SWDnovel Chapter 132 Sweeping Away the Dengying Tower
Chapter 132 Sweeping Away the Dengying Tower
Chapter 133 Sweeping Away the Dengying Tower
Inside Dengying Tower, everything was resplendent with gold and jade.
To book this top-class restaurant in Tianjin, including all three floors and eighty tables of the finest "sea cucumber feast," would cost at least three thousand silver dollars.
Three thousand silver dollars! That could buy tens of thousands of kilograms of the finest flour, enough to feed the poor people in the shantytown outside Qianmen for several years.
At this moment, the mahogany round table in the lobby on the first floor is fully occupied.
Above them was a large glass chandelier brought by foreigners, which made the "braised sea cucumber with scallions" and "nine-turn large intestine" on the plate glisten with oil, and the aroma went straight into people's nostrils.
But none of the guests touched their chopsticks.
The heads of the eight major martial arts schools in Tianjin, the leaders of the Green Gang and the Hongmen, and the Chinese detectives in the French and British concessions all sat upright, eyes downcast and seemingly lost in thought.
It's too quiet.
It was so quiet that you could hear the hissing sound of burning candle wax inside the glass lampshade.
"Da, da, da."
The sound of steady footsteps drifted in step by step from the steps outside the gate.
"Squeak!"
The two carved nanmu wood doors were pushed open.
A gust of night wind, carrying the fishy smell of the Haihe River, suddenly rushed in, causing the candlelight in the room to flicker wildly.
Lu Cheng stepped over the high threshold.
He wore a pale white long gown and black cloth shoes, and carried a white waxwood stick without a spearhead.
He didn't look at the thugs on either side, who were secretly clutching short axes and had bulging waists. Instead, he raised his head slightly, looked at the wealth and splendor in the room, and took a deep breath.
"The sea cucumber feast at Dengyinglou Restaurant smells delicious."
A faint smile appeared on Lu Cheng's lips, his clear voice echoing in the vast hall.
"What a pity, all this fragrance of cosmetics and the aroma of food can't mask the stench of being treated like a dog by foreigners."
"Whoosh—!"
The various heroes sitting below gasped in astonishment.
That kid really dares to say that!
In front of hundreds of Axe Gang members and Japanese ronin, this was a direct insult directed at Ma San, the president of the Tianjin Martial Arts Association.
"presumptuous!"
On the third floor, outside the most luxurious "Penglai Pavilion" private room, behind a circle of carved wooden railings, came a loud shout.
Ma San, dressed in a crimson floral mandarin jacket, gripped the railing with both hands, staring intently down at Lu Cheng.
Those triangular eyes were filled with resentment and fear.
Behind him stood Major Takeda, a Japanese officer with a livid face, and a dozen or so Black Dragon Society ronin with their hands on their katana.
"Lu Cheng!"
Ma San gritted his teeth, squeezing out the words through his clenched teeth.
"You choose the path to heaven but refuse to take it, while you choose the path to hell but refuse to walk it."
"I respect you as a big shot, and I'll give you some leeway in Beiping. But this is Tianjin, my territory, Ma San's territory."
"You think you can take on my grand banquet of a hundred tables all by yourself, armed only with a broken wooden stick?"
"Do you see yourself as Zhao Zilong rescuing his lord at Changban Slope, or Guan Yu going to the meeting alone with a single sword?!"
Lu Cheng didn't rush to answer.
He walked slowly to the center of the hall and propped the white waxwood stick in his hand against the blue brick floor.
"when."
A crisp sound, like the gavel on a stage.
"President Ma, you're wrong."
Lu Cheng raised his head, his eyes, which appeared incredibly deep under the "Fiery Eyes," quietly watching Ma San on the third floor.
"Zhao Zilong's virtue is loyalty, while Guan Yu's virtue is righteousness."
"I'm not here today to perform 'The Battle of Changban' or sing 'The Single-Sword Meeting'."
Lu Cheng reached out and flicked his spotless, moon-white robe.
"Tonight, I, Lu Cheng, will have the entire Dengyinglou restaurant booked."
"I want to sing a song—'Beating Yan Song'."
"I'll target traitors like you, who betray their masters, abandon their ancestors, and abandon their country!"
These words shocked everyone present.
"Beating Yan Song" is a famous Peking Opera play featuring the old male lead, telling the story of a loyal minister beating the powerful and treacherous Yan Song. Lu Cheng is comparing Ma San to this infamous traitor who will be remembered for his infamy.
This isn't just a slap in the face, it's like tearing off Ma San's face and frying it in oil!
