Slaughtering Pigs and Animals

After dealing with Chi Daxiao, Li Hai stepped lightly on the ground and vaulted onto the roof of a building with a swoosh. Then, accompanied by a rumbling whistle of wind, he shot off like a bolt of lightning toward the Zhou Family estate several miles away.

Given his current level of strength, a single stride was often enough for him to ride the wind and glide through the air for dozens or even hundreds of meters; scaling walls and vaulting over eaves was as effortless as breathing.

However, because Li Hai's speed was so ferocious, the biting gale he stirred up during his rapid transit was intense enough to whip the dust and debris from the streets below into the sky, causing pedestrians to cry out in alarm.

Yet, by the time they looked up to the sky, everything had already returned to a calm stillness, as if all that had just occurred were merely a hallucination.

In that brief moment, Li Hai had already crossed several miles and arrived at the location of the Zhou Family estate.

Bang!

With a dull thud, and under the horrified gazes of the gate guards, Li Hai descended from the sky, landing heavily on the road in front of the Zhou Family gate and cracking the large stone tiles into a dozen fissures.

These Zhou Family guards were no fools. Upon witnessing such a violent entrance, they immediately bowed, offered fawning smiles, and cupped their hands in greeting.

"Great Hero, what... what business do you have here?"

Seeing that these men were sensible, Li Hai smiled back and said, "That's more like it. It's just a job, why risk your lives for it? As for me, I'm here looking for a man named Zhou Yugen. You should know him, right?"

The guards looked at each other, and one spoke up, "Great Hero, Master Zhou Yugen is our Third Master. He spends his years away on business and does not live here."

"Oh, looks like I've made a wasted trip."

Li Hai asked, puzzled, "Then, does Zhou Xingye live here?"

The Zhou Xingye he spoke of was none other than the son of Zhou Hu and the grandson of Guo Huaijin.

"Uh..."

The guards exchanged glances, hesitating, "Young Master Xingye... yesterday, the daughter of Blacksmith Liu in town was getting married. According to custom, the Young Master went to serve as the presiding witness, and so he stayed the night at Blacksmith Liu's house. He has yet to return home today."

"Presiding witness?"

Li Hai suddenly recalled what Qiu Fangzheng had once said. He narrowed his eyes and said indifferently, "Is this Blacksmith Liu's daughter very beautiful?"

To this, the guards shook their heads, claiming they did not know.

"Beautiful! The Liu girl is fucking beautiful, it's amazing! I'm going back tonight, hahahaha!" Suddenly, an incredibly arrogant voice drifted over from afar.

Li Hai raised a brow and immediately looked in the direction of the sound.

He saw that at the mouth of an alley across the street, some ten or twenty yards away, a large, obese man dressed in a bright red jacket—looking for all the world like a pig demon—was sitting in an open sedan chair, waving a paper fan and surrounded by seven or eight guards, swaying lazily toward the Zhou Family estate.

"Great Hero," one guard said, "this is Young Master Zhou Xingye."

"I can see that." Li Hai chuckled, then took long strides to meet the fat man head-on.

Although Zhou Xingye was so fat that his eyes were reduced to mere slits, he still saw Li Hai walking toward him and nearly colliding with him. He immediately craned his neck and shouted:

"Hey, you big oaf, are you blind? Turn aside and don't bump into my sedan!"

Upon hearing this, Li Hai grinned and said, "Heh, what a foul mouth. Let me tear it off for you."

As soon as he finished speaking, his figure flickered, crossing seven or eight yards to appear before Zhou Xingye. He grabbed that large, fatty face, dragged him forcibly from the sedan, and slammed him hard onto the ground.

"Ouch! My face, my face! It hurts so much!"

Zhou Xingye sprawled on the ground, clutching his blood-soaked face, which had been torn into the shape of a toad's mouth by Li Hai. He wailed and shrieked, "What the fuck are you all standing there for? Beat him to death!"

