Kill!

[Human effort is rewarded; Heaven makes up for what is lacking]

[Trap: Mastery (57／300)]

[Hunting: Lesser Mastery (50／100)]

[Broken Mountain Stake Method: Lesser Mastery (23/1000)]

[Broken Mountain Fist: Beginner (182/300)]

Duan Xuan panted heavily. The morning weather was still quite nice.

The sun shone high overhead, nourishing the herb garden and warming Duan Xuan's body as well.

After leaving Broken Mountain Martial Arts Hall, he had carried his hunting gear straight to the herb garden.

That morning, he had practiced the Broken Mountain Fist four times and the Broken Mountain Stake Method five times.

Duan Xuan only felt his qi and blood churning, his Bright Force cultivation growing ever more stable.

When it was time to eat, Benevolent Harmony Hall sent someone with lunch: one coarse-grain bun and one white-flour bun.

The dishes were greens, chili-fried meat, and a bowl of thick, oily broth.

Duan Xuan wolfed down the buns. Then he suddenly remembered that after entering the Bright Force realm, Senior Sisters Chen Jingshu and Chen Jingshu had presented him with a fresh packet of Blood-Qi Powder on behalf of the martial arts hall.

The amount was about the same as before.

He carefully took it out and poured some into the oily broth. Then, with a bite of bun and a mouthful of soup, he ate to his heart's content.

After finishing every last bit of food and soup, Duan Xuan deliberately saved a small piece of bun and forcefully wiped it along the edges of the plate and bowl, wiping away every trace of grease.

He even rubbed it around the corners of his mouth to soak up the oil, stuffed it into his mouth, and chewed it over and over.

Savoring the mingled fragrance of a great family's cooking oil, vegetables, and the sweet bun, he felt utterly satisfied.

"Full and fed, time to get to work!" Duan Xuan did not dare gamble on whether the Wolf Stronghold men would come that night. All he could do was prepare thoroughly.

The weather had been unstable lately. There were misty spring rains and howling winds. The snow in the forest was slowly melting, yet many places were still difficult to make out.

Duan Xuan considered every possible weather condition and set a ring of traps around the outskirts of the herb garden.

First were wooden arrows. They could catch people unawares and pierce through leg bones and breastbones.

Their killing power was immense.

Then there were foot-suspension ropes. When an enemy stepped into the rope loop, one hard pull would hoist the entire person into the air.

Next, he placed seven or eight beast traps each in plain sight and in concealed locations.

The beast traps in the open were meant for the Wolf Stronghold men to see. Only by letting them see those would they grow careless, narrowing the range of effective traps to something controllable.

He waited five days.

Five days later.

Dusk gradually fell.

Duan Xuan practiced his fists in the herb garden, feeling the fullness brought by the blood-qi grass. "Several days have already passed. Looks like those Wolf Stronghold bastards aren't coming!"

Whenever he thought of the unforgivable sins committed by Two-Scar and the other Wolf Stronghold members, Duan Xuan's anger flared.

They burned, killed, looted, seized women by force, and occupied the hunting grounds.

They had even come up with Mountain Lord incense offerings and mountain god blessings!

Year after year, day after day, they squeezed the common people dry.

They made the people of Snakehead Ravine wish they were dead, yet unable to truly die.

Even his own family and the families of his childhood friends Zhao Rui and Liu Chunmei had suffered countless humiliations.

Because of this grudge, Duan Xuan wanted to slaughter every last person in the Wolf Stronghold.

But just as he rested, he suddenly heard dense footsteps coming from the mountainside.

After becoming a Bright Force martial artist, a martial artist's hearing and vision greatly improved. What they heard and saw far surpassed ordinary people.

"Oh, a full twelve came. Looks like they intend to carry off every medicinal herb in Benevolent Harmony Hall's herb garden."

Over the past few days, the Wolf Stronghold had not been idle. Every day, they sent scouts to inspect the herb garden.

They were no fools. Day or night, they could only see a single person changing guard.

Naturally, the claim that many people were stationed in the herb garden was judged false.

"Good. They came!" Duan Xuan had long anticipated the Wolf Stronghold coming out in full force. A faint smile touched his lips.

Unhurriedly, he withdrew his stance and suppressed his qi and blood once more. Then he entered the thatched hut and strapped on his bow, quiver, and dagger.

The hunt began!

"Big Brother, with you personally leading the charge this time, the whole herb garden will be ours!" Jiumo, the black-bearded second-in-command, was overjoyed.

The Wolf Stronghold's greatest support was not its band of brothers or its easily defended watchtower, but its Big Brother, a Bright Force martial artist!

