Checkpoint

Nanshan Town.

Located in this town south of the city, shops and stalls selling fabrics and textiles were everywhere.

However, most of the shops and stalls were tightly shut, having long since lost their former hustle and bustle.

In recent years, the imperial court's taxes had grown increasingly burdensome, and commercial taxes were simply overwhelming; of past glories, only faint traces now remained.

Wei He walked all the way along the roadside, keeping his head down with a cloth wrapping most of his head and face, his steps hurried. The clothes he wore had also been changed to the most common, ordinary grey hemp cloth.

During these days, he had not relied solely on Third Senior Brother Cheng Shaojiu's channel to snoop around for news of Chen Biao and the other two.

After tailing them carefully a few times, he had obtained the residential addresses of Chen Biao and his two companions.

Lowering his head to step past a broken bamboo pole used for drying clothes, Wei He quickly arrived in front of a short and dilapidated little courtyard.

The courtyard gate was half open, and inside, a woman with red eyes was just then packing up her luggage, leading a boy only a few years old as she walked out.

The woman possessed a certain charm, but the tear stains on her face and her red, swollen eyes showed that her state of mind and emotions at that moment were extremely poor.

Leading the boy, the woman glanced at Wei He's outfit, kept her head down without even closing the gate, and hurried away.

Wei He recognized this person.

It was none other than Chen Biao's wife, Shan Ju, who had been a well-known widow in the neighborhood before her marriage.

"Who's outside!?" Chen Biao's voice came from inside the courtyard, sounding somewhat puzzled.

Wei He pushed the gate open and entered the courtyard.

Right in the middle of the courtyard, Chen Biao had one arm bound in grey cloth bandages, with a few spots of blood still seeping through, as he sat on the doorstep before the inner room.

"Chen Biao, the moment I heard you were injured, I rushed right over." Wei He wore a smile.

"You? You are.?" Chen Biao stood up in puzzlement.

He wanted to say something more, but suddenly felt a blur before his eyes as a handful of white lime was fiercely scattered across his face.

Ah!!

Chen Biao flailed his right hand wildly and indiscriminately, trying to block any possible attacks.

Wei He kicked Chen Biao in the lower abdomen, picked up a hoe from a corner nearby, and smashed it fiercely onto Chen Biao's head several times in a row.

Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!!

Discarding the hoe, Wei He did not even look at Chen Biao, who lay motionless on the ground, and turned to leave the courtyard, pulling the gate shut behind him.

Then, without a word, he wrapped his head and walked away briskly.

All the way until he left Nanshan Town and reached the little river between the towns, sitting among a patch of wild grass.

Only then did he pant heavily, breath by breath.

Everything was just as he had planned from the very beginning, and even smoother. The injured Chen Biao was utterly devoid of any power to resist, not to mention that he had also sprinkled lime in advance to blind his eyes.

Having simulated it so many times beforehand, when it came to actually making a move, it was far simpler than he had imagined.

That Chen Biao, whom he had imagined as strong-bodied and full of deterrence, didn't even utter a single grunt under this set of moves from him, bringing the matter to a complete end.

No one saw me when I went in and out, I kept my head wrapped the whole time, and he didn't call out my name in the middle either. Only that widow Shan Ju saw me, but she shouldn't have seen my face.

Wei He trembled as he untied the grey cloth from his head, took off his outer garment, and flipped it inside out to cover the blood spots on it.

I wonder how Chen Biao is doing? Smashing down with that much force, he should. Wei He did not continue thinking about it.

Although dying in this era was truly commonplace, corpses could often be pulled out of the gutters inside the city.

Outside the city, skeletons were also frequently gnawed on by wild dogs, which were then trapped and eaten by people.

The difference, however, was that this time, Chen Biao might really die, and he would die at his own hands.

Wei He took deep breaths continuously, steadily adjusting his physical state.

Chen Biao had always kept his eyes on Second Sister Wei Ying, and often did the work of abducting people. Previously, he almost snatched away the money I needed for martial arts. If he doesn't die, Second Sister won't be able to find peace of mind.

Therefore, I am eliminating pests for the people. I am doing the right thing, it's the right thing.

Wei He kept finding reasons for himself, though in his heart he knew clearly.

Originally, when he went over, he really intended to cripple Chen Biao rather than kill him.

Yet when he truly started moving, his mind went completely blank, and all his physical strength burst forth in one go, terrified that Chen Biao might shout out his name.

To prevent him from making a sound, he had subconsciously smashed down toward his head, and only realized he had dealt too heavy a blow after hitting him five or six times.

Thinking back now, with his head wrapped, the person opposite probably couldn't tell who he was at all.

Moreover, a hoe forged from wrought iron, smashed down with the strength of my eighty-jin lifting power, and every single blow landed on the head.

Wei He actually knew clearly in his heart that Chen Biao was definitely done for.

He did not worry about the government, because the government currently paid no attention to matters at all. People died every day inside and outside the city, and all sorts of crimes occurred daily, yet the officials and bailiffs at the yamen were like they were blind and deaf.

They completely ignored it.

So. this is what killing is. Wei He's hands were still trembling, but he knew he had to adapt.

In an era like this, if a person wasn't ruthless, there was no way to survive.

He didn't want to die, so he could only let others die.

After a long while, he finally stood up.

He turned and walked back toward the town.

Not long after.

At the dwelling of Chen Biao's other lackey, inside a small flat house.

Wei He walked in expressionlessly, and a short while later came out with a little blood stained on his hands.

Doing it the first time was a bit frightening, but after getting familiar and adapting for a moment, it wasn't quite as nerve-wracking.

Immediately following was the third location, the dwelling of Chen Biao's second lackey.

