Chapter 54 of 100

Chapter 54

16 min read3,956 words

Opposite, the hunter Wuzhu was a formidable figure with the strength of the fifth level of the Tuman Heart Sutra. The people he brought behind him were all powerful, ruthless bandits who had killed countless people. They all wore hard turtle shield armor, and at least ten of them held sharp mountain cleavers, fully armed.

Ertu was crippled, and Niu Tou Mountain had suddenly lost its strongest pillar. If the other side paid a price to wipe them all out, it wasn't just a scare tactic.

Ertu's facial muscles twitched forcefully. He understood the situation. Niu Tou Mountain was no longer the once-popular and strong stronghold. The other side could directly invade their stronghold, and almost all of their advantages were lost. A tiger in the plains is bullied by dogs. If they fought in anger, none of the old brothers would survive. Even without Heihu Mountain's clearance, Niu Tou Mountain would be completely finished.

For the sake of his brothers, he could only endure step by step.

Ertu looked up coldly at his enemy across the way: "Wuzhu, how much do you want?"

"Haha, now that's a Niu Tou Mountain chief who knows when to give and when to take." Wuzhu clapped and laughed wildly, raising his voice: "I don't want much from you, just double the annual tribute."

After these words, the stone cave was as silent as a volcano about to erupt.

Humiliation and anger burned through every nerve of the Niu Tou Mountain brothers. Everyone, including Ertu, had a deathly pale face.

They didn't know where to get the double annual tribute for Heihu Mountain. Now, Shafengjiao's Wuzhu was also daring to demand a huge sum, clearly forcing them to the brink of death.

The Niu Tou Mountain brothers knew that once they fought, none of them would escape, and they would all be slaughtered. If they didn't fight, how could they bear the humiliation? Even if they gave all the wealth in the back cave to Wuzhu, Heihu Mountain would not spare them in the future.

The veins on the foreheads of all the brothers, including Ertu, bulged like earthworms. The third leader's teeth ground together with a grinding sound. His anger had already exploded in his chest. It was a matter of life and death. To hell with it, let's fight...

...

"Everyone, don't move, this is a robbery!"

A simple-minded voice came from outside the cave.

The tense atmosphere in the cave, on the verge of exploding, suddenly seemed to have a vent, and the tension dissipated.

Everyone in the cave turned their heads in shock to look at the cave entrance, seeing a fat man who looked like he had just crawled out of a pile of ashes. His clothes were scorched, torn, and ragged. He held a half-broken bone spear in his hand and waved it at the thirty-odd people in the cave: "Give me all your money and food. I'm hungry, and I'm collecting protection fees."

Everyone was stunned.

Is the world going crazy? Where did that fat man come from, a bandit from Shafengjiao? To be so desperate, to dare to rob thirty-odd people by blocking the cave entrance?

Wuzhu and his group were so angry they laughed. These days, even collecting protection fees isn't peaceful, and now a competitor has come to snatch their business?

That pitifully desperate fat man was naturally Zhou Lu.

Seeing that he had scared everyone in the cave with his shout, Zhou Lu's face twisted again as he shouted: "What are you staring at? Hurry up and hand over your money and food. If you're slow, I'll kill you."

Ertu, sitting there, frowned and looked at Zhou Lu with a mocking smile: "Sir, you're late." Ertu pointed to Wuzhu and his group and continued: "See? They are also here to collect protection fees, and they arrived before you."

"They also collect protection fees?"

Zhou Lu tilted his head and sized up Wuzhu and his group, his face full of doubt and disbelief: "Are you sure these turtle-shelled bastards are here to collect protection fees?"

"Ha ha ha..."

Seeing Wuzhu and his group's faces turn iron blue, the Niu Tou Mountain group couldn't help but burst out laughing. Wuzhu and his group all wore Shafengjiao's homemade turtle shield armor, with a large, not very noticeable shell on their backs to protect against cold arrows and sharp spears. If you looked closely, they really did look like head-shrinking turtles.

In the wilderness, when people mentioned Shafengjiao, they secretly used the three words "bastards" to mock them. However, very few people dared to curse them to their faces. Zhou Lu's cursing made the Niu Tou Mountain leaders feel extremely satisfied.

Zhou Lu had been hiding in Niu Tou Mountain for two days. Niu Tou Mountain was originally an empty mountain, and with Zhou Lu's elusive movements, no one in Niu Tou Mountain had discovered this hidden fat man in two days.

When Zhou Lu first arrived at Niu Tou Mountain, he was full of suspicion. He never expected the stronghold to be so desolate. Strange things must have a strange cause. For his own safety, Zhou Lu didn't dare to rashly enter the stronghold to find Ertu. Who knew if Niu Tou Mountain was setting up an empty city trap or if they still recognized the old chief's bone demon chain.

If he lost his life for no reason, it would be too unjust.

After two days and two nights of thorough observation, Zhou Lu found no danger and began to feel restless.

Before he made up his mind, he saw Wuzhu and his group swaggering up the mountain. Zhou Lu followed them from behind and even eavesdropped at the cave entrance. From their conversation, Zhou Lu learned that there was no one outside the stronghold, and there were twelve people on one side and twenty-one on the other, with no other ambush.

The thirty-odd people in the cave, the strongest of whom was Wuzhu, had only the fifth level of the Tuman Heart Sutra. Zhou Lu was also at the fifth level, but with his barbaric qi vortex, he could unleash the power of a seventh-level peak. For Zhou Lu, fighting Wuzhu would be as easy as fighting a child.

Seeing everything clearly, Zhou Lu felt relieved. The face of the strong bullying the weak was exposed. On a whim, he picked up the half-broken bone spear and rushed into the cave, shouting "robbery" fiercely.

...

