Next to the Willow Tea House, not far off, in the White Cloud Cafe, Teng Qingshan and Lin Qing sat opposite each other, and soon the sun began to set.

“How fast,” Lin Qing glanced outside the window.

She hadn't noticed the passage of time at all today; an entire day was gone.

She then looked at Teng Qingshan across from her, a serene smile blooming on her face.

Whenever she saw him, she felt profoundly comfortable, as if her heart, which had always felt anchorless, could finally settle down.

She would never forget the feeling of him carrying her twenty li up the mountain path back then.

In her entire life, she had never felt so ‘safe,’ so inwardly tranquil.

“If only I could keep looking at him like this, until the end of time, how wonderful that would be,” Lin Qing mused in her heart.

But an image of another person surfaced in her mind, and she shivered.

“No, I can’t keep entangling myself with Teng Qingshan.

It was manageable in An Yi County, but this is Yangzhou City.

If he finds out, Teng Qingshan will be in terrible trouble!” Yet, the thought of never seeing Teng Qingshan again brought an irrepressible unwillingness deep within her.

Their meeting in the Greater Khingan Range was fate.

Meeting again in An Yi County was even more so.

Now, meeting for a third time in Yangzhou City—even Lin Qing felt this must be Heaven conspiring to grant her wish.

“The Buddha said that one must have met five hundred times in past lives just to brush shoulders in this one.

Teng Qingshan and I, meeting thrice through sheer coincidence—surely this is destiny,” Lin Qing thought bitterly.

“But… I cannot ruin Teng Qingshan.” This inner conflict left her deeply hesitant.

Teng Qingshan shook his head slightly.

He had waited all day, yet still hadn't seen his younger brother, ‘Qinghe.’ “Hm?” Teng Qingshan suddenly noticed the music playing in the cafe—it was Qi Qin’s "A Game, A Dream." “Lin Qing, what do you think of this song by Qi Qin?” Teng Qingshan asked with a light smile.

Lin Qing snapped back to the present.

Listening, she couldn't help but laugh lightly, “A Game, A Dream? Qi Qin did cover it, but this song is originally by Wang Jie.” “Oh, I only listen to Qi Qin,” Teng Qingshan replied.

Lin Qing was surprised.

How could someone listen exclusively to one artist? Even if one loved an artist’s work, it was unlikely they would completely discard all others.

Curiosity piqued, she asked, “Why only Qi Qin?” “Because he has a song called ‘Wolf,’” Teng Qingshan said casually.

“Wolf?” Lin Qing’s confusion deepened.

“Alright, I need to leave now.

Perhaps we’ll meet again sometime.” Teng Qingshan stood up smiling.

Before Lin Qing could say anything else, he turned and walked out.

Lin Qing’s mouth opened and closed, but finally, she sat back down weakly.

Listening to the heartbreaking melody, she managed a wry smile: “A Game, A Dream? I’ll just treat all of this as a dream.” She then raised the glass of red wine beside her and downed it in one gulp.

** Lin Qing’s sudden appearance in Yangzhou was merely a minor incident to Teng Qingshan.

He only sighed inwardly—Greater Khingan Range, An Yi County, Yangzhou City.

Meeting Lin Qing three times in a row was certainly quite a coincidence.

Of course, it was only a brief moment of reflection for Teng Qingshan.

“Hoo, hoo~~” The night wind howled, making the branches of a peach tree in the courtyard sway.

A figure flashed continuously within it, punctuated by sharp whistles and muffled sounds of air rupturing.

Because the sounds were low, and the residences were spaced far apart, the impact on surrounding residents was minimal.

Suddenly, the figure stopped.

A hint of confusion flickered in Teng Qingshan’s eyes.

“Grandmaster Realm—how does one truly step into the Grandmaster Realm?” Teng Qingshan’s mind was filled with doubt.

“I have cultivated for years; my Neijin (Internal Strength) can now erupt from almost every point on my skin.

Only this final, most arduous hurdle remains—the facial skin! How on earth do I break through this last step?” “Master was stuck at this final step for decades and never managed to enter the Grandmaster Realm,” Teng Qingshan sighed, his yearning for the Grandmaster Realm growing even stronger.

