I Refuse to Believe in Fate

Daze Township, Hu the Landlord's home.

Liu Caomei was holding a baby boy and playing with him, teasing giggles from the infant.

After Hu the Landlord had seized her and brought her home, she had initially sought death at every turn. But after having a child, she gradually grew accustomed to life in the Hu Family.

In the dead of night, she would sometimes think of Niu Mancang and her two sons. Yet in the end, all that remained was a deep sigh. "Perhaps this is my fate!"

After having another son, she devoted all her energy to him. The faces of Niu Mancang and her former two children became increasingly blurred in her memory.

"Concubine Liu, Master has sent over a bolt of brocade." A young maid entered with a brightly colored bolt of brocade in her arms. "He said it was to make a set of clothes for you and the young master."

"Mm, put it there." Liu Caomei glanced at the brocade. The color was lovely; she liked it.

Days passed one after another. Just as she could no longer remember what Niu Mancang looked like, one day, she suddenly heard a familiar voice.

"Hu, get your ass out here!"

Then came a tremendous crash.

Bang!

Boom!

It sounded like the front gate collapsing.

Waaah...

The child suddenly began to cry. Liu Caomei immediately pulled him into her arms and soothed him. At the same time, she said to the maid beside her, "Go outside and see what happened."

"Yes!"

The maid hurried off to gather news.

Liu Caomei felt a trace of unease. That voice sounded like Niu Mancang.

No, impossible. I must have heard wrong. Niu Mancang died long ago. She muttered to herself.

Niu Mancang kicked down Hu the Landlord's front gate with one foot.

"Who dares cause trouble at the Hu Residence?" A Bright Force martial guard from Hu the Landlord's household rushed out. He recognized Niu Mancang; naturally, he was the one who had injured Niu Mancang back then.

"Niu Mancang, I spared your life back then, and you still dare come here seeking death?"

The guard roared and threw a punch at Niu Mancang.

Niu Mancang did not dodge. He took the punch head-on.

Bang!

Niu Mancang did not budge an inch. With his current defenses, that punch was little more than a scratch.

"You dog. Back then, you helped Hu kill my parents, smash my two children to death, and steal my wife. Today, I'll slaughter you first!"

Niu Mancang roared, then swung a palm at the man's head.

Whoosh...

Bang!

The guard's head burst like a rotten watermelon, red and white matter spilling everywhere.

Thud!

The headless corpse fell to the ground.

Aah... Aah...

Screams instantly rang throughout the entire Hu Residence.

Hu the Landlord, who had come out to inspect the commotion, saw the scene at just the right moment. He recognized Niu Mancang.

"This..." His face went pale with shock, but he reacted quickly. He immediately roared at the servants and guards beside him, "Kill him! I'll reward you with one thousand taels of silver!"

Under a heavy reward, brave men were bound to emerge.

Besides, in the memories of these servants and guards, Niu Mancang was merely an honest, simple farmer.

Thus, more than a dozen people charged at Niu Mancang with wooden clubs.

Bang bang bang...

The clubs striking Niu Mancang's body were like scratching an itch. With a single slap from Niu Mancang, they became headless corpses.

Psh... Psh...

Thud! Thud...

One corpse after another collapsed.

Hu the Landlord was dumbstruck. "Th-this... how is this possible?"

Seeing Niu Mancang approaching him with blood-red eyes, he turned and ran toward Liu Caomei's courtyard.

"Caomei, Caomei, save me!"

"Master, what happened in the front courtyard?" Liu Caomei came out of the main hall carrying her child and saw Hu the Landlord rushing in, panic-stricken.

"Niu Mancang has killed his way in." Hu the Landlord spoke with a face full of terror.

"What? Niu Mancang? Isn't he dead?" Liu Caomei asked with a puzzled expression.

"I don't know either. Caomei, for the child's sake—and I've treated you well, haven't I? You've never lacked food or clothing. Save me." Hu the Landlord stared at Liu Caomei and pleaded.

"Niu Mancang would dare kill people?" Liu Caomei could not believe it. In her memory, Niu Mancang was an honest, simple farmer. Ten blows of a stick could not force a fart out of him. How could he possibly dare kill people, much less kill his way into the Hu Residence, which had martial guards?

Thud, thud...

Heavy footsteps drew closer from afar. Then Niu Mancang's tall figure appeared in Liu Caomei's small courtyard.

"Mancang, is it really you?" Liu Caomei held the child and stared at Niu Mancang, her face full of disbelief.

"Wife, you're alive! That's wonderful. Did Hu bully you?" Seeing that Liu Caomei was still alive, Niu Mancang was overjoyed.

"I'm living well. Master Hu treats me very well," Liu Caomei said.

Hearing the way Liu Caomei addressed Hu the Landlord, Niu Mancang finally noticed the child in her arms. "Th-this... whose child is this?"

"Mancang, what happened before is all in the past. This is our fate." Liu Caomei answered without addressing his question.

"What do you mean, it's all in the past? Liu Caomei, Hu smashed our two sons to death! I came here today for revenge, yet you even bore Hu a child. Are you even human?" Niu Mancang roared.

