The sun dipped westward, the last rays of sunset red as blood.
In Fire Forging Mountain, a boy of about ten, dressed in rags and covered in blood, was fleeing for his life.
"Quick, after him! Don't let him escape!"
Three figures followed close behind the boy.
The man at the front had dark skin, eyes as large as an ox's, and a build as stocky as a black bear's. Bare to the waist, he carried a cleaver in his hand and looked utterly ferocious.
His name was Chi Mo, and he was from the Red Wolf Tribe.
The three figures were swift, and they caught up to the boy in moments, closing in on him from three sides.
The boy clearly had some martial arts training. Nimble on his feet, he always managed to dodge his enemies' lunges at the crucial moment.
But he was young and lacked stamina. Under the three men's assault, he gradually began to tire.
Smack!
A moment of carelessness was all it took for a huge hand to seize him by the neck and lift him up.
"Hmph! You actually dared to run! Once we get back, I'll skin you alive!"
With two sharp smacks, the boy took two slaps to the head that left him dizzy, stars dancing before his eyes.
After venting his anger, Chi Mo knocked the boy unconscious with a chop of his hand and slung him over his shoulder.
"Come on, we're going back!"
Just then, a flash of light caught Chi Mo's eye. He looked warily in the direction it had come from.
"Wait, there's someone over there!"
Behind a small hillside, Chen Mu covered the lens of the Rune Gun's sight in frustration.
The three of them had been on their way back to the village when they heard shouting and climbed the hillside. They had only wanted to hide up there and watch the commotion.
He had never expected the lens to reflect the light, much less that the others would see the reflection.
"Granduncle Xiong, they've spotted us! They're coming this way. What should we do?"
Chen Shanxiong and Chen Zihu were sitting behind Chen Mu, resting. When they heard him, both looked surprised.
"Huh? We're so far away. How did they spot us?"
"This... should have been caused by my Rune Gun," Chen Mu said awkwardly.
Though Chen Shanxiong didn't know why they had been exposed, this was no time to dwell on it. He took two steps forward and looked down the hillside. Sure enough, he saw three figures charging up.
"The Red Wolf Tribe has always been overbearing, cruel, and bloodthirsty. Nothing good will come of it if they catch us! We can't just sit here and wait for death!"
A fierce look on his face, Chen Shanxiong turned back to Chen Mu. "Little Mu, Zihu and I will circle around from both sides. Wait until they get a little closer, then attack them with the Rune Gun. We have to make sure none of them get away. If the Red Wolf Tribe finds out we did it, we'll have trouble on our hands later!"
"Okay!"
None of them wasted any time. Using the trees as cover, Chen Zihu circled around to the right, while Chen Shanxiong ran to the left.
Chen Mu no longer cared whether the reflection would give him away. He set up the Rune Gun and aimed at the strong man leading the group below.
Chi Mo came to the foot of the hill with three people. He could already make out what seemed to be a round object in the grass, pointing in his direction.
"Hmph! Sneaking around like that, they can't possibly be an expert!"
As the saying went, great skill gave a person great courage. He tossed the boy on his shoulder to one of his men, then leaped up the hillside alone.
Boom!
This was the chance Chen Mu had been waiting for. Chi Mo would have trouble gaining leverage in midair, so Chen Mu immediately fired at him.
Clang!
In the time it took for lightning to flash and a spark to fly, Chi Mo swung his cleaver across to block, actually stopping Chen Mu's bullet.
Thud! Even so, the shot was no easy thing for him to withstand. Its powerful force knocked him to the ground.
Boom! Boom!
Two more shots rang out, aimed at Chi Mo's two men. They lacked Chi Mo's strength and were gravely wounded at once.
"So strong! No, I have to run!"
Chi Mo knew he had run into a tough opponent. He made a snap decision, turned, and fled at once.
Of course, Chen Mu wouldn't let him escape. He fired several shots in succession, every one aimed at a vital spot.
Though Chi Mo had the strength of a Sixth-Duan Martial Artist, he couldn't withstand Chen Mu's relentless attack. Before long, he fell to the ground, barely clinging to life.
Chen Shanxiong was the first to reach the foot of the hill. His spear flashed like lightning as he delivered a finishing thrust to the heart of each gravely wounded man on the ground. Only after making sure they were all dead did he breathe a sigh of relief.
He looked up at the gun barrel protruding from the hillside and clicked his tongue inwardly. Though he had seen it many times already, Chen Mu's methods still made his heart tremble.
"Take everything valuable off them! Once you're done, hurry. Don't let anyone see us!"
Chen Shanxiong called out to Chen Zihu, who was coming up behind him, then crouched down to search Chi Mo's corpse.
They worked quickly, and before long they had searched the bodies inside and out.
"Granduncle Xiong, what should we do about this little fellow?"
Chen Shanxiong hesitated for a moment. "A child this young definitely won't survive if we leave him here. Never mind, let's take him with us!"
"Okay!"
Chen Zihu hoisted the boy onto his shoulder. Just then, Chen Mu also came rushing down the hill.
As soon as Chen Mu came down, he tossed a paper talisman onto Chi Mo's corpse without a word.
With a whoosh, fierce flames rose from the body.
"Granduncle Xiong, Brother Hu, the wounds my Rune Gun leaves are too distinctive. If the Red Wolf Tribe investigates, they'll discover it easily. Help me carry the other two bodies over so we can burn them together!"
Earlier, to get a good price, Chen Mu had used up almost all the paper talismans he carried. He only had this one Blazing Flame Talisman left; otherwise, there would have been no need to go to the trouble of bringing the bodies together.
Chen Shanxiong suddenly understood and silently praised Chen Mu's meticulous thinking. He immediately set to work with Chen Zihu.
Seeing all three bodies burned beyond recognition in the flames, Chen Mu felt reassured. He used his soul to recover all the Rune Gun's projectiles, then left with the others.
"None of the three men who just died were weak. I'm afraid the Red Wolf Tribe won't let this rest.
"To be safe, we shouldn't head toward the village now. We'll take another route. It's a little farther, but we should still reach the village tomorrow evening."
Chen Shanxiong had lived to such an age thanks to his caution, and everyone agreed with his decision.
In truth, though, they were overthinking it. The Red Wolf Tribe had always been lax in its discipline, and it was perfectly normal for an expert like Chi Mo to stay away from the tribe for several days. No one would go looking for him at all. By the time they realized something was wrong, seven days had already passed.
And after seven days, trying to find the killer from Chi Mo's ashes was like searching for a needle in the sea.