That damn Long Xiaoyun! Just you wait. If I survive today, I'll beat your ass until it's swollen.
No, I'll beat your mother Lin Shiyin's ass too.
Li Hao was annoyed. Back then, he'd been short on money and bought an iron sword worth three taels of silver. Who could've guessed that today...
"If you want to do a good job, you need the right tools." The ancients hadn't lied to me. Counterfeit, shoddy goods really did harm people!
Duan Yanqing's steel crutch was about to strike Li Hao in the chest. He even saw the despair on Li Hao's face. A body-protecting aura at the early stage of the innate realm couldn't possibly withstand a full-force attack from a mid-stage grandmaster.
At the instant Duan Yanqing's steel crutch struck Li Hao, it felt as though he'd hit a lump of cotton—soft, with nothing solid to strike. Then a tremendous force traveled from the crutch into his hand.
What the hell kind of disgusting skill is this? Duan Yanqing screamed inwardly as his body was flung backward.
Tears had already welled in Ning Zhongze's eyes. She forced Ye Erniang back with a sword strike, then hurried to Li Hao's side.
"How are you? Are you hurt?" She ran both hands over him, checking his body for injuries.
If circumstances had allowed it, she probably would've stripped off Li Hao's clothes to examine him thoroughly.
"Don't worry, I'm fine. Duan Yanqing's crutch barely had any weight to it. It didn't hurt at all." Li Hao grinned.
"Are you really all right?" Ning Zhongze wasn't convinced. She'd fought Duan Yanqing before and knew exactly how much force he could put behind those steel crutches. If they'd really hit as lightly as Li Hao claimed, she wouldn't have suffered internal injuries.
"I'm really fine. Sister Ning, even if you went and grabbed a few young women for me to share my wedding night with right now, I wouldn't mind." Li Hao wrapped his arms around Ning Zhongze and kissed her hard.
Ning Zhongze had meant to push him away, but Li Bai's tongue pried open her teeth and slipped a pill into her mouth.
A Lesser Rejuvenation Pill. Ning Zhongze recognized it at once. The last time she'd been seriously injured, this pill had saved her life.
"What are you doing? Everyone's watching!" Li Hao finally pulled away. Ning Zhongze's cheeks were flushed, and she pounded his chest with both hands.
"We're practically an old married couple. What's there to be shy about? I'll spoil my own wife. Let all these single guys envy us!" Li Hao said shamelessly.
"Boss, are you all right?" Seeing Duan Yanqing spit blood and fly backward, Ye Erniang and Yun Zhonghe hurried over to him.
"That boy is strange. I struck him with all my strength, but the force was completely deflected. Then an even greater force rebounded against me, and that's what injured me." As he finished speaking, another trace of blood trickled from the corner of Duan Yanqing's mouth.
"Boss, what do we do?" Yun Zhonghe was the least noticeable of the Four Evils. When the boss was hurt, he lost his head.
"Li Hao, give me my third brother's body, and we'll leave. We'll consider our grudges settled from this point on. How about it?" Duan Yanqing had backed down. It was the first time he'd done so since making his name.
"That won't work. Why should I hand over someone I captured?" Li Hao said loudly, one arm around Ning Zhongze.
Duan Yanqing had nearly beaten him to death with that crutch. This was a serious grudge. And now he wanted to settle it with a single wave of his hand? Dream on.
"Li Hao, my third brother is dead. The dead deserve respect, and they should be laid to rest. Don't you understand?" Duan Yanqing was angry again. He swore he'd never been this angry so many times in one day.
"He's been laid to rest, but I'm not at ease! His big brother nearly crushed me to death just now. You don't want to pay a thing, but still expect to take his body? Dream on."
"Yan Shun." Li Hao stood where he was, not even turning his head.
"Here, sir." Yan Shun, who'd taken a few scrapes, answered excitedly.
His young master was amazing. He could fight a mid-stage grandmaster head-on and even injure him with a counterattack. With skills like that, he'd be one of the best fighters in the martial world.
Traveling the martial world with his young master and making a name for himself was only a matter of time.
"Go catch a few wild dogs. Then chop Yue Laosan up and feed him to them," Li Hao said casually.
The expression on his face would've made anyone think he did this all the time.
"On it!" Yan Shun didn't question him for a second. He immediately led the others off to catch some wild dogs.
"Let bygones be bygones. Don't make them any angrier," Ning Zhongze said, pinching the soft flesh at Li Hao's waist and twisting it a full 360 degrees.
"No way. We were minding our own business, and they kept coming after us. Do they really think I'm easy to bully? Besides, can't you see how many of our people are hurt?" Li Hao gave her a hard slap on the butt.
Ning Zhongze looked back. Quite a few of the thirty cavalrymen were injured, and two had been carried to the carriage. They lay motionless beside it, their condition unknown.
"Yi Lin, come here. Give these pills to the brothers so they can treat their injuries." Li Hao took a pouch from his shirt and handed it to Yi Lin. It was full of Lesser Rejuvenation Pills.
A pouch of Lesser Rejuvenation Pills like this could fetch a huge sum of money.
"All right, husband." Yi Lin trotted over, took the pouch, then ran to the back to hand them out.
"Take these too, just in case." Li Hao took out another small pouch and slipped it into the pocket at Ning Zhongze's chest. He also felt around inside it.
Only he knew what he'd touched.
"Li Hao, name your price. What will it take for you to return my third brother's body—"
"Young master, I'm back. We couldn't find any wild dogs, but we caught a few wild wolves." Duan Yanqing hadn't finished speaking when Yan Shun's voice rang out.
The environment in ancient times really was better. Yan Shun had only been gone for a few minutes with the cavalrymen who'd just killed Yue Laosan, yet each man had returned carrying two wild wolves.
That's right—carrying them, like little dogs.
The wolves: Where's your manners?
"Name my price? Look, every one of my people is injured, and I've even suffered serious internal injuries myself. As the one who started this fight, don't you think you should compensate us?" Li Hao said, rubbing his chin.
"How much do you want?" Duan Yanqing swore Li Hao was the most shameless person he'd ever met.
"As for these Lesser Rejuvenation Pills, maybe they're not worth ten thousand gold each, but a thousand gold apiece is fair, right? There are thirty-five of them. Do the math yourself." Li Hao couldn't be bothered to waste words.
Yan Shun and the others had been marveling at how effective their young master's medicine was. Hearing what Li Hao said, a few were even ready to stick their fingers down their throats and bring the pills back up.
Yan Shun: Young master, you should've told us these pills were worth a thousand gold each! My injuries aren't life-threatening. If I'd known, I would've saved mine to sell. That would've paid for a whole year of sleeping at brothels!
"Li Hao, let's be frank. I only have one hundred thousand taels of silver in banknotes. Take it or leave it, and we'll go our separate ways." Duan Yanqing was practically furious enough to injure himself internally.
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