Becoming a Saint From the Iron Armor Skill-Chapter 42: Subtle Influence

The next day, Chen Cheng went to the Ruyi District Sub-Department to sign in as usual. Afterwards, he followed Liao San on patrol duty. Everything was normal.

The Flying Eagle Gang’s lookouts had vanished without a trace. While on patrol, he had a chance encounter with Zhou Biao. That bastard and his men steered clear from a distance, seemingly afraid of starting a conflict with Chen Cheng and the City Guard Department constables. After all, in yesterday’s big showdown, more than a dozen members of the Flying Eagle Gang had been seriously injured, Hou Gui was killed on the spot, and Zhou Biao had nearly lost an arm and been crippled. How could he possibly dare to cross the City Guard Department constables again?

Chen Cheng felt much more at ease now that he was back to a life where no one was targeting him.

But when he returned to the Ruyi District Sub-Department around noon, he learned some unexpected news.

Zhou Xu, an Official from the South City District City Guard Headquarters, had come with a large group of men. He had accused Liu Yunfeng of disturbing the peace, but Chief Constable Shen Qingshuang had forcefully rebuffed him.

It was said that Shen Qingshuang and Zhou Xu had even sparred over the matter in the small courtyard. The match ended in a draw, and Zhou Xu left in disgrace with his men.

As fellow officials of the City Guard Department, they logically shouldn’t have come to blows, even with a dispute. After all, the Department forbids infighting, and the punishments had always been severe.

However, Shen Qingshuang was Miss Shen of the Shen Family—one of the Four Great Clans of the Inner City—and her status was illustrious.

Zhou Xu, on the other hand, was from the Zhou Family of the South City District. The Zhou Family was presided over by a Bone Forging Realm expert and was one of the most prominent families in the South City District, one of the four major districts of Linji City’s Outer City.

Zhou Xu had reached Muscle Strengthening Realm Perfection at the age of thirty and was a rare Martial Dao genius in the South City District. He had worked his way up from a mere constable to the position of Official at the South City District City Guard Headquarters. He was expected to become the next Chief of the South City Guard, wielding the peak of power in the entire district, and his prestige was at its height.

Since neither of them would back down and they had already come to blows, it was likely no one dared report the matter to the City Guard Chief.

The constables of the Ruyi District Sub-Department privately gossiped about the matter with great relish, adopting the attitude of spectators enjoying the drama. Of course, most of them supported Shen Qingshuang. After all, with a strong Branch Chief Constable, they could hold their heads high and act with confidence wherever they went while working under her.

If there was anyone who was unhappy, it was Chief Constable Zhao Yongfeng. In the matter of the Flying Eagle Gang, he had drawn the great dissatisfaction of the other constables for protecting the gang and obstructing his own colleagues from the City Guard Department. Even the constables under his command couldn’t help but feel resentful.

Who in the City Guard Department would like a Chief Constable who sides with outsiders? On this point, every constable was perfectly clear.

Liu Yunfeng, in contrast, had won widespread praise for standing up for his subordinate. His prestige in the Ruyi District Sub-Department had grown even higher. The constables even overlooked the fact that he was usually targeted by Chief Constable Shen Qingshuang, since she had, after all, stood up for him in this incident.

Perceptive individuals had already scented something different in the air, secretly speculating that the Chief Constable might change her attitude toward Liu Yunfeng after this.

Zhao Yongfeng was already a stern man who rarely smiled, always wearing a serious expression. Now that he was despised by all the constables of the Ruyi District Sub-Department and treated like a pariah, he seemed to have given up entirely, making no effort to hide his hostility toward Liu Yunfeng and his subordinates.

As the subordinate Liu Yunfeng had gone to great lengths to protect, Chen Cheng bore the brunt of it. Several times, he caught Zhao Yongfeng looking at him with eyes full of rage and resentment.

Chen Cheng was certain that, if given the chance, that bastard wouldn’t hesitate to strangle him to death!

But Chen Cheng had always been cautious. ’How could I possibly give him an opportunity?’

As for Shen Qingshuang, who had previously been full of hostility toward Chen Cheng, she no longer showed a trace of anger, though she remained as cold as ice with an unapproachable air.

Chen Cheng even saw Shen Qingshuang’s handmaiden, Xiaoxing, occasionally giving him a friendly smile.

