Your Bounty's Too Low to Deserve a Beating from Me
The biggest restaurant in Rotten Bone Town didn't have a proper signboard; it just had a rotten wooden board at the entrance with three black characters smeared on it with charcoal sticks: Wild Dog Den.
Inside the lobby, the stench of cheap, sour liquor mingled with the lingering stench of blood that could never be washed away, making one's eyes sting. Around a dozen greasy, tattered square tables sat shirtless, fugitive bandits covered in tattered tattoos. Some slammed their chipped steel knives on the tables, while others groped and groped crude prostitutes they had abducted from who-knows-where, filling the room with a foul and unpleasant atmosphere.
With a loud "bang".
Two drafty, dilapidated wooden doors were kicked off from the outside. The doors smashed over two long benches, scattering splinters of wood all over the ground.
The seventy or eighty desperados in the hall stopped drinking from their bowls, drew their knives and swords with a swish, and dozens of pairs of menacing eyes glared at the entrance.
Facing the glaring sun outside, the six people swaggered across the threshold.
The boy at the front was dressed in a black leather and coarse cloth outfit, his hands in his pockets, a half-eaten blade of dry grass clenched in his mouth, his soft-soled black boots creaking on the broken wooden planks. Behind him followed two burly men, one fat and one thin, along with three stunningly beautiful young women whose faces were half-covered by face towels.
"Where's the shopkeeper? Someone who's still breathing, get out here!"
Ma Hongjun swayed as he walked to the counter, slamming a handful of mud-covered silver dollars and gold coins he'd just stripped from the town entrance onto the dark counter with a "thud": "Cut two plates of your best-selling main dishes, and bring two jars of your fine wine!"
The one-eyed shopkeeper behind the counter didn't even glance at the loose change. His murky eye swept over the six people, and suddenly he let out a hoarse, grating laugh, "Hey, did the sun rise in the west today? Which young master or young lady from the city ran away and came to our Rotten Bone Town's Wild Dog Den to show off?"
Upon hearing this, the bandits immediately joined in the commotion, and a burst of vulgar laughter erupted in the hall.
A burly man with a face full of pockmarks and a black skull tattooed on his chest stood up, brandishing a machete. He pointed the bloodied tip at Ling Yun's nose, grinning with a mouthful of yellow teeth. "Kid, are you even ready to start your life in the martial world? Do you know where you are? I have three lives in my hands from the Heaven Dou Empire, and I'm worth fifty Gold Soul Coins on the government's wanted list! If you know what's good for you, leave those little wench behind, and I'll take pity on you and give you a quick death!"
"Fifty Gold Soul Coins?"
Ling Yun didn't even lift his eyelids to look at the pockmarked face, turning his head to glance at Ning Rongrong behind him, who was disdainfully wiping the stool with a rag. "Rongrong, settle accounts with these poor bastards."
"Okay!"
Ning Rongrong was completely devoid of the refined demeanor of the young lady of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect School at this moment. She pulled out a palm-sized red gold abacus from her pocket and frantically flipped the beads with her small hands.
"Brother Yun, this pockmarked guy's bounty is only fifty gold coins, not even a fraction of the three gold notes we just looted at the town entrance, what a penniless wretch!" She wrinkled her little nose in disgust, then pointed at the bald, burly man next to her carrying a meteor hammer. "That bald guy, I don't think he's even on the wanted list, just a vagrant freeloading here! And that one..."
"Alright." Ling Yun raised his hand to interrupt her, his deep blue eyes sweeping over the group of desperados in the lobby.
The words that came out of that mouth were more poisonous than knives:
Listen up, everyone!
"You poor bastards worth less than a Gold Soul Coins, get the hell out of my way and don't come near me." Ling Yun kicked away the cleaver offered by the pockmarked man with his toe, his face full of disdain that said, "You're not worthy." "Beating you up would only wear out my own shoes."
The lobby became so quiet you could hear a pin drop.
These seasoned gangsters, who live on the edge of a knife every day, were completely dumbfounded. They'd been in the underworld for years, committing murder, robbery, and all sorts of terrible deeds, and now a few teenagers were looking down on them, saying they were "too poor to deserve a beating"?!
