Madman!

Chapter 59: You're Slandering Me

"Brother Jun, this is the place! All the windows in the back have bars on them — they've got nowhere to run." Ah Fei strode forward and shoved the door open.

Chen Wujun stepped inside. Eleven or twelve people were scattered around the room — a few playing cards, and several others clustered near a doorway leading to an inner room.

The moment they spotted Chen Wujun and his crew walking in, the faces of those guarding the doorway changed instantly.

One of them rushed into the room to raise the alarm. Another stepped forward to block the way.

"You—"

Chen Wujun raised his hand and slapped the man across the jaw. He crumpled to the floor without a sound.

"Go!"

Ah Fei didn't need to be told twice. He was already charging forward with his men, dropping one person with a single punch before barreling into the room.

Chairs and vases went flying inside.

Chen Wujun strolled over to the card players, picked up a pack of cigarettes from the table, and tapped one out to light it.He tossed the half-empty pack back onto the table, clamped the cigarette between his lips, and turned toward the inner room.

Several bodies already lay on the floor. Ah Fei was locked in a brawl with a man wearing a jacket, and he was losing — backing along the wall, dodging and weaving without pause.

The other man's fists hit like sledgehammers. Every punch that struck the wall left a crater behind.

This one was a New Arts practitioner whose Enhancement Reconstruction exceeded twenty-five percent, and his degree of reconstruction far surpassed Ah Fei's. The raw power difference was massive — Ah Fei didn't dare block a single blow head-on.

Chen Wujun's hands itched for a fight.

"Ah Fei!"

At Chen Wujun's voice, Ah Fei kicked off the ground and darted to his boss's side.

"Brother Jun, this guy hits like a freight train!"

The man didn't pursue. Instead, he turned his gaze toward Chen Wujun, his expression dripping with provocation.

"So you're this Chen Wujun?"

"Save whatever you've got to say — you can tell me while you're lying on the floor." Chen Wujun's tone was pure dominance. He flicked the cigarette butt from his fingers, sending a tiny ember arcing straight at the man's face.

The man raised his palm to deflect the butt, only to find that Chen Wujun hadn't rushed in to attack. Instead, he'd twisted his body — left foot forward and turned inward, left hand reaching out in a claw, right hand guarding beneath his left ribs.

This was Green Dragon Exploring Claw, the foundational mother form of Swimming Dragon Palm.

A dragon has no fixed front. From this single stance, he could pivot in any direction at will.

"Old Arts? Let's see what you've actually got to back up that big mouth of yours!" The man sneered and surged forward with a heavy right straight aimed squarely at Chen Wujun's chest. The punch was massive, carrying at least three to three hundred fifty kilograms of force behind it.

New Arts practitioners only needed some strength training and meditative application of medicinal salves. As their Enhancement Reconstruction Magnetic Field progressed, their raw power skyrocketed — a single punch carrying three hundred-plus kilograms of force was standard.

Old Arts practitioners could train five or six years and never reach that level.

All you needed was some combat technique layered on top, and brute force would overwhelm skill every time. That was precisely why New Arts had spread like wildfire.

And New Arts practitioners looked down on Old Arts practitioners because of it.

Chen Wujun read the incoming punch clearly. His left hand shot out like a dragon testing the water, slapping against the man's outstretched arm. His body spun, grazing past his opponent as he glided around to the man's back. Half-twisting his frame, he snapped his waist and hips, coiling every ounce of force in his body into a single unified surge. His left hand's five fingers shot like lightning toward the man's lower back.

Just as the strike was about to land, Chen Wujun flipped his hand, converting the thrust into an open-palm strike that slammed against the man's kidney area.

The impact sent the man stumbling five or six steps forward. He had to stomp his foot against the wall to arrest his momentum, spinning around with his arm raised to guard his rear.

Seeing that Chen Wujun hadn't followed up, the man straightened and cracked his neck.

He settled into a modern combat stance.

This time, Chen Wujun seized the initiative. His feet skimmed the ground in a low, gliding advance as he drove forward with a level piercing palm — fingers extended flat like a sword blade, thrusting straight at the man's throat.

The man deflected outward with his left hand while simultaneously throwing a punch at Chen Wujun's face.

Chen Wujun's feet pivoted, and he was circling to the man's back again — but this time the man anticipated it. He wrenched his body around with a vicious spinning back elbow aimed directly at Chen Wujun's chest.

Credit where it was due — the man's reflexes weren't slow. Having been burned once, he'd immediately prepared for this exact move.

Any casual punch from this man carried two hundred fifty to three hundred kilograms of force, let alone a spinning elbow that harnessed the full torque of his waist.

Catching someone in the chest with that would be like taking a sledgehammer to the sternum. At minimum, several ribs would shatter.

If any of those broken ribs pierced an organ, no amount of medical attention would save you.

The spinning elbow was fast and savage. But Chen Wujun dropped his entire body low, tucking himself into a tight ball pressed against the man's lower back. His left hand shot upward in an open-palm support while his right hand snaked through between the man's legs from below and grabbed upward.

He felt something crush in his grip.