He quickly dismissed the thought for the moment.

“I’ve been in Yangzhou City for eight days now.

Eight full days, and I haven’t seen Qinghe once.” A hint of anxiety crept into Teng Qingshan’s heart.

“I asked Elena, and she was utterly confident, absolutely certain that Qinghe was responsible for the Yangzhou area, and his address is right here.” Teng Qingshan had no other recourse.

He could only sigh softly and close his eyes to meditate.

…… At dawn, the world was still shrouded in a faint gray light, cool and crisp.

Teng Qingshan sat cross-legged in meditation within the courtyard.

The world was utterly silent.

“Boom!” The heavy, solid wooden courtyard door exploded inward as if struck by a cannonball.

Splinters flew out like countless arrows, showering the courtyard toward Teng Qingshan.

Teng Qingshan, still seated cross-legged, formed a Tiger Claw with both hands and fiercely clawed the ground, gouging several holes in the cement floor.

He then surged forward in a tumble, pushing off with his feet like a monkey to leap onto the roof.

At that exact moment, three very faint sounds registered— “Pfft!” “Pfft!” “Pfft!” Three bullets.

Two of them had narrowly grazed his body, nearly hitting him.

“Silencers? Sun Ze and Dolgotrov—they’ve finally arrived.” Teng Qingshan, crouching on the roof, his gaze chillingly sharp like a ruthless lone wolf, subtly brushed his right hand against his trouser leg.

A dagger materialized in his grip—though in reality, it was just an ordinary fruit knife.

With a throwing knife in hand, Teng Qingshan’s aura intensified.

“Whoosh—” A deep whistle cut through the air as a tall, powerfully built figure, like a speeding tank, burst through the courtyard entrance.

This figure instantly spotted Teng Qingshan on the roof and, without hesitation, pushed off the ground within the courtyard, preparing to leap up.

Teng Qingshan instantly identified him: a bald white man! Simultaneously, a seemingly slight Asian man appeared at the gate, holding a silver pistol.

This man’s gaze was as cold as an ice mountain unmelted for millennia.

Just as the burly figure jumped, he fired at Teng Qingshan.

“Pfft!” “Pfft!” Two consecutive shots.

His timing and the strong white man’s leap were coordinated with near-perfection.

If Teng Qingshan had tried to use his throwing knife on the white man while still on the roof, his distraction would have made him an easy target for the bullets of S-rank assassin ‘Sharpshooter’ Sun Ze.

But if he focused entirely on evading the bullets, he would be trapped against the close-combat expert ‘Body Crusher’ Dolgotrov.

For a moment, Teng Qingshan seemed without recourse.

“Hmph!” The instant Sun Ze fired and Dolgotrov jumped, Teng Qingshan didn't hesitate.

He stomped down hard, shattering roof tiles, and plummeted straight down.

This drop completely foiled both of his attackers' initial offensive thrusts.

Plummeting, Teng Qingshan’s gaze was like lightning, fixed upward.

His right hand was steady, without the slightest tremor.

Suddenly, he flicked his wrist— “Whoosh!” In the hazy dawn, the throwing knife flashed like lightning, cutting through the air and piercing a roof tile.

“Chik!” That familiar sound resonated, causing a slight smile to touch Teng Qingshan’s lips; the knife had clearly hit its mark.

Teng Qingshan executed a cat leap, agilely darting into the inner room.

He swept his hands beneath the bed, quickly snatching up five fruit knives in each hand.

Buying fruit knives in any city was simple.

Teng Qingshan swiftly wiped both hands across his trousers, and the ten knives slotted perfectly into the sheaths strapped to his legs.

“Thump!” Abruptly, the bricks and tiles above Teng Qingshan’s head exploded, and a terrifying figure descended from high above like a primeval monster.

“Dolgotrov! Fighting this behemoth in close combat—my chances of winning are slim.

Furthermore, if he manages to pin me down, Sun Ze’s gunfire will surely kill me!” Teng Qingshan’s expression shifted.

