Slaughter

The man brought his blade down, slicing through the quilt and clothes on the bed. But the scene he expected—blood spraying everywhere—never appeared.

Staring at the fake figure made from bedsheets and a quilt cover, Little Wolf Head cursed furiously:

"Search the place! That brat's got to be hiding somewhere in the house."

Hidden inside the wardrobe, Luo Yi listened to the familiar roar from the room and cautiously peered through a crack in the door.

Seeing Little Wolf Head at the front of the group, Luo Yi couldn't help cursing. "Those Green Wolf Gang pests really are like ghosts that won't leave me alone. I went out of my way to show them what I could do a few days ago, hoping they'd know better than to provoke me. I never thought they'd still come knocking just to die!"

Little Wolf Head led a gang of underlings in a frenzied search of the house. Soon, one of the punks came to the wardrobe where Luo Yi was hiding.

The moment he reached for the door—

"You're asking for it!"

Just before the punk's hand touched the wardrobe, a flash of cold light streaked by. His head separated from his neck.

"Scoundrel, you dare act so brazenly in front of all our brothers? You're asking for death! Brothers, all of you, attack! Hack this bastard to death!"

Seeing one of his men beheaded with a single slash, Little Wolf Head shouted to the remaining underlings.

As the punks closed in, a bloodthirsty gleam entered Luo Yi's eyes. He swung his long blade again and again.

The gap in strength was simply too great. The punks weren't even martial artists, and none of them lasted a single exchange against Luo Yi before he cut them down.

After killing five in a row, Luo Yi looked at the room, now drenched in blood.

Once he finished off this lot, there'd be blood all over the furniture, floor, and walls. Cleaning it up would be a nuisance. Better to kill them in the courtyard.

With that thought, Luo Yi charged at a punk guarding the doorway. He landed a Mantis Leg, sending the man flying twenty or thirty meters into the courtyard. The punk spat out two mouthfuls of blood and died.

After dealing with the man blocking the door, Luo Yi took two steps and reached the courtyard.

Little Wolf Head, hiding behind his underlings, thought Luo Yi was trying to escape. He hurriedly shouted to the men who remained:

"Brothers, whoever cuts off that man's head today will get five hundred taels of silver, plus a three-rank promotion in the gang!"

The punks had been frightened by the strength Luo Yi had shown. But when they heard their boss's promised reward, they rallied.

One after another, they shouted, "For a life of wealth and glory, brothers! Charge! There are so many of us—we can wear this brat down!"

Luo Yi looked at the punks charging at him and wiped the blood splashed across his face. The bloodlust in his eyes grew more intense. His whole body was boiling with hot blood. He tossed aside the Dao, which had been through so many fierce battles that it was already shattered beyond repair.

He clenched his fists and shot forward.

Crack! With one punch, he shattered the Dao swinging toward him into several pieces. Then he reached out and grabbed the head of the punk still gripping its hilt.

A sharp crack rang out. The head in his hand burst like a watermelon, spraying red and white across the ground.

The other punks in the courtyard stared at one another, their faces filled with fear.

Seeing the terror in their eyes, Luo Yi excitedly licked his lips.

"I only wanted to practice martial arts in peace here in the county town, but you just had to come to my door and beg for death." To keep from being too bloodthirsty and terrifying them into running away, Luo Yi decided to go a little easier.

Thud! Thud! Thud! Each punch sent another punk flying seven or eight meters. They hit the ground, twitched a few times, and then went still.

Watching from behind his men, Little Wolf Head saw just how vicious Luo Yi was and realized he was no match for him.

He felt bitterly unlucky. If you were this powerful, why not say so from the start? If we'd known, why would we have provoked you?

As fewer and fewer of his men remained standing in the courtyard, he knew that if he didn't leave now, he'd be trapped once they were all dead.

"Kill him, brothers! This brat can't hold out much longer!"

Shouting loudly, Little Wolf Head began sneaking toward the wall in the corner of the courtyard.

Blood-drunk, Luo Yi caught the movement from the corner of his eye. Realizing the man was trying to escape, he stopped playing with the punks. With one punch apiece, he finished off the few remaining ones.

After killing them all, Luo Yi looked toward the shadow of the man who had just climbed over the wall in the corner of the courtyard. He drove off with both legs, putting all his strength into every stride.

Little Wolf Head had barely made it over the wall and had no time to catch his breath. He hurriedly ran toward the Green Wolf Gang's headquarters.

BOOM!

Little Wolf Head was fleeing for his life down the alley when Luo Yi caught up without warning. A Mantis Leg struck him in the back.

In an instant, Little Wolf Head flew a long way and crashed into the wall of some house. Blood poured from his mouth, and the blue-stone wall behind him was left with a person-shaped dent.

"B-brother, spare me! Don't kill me! I've got old folks to care for and children to feed. I only joined the Green Wolf Gang because I was forced into it. Give me another chance, brother. I swear I'll turn over a new leaf!"

Little Wolf Head knelt on the ground, kowtowing and begging for mercy.

Luo Yi shook his head and punched him in the temple.

"Who do you think you are? And who's your brother?"

After punching Little Wolf Head to death, Luo Yi worried that the commotion might draw the attention of patrolling soldiers. He picked up the body and raced home.

With a push of his legs, he easily leapt into the courtyard. He looked at the red and white matter scattered across the ground and the pile of corpses stacked like a small hill.

"What a pain." He sighed and tossed Little Wolf Head's body beside the others.

He began searching the corpses one by one for money and valuables. After about a quarter of an hour, he had gathered everything of value from them.

He looked at the dozen or so taels of silver in his hand.

"Bah! A bunch of paupers, and they still try to collect protection money like everyone else."

Unable to resist grumbling, he washed the blood off the silver and tucked it into his clothes. Little Wolf Head had been a minor gang leader, after all. He couldn't have had only a few taels on him. Could he have left the rest somewhere else?

At the thought, Luo Yi recalled the courtyard he had found a few days earlier while following Little Wolf Head and the others.

Resisting the urge to go check that courtyard right away, Luo Yi returned to his room and took out a bucket and a shovel.

After working for a long while, he looked at the huge pit in the courtyard and couldn't help feeling relieved. Fortunately, his strength had improved so much lately. Otherwise, he had no idea how long it would've taken to dig such a massive pit.

He tossed Little Wolf Head and the other punks into the hole, then shoveled in the mounds of earth piled high on either side to fill it.

After burying all the bodies, Luo Yi went to the well. Carrying a bucket in each hand, he drew water and began cleaning the blood from the courtyard.

"I'm exhausted!" After working for two or three hours, Luo Yi finally cleaned the blood from the room and the ground.

The time he'd spent burying the bodies and cleaning up the blood would've been enough to kill several more people like Little Wolf Head. Thinking it over, Luo Yi realized that doing everything himself was taking too much time away from practicing martial arts. If he got the chance later, he could find someone to run errands for him.