Flower Face He Yi

Lu Bai held back a fair amount of his strength.

Before long, people were sprawled all over the ground, but they were merely wailing; none had suffered any broken bones or torn tendons.

"Start talking. Your relationship with Flower Face, and his past." Lu Bai grabbed the old man and hauled him up.

The old man, however, had no intention of speaking; instead, he pursed his lips, preparing to spit.

Unfortunately for him, Lu Bai was also an expert at spitting—he even treated it as a form of attack.

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

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

The mouthful of thick phlegm he had gathered, instead of being spat out, was forced straight down his throat by the impact.

Lu Bai threw the old man to the ground, stepped on his back, and pointed at another man lying nearby.

"Since he won't talk, you do it. If you can't, I'll send your whole family to the afterlife." Lu Bai smiled as if he were being kind, but beneath that pleasant smile lay demonic words.

"I... I..." The man wanted to say something, but his gaze involuntarily drifted toward the old man pinned under Lu Bai's foot.

The old man tried to shout a warning, but he could barely fend for himself.

Lu Bai pressed down with his foot, cutting off the man's air. He couldn't speak, and his face turned the color of a pig's liver.

"Speak up, or do you want to notify the Black Tiger Stronghold?"

"There's no need for that. I just came from there; there is no Black Tiger Stronghold or Black Tiger Sect anymore."

Lu Bai's words caused the expressions of everyone in the village to shift.

At this, the villager Lu Bai had pointed at panicked and immediately began to speak.

He told everything he knew without reservation, singing and dancing, kind and friendly—Lu Bai truly felt the rustic simplicity of the mountain villagers.

The relationship between the mountain village and the Black Tiger Stronghold was soon laid bare.

At first, it was just as Lu Bai had expected: some villagers, fed up with the poverty of mountain life, had gone to the stronghold to become bandits.

Because of this, the stronghold didn't plunder the village excessively; those few bandits would even occasionally send things back.

However, no real partnership had formed. At most, when those bandits returned, they would fish for information.

Some families in the village were even harassed by these very bandits.

The situation only changed after this old man surnamed He arrived.

At the time, a young man who looked very much like Old Man He had brought him here. The young man was handsome and charismatic, becoming the dream lover of every woman in the village.

Naturally, this led to trouble.

Then came the classic trope: beat the small fry, and the big boss shows up.

The dashing Flower Face of that time put on quite a show, attracting more village girls and young wives than anyone could count.

The Black Tiger Stronghold was beaten into submission after that, and as Flower Face's father, Old Man He naturally took over the village's authority, becoming the man in charge.

Of course, many of those village girls and young wives had the mindset of "if I can't be your woman, I'll be half your mother," leading to some ambiguous affairs with Old Man He. Lu Bai found this... quite interesting to hear, and he even considered calling a few of the parties involved to talk about it.

Under Lu Bai's humiliation, Old Man He was forced to shout, "Enough!"

Such things might be called "flirtatious" when they happen, but being dragged into the public eye and forced to recount them was lewd and humiliating.

Old Man He looked at Lu Bai with eyes that seemed ready to bleed, his voice turning unnaturally hoarse: "Whatever you want to know, I will tell you."

He never imagined that he, He Yuzhong, would one day be reduced to such a state.

Following this, Lu Bai finally gained a clear understanding of Flower Face, He Yi.

According to He Yuzhong, He Yi was his most beloved son, whom he had sent into the Hundred Flower Grave at a young age.

He Yi quickly made a name for himself, becoming a famous young hero of the righteous path.

But it was precisely this fame that attracted the attention of the Holy Land. One of them, the Phoenix Flying Lady, took a great interest in He Yi, and conflict erupted between the two sides.

Fearing that his family would be implicated, He Yi personally sent his father to this remote mountain village at that time.

He Yi then headed straight for the Holy Land. As for what happened in the end, He Yi never told anyone, but the matter ended there.

It was also at that time that He Yi's face was slashed with countless scars. After returning to the Hundred Flower Grave, he became an elder and gradually earned the nickname "Flower Face."

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

After that, Flower Face seemed to lose his sanity, becoming moody and erratic.

Common speculation was that Flower Face had his heart toyed with by the Phoenix Flying Lady of the Holy Land, who had also scarred his face.

"It's useless for you to capture me. My son's mind is already unstable. Even if I am a hostage, he won't care."

After revealing his life of relying on his son, the old man's spirit finally broke.

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

"Then you are useless, too." Lu Bai pressed down with his foot, and Old Man He died before he could even speak.

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

He released the module [Reliance], which allowed certain things to be leaned upon others. Comment: "Winning while lying down is an art. Even if you are trash yourself, as long as the thing you rely on is excellent enough, you can live a life that is no longer so trashy."

Lu Bai looked at this module, feeling that it was somewhat different from the emission module [Attachment] he had obtained previously.

Although [Reliance] came with a commentary, if he were to place it into [Internal Energy Protection] to replace [Attachment], the effect would actually not be as good.

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

For the time being, this module was also useless.

Or rather, Lu Bai had yet to find a way to utilize this module.

Putting it away, Lu Bai looked at the remaining people and asked a question that would decide their fate.

"A few months ago, it seems a family moved here. Their daughter was left with only a breath of life in the mountain stronghold, and she begged me to ask her parents about their situation."

Lu Bai smiled as he told a lie of moderate proportions.

"Don't be nervous, just tell the truth. I'm not some great hero, after all."

The villagers looked at the dead Old Man He, exchanged glances, and told the truth.

"They begged Old Man He for a while, wanting to redeem their daughter, but Old Man He wouldn't agree. So they tried to sneak away, probably intending to report it to the authorities."

"And then..."

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

After finishing their words, the villagers all looked toward Lu Bai, seemingly waiting for their own fates to descend.

Lu Bai looked at them and smiled.

"Very good, that is the truth."

Lu Bai clapped his hands and said, "Prepare some food for me; I will be leaving shortly."

Soon, under the enthusiastic send-off of the simple villagers, Lu Bai departed with dry rations.

That woman needed to practice martial arts, and she would always need people to practice on.

Therefore, this village would be left to that woman.