"Baka!"
Major Takeda on the third floor understood the translation, flew into a rage, and abruptly waved his hand.
"Kill him, chop him into mincemeat!"
"Attack!" Ma San roared.
"Splash—!"
In the lobby on the first floor, the more than 300 Axe Gang members, who had originally disguised themselves as tea servers and guests, suddenly tore off their disguises.
One after another, gleaming short-handled axes were pulled out from under the table and from the sleeves of long robes.
Several hundred people, like a pack of wolves that had smelled blood, with red eyes and roaring, pounced on the lone figure in white in the center of the hall.
"Master Lu, run!"
At the next table, the old Tai Chi master who had warned Lu Cheng at the door earlier finally couldn't hold back and called out anxiously.
Two fists can't beat four hands, and even a hero can't withstand a crowd.
There are three hundred axes in total.
Even an elephant would be hacked into mincemeat by axes!
But Lu Cheng didn't run away.
He didn't run away, he didn't even blink.
"The action scene is about to begin."
Lu Cheng murmured.
"Buzz—!"
The white waxwood staff in his hand suddenly emitted an extremely piercing dragon's roar.
The [Toad-Hunting Force] within his body erupted like a flood bursting its banks. A full hundred years of refined internal energy was instantly poured into this wooden stick without a spearhead.
"Whoosh!"
Lu Cheng suddenly stepped out with the [Ghostly Shadow Step], his figure advancing instead of retreating, directly crashing into the dark mass of people.
It's like a drop of water being thrown into a pot of boiling oil.
"Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!"
There are no fancy moves.
He used this white waxwood staff to unleash the full power of Xingyi Quan's "Beng" and "Heng" techniques.
With a flick of his wrist, the white waxwood pole traced a huge arc in the air.
The pole struck the air and produced a sonic boom sound like firecrackers going off simultaneously!
The dozen or so burly Axe Gang members at the forefront only saw a flash of white light.
Before he could even see Lu Cheng's movements clearly, he felt as if a thousand-pound sledgehammer had struck his chest.
"Click, click!"
That was the crisp sound of ribs breaking.
A dozen burly men, along with the axes in their hands, were sent flying backwards with screams, like leaves swept up by a gale, crashing heavily into the crowd behind them and overturning more than a dozen large mahogany round tables.
Soup splattered everywhere, and plates and bowls shattered.
With a single move, he swept away an area of three zhang (approximately 10 meters)!
"hiss--"
The warlords and martial arts school owners on the second and third floors who were watching this scene all gasped in shock, their scalps tingling.
What kind of brute force is this?!
A wooden stick, yet it swept with the force of a thousand armies.
"Don't be afraid, carry him on your shoulders. He's all alone, he'll be exhausted even if he gets tired."
The leaders of the Axe Gang shouted at the top of their lungs and brandished their axes as they surrounded them again.
"You're going to kill me with exhaustion?"
Amidst the chaos of the army, Lu Cheng, dressed in white, resembled a butterfly flitting among flowers.
He gave a cold laugh.
The footwork changed, switching from the "Ghostly Shadow Step" to the "Mud-Treading Step" of Bajiquan.
"boom!"
With each step he took, a two-inch-deep footprint would be left on the thick blue brick floor of Dengying Tower, with spiderweb-like cracks spreading outwards.
"Those who block my way shall die."
Lu Cheng no longer swept the white waxwood staff in his hand.
Instead, it transformed into a poisonous dragon that sailed out to sea.
Thrust, seize, block, smash, chop!
Every time the pole was struck, one of the thugs would be sent flying backward, coughing up blood.
He didn't kill anyone, but he used the most authentic hidden force.
If you get hit by a stick, your skin won't break, but your internal organs will shift instantly, and you'll never be able to stand up and fight again.
This is the terror of a Grandmaster of Transformation.
His stamina was boundless, and his breath was as deep and boundless as the ocean.
In Lu Cheng's eyes now, the three hundred ordinary thugs were nothing more than background figures on a stage, not even worthy of making him sweat.
"Too slow. Too stupid."
"This figure is not even as good as the apprentices who have just started their training in my Qingyun Troupe."
While Lu Cheng was playing, he was still casually commenting on the game.
He weaved through the crowd, and not a single drop of blood or soup splattered on his white robe.
"Not a single feather can be added, not a single fly can land."
He regarded this chaotic battle as a touchstone to test his mastery of internal energy cultivation.
In less than half an incense stick's time.
The lobby on the first floor was filled with wails of agony.
