Clue to the Mysterious Village Massacre

Clue to the Mysterious Village Massacre! Watching the hard-won foundation he had built nearly be destroyed in Chen Yi's hands.

Shi San was now raging to the heavens. Bare-chested and wielding a heavy chopper in both hands, he led his brothers in besieging Chen Yi.

Chen Yi protected Dachun with one hand while fighting them with the other, yet he remained utterly at ease.

This was not only a difference in realms, but a gulf as vast as heaven and earth in combat awareness and fighting techniques.

Chen Yi had inherited the memories of two simulations and had also served in the military. His combat experience was so abundant that he could even apply military tactics to this clash.

He beat this bunch of illiterates until they could not tell east from west, until they were left utterly baffled.

"Puff! Puff! Puff!"

Columns of blood shot into the sky. Chen Yi showed no mercy with each strike; the Flame Iron Heavy Sword cut through iron like mud, and every swing took a head clean off!

When Chen Yi channeled Spiritual Qi, the surface of the Flame Iron Heavy Sword became searing hot, glowing completely red as though it had just been pulled from a forge.

The Black Stone Gang members were slaughtered and scattered by that sword.

Corpses were already piled around Chen Yi.

Now, no one dared step forward.

Shi San urged them on.

"Get up there! What are you all standing around for?!"

Someone finally could not hold it in any longer.

"Gang Leader! Can't you see it? He isn't in the Body Refining Realm! His Spiritual Artifact can become scorching hot—he must be using Spiritual Qi to activate it! He's in the Spirit Gathering Realm!"

Shi San snapped.

"Do I need you to tell me that?! So what if he's in the Spirit Gathering Realm? Won't he get tired?! Keep attacking!"

For the few coins they earned each month, how could the remaining gang members still be willing to risk their lives?

"If you want to go, go yourself!"

The sound of bodies hitting the water rang out one after another. A group of gang members guarding the boats jumped straight into the river and swam for the opposite bank.

The group blocking the dock exit scattered in a chaotic rush as well.

In the blink of an eye, Shi San had become a commander without an army.

Yet Chen Yi was still closing in, one step at a time.

Shi San swallowed and backed away as he spoke.

"Chen Yi! Don't repay kindness with ingratitude! If our Black Stone Gang brothers hadn't fished you two out, you and that fellow villager of yours would have drowned in the river long ago!"

Before Chen Yi could say anything, Dachun cut in.

"Who says that? I clearly climbed ashore by myself, then found wood and pulled Brother Yi up! Only then did you find us."

Shi San shot Dachun a glare.

"Chen Yi! He's an idiot, don't listen to his nonsense!"

Chen Yi gave a derisive laugh.

"Who do you think I'll believe—him or you?"

Shi San no longer had the courage to fight Chen Yi to the bitter end, and his tone softened.

"No, Chen Yi, you should've said you were a Martial Artist—and such a powerful one at that! You can have the gang leader's seat if you want! I can even work as your laborer! Why did it have to come to this? A man who turns down money is a bastard!"

"I can make money just the same by taking your dirty money! Not only can I make money myself, I can make everyone else money too!"

As he spoke, Chen Yi turned toward the bewildered laborers on the dock.

"What are you all still standing around like fools for? The Black Stone Gang is finished!

Those lackeys who just ran off are definitely in their storerooms right now, dividing up the wealth like mad!

If you get there late, you won't even get a sip of the soup!"

Hearing this, the laborers finally came to their senses.

First, they kowtowed to Chen Yi several times.

"Thank you, Hero Chen, for saving us!"

"Even if we become oxen and horses in our next lives, we will repay this kindness!"

"Take care, Hero!!"

Then they grabbed iron rods, planks, hammers, and every other handy object they could find on the dock, charging toward the Black Stone Gang's headquarters.

Chen Yi had killed his way from the headquarters all the way to the dock, so there were not many Black Stone Gang members left.

