"This morning, a martial arts vendetta broke out at the Golden Basin Hand-Washing Ceremony for Liu Zhengfeng of the Hengshan Sect. The Five Peaks Sword Sect and the Sun Moon..."
"Cut the crap. Just tell me what happened." Damn, you're taking way too long to say it. Li Hao grumbled inwardly.
"Liu Zhengfeng's entire family, his disciples, and servants—all 153 of them—were killed. Seven members of the Five Peaks Sword Sect, Tianji Daoist, Ning Zhongze, Abbess Dingjing, and seven of the Song Shan Thirteen Protectors were also killed in action."
"Yue Buqun, Zuo Lengchan, Abbess Dingyi, Abbess Dingxian, and Mr. Mo Da were all seriously injured. The Sun Moon Holy Cult lost four elders and one guardian, while Invincible East escaped without a scratch." At this point, the constable swallowed nervously. Fortunately, these people usually didn't cross swords with the authorities, or their lives would be in danger.
"Here, take this. If anyone asks about us, you know what to say, right?" Li Hao handed the constable a silver ingot.
"You... Who are you? I've never seen you before." The constable quickly took the silver and turned his head away. When he looked back again, the four of them had already vanished.
"Sister Ning, why don't you come to Jiangnan with us?" Seeing how quiet Ning Zhongze had been on the way, Yi Lin guessed she was upset and quickly invited her along.
"But..."
"But what? Yue Buqun thinks you're dead. Why go back? Besides, you're my woman, Li Hao. If you don't come with me, are you planning to go back and keep sleeping with him?" The "him" Li Hao meant was Yue Buqun.
"I'm worried Lingshan will be heartbroken when she finds out I'm dead," Ning Zhongze said hesitantly.
"Then how about we go get Yue Lingshan and take her with us?" Li Hao's eyes lit up.
Her mother, though middle-aged, was still in the Gallery of Beauties. Her sixteen-year-old daughter, Yue Lingshan, couldn't be bad-looking either.
"We can't go get her! She's my daughter. Don't even think about laying a hand on her." Ning Zhongze came to her senses and hurriedly objected.
A mother-and-daughter pair? You can forget about it.
"Ah, well. If you're heartless enough to leave me and go back to Yue Buqun, then go ahead! At worst, I'll go find Lingshan and ease my longing for her." Li Hao spoke with a lecherous grin.
"You... You shameless scoundrel! I'm not going back. I'll have to keep an eye on you." Ning Zhongze was so angry her breasts hurt—hurt like anything.
"Then let's go. Our family of three is off to Jiangnan!" Li Hao put an arm around each of them and cheerfully prepared to set off.
"Big Brother, what about me?" Qu Feifei was stunned.
Her grandfather was dead, her parents were gone, and she had no money. Was she going to starve to death?
"We're a family going on a trip. You should go back to your own home and find your own mother!" Li Hao had no habit of playing the good Samaritan.
"But my parents are both gone. Can you take me in?" Qu Feifei's eyes brimmed with tears.
"I can take you in, sure. You can be Yi Lin's personal maid. You know what a personal maid does, right?" Li Hao said, gazing up at the sky.
"Husband, aren't we going a bit too far?" Yi Lin said quietly.
The poor girl had lost both her parents, and her grandfather had just died. Li Hao was taking advantage of her situation! Everyone knew what a personal maid did—personal maid, as in sharing the same bed.
Ning Zhongze stood to one side and said nothing. Though she was a woman of the martial world, she had no qualms about killing. She wasn't the type to blindly play the good Samaritan, either.
In fact, she hoped Li Hao would take more women. Then he wouldn't set his sights on Lingshan.
"I... I agree." In the end, Qu Feifei's situation overwhelmed her resistance. After all, Li Hao had saved her. Warming his bed wasn't so hard to accept.
A day after Li Hao left Hengyang, the city erupted. A peerless thief had slipped into Hengyang and visited every wealthy household in the city.
The charitable households were spared, but those who preyed on the common people were completely stripped bare. The thief hadn't left them a single copper coin.
According to the authorities' final tally, more than 500,000 taels of silver, over 87,000 taels of gold, and countless jade artifacts and jewels had been stolen from Hengyang City in a single night.
On top of that, 1.2 million taels of silver had been stolen from the government treasury.
They say the prefect of Hengyang had already prepared a rope. As soon as the imperial inspector arrived to investigate the case, he intended to hang himself in front of him to prove his innocence.
Along the official road to Jiangnan, a luxurious carriage rolled leisurely along, escorted by dozens of mounted guards.
"Tell me, why do we need so much silver when there are only a few of us?" A gentle voice suddenly spoke from inside the carriage.
A beauty could be recognized by her voice alone. The speaker was undoubtedly a first-rate beauty.
"Easy for you to say. Do you think it costs nothing to support you all? You'll have children, they'll go to school, we'll buy houses, and when they get married, we'll have to provide their dowries. Doesn't all that cost money?" Inside the carriage, Li Hao rested his head on Ning Zhongze's lap as she fed him grapes.
His legs lay across Yi Lin's lap while she and Qu Feifei massaged them nonstop.
"Yan Shun, find somewhere for us to rest. Traveling is exhausting," Li Hao called outside.
"All right, Young Master. There's an inn up ahead. We can rest there," the driver replied.
The carriage driver was a burly middle-aged man with a formidable reputation in the martial world: Yan Shun, the Brocade Tiger and chieftain of Qingfeng Stockade.
That day, Yan Shun had been bored and gone looking for something to do. Then a carriage came rolling along. At first, he'd thought its luxurious appearance meant he could make a killing. Instead, the job had ended with him getting roped in as a carriage driver.
It couldn't be helped. When he'd tried to rob the carriage, its driver had run away in fright.
Still, being a carriage driver wasn't so bad. Compared with his second brother, Short-legged Tiger Wang Ying, and third brother, White-faced Gentleman Zheng Tianshou, who had both been castrated, he was lucky.
When they stopped the carriage and its passengers stepped out, his second and third brothers were captivated by the women. They'd immediately tried to drag them behind a grassy mound to discuss life's ambitions.
The result was obvious. Could ordinary men lay a hand on Young Master Li's women? With just one sword strike, two heroes who might have become leaders of Liangshan had been castrated.
Life was so unpredictable—one moment you were up, the next your guts were in a knot. The silver he'd earned from a lifetime of robbing people had all been bundled up and taken away. And when they were done, they'd even said, "Those who rob and kill get rich; those who build bridges and roads die without a grave."
"Young Master, we've arrived at the inn." Once the carriage came to a stop, Yan Shun quickly reported. The dozens of mounted guards had tethered their horses and come over to stand watch.
Ning Zhongze couldn't help sighing at the sight. Even when she'd been a sect leader's wife, she'd never had such a grand retinue.
Yan Shun and the mounted guards had little choice. Li Hao had used his unique Sunflower Acupuncture Hand technique to seal their death points. He had to reopen them once a month. Otherwise, they were guaranteed to wish they were dead, suffering unbearable agony.
After experiencing that pain, everyone had begun to revere Li Hao. People like them, who had done countless evil deeds, rarely thought of betraying someone even more wicked and powerful than they were.
When it came to methods of tormenting people, Li Hao said he was second to none. They'd never met anyone who could claim first place.
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