More than three hundred elite members of the Axe Gang were actually defeated and broken by Lu Cheng alone, with just a stick.
The remaining hundred-odd people, holding axes, trembled and retreated to the corner. Looking at the calm and composed young man in white standing in the center of the hall, they regarded him as an invincible god, and no one dared to take another step forward.
"Useless trash, a bunch of good-for-nothings!"
Ma San, on the third floor, watched with eyes blazing with rage, his face twisted like a vengeful ghost.
He knew Lu Cheng was a good fighter, but he didn't expect the kid to be able to fight to such an inhuman degree.
"Fire! Gunman on the second floor, fire! Turn him into a sieve!"
Ma San roared hysterically.
"Splash—!"
On the second-floor circular corridor, fifty men with short jackets and bushy beards, dressed in Fengtian style, suddenly ripped off the red cloth covering the table.
Fifty identical German-made Mauser rifles, their dark muzzles pointed directly at Lu Cheng in the center of the lobby on the first floor.
Fifty guns blocked all escape routes.
This is a formation that could kill even a Grandmaster of Internal Energy with a flurry of bullets!
"Master Lu, be careful!" The old Tai Chi master closed his eyes in fright.
"Bang bang bang bang—!"
The gunshots, like popping beans, were deafening in the closed restaurant.
Fifty tongues of fire spewed out a deadly storm of metal, instantly engulfing the spot where Lu Cheng was standing.
The blue bricks shattered, and wood chips flew everywhere.
The smoke of gunpowder filled the entire first floor.
"Hahaha, you're dead now, let's see how arrogant you are now." Ma San laughed wildly.
Major Takeda also breathed a sigh of relief, a mocking smile appearing on his lips.
"Chinese martial arts are no match for modern firearms."
however.
Wait until the smoke clears.
The laughter of everyone abruptly stopped, as if an invisible hand had gripped their necks tightly.
In the center of the lobby on the first floor, there was a place that had been smashed to pieces.
no one.
There were no corpses, no blood, not even a scrap of white cloth.
Lu Cheng vanished into thin air!
"Where is he?!" Ma San's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets as he frantically searched the railing.
Are you looking for me?
A cold, eerie voice came from the circular corridor on the second floor without warning.
The sound came from behind the group of gunmen.
"What?!"
The fifty gunmen turned around abruptly.
In the dimly lit corner of the corridor, a figure in a moon-white robe stood silently, like a ghost.
[Sincerity can lead to foresight!]
A second before Ma San gave the order to fire, Lu Cheng had already sensed the overwhelming killing intent.
He didn't try to tough it out.
Instead, he instantly used the Swallow Form Body Technique combined with the Bone Shrinking Skill.
"Swallows soar into the sky!"
Using the rebound force of the pillar on the first floor, he leaped up the moment the gun fired, skimming the blind spot, and vaulted up to the second floor entrance. This speed was half a fraction faster than the bullet being pulled.
"Shoot! Shoot now!" the gunman leader shouted in terror.
But it's too close.
Within ten steps, everyone becomes an enemy!
Lu Cheng did not give them another chance to fire.
The white waxwood stick in his hand transformed into a whirlwind of death in the narrow corridor.
"Bang!"
He swept the stick out.
The three gunmen, guns and all, were sent flying, crashing through the wooden railing on the second floor before screaming as they fell into the lobby on the first floor.
Lu Cheng was like a tiger entering a flock of sheep.
He didn't need to look; every inch of his skin could sense the direction of the gun barrels around him.
He moved like a ghost among the gunmen.
Fists, elbows, shoulders, and knees are all deadly weapons.
"Eight Extremes, Mountain-Pulling Lean!"
"Xingyi, Cannon Fist!"
All that could be heard from the second floor were the sounds of bones cracking and desperate screams.
Those ruthless bandits who usually kill without blinking an eye are not even given a chance to reload their guns in front of a master of internal energy who is invincible in close combat. They are harvested like autumn leaves swept away by the wind.
Less than ten breaths.
All fifty gunmen lay dead in pools of blood, none of them standing.
Lu Cheng stood on the ground amidst a pile of Mauser rifles, holding in his hand the white waxwood pole that was already stained with blood.
He raised his head, his eyes, as cold as stars, meeting Ma San's gaze directly on the third floor.
"Chairman Ma."
99
"Your drumming rhythm is too chaotic."
"I'll have to personally teach you how to sing for this performance."
"Step, step, step."
Lu Cheng did not leap, but instead walked slowly and steadily up the wooden staircase covered with a red carpet to the third floor.