"What was I supposed to do? I tried to kill myself too, but then I had another child. I couldn't let him lose his mother too. You ran away and left me here alone. What was I supposed to do?" Liu Caomei cried.

She wore an expression of utter grievance.

"Th-this..." Niu Mancang had always been clumsy with words. At this moment, he did not know what to say.

"Mancang, leave. For the sake of the two children I once bore you, and for the care I gave your parents, spare Master Hu. He is, after all, my son's father now." Seeing that she had Niu Mancang in her grasp, Liu Caomei once again tried to move him with emotion.

"You... you..." Niu Mancang's heart shattered, and tears streamed from his eyes.

When he had been a refugee, he had stood at death's edge several times without crying. During training, he had exhausted himself every day until he wished he were dead, yet he had not cried then either.

Because hatred had filled his heart. He had thought only of avenging his parents, children, and wife. But he had never imagined that his wife, Liu Caomei, would actually speak for Hu.

"Mancang, Master Hu often dines with Constable Zhou from the county seat. Don't persist in your delusion. Even if you've learned a little martial arts, can you stand against the authorities?" Liu Caomei said.

Niu Mancang said nothing through his tears. He was still immersed in grief, his heart broken.

"Niu Mancang, when I married you, I bore your children, served your parents, and looked after the household. In what way have I wronged you? Now that you've learned a little martial arts, you come swaggering before me to show off. Have you no conscience?" Liu Caomei shouted at Niu Mancang.

"I'm doing this for your own good. Leave quickly. I'll persuade Master Hu not to report this to the authorities. You've killed so many people from the Hu Family, so you can count that as avenging your parents and children. Live properly from now on." Liu Caomei had methods of her own, mixing softness and hardness in her words.

Niu Mancang's heart had broken, and his spirit was gone. He stared blankly at Liu Caomei. She was both familiar and utterly strange.

He suddenly felt exhausted. Everything felt meaningless. He turned to leave, but in the next instant, he felt deeply upset, awkward, and stifled inside.

"Follow your heart in all things!"

Liu Yu's words surfaced in his mind.

Master said to follow my heart in all things. My heart hurts now. I feel terrible. I want to kill. Then I'll kill!

When Hu the Landlord saw Niu Mancang turn away, his raised heart finally settled. He had just exhaled the foul breath lodged in his chest when he saw Niu Mancang suddenly turn back, blood-red eyes fixed on him.

"Hu, you deserve to die!"

Bang!

Niu Mancang stomped the ground, and the earth instantly trembled. His body was already before Hu the Landlord.

A punch to the chest.

Psh!

His iron fist punched directly through Hu the Landlord's chest. When Niu Mancang withdrew his hand, he was clutching a heart.

"So your heart really is made of flesh," Niu Mancang said, crushing it with a psh.

"Urgh... urgh..." Hu the Landlord's eyes widened, and then he fell to the ground dead.

"Aah!" Liu Caomei screamed beside him.

Waaah...

The child began wailing as well.

Niu Mancang's blood-red eyes turned toward her.

"Mancang, don't kill me. I'll go with you. I'll be your wife again." Liu Caomei saw the icy killing intent in Niu Mancang's eyes and became afraid.

"Get lost!" Niu Mancang shook off Liu Caomei's hand. "My Liu Caomei is already dead!"

Waaah, waaah...

The child continued crying.

"Annoying!"

Niu Mancang shouted coldly and reached into Liu Caomei's arms, grabbing Hu the Landlord's child.

"No!" Liu Caomei cried out.

But Niu Mancang ignored her completely. He raised the child above his head, then—

Psh...

—smashed him viciously onto the ground.

The crying stopped abruptly!

"Big Dog, Second Dog, your father has avenged you!" Niu Mancang shouted. "Don't go too far. Your father will send your mother down to keep you company."

"No! No! Mancang, don't kill me!" Liu Caomei screamed.

Niu Mancang grabbed her by the throat. With a crack, he left Liu Caomei an intact corpse.

Half an hour later, Niu Mancang left Hu the Landlord's home. He had killed all eighty-nine members of the household, young and old. Not even the children had been spared.

He turned the Hu Residence upside down and found eighty thousand taels' worth of Great Chu banknotes. He packed them into a bundle and slung it over his shoulder. Then he set the Hu Residence ablaze and left without looking back.

Niu Family Village!

Niu Mancang treated the whole village to a feast. He gave the village chief one hundred taels of silver and asked the village to rebuild his parents' graves and hold a new funeral.

He would give them a grand send-off!

During the feast, Constable Zhou arrived with the county yamen officers.

"Niu Mancang, you slaughtered all eighty-nine members of the Hu Family. Come back with us now!" Zhou Huang stared at Niu Mancang and roared.

A Hu Family servant had escaped and reported that all the Hu Family's money was on Niu Mancang, including tens of thousands of taels in banknotes. Only then did Zhou Huang hurriedly lead his men to Niu Family Village.