The man's entire body went rigid, legs clamping together. His face drained to a deathly white, veins bulging across his forehead and neck.

Chen Wujun withdrew his hand, took two steps back, and gave his fingers a casual shake.

'That vital spot — one light squeeze and he couldn't take it. Completely ruined,' he mused to himself.

'Swimming Dragon Palm's footwork is endlessly versatile — wringing, flipping, circling, turning. I only used the turning, and my opponent already lost sight of me. His reactions were fast, and after getting caught once he was ready for it, but it's not like he has eyes in the back of his head...'

"Brother Jun, that move was absolutely brutal — I could hear the sound from here! This guy's never going to function as a man again!" Ah Fei's face scrunched up in sympathetic agony, looking pained just watching.

"Not functioning as a man is the least of his worries. He should be more afraid of not functioning as a person at all," Chen Wujun replied with casual indifference.

"Don't let any of them escape. Break their legs first, then drag them back."

"Where's the bathroom? I need to wash my hands." Chen Wujun headed for the exit. From a corner, someone immediately cried out, "Boss! This has nothing to do with me! They came to me — I don't even know them!"

Chen Wujun ignored the man completely. He trusted Ah Fei to handle it.

"What are you doing?! You've got the wrong people! We never crossed you!" Someone in the room was still shouting, but the words quickly dissolved into agonized screams.

A short while later, Chen Wujun emerged from washing his hands. Ah Fei hurried over and whispered, "Brother Jun, what if we grabbed the wrong guys?"

After all, they'd only been working from Ah Chao's physical descriptions.

Originally, he'd planned to have Ah Chao come identify them after capture. But now their legs were already broken, and one of them had his balls crushed.

"Then that's their bad luck. In life, fortune matters most. Otherwise, disaster could strike any day — a flower pot falling off a building could kill you," Chen Wujun said without a shred of concern.

They were unlucky — they looked too much like the targets and happened to catch Ah Fei's eye.

That was their mistake, not his.

Besides, Chen Wujun was certain he hadn't gotten the wrong people. The moment they saw him, they'd tried to fight back without ever asking why he was there.

"Fair point." Ah Fei nodded and immediately led the crew to drag the captives back to the gambling den.

Chen Wujun trailed behind, walking while mentally reviewing the fight. Unfortunately, the opponent's skill level had been limited and the bout too short. He hadn't gained much from it.

At the gambling den, they hauled the captives straight into the back room.

Ah Fei dispatched someone to fetch Ah Chao.

Chen Wujun stood before the group and spoke. "You work for Master Bing?"

They were all groaning in pain. No one answered.

"Tough bones, huh? Gag them — don't want them disturbing our customers." Chen Wujun smiled and turned to give the order.

"You've got the wrong people! We don't know any 'Master Bing'—" One of them suddenly thrashed wildly.

Chen Wujun kicked him square in the face. He waited until Ah Fei had gagged every one of them before lifting his foot and bringing it down on one man's ankle.

Chen Wujun's body weight alone was ninety-five kilograms, and he stomped with full force.

"Mmph — mmph—!" The man convulsed and writhed frantically.

"That should be shattered. But don't worry — shattered bones can usually be pieced back together," Chen Wujun remarked with a beaming smile.

"Whether it works properly afterward... well, that I couldn't tell you."

He turned and brought his foot down on the next man's ankle. The smile never left his face, but his eyes held nothing but frigid cruelty.

These people had tried to set him up. They deserved to die.

If Ah Chao hadn't tipped him off, he'd be the one suffering right now.

He crushed every single ankle, one after another. All of them writhed on the floor, foreheads slick with cold sweat.

Breaking their legs would have healed — they'd walk again eventually.

Crushing their ankles meant that even with immediate treatment, those legs were permanently crippled.

"I left you each one good leg... Now, who wants to talk? Nod if you do." Chen Wujun smiled warmly as he asked.

Except for the strongest one — the one whose manhood had been destroyed — every last one of them nodded frantically.

Chen Wujun gestured for Ah Fei to pull the rag from the first man's mouth.

"We are — we're Master Bing's people!"

"Oh? Then why did you come after me?" Chen Wujun continued.

"You killed Master Bing's men—"

Chen Wujun drove his heel into the man's broken leg. The man howled for a long time before the screaming subsided.

"Think carefully before you speak. Why do you believe I killed Master Bing's men?" Chen Wujun drawled lazily.

"Master Bing's people were killed and robbed. He had us start investigating — looking at everyone who'd owed debts in recent months, checking which of them knew martial arts..."

"And several of the dead had their throats stabbed through with a blade. We dug around and found out that when Lidong ambushed you, several of those men also took blades through the neck — wounds almost identical in size. The killer also has a habit of slashing sideways when pulling the blade out..." The man spoke in a frantic rush, his eyes filled with terror and despair.

"So it's all guesswork? You have no proof and you're pinning murders on me..." Chen Wujun's lips peeled back in a grin brimming with savagery. "You're slandering me."

"And you seem to know exactly how the men from Lidong's ambush on me died... which means you're colluding with Lidong?"

"You slander me, you conspire with Lidong at a time like this, and on top of it all, you go after my family... You deserve to die!"