Li Gouzi returned home, set down his luggage and assorted belongings, and, unable to wait to put them away, dashed out the door.
The woman called out, “Where are you going? Yuan Jia said those bandits haven’t all been killed yet. Don’t go running around!” She chased out the door, but Li Gouzi’s figure had already vanished.
Li Gouzi first went to Li Qingshi’s house to take a look, but no one was there. He then ran to Old Liu’s house, but it was empty as well. After that, he circled around Li Qingshi’s fields, yet still saw no sign of Brother Stone. His heart gradually sank.
He searched around the village and its outskirts several times, but unfortunately found no trace at all. He wanted to head toward Guidang Mountain, but the woman’s figure suddenly surfaced in his mind, making him stop in his tracks.
In the end, he arrived at Li Qingshi’s gate, leaned against the wall, and sat on the ground in a daze. He sat there for the entire day. At noon, the woman came to call him to eat, but he paid her no attention.
As he watched the sun sink little by little in the west and the sky grow dim, Li Qingshi still did not return. At last, he could no longer hold back. His eyes reddened, and he lowered his head. Though he kept wiping his face with the back of his hand, a patch of ground was still wet.
Just then, that familiar voice suddenly rang beside his ear. “Gouzi, when did you come down from the mountain?”
Li Gouzi abruptly raised his head. Through his tear-blurred vision, he saw Brother Stone standing there. He hurriedly rose and took two steps forward, grinning as he said, “Brother Stone, where did you go?”
Seeing his face covered in tears, Li Qingshi was stunned for a moment. He stepped forward and punched him, laughing as he said, “How old are you, still crying? Don’t you have any backbone?”
Though he said that, his heart felt warm. As he looked at the skinny boy before him, he suddenly remembered a scene from many years ago.
That time, the village children had surrounded him. After hearing about it, the woman locked Li Gouzi inside the house and refused to let him get involved. He had forced his way out through the gap beneath the door, his chest and back streaming with blood.
When he arrived, he saw Brother Stone lying motionless in the distance and thought he had been beaten to death. The small child holding a cleaver had burst into loud sobs.
Li Qingshi put an arm around his shoulders and said, “Come on. Eat at my house tonight. Big Brother will make you something good.”
Li Gouzi wiped his face and asked, “Why didn’t you and Old Liu go to Liuyun Mountain?” He did not feel embarrassed that he had been caught crying secretly. In front of Brother Stone, he did not think it was anything shameful.
Li Qingshi hesitated inwardly, unsure whether he should tell him the truth. However, he soon made up his mind.
Sooner or later, he would have to avenge his mother’s murder. Yet he had no absolute confidence that he could do it without a sound. If he were exposed then, Li Gouzi would know less and thus would not be implicated.
He said, “It’s all because of Old Liu. He was too timid and worried that hiding in Liuyun Mountain wouldn’t be safe either, so we walked more than ten extra miles and hid in Shiyan Mountain to the east.”
So far, he had killed thirty-three people and opened twenty-eight major acupoints. He had not been injured in today’s fight, though his clothes had several tears, making him truly look like he had fled from disaster.
Li Gouzi naturally did not doubt his words.
Just then, a commotion came from the village entrance. Curious, the two of them ran over to look.
It turned out that Niu Qingyang and his group had returned from searching the mountains. As they passed by, the villagers stood far away at the entrance, watching and daring not to approach.
Seeing three corpses being carried in the crowd, Li Gouzi said, “I didn’t expect Wang Yuanjia really wasn’t lying.”
“What did he say?” Li Qingshi asked.
Li Gouzi told him about Wang Yuanjia going up the mountain.
Li Qingshi had long known that these people entered the mountains every day to search. At first, he had been afraid of running into them there and warned Old Liu, but Old Liu had not taken it seriously at all. After entering the mountains, he continued wandering around as casually as ever. Strangely enough, the two sides had never crossed paths even once; instead, they encountered isolated bandits every time.
Those bandits were utterly vile. After killing them, he naturally had no intention of wasting effort digging pits, deliberately leaving their corpses exposed in the wilderness. Old Liu was so lazy that he was even less likely to bury them.
He had not expected Wang Yuanjia to take all the credit for himself.
Li Qingshi merely smiled and said nothing. He wondered whether they would take the corpses to the government to claim credit, but judging from Old Manor Lord Niu’s character, he probably would not do such a thing.
