Mountain Ascent, Part Two (Thanks to Shiyi Baishui for the Alliance Leader Reward)

"You—"

The bandit opened his mouth to speak.

Whoosh!

A sudden cloud of white lime shot into the sky.

The men were instantly alarmed. Their vision was blocked, and at the same time, a figure burst from the lime dust and struck one of them squarely in the chest with a punch.

Bang!

A bandit flew backward, his chest caved in. He was clearly dead.

Eight Shadows of Huishan!

Wei He's arms moved like an ape's as he struck several times through the lime dust like lightning.

The four bandits around him only had time to cry out before his fists struck their chests, sending them all tumbling backward.

Two coughed up blood. The other two barely managed to block, but their forearms and breastbones split apart as well.

In just a few seconds, every bandit had fallen, leaving only the bald man standing.

The bald man was horrified. Knowing things had gone badly, he said nothing and grabbed a pouch from his waist, about to scatter its contents forward.

It was his specially made secret weapon: custom poison powder he had prepared long ago.

Once it was scattered, anyone who inhaled it through the nose would inevitably suffer agonizing coughing and lose their combat strength for a short while.

He had successfully ambushed that expert with this very move last time.

Now—

He gripped the pouch and was just about to fling it forward.

Suddenly, a huge black shadow came crashing toward his face.

Bang!

It was one of his bandit underlings from moments ago.

The bandit had been kicked into the air and slammed viciously into the bald man. The two rolled to the ground on the spot.

The bald man shoved the bandit away and was about to get up.

Suddenly, his vision went dark. A fist the size of a bowl was already in front of him.

"Ah!!"

He roared wildly, knowing that he had reached the brink of life and death.

The pouch in his hand was just about to fly free.

Pfft!

To his surprise, the fist was also holding a handful of white lime.

The quicklime struck him squarely in the face.

"Ah!!!"

He let out a miserable scream.

He had never expected the other man to be so fast. Combined with the power he had shown earlier, sending four men flying in an instant—

Such strength and explosive force were beyond even him. This had to be an expert at the Second Stage Qi and Blood!

Even if he faced such an expert head-on, he would be no match.

But what he had not expected was that, despite clearly being able to defeat him, the other man had still chosen to use underhanded tricks.

You're already this strong, and you still use dirty tricks? Have you no shame!?

The bald man wanted to cry but had no tears left. His heart was ashes.

An expert was not terrifying. What was terrifying was an expert who also used dirty tricks. That was simply leaving people no way to live!

With lime in his face and searing pain in his eyes, countless thoughts flashed through the bald man's mind. Unfortunately, he had no time to reflect or regret.

Pfft.

A fist struck his forehead squarely, sending him flying backward. Blood poured from all seven apertures as he crashed into a thick tree trunk, fell down, and went completely still.

Silence returned to the surroundings.

"I really did want to leave." Since he had made a move, he could only kill them all.

There was no helping it. That was simply how the world was.

Wei He withdrew his fist, picked up several stones from the ground, and smashed them one by one into the corpses around him.

He made sure to give every one of them a hard blow to the forehead.

Only after confirming that they were thoroughly dead did he begin searching their bodies.

These ordinary mountain bandits actually had quite a few useful things on them.

Three pouches that seemed to contain knockout drugs, four pouches of poison powder, and five bags of dry rations and water skins. There were also a few gold beans, a unit of currency even smaller than gold leaves.

There was also a special small pouch and a yellowed booklet.

"What is this?" Wei He carefully pinched the small pouch open and looked inside from a distance. It contained a pale gray medicinal powder. He had no idea what sort of powder it was and would need to identify it after returning.

He carefully tied the pouch shut again and fastened it together with the poison powder pouches.

Then he tossed the pile of food and drink into his waterproof backpack, keeping it separate from the python meat. Finally, he picked up the booklet he had found on the bald bandit.

The booklet's pages were yellowed, and its corners had long been badly worn. Several large crooked characters were written on its cover: Li Family Pharmacy Ledger.

"A ledger?" Wei He swiftly used the tip of his knife to flip it open.

It was not a ledger at all, but a collection of detailed martial arts training diagrams.

The writing was on the left and the illustrations on the right, each word and sentence described with remarkable precision.

As for why the cover called it a ledger, it was probably the bald man's crude disguise.

Wei He had no time to read further. He quickly put it away and began dealing with the bodies.

He piled all the corpses together and used his knife to slash apart every wound left by his fists, preventing anyone from identifying Huishan Fist from the martial arts style.

The smell of blood from the torn wounds would also quickly attract wild beasts to gnaw on the corpses, making the wounds and causes of death even harder to distinguish.

Only after finishing all this did Wei He swiftly leave the area, sweeping away his footprints with a large branch as he went.

After walking for a while, he was about to throw away the branch.

Suddenly, a huge fat man in white clothes approached him from the opposite direction.

This was the road down the mountain.

This was Shaoyang Mountain.

White clothes. A huge fat man.

Wei He's heart jolted. He examined the man more carefully.

The fat man was over six feet tall and more than three feet wide, almost like a ball.

Yet strangely, the exposed skin on his face and hands lacked the pale flabbiness of an ordinary fat man. Instead, it was all solid, flesh-colored muscle.

He gave the impression of a fat man with very little body fat, built entirely from stacked muscle.

Only, his body was spindle-shaped, making him look fat from afar.

"Such hot weather, and you're still wearing a face covering? Wrapped up so tightly too. Interesting, interesting. This is the first time I've seen such a strange fellow on Shaoyang Mountain."

A trace of curiosity appeared on the fat man's face.

"I have an illness," Wei He said in a muffled voice. "I'm afraid of frightening people, so I wrap myself up tightly."

