An Unsolvable Deadlock

"Don't spout nonsense!"

Qu Qiqi planted her hands on her hips and angrily snapped at the burly man, "Our Ninth Master has never been one to slaughter the innocent. If he truly killed your brothers, then they must have deserved to die!"

Suppressing his fury, the burly man signaled for his companions to drag over a corpse. Pointing at a sunken pit in its back, he roared, "My brother had been harvesting a Black Demon Grass just fine when he was inexplicably struck by a heavy hammer. Tell me, then—how did he deserve to die? Don't tell me every Black Demon Grass in these mountains was planted by your Dragon Abyss!"

Seeing the familiar crater-like mark on the corpse's back, Qu Qiqi and the others recognized it as an injury inflicted by Lord Hammer Nine's Limitless Nine Layered Hammer. They immediately fell silent, standing rooted to the spot in bewildered uncertainty.

Lu Feng glanced at the corpse, a chill curling across his lips. "Third Brother Xiong, may I ask what strength your brother possessed?"

The burly man answered without hesitation, "Earth Soul Realm Late Stage."

After a pause, he suddenly realized something and eyed Lu Feng suspiciously. "Kid, what did you call me?"

"Are Second Brother Xiong and the others well?" Lu Feng asked calmly. "Back in Sunset Glow Valley, he still owed me a jug of Rouge Intoxication."

The burly man was startled. "You are... that Little Madman we met in Sunset Glow Valley back then?"

When Lu Feng nodded in acknowledgment, the burly man's face brightened with delight, only for it to dim again moments later. Dejectedly, he said, "Second Brother was devoured by a vicious beast while carrying out a mission last year."

Lu Feng froze, his eyelids lowering unconsciously.

Back then, though he and the three