Decisiveness

Most of the members of this medicine-delivery team were newcomers. They had never experienced a fight or seen blood.

Now that they had watched a living person die right before their eyes, many of them had gone pale.

Some of the more pessimistic ones even murmured, "It's over, it's over."

Killing one refugee was easy, but how were they supposed to hold back the refugees who came after?

If they drew a crowd of two or three hundred people, could they really kill them all?

The young refugees suddenly raised their heads, anger burning in their eyes.

One of them scrambled to his feet and pointed at Li Chuan, shouting angrily:

"Sir, we only came to beg for alms. Was there any need to take our lives?"

"We came only because we'd heard of the Luo Family Pharmacy's benevolence. If you didn't want to give us anything, we could have just left!"

"By doing this, where does that leave the Luo Family's reputation? Where does it leave benevolence, righteousness, propriety, and the law?"

The boy's words were tightly reasoned, and he even invoked the greater cause to pressure them. They were highly inflammatory.

Sure enough, as soon as he finished speaking, the refugees grew indignant.

A barely perceptible smile flickered across the boy's eyes.

He was certain Li Chuan would pay an even greater price for his earlier rashness!

Thwack!

Li Chuan flicked a small pebble. It struck the boy right between the brows.

The force of Bright Force made the pebble fly incredibly fast and hit with tremendous power.

It punched straight through the boy's forehead.

He collapsed with a thud.

He was dead.

"Brother!" A young refugee behind him shouted as he leapt to his feet, tears streaming from his eyes.

"Why are you so cruel? What did my brother say wrong?" he snarled, stepping forward and shoving Li Chuan.

But what he could never have expected was that his shove—which had taken almost no strength and was merely an act of venting his anger—would have such an astonishing effect.

Li Chuan cried out and flew backward as if struck by a tremendous force.

He skimmed along the ground for more than ten meters, his clothes wearing through before he finally came to a stop.

His head lolled to one side, and his eyes closed!

"Th-this!" The boy stared blankly at his own hand.

He hadn't even put any strength into it!

Events had unfolded beyond everyone's expectations.

Some of the more experienced refugees had already slipped away from the crowd, ready to run.

Earlier, the refugees had held the moral high ground and could use it to pressure the others.

But now they had beaten someone from the Luo Family. What moral high ground did they have left?

The young refugees were also at a loss, unsure what to say.

They had rehearsed those words over and over, but they didn't seem appropriate in this situation!

The members of the medicine-delivery team, meanwhile, looked on in suspicion.

There were several Bright Force martial artists among them, and they could tell something was wrong.

The boy was gaunt and sallow, with no sign of power circulating through his body. How could he have possessed such strength?

Wang Youfang frowned as he looked at Li Chuan, then suddenly saw his fingers twitch.

A flash of inspiration struck Wang Youfang. In the heat of the moment, he shouted:

"Impudent! When your begging failed, you actually tried to attack us!"

With that, he struck decisively, sending one of the refugees flying.

The other martial artists on the medicine-delivery team came to their senses and rushed to act as well.

In an instant, more than a dozen refugees had been beaten to the ground.

The refugees who had come afterward hoping to take advantage of the situation saw what was happening and didn't dare make a scene.

They lowered their heads and hurried away.

Only after a while did Li Chuan slowly open his eyes.

He pretended to cough twice.

Wang Youwei stepped forward and asked with concern:

"Brother Li, are you all right?"

Li Chuan waved a hand.

"I'm fine. Thanks for your help, Brother Wang."

Their eyes met, and they both understood what the other meant.

Only then did Luo Houping hurry back.

The robe across his chest had been torn to ribbons, and a deep claw mark had nearly exposed the bone.

Blood was even dripping from it.

"Ptooey!" Luo Houping spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva. "If that beast had been any slower, I'd have taken its head off!"

Seeing the two bodies on the ground and more than a dozen refugees writhing all over the place, Luo Houping frowned, a cold glint in his eyes.

"What happened?"

As the person in charge of the Luo Family Pharmacy, he knew all too well how much this sort of thing could damage the family's reputation if they had no proper justification.

Wang Youwei stepped forward and spoke in a low voice:

"These refugees came to beg for alms. When that failed, they tried to use the moral high ground to pressure us..."

Before Wang Youwei could finish, Luo Houping cut him off.

His brow furrowed even deeper as he asked coldly:

"Who killed them?"

Cold sweat beaded on Wang Youwei's forehead. He was about to offer an explanation when Li Chuan stepped forward and said calmly:

"I did."

Luo Houping raised an eyebrow. He hadn't expected it to be Li Chuan.

"Why did you kill them?"

Li Chuan replied unhurriedly:

"These refugees had a plan and were acting in an organized way. If I hadn't seized that brief opportunity and acted decisively, the situation might have become impossible to control."

"Besides, I took care of the aftermath. Once word gets around, everyone will know that the refugees attacked me, so we'll still have the moral high ground."

Luo Houping said:

"You killed too few. Two weren't enough. You should've killed at least four or five!"

Wang Youwei was dumbfounded.

He had thought Luo Houping would blame Li Chuan for killing people without permission. He hadn't expected him to complain that Li Chuan hadn't killed enough!

Luo Houping explained:

"My Luo Family does need to cultivate a reputation for 'benevolence,' but benevolence isn't weakness. If people bully you to your face and you still back down, that's cowardice!"

Luo Houping gave Li Chuan a long, deep look.

"Well done. You handled things even better. You have real promise, and you'll be rewarded when we get back."

Everyone had been waiting to see Li Chuan make a fool of himself.

After all, he had done something they wanted to do but hadn't dared.

If Li Chuan had been right, wouldn't that mean they were cowards?

But instead, they heard Luo Houping take such a stance.

For a moment, some of them secretly regretted their hesitation.

If they'd known things would turn out this way, they should have acted decisively themselves.

What they didn't realize was that decisiveness itself was a rare ability.

Opportunity often lasted only an instant. If you failed to seize it, it was gone forever.

Without a doubt, Li Chuan had seized it.

After resting briefly, the group continued on their way.

Wang Youwei spoke with a hint of envy:

"Brother Li, you really stole the show this time. Just look at the way Boss Luo looks at you. He couldn't be more pleased."

"You don't know this, Brother Li, but Boss Luo is famous for his cold expression. You're the only one he smiles at."

"When we get back this time, we might not have another chance to see each other. You performed so well that Boss Luo will definitely take you to deliver even more valuable medicinal herbs next time."

The rewards for each escort were based on the value of the medicinal herbs.

Delivering more valuable herbs meant receiving a greater reward.

For a martial artist, being good at earning money also meant a brighter future in martial arts.

Li Chuan smiled and said meaningfully:

"Brother Wang, I wasn't the only one who contributed this time. You helped quite a bit, too. I'll mention it to Boss Luo."

A flicker of emotion crossed Wang Youwei's eyes.

"Then I'm much obliged, Brother Li. If only I weren't already married..."

Li Chuan: "...I take it back."

Wang Youwei burst out laughing.

"Brother Li, I was only joking."

After this setback, the rest of the journey went smoothly, and the group reached Huangshi County before nightfall.