Demon Subduing Vajra Pestle, Obstacle-Breaking Power

Seeing the child's innocent joy turn into timid fear, Zhao Heishe's gaze shifted to Li Cunxiao, who had already shielded his younger brother behind him. His expression softened.

"Li Sanlang, life must be tough, alone with your little brother after losing your parents, right?"

"You're already seventeen or eighteen, aren't you? Don't you want to find a wife? Live a stable life?"

"Actually, your brother is quite good-looking. Wealthy families often need young pages like him."

He put on a show of empathy, as if moved by his own words. He took a few steps forward and lowered his voice.

"Think about it. Working at the restaurant, you only earn a tael or two of silver a month. With two brothers, you're starving and wearing rags. What hope is there?"

"But if your brother goes to a wealthy family, not only will he eat well, but he might even be able to help you out in the future."

Zhao Heishe was spitting as he spoke, but Li Cunxiao remained silent. He merely felt a small hand placed in his palm and offered a smile to the furrowed little face.

Seeing that his words had no effect, Zhao Heishe, angered by Li Cunxiao's refusal to cooperate, raised his voice.

"Li Sanlang, I'm doing this for your own good!"

"I'm here today to find a good home for your brother."

"Tomorrow, it might not be me coming."

"As for where you'll end up," his tone grew more sinister, "Old Master Zhao on East Corner Tower Street is known to be indiscriminate, regardless of gender or preference."

Before he finished speaking, a thick-knuckled fist suddenly loomed before his eyes. Frightened, Zhao Heishe closed his eyes. But after a few breaths, when he opened them again, he saw only a few pieces of broken silver lying in an open palm.

"Brother Zhao, please don't tell anyone about my brother. Does anyone else know you came here today?"

Li Cunxiao lowered his head, his voice deep, his expression unreadable.

Zhao Heishe didn't sense anything amiss. Accustomed to bullying the weak, he assumed Li Cunxiao had finally caved. Seeing the silver, he happily snatched it up.

He weighed it, estimating it to be about one tael of silver, enough for drinks.

Combined with certain calculations that couldn't be revealed to outsiders, he stopped bothering him and forcefully clapped him on the shoulder.

"Hahahaha! I'm a good fellow from the Green Snake Gang! Don't worry, I won't say a word about today!"

With that, he left with a strange smile.

As the footsteps faded, Li Muxia, who had been hiding behind his brother, breathed a sigh of relief, his upturned face full of worry.

"Big Brother, don't be angry."

"Big Brother isn't angry," Li Cunxiao squatted in front of his brother, forcing a smile.

But the delicate little face before him furrowed even tighter.

"Big Brother's smile is so ugly, and your face turns as red as a monkey's behind whenever you get angry!"

Li Cunxiao's expression froze.

He didn't know what was wrong with his body in this life. Not only was his appearance fierce, but when he got angry, his Blood Qi surged rapidly, making his face as red as a ripe date, much like Guan Gong.

That's why he had forced himself to lower his head just now. It wasn't out of fear or submission, but because he didn't want Zhao Heishe to see through him.

If his brother hadn't been behind him, he would have killed Zhao Heishe on the spot.

"I've heard that martial artists cultivate Blood Essence, tearing apart tigers and wolves, and moving as fast as galloping horses. There must be a way to fix this problem of mine."

"Otherwise, if I get angry and my Blood Qi rushes to my face, I won't be able to hide my thoughts, making it difficult to interact with people."

Zhao Heishe's appearance made Li Cunxiao's desire to cultivate martial arts even more urgent.

Although five taels of silver could only afford two months at an outer city martial arts school, even this lowest-tier school would make small forces like the Green Snake Gang reconsider if he had that layer of protection, preventing them from acting with impunity.

As for esteemed guests at Tomorrow Restaurant or forces established in the inner and outer cities like the Flying Tiger Escort Agency, if he wanted to train there, money was secondary; he would also need connections. These were not comparable to the martial arts schools in the outer city where one could simply pay to enter.

Li Cunxiao entered the house and looked at the straw-covered bed, the leaky roof, the three-legged stool, and his brother who was excitedly opening a paper-wrapped lotus leaf.

He looked at the leftover food, his delicate face filled with joy.

"Big Brother, we have bones to eat tonight!"

Li Cunxiao's heart ached.

In his original body, there had been an elder sister and an elder brother, but they had both died young. That's why the fourth child called him Big Brother.

He remembered his brother in his previous life being just as innocent and cute. However, that child didn't have to live in a leaky house, nor did his clothes have holes that exposed his elbows and knees, and he didn't have to eat other people's leftovers.

For some reason, four heads suddenly appeared in his mind, their honest, weather-beaten faces still holding fear and confusion.

A change was quietly taking place within him.

Li Cunxiao tucked the only kitchen knife in the house into the back of his waist.

"Little brother, stay home and don't open the door for anyone. Wait for Big Brother to return."

