Kill!

Liu Ru sucked in a sharp breath. At once, she guessed what Li Yi intended to do.

Her eyes flew wide, her face full of disbelief.

Liu Ru gripped Li Yi tightly with both hands and lowered her voice, trembling as she said, "Xiao Yi, killing someone means losing your head."

Li Yi's expression remained calm, without the slightest wavering in his eyes.

"If I don't get rid of him, my family will be the ones who suffer in the end. I have no choice."

Liu Ru stared blankly at the man before her. He had changed, and something strange had stirred in her heart as well.

"Then be careful. You must come back alive—for your younger brother and sister, for Liu Fang... and for... me."

Li Yi turned away, picked up his bow and arrows, and continued practicing.

"Don't worry. I won't do anything I'm not sure about."

Liu Ru nodded and silently went home to pack her things. She would be moving in tonight.

Li Yi picked up the Black Lacquer Bow, nocked an arrow, and fixed his blazing gaze on the distant bullseye.

Whoosh!

The arrow whistled through the air and struck the center of the target.

A hundred paces was only the beginning. A hundred paces, three hundred paces...

Li Yi tirelessly tempered himself again and again.

His body and bow became perfectly fused, while his two souls gradually ground themselves into harmony.

Until man and arrow truly became one in heart.

On the final shot, the arrow flew forth carrying the force of a thousand catties.

Crack!

The wooden target split apart.

Li Yi was drenched in sweat, and the soreness in his body had reached its peak. Yet he could clearly feel his body recovering at a rapid pace.

[Archery (Proficient): 50/500]

[Effect: Can draw the Three-Stone Horn Bow, with armor-piercing force!]

That evening, Liu Ru also ate at Li Yi's home. After everyone finished their meal together, Li Yi went back out into the courtyard to continue practicing.

Early the next morning, Li Yi left before dawn. Other than Liu Ru, everyone thought he had gone hunting.

After entering the city, Li Yi headed straight for the teahouse Wang Dagui visited every day and sat down in an inconspicuous corner.

With Li Yi's current [Archery] skill, he could easily shoot Wang Dagui dead from afar.

But doing so would make it easy for others to notice him.

Because in this era, killing someone with arrows was no different from killing someone with a gun in modern times.

Li Yi's purpose in killing Wang Dagui was to uproot the trouble once and for all, not to be hunted by the authorities and have his entire family buried alongside him.

To achieve that, Li Yi had prepared medicine before leaving home. All he had to do was wait for Wang Dagui to appear and find an opportunity to drug him.

Today, Li Yi had even deliberately disguised himself. Unless it was someone close to him, no one should recognize him.

At the Hour of the Snake, an arrogant and overbearing voice rang out from outside.

"Waiter! Hurry up and bring me a pot of tea! I'm dying of thirst!"

As soon as the words fell, Wang Dagui swaggered in from outside, followed by a gang of underlings who laughed and joked noisily.

The waiter and the owner exchanged a glance, bitterness filling their hearts.

This great lord came every day to eat and drink for free, and they could not afford to offend him.

The waiter could only head to the kitchen to make preparations.

By then, Li Yi had already risen without drawing attention and positioned himself along the waiter's path.

Before long, the waiter hurried over.

Li Yi aimed at the mouth of the pot and flicked the prepared medicinal powder inside.

The waiter noticed nothing and continued forward with the teapot in hand.

The people around them also failed to notice Li Yi's small movement, each continuing to drink their tea.

"Sir, your tea. Please enjoy!"

Wang Dagui had never bothered to look at small fry. Without even raising his head, he said, "I'm in a good mood today, so I won't kick you. Get the hell out of here!"

The reason Wang Dagui was in such a good mood today was simple: Li Yi would soon be going off to serve as a soldier. Then the women in his household—Li Yue, Liu Ru, and Liu Fang...

"Brothers, drink up. Once today is over, tomorrow I'll let every one of you have yourselves a good time!"

Wang Dagui raised his bowl and shouted loudly.

Li Yi's expression did not change after hearing that. He had no intention of getting angry with a dead man.

When no one was paying attention, he stood and headed for the latrine behind the teahouse.

The latrines of this era were all dry latrines, places where marsh gas accumulated.

With a few tricks, they could be blown up.

That was precisely why Li Yi had chosen to make his move here.

Before long, Wang Dagui and his group

came rushing in one after another, clutching their stomachs with pale faces.

"Fuck, why does every one of us have diarrhea? The food was definitely unclean! Just wait, in a moment I'll smash your damn shop..."

Still cursing, Wang Dagui entered the latrine. He did not even close the door before pulling down his trousers and squatting.

The owner, who had followed after him, trembled from head to toe as he apologized over and over outside the latrine.

"Get the hell out! Can't a man even have peace while taking a shit? How am I supposed to go with you all standing outside?" Wang Dagui roared irritably. Then, pinching his nose, he barked at his underlings, "You lot, move farther away. Fuck, it stinks!"

The underlings were clearly frightened and did not dare provoke Wang Dagui. They scattered one by one, and the surroundings fell silent.

Li Yi was already hiding in the branches of a tree, where he could clearly see Wang Dagui and his underlings.

The instant the owner left, Li Yi pulled the Black Lacquer Bow to its full draw.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Three arrows shot out in succession. Almost in the same instant, three dull thuds rang out, and three hoodlums died on the spot.

Wang Dagui and one remaining underling heard the sound of heavy objects dropping beside them. Before either could react, Li Yi released another arrow, and that underling collapsed as well.

Wang Dagui finally reacted and yanked up his trousers, ready to flee.

But in his panic, he tripped over himself and fell flat on his face like a dog eating shit.

Li Yi jumped down from above and walked up to Wang Dagui.

"Spare me, hero! Spare my life!"

Wang Dagui had been scared shitless. Before he could even see Li Yi's face clearly, he dropped to his knees and began kowtowing.

Li Yi did not waste words and prepared to kill him.

At that very moment, an unexpected change erupted!

Wang Dagui might have been a scoundrel, but he had some nerve. At the brink of life and death, a vicious streak burst forth. He grabbed mud from the ground and flung it at Li Yi's face, then charged outside without a care for anything else.

It was too late to use the bow and arrows now.

With no other choice, he could only choose to fight bare-handed without hesitation.

[Eight Extremes Fist (Mastery): 0/800]

[Effect: Constitution increased, blood and qi like mercury.]

Li Yi caught up in just a few strides and drove his elbow fiercely into Wang Dagui's back. The sound of bones shattering was crystal clear.

Before Wang Dagui could scream, Li Yi had already locked his throat.

With a crack, he snapped Wang Dagui's neck.

Wang Dagui's eyes bulged out as he fell unwillingly to the ground. Even in death, he never knew who had killed him.

Li Yi did not flee immediately.

He pulled every arrow from Wang Dagui's group's corpses.

Then he threw them into the latrine.

Since no one wanted to provoke Wang Dagui, no one would come over for a while, giving Li Yi ample time to deal with everything.

After closing the latrine door, the stench inside began to grow overpowering within minutes.

During that interval, Li Yi had already stripped Wang Dagui and the others of all their belongings.

Li Yi weighed the cloth bag in his hand. It was heavy, containing roughly thirty-five taels of silver. He grabbed a handful and found that none of it was official silver, only scattered bits of silver. Only then did he tuck it satisfactorily into his waistband.