…
The next day, an old man and a young man once again walked leisurely toward Guidang Mountain.
As he walked, Li Qingshi pondered the sword techniques. He clearly felt that his speed of Opening an Acupoint had slowed over the past two days. Previously, a fierce battle had been enough to open one major acupoint, but yesterday, killing three people had only opened one.
As they walked, the withered old man somehow produced another book and tossed it to Li Qingshi. “Practice the sword up to here for now. Take a look at this Fist Manual and practice your fists later.”
Li Qingshi was stunned for a moment. He opened it and found that, as always, it was exceedingly concise. Calming his mind, he began reading it carefully.
Although the techniques in this Fist Manual were entirely different from those in the sword manual, it was still clear that they came from the same lineage. Some methods of exerting force could be referenced against one another, so Li Qingshi read through it somewhat faster this time.
As before, the first reading seemed extremely simple. But with his experience, he naturally did not dare underestimate it. He closed the Fist Manual and pondered deeply for a long while, comparing and verifying it against the sword techniques. Only after gaining some new insights did he begin the second reading.
By the time they encountered a bandit sleeping soundly in the grass, he had already read it five times.
Li Qingshi looked at the burly man before him, who was snoring like thunder with saliva covering his face, and said, “These people really have nerve. So many of them have died, yet he still dares to wander alone—and he’s sleeping so soundly, too.”
The withered old man had already found a flat boulder and was reclining on it. “Enough nonsense. Take him out.”
“He hasn’t woken up yet. How can we take advantage of him while he’s helpless?” Li Qingshi declared righteously.
“I really want to smack you. It’s obvious he woke up long ago. Can’t you hear that his snoring has changed?” The old man looked utterly exasperated.
Li Qingshi tilted his ear and listened carefully. Sure enough, it did sound somewhat different. He cursed, “Are you even a man? If you’re awake, get up! What are you pretending to be dead for?”
Wu Yizhou was only pretending to sleep; he had not intended to pretend to be dead. He was simply terrified.
Ever since the Chief had led his brothers in an attempt to escape, only to be stopped by that Mysterious Man, he had not dared send anyone out again to scout around and gather intelligence. Yet after that, brothers began disappearing for no apparent reason.
The Chief quickly took measures, gathering everyone inside the cave to prevent anyone from being alone. They ate and slept together, and someone was always keeping watch.
It truly was a good method.
But everyone had three urgent needs. Urinating and passing gas could be done in front of others, but surely one could not defecate while surrounded by a group of people, right? Even if he could manage it, wouldn’t the others find it disgusting?
Last night, he had been overcome by the urge to defecate. He had even been cautious enough to call along two of his closest brothers. Yet somehow, while he was defecating, how had he ended up here?
Wu Yizhou felt a chill run all the way from his tailbone to the top of his head.
He knew that, given the other side’s methods, he would certainly die today. However, he had always been ruthless by nature. Even knowing that the situation was hopeless, he could not simply wait for death.
He scrambled to his feet and reached for his weapon. As expected, it was not on him. He warily scrutinized the old man and young man before him.
Which of these two was the Mysterious Man who was like a ghost? Or was it neither of them, with both merely accomplices of the Mysterious Man?
His nerves taut as he turned these thoughts over, he suddenly felt a chill below the waist. A glance from the corner of his eye revealed that he had not yet fastened his belt and his trousers had fallen down. Furious and humiliated, he cursed inwardly, “That damn mysterious master is really too careless in how he does things!”
He quickly pulled up and fastened his trousers, wasting no more time. Since he was destined to die today, delaying was pointless. The important thing was to make the other side suffer as much as possible!
He surged forward with a swift punch.
He had opened thirty major acupoints. Since entering the martial world, he had burned, killed, looted, and pillaged without ever encountering an opponent, so he had immense confidence in this strike.
Seeing him charge fiercely, Li Qingshi chose to avoid his sharp edge first and swiftly dodged to the left. He had not expected the punch to be a feint; beneath it, a kick had already shot out like lightning. By the time he tried to evade, it was too late.
Li Qingshi gritted his teeth. Not only did he fail to dodge, he raised his leg and kicked forward instead.
The burly man was delighted when he saw this. Did this person even know martial arts? Wasn’t he practically offering his leg to the bottom of his foot? This was a sure thing. Before dying, he would at least cripple one of the other man’s legs!
Thinking this, he desperately squeezed out the last bit of strength he had and poured it into his foot.