The surrounding guards, who had been stunned, immediately drew blades and raised clubs, shouting as they charged at Li Hai, who stood beside Zhou Xingye.

But Li Hai merely extended a single finger and, in an instant, swept it in a rapid circle.

Swish—

Clang! Clang! Ding! Ding! Snap! Snap!

After a series of crisp sounds and dazzling sparks, the blades and clubs in the guards' hands all snapped in two, the cuts as smooth as if sliced by a divine weapon.

This was the power of Li Hai's [Finger Claw Level 2]; to him, ordinary pig iron and wrought steel were no sturdier than waste paper.

Having witnessed this shocking scene, the guards wisely retreated several steps, not daring to lay a hand on Li Hai again.

"You, you, you..."

Zhou Xingye, who had also seen this, lay on the ground covered in blood, panicked and distraught. "What kind of monster are you? You, you... my father is a peerless expert! You can't kill me, he'll beat you to death! He'll beat you to death!"

"Good."

Li Hai smiled at this. "Then let him come and beat me to death."

He then asked, "There is one more thing I want to know... exactly how many maidens about to be married have you ruined?"

"Uh?!" Zhou Xingye froze, momentarily at a loss for how to answer.

The next second, Li Hai's smile vanished, and he stomped his foot down onto Zhou Xingye's crotch.

Bang~

"Ahhhhhhhhh!"

Accompanied by a dull thud and a scream like a slaughtered pig, Zhou Xingye was turned into a eunuch on the spot by Li Hai.

"I'll kill you, I'll kill you! Father, save me!"

The fat pig rolled on the ground in agony, screaming about killing and death, drawing a crowd of onlookers who immediately gathered around.

As for those guards, they had taken advantage of the chaos to slip away, and it was unlikely they would ever return to serve at the Zhou Family manor.

As for Li Hai, he had gone to a nearby pork stall to borrow a butcher's knife, returning with a length of hemp rope and an iron basin.

"Come, come, come! Watching the spectacle is fine, but don't block the path."

Li Hai shouted as he pushed through the crowd, strolling up to Zhou Xingye, who was still rolling on the ground in agony, and dragged him into a small noodle shop.

"Here."

Tossing two gold ingots to the shopkeeper, Li Hai said, "I've bought this shop. Stay if you want to watch, leave if you don't."

"Th-this..." The noodle shop owner looked at the gold in his hands, his face a mix of joy, shock, and suspicion. "You... what are you doing?"

Li Hai replied with two cold words: "Butchering a pig."

With that, under the gaze of the shopkeeper and the onlookers outside, he swung the hemp rope over a ceiling beam and hoisted Zhou Xingye up by his ankles, leaving him dangling head-down just like a trussed-up hog while he continued to scream and curse.

"Let me go! You better let me go!"

Zhou Xingye swung back and forth, struggling and howling, "You motherfucker! I'll have my father skin you alive!"

Clang!

Li Hai gave a light kick, sliding the iron basin he'd taken from the pork stall directly beneath Zhou Xingye's fat head. He then went into the kitchen, retrieved an apron, tied it slowly around his waist, and began to size up Zhou Xingye with the butcher's knife in hand.

Zhou Xingye clearly sensed that something was wrong, so he panicked and shouted:

"What are you doing? I'm warning you, don't do anything stupid!"

Li Hai did not respond, merely speaking to himself:

"You know, I've been butchering pigs since I was twelve. Tying them up, slitting throats, singeing hair, skinning, draining blood, removing organs... I've mastered it all.

I thought that after coming here, my skills would no longer be of any use, but ever since I saw you, and many others like you..."

Li Hai walked up to Zhou Xingye, slowly crouched down, and patted his fat face with the blade, grinning.

"I suddenly realized that my craft is about to shine once again."

With that, he slit Zhou Xingye's throat in one motion.

A torrent of blood immediately cascaded down, dripping into the iron basin below.

At this moment, Li Hai took out the Naihe Token from his robes and tossed it into the basin.