This is like trampling on their dignity as bandits in a latrine!
"You little bastard! I'll chop you up and stuff you into steamed buns!!" The pockmarked man's eyes were red with rage. He gripped his knife in both hands, not even having time to activate his Martial Soul, and swung it down at Ling Yun's forehead!
Before the knife could fall, a muffled "bang" rang out!
At the corner of the rotten wooden stairs on the second floor, an iron rod as thick as a duck egg came crashing down with a chilling wind, hitting the pockmarked man squarely on the back, knocking the unfortunate fellow to the ground, spitting out blood.
"Where did this stray dog come from, daring to steal my business on my turf?!"
On the stairs, a bald man, over two meters tall and as strong as an upright black bear, carrying a large iron club, led five or six thugs down the wooden ladder step by step.
One yellow, two purple, and two black! A level 52 Power Attack System Battle Soul King!
The moment the bald man appeared, all the clamoring bandits in the hall fell silent, shrinking back as they retreated. Iron Staff Xiong Biao, one of the three tyrants of Rotten Bone Town, nicknamed "Iron Rod."
Xiong Biao's large, bull-like eyes were fixed on Ling Yun, his five-ring aura pressing down on Blue Tyrant his six companions without any attempt to conceal it. He licked his dry, thick lips, his eyes gleaming with greedy green light. "You little brats, you were the ones pulling out gold teeth at the town entrance just now, weren't you? I heard everything clearly from upstairs. You've got some nerve, coming to Rotten Bone Town to double-cross us?"
Xiong Biao slammed his iron rod onto the blue brick floor, smashing two bricks. "Once you've entered my door, you're meat in my pot. Hand over all the oil and fat you've squeezed from those good-for-nothings, and wash those three girls clean and send them upstairs! I'm in a good mood today, so I'll keep you guys around..."
Before I could finish speaking...
Xiong Biao only saw a flash of blue light before his eyes.
Without activating his Martial Soul or revealing his Soul Rings, Ling Yun stood there with his hands in his pockets, only lightly flicking his toes into the puddle of spilled wine on the ground.
Call out--!
A drop of murky yellow wine, compressed by powerful Divine Sense and high-pressure water magic, transformed in the blink of an eye into a three-inch-long, thin, transparent dark blue water nail! It was so fast that even its afterimage couldn't be caught!
Pfft!
"Ah--!" Xiong Biao's maniacal laughter was abruptly cut off in his throat, turning into a bloodcurdling scream like a pig being slaughtered!
The high-pressure water nail struck squarely, piercing through Xiong Biao's right shoulder as he gripped the iron rod. With a loud "clang," it yanked him backward, pinning him firmly to the heavy wooden pillar behind him!
A water-jet nail pierced a hole in the wooden pillar, and the plaster on the wall behind it started to crumble away!
The level 52 Battle Soul King didn't even have time to muster his protective Soul Power. He was like a giant toad nailed to a wall, his feet dangling in the air, trembling all over in pain, blood flowing straight down the wooden pillar.
The seventy or eighty bandits in the hall were completely dumbfounded. That was a level 52 Soul King! A local tyrant who could roam freely in this wretched town! They didn't even see how he made his move, and he was already on the wall as a decoration?!
Ling Yun slowly walked to the pillar, raised his chin, and looked at Xiong Biao was sweating profusely from the pain.
"What did I just say?" Ling Yun asked, his eyelids drooping.
Xiong Biao was a seasoned veteran who had been through countless battles; his mind worked incredibly fast. He knew he had truly run into a brick wall today, and if Facade another word, he would lose his life.
He didn't even dare to touch his still bleeding arm, gasping for breath in pain. His face, which had just been full of menacing features, Trick up a fawning smile that was more like a grimace.
"Sir! I was just saying... that our shop's service was inadequate!"
Despite the excruciating pain, Xiong Biao roared at his terrified henchmen downstairs, "What the hell are you all standing there for?! Are you blind?! Can't you see we're all tired of standing?! Quickly grab a rag and wipe that best eight-immortal table by the window clean! Bring out the finest wine and the fattest mutton!"
