Dragon Mountain Wolf Bandits

The two hurried into the courtyard, rushing to the side of Guo Huaijin's corpse.

After examining the body, their expressions turned grave.

"The Old Master was killed by this tube being driven into his heart to forcibly drain his blood."

The thin man pondered, "The person who did this was swift and decisive, without a hint of hesitation."

"That's not what's important."

The fat man said, somewhat panicked, "The key is, won't the Second Master be furious when he finds out about this? If he takes his anger out on us, won't we be finished?"

"He won't."

The thin man reassured him, "Although the Second Master is cruel and bloodthirsty, he only acts that way toward outsiders. He has always been loyal and devoted to his brothers."

"No, no, no."

The fat man shook his head, "I think we should still consider this carefully..."

Before he could finish his sentence, a gust of biting wind struck.

The speed was so great that the two could not react at all.

Crack! Crack!

Following a series of crisp snaps, the two groaned in unison and collapsed to their knees, powerless.

Looking down, they discovered that their kneecaps had been shattered and sunken by several palm-sized wooden blocks; the force of the impact was so great that the wooden shards had embedded themselves into their flesh.

The two were tough enough that, even after suffering such injuries, they didn't let out a single scream, focusing only on scanning their surroundings with fierce eyes to find the enemy.

"What fierce eyes. You must have killed quite a few people."

Accompanied by a lazy voice, Li Hai appeared before them.

He looked down at the two from above and asked calmly:

"I ask, you answer. Any problems?"

The thin man did not answer, instead tilting his head to glare at Li Hai's face, sneering coldly:

"You have no idea who we are, yet you dare to strike so casually. Heh, you're done for, kid."

The fat man beside him squinted at Li Hai, also speaking in a cold, mocking tone:

"In all of Coiling Dragon Mountain, no one can save you."

"Heh, screw this."

Taunted by the pair, Li Hai grinned viciously, "The way you two are singing back and forth—even at this point, you're still so brave. Did you drink too much, or did you just wake up on the wrong side of the bed, huh?!"

With that "huh," Li Hai casually pulled the copper tube from Guo Huaijin's chest and, without even looking, slammed it through the thin man's thigh, piercing through his calf and straight into the ground below.

"Ahhh!!"

The blow was so brutal that the thin man couldn't hold back, letting out a wail.

Before he could scream more than a few times, Li Hai slapped him across the head, sending him rolling his eyes and fainting into a sitting position.

But just seconds after he passed out, the long tube piercing his leg was forcibly ripped out by Li Hai, tearing skin and flesh, and plunged into his other leg, again piercing through the thigh and calf into the ground.

"Ahhh, I yield, I yield!"

The thin man, snot and tears streaming down his face from the pain, howled, "My lord, please stop torturing me! I'll answer whatever you ask!"

The fat man, witnessing all of this, was so terrified he didn't dare make a sound, quickly offering a fawning smile to Li Hai:

"Me too, me too."

"Me too, what me too?"

Li Hai let out a cold snort, pulled the copper tube from the thin man's leg, and smashed it down hard, crushing the fat man's right palm—which was braced against the ground—into a bloody pulp.

The immense pain, far exceeding the agony of a finger-to-heart injury, made the fat man roll on the ground, nearly losing consciousness.

The culprit behind it all, Li Hai, stood before them with his arms crossed and began his interrogation:

"I ask, you answer. Any problems?"

"No, no!" The two shook their heads repeatedly, "My lord, please ask!"

"Good." Li Hai nodded, "Where are you from, and whose subordinates are you?"

"We are from the Black Wolf Bandits!" the two answered in unison.

"Black Wolf Bandits?" Li Hai raised a thick eyebrow, "You're a group of bandits?"

"Uh, I suppose so."

The fat man replied, "But our scale is a bit larger."

"Larger?" Li Hai asked again, "How many people are there?"

"Over ten thousand," the thin man answered.

His complexion looked wrong, deathly pale.

Clearly, it was due to the massive wound on his leg and the resulting blood loss.

"M... My lord."

The skinny man stammered, struggling to speak, "C... can I, can I bandage my wounds? I feel like I'm about to..."

BANG!

A thunderous explosion rang out.

Li Hai swung the copper pipe, smashing the skinny man's head into a pulp mid-air. White and red gore splattered all over the fat man's face and head.

"There, now you don't need to bandage anything."

Li Hai tossed the copper pipe aside, dusted off his hands, and looked at the fat man. "I heard you lot talking outside just now. Guo Huaijin is the Second Master's own father, is that right?"

The fat man stared blankly at the headless corpse lying on the ground beside him. He swallowed hard and replied with a tremble:

"N... not his father, his father-in-law. Old Master Guo married both of his daughters to the Second Master."

"Oh?"

Hearing this, Li Hai chuckled immediately. "What a spineless old dog, selling his daughters for status. He certainly knows how to play the game."

After laughing, he continued his interrogation:

"What is your Second Master's name, where is he from, how good is his martial arts, and what's the deal with the First Master? Also, tell me everything about this Coiling Dragon Mountain."

Faced with this barrage of questions, the fat man thought for a moment before beginning his slow reply:

"Our Second Master's name is Zhou Hu, originally from the Southern Border..."

Through his account, Li Hai gradually realized that the so-called Black Wolf Bandits were not merely simple mountain bandits, but a black armed force with fixed territory and considerable elite military strength, active throughout the vast Coiling Dragon Mountain range beneath his feet.

As for the Second Master named Zhou Hu, he was one of the core figures of this armed group, and his martial arts realm was suspected to have reached the Steel Tendons and Iron Bones level, putting him on par with Li Hai.

It was also through the fat man's narration that Li Hai learned the world he currently inhabited was called Yu Province, and the Great Jing Dynasty ruled over the majority of it.

The fat man didn't know much about the Great Jing Dynasty, only that the entire Jing Dynasty consisted of two capitals and thirteen provinces.

The Coiling Dragon Mountain range, which stretched for thousands of miles and where Li Hai currently stood, was located in Yunkang Province at the southernmost tip of the Jing Dynasty, being one of many mountain ranges within its borders.

Interestingly, the Coiling Dragon Mountain range circled and guarded the southernmost end of Yunkang Province, meaning nearly half of its mountain mass extended beyond the borders of the Jing Dynasty.

Or rather, the northern side of the entire Coiling Dragon Mountain range actually served as the southern national border of the Jing Dynasty.

Furthermore, because this region of Yu Province adjacent to the southern end of the Great Jing Dynasty lacked any established nations—or even small states—and was filled with dense forests, swarming insects, and miasma, the complex terrain of the Coiling Dragon Mountain range, far removed from the prosperity of the Central Plains, had become a lawless land free from any government control.

And the Black Wolf Bandits were among the top dogs in this lawless zone.