Dragon Mountain Wolf Bandits

The two men hurried into the courtyard and rushed over to Guo Huaijin's corpse.

After examining the body, their expressions turned grave.

"Old Master Guo was killed when this pipe was thrust into his heart and used to drain his blood."

The skinny man mused, "Whoever did it was quick and decisive. Not a moment's hesitation."

"None of that matters."

The fat man said nervously, "What matters is whether Second Master will fly into a rage when he finds out. If he takes it out on us, won't we be done for?"

"He won't."

The skinny man reassured him. "Second Master may be cruel and bloodthirsty, but only toward outsiders. He's always been loyal and true to his brothers."

"No, no."

But the fat man shook his head. "I think we should still think this over carefully..."

Before he could finish speaking, several sharp gusts of wind came slicing toward them.

They were so fast that the two men couldn't react at all.

Crack! Crack!

After a string of crisp snaps, both men let out muffled groans and dropped helplessly to their knees.

Looking down, they saw that several palm-sized chunks of wood had smashed their kneecaps inward. The blows had been so powerful that the wood had splintered and embedded itself in their flesh.

These two were tough as nails. Even after suffering such injuries, neither let out so much as a scream. They only swept their eyes around viciously, searching for their attacker.

"Those are some vicious eyes. You've definitely killed plenty of people, haven't you?"

At the sound of a lazy voice, Li Hai appeared before them.

He looked down at the two men and asked in an even tone,

"I ask, you answer. Any problem with that?"

The skinny man didn't reply. Instead, he raised his head and stared at Li Hai's face, then sneered coldly.

"You don't even know who we are, and you still dare attack us? Heh. You're finished, kid."

The fat man glanced sideways at Li Hai and spoke just as coldly.

"Across all of Coiling Dragon Mountain, there's no one who can save you."

"Heh, I'll be damned."

After being mocked by the two men one after the other, Li Hai bared his teeth in a cruel grin. "You're playing good cop, bad cop, and you're still this brave at a time like this. Are you drunk, or have you not woken up yet, huh?!"

As he uttered that final "huh," Li Hai casually pulled the copper pipe from Guo Huaijin's chest. Without even looking, he drove it viciously through the skinny man's thigh and calf, straight into the ground below.

"Ahhh!!"

The blow was too brutal. The skinny man couldn't hold back and began screaming at the top of his lungs.

But after only a few cries, Li Hai slapped him across the head. His eyes rolled back, and he passed out while still sitting upright.

He had been unconscious for less than a few seconds when Li Hai tore the long pipe from his leg, ripping skin and flesh as he yanked it free. Then he plunged it into the man's other leg, again piercing both thigh and calf and driving it into the ground.

"Ahhh! I give up, I give up!"

The skinny man wailed, snot and tears streaming from his face. "Sir, please stop torturing me! I'll answer anything you ask!"

The fat man, who had witnessed everything, was so frightened he didn't dare make a sound. He hurriedly plastered on a smile for Li Hai.

"Me too, me too."

"Me too what?"

Li Hai gave a cold sneer, pulled the copper pipe from the skinny man's leg, and swung it down hard. He smashed the fat man's right hand, which was braced against the ground, into a bloody pulp.

The agony was even worse than having all ten fingers pricked at once. The fat man immediately rolled around on the ground in pain, nearly passing out.

Li Hai, the one responsible for it all, stood before them with his arms crossed and began questioning them.

"I ask, you answer. Any problem with that?"

"No, no!" The two men shook their heads again and again. "Ask away, sir!"

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

"We're with the Black Wolf Bandits!" the two answered in unison.

"The Black Wolf Bandits?" Li Hai raised a thick brow. "You're a band of robbers?"

"Uh... more or less."

The fat man answered, "But we're larger than most."

"Larger?" Li Hai asked. "How many of you are there?"

"More than ten thousand," the skinny man replied.

His complexion looked wrong—pale as a sheet.

Clearly, his leg wounds were too severe, and he had lost too much blood.

"S-sir..."

The skinny man stammered with difficulty. "C-could I... could I bandage my wounds? I feel like I'm about to..."

Bang!

A loud crack rang out.

Li Hai swung the copper pipe and smashed the skinny man's head clean off his shoulders. Red and white sprayed across the fat man's face and hair.

"There. Now you don't need a bandage."

Li Hai tossed the pipe aside, clapped his hands, and looked at the fat man. "I heard you talking outside just now. Guo Huaijin was your Second Master's father-in-law, right?"

The fat man stared blankly at the headless corpse beside him, swallowed, and answered with a trembling voice.

"N-no, not his father. His father-in-law. Old Master Guo married both his daughters to Second Master."

"Oh?"

At that, Li Hai grinned. "What a fine old dog, selling his daughters to climb the ladder. He's quite the smooth operator."

After laughing, he continued asking,

"What's your Second Master's name, where's he from, and how good is his kung fu? And what's the story with your First Master? Also, tell me about this Coiling Dragon Mountain region."

Faced with all those questions, the fat man thought for a moment, then began answering slowly.

"Our Second Master's surname is Zhou, and his given name is Hu. He's originally from the Southern Frontier..."

As he listened, Li Hai gradually learned that the so-called Black Wolf Bandits were nothing like ordinary bandits. They were a black-armored force active across the vast Coiling Dragon Mountain range beneath his feet, with fixed territory and a fairly elite military force.

As for their Second Master, Zhou Hu, he was one of the central figures in this armed force. His martial realm had apparently reached the Steel Tendons and Iron Bones level, the same realm as Li Hai.

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

The fat man didn't know much about the Great Jing Dynasty. He only knew that the Jing Dynasty had two capitals and thirteen provinces.

The Coiling Dragon Mountain range, which stretched for thousands of miles across the land where Li Hai now found himself, lay in Yunkang Province, at the southernmost tip of the Jing Dynasty. It was one of the many mountain ranges within its borders.

Curiously, the Coiling Dragon Mountain range formed a natural barrier around the southernmost edge of Yunkang Province, so nearly half of its peaks extended beyond the Jing Dynasty's borders.

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

At the same time, the region of Yu Province bordering the Great Jing Dynasty's southern frontier had no established nation—not even a small one. Its countless regions were thick with forests, crawling with snakes and insects, and choked with miasma.

Thus, the sprawling, rugged Coiling Dragon Mountain region, far from the prosperous Central Plains, had become a chaotic land beyond the reach of any government.

And the Black Wolf Bandits were among the strongest forces in this lawless territory.