He turned his head and bowed and scraped frantically at Ling Yun: "Gentlemen! All the expenses for today are on me! I'll treat you to a welcome feast!"
Ma Hongjun, watching from behind, was utterly astonished. This local bully from Rotten Bone Town was even more adept at changing his tune than the most cunning waiter in Heaven Dou City!
Ling Yun smiled contentedly, ignoring the silly bear hanging on the pillar, and led everyone to the large table by the window, where they sat down and leaned back comfortably.
"This place is alright," Ling Yun tapped the table with his knuckles. "Much more comfortable than watching those old bastards' fake smiles in the palace."
Just as this grand drama was unfolding in the Wild Dog Den.
Three miles outside of Rotten Bone Town, on a barren slope, the sun was about to set. Two shadows draped in tattered gray cloaks were stealthily making their way towards the town entrance, like two hungry wolves, using the waist-high weeds as cover.
Tang Hao carried the large black hammer and walked in front, with Tang San following closely behind.
Tang San's nerves were taut like a fully drawn bowstring. He had already inquired and learned that this place was a lawless den of No-Man's-Land. On the way here, he had mentally rehearsed the Dark Forest Law a hundred times: this place was fraught with danger, and one wrong step could lead to being poisoned or killed by cunning. Ling Yun, that arrogant fool, had led three women who had never seen blood into this town, and right now he was probably struggling in a quagmire, surrounded and pursued by a pack of wolves!
' Ling Yun... when you're exhausted and covered in blood from being bitten by these hungry ghosts, that's when I'll send you on your way with the Yama's Invitation!'
Tang San gripped the Sinking Silver Mechanism in his sleeve, his Purple Demon Eyes quietly opening. His piercing gaze cut through the weeds, warily sweeping towards the two broken wooden doors at the town's entrance.
But.
The next second, Tang San's footsteps suddenly froze on the muddy ground.
In the vision of the Purple Demon Eye, there were no vicious robbers, nor did they see the blood from the shootout on the ground.
All he could see was a dozen or so burly men squatting densely in a muddy pit filled with green water outside the gate of Rotten Bone Town.
The early winter wind whipped the withered grass flat. These dozen or so rough men, stripped down to only a pitiful pair of tattered underpants, were frozen blue. They huddled together like a flock of frightened quails, their faces streaked with snot and tears, sobbing uncontrollably.
"Waaah... It's so damn shady... I've been in this business for ten years, and they even pried off my belt buckle..." A bald, burly man sobbed while wiping tears with the back of his dirty hand.
"That's nothing... My gold tooth, which I saved up for three years to get fitted, was ripped out by some pretty little girl with big iron pliers... Waaaaah..." A skinny monkey next to him cried, unable to catch his breath.
Tang San hid in the bushes, his head buzzing, and he was completely dumbfounded.
This... this is the legendary lawless land where people devour each other without spitting out the bones? This is where those ruthless killers go?
Tang Hao, who was in front, also frowned. He strode forward, grabbed the bald man who was crying the most pitifully, and lifted him out of the mud puddle with one hand, demanding in a harsh voice, "What are you wailing about! I'm asking you, did a few half-grown kids in blue short-sleeved shirts come into town?!"
Upon hearing the words "half-grown child," the bald man trembled with fear, rolled his eyes, and nearly wet himself.
"Sir! Please, please don't go in!"
The bald man clung tightly to Tang Hao's thick arm, sobbing uncontrollably. "They've got a bunch of devils inside! A bunch of ruthless little devils who eat people alive! The men are robbing us for money and stripping us of our clothes, the women are pulling out our gold teeth, and there's even a sausage seller who's extorting money through medical scams! They're too ruthless! We bandits are almost out of our depth, we can barely keep our underwear!"
Thump.
Tang San's legs went weak, and he collapsed onto the weeds.
His deep-seated hatred, filled with the idea of "cruel hunting in the dark," was like an overinflated pig's bladder shattered by a rotten splinter in front of this group of naked bandits crying and wailing.
He suddenly understood.
Ling Yun didn't tremble in fear in this dark forest.
He was even more ruthless than those bandits; he treated all the wolves in this forest like sheep, pulling them out of their wool by pinning them down in the mud!