Chapter 34 Drink Deep of the Enemy’s Blood

“Chen, be careful. Those ruffians have numbers on their side. If they lose their temper, they’re not easy to deal with…” Xu Jiang called anxiously from behind.

Li Chen paid no attention. The wind roared past his ears as he urged his horse forward and disappeared down the road.

Following the narrow path for about a quarter of an hour, he spotted six or seven men resting in a patch of woods ahead.

Focusing his gaze, he soon recognized them as Wu Tian and the others from Baisha Village.

He scanned the surroundings. Dense forest stretched on all sides. No one else was nearby.

He rode straight over, dismounted about 30 meters away, tied the horse to a tree, and walked toward them.

A fawn was tethered nearby. One of the young ruffians had draped the leopard skin over his shoulders and was strutting about grotesquely while the others laughed, as if beating people and stealing goods were the most ordinary things in the world.

Someone noticed Li Chen approaching.

“Well, if it isn’t Chen. Heard you’ve made it big lately. Raising deer now, hiding a pretty little servant wife at home, even got yourself a horse? What’s this, come to settle the score? Just you alone?”

A burly ruffian stood up and sneered at him.

They were all local thugs from neighboring villages, and they recognized each other. In his view, there were seven of them. Li Chen had come alone. Had he eaten the heart of a bear to dare this?

“Just me,” Li Chen replied calmly as he walked forward. Then he took the heavy crossbow off his back and fired.

With a dull thud, the bolt pierced straight through the man’s throat, exiting from the back of his neck and embedding into a nearby tree trunk. The feathers quivered violently.

The ruffian clutched his throat and collapsed.

“But that’s enough,” Li Chen finished evenly.

He reloaded and raised the crossbow again.

“Li Chen, you… you dare to kill someone with a crossbow? That’s a capital crime!” another ruffian shouted in shock.

“You’re right. Die,” Li Chen said, nodding.

He fired again. The bolt pierced straight through the man’s forehead.

The ruffian dropped to his knees with the arrow lodged through his skull, blood pouring down his face before he toppled over.

“Oh heavens, murder! Murder!”

The remaining ruffians finally reacted.

They were used to petty fights, but they had never seen real killing. Now faced with a god of death, they nearly lost control of their bladders. Screaming hoarsely, they scattered in all directions.

Li Chen set down the crossbow, grabbed his hunting bow, and gave chase.

Four arrows flew in rapid succession.

Each struck a fleeing ruffian in the back, piercing straight through the heart. None escaped.

The man still wearing the leopard skin stood frozen, legs trembling.

Six men, dead in an instant. The forest was thick with the scent of blood.

He was so terrified his courage shattered. He did not even have the strength to run.

Li Chen lowered his bow and flexed his arm.

His recovery these past few days had been good. His arm felt only slightly sore and heavy. It was nothing serious.

He drew his knife and walked over to the trembling ruffian.

With his left hand, he pointed at the leopard skin and said calmly, “Wu Tian, put my leopard skin down.”

“Yes, yes, I’ll put it down, Chen. Please spare my life.”

Wu Tian stammered, carefully placing the leopard skin on the ground.

“Kneel,” Li Chen said, his face expressionless.

“Chen, I beg you. I drank too much today and lost my head. Please don’t hold it against me.”

Wu Tian dropped to his knees, pleading desperately. Not once did the thought of resisting cross his mind.

Li Chen grabbed his hair, pressed the blade to his throat, and said coldly, “Since you’re obedient, I’ll leave your body intact.”

Wu Tian suddenly wet himself. Yellow urine ran down his legs.

Struggling wildly, he shouted, “Li Chen, my uncle works in the county office. If you dare kill me, he won’t spare you. I—”

Before he could finish, Li Chen drove the knife into his throat and twisted, shredding everything inside.

He shoved the body aside, neatly avoiding the spray of blood.

Soon after, Li Chen dragged all seven corpses to the nearby cliff and cast them into the ravine below, leaving them to the wild.

He retrieved the leopard skin, collected his arrows, untied the fawn, mounted his horse, and rode back toward the village.

Killing like a song in the wind, his heart and courage as hard as iron. Seven men slain in ten steps, drinking deep of the enemy’s blood.

A quarter of an hour later, Li Chen returned to Muer Village.

He tossed the fawn back into the pen and led the horse up to his home on the cliff.

Everything there had already been settled.

The four small mares were tied to two large elm trees in the backyard, and two foals flicked their tails as they nursed.

Xu Jiang was directing the village men as they unloaded the cart and stacked the goods in the storage shed.

Yu Qingwan sat inside holding Little Hu, still trembling in fear.

The three injured brothers had regained consciousness. Their wounds were bandaged, and they sat at the doorway, grimacing in pain.

When Li Chen returned, the villagers surrounded him immediately, concern written on their faces.

“Did you catch those ruffians?” Xu Jiang asked urgently.

“I caught them. Beat them up and took back our things,” Li Chen replied calmly.

“What? There were so many of them, and you…”

Xu Jiang stared at him in disbelief. The others were equally stunned.

One against seven, and he won? Not even a scratch?

Was this young man a warrior sent from the heavens?

If they had known he had not merely beaten them but killed all seven, their hearts might have burst from shock.

“When Chen makes a move, those ruffians won’t escape without shedding skin. Damn it, I passed out earlier. Otherwise I’d have gone with Chen and beaten them senseless,” Zhao Dashi said angrily, only to wince in pain at the slightest movement.

“How are you all feeling?” Li Chen asked, walking over to them.

“We’re fine, Chen. We just couldn’t beat them. We disgraced you,” Liu Chenxu said, forcing himself to stand, his face filled with shame.

“They had too many people, and your training time has been too short. You’ve only been building physical strength, not practicing combat techniques. It’s normal,” Li Chen said, waving it off.

But inwardly, he had already made a decision. He would have to accelerate their training and hope they could endure it.

“Chen, why did you buy so much salt?” Hou Xiaobai asked, his injured arm hanging from a cloth sling.

Grain, vegetables, livestock bones were one thing, but what use was so much coarse salt?

“Does Chen need to explain himself to you? Just follow orders,” Liu Chenxu snapped, shooting him a look and signaling him to be quiet.

Hou Xiaobai quickly fell silent.

“Uncle Xu, there’s something I need to discuss with you,” Li Chen said, turning to Xu Jiang.