With each step he took.
Ma San's heart skipped a beat.
fear.
An unprecedented, soul-deep fear completely overwhelmed this local tyrant of Tianjin.
This is not human!
Hundreds of axemen and fifty foreign guns couldn't even scratch a hair on his head!
"Stop him! Stop him quickly!"
Ma San retreated repeatedly and grabbed an old man next to him.
"Eagle King" Old Master Sun, "Iron Legs" Master Zhao, hurry up and make your move! You two are the three wonders of Tianjin that I hired for ten thousand silver dollars!"
The three veteran internal strength masters, on whom Ma San had placed high hopes, were also pale-faced at this moment.
They are seasoned veterans with the sharpest eyes.
Judging from Lu Cheng's move downstairs, they knew that the three of them combined wouldn't even be enough to cook a single dish for him.
But if you take someone's money, you have to solve their problems.
"Let's give it our all!"
Old Man Sun, known as the "Eagle King," gritted his teeth, his hands forming claws, his ten fingers as black as iron. These were the "Poisonous Eagle Claws" he had practiced for fifty years, capable of cracking cow bones.
"Iron Legs" Master Zhao and the man wielding two swords roared at the same time and pounced on Lu Cheng, who had just stepped onto the third floor, from three directions.
This is a desperate struggle by the older generation of masters in Tianjin.
The three peak-level internal energy cultivators worked in perfect harmony, sealing off all of Lu Cheng's room to maneuver.
But Lu Cheng only slightly raised his eyelids.
"The Three Wonders?"
"Too old."
Faced with the oncoming poisonous claws, steel legs, and twin blades.
Lu Cheng did not dodge.
He took a deep breath, his chest bulging, and his blood and qi reversed in an instant.
The top-secret techniques for exerting force in the "Shengping Department Opera Archives".
[Reverse the flow of Qi, pores open and close!]
"boom!"
A visible white wave of energy suddenly erupted from Lu Cheng's body.
【罡气】!
Lu Cheng clenched his right fist and met the attacks of the three men with a simple, unadorned Half-Step Crushing Fist.
That was the Half-Step Crushing Fist that Shang Yunxiang passed down to him, carrying the intent of annihilation!
"Bang--!!!"
A deafening explosion.
Before the "Eagle King's" poisonous claws could even touch Lu Cheng's clothes, the terrifying gale shattered all ten of his fingers.
Master Zhao's "Iron Legs," which he was so proud of, broke like rotten wood the instant he collided with Lu Cheng's fist.
The man wielding two swords was struck through the body by the force of the punch, causing his swords to fly out of his hands and him to cough up blood.
One punch.
The "Three Wonders of Tianjin," which had long been famous in Tianjin, flew backward like kites with broken strings, crashing heavily against the wall of Penglai Pavilion.
His bones and muscles were shattered, and he fainted.
Sold out instantly!
A complete and utter crushing defeat!
The third floor was utterly silent.
All that remained was the sound of Ma San's teeth chattering.
"Baka yarou".
Major Takeda, a Japanese officer, turned red in the eye, drew his general's sword from his waist, gripped it with both hands, and charged forward with several Japanese ronin, yelling "Wow!"
"The soldiers of the Great Japanese Empire will never back down."
"cut!"
Takeda slashed with his sword, as powerful as a mad tiger.
Lu Cheng looked at the samurai sword coming at him, a hint of cold contempt flashing in his eyes.
"Japanese swordsmanship?"
"Didn't your ancestors teach you that this is something our Great Tang Dynasty had already mastered?"
Lu Cheng did not retreat but advanced.
He suddenly used an extremely strange way of exerting force with the white waxwood stick in his hand.
That's not a stick fighting style.
That's the "water sleeve technique" from the opera stage!
In his hand, the white waxwood staff seemed like a soft ribbon, suddenly wrapping around the blade of Takeda's katana as it swung down.
"stick!"
He released a hidden force.
Takeda felt as if his sword had been stuck in a ball of extremely sticky glue; he couldn't pull it out or cut any further.
"Sever."
Lu Cheng uttered a single word.
He twisted his wrist suddenly.
Xingyi [Jiaojin] Explosion.
"Snap!"
A Japanese military sword made of high-quality steel was twisted in two by a wooden stick!
Takeda was terrified and was about to retreat.
The half-section of the white waxwood stick in Lu Cheng's hand had already been thrust out like a venomous snake spitting its tongue.
"puff!"
The wooden stick, without a spearhead, pierced directly through Takeda's throat.
