Murder and Arson

Creak.

Creak.

Sun Yu walked up to Scarface, who was nailed to the tree, and stopped.

"Don't, don't kill me! I'm with the Zhao Family! If you kill me, the Zhao Family won't let you off!"

Scarface stared at the boy before him, who looked like a god of slaughter. His face was pale as paper, and a patch of rank yellow fluid had already seeped through his crotch.

He struggled desperately, but the iron arrow piercing his thigh had bitten him firmly to the trunk. Every movement twisted his features in pain.

"Brother Yu! Master Yu! The demon beast is yours! I'll give you all the silver too! Please..."

There was not the slightest ripple in Sun Yu's eyes.

He understood this world's rules all too well.

In these deep mountains and ancient forests, releasing a tiger back into the wild was the same as digging his own grave.

Without another word, Sun Yu raised the heavy Mountain-Opening Firewood Knife in his hand. The muscles in his arm suddenly tensed as he aimed at Scarface's neck and slashed down diagonally.

"Splat!"

The sound of the sharp blade cleaving bone and flesh was brutally crisp.

Scarface's pleas stopped abruptly. His fine head rolled into a hollow in the snow, his wide-open eyes still filled with extreme terror and disbelief.

The gushing blood instantly bloomed across the snow like a patch of startling red plum blossoms.

Sun Yu expressionlessly shook the blood droplets from his firewood knife and tucked it back into his waist.

He turned and walked over to the three headless corpses, expertly feeling around inside their clothes.

Killing and arson earned a golden belt—the ancients had not deceived him.

These four hunters, who had long made their living robbing other robbers, were wealthier than Sun Yu had imagined.

He found over thirty taels of loose silver on the four men, three fairly intact fox pelts, and even an old booklet tightly wrapped in oilcloth hidden in Scarface's loincloth.

Sun Yu opened it, and his eyes immediately lit up.

Pigua Saber Technique (Incomplete).

Though it was an incomplete copy, to Sun Yu, who urgently needed a Martial Skill for close-quarters combat, it was like charcoal in a snowy winter.

Besides, with the system at his side, even an incomplete manual could have its proficiency forcibly raised.

"Not a bad haul."

Sun Yu tucked the silver and saber manual close to his body, then walked over to the enormous corpse of the Red Scale Wild Boar.

The thing weighed four or five hundred jin.

The old him would not have been able to move it an inch.

But now that the Eight Divisions Vajra Skill had reached perfection, a casual swing of one arm carried the force of several hundred jin.

He retrieved the arrows one by one and hung them close to his body. Then he grabbed the boar's thick hind legs with both hands, planted his stance, and exerted himself fiercely.

"Up!"

With a low shout, Sun Yu hoisted the massive beast onto his shoulder.

After getting his bearings, he trudged through snow that reached past his thighs, braving the howling wind and snow as he strode toward the outskirts of the mountains.

Nanqiao Town, town entrance.

By now, the sky had darkened, and the wind and snow had grown even fiercer.

In front of Wanbao Merchant House, the largest shop at the town entrance, two assistants wrapped in thick cotton coats were preparing to put up the door planks and close for the day.

Suddenly, one of them froze. He pointed into the depths of the snowstorm with wide eyes, his voice trembling. "S-Shopkeeper! Look over there!"

The Head Shopkeeper of the merchant house was a slightly plump middle-aged man. He had been holding an abacus and checking the accounts, but at those words, he irritably raised his head.

With just one glance, the abacus nearly fell from his hand.

Amid the wind and snow, a boy in a thin, tattered padded jacket was slowly approaching with a mountain of flesh on his shoulder.

Every step the boy took was incomparably steady, the thick snow beneath his feet seeming like level ground.

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Though the enormous Red Scale Wild Boar had been dead for some time, the lingering ferocity of the demon beast still made one's scalp tingle.

Even more alarming was the air around the boy.

It was the dense murderous aura of someone who had just gone through a bloody fight, not yet fully dispersed.