"Get lost!" Niu Mancang was kneeling before his parents' graves and did not turn his head.

"Niu Mancang, do you wish to become an enemy of the Great Chu authorities?" Zhou Huang shouted coldly.

"Since you don't want to leave, then don't leave." Niu Mancang kowtowed three times to his parents, rose to his feet, and stared at Zhou Huang and the others.

After saying that, he sprang toward Zhou Huang in a single stride.

"Seeking death!"

Zhou Huang swung his saber at Niu Mancang's neck.

Clang!

It hit. Zhou Huang was overjoyed, but in the next second, his expression froze. "Th-this... how is this possible?"

Though the steel saber had struck Niu Mancang's neck, it had not even cut his skin.

"Die!"

Niu Mancang's voice was like the Reaper's. Bang! One punch blew apart Zhou Huang's head.

"Chief Zhou is dead! Run!" Seeing Zhou Huang killed by Niu Mancang in one move, and seeing that their blades could not even cut him, the constables were scared out of their wits and scattered in all directions.

"You scum who bully the weak and fear the strong all deserve to die!" Niu Mancang roared.

He then caught up to the constables and killed them all, one punch each.

That very night, he went straight to the county seat and slaughtered the county magistrate and the people who had cheated him out of his silver.

For a time, the county seat fell into chaos.

The next morning, Niu Mancang walked along the road back to Boundless City. His heart was at ease, and his whole body felt light. The mountain that had weighed upon the depths of his soul had vanished.

His heart flew home like an arrow. He missed his master, his senior sister, and his fellow disciples.

Training was still simpler. He only needed to listen to his master and work desperately hard.

Simple and fulfilling. He liked that kind of life.

"Stop!" A woman's voice came from behind him, followed only afterward by the sound of hoofbeats.

Niu Mancang's expression tightened. The other party's qi and blood were powerful, her aura abundant. She was definitely an expert.

The newcomer was a woman in her twenties. She wore a Flying Eagle Dark Robe and carried a Willow-Leaf Saber at her waist: Ouyang Rujing, a dark-robed constable of the Great Chu Empire's Punitive Justice Bureau.

Ouyang Rujing had been passing through this place on an investigation and had happened upon Niu Mancang's slaughter of the county magistrate's household the previous night.

As a dark-robed constable of the Great Chu Empire's Punitive Justice Bureau, she could not turn a blind eye. Moreover, she had always been unable to tolerate even a grain of sand in her eyes, enforcing the law impartially.

Niu Mancang sized up Ouyang Rujing. The qi and blood power radiating from her body was about on par with Iron Bear's.

Force Transformation martial artist! Niu Mancang made his judgment.

Ouyang Rujing's brows furrowed slightly. She too had judged Niu Mancang's realm—Force Transformation. Moreover, she could sense surging qi and blood power wrapped within his body, as though it were bottomless.

"Did you kill County Magistrate Sun?" Ouyang Rujing asked, forcing herself to remain steady.

"Yes." Niu Mancang looked at her and nodded.

"According to Great Chu Law, those who kill officials..."

"Great Chu Law? Hahaha... When Hu stole my wife and killed my parents and children, where was Great Chu Law? When I went to the county seat to report the crime, they mocked me, cheated me out of my silver, and even threw me into prison. Where was Great Chu Law then?" Niu Mancang roared.

"I will help investigate your grievance thoroughly. Now come back with me," Ouyang Rujing said.

"Hmph. If you have the skill, then arrest me and take me back." Niu Mancang snorted coldly.

Shing!

Ouyang Rujing drew her saber.

She was at late Force Transformation. She had mastered the Great Chu Punitive Justice Bureau's first-rate cultivation art, the Thirteen Punitive Justice Forms, and had also mastered the movement technique Cloud-Chasing Steps. Therefore, she had great confidence in her strength.

Whoosh!

Ouyang Rujing used Cloud-Chasing Steps, closing in on Niu Mancang like lightning and slashing at him with her blade.

It was Niu Mancang's first time encountering someone who cultivated movement techniques, so he failed to react at all.

With a clang, the blade had already struck his body.

Unfortunately, despite looking immensely powerful, the slash did not even break his skin.

"This..." Ouyang Rujing's expression changed. "He cultivates a hard-body technique? How is that possible? According to the information she had, Niu Mancang had still been an honest, simple farmer a year and a half ago."

To cultivate a hard-body technique to Force Transformation required decades of effort. Even with abundant resources, it would still take ten years.

"You're done attacking. Now it's my turn." Niu Mancang's voice rang out as he slapped toward Ouyang Rujing's head.

Ouyang Rujing's master-level Cloud-Chasing Steps instantly carried her two zhang away.

Whoosh...

Niu Mancang's slap struck nothing but air.

Then Ouyang Rujing pushed Cloud-Chasing Steps to its limit, darting far and near as she circled Niu Mancang and slashed at him. Niu Mancang responded to stillness with motion, relying on his perfected Tiger Roar Iron Shirt to contend with her.

The two fought for the time it took to burn an incense stick, yet neither could do anything to the other.