I Surname Lu, Here to Collect a Debt

"Third Brother!"

Sun Niang let out a shriek, fear flashing through her eyes as the long whip in her hand lashed madly toward Lu Shaoyou.

Lu Shaoyou snorted coldly. With a tap of his foot, he easily evaded the shadow of the whip, closing in as the Qi Mei Cudgel swept out horizontally and struck Sun Niang hard across the waist.

"Crack!"

The sound of shattering bones was crystal clear.

Sun Niang flew away like a kite with its string cut, crashing viciously into a nearby beam as blood gushed from her mouth.

In a flash, Lu Shaoyou gave her no chance to move again. His Qi Mei Cudgel came down with the force of ten thousand jun, smashing brutally into her head.

"Bang!"

Her skull shattered, and red and white matter splattered everywhere.

Killed a first-rate martial artist. Slaughter Value +500.

"Third Brother, Second Sister!"

Everything had happened too quickly. From Liu San's death to Sun Niang's demise, only an instant had passed. Zhao Dawu had not even had time to offer any effective aid.

"Ahhh! I'll fight you to the death!" Zhao Dawu, the sole survivor, had bloodshot eyes and looked ready to split his sockets.

He let out a beastlike roar. Muscles bulged across his body, knotted veins writhing beneath his skin like little snakes, while a sinister bronze sheen rose over its surface—the horizontal training art that had made his name.

Iron Cloth Shirt!

He completely abandoned all defense, clenching his fists until his knuckles crackled like firecrackers. Like two thousand-jin heavy hammers, they blasted toward Lu Shaoyou's chest without regard for anything else.

A cold curve rose at Lu Shaoyou's lips, and not a ripple stirred in his eyes. "The glow of a firefly dares contend with the radiance of the bright moon?"

The Nine Dragon Nine Elephant Power within him erupted in full without reservation!

"Boom!"

The Qi Mei Cudgel collided head-on with Zhao Dawu's iron fists, infused with the power of the Iron Cloth Shirt, producing a thunderous clang like metal striking metal.

"Crack! Pff!"

A bone-breaking sound that made one's teeth ache rang out. Zhao Dawu's Iron Cloth Shirt, which he prided himself on as impervious to blades and spears, shattered inch by inch before Lu Shaoyou's terrifying strength like paper paste.

The bones in both his arms snapped, bending at grotesque angles, and his whole body was sent reeling as though struck head-on by a battering ram.

Before Zhao Dawu could cry out, Lu Shaoyou flicked his wrist, bringing the Qi Mei Cudgel down with the motion and striking heavily against his chest.

"Pff!"

Zhao Dawu's chest instantly caved in. Blood mixed with fragments of shattered organs sprayed wildly from his mouth, and his body flew backward like a rag sack.

He hit the ground, twitched a few times, and fell silent forever.

Killed a first-rate martial artist. Slaughter Value +500.

In the blink of an eye, all four chiefs of Black Wind Village had perished!

Outside the hall, the bandits who had been watching from afar, still harboring a shred of wishful hope, were utterly dumbfounded. Their faces turned ashen, their courage shattered.

Even the four chiefs fighting together had been slaughtered clean by this baleful young man. How could insignificant grunts like them retain even half a thought of fighting?

"The... the four chiefs are all dead!"

"Devil! He's a devil!"

No one knew who first cried out in despair, but all the surviving bandits promptly collapsed. Wailing for their fathers and mothers, they scattered and fled in every direction through the stronghold.

"Village Chief! Village Chief, save us!!" Some bandits screamed miserably as they stumbled and crawled toward the deepest part of the village.

Lu Shaoyou swept his icy gaze over the fleeing bandits. Lingbo Weibu unfolded beneath his feet, and his figure darted through the crowd like a ghost.

With every step and every flash of his cudgel's shadow, several bandits screamed as their heads were smashed apart or their tendons and bones broken, dying on the spot.

"Ah, spare me!"

"Great Hero, don't kill me! I don't know anything!"

Lingbo Weibu was incomparably swift. Seeing escape was hopeless, some bandits were scared out of their wits. Their legs gave way, and they dropped to their knees, kowtowing like pounding garlic as they begged for mercy.

Yet the only answer they received was Lu Shaoyou's cold, merciless Qi Mei Cudgel.

For these bandits, whose hands were stained with the blood of innocents and who treated human lives like grass, Lu Shaoyou felt not the slightest pity—only bone-deep hatred and icy killing intent.

The cudgel rose and fell, and the slaughter did not cease.

After a while, corpses lay strewn throughout the hall and outside it, as well as along the several main paths leading there. Blood flowed into rivers.

