Chapter 015: Senior Brother

"Thank you, Boss!"

The two lackeys immediately hurried over, grinning lewdly.

"Little beauty, just wait—tonight, we'll make you feel pleasure from head to toe!"

"Hehehe..."

The two of them grabbed the struggling, screaming Wei Jiajia.

"Hold her down."

The big man with the fierce, scarred face let out a sinister laugh and began unbuckling his trousers.

He had only gotten halfway when he suddenly stopped.

Whipping around, he lifted his head and looked behind him.

Somehow, a figure had appeared in the alley—a person shrouded in a black cloak, a mask covering their face with only a pair of eyes exposed.

"Who are you?" the scarred man demanded, fumbling to pull his trousers back up. His voice turned threatening. "I'm with the Razor Society. You'd better think twice before meddling in our business!"

Su Jingxing remained silent.

On the ground, Wei Jiajia heard the voice and twisted her head desperately to look behind her. Seeing Su Jingxing cloaked in shadows, hope lit up her eyes.

She struggled and cried out, "Sir, thank you for sav—"

"Save you, my foot!"

The scarred brute stomped on her head, forcing a scream from Wei Jiajia. Half her face was pressed hard against the ground. She dared not move again.

Tap.

Su Jingxing watched, then stepped forward.

"Stop right there!" the scarred man barked. "Stop, or I'll kill—damn it, you two, get him!"

Seeing Su Jingxing unmoved, the brute swung his arm, sending his two now-freed lackeys to intercept.

With a shout, each brandished a pair of short knives and lunged at Su Jingxing.

"Get him—"

Bang! Bang!

Two dull thuds sounded. The two who charged at Su Jingxing were sent flying before they even got close, crashing to the ground with miserable screams, writhing in pain.

"Bastard!"

The scarred man's face turned ashen. He drew out two short knives of his own, left Wei Jiajia behind, and rushed at Su Jingxing.

Compared to his lackeys, he was far more formidable—just a hair’s breadth from eighth rank, trained in blade techniques, and charged with a ferocious momentum.

Su Jingxing stepped forward to meet him, body taut, footwork precise.

One step, two, three...

In the blink of an eye, five steps!

He moved with a speed even swifter than the scarred brute.

On the fifth step, Su Jingxing sidestepped nimbly, dodged the short knife, and unleashed a coiled punch, striking the brute's chest at point-blank range.

Crack—!

A sickening crunch echoed through the alley.

"Ugh!"

The brute’s massive body lifted off the ground, blood spurting from his mouth as he soared over Wei Jiajia and crashed more than ten meters away. He lay flat on his back, unable even to scream, his body convulsing as blood gushed from his lips.

A gaping, gruesome cavity yawned in his chest—bones shattered, organs ruptured, blood flowing in torrents, some spraying outward.

One punch!

Three thousand pounds of force, amplified by the Seven-Step Fist, erupted into a blow of ten thousand pounds.

A single punch had left the scarred brute mortally wounded.

His two lackeys, still moaning on the ground, were stunned into silence.

They forgot to cry out, lying dazed, staring at Su Jingxing in speechless terror.

Wei Jiajia too was dumbfounded.

Even Su Jingxing himself was shaken by the force of his own punch.

Though he had practiced the Seven-Step Fist for ten years in the training space, this was his first time putting it to real use. He hadn’t dared hold back, unleashing its full might.

Such strength could easily defeat a seventh-rank martial artist.

He hadn’t expected the brute to be so fragile—one punch was all it took!

"Seven... Seven-Step Fist!"

In the sudden silence, Wei Jiajia regained her senses, scrambled up from the ground, and gazed at Su Jingxing in amazement.

"You just used the Seven-Step Fist! Are you a student at my family’s martial school?"

Su Jingxing said nothing.

Retracting his fist, he turned to leave.

"Wait!" Wei Jiajia quickly chased after him.

Su Jingxing broke into a run.

He’d done what he came for, but he had no intention of getting involved with the Wei Family Martial School.

Without another word to Wei Jiajia, he dashed off at full speed.

Before long, he’d lost her. She panted behind, unable to keep up. He shed his cloak and mask, skipped the bus, hailed a taxi, and returned to the crematorium.

...

"Huff, huff, huff..."

Wei Jiajia chased in vain. When she finally lost sight of him, she stopped, leaning against a streetlamp, gasping for breath.

"Who was he? Who is this man?"

"He used the Seven-Step Fist—five steps, no less. Who on earth is he?"

"Was he a disciple my grandfather once took in? Or a former student at the martial school?"

She pondered as she caught her breath.

There was a distinction between students and disciples.

The former paid tuition and could learn martial arts, leaving whenever they chose. But such people never learned the true, advanced techniques.

Disciples were different; they formally apprenticed themselves, became family, and could access the real secrets.

Once a master, always a master.

If the Wei family left no descendants, a true disciple could carry on the school’s legacy.

Her grandfather had taken in two such disciples.

One, after mastering the fist, left for the wider world and hadn’t returned in over a decade.

The other, hot-headed and reckless, was crippled after her grandfather’s death.

Her father, too, had once taken a disciple.

That was her senior brother. He was exceptionally gifted—an eighth-rank fighter by twenty—but when Wei Jiajia was ten, he left for the outside world and never came back.

If her uncle-master and senior brother were still around, even with her father gone, the school would be safe.

Now, with all the students gone and wolves circling the family’s assets, things looked dire.

"These jackals—when Senior Brother returns..."

"Yes! Senior Brother has returned!"

Recalling Su Jingxing’s devastating punch, Wei Jiajia’s eyes lit up. She made up her mind.

"Senior Brother has come back!"

"The one who used the Seven-Step Fist—he must be Senior Brother!"

At this time of crisis, her senior brother had returned from the outside world to stand up for them...

No, to be their pillar!

To reach the fifth step of the Seven-Step Fist required exceptional talent and skill—something only her senior brother could achieve.

With the scarred brute’s fate as proof, she was sure others would believe it too.

...

Back in his dormitory, Su Jingxing had no idea he’d become the “Senior Brother” of the Wei Family Martial School, nor that he was about to become their pillar in the days ahead.

With ninety thousand Dayu coins in hand, he wasn’t ready to buy a house, but renting one was well within reach.

No need for a villa—a small courtyard in the western suburbs would suffice.

So, the next afternoon after his shift, he went to a real estate agency in the western district to ask about suitable properties.

The agent got his requirements, then took him to inspect some options.

Most of the courtyard homes in the western suburbs were owned by locals—large clusters of homes, densely populated.

Su Jingxing asked the agent to find one in a quieter corner. After viewing three places, he finally found one that fit.

But when he asked the landlord’s name, he hesitated...