Blow This Thing Wide Open!

"He didn't blindly side with the people from Wang Family Gully, at least. He put on his official airs and asked some questions, mostly about whether anyone had seen unfamiliar faces lately, or whether any hunters in the village had brought back unusual hauls."

"Our village chief and a few of the older uncles handled him. They just said it had been raining a lot lately, so hardly anyone had gone deep into the mountains, and nobody had seen anything out of the ordinary."

"Zhou Hong made a circuit of the village and looked at the hides and cured meat hanging in a few hunters' yards. He didn't find anything unusual. Then he questioned a few people living near the village entrance, and their answers were pretty much the same."

Wang cut in. "The way I see it, that Constable Zhou was just going through the motions. With Wang Kui dead, he's lost his tribute payments, and he's upset about it. He used the trouble stirred up by the people from Wang Family Gully as an excuse to come put pressure on us, hoping to squeeze out some grease or find a scapegoat. But our village stuck together this time. We didn't give him anything to use against us." Li Xuan's heart tightened.

Widow Zhao!

Wang Kui had suddenly shown up to lay a trap for him. There was an eight or nine out of ten chance he had heard about Li Xuan's recent hauls from her.

If Zhou Hong threatened or bribed her into letting that slip...

"This is bad," Li Xuan said gravely. "Dad, Big Brother, Widow Zhao is a loose end. She knows Wang Kui had his sights on me. If she starts running her mouth in front of Constable Zhou..."

"Looks like we'll have to find a chance to finish that woman off! At the very least, we need to make sure she can never spit out another word!"

A sharp gleam flashed in Li Shan's eyes, and he abruptly rose to his feet. "I'll go see the village chief and the older uncles right now. Widow Zhao came here from another village, and she's always been a troublemaker. Now she's got the nerve to help outsiders screw over our own people? As long as the village sticks together and insists nothing's amiss, Zhou Hong can't act recklessly without evidence."

With that, he pushed open the door and disappeared into the night.

Li Xuan could not help feeling a little admiration. When Old Dad got ruthless, he had a streak every bit as fierce as his own!

No wonder they say the father takes after the son! Li Xuan felt deeply gratified.

Besides, he knew that Old Dad had roamed the world in his younger days and possessed some truly formidable skills.

One of them, for instance, was using poison to silently turn someone witless, leaving them unable to run their mouth ever again!

It was just that he had later put his poison-making skills to use in hunting!

Li Xuan sat on a stool, tapping his fingers against the table.

Old Dad's approach was sound, but it treated the symptoms rather than the root. Zhou Hong was a martial artist and a constable, like a venomous snake. Who knew whether he would keep watching them?

He clenched his fists.

In the end, he simply was not strong enough.

If he were in the Body Tempering Realm, or even stronger, how would a mere deputy constable captain dare provoke him?

"I'm just a little short on points. Otherwise, how could I have ended up in such a tight spot?"

Li Xuan could not resist opening his panel for a look.

"Still not enough points. Tomorrow I'll go hunting and show you what supreme talent really means!"

At first light the next morning, Li Xuan packed his bow and arrows and slung his bundle over his back.

He was just about to slip out quietly and head into the mountains when he opened the courtyard gate and saw three men standing outside.

They were none other than the village's three most renowned veteran hunters, aside from his father, Li Shan.

The oldest was Fourth Master Chen, who had a long scar across his face.

Then there was Hunting Chief Zhang, short but exceptionally tough and wiry, with eyes like a hawk's.

And Liu Laoshuan, who always wore a cheerful smile but was a crack shot with a slingshot.

"Well now, young Xuan, heading up the mountain this early?"

Liu Laoshuan spoke first, his usual smile on his face.

Fourth Master Chen looked at him too and nodded without saying a word.

Hunting Chief Zhang sized Li Xuan up, his gaze lingering on the Ox-Horn Bow on his back and his bulging quiver.

Something stirred in Li Xuan's mind, but he let a little surprise show on his face. "Fourth Master Chen, Uncle Zhang, Uncle Liu, what brings you...?"

"Same as you. Going for a look around the mountains." Hunting Chief Zhang's voice was a little hoarse, his words brief and to the point.

Liu Laoshuan picked up the conversation, his smile deepening a little:

"Young Xuan, you've been heading into the mountains quite a lot lately, haven't you? Word is you never come back empty-handed. Your luck's been blazing! Us old fellows got together today because we fancied going a little deeper and finding some big game. Since you've been on such a lucky streak, how about we team up?"

Li Xuan understood at once.

It seemed his father, Li Shan, had done more than discuss matters on his outing last night. He had probably also spoken to these men, and might even have reached some unspoken agreement with them.

When Wang Kui was alive, he had relied on his martial skills and connections with the County Office to lead the people of Wang Family Gully in steadily squeezing the hunters of the surrounding villages out of their hunting grounds.