"Judging by the direction you came down from, it happens to be the direction Kong Yan and the others went. Yet they didn't rob you of your pack?"

The fat man in white narrowed his eyes.

"Your steps are cautious, and there's a faint scent of human blood and lime powder on you. Friend, not bad. You dare to injure the subordinates of my Shaoyang Gate on my Shaoyang Mountain?"

This fat man would not be easy to fool!

Wei He's heart chilled. He knew he had been seen through. There was no way to keep up the disguise.

He narrowed his eyes as well and slightly hunched his back.

"My lord is joking. I'm merely a humble hunter. I don't understand a word of what you're saying."

"Don't understand? It's fine if you don't understand. You'll soon—"

Pfft! Pfft!!

Almost at the same moment, both men raised their hands and scattered two handfuls of lime powder at each other.

Both pairs of narrowed eyes shut at once. They had kept their eyes narrowed precisely so they could close them at the fastest possible speed against a sneak attack.

The fat man knew he had met an opponent the moment he threw the lime. He pulled a cylinder from the small of his back and swiftly pressed its switch toward the front.

Pfft!

A stream of black liquid sprayed from the end of the cylinder and shot outward.

But at the same time, the other side flung a pouch over the black liquid. The pouch burst open in midair, scattering a large cloud of choking powder.

This time, their movements were nearly equal. They attacked at almost the same moment and were struck at almost the same moment.

The black liquid hit Wei He squarely in the chest and abdomen. He staggered back several steps and looked up at the other side.

The fat man in white had also been dusted across the face, but he held his breath and kept his eyes tightly shut as he rapidly wiped his face with his sleeve.

Without a second thought, Wei He pulled a spike from his body and hurled it viciously at the other man.

He used a burst of qi and blood in that throw. Its speed and power were both astonishing.

Caught off guard, the fat man sensed the sound of wind and retreated several steps. With a flick of his hand, he threw out a black dart.

The dart struck Wei He in the chest. Its immense force tore through the leather armor, only to hit the iron plate beneath.

The dart bounced away and fell to the ground.

But the fat man in white no longer had time to dodge. The spike stabbed into his waist. He immediately surged his qi and blood, the formidable Second Stage Qi and Blood rapidly churning and erupting with power.

But because he was a beat too slow and too hasty, his force had not yet reached its peak when he met Wei He's punch head-on.

Clang!!

Their fists collided, but instead of the sound of flesh striking flesh, there came the ring of metal against iron.

Both men's hearts tightened at once.

The fat man withdrew his hand and looked. One of the spikes on the metal glove covering his fist was missing. There was an additional bloody hole between his fingers when he clenched his hand.

Wei He also withdrew his hand and looked. His fist was unharmed, but the handle spike hidden between his fingers now bore a smear of blood.

However, after that blow, the point of the handle spike had been broken and bent by the tremendous force. It likely could not be used again.

"Good, good, good!" The fat man had thought himself underhanded enough, but today, after hunting geese all day, he had been pecked blind by one.

He no longer held back. The wound on his hand felt unbearably numb and itchy; it had certainly been poisoned.

With a low shout, he surged his qi and blood, tossed an antidote pill into his mouth, and charged forward.

This man was still as a mountain when he did not move, but once he moved, he was like a mountain of flesh in motion. Thud, thud, thud, his steps sent grass and dirt flying.

"Hold still for me!!"

With a loud shout, the fat man's uninjured left hand sliced diagonally toward Wei He's shoulder like a chopping blade.

His strike was not fast at first, but it suddenly accelerated midway through, even surpassing Wei He's reaction speed as it smashed viciously toward his shoulder.

Wei He surged his qi and blood as well and shouted.

"Hundred Pace Divine Fist!!"

He kicked out. Before the other man's palm blade could reach him, his foot slammed viciously into the man's abdomen.

Legs were longer than arms. That was an eternal truth.

"You motherf—" The fat man's direction was knocked crooked by the kick, and he brushed past Wei He's side.

But Shaoyang Palm was not merely powerful; it also had considerable finesse at close range.

At the instant they passed each other, the fat man's palm abruptly changed direction, turning from a palm into a fist as it smashed toward Wei He's back.

Bang!

The change came too quickly for Wei He to anticipate. He was struck on the spot.

But unfortunately, the fat man let out a muffled groan. The place his fist had struck was actually an iron plate.

Though his punch dented the iron plate, the rebounding force also jolted his bones with pain.

Wei He did not yield an inch. He spun around and pounced forward, his fists like a storm of blows as they continuously hammered the fat man.

The fat man suffered setback after setback. Growing anxious, he began clashing with Wei He head-on.

Their fists and palms collided, qi and blood surging.

Before ten breaths had passed—

The fat man's face turned blue, and he fell backward with his head thrown up.

The poison on the handle spike and the poison powder had finally taken effect.

Wei He panted like an ox. This battle had pushed every bit of his combat strength to its limit.

The man before him was the greatest enemy he had encountered since entering the martial world.

If he had not made thorough preparations in advance for this hunt, then under ordinary circumstances, if he had encountered this man, it would truly have been impossible to say who would live and who would die.

He looked at the fat man on the ground, whose body was convulsing before gradually becoming still. He pulled out another poisoned spike and flung it forcefully at him.

Though he had never practiced hidden weapons, at a distance of only a few yards, he could still throw hard enough to make the spike pierce his target.

After all, he was someone who had achieved a second breakthrough of qi and blood. Every aspect of his physical abilities far surpassed those of ordinary people.

Ssh.

The instant the spike flew out, the fat man nimbly sprang to his feet, dodged the spike, and flung a handful of darts at Wei He.

Not one dart, but a whole handful—at least ten or so—hurtling down at Wei He like a storm.