Into Oxheart Village by Night

After leaving Xie Yuzhu's house, Su Yan's gaze grew colder.

But he had never expected Niu Han and his men to come rushing up, impatient to make trouble for him.

"You brought this on yourselves."

Su Yan first went home and cleaned up the wrecked courtyard. He rebuilt the bamboo rack and gathered the baskets and winnowing trays in one place before returning indoors.

He tidied what needed tidying and cooked what needed cooking. After putting the rice on, he practiced the Golden Ape Stance Art indoors for another hour.

Time slipped by, and night finally fell.

A round moon like a jade platter emerged above the shadowy treetops and hung high in the sky.

The sky was black, the stars sparse. Only silver moonlight spilled over the village and its narrow paths, accompanied by the strange cries of insects in the mountains.

Su Yan changed his clothes, concealed his face, and quietly climbed out of the courtyard.

Using the nimble Monkey Leap Step, he hurried along on light feet and slipped out by the village's most secluded road.

Without lighting a lamp, Su Yan headed straight through the darkness toward Oxheart Village, seven or eight li away.

Though Niu Han was a local thug who lent money at crushing interest to mountain folk throughout the surrounding villages, he lacked the ability to establish himself in Cloudcang Town.

For one thing, he bullied the weak and feared the strong. His strength lay entirely in the thugs gathered around him, and all his income came from usury.

If he moved into town, he could not take all his men along. Besides, being farther from the mountains, he feared another Zhu Han or Zhao Han might spring up and rob him of his foothold.

That was why the man still lived in his home village, Oxheart Village.

Zhao Erlaizi and the others were injured. They would definitely go to Niu Han to complain and seek reinforcements. With broken arms and legs, they couldn't travel fast. Those seven or eight li should have taken them until evening.

Su Yan thought it over, reviewing his earlier calculations.

If they arrived in the evening, however furious Niu Han was, he would have no way to round up men and come cause trouble that same night.

After all, besides delivering their report, they would also have to tend to Zhao Erlaizi and the others' injuries.

In that case, tonight might be when they gathered their men to discuss their plans.

Su Yan hurried onward and soon crept up to the outskirts of Oxheart Village.

From a distance, he saw a crude wooden archway standing at the village entrance, with crisscrossing paths and rice paddies stretching into the distance.

Frogs croaked throughout the paddies, and the mountain wind rustled through the rice.

Standing on a small hillside, Su Yan swept his gaze across the whole of Oxheart Village.

"It's quite a bit bigger than Yunqian Village. After all, it has a mountain stream and sits right beside four or five hills."

By moonlight, he roughly determined the location. Niu Han lived toward the back of Oxheart Village, beneath the clump of bamboo at the foot of the hill.

Though Su Yan had never been here, he had heard of the place many times. Who knew how many poor families had come here to borrow money?

Instead of entering the village directly, he made a wide detour and quietly approached from the outskirts.

The village was quiet, but it had plenty of dogs with very keen ears.

"Quite spacious."

Not far from the bamboo grove, Su Yan spotted Niu Han's courtyard.

Gray brick walls enclosed a large expanse of land, their white limewash standing in stark contrast to the surrounding yellow earth.

The courtyard was enormous, with several brick-and-timber houses inside. Their black tiles, hardwood, and red bricks might not compare to Cloudcang Town, but they were far grander than the village's other houses.

At that moment, the compound was brightly lit, and the faint sound of many voices drifted out.

Su Yan released the Darkwater Centipede. It climbed along the wall, crossed over, and then settled on the roof tiles.

He looked around and found an inconspicuous spot. With a light leap using the Monkey Leap Step, he caught the wall with one hand and vaulted up without a sound, hidden by the clatter of bamboo in the mountain wind.

"Is what you fucking said true? Su Yan really said he'd been training in martial arts?"

Inside the room, cold light flickered in Niu Han's eyes as he stared at Zhao Erlaizi, who sat slumped on the bed.

