The Naihe Mark

As blood gushed out, Zhou Xingye struggled less and less. Despair and pain weighed heavier in his eyes.

At last, beneath the astonished, curious, fearful, and gleeful gazes of the crowd gathered outside the shop, he stared wide-eyed and died with his face twisted in agony.

The moment the Naihe Token Li Hai had taken out touched Zhou Xingye's blood in the iron basin, it began bouncing about like a fish, gulping down every last drop. Then it started to glow with a dim, black-red light.

Quick as a flash, Li Hai thrust out his left hand and snatched the Naihe Token from the basin. He channeled his true force into it.

Bzz—

In an instant, the familiar, cool voice rang out in his mind:

"The Guiyou Grotto-Heaven has been successfully activated. Would you like to enter?"

Li Hai immediately replied in his thoughts, "No."

The cool voice promptly answered, "Command received."

A moment later, it spoke again. "After the successful activation of the Guiyou Grotto-Heaven, the Collection and Etherealization functions have been unlocked. Would you like to activate them?"

"Etherealization?"

Li Hai was puzzled. "I can more or less understand the Collection function. It lets me take outside objects and store them in the grotto-heaven. But what does Etherealization mean?"

Puzzled, he immediately chose to activate the Guiyou Grotto-Heaven's Etherealization function.

Whoosh—

In the blink of an eye, the Naihe Token in Li Hai's hand cracked and crumbled into dust, scattering across the ground. Only a streak of black-red light remained, sinking into his palm.

"Huh?!"

Li Hai raised his hand and saw two small characters in ancient script, shimmering with blood-red light, appear out of nowhere on the skin of his left palm: Naihe.

At the same time, lines of text appeared in his mind.

After reading through the information in a single thought, Li Hai immediately understood what this so-called Etherealization function meant.

According to the information, the Guiyou Grotto-Heaven's true essence did not lie within the Naihe Token. It existed beyond the mortal world, and the token was merely a tiny portal.

Once Li Hai had activated the grotto-heaven and become its master, the portal would leave the Naihe Token and transfer to his body.

As for the two characters "Naihe" on his left palm, they were merely the portal's outward manifestation.

If Li Hai wanted to change its location, he could move it to his brow, the soles of his feet, or even his buttocks. It was a simple matter, requiring only a thought.

Beyond that, Li Hai's body would no longer be able to enter the grotto-heaven. It could exist only outside it.

That did not mean, however, that he would never again be able to manipulate the various things inside the grotto-heaven.

Using the power of the portal, Li Hai could manifest an invisible viewpoint and invisible limbs inside the grotto-heaven, allowing him to freely observe and touch anything within.

"Hahaha."

In high spirits, he laughed aloud. "Put simply, this is a storage ring, isn't it? Except the space inside is much larger, and it has tremendous potential to grow."

Li Hai made a rough estimate. The Side Hall inside the Guiyou Grotto-Heaven was rectangular, about a hundred zhang long, sixty-some zhang wide, and a little over one zhang tall, but less than two.

That was a vast area with plenty of room to store things.

Li Hai opened his left palm and aimed it at the pile of dust left by the shattered Naihe Token. Then he activated the Collection function.

Bzz—

In the blink of an eye, the pile of dust vanished without a trace and appeared on the floor of the Side Hall inside the Guiyou Grotto-Heaven.

Li Hai figured that, since the dust had come from the Naihe Token, its material must be extraordinary.

He might be able to use it to forge a divine weapon someday, so it was better to keep it.

"Benefactor!"

A hesitant voice suddenly reached Li Hai's ears.

He turned toward it and saw an old woman emerge from the crowd outside the shop. Her face was weathered, and her clothes were worn.

As soon as she reached Li Hai, the old woman dropped to her knees and begged, "Benefactor, could you give me Zhou Xingye's head?"

"Oh?" Li Hai reached out to help her up. "Did you have a grudge against him?"

Once on her feet, the old woman only nodded. She did not want to say more, murmuring, "I... I want to use Zhou Xingye's head to pay respects to my daughter, my little grandson, and my husband."

"I understand." Li Hai nodded, turned around, and cut off Zhou Xingye's head with his butcher's knife. Gripping it by the hair, he handed it to the old woman.

The old woman did not even care that her hands were covered in blood. Clenching her teeth, she clutched the head and clawed at it, as if she wanted to crush it against her chest.

"Thank you, thank you, Benefactor!" After venting her hatred, the old woman knelt again and kowtowed to Li Hai with a loud thud. Then she hurried away, carrying Zhou Xingye's head.

After the old woman had set the example, several more people stepped out of the crowd and knelt before Li Hai.

"Benefactor, I want Zhou Xingye's left arm."

"Benefactor, I want both of Zhou Xingye's hands."

"Benefactor, I want Zhou Xingye's black heart."

They were men and women of all kinds. The only thing they had in common was the hatred and grief written across their faces.

Li Hai understood. He asked no questions, merely nodded, turned around, and got to work with his knife.

As he worked, he couldn't help remembering how he used to slaughter pigs and divide up the meat in the countryside in his previous life.

Just like now, a crowd had gathered around, watching eagerly.

But back then, after the meat had been divided, the villagers paid him.

This time, after the meat had been divided, the people offered him their gratitude.

The two seemed different, yet in some ways they were the same.

The common thread was that Li Hai found it immensely satisfying.

And in this life, all he sought was that kind of satisfaction.

"My lord, could you give me a little more clean blood? The blood on the ground is too dirty. I'll take it home, dip some steamed buns in it, and feed them to my grandson. The doctor said the blood of an evil person like this is very effective as medicine!"

"It's all gone. There's none left."

Faced with the old woman's ignorant request and the eager crowd around him, Li Hai could only feel helpless.

But no matter how fat Zhou Xingye was—even if he were round as a ball—there was no way he could be divided among so many people.

All he could say was that his three-hundred-jin body could not bear the weight of the evil deeds he had committed.

After dealing with these people, Li Hai headed toward the Zhou Family mansion again.

"I gave you this long to prepare..."

Looking at the more than a hundred musketeers lined up in ranks outside the Zhou Family estate, he couldn't help sneering coldly. "And all you have to show for it is this little formation? Not a single expert among you. What a disgrace."

Suddenly, an elegantly dressed old man appeared in the innermost ranks of the Musket Squad. Looking at Li Hai from dozens of zhang away, he called out, "I am Zhou Yushu, unworthy head of the Zhou Family and the Zhou Family Fort. May I ask, young hero, what grievance you have with my family?"

"None. We have no feud," Li Hai replied.

As he spoke, he glanced at Zhou Yushu's status panel from afar.

Unexpectedly, the old man had not the slightest martial skill. He was a completely ordinary man.

"Hahahaha!"

Zhou Yushu laughed coldly. "If you have no grievance with the Zhou Family, young hero, why have you cruelly tortured Xingye like this?!"

Li Hai chuckled. "Is he your grandson?"

"No," Zhou Yushu said. "He's the grandson of my third brother, Zhou Yugen. But I've always treated him as my own, like a real grandson."

"Good. Very good."

Li Hai smiled with satisfaction. "So Zhou Yugen, Zhou Hu, and Zhou Xingye are a grandfather, father, and grandson from the same family. Excellent."

With that, Li Hai put away his smile and strode toward the Zhou Family mansion.

Seeing this, Zhou Yushu immediately shouted in panic, "Fire! Fire now!"

At his command, the entire Musket Squad opened fire.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

Amid a cloud of smoke, a rain of bullets instantly roared toward Li Hai as he walked slowly forward.