West of the city, a dilapidated house.
"You tricky heaven, finally opened your eyes!"
"With this sun, today's meal will definitely be good."
"Looks like tonight we can have a feast at Joyful Forest!"
"A feast, I bet you're thinking about those few girls, right?"
"Hahaha..."
Inside the dilapidated house, four people sat around the fire, joking and teasing, they were precisely the group of Beggar Lords controlling Shen Hex and the others.
Three Beggar Lords joked around for a while, then turned their gaze to Zhou San, looking at the two burlap sacks hanging at his waist, their eyes full of envy.
"In a few days it will be the year's end, then our Third Brother will also be a third-grade disciple!"
"That's right, with the tribute we've been giving to the Sect, Third Brother will surely be named a third-grade disciple, maybe even become a fourth-grade disciple, directly taken under the wings of the sect's elders."
"Once Third Brother becomes a third-grade disciple, our territory can expand a bit more, and then everyone's days... tsk tsk tsk!"
Though they knew those words might not be sincere, Zhou San still enjoyed the flattery immensely, laughing and saying, "It's all thanks to everyone's support, whether or not I get promoted, you and I as brothers will share blessings and endure hardship together..."
"Third Brother is righteous!"
"Third Brother is mighty!"
"A true hero!"
Watching Zhou San start to weave big dreams, the others played along, showering him with more praises.
No matter how thin, flattery never wears out, and skills of the tongue cost nothing, so what's the harm in a little praise?
Besides, among these beggars, Zhou San indeed deserved the praise.
No rules, no consistency, even the Beggar Gang has its own system, from the Gang Leader to Elders, down to each grade of disciples and the inner and outer members, hierarchy is always respected, with clear distinctions.
The highest is the Gang Leader, below the leader bags divide the ranks, from seventh to ninth-grade are elders, holding key positions of Cultivation Transmitter, Enforcer, Spear Master, Bowl Master, Dharma Protector, and Sub-Sect Leaders in the large Beggar Gang, a million strong members, yet elders number just over a hundred.
Fourth to sixth-grade are Entry-Level Disciples, truly stepping into the Beggar Gang's doors, those receiving true teachings, supported by thousands of gang members, no longer needing to beg along the streets, able to focus on martial arts, protecting the gang, though not many, they number just over ten thousand, spread across the five main divisions.
Lastly, first to third-grade disciples and bagless members, although vast in numbers, over a million strong, they are not truly part of the Beggar Gang, merely beggars relying on the gang to survive, supporting the gang with their own means, like cows, horses, pigs, and dogs raised by others.
They belong to this category, even Zhou San, the Beggar Chief, is merely a second-grade disciple, other Beggar Lords just carry a burlap sack, though commanding dozens of bagless beggars, they themselves remain beggars, still living in this dilapidated house.
Their biggest dream is to join the Inner Sect, becoming a true Beggar Gang disciple.
Once in the Inner Sect, though still nominally beggars, they actually completely leave the begging behind, especially those in the Clean Clothes Sect, named beggars but actually powerful, living worlds apart from ordinary beggars.
Zhou San this time, though only hoping to be promoted to third-grade, the chance of hanging as fourth-grade directly entering the Inner Sect is extremely low, but becoming a third-grade disciple, practically already a candidate for fourth-grade, just endure a few more years, promotion to the Inner Sect is almost guaranteed.
So, Zhou San indeed deserves their admiration.
After such flatteries, the three of them changed the subject.
"Third Brother, that kid Gouwa, his skill in begging money is getting better and better."
"Yeah, a while ago, before winter set in, every big market he managed to earn dozens of big coins, sometimes even some scattered silver."
"Really curious, this kid always looks so sloppy, hardly likable, how does he have such skills?"
"Well, isn't his skill good? Without his skills, how would we have extra money to give as tribute to the sect elders?"
"That's true, but I just feel..."
All three spoke, their eyes frequently glancing at Zhou San, wanting to see his attitude.
"That kid Gouwa, indeed has some skills!"
Zhou San understood their thoughts, lightly laughing, saying, "You all should treat him kindly, the sect elders might have noticed him already, maybe they'll bring him into the sub-sect in the future."
"What?"
"This..."
The three Beggar Lords were shocked, speaking repeatedly, "Third Brother, isn't this bad?"
"Yeah, that kid, seems like a grudging type!"
"If he enters the sub-sect, comes back to trouble us..."
Three people were worried, showing unease.
Zhou San was unconcerned, "Don't worry, even if he enters the sub-sect, he'll still be doing begging jobs, won't overturn anything. Besides, if he can enter, can't us brothers also enter?"
"This..."
The three exchanged glances, still having doubts.
Fortunately, Zhou San knew their minds, explaining, "That kid isn't someone who likes to stir trouble, how about this, tonight we'll take him to Joyful Forest, let him vent a bit, then have a talk, and from then on, we're like family..."
"Gah!!"
Before finishing, a creaking sound was heard, the dilapidated door opened, a person quickly stepped in, shouting loudly, "Third Brother, Third Brother!"
"Is it Gouwa?!"
Three were surprised and curious, Zhou San also frowned, "Why come back so early today?"
Four were puzzled, but Shen Hex was unconcerned, quickly walking into the house, happily shouting, "Third Brother, look here, a big official rewarded me with a large ingot of snowflake silver."
