Chapter 57: Torture

Chen Fei wiped the blood from his blade and entered the back hall. Several people lay in the hall, including the two who had been tracking him and had gone to report to the Shallow Water Gang.

There were actually quite a few experts here—four Bone Tempering Realm practitioners. There were several such establishments in Xingfen City, and arranging several Bone Tempering Realm experts for one shop was considered quite a significant display of wealth and power.

However, facing Chen Fei's assassination attempt, the combat strength of these four was somewhat mediocre.

Having integrated so many cultivation techniques, the current Chen Fei was far more powerful than other rogue cultivators of the same level.

After a quick search for silver, Chen Fei began looking for information regarding the Shallow Water Gang. He didn't quite trust the information he had just purchased; judging by the shopkeeper's demeanor, he seemed like a man of little integrity.

Chen Fei searched the back hall and found several shelves of documents in one of the rooms. Following the classifications, he quickly found information related to the Shallow Water Gang.

Chen Fei had intended to leave immediately, but he paused and took everything he deemed necessary.

Summoning a storage cabinet into his spatial grid, Chen Fei stuffed the thick stack of papers inside before finally leaving the premises.

"There is actually a Marrow Refining Realm martial artist? This wasn't in the first version of the information!"

After quickly skimming through the Shallow Water Gang's information, Chen Fei's brow furrowed slightly.

Although this Marrow Refining Realm martial artist was old and had suffered a heavy injury in the past that caused his combat strength to decline, he was still in the Marrow Refining Realm. There was still a fundamental difference between him and those in the Bone Tempering Realm.

Walking out of the marketplace, Chen Fei looked up toward the direction of the Shallow Water Gang leader Xu Zaichuan's residence. After a moment of contemplation, he began walking forward.

***

Xu Zaichuan's Residence.

"Good heroes, why have you captured me? I will tell you everything I know, I swear. I beg you, please do not hurt me."

Chi Defeng sat on the ground with his hands tied behind his back, trembling as he looked at the people in the hall with a terrified expression.

"Where is that alchemist?" Xu Zaichuan sat upright above, looking down at Chi Defeng.

"What alchemist?" Chi Defeng looked confused.

*Thud!*

Xu Zaichuan kicked Chi Defeng in the chest. Chi Defeng's breath hitched as he was slammed into a stone pillar in the hall, spitting out a mouthful of blood.

"Even at a time like this, you still dare to play dumb with me."

Xu Zaichuan looked at Chi Defeng mockingly and waved a hand to his subordinates. "Beat him. Beat him until he is willing to talk."

"Yes!"

Two members of the Shallow Water Gang responded and lunged forward, beginning to rain punches and kicks upon Chi Defeng.

"Mercy! Mercy! I'll talk, I'll talk!" After only a moment, Chi Defeng began to scream shrilly, his entire body covered in blood.

"Speak," Xu Zaichuan said, a smile playing on his lips.

"I don't know that alchemist either. He is always the one who comes to me for trades, commissioning me to sell the pills. Every day after the sales are done, he gives me a little bit of hard-earned money," Chi Defeng said in a small voice, looking at Xu Zaichuan in terror.

The smile on Xu Zaichuan's face slowly vanished. He walked toward Chi Defeng step by step, suddenly drew a longsword, and stabbed it into Chi Defeng's thigh.

"Ah!"

Chi Defeng let out a scream, completely unable to dodge.

"Do you think I'm easy to fool? Then keep making things up. Let's see how far you can go!"

Xu Zaichuan violently twisted the longsword embedded in Chi Defeng's thigh. In just a moment, the wound became a bloody mess.

"Hiss..."

Chi Defeng was in too much pain to scream; only the sound of ragged gasping remained.

"What I said is true... you can go check..." Chi Defeng's weak voice drifted out, his face deathly pale.

"Can you find out who he has been in close contact with before?" Xu Zaichuan turned to his subordinates.

"That old fellow is extremely cautious. Every time we follow his people, we get shaken off. We've never known where he lives or who he has dealt with."

"So cautious, is he?"