"Good heavens... He fought a Red Scale Demon Boar alone? And carried it back in one piece?!"

The Head Shopkeeper sucked in a sharp breath, and a brilliant light instantly burst from his formerly half-lidded eyes.

With skills like that, let alone those lowly mud-legged commoners, even among the inner disciples of the town's major martial halls, few could pull it off!

This youth was definitely a master who had kept a low profile. He might even have touched the threshold of Skin Tempering!

"Quick! Take down the door panels! Throw the gates wide open!"

The Head Shopkeeper shoved aside the stunned clerk, straightened his brocade robe, and personally hurried forward with a face full of smiles.

His change of expression was faster than flipping a page.

"Young brother, please, come inside! In weather like this, don't let the wind and snow freeze you stiff!"

Sun Yu stopped.

He recognized this fat man—the infamous profiteer of Nanqiao Town. In the past, he had not even been qualified to enter this merchant house's doors.

"Do you buy demonic beasts?" Sun Yu asked coldly. Turning slightly, he swung the Red Scale Wild Boar from his shoulder and smashed it onto the stone slabs before the merchant house with a bang.

Even the ground trembled with the impact.

"We do! Of course we do!"

Seeing the intact Red Scale Wild Boar, with even its most valuable tusks and hard scales undamaged, the Head Shopkeeper's smile broadened further.

He beckoned, and several clerks immediately crept forward with great care to inspect it.

"Young brother, you truly have remarkable skills." The Head Shopkeeper discreetly sized Sun Yu up. Seeing that his breathing was deep and steady and his expression unchanged, he raised his assessment of him several notches.

"This Red Scale Demon Boar is in superb condition. Our Wanbao Merchant House offers eighty taels of silver, plus twenty jin of premium Blood-Nourishing Medicinal Meal. What do you think?"

Eighty taels, plus medicinal food.

That price had already exceeded the value of the demonic beast itself.

The Head Shopkeeper was clearly trying to befriend him.

Sun Yu gave the Head Shopkeeper a long, deep look.

He knew that the strength he had displayed by killing a demonic beast alone had made this shrewd merchant see the value in investing in him.

In this world, strength was the best calling card.

"Deal." Sun Yu nodded.

The Head Shopkeeper clapped his hands and laughed. "Straightforward! May I ask your name, young brother? And where are you currently employed?"

"Sun Yu. No sect, no school. Just a lone wanderer."

At the name Sun Yu, a flicker of surprise passed through the Head Shopkeeper's eyes.

He was well informed, so he naturally knew that a Qian Family servant named Sun Yu had redeemed himself a few days ago.

But he immediately concealed the strange look.

Anyone capable of killing a demonic beast alone was absolutely no longer a mere servant, no matter what he had been before.

"So it is Brother Sun."

The Head Shopkeeper cupped his hands, his tone growing even more respectful. "Since you are now a free man, would you be interested in joining our Wanbao Merchant House in name? You could serve as a Guest Hunter."

"A guest hunter?"

"That's right."

The Head Shopkeeper explained with a smile, "You would not need to report in every day. So long as you give our merchant house priority whenever you hunt demonic beasts in the mountains or find precious herbs, that will be enough. In return, the merchant house will provide you with ten taels of silver each month for travel expenses, as well as access to internal channels for purchasing martial arts manuals and medicinal meals."

The offer was brimming with sincerity.

For Sun Yu as he was now, this Guest Hunter status would not only solve the problem of obtaining cultivation resources in the future, but also let him borrow the Wanbao Merchant House's influence to truly gain a foothold in Nanqiao Town.

Anyone who wished to make a move against him would have to weigh the Wanbao Merchant House's standing first.

His status soared in that instant.

"Good." Sun Yu accepted the heavy bag of silver and medicinal meals the Head Shopkeeper handed him, the corner of his lips lifting in an almost imperceptible curve. "A pleasure doing business with you."

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