The entire stronghold fell into dead silence, the air thick with a nauseating stench of blood.

Lu Shaoyou stood alone amid mountains of corpses and seas of blood, his chest rising and falling faintly, the Qi Mei Cudgel in his hand still dripping crimson.

"Li Batian..." he murmured the name, the killing intent in his eyes only growing stronger.

Carrying his blood-dripping Qi Mei Cudgel, Lu Shaoyou spread Lingbo Weibu beneath his feet once more and followed the direction in which the bandits had fled, pursuing his slaughter into the depths of Black Wind Village.

Deep within Black Wind Village, outside a stone chamber built at the edge of a sheer cliff, several trusted bandits paced anxiously back and forth.

Suddenly, a bandit responsible for the outer watch came scrambling over, his voice choked with tears. "This is bad! Something terrible has happened! All four chiefs are dead! A baleful star has killed his way up the mountain!"

"What?!" The trusted leader left behind was horrified.

At that moment, the miserable screams and clashing of weapons from throughout the stronghold faintly reached their ears, making their faces grow even paler.

"Quick! Notify the Village Chief!" Making a prompt decision, the trusted leader howled at the tightly shut stone door. "Village Chief! Village Chief! The stronghold is under attack, and all four chiefs have fallen! Please leave seclusion at once and take charge of the situation!"

Beyond the stone door, there was only silence.

Gritting his teeth, the trusted leader roared at the men beside him, "Break down the stone door!"

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Several bandits desperately rammed their bodies against the heavy stone door.

Inside the stone chamber, Li Batian sat cross-legged. Inner Force surged around him, his face shifting from crimson to bluish purple, while faint white vapor rose from the top of his head.

He was at the critical juncture of breaking into the legendary Xiantian Realm. Under the impact of his immense internal power, his meridians and acupoints groaned beneath the unbearable strain.

Just as he was about to break through the final barrier and glimpse the mysteries of the Xiantian Realm—

"Rumble!"

The stone door was violently smashed open by tremendous force.

"Village Chief! Something terrible—" Before the trusted bandit who rushed in could finish speaking, he saw Li Batian suddenly open his eyes and spray out a mouthful of blood!

"Pff!"

Li Batian felt a violent stream of Inner Force flowing backward and rampaging uncontrollably through his body. His five viscera and six bowels felt as though they had been hammered. At the final moment, all his efforts had come to nothing!

The backlash of Inner Force had already inflicted serious internal injuries upon him.

"Damn it!" Li Batian roared inwardly, forcibly suppressing his churning blood and energy.

Though his attempt to break into the Xiantian Realm had failed and he had not ascended to the heavens in a single step, the deep foundation he had built through decades of arduous cultivation remained.

By a twist of fate, he had actually touched upon a trace of the threshold to the Xiantian Realm. Not only had his strength not regressed, it had advanced instead, reaching the mysterious realm of Half-step Innate!

He was more than a notch stronger than before he had entered seclusion.

"Village Chief, you..." Seeing Li Batian vomit blood, the trusted bandit was frightened out of his wits. Yet he immediately sensed the terrifying pressure emanating from his Village Chief and did not know what to do.

"What happened?"

Li Batian's voice was hoarse, carrying a trace of suppressed fury.

Though he was enraged that his subordinates had ruined his great undertaking, Li Batian also knew that if they had smashed open the stone door at such a time, something major must have happened in the stronghold.

Could the Iron Blood Camp have attacked? The thought flashed through his mind before he rejected it.

"Reporting to the Village Chief, all four chiefs have been killed! A young man has slaughtered his way up the mountain. His methods are incomparably ruthless, and the brothers in the village have suffered grievous casualties!" The bandit dropped to his knees and reported through bloody tears.

"What?"

Li Batian's body shuddered, and a terrifying gleam burst from his eyes.

Forcefully suppressing both his surging injuries and the stormy waves in his heart, he shoved aside the trusted men blocking his path and strode out of the secret chamber with towering rage.

Before long, Li Batian saw the tragic state of the entire stronghold.

Corpses littered the ground, blood flowed in channels, and the once-boisterous Black Wind Village now resembled a living hell.

The next instant, his gaze fell upon a figure.

When he saw Lu Shaoyou walking slowly toward him, holding a long cudgel dripping with blood, young-faced yet with baleful intent soaring to the heavens, his pupils suddenly constricted.

"Who are you, and why have you slaughtered the people of my village?"

Li Batian's voice was low, like a volcano on the verge of eruption.

"My surname is Lu. I'm here to collect a debt!"