Zhao Erlaizi had botched the job. Now, under the stare of Niu Han, a burly man built like a Bear, panic rose in his heart.

"Boss, I'm not lying. He really has been training. He took me, Niu Daqi, and the others down in just a few moves."

Beside him, Niu Daqi and the others with broken arms hurriedly agreed. "Boss, he said it himself. We could find him at the Golden Ape Martial Arts Hall. He really must have been training."

Niu Han frowned slightly. "Someone from the Golden Ape Martial Arts Hall... that makes things tricky. If we go too far, we might offend them."

"Boss, why should we fear him? The Golden Ape Martial Arts Hall makes you spend a full year as a registered disciple. He's only been doing well for a few days. He definitely isn't an outer disciple. Would the Golden Ape Martial Arts Hall really go to all that trouble for him...?"

"You don't know shit."

Niu Han snapped at the village thug he had summoned that night.

"He's only just paid his tuition, and we cripple him right afterward. You think the Golden Ape Martial Arts Hall would let that slide?"

The thug fell silent. That would amount to wrecking their business, and the martial artists of the Golden Ape Martial Arts Hall would not let anyone cut off their source of income.

"Boss, then... what do we do? The Little Mountain Society is pressing hard. They need servants to go into the mountains. And that boy's good-looking. Some of their lords even wanted to first..."

Looking at his underling, Niu Han felt fury surge through him and cursed inwardly. Pig-brained fool. That boy's only trained for a few days, yet he can already knock down four or five men like that. If he joins the outer ranks and reaches the Skin Refining Realm, would he spare us?

The men here were all implicated in Su Dahe's death.

Su Dahe's worthless life had brought him three whole stalks of Black Rock Crow Ginseng.

He had exchanged one for twenty taels of silver and divided the money among his underlings.

The remaining two had become his stepping stones to advancement. He had given them to an important figure in the Little Mountain Society, obtained the Earth Wolf Stance Art, and become a peripheral member.

No. I have to find a way to deal with that boy. It took me months just to reach minor attainment in skin refining. If he keeps training...

Niu Han's heart tightened, and fear crept in despite himself.

"Niu Dang."

"What is it, brother?"

"Go spread the word. Come drink at my place tonight. Tomorrow morning, we'll head to Yunqian Village to collect the debt."

"Cousin, what about the Golden Ape Martial Arts Hall?"

"Bring more men and make sure everyone in Yunqian Village keeps their mouths shut. What does it have to do with us if that boy dies in the mountains? We can grease a few palms afterward."

Niu Han was preparing to strike in secret. Though selling Su Yan would earn him more, he had to act more decisively now.

With an ordinary poor family, making enemies was just making enemies. However capable they were, they could never overturn the heavens.

But that little bastard was different. Since he just had to possess some talent, Niu Han would send him to reunite with his fool of a father.

Nothing was more normal than someone dying in the mountains.

Niu Dang led two or three young men out into the moonlight.

Su Yan lay on the eaves, hearing everything clearly and watching the room through a gap.

His cold smile was sharp as a blade, his icy gaze as though he were looking at corpses.

So much for nurturing a tiger until it becomes a threat. Even a moneylender is this decisive. It's all fucking people devouring people—but that suits me perfectly.

Only seven or eight men remained in the room: Zhao Erlaizi and the other four injured men, while the other two were so different in build from Niu Han that they were easy to distinguish at a glance.

Su Yan's gaze shifted slightly, and he sent a mental message to the Darkwater Centipede.

The Darkwater Centipede's antennae twitched as it memorized the scents of Niu Han and the others.

With those preparations complete, he seized the moment when Niu Han temporarily left the room and went outside.

Su Yan quietly dropped down, then climbed back over the wall and left.

A moonless, windswept night was a night for murder. Unfortunately, the time was not yet right.

Not enough of them had gathered, and he still had a few loose ends to tie up.

When the third or fifth watch came, he would send the King of Hell to claim Niu Han's life.