Water Ink Panel: Starting with Bow Technique to Hunt the Sun and Patrol the Skies

Chapter 70: Chapter 69: Scavenging, Dividing the Spoils

After the commotion, the neatly arranged tables and chairs in the hall had scattered, as if swept by a violent storm, with fragments littering the floor in disarray.

On the dusty floor tiles, corpses lay haphazardly strewn about.

The blood that flowed from the bodies formed startling pools of red that flickered with an ominous light under the weak lamp.

The air was heavy with the thick scent of blood.

Zhao Ba and his men were all dead.

Shen Qing had acted decisively, without any sign of hesitation or procrastination.

The once domineering gang of Zhao Ba in the west of the city was so easily eradicated.

Too weak!

Or to say, Shen Qing did not realize he was so strong, mistakenly thinking he was in for a fierce battle.

But then again, Zhao Ba was getting old.

Someone like Zhao Ba, who climbed up from the bottom, lived in hunger when young, suffering from chronic malnutrition.

Even when conditions improved later on, and he began to cultivate his Qi-Blood and learn Martial Arts, he had missed the best period to practice Martial Arts.

His physical condition was far inferior to those young people who began their training early, not to mention those figures from the Inner City.

He could only throw his weight around in these shanty areas.

Additionally, with age, his Qi-Blood declined, and comfort had led to his vulnerability.

In the hall now, the gaze of Yang Zhao Ping and the others was tightly fixed on Shen Qing.

The scene fell into a silence as still as death.

Their faces were full of shock.

They had never imagined that Shen Qing could single-handedly, and so effortlessly, kill Zhao Ba and completely eradicate all his followers without leaving a single one behind.

Shen Xiaohu was fine; he was already used to his cousin's ways.

But for Xiao Zhi and Ouyang Tie Niu, it was their first time witnessing this.

In Xiao Zhi's mind, Shen Qing was just a person with a talent for Martial Arts, usually silent and obedient.

As for Ouyang Tie Niu, he was just a naive country fellow from the countryside, inexperienced in the ways of the world.

This revelation thoroughly overturned their image of Shen Qing, as they couldn't hide their feelings of deep awe.

The seemingly harmless little hunter had suddenly shown such a ferocious side that it made them somewhat uncomfortable, momentarily unable to adjust.

Shen Qing slowly turned around, his gaze once again sweeping over Ouyang Tie Niu and the others. He casually tossed the bow and arrow in his hand to Shen Xiaohu and said to Xiao Zhi with a clasped fist,

"Thank you all for today, for joining me in eliminating this local tyrant. Surely Zhao Ba must have left something in this house; why don't we look around for ourselves?"

Shen Qing's sudden speech pulled their wandering minds back to reality, sobering them up a bit.

Xiao Zhi had come to offer a favor and naturally had no objections.

Ouyang Tie Niu and Yang Zhao Ping were after money, so they had even less to say.

Thus, everyone agreed and dispersed to rummage through the house.

The mansion seemed large and imposing, but it was actually all show and no substance.

There weren't many valuable items.

Gold and silver treasures, quilts, and clothing could only be found in bits and pieces.

It was nowhere near the wealth of the big families in the Inner City, but it was certainly better than the home of an average person.

"Brother Qingzi, come over here and look at this?"

Shen Qing was busily examining a body when he suddenly heard Shen Xiaohu's call.

He stopped what he was doing, went over, and upon clearly seeing the scene inside the room, he couldn't help shaking his head.

In a room, three women were chained like dogs to the side of a bed.

Upon seeing Shen Qing and the others, they instinctively stripped off their clothes despite the cold, revealing their rough bodies.

Everywhere was a patchwork of blue and purple.

They lay on the bed, then stuck their backsides in the air, like walking corpses, letting others manipulate them.

Long-term confinement had made them thin and emaciated, and since they ate, drank, and relieved themselves all in the room, they were far from anything beautiful and had no relationship with the word at all.

They could only be called women.

In his previous life, he had grown accustomed to seeing many beautiful women undressed, whose figures and appearances were far superior to theirs.

Shen Qing could not muster the slightest interest.

Expressionless, he stepped forward and, amidst their dulled and vacant eyes, grabbed the iron collars around their necks and exerted his arms forcefully, prying them outward.

Being mere unwelded, rusted iron, they could not withstand Shen Qing's strength.

After several tooth-grating sounds of metal scraping, there were constant clicking noises from the iron collars.

In just a moment, Shen Qing had undone all the iron chains.

Shen Qing nonchalantly threw the chains on the ground, then rummaged through a cupboard nearby for some old clothes and tossed them over: "Put these on!"

After doing all this, he didn't linger in the room and left without a second glance.

However, the young and hot-tempered Shen Xiaohu, seeing such a scene for the first time, found it hard to leave, constantly looking back with every step he took.

He looked at those round backsides and couldn't help but swallow his saliva.

His eyes were glued to them.

Shen Xiaohu glanced at Shen Qing, and seeing that he was not watching this way, he rushed into the room boldly, reaching into the clothes of one of the women and fiercely pinched a breast before running off.

Realizing no one had noticed, he relaxed, stared at his own hand, and couldn't help but grin foolishly.

...

Many people might slack off when working, not pulling their weight.

But when it came to looting, every person exerted themselves as if their lives depended on it, with exceptional efficiency.

After about the time it took to drink a pot of tea, five men had searched everything inside and outside the house.

They had found roughly seventy taels of silver, some scattered pearls, stones, and jade, along with other assorted weapons, tonics, cotton clothes, and quilts.

All tallied up and converted into silver, it would probably amount to about 200 taels.

What was more important, they hadn't found a single word about the Martial Arts technique he was training in—the Tongbei Iron Pine Lean.

Shen Qing found it strange: "This guy has been a tyrant in the slums for so long, why does he have only so little property?"

Ouyang Tie Niu, who had been mixing it up in the streets for years, explained: "This place is only where he used to gather with his minions, split the loot, and discuss business, so it definitely wouldn't have too many valuable things. I've heard that Zhao Ba has a family outside, and all the money and other treasures he has amassed over the years must be at his home."

Hearing this, Shen Qing looked startled and suddenly felt he had been hasty.

He shouldn't have killed Zhao Ba so quickly; he should have extracted some useful information before killing him.

Sigh... Careless.

But dead men can't be brought back to life. Forget it, he would have to think of another way to find out where Zhao Ba's wife and family were and rob them later.

"Now that we've pretty much searched everything inside this house, and since Zhao Ba and his men are dead, all these items are ownerless, let's divide them up right here," Shen Qing said, putting away his thoughts. "Since most of those men were killed by me, it's only fair I get the most. I want seventy percent. Do any of you have objections?"