He pushed off the ground, moving with a deceptive awkwardness, like a clumsy elephant, yet strangely shifting several meters backward.

Then, bracing with his hands and feet like a tiger, he leaped out into the courtyard in a single bound.

As a master of Xing Yi Quan, Teng Qingshan’s speed was already formidable.

He shot from inside the house into the open courtyard.

The morning chill hit him, but right behind it came—bullets! “Pfft!” One bullet seemed perfectly timed to intersect his speed and trajectory as he leaped.

Teng Qingshan, who had prepared for this, instantly threw a knife backhand— The knife’s cold surface gleamed with metallic luster as it crossed several meters, striking the bullet with extreme precision.

“Clang!” The bullet was deflected sharply to the side.

“Pfft!” But at the same instant, another bullet arrived.

In terms of sheer power, Teng Qingshan’s throwing knife surpassed that of an ordinary bullet, but in terms of firing rate, the modified professional firearms used by his attackers could launch several bullets for every one knife Teng Qingshan threw.

“Hmph.” Teng Qingshan twisted his body mid-air, flowing like a swimming dragon.

The bullet struck his right arm.

In that instant, his right arm felt like a tightly wound ox tendon.

He twisted and rotated his arm, and it felt as if several tendons were coiling and snapping back.

A powerful, spiraling force was generated.

“Pfft!” The spiraling Neijin shot out like ejected needles, colliding with the bullet's tip, drastically reducing its penetration.

Simultaneously, the bullet lodged itself in the muscle, where the powerful tissue forcefully clamped down and held it.

“Hmph.” Almost instantly, the muscle squeezed the bullet out, and it dropped to the ground.

The crisp sound of the bullet hitting the cement floor made ‘Sharpshooter’ Sun Ze smile, and it also brought a flicker of pleasure to the face of ‘Body Crusher’ Dolgotrov, who had just emerged from the house.

One stood at the courtyard gate, the other at the doorway of the inner room.

They watched Teng Qingshan with smiles.

Teng Qingshan stood beneath the peach tree by the courtyard edge, his expression as calm as still water.

“‘Throwing Knife’ Lone Wolf, you truly live up to your reputation as a super-expert capable of wiping out the Red organization single-handedly.

My continuous barrage of two shots only resulted in minor injury to your right arm.

Your control over your muscles is something I cannot match.

I admire you, truly,” said Sharpshooter ‘Sun Ze,’ a seemingly handsome young man.

Yet, his eyes were cold and venomous, like a deadly viper in the Amazon.

Teng Qingshan knew well that Sun Ze was a master of Ba Gua Zhang, one of the Three Great Internal Martial Arts, likely of a similar age to himself and already possessing Neijin.

Coupled with his firearms, he was an agent of death that struck fear into countless hearts.

“Wolf, you are a powerful man.

I, Dolgotrov, respect you.

You should simply commit suicide,” the tall, polar-bear-like white man stated in a low voice.

Teng Qingshan’s gaze swept over the bullet on the ground, a trace of blood still clinging to it.

Teng Qingshan sighed internally.

Although he was only one step away from the Grandmaster Realm and his muscle control had reached an extremely high level, he still couldn't effortlessly shrug off that specialized bullet.

That round had already impacted his right arm, reducing his strength.

“Judging by your body’s resistance to bullets, you must have reached the peak of Internal Arts, just one step shy of the Grandmaster Realm,” Sun Ze lamented.

“Pity.

Another Internal Arts expert is about to die.” With their combined strength, they already held the advantage; now that Teng Qingshan was wounded, victory was theirs without a doubt.

“Wolf, as fellow practitioners of internal arts, I respect you.

Kill yourself, die with some dignity,” Sun Ze advised.

When experts of their caliber clash, it is common for heads to explode or bodies to be torn limb from limb.

Allowing Teng Qingshan to die with dignity was a small mercy from the pair.

“Suicide?” Teng Qingshan’s gaze sharpened like a blade as he swept it across the two men.

“What a joke.

Who lives and who dies is not yet decided.

My life is here—come and take it if you dare!”