"Oh?!"
Hearing this, all four instantly let go of their doubts, Zhou San even more surprised, stood up to look into his bowl, "Where is it?"
However, it turned out that there was not a shred of snowflake silver in the bowl, only half a bowl of slightly translucent sand and stone.
"This... "
Zhou San's pupils contracted, surprise and suspicion hadn't even arisen before Shen Hex, who had quickly approached, suddenly flipped the broken bowl, sending half a bowl of sand and gravel straight towards his face.
Flying Sand
Artifact Profession: Beggar.
Item Tier: Tier One Level One.
Item Characteristics: Wounding the eyes (Enhance damage and visual impact on the eyes)
Item Introduction: Flying Sand carefully selected by beggars, made from a mixture of sand and clay dust, can cause great harm to the eyes.
...
"Ah!!!"
Sand and stones entered his eyes, and with a scream, Zhou San fell back, already caught in the ambush.
Flying sand and dust, targeting eyes and throat, though it is a despicable trick, has undeniable miraculous effect, unless one has perfected inner strength, with true qi protecting the body, it is simply impossible to defend against.
Zhou San, a Second-Grade Disciple, had not truly entered the Beggar Gang's threshold, practicing only some basic pile skills to build strength, let alone true qi, there was not even a trace of inner strength, how could he withstand such an ambush?
Sand and stones in his eyes, his eyes were in severe pain, instinctively he staggered back, before he could make any other move, Shen Hex stepped in front of him with a jerking motion, and jabbed out with a bamboo stick in his hand.
The bamboo stick appeared ordinary, but the bottom end had been sharpened into a pointed shape, the surface dark as coal, clearly having been burnt, looking like a bamboo stick, but actually it was a bamboo spear.
Shen Hex held the spear with both hands, stepped forward, and stabbed fiercely.
Immediately...
"Puh!!!"
A muffled sound, blood spurted out, the bamboo spear of Shen Hex pierced directly into the unprotected throat of Zhou San, fresh blood flowed out along the ridged blood groove, causing Zhou San's body to twitch violently, his hands gripping the bamboo spear at his neck, emitting chilling hissing sounds.
"Third Brother!!!"
"This...?"
Seeing this situation, although the three Beggar Lords behind were startled awake, looking at Zhou San pierced through the throat by Shen Hex's bamboo spear, they couldn't make any other reaction.
Although they were Beggar Lords, often brawling with people, even having killed some beggars, their hands stained with a few lives, that's all, they couldn't be compared to real ruthless bandits, facing such a bloody scene, for a moment didn't know what to do.
Shen Hex didn't give them the chance to react, leaving Zhou San and the bamboo spear behind, he reached into his bag and grabbed a fist-sized cobblestone, hurling it at the nearby Beggar Lord.
"Bang!!!"
A muffled sound, the stone hit directly, knocking that Beggar Lord to the ground, twitching spasmodically like a boiled shrimp, seemingly on the brink of death.
The human body is far more fragile than imagined!
Seeing this situation, the last two Beggar Lords finally snapped out of their horror, one wanted to flee but couldn't move, the other panickedly rushed, trying to escape.
Fight?
Having been scared witless, where was there any courage left to fight for life with the person before them?
Only escape!
But Shen Hex didn't give a chance, another stone flew out, knocking the fleeing man to the ground.
"Bang!!!"
The muffled sound was continuous, but even Zhou San pierced through the throat with the bamboo spear had reached the limit, flipping over, becoming a corpse in the pool of blood.
All this seemed long-winded, but in reality, it was like lightning, in the blink of an eye, three out of four Beggar Lords were down, leaving only the last one trembling on his knees, tears streaming down as he pleaded to Shen Hex: "M-Master, spare...!"
"Bang!!!"
Before he could finish, he was interrupted, a cobblestone slammed into him squarely, knocking him heavily to the ground.
In the blink of an eye, all four were down.
Shen Hex's expression was cold, without saying a word, he reached into his bag for a stone and walked toward the two Beggar Lords he had knocked down, who were still clinging to life.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
The repeated muffled sounds, the successive heavy strikes, resonated intensely in the draughty, dilapidated room.
A moment later, Shen Hex tossed aside the stone covered in red and white matter, looking at the few Beggar Lords now lifeless, and the unseeing Zhou San fallen in the pool of blood amber, finally let out a breath as if relieved.
He had killed!
He had killed!
Rather than feeling nauseous and gagging like some novels describe, experiencing physiological discomfort, he only felt his heart pounding, blood pumping, stimulating his brain, his nerves, making his body extremely excited.
Is it the effect of adrenaline?
Or is it his nature, or perhaps the pent-up humiliation and anger of the past year being vented, overpowering the psychological impact of killing?
Shen Hex didn't know, at that moment he didn't have time to think more, once he confirmed the few were dead, with no chance of recovery, he quickly moved towards the back room.
Though these Beggar Lords lived here, how could they possibly sleep in the same room with these smelly, ordinary beggars, especially Zhou San the Beggar Chief, who had his own room.
Shen Hex had long mastered the situation, directly heading to Zhou San's room, beginning to rummage through boxes and cupboards.
This slaughter was not mere venting, but to change the current situation, to escape the identity of a beggar.
Therefore...