As for Martial Artists, they had been Chen Yi's priority targets. Anyone who had made a move was surely dead by now.

So how much these laborers could seize from the surviving gang members depended on their own abilities.

But Chen Yi reckoned that with the laborers' current morale, along with the resentment they had bottled up over all these days—

They would most likely raze the Black Stone Gang to the ground.

At this moment, Shi San felt as though a lifetime had passed.

Just moments ago, he had been the Black Stone Gang leader who commanded the wind and rain at the dock.

Now, not only had he become a commander without an army, even his entire business had been divided up.

It was all over!

All he wished for now was that Chen Yi would spare his life.

So long as the green hills remained, there would be no shortage of firewood!

Shi San saw Chen Yi's figure suddenly blur, and the scorching Flame Iron Heavy Sword was pressed against his neck.

It was over. Even the green hills were gone!

"Tell me, do you recognize this?"

Huh? There was a turn for the better!

"I do, I do!"

Shi San had not even seen clearly what Chen Yi was holding before he nodded like a pecking chicken.

Once he saw it clearly, he froze.

Where had this mask come from?

"Where did it come from? Did you wear it? Or did someone else wear it? Where was it worn? Speak!"

Shi San stammered, sweat pouring down like rain.

Dead brain, think already!!

Finally, under the pressure of death, Shi San's CPU overloaded and began spinning at full speed. He remembered.

"The day you two floated down from upstream, there was another person too! This mask was on his face! One of the brothers said it was hard to destroy and seemed to be a Spiritual Artifact, so we kept it!"

"Where is that person?"

"He was already a corpse at the time. The brothers just dug a hole and buried him."

"Where did you bury him? Take me there!"

"Y-you want to dig him up?"

"Hehe, not me. You."

Forced by Chen Yi's tyrannical might, Shi San dared not disobey. He led Chen Yi to the burial site and dug up the corpse himself.

Three months had already passed. The corpse had decayed beyond recognition, and when it was unearthed, the stench was enough to blot out the sky.

Even Dachun, who had always had a good appetite, threw up.

Suppressing his nausea, Chen Yi used the Flame Iron Heavy Sword to rummage through the man's body, looking for clues to his identity.

"Did this guy have anything else on him back then? A token, a jade pendant, something like that."

"No. He only had those black clothes and a mask."

Black clothes and a white mask—indeed, that was how the mysterious group that massacred Luoding Village had dressed.

Chen Yi remembered that every one of them had been an expert in the Martial Dao. How had one of them died?

In the simulation, Chen Yi had asked Shen Qingshan whether the authorities had uncovered anything during their investigation. The result had been that they were completely at a loss.

So it was unlikely that the authorities had discovered the murderer and killed him.

Could it be that some great hero had seen injustice on the road and stepped in righteously?

"Eh..."

Among the ruined remains, Chen Yi actually found something unusual.

A lock of this man's hair was red.

There was no perming or hair dyeing in this world. Red hair had to have a special reason.

Chen Yi silently committed this sole clue to memory.

"He's running!"

Dachun suddenly shouted. Chen Yi turned to look and saw that Shi San had taken the chance to slip away while he was focused on searching for clues.

Chen Yi rose to his feet, his expression disdainful.

"I'll let you run a thousand meters first."

Shi San looked back and saw that Chen Yi was not chasing him. Thinking Chen Yi could not catch up, his occupational habit flared up, and he began spouting threats.

"Chen Yi! Once I rise again, we'll settle both old and new scores together! Wash your neck clean and wait for me!! Hah—ptooey!!"

Then he saw Chen Yi move, moving at terrifying speed!

Shi San was horrified.

"Dead Leg, run!!"

Shi San unleashed all his Blood Qi and sprinted for his life, feeling as though his lungs were about to explode!

"Haha, he can't catch me, he can't catch me..."

Shi San casually glanced back and saw a huge burning hand rapidly closing in, about to catch him!

"What the hell is that..."