"The brothers have investigated thoroughly. There's nobody else in this herb garden at all.

That means the ambush we ran into last time was all the work of one man!" Third-in-command Zhu Gui rolled his shoulders and drew his large saber. "In a moment, I'll chop that brat into mincemeat!"

Before them stood a middle-aged man with a slight stoop, a sharp and chilling presence, and wolf-cold eyes. He snorted. "Enough flattery. Caution comes first in all things.

If the situation turns bad, withdraw immediately. Afterward, we will never touch any hall's herb garden again, lest we truly tear off all pretense!"

This man was none other than Wolf Tian, the leader who had founded the Wolf Stronghold.

In ordinary times, he always claimed to be descended from the Wolf God. Not only did he look remarkably like a wolfman,

but rumor had it that even the martial arts method he cultivated was related to wolves. However, almost no one had seen it. Those who had seen it were all dead, so the rumor had gradually faded away.

Most amusing of all, levies such as Mountain Lord incense offerings and mountain god sacrifices were all concocted by the underlings around Wolf Tian, the chief.

They believed the Wolf God stood high above, shoulder to shoulder with the Mountain Lord, and that the two were good brothers. Therefore, the Wolf Stronghold had every right to collect these kinds of money!

"You two each take some brothers and climb up from other positions with me. Even if Benevolent Harmony Hall truly has other men stationed there, once we surround them, they will be no match for a pack of wolves!"

"Boss is wise. You two, come with me!" Jiumo took five men away.

"With this blood-qi grass, our Wolf Stronghold can rapidly strengthen itself, quickly replenish our manpower, and wipe out that damned Golden Leopard Gang in one fell swoop!"

Zhu Kui licked his lips. Thinking of the pretty young wife he had seen at the Duan Family Shop in Snakehead Ravine's Gou Lao district, he was instantly filled with motivation.

He also took two men and crept up from another hilltop.

Wolf Tian gave a slight nod. With the final five men at his side, he drew his curved blade and slowly crept upward through the heavy fog.

Just when everyone thought the way was clear, suddenly—

Crack!

"Ah!"

One of the thugs Zhu Kui had brought failed to see what was buried beneath a pile of unmelted snow. The moment he stepped on it, a beast trap snapped shut, crushing his leg bone.

"Cover his mouth, quick! He only stepped on a trap. What's he screaming for? Be careful not to alert the people above!" Zhu Kui rebuked.

Another thug hurriedly jogged over from the side, intending to remove the beast trap from his companion's foot.

Following a strip of snowless ground that had formed for some unknown reason, he ran over with heavy steps.

Just as he was about to join his companion, something suddenly jabbed into his foot, causing a sharp pain.

Looking down, he saw a stone. Without a second thought, he kicked it away. Little did he know that the stone was tied to a rope.

Whoosh!

At the other end of the rope, hanging from a tree, a larger stone dropped down and struck the back of the thug's head with lightning speed.

The thug blankly turned his head, his movements incomparably stiff. Scalding blood rapidly sprayed from the wound, and with a thud, he collapsed unconscious.

"Not good, there are traps around here!" Zhu Gui retreated in panic. Seeing his Big Brother's figure, he ran toward him in blind haste.

That careless move triggered a hidden line buried deep in the ground.

With a swish, the hidden line loosened. From a large tree on the slope, a wooden arrow that had long been aimed in this direction

shot viciously toward Zhu Kui's neck as though it had been fitted with a locator.

When Zhu Kui felt an icy chill at the back of his neck, the scalding blood made him feel warmth even faster!

The wooden arrow directly shattered his throat!

"B-Big Brother, save... save me..."

With a thud, Zhu Kui convulsed and died on the ground.

On the other side, Jiumo also noticed Third Brother's death and shouted his name.

His rage soared, but he did not lose his reason.

That was until the two thugs who had spread out nearby cautiously removed two traps and brought them before him.

"Second Brother, there are traps here too!"

Jiumo had wanted to call the two idiots, but the instant he saw the traps, his thoughts were pulled back to several days ago.

Back then, the Wolf Stronghold men had gone through great trouble to find the corpses of Two-Scar and Black Cat.

That mountain had been littered with traps: beast traps, foot-suspension ropes, concealed wooden arrows in trees, and more.

"Fuck!" Jiumo fiercely smashed the beast trap onto the ground and roared, "Damn it!

Big Brother, it was Benevolent Harmony Hall's people who set up Fourth Brother and Black Cat to be killed. These were the things arranged around Fourth Brother's corpse that killed so many of our brothers!"

Hearing this, the sharp wolf eyes of Wolf Tian glowed an eerie green. "Kill them!"