”

”...”

Hearing the commotion inside and confirming he was at the right place, Wu Chen knocked on the wooden door a few times with the hilt of his saber.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

”Who is it!”

An irritable voice came from inside, followed by footsteps.

CREAK~

The door opened a crack. The person inside was very cautious.

Seeing a young man outside, his vigilance relaxed considerably.

”What do you want?”

Wu Chen asked in return, ”Is your Boss Zhang here?”

Boss Zhang was the leader of the Profound Snake Gang, the boss of these grunts.

”Boss Zhang is here, what do you...”

The grunt was about to ask Wu Chen’s purpose for being there when he saw Wu Chen’s left hand was already on the door, pushing it inward.

He suddenly felt as if the door was a mountain pressing down on him, and his body involuntarily took a step back.

The door let out an overburdened CREEEAAAK.

When the door had opened half a foot, Wu Chen thrust his sheathed saber forward, lightly tapping the grunt’s abdomen with its hilt.

BOOM!

The grunt inside felt as if he’d been hit by a speeding carriage. His organs churned, his body folded in half, and he was sent flying backward through the air.

His body crashed into the middle of the courtyard, rolled a few times, and then fell still.

The noisy courtyard instantly fell silent. They couldn’t understand how opening a door could make such a commotion. Did the door bite his hand or something?

But they quickly realized someone was here to crash the party.

”Grab your weapons!”

With a shout, a dozen or so members of the Profound Snake Gang stood up and looked toward the young man at the gate.

They watched as the young man calmly turned around, closed the gate, and slid the bolt shut.

Only after doing all this did Wu Chen turn to face the dozen-plus members of the Profound Snake Gang.

”Come at me all at once. I’m in a hurry.”

”You’re courting death!”

”Arrogant fool!”

The Profound Snake Gang members had already failed to gain an advantage against the Black Scorpion Gang today and were simmering with frustration. Now, being provoked by a mere kid, how could they possibly endure it?

They immediately drew their sabers and charged forward like a great swarm.

But in the crowd, one person was taking advantage of the distraction to quietly retreat.

It was the leader of the Profound Snake Gang.

Looking at the strange young man, he knew that without absolute confidence, no one would dare come looking for trouble alone.

Seeing that things were going south, he turned to vault over the wall and escape.

WHOOSH!

But he had barely taken two steps after turning when a scabbard, whistling through the air, flew toward him.

The scabbard struck him squarely on the back of the head, cracking his skull open.

The leader of the Profound Snake Gang collapsed to the ground without a sound.

Then, the courtyard filled with the dull thuds of fists and feet.

Martial artists at the second or third stage of the Flesh Refining Realm might be untouchable figures to ordinary people, but to Wu Chen, they were nothing special.

To avoid getting bloodstains on his newly bought clothes, he didn’t even use his saber.

In the time it took to leap a dozen or so times, there wasn’t a single living grunt left in the courtyard.

Wu Chen began to expertly search the bodies on the ground.

”One Flesh Refining Realm Martial Arts manual, and seven basic Martial Arts manuals.”

”And just under ten taels of silver!”

Wu Chen’s eyes sparkled as he looked at his loot.

As far as he knew, the Profound Snake Gang was just one of the most ordinary gangs in Black Stone City.

The Black Scorpion Gang and the other gangs would only be richer than the Profound Snake Gang.

Not only could he gain rich spoils by killing these people, but the authorities wouldn’t interfere—they might even applaud him for it.

Thinking of this, Wu Chen couldn’t help but sigh with emotion:

”Whoever invented gangs was a real genius!”