Flower Face He Yi

Lu Bai still showed some restraint.

Before long, people were sprawled all over the ground. They were only groaning, though; none had suffered any serious injuries.

"Tell me about your relationship with Flower Face and his past." Lu Bai grabbed the old man and hauled him to his feet.

But the old man had no intention of talking. He pursed his lips, ready to spit.

Unfortunately for him, Lu Bai was an expert spitter himself. He could even use it as a form of attack.

The moment the other man's mouth moved, Lu Bai knew what he was about to do.

Before he could spit, Lu Bai slapped him across the face.

The old man had worked up a mouthful of phlegm, but before he could spit it out, Lu Bai's slap sent it straight down his throat.

Lu Bai tossed the old man onto the ground and planted a foot on his back. Then he pointed at someone lying off to the side.

"If he won't talk, you can tell me instead. If you can't, I'll send your whole family on their way." Lu Bai smiled as if he were being kind, but those gentle features hid words fit for a devil.

"I, I..." The man tried to speak, but his eyes kept darting toward the old man pinned beneath Lu Bai's foot.

The old man wanted to shout him down, but he could barely save himself now.

Lu Bai pressed down harder with his foot. The old man couldn't catch his breath; forget speaking, his face had turned liver-purple.

"Go ahead and talk. Or were you hoping to notify the Black Tiger Stronghold?"

"There's no need. I just came from there. There's no Black Tiger Stronghold or Black Tiger Sect left anymore."

Lu Bai's words changed the expressions of everyone in the village.

At that, the villager Lu Bai had pointed to panicked and hurriedly began to speak.

He told them everything he knew, holding nothing back. He sang and danced, and was kind and friendly, giving Lu Bai a glimpse of the simple-hearted nature of mountain villagers.

He soon learned the truth about the village's relationship with the Black Tiger Stronghold.

At first, things had gone pretty much as Lu Bai expected. Some villagers had grown sick of their hard life in the mountains, so they had fled to the stronghold and taken up banditry.

As a result, the bandits didn't plunder the village too heavily. Those few bandits would even send things back from time to time.

But there was no real partnership between them. At most, the bandits would ask around for information when they returned.

Some families in the village had even been harassed by those bandits.

Things changed when the old man surnamed He arrived.

Back then, a young man who looked a lot like Old Man He had brought him here. The young man was handsome and charismatic, and he became the dream man of all the village women.

Naturally, that led to trouble.

Then came the familiar story: they beat up the younger one, and the older one showed up.

Back then, Flower Face had been a dashing young man, putting on quite a show and attracting who knew how many village girls and married women.

The Black Tiger Stronghold had been beaten into submission after that. As Flower Face's father, Old Man He naturally took over the village and became its leader.

Of course, plenty of village girls and married women had thought, If I can't be your woman, I'll at least be your stepmother. They'd gotten involved with Old Man He. Lu Bai was... very interested in hearing all about it. He even planned to call a few of the people involved over to tell their stories.

Under Lu Bai's humiliation, Old Man He finally cried, "Enough!"

If those things happened in private, they could be called romance. But dragging him out in public and making the people involved recount them was just lewdness and humiliation.

Old Man He glared at Lu Bai as if his eyes might bleed. His voice had grown unusually hoarse. "I'll tell you whatever you want to know."

He Yuzhong had never imagined he would one day fall so low.

At last, Lu Bai gained a clear understanding of Flower Face, He Yi.

According to He Yuzhong, He Yi was his most beloved son. He had sent him to the Hundred Flower Grave when he was young.

He Yi soon made a name for himself and became a renowned young hero of the righteous path.

But that very fame attracted the attention of the Holy Land. One of its Phoenix Flying Ladies took a keen interest in He Yi, and the two clashed.

Worried his family would be caught up in it, He Yi had sent his father to this remote mountain village.

Then He Yi went straight to the Holy Land. He never told anyone what happened there, but that was where the matter ended.

He Yi's face had been slashed with countless scars around that time. After returning to the Hundred Flower Grave, he became an Elder and gradually earned the nickname Flower Face.

Old Man He remained in the village and was never taken back.

Afterward, Flower Face seemed to lose his sanity as well, becoming wildly unpredictable.

People guessed that Flower Face had been toyed with emotionally by the Holy Land's Phoenix Flying Lady, who had also slashed up his face.

"You gain nothing by capturing me. My son's already insane. Even if you hold me hostage, he won't care."

After telling them how he had spent his life depending on his son, the old man seemed to have lost all his fight.

At that moment, he only wanted to escape from the monster that was Lu Bai.

"Then you're no use to me either." Lu Bai pressed down hard with his foot. Old Man He died before he could even speak.

A short while later, Lu Bai tossed a module into the air.

Release Module [Reliance]: Make something rely on something else. Review: Winning by letting someone else carry you is an art. Even if you're completely useless yourself, as long as you rely on something good enough, you can live a little less uselessly.

Lu Bai studied the module and felt that it was somewhat different from the Release Module [Attachment] he had obtained earlier.

Although [Reliance] came with a review, putting it into [Internal Energy Protection] in place of [Attachment] actually made the effect worse.

The two modules had similarities, but they also had their differences.

For now, this module was of no use to him.

Or rather, Lu Bai hadn't yet figured out how to use it.

He put it away, then looked at the people who remained and asked a question that would decide whether they lived or died.

"A family seems to have moved here a few months ago. Their daughter was still barely alive at the stronghold. She asked me to find out what happened to her parents."

Lu Bai smiled as he told a little white lie.

"Don't be nervous. Just tell the truth. I'm not some great hero."

The villagers glanced at Old Man He's corpse and exchanged looks. Then they told the truth.

"They begged Old Man He for a while, hoping to buy their daughter back, but he refused. So they sneaked away. They were probably going to report it to the authorities."

"Then..."

"Then Old Man He wouldn't let them leave, so... so he ordered us to kill them."

After they finished speaking, the villagers all looked at Lu Bai, as if waiting for their fate to descend upon them.

Lu Bai looked at them and smiled.

"Good. You told the truth."

Lu Bai clapped his hands and said, "Get me something to eat. I'll be leaving soon."

Before long, the simple-hearted villagers saw Lu Bai off with some provisions, and he left.

That woman was going to train in martial arts. She'd need people to practice on.

So he'd leave this village to her.

Second update. Good night, everyone. Cast your votes! As a new book, both monthly votes and recommendation votes are very important. Thanks for supporting the book.