Wuzhu and his group all had extremely ugly faces. They had been cursed by a simple-minded fat man.

A bandit cursed: "Where did this idiot come from? Get out of here."

Wuzhu looked at the fat man coldly, his heart full of suspicion. He couldn't tell if the fat man was really stupid or just pretending, and he couldn't guess if the fat man had any backing.

Wuzhu glanced cautiously outside the cave, waved his hand, and ordered his most capable scout to quietly slip out and check. Soon, the scout slipped back and shook his head.

"No one outside?"

Wuzhu immediately felt relieved.

It seemed that the fat man was just a madman.

Wuzhu turned to Zhou Lu and said menacingly: "We are from Shafengjiao. Brother, do you know what happens when you offend us? Within dozens of miles, do you believe our stronghold will hunt you down until you have no place to hide?"

Wuzhu wasn't exaggerating. With Niu Tou Mountain fallen, Shafengjiao was the dominant force within dozens of miles. With over two hundred bandits, they could dig someone out even if they were buried three feet underground.

"If you know what's good for you," Wuzhu's face turned fierce, "get out of here. I don't have time to deal with you today..."

"What is Shafengjiao?"

Zhou Lu looked surprised.

The fierce expression on Wuzhu's face froze. Everyone from Shafengjiao began to get angry, their veins bulging, indicating they were about to lose their patience.

Zhou Lu picked his teeth with a finger and asked arrogantly: "Don't think you can scare me with just a name. Do you think a few turtle-shelled bastards can compete with me? Do you believe I can beat you to a pulp?"

"You're too damn arrogant."

They had seen arrogant people before, but never one so arrogant.

The Shafengjiao group turned red with anger, and Wuzhu's eyes narrowed into slits, filled with murderous intent. "Say that again!" Wuzhu glared at the fat man at the cave entrance, gritting his teeth.

"Are you stupid?" Zhou Lu looked at Wuzhu with disdain, curling his lip. "Do you want to hear it again? Are you asking for it?"

...

Zhou Lu's words were like a huge brick slapped across Wuzhu's face, turning his face from green to red, his veins bulging like earthworms, and the scars on his face turning a bloody red.

Since becoming the second leader, Wuzhu had never been insulted like this, never.

As the second leader in charge of over two hundred brothers, Wuzhu was ruthless and decisive. People always trembled in his presence because the slightest provocation could lead to his killing them.

The wilderness was a world of the strong preying on the weak. In the bandits, there were sixth and seventh-level figures, the lions of this world. Wuzhu knew he wasn't a lion, but he was a fierce and cunning wolf.

For the weak, Wuzhu had no mercy. To him, they weren't even his kind, just food.

But now, this proud wolf had been humiliated by a pig.

Not only humiliated, but the pig had even dared to urinate on his face and ask if he was satisfied.

Wuzhu, with the pride of a wolf, was driven mad by the contempt and ridicule. A wave of anger surged to his head.

Wuzhu's face twisted, and he nodded at Zhou Lu fiercely: "Good, good, kid, you've got guts..."

Zhou Lu looked at the bandit with impatience, cursing and waving the bone spear: "Are you going to get out or not? Do you really think you can compete with me? Idiot..." Zhou Lu shook his head and sighed, "You're cheering me on? I've never seen such an idiot."

The cave was deathly silent, and no one could believe their ears. If the fat man's arrogance had shocked them before, now it was enough to stun them. They couldn't understand what the fat man's courage was made of, to face a large group of people so arrogantly.

Wuzhu looked at the finger pointing at him with rage, his facial muscles twitching. Suddenly, he let out a hysterical scream: "Kill him, kill him!"

Wuzhu regretted talking so much to the fat man. Why didn't he just kill him earlier?

Wuzhu's scream echoed in the cave, and a bandit with a fierce aura leaped up, raising a heavy cleaver and charging at Zhou Lu.

The bandit's tall and muscular body was like that of a mature demon bear, filled with explosive power. He brought a gust of wind into the cave, taking a large step and covering several meters in a few strides. He raised his cleaver and swung it down.

A brilliant blade of light cut through the air, filled with killing intent.

Seeing this, the cave immediately fell into chaos.

No one cared about the fat man's fate, but the Niu Tou Mountain group still had the will to fight.

Wuzhu had already driven them to a dead end, and they knew he had no intention of sparing any of them.

Shafengjiao wanted not only wealth but also lives.

Rather than sit and wait to die, they might as well fight. Killing one would be a fair trade, and killing two would be a profit. The second and third leaders of Niu Tou Mountain exchanged a glance and nodded. They knew that Wuzhu's attention was on the fat man, making it the best time to fight.

"Attack."

A low growl, and the eleven old brothers of Niu Tou Mountain jumped up, drawing their bone spears and hunting knives, ready to attack.

Just as a bloody battle was about to break out,

A "crack" sounded, and the bandit in front of Zhou Lu was blown open with a bloody hole in his chest. The bandit's body was thrown back by the force, like a broken sandbag, flying through the cave and crashing into two people before slamming into the cave wall, turning into a bloody, flattened mess.

The force of the impact brought a gust of wind, and both groups stopped in shock.

Everyone was stunned by the sudden turn of events.

Even a mammoth elephant wouldn't be this fierce, turning a person into a bloody mess. What kind of force could do that?

"What happened?"

"What's going on?"

The two groups of bandits in the cave, who were about to fight, stopped and turned to look at the cave entrance. They saw the fat man holding a heavy crossbow, about half a person's height, aimed at his chest.

Clearly, the flying body was the result of the crossbow.

The fat man's body was trembling, and he looked furious, shouting at Wuzhu's group:

"You still won't get out? Do you think I can't turn you all into turtle-shelled bastards?"

The entire cave was in an uproar.

They now believed that the fat man was indeed there to rob.

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