Shooting to Death

The night was black, the wind high, and crows cawed low.

Tavern.

Three burly men wore drunken expressions. One of them was Zhu Lie.

Zhu Lie's bleary eyes were bloodshot. "Damn it, he's just a Groom. What is he worth? Why should I apologize to him?"

Another man chimed in, "Exactly, Second Master Zhu. Another day, I'll kill that old bastard for you."

"Right, right, right. I heard he has a disciple. Tomorrow, we'll make him fall into a latrine pit and drown."

The two men were not from the Zhu Family. They were Zhu Lie's underworld friends, both ruthless men with some reputation in the underworld.

Hearing them speak,

Zhu Lie finally felt a little better.

"Big Brother is far too timid when he does things!"

Back when he and his elder brother Zhu Ping had made their way through Clear River, Zhu Ping had been resourceful and clever while he had been fierce and domineering. That was how they had carved out their foundation in Clear River.

"If Big Brother hadn't stopped me, I'd have led men to wipe out those other two families in Clear River long ago."

Zhu Lie muttered to himself.

Over these past years, he had lived with increasing frustration. It was nowhere near as satisfying as twenty years ago, when he could simply hack at anyone who displeased him.

The three drank until deep into the night before leaving. Naturally, they had no intention of paying for the wine, and even if they had offered, the proprietor would not have dared accept it.

Who in Clear River did not know the vicious reputation of Second Master Zhu?

It was already midnight, the Zi Hour.

The streets lay pitch-black, lit only by a few threads of cold moonlight like white sand.

Zhu Lie and the others staggered down the street. Just as the three turned into a secluded alley—

Suddenly!

An arrow tore through the air.

It struck the Sun Acupoint of the burly man beside him with perfect accuracy. The feathered arrow punched straight through his skull, and his body dropped to the ground with a thud.

It had happened far too suddenly!

Zhu Lie jolted, and more than half his drunken haze vanished.

"Who is it?"

"Damn your mother, if you've got the guts, come out! What kind of skill is killing people with hidden arrows?!"

Zhu Lie roared.

He was also an Entering Rank martial artist, and his reactions were swift. He immediately crouched down and swept his gaze over the surroundings.

A month for the staff, a year for the saber, a lifetime for the spear; yet even a child could wound with a bow.

Among ordinary people, a bow was a supreme weapon of slaughter.

Even a child holding a bow could kill an adult, much less someone loosing arrows from concealment.

Before he could find the archer—

Whoosh!

Another feathered arrow flew over.

The arrow sank into the other burly man's left chest. A miserable howl rang out as blood streamed forth. He clearly would not survive.

At that moment, Zhu Lie also located the archer.

"Seeking death!"

He rolled across the ground, then charged toward the direction the arrow had come from like a leopard.

With a leap, he landed atop the wall.

There, in the pitch-black night, he saw a figure crouching on the wall.

"Just who are you?"

With two of his men dead, Zhu Lie was now an enraged bull. He wanted only to tear this sneak attacker into pieces and ease the hatred in his heart.

Yet the man swung his bow onto his back, then leaped down from the wall and vanished.

How could Zhu Lie let it end there?

He too jumped down and gave chase.

One chased, the other fled, winding through seven or eight alleys.

At last, the masked man stopped at an abandoned residence.

Zhu Lie looked over the surroundings and frowned slightly. "Is this the graveyard you chose for yourself?"

As he spoke, he stared fixedly at the man in the distance.

The man's face was covered by a black cloth, making his features and age impossible to discern. Only that he was a man could be seen.

"You are—"

Before he could utter the word "who"—

The man actually tore off his own face covering.

Zhu Lie's pupils first contracted. Then, in disbelief, he spat out three words: "Old Li?"

Before he could even make a move, Li Rui had actually come to kill him first.

But in the instant Zhu Lie was stunned, Li Rui scattered a cloud of white powder from his hand into the Black Night.

"Fuck!"

"Lime Powder!"

By the time Zhu Lie realized what it was, he was already too late to react.

His eyes burned fiercely.

A gale swept in.

Zhu Lie struggled backward, desperately forcing his eyes open.

His swollen eyes had only just opened to a slit when all he saw was a dazzling blade of light beneath the moon.

What a powerful blade.

That was Zhu Lie's only thought before death.

His head spun through the air, then fell to the ground with a thud.

Zhu Lie's severed head still had its eyes open, staring at Li Rui in disbelief.

Even in death, he could not understand it.

How could a seventy-year-old man be this strong?!!

Li Rui's expression remained calm.

He took out the iron shovel he had placed beforehand from the corner of the wall and swiftly shoveled away a layer of earth.

A large pit, just big enough to fit one person, appeared before him.

"Are you satisfied with the graveyard I chose for you?"

With two kicks, he sent Zhu Lie's corpse and head into the deep pit.

Then he filled the earth back in.

Finally, he scattered a layer of old soil over it, leaving no trace that the ground had ever been dug.

Once everything had been dealt with,

he nodded in satisfaction, dusted off his hands, erased every trace in the abandoned courtyard, and only then returned to his room at Flower Night House.

Morning.

The plump woman woke to find Li Rui sitting beside the bed, meditating with his eyes closed.

"Sir?"

The woman called softly. She did not know why she had fallen asleep last night, and she had no sense at all of what had happened afterward.

Li Rui slowly opened his eyes and pushed open the door to leave.

"Old Brother Li, was the bow useful?"

Wu Tu looked at Li Rui with a half-smile.

The Yu Kingdom had been founded through martial force. Ordinary weapons could be carried freely, but powerful bows and heavy crossbows were exceptions.

Those two weapons were simply too lethal.

An ordinary person wielding a powerful bow could injure a martial artist, and with enough luck, could even kill one outright. The boxwood bow in his hands could draw eighty stone and possessed tremendous power.

"It truly is a fine bow."

Li Rui nodded approvingly, the image of last night's arrow piercing through that burly man's body surfacing in his mind.

"Old Brother Li handles matters steadily. This younger brother admires you."

"Don't flatter this old man any further, little brother."

Li Rui smiled like an ordinary, cheerful old man.

Wu Tu took back the hardwood bow.

He glanced at the quiver. Only three arrows remained. Yesterday, he had given Li Rui five in total.

News had arrived from Clear River this morning.

Two fairly well-known experts from the crooked trades of East City had been shot dead with arrows. It was exactly two men!

"Impressive."

Naturally, Wu Tu could not expose the matter. Giving someone any amount of benefits was not as good as doing one bad deed together. Li Rui clearly treated him as one of his own brothers.

He was delighted beyond measure.

As for killing people?

What wandering martial artist did not have some blood on his hands?

Moreover, those two men had run rampant through Clear River, forcing decent women into prostitution and committing no shortage of filthy deeds. Their deaths were deserved.

Still, Li Rui's skill at killing astonished Wu Tu.

He had heard that the Zhu Family's Second Master had also vanished last night.

To kill an Entering Rank martial artist—tsk, tsk, those methods were anything but ordinary.

Li Rui returned to Heaven One Hall.

As though nothing had happened, he leafed through the Daoist scripture in his hands.

Suddenly!

The hand turning the pages paused.

The next instant,

lines of small words appeared before his eyes.

Congratulations, Host, for completing the initial storyline of the achievement Famous Throughout Jianghu—Eliminate Violence and Bring Peace.