"I need to go take care of something."

Hearing this, Li Muxia reluctantly but resolutely closed the lotus leaf paper package. Without asking why, he hugged the leftover food like a treasure and darted into the worn-out cabinet, closing the door, leaving only a pair of bright eyes visible.

His movements were practiced, clearly not the first time.

By this time, the sun was almost hidden by the mountains, and dusk was subtly enveloping the outer city.

The dilapidated, broken walls cast distorted shadows like demons. The late summer breeze carried waves of heat, making the world outside feel like a scorching hell where lonely souls wailed.

Li Cunxiao closed the door and strode in.

The sky was dim, and the deserted alley was quiet.

A rapid sound of footsteps broke the silence.

Zhao Heishe weighed the silver in his arms, the clinking of loose coins a pleasant sound.

A scoundrel like him wouldn't just extort money from the Li brothers.

"This Li Sanlang, he doesn't know what's good for him! But in the end, won't he still have to obediently submit?"

"Heh heh... You don't want to sell your brother? Just you wait, I'll bring people tomorrow and sell you off to a mine!"

He was thinking about the good food and drink he'd enjoy once the silver was in hand, not noticing another set of footsteps joining the alley.

"The younger one is handsome, he'll fetch twenty taels. The older one, though ugly, is strong and young, he can fetch..."

The footsteps behind him grew louder, accompanied by a gust of foul wind. Even Zhao Heishe, slow-witted as he was, couldn't help but turn around.

"Li San... Nngh!!!"

His neck was locked in an embrace like iron clamps. Within a few breaths, Zhao Heishe's face turned red, veins bulging, his limbs struggling desperately.

Behind him, Li Cunxiao's face grew even more ferocious. His right arm formed a triangle around Zhao Heishe's throat, while his left arm acted like a counterweight on a scale of death, slowly compressing the space within the triangle.

"I just want to live a peaceful life with my family, why... why do you force me!"

His fierce, blood-leopard-like face contorted further. After several more dozen breaths, the person in his arms gradually stopped struggling.

Li Cunxiao dragged Zhao Heishe into a nearby ruined house. Looking at the lifeless, dark-faced body, he calmly took out a cleaver, grabbed the back of the head like he was slaughtering a chicken, and aimed for the throat.

Slish

Blood splattered.

He was definitely dead now.

Just as he was about to smash the corpse's face with broken bricks from the ground, a change occurred.

A wisp of black smoke suddenly emerged from Zhao Heishe's body and entered Li Cunxiao.

The next moment, his mind was filled with a bright light.

Li Cunxiao was startled. Without time to think, a flood of unfamiliar memories surged into him, like Buddhist scriptures chanting, calming his slightly agitated state after killing.

A moment later, when he opened his eyes again, they were burning with fervor.

In his mind, a single-pronged Vajra Scepter glowed at a quarter of its length, the rest remaining dim.

[Vajra Scepter, accumulating Obstacle-Breaking Power by subduing demons allows for continuous breakthroughs in Martial Arts Techniques.]

Demons?

[Demons are fiends, but the human heart can also be a demon.]

[Demons are malicious thoughts and hearts like hatred, greed, and slaughter.]

So, anyone who harbors ill will towards me is a demon?

And can be subdued?

Li Cunxiao rejoiced at first, then his gaze towards the corpse turned even more hostile. He thought to himself that he hadn't killed the wrong person.

This kind of rogue, untrustworthy. Today he takes a bribe, tomorrow he might bring people to harm them.

He's like a cannibal who eats twice, he deserves to die!

Without hesitation, he stripped off the corpse's clothes to cover its face, then picked up the broken bricks and smashed fiercely.

Blood soaked the cloth, but none splashed onto him.

Only when the face was unrecognizable did Li Cunxiao take the silver from the body and quickly walk away.

The current government only cared about incidents within the inner city; the outer city basically followed a policy of "non-interference." Li Cunxiao had deliberately chosen a secluded spot, and no one had seen. The only concern might be the Green Snake Gang, but by then, he should have already joined a Martial Arts School.

Regardless, for himself and his family, Zhao Heishe had to die.

Returning home, Li Muxia saw his tired elder brother and wisely didn't ask any questions.

The two brothers ate dinner, and soon it was late. After talking about Monkey King Wreaks Havoc in Heaven for a while, his younger brother's eyelids gradually drooped, and soft snores could be heard.

Li Cunxiao draped his own tattered clothes over his brother, then quietly retrieved the accumulated silver from under the bed. In the moonlight, he pondered.

'Adding the three taels from Zhao Heishe, I now have ten taels. Even if I use five taels to learn martial arts, the remaining money will be enough to prevent my brother from starving.'

'Cultivating martial arts... Does this Vajra Scepter truly have the miraculous ability to break through martial arts?'

Li Cunxiao's mind raced with thoughts. Embracing anticipation and trepidation, he fell into a deep sleep.

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