That was a small earthen hut situated between two towns.

When Wei He arrived here, it was already close to dark.

The area around the earthen hut was empty and desolate, consisting of wasteland.

A great deal of dried cornstalks were piled up outside the house.

Wei He walked up to the door and gently knocked on it.

Knock, knock, knock.

Utter silence. There was no sound inside.

Knock, knock, knock.

He knocked on the door again and waited.

After waiting for a while, there was still not the slightest sound from within.

After a moment of thought, he walked over to the window and peered inside through the crack.

The doors and windows of such earthen huts were generally not made very tightly, and the gaps were quite large. One could see what the scene inside was like simply by getting close.

By the light of the fading day, Wei He dimly saw a person lying sideways on the bedstead inside.

It was a man wearing a short black vest.

There's someone.

He walked back to the door, looked left and right, and saw no one around.

He then took a few steps back, broke into a fierce forward dash, and delivered a kick.

Thud!

This kick effortlessly shattered the dilapidated wooden door of the earthen hut.

Having trained for over half a year, his strength was no longer that of the thin and weak little fellow from back then.

His build now was about on par with the Chen Biao who had once made him nervous, and his strength was presumably similar as well. One or two people might not necessarily be able to hold him down.

The door had been kicked open, but there was still no sound inside.

A wave of doubt arose in Wei He's heart, and maintaining his vigilance, he stood at the doorway and looked inward.

"Zhao Deli, get up." He spoke out.

The person on the bedstead didn't budge at all, as if they hadn't heard.

An unpleasant stench permeated the room, resembling rotting meat of some sort.

Wei He's expression changed slightly, a vague guess forming in his mind.

He walked closer, reached out, and turned the person on the bed over to take a look.

A pale face, reduced to nothing but skin and bones, appeared before his eyes.

The two eyeballs on the face had shriveled down, devoid of moisture, and tiny black bugs were crawling in and out of his nostrils.

This Zhao Deli, Chen Biao's lackey, had been dead for goodness knows how long.

No one had even discovered that he had died.

And what was most crucial was that this man was still holding a small child against his chest.

The child was curled up into a ball, her tiny face likewise covered entirely in skin and bones, with plenty of black bugs crawling in and out of her ear canals and her open little mouth as well.

Wei He's scalp tingled, and he hurriedly retreated a few steps, running out of the house to pant heavily.

Part of it was from being frightened by the corpses, but even more so from being suffocated by the stench.

Three people, two died by his own hands, and another had been dead for goodness knows how long.

The grudges were settled, yet Wei He felt not a shred of joy in his heart.

By the nearby river, he washed his hands and then returned somewhat mechanically to the old house where he lived.

In his mind, back and forth, was the appearance of that withered corpse of a child who had died on the bed last.

He had already inquired clearly beforehand that Zhao Deli had a child of a tender age. Yet he never expected that this man would hold his own child and die in his own home for who knows how long.

This is troubled times, this is human life.

Wei He sat alone on his bed, the fragmented moonlight outside the window casting upon the side of his face, printing a faint, pale white.

He didn't sleep well the entire night, tossing and turning on the bed as the image of that withered child corpse kept reappearing.

Until dawn broke, he finally got up again, eating the money worm meat he had bought from the pharmacy.

Compared to regular meals, this stuff kept hunger at bay much longer, and gathering the Boundary-Breaking Pearl in his chest went at a much faster pace.

Wei He struggled to shake off the imagery in his mind, and the moment he thought of how he still possessed a special ability in his chest ever since his transmigration, his heart settled down just a bit as well.

Only that money worm meat—although it gathered the energy for the Boundary-Breaking Pearl quickly, its taste left much to be desired.

Wei He put a small piece into his mouth, and chewing it was just like chewing dry wood; only by mixing it with a huge mouthful of water could he swallow a small morsel down.

On the other side.

In Nanshan Town, at Zhao Deli's earthen hut.

Before the sun had even risen over the mountains, several burly men in grey short clothes had already arrived before the door of the earthen hut.

"Is it here?"

"Yes."

The few of them spoke in low voices.

Immediately afterwards, they kicked the door open, and one man swiftly went inside for a brief moment, coming out again shortly after.

"They're all dead."

"The last place that woman stayed was right here, and those black bugs are the trace. Search around the surroundings; the black-character bug is still very lively, so she surely hasn't gone far." The leader among the men said in a deep voice.

"Judging by the traces, she should have stayed here, temporarily borrowing this earthen hut to hide for a while before leaving afterward."

"We must find her. In addition, leave one person behind to silence anyone who might be involved or who has seen the black-character bug."

"Understood!"

Not long after, the entire earthen hut burst into raging flames, and only after the men made sure everything inside was completely burned did they turn and quietly depart.

Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, another month passed.

Every day, Wei He diligently practiced his moves, and at the same time, he also began his initial skin grinding.

Swish, swish, swish.

In the spacious courtyard of Huishan Fist, before a large wooden basin, Wei He had his bare arms exposed, continuously striking his fists into the sand and soil inside the wooden basin in front of him.

The dry, hard sand and soil were the first step in practicing skin grinding.

Wei He's movements were neither fast nor slow, each time plunging his fists deep into the sand so that every part of his knuckle surface could be thoroughly rubbed.

After rubbing like this for half an hour, he pulled his fists out and reached them into a medicinal broth placed nearby, soaking them for fifty breaths.

Charcoal fire was kept burning beneath the medicinal broth to maintain the heat.

Just like him, several other men around him were also practicing skin grinding together.

On the outer perimeter, people were waiting in line with their arms crossed over their chests.

The spots to practice skin grinding one by one like this were also exceedingly precious.