Takeda's eyes widened, he clutched his bleeding neck, knelt on the ground, and let out a desperate, gurgling sound.
The remaining Japanese ronin, seeing this, completely broke down, dropped their swords, and tried to run away.
Lu Cheng didn't even glance at them.
He lightly kicked the broken shards of the knife on the ground with his toe.
"Whoosh whoosh!"
Several pieces of steel transformed into deadly projectiles, accurately piercing the back of the heads of those ronin.
Total annihilation.
Thus, the Dengying Tower, known as an inescapable net that ambushed nearly four hundred masters, was thus destroyed.
Lu Cheng alone, with a single blow.
They fought their way from the first floor to the third floor, leaving no one alive!
Lu Cheng, carrying the still-dripping wooden stick, slowly turned around.
Those eyes finally landed on Ma San, who was huddled in the corner, terrified and unable to urinate.
"Chairman Ma."
Lu Cheng's voice was exceptionally clear in the deathly silent, blood-red private room, as gentle as if he were having a casual chat.
"Now, the gathering is quiet."
"We can have a proper talk now."
Ma San trembled all over like a leaf.
He looked at Takeda's corpse on the ground, and at the thugs wailing all over the place.
His pride and joy in power, money, and Japanese backing were like a laughable paper toy in front of this young man in white, unharmed.
"Master Lu—Ancestor Lu—"
Ma San suddenly knelt on the ground, frantically kowtowing, his forehead slamming against the mahogany floor, blood flowing freely.
"I was wrong. I was blinded by greed. I shouldn't have become a traitor. I shouldn't have provoked you."
"Please, just ignore me."
"You'll be the president of the Tianjin Martial Arts Association. All my money—silver dollars, gold bars, shops—will be yours!"
"Just spare my dog's life—"
Lu Cheng walked up to him.
They did not take action immediately.
He glanced at the table, where an exquisite mahogany box sat.
Lu Cheng used a white waxwood stick to pry open the box.
Inside, there were several yellowed ancient books and several tokens of the leaders of various sects.
This was clearly a spoil of war snatched from President Liu and his men, intended to be presented to the Japanese tonight.
"Where are President Liu and the others at the Hongkou Dojo?" Lu Cheng asked casually.
"In—in the dungeon on the second basement level of the training ground." Ma San dared not conceal anything, "That's a water dungeon specifically used by the Special Higher Police to interrogate anti-Japanese elements—"
"They—have been given muscle relaxant, and now they have no strength at all, and are chained up—"
A cold glint flashed in Lu Cheng's eyes.
Where is the antidote for the muscle-relaxing powder?
"It's in—it's in Yagyu Seiun's hands. Only he has the antidote," Ma San replied, trembling.
"very good."
Lu Cheng nodded.
He closed the mahogany box on the table, wrapped it in a cloth, and carried it on his back.
then.
He raised the ash pole in his hand.
"Master Lu, you said you'd spare my life if I told the truth!" Ma San screamed in terror.
"I didn't say that."
Lu Cheng looked down at this traitor who had betrayed the country and the martial arts world.
"Will I spare your life?"
"What about the dozen or so people who died in the Simin Martial Arts Club? Will they agree?"
"Will those fellow martial artists you betrayed and who have suffered so much agree to this?"
"Will all the descendants of Yan and Huang under heaven agree?!"
Lu Cheng suddenly let out a sharp shout, his eyes now filled with undisguised murderous intent.
The white waxwood staff in his hand, with an unparalleled "overlord" momentum, slammed down fiercely.
"Snap!"
Ma San's head was smashed like a rotten watermelon.
Traitor, beheaded.
Lu Cheng didn't look at the corpse on the ground again.
He turned around and walked towards the huge floor-to-ceiling window on the third floor.
"Splash!"
He opened the window.
The night breeze blew in, stirring his moon-white long robe.
Down on the street, the police and constables of Tianjin had already surrounded Dengyinglou, but hearing the war-like commotion inside, no one dared to rush in.
They only see.
On the windowsill on the third floor of Dengyinglou.
That renowned "shining light of Chinese martial arts" in the north.
He carried a package on his back and held a wooden stick in his hand.
Like a celestial being about to ascend to immortality on a theatrical stage.
He didn't take the stairs.
Instead, facing the vast night sky, he stretched out his body like a giant white crane and leaped down from the third floor.
Using the nearby utility poles and eaves to absorb the impact, he leaped and disappeared silently into the deep night.
direction----
The Japanese Concession, Hongkou Dojo!
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