Imperceptibly, life for Chen Cheng at the Ruyi District Sub-Department seemed to be improving.

He signed in on time for his duties every day, and his relationships with the other constables were also quite good. After all, during the Preparatory Constable assessment, Chen Cheng had displayed Martial Arts Power on par with an official constable. The constables were all genuinely convinced of his strength. The strong are respected wherever they go.

Something happened in Locust Tree Lane: Widow Tian and her son moved out. The word was that Zhou Biao had officially taken her as a concubine.

She clearly had no intention of returning, even having a broker sell her house. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

The new residents were a young couple in their twenties. They usually kept to themselves, leaving early and returning late, and never greeted the neighbors. No one knew where they came from or what they did for a living.

「The days passed, one by one.」

The Flying Eagle Gang began aggressively recruiting, clashing violently with other gangs and wiping out two smaller ones.

As long as gang fights didn’t harm civilians, the City Guard Department would turn a blind eye. They would only show up afterward to collect bodies and clean up the scene, and then the matter would be dropped.

They would only step in to issue a warning when the fights became too frequent or had a severe impact.

Chief Constable Shen Qingshuang only seemed to care about practicing her martial arts in her courtyard all day. Liu Yunfeng’s territory was peaceful, so he didn’t intervene. As for Zhao Yongfeng, he supported the Flying Eagle Gang, so he certainly wouldn’t get involved.

The other four Chief Constables knew that Official Zhou Xu of the South City District City Guard Headquarters was backing the Flying Eagle Gang, so they naturally avoided trouble, simply leading their men in the thankless cleanup work each day.

Thus, the Flying Eagle Gang grew stronger by the day, on the verge of becoming the largest Jianghu gang in the Ruyi District.

Locust Tree Lane was in Liu Yunfeng’s jurisdiction, and with a formidable Preparatory Constable like Chen Cheng living there, few petty criminals dared to cause trouble, making it quite peaceful.

The Flying Eagle Gang didn’t even dare to go to the Chen Family to collect protection money anymore. When collecting it from the other residents of the lane, their attitude was surprisingly good. Even if someone couldn’t pay immediately, they were allowed to put it on a tab for next time.

「In the blink of an eye, the New Year passed peacefully. More than two months went by, bringing them to the beginning of the third month.」

The cold winter passed, the spring winds arrived, and all of creation reawakened.

On this bright and beautiful spring day, the sun had just risen.

Chen Cheng was on a day off, practicing the Wind Chasing Saber Technique in his courtyard.

The Wind Chasing Saber Technique emphasized simplicity, speed, precision, and ruthless lethality.

Chen Cheng moved his feet slowly, mobilizing the Qi Blood Power in his body and channeling it to the edge of his saber. Then, he immediately relaxed, letting his entire body go slack from the inside out.

His right hand, holding the saber, was also relaxed. It appeared to have a loose, pressure-less grip, but in reality, he had firm control over the hilt.

With a quick flick of his fingers, the Long Saber danced into a flourish. His fingers moved ceaselessly, the flourishes growing faster and faster until they formed a blur of afterimages.

His arms circled, his shoulders followed, and his body flickered through a series of movements.

Before long, his entire body was enveloped in a field of saber shadows. As they flickered, the sound of rushing wind began to rise around him.

The Long Saber left no shadow, only the sound of it cleaving the wind!

The saber shadows danced up and down, the movements growing more urgent. The Long Saber passed from his right hand to his left, but the blur of images never stopped for an instant. The transition was silky smooth, without the slightest hitch.

The Long Saber returned to his right hand as Chen Cheng came to a sudden halt, the saber shadows vanishing in an instant.

A faint smile appeared on his face. Chen Cheng pointed his Long Saber diagonally forward and his body suddenly lunged in a great stride, covering a distance of ten feet in the blink of an eye.

The Long Saber in his hand executed a simple slash, as fast as a flash of lightning. The air seemed to tear with a faint hiss as the blade stopped steadily in mid-air.

This was the Riding the Wind Technique—simple, fast, and without a single wasted motion.

The Long Saber swept out, his body spinning rapidly—the Wind-Controlling Technique, man and saber as one...

His movements grew faster and faster, saber shadows dancing up and down, until only a single figure could be seen weaving through the courtyard like a roaming dragon.

[Wind Chasing Saber Technique Cultivation Progress increased.]

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