Seeing Luo Yi stop in place, Luo Wei thought his nephew had given up resisting.
He laughed arrogantly. "Good nephew, realized you can't get away? Ready to beg for mercy?"
Luo Yi didn't reply to Luo Wei's smug grin. He nocked an arrow and aimed at a vital spot.
His only answer was the steady hiss of arrows cutting through the air.
Watching the arrows fly toward him, Luo Wei laughed loudly. "Good nephew, I'm a Skin Refining Realm Martial Artist. You think that Hunting Bow of yours can hurt me? You must be dreaming."
Hearing that Luo Wei was a Skin Refining Realm Martial Artist, Luo Yi's heart sank.
His late father had said there were no more than ten Entry Realm Skin Refining Martial Artists in all of Dongsheng Town. Just my luck, Luo Yi thought.
Still smiling, Luo Wei watched the arrows shoot toward him and realized he couldn't dodge them.
He chopped through the arrow aimed at his head. Just as he swung his blade at another, it sank straight into his abdomen.
Seeing that his arrows could wound Luo Wei, Luo Yi gradually lost some of his fear of Skin Refining Martial Artists.
Feeling a stab of pain in his abdomen, Luo Wei looked down and saw that the arrow his good nephew had shot had sunk all the way into his belly.
He snapped the shaft in half and charged at Luo Yi.
Though he'd been wounded in the abdomen, Luo Wei's running speed didn't slacken in the slightest.
Luo Yi nocked another arrow and fired at Luo Wei's lower body.
As arrows kept flying at him, Luo Wei's expression grew more and more vicious.
Luo Yi was only sixteen, yet he already had such skill with a bow. Give him a few more years, and it wouldn't be so clear who would kill whom.
After firing all twenty arrows in his quiver, Luo Yi watched Luo Wei charge up to him, covered in blood.
He gave Luo Wei a look that seemed to say, "What an idiot," then turned and fled deeper into the forest on the Mountain behind him.
Luo Wei had nearly caught Luo Yi, only for him to escape again. In fury, Luo Wei spat out a mouthful of blood.
Only after no more arrows flew at their boss did the few underlings Luo Wei had brought finally arrive.
"Are you all right, boss?" his underlings hurriedly asked.
Luo Wei waved a hand.
"Don't worry about me. Go after that little brat first."
With that, he led his underlings after Luo Yi.
One of the underlings glanced at the arrows in Luo Wei's body and realized his chance for revenge had come. If he didn't act today, he might never get another opportunity like this.
With all his attention on Luo Yi, Luo Wei didn't notice anything amiss.
As they hurried through the woods, one of the underlings steadily closed the distance between himself and Luo Wei. His eyes burned with the fire of revenge. With his enemy just within reach, he thrust his knife with all his strength, driving it straight into Luo Wei's chest.
After doing it, the underling kept yelling, "I'll teach you to sleep with other men's wives! I'll teach you to sleep with other men's wives! I'll stab you to death!"
Running ahead without a care in the world, Luo Wei was caught off guard when his underling's knife pierced his chest. He dropped to his knees, coughing up mouthfuls of blood.
Looking at the underling who had ambushed him, Luo Wei bore the pain and forced himself to muster one last breath. He cut the man down with a single stroke.
He looked at the few underlings who stood frozen in shock. "Stop chasing him. Quick! Quick! Get me back to town and find a doctor!"
Fleeing for his life, Luo Yi heard strange noises behind him.
He turned and saw the knife point sticking out of Luo Wei's chest. Luo Wei really was a Bronze Skin Martial Artist—he'd been stabbed through and still hadn't died.
Seeing the underlings carrying Luo Wei, Luo Yi knew this was the best chance to finish him. He gripped his hatchet and chased after them.
Luo Wei, being carried on his underlings' shoulders, saw Luo Yi charging at him with a cleaver.
"Put me down," he ordered his men. "Go cut him down for me first."
Surrounded by a group of thugs, Luo Yi knew they were all a pack of bullies who preyed on the weak.
To leave no trouble behind, Luo Yi put all his strength into every strike.
Luo Wei had only one breath left. Watching his underlings fall one after another, he knew he was doomed once they were all dealt with. Bearing the pain, he charged at Luo Yi.
After chopping off the head of the lucky underling, Luo Yi watched Luo Wei charge at him with a knife.
A fighting spirit surged within him. He wanted to know just how far his strength had come, and how big the gap was between him and a Bronze Skin Realm Martial Artist.
He swung with all his might.
With a clang, their weapons collided. Feeling the immense force transmitted through his opponent's weapon, Luo Yi realized he'd still underestimated Entry Realm Martial Artists. Worried that Luo Wei might have another trick up his sleeve, he stopped clashing head-on and began to circle around him.
Seeing that his nephew had blocked his strike without a scratch, Luo Wei could hold on no longer and fainted.
Looking at Luo Wei on the ground, Luo Yi feared there might be an ambush. He finished off all the underlings first, then picked up the bow that had fallen to the ground and shot an arrow at Luo Wei's head.
Unconscious, Luo Wei was pierced through the head by the arrow. He twitched a few times on the ground, then lay still.
Only after confirming Luo Wei was dead did Luo Yi move on.
He put all the valuables from the men into his backpack and cleaned up the traces of the fight nearby. Through the gaps in the trees, he watched the sky grow dark and listened to the wolves howling deep in the forest on the Mountain.
He left the bodies there. The beasts in the forest on the Mountain would eat them soon enough, so there was no need to waste time disposing of them.
He ran to the bodies of the two Hunting Team members he'd killed earlier and put all their valuables into his backpack.
Once everything was taken care of, Luo Yi worried that people might notice something was off about him today. After forcing himself to calm down, he ran toward Dongsheng Town.
Back in town, Luo Yi went first to the Drunken Fragrance Pavilion and sold the roe deer he'd hunted that day to Manager Chen, earning three taels of silver.
After selling the roe deer, he hurried home. By the time he arrived, night had fully fallen.
Luo Xi was waiting by the door. She looked up at the dark sky.
Why hasn't my brother come home so late? Could something have happened to him? She couldn't help worrying.
Luo Yi pushed open the courtyard gate and saw Luo Xi's worried face. "What's wrong, Xiao Xi? Why the long face? Did someone upset you today? Tell your brother, and I'll teach him a lesson."
Seeing her brother come home, Luo Xi couldn't help beaming with joy.
After a simple dinner, he sent his younger sister to wash the dishes in the kitchen, then carried his hunting pack into his room and shut the door. He began to check what he'd gained that day.
The money pouches from the men held only eight taels of silver and more than nine thousand copper coins in total. He couldn't help cursing. A bunch of poor bastards—they could've at least carried a little more silver.
It was late at night. Luo Wei's underlings, having gambled away all their money, came out of the gambling den. Looking at the sky, they each headed home.
Lying on the ground, Luo Yi grew more and more suspicious the longer he thought about it. Luo Wei was an Entry Realm Martial Artist. How could he have carried so little money? Maybe he'd hidden it all at home.
At that thought, Luo Yi got up, left his room, and climbed into the neighboring courtyard, Luo Wei's home.
He searched every possible hiding place in the house but found nothing. Then he remembered the costume dramas he'd watched in his previous life. Many families had hidden compartments or secret mechanisms.
He carefully examined the layout of the entire room, then looked at the bookshelf in the corner.
How could a thug like Luo Wei possibly read books? Luo Yi had an idea.
He searched through all the books on the shelf and found two fifty-tael silver notes, along with a cultivation manual titled Fierce Tiger Skin Refining Technique.
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