Xu Zaichuan leaned forward slightly, staring at Chi Defeng. He pulled the longsword out of the wound and then stepped on it, grinding his sole forcefully into the injury.

The already mangled wound became even more gruesome, quickly turning into a pulp of flesh.

"It's true... everything I say is true!" Chi Defeng cried out in a low voice, nearly losing consciousness.

"Pour the medicine in. Snap his fingers off, one by one!"

Xu Zaichuan narrowed his eyes and sat back down in his high chair. The Shallow Water Gang members hoisted Chi Defeng up and poured a bowl of medicinal liquid into his mouth.

Chi Defeng, who had been drifting into a daze, was suddenly jolted awake. However, this wakefulness only allowed him to feel the pain radiating from his body even more clearly.

"I want to see just how tough that mouth of yours can be!"

With a finger point from Xu Zaichuan, someone brought out a large pair of pliers.

The pliers were coated with a dark brown crust—the dried remains of blood. A foul odor wafted from them, clearly indicating that much flesh and skin had already been lost beneath those pliers.

"After the ten fingers are snapped, there are ten toes. Then the collarbones, then boiling him alive. I have plenty of time to play with you slowly!"

Xu Zaichuan looked at Chi Defeng with cold eyes. Chi Defeng's expression of terror slowly vanished, and he suddenly spat a mouthful of bloody phlegm at Xu Zaichuan.

"Come on, all of you, come at me! I want to see if you little bastard can actually make this old man feel a bit of satisfaction!"

Realizing that pretending was useless, Chi Defeng instead burst into laughter.

Xu Zaichuan's eyes narrowed, and he flew into a rage, roaring loudly, "Torture him! I want to see him kneeling and begging for death!"

"Yes!"

The Shallow Water Gang members responded, grabbed Chi Defeng's fingers, and moved the pliers in.

*Swish!*

An arrow suddenly shot in, piercing one of the gang members. The immense force of the arrow sent him crashing directly into the ground, and the pliers in his hand fell with a sharp clatter.

Everyone froze in shock, and then two more arrows flew in, striking two people in the heart, killing them instantly.

"Enemy attack!"

At this, everyone reacted, beginning to seek cover to avoid the arrows. Some people in the corners tried to rush out along the base of the walls to kill the attacker.

*Swish, swish, swish...*

The sound of arrows rang out continuously. Those attempting to rush out were pinned through the forehead the moment they poked their heads out. Those who had not yet found cover also found arrows in their bodies.

The remaining members of the Shallow Water Gang fired their hidden weapons toward the direction of the archery, and some skilled marksmen responded with their own shots.

But immediately, these counter-attackers were struck with holes in their bodies; the force of the arrows was so great that the arrowheads passed straight through them.

In just a short moment, over a dozen people in the hall had died. The survivors no longer dared to show their heads, but some arrows, driven by internal energy, traveled in slight arcs, curving around the cover to pierce into their bodies.

This level of archery had already transcended the realm of ordinary martial artists; a single person with a bow was directly suppressing dozens of men.

"What lowly thief dares to cause such havoc here!"

With a thunderous roar, a figure approached from a distance, arriving above the hall in the blink of an eye.

"It's Elder He! Elder He is here!"

The Shallow Water Gang members who were being harvested by arrows cried out in joy upon hearing the voice.

Chen Fei stood on the eaves, watching He Yuanqiu leap across the rooftops toward him. Chen Fei turned the bow and killed a Shallow Water Gang member who had poked his head out with a single arrow.

"How dare you! Die!"

Seeing Chen Fei kill another person right before his eyes, He Yuanqiu was so enraged that his hair seemed to stand on end. He extended his right hand into an eagle claw, lunging toward Chen Fei's head.

*Whoosh!*

The eagle claw sliced through the air with a piercing sound, but it failed to catch anyone.

Chen Fei's figure drifted backward, and three more arrows flew out, picking off the hiding Shallow Water Gang members one by one.

The Shallow Water Gang members, whose morale had just been bolstered by He Yuanqiu's arrival, suddenly fell into a deathly silence.