Chapter 61. I Split It with the Axe I Trusted.

"It doesn't matter where I come from."

"......"

"The important thing now is that you don't blink."

The man's eyes were now bloodshot. After a moment, I saw a tear roll down and warned him.

"Three Great Palm Techniques of the Jianghu."

Suddenly visiting Yunwu Hall and having a staring contest with the gatekeeper, that's me.

"Where do I come from? If I were to say, it's a long story. I was born to my parents, but that's not what you're asking, right? Which neighborhood did I come to? That's not a geographical question either. It's more like, which force do I represent? That's also a long story. So..."

The gatekeeper, who had run out of patience, swallowed hard and said,

"Please spare me."

"Spare you?"

"Yes."

"No. A staring contest is a staring contest, a match is a match, and a slap is a slap."

I anticipated that the match was about to be decided, so I brought my thumb and index finger to my mouth and blew a hot wind.

The man lost his composure and made a strange noise.

"I'll pay for the damages."

"That's not necessary."

The moment the man's eyes blinked, I slapped his forehead.

Thud!

The gatekeeper did a backflip and fell to the ground, unconscious.

"My victory."

Having defeated the gatekeeper, I entered through the path lined with round stones. I thought the main structure was a bit sinister.

Because many of Master Shu's attendants were absent, the inside was more relaxed than expected.

I stopped for a moment by a small pond to watch the fish. Tiny fish I didn't recognize were swimming around. Strangely, as I looked down, they gathered at my feet as if asking for food.

The weak tend to beg for food from others and get trapped in small places.

Suddenly, I thought about Guangsheng looking for a fish as big as a great roc...

It must have been a journey to check out the experts in the vast sea, given his own great skills and self-awareness. After all, during the move from Xuzhang to Zhejiang, the big ones would all stand out.

My interest quickly waned, so I looked around.

The base was in the form of a courtyard, so the garden was quite large, and there were small houses, warehouses, and incineration sites of unknown purpose scattered around.

I went to the incineration site and asked a man who was turning his back to me,

"What do you burn here?"

The large man was eating something at a small table. He looked me up and down and replied,

"Who are you?"

"I came to see Master Shu."

"Oh, he's not here right now."

I watched the man eat.

"You're having a meal."

"Yes."

"Is anyone inside? Is the vice-chairman here?"

"Only guests are here. The vice-chairman must be out."

I pointed to the large incineration site and asked,

"What do you burn here?"

"Bodies. What else?"

"Do you have a reason to burn bodies?"

The large man chewed his meat with a sour expression and replied,

"If you don't pay, you get burned. I don't know much about it; it's just what I'm told to do."

I watched the man eating his meat and sighed.

"It feels a bit off to kill someone while they're eating."

The man finally stopped eating and glared at me. I pointed to the food he was eating and said,

"Finish eating."

I turned to check who the guests were, but the man who had stopped eating got up and walked to the side of the incineration site.

When I turned around, I saw him holding an axe and looking at me.

"You're not a guest, are you?"

The man, holding the axe, approached me.

How many people had he killed to make such a quick judgment? Maybe because he was a bit slow, he kept repeating the same thing while swinging the axe.

"You're not a guest!"

Judging by his stance, he had the strength to decapitate over a dozen third-rate Jianghu people with his external skills and physical strength. I didn't want to touch his body, so I aimed for his eyes with the Palm Technique of the Wooden Dummy.

Thud!

As the man's eye burst and he tried to scream, I kicked his abdomen, sending him flying into the entrance of the incineration site. While he was trying to grab the entrance with both hands, I ran over and pushed him into the incineration site.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

Despite his screams, no one came out.

I picked up the dropped axe and headed for the main hall.

The music from inside the main hall grew louder as I approached.

When I opened the door, the main hall was quite spacious.

No one looked at me as I entered.

On the central stage, dancers in revealing outfits were performing awkwardly, and below them, variously dressed Jianghu people were watching.

I walked up to the stage with the axe in my hand.

Only then did the dancers scream and leave, and I took the stage.

I set the axe aside and looked at the audience.

Only the stage area was lit, and the windows were blocked, making the audience area quite dark. The music stopped, and silence fell.

I looked around the stage and said,

"Can someone turn on the lights?"

It was strange.

No one tried to run away; they all drew their weapons.

Why?

* * *

I sat cross-legged with the bloodied axe beside me.

They seemed to have mistaken me for someone from the Wulin Alliance.

Since all the audience attacked me to the death, it took me about an hour to kill them all.

I pondered what Yunwu Hall was about while holding the bloodied axe. I didn't learn anything because I didn't talk to anyone.

I didn't want to ask the dancers either.

When I opened my eyes to ask someone, there were only corpses around.

I closed my eyes again.

I had to wait for the vice-chairman, who was out.

No matter what, these people, whose necks were all cut, must have been members of the strict Wulin Alliance, so they probably didn't do anything too bad.

Listening to the surroundings with my eyes closed, I heard people moving around quietly.

I couldn't hear beyond that.

My martial arts skills weren't at the level of a steel turtle or a great roc yet.

Focusing on my sense of smell, at first, it was all blood.

But as I focused, I could distinguish the scent of powder and perfume among the blood.

There were quite a few black dao who sprayed mist-like poison, so I always had to distinguish these scents.

While my eyes were closed, various thoughts came to mind.

First, the dancers' performance was terrible.

It seemed they had only learned recently.

They weren't professional dancers.

The people I killed with my axe all seemed wealthy.

I concluded that they attacked me without hesitation for the following reason: if they were black dao, they would have asked about my identity, tried to run, or assessed the situation.

So, most of the audience were likely wealthy martial artists from influential families.

It's not unusual for the wealthy upper class to associate with black dao.

It's common.

Black dao will do anything for money, and the upper class, lacking ways to spend their money, gradually become strange. In this gap, the only ones who suffer and die are those who earn money honestly.

So, in my past life, many white dao died at my hands.

I didn't set a line, so I could quickly rise in the Wulin Alliance's rankings. They even had to deploy a vast network to catch me.

Even if I returned to the past, some things would inevitably repeat.

But it's fine.

I'm getting stronger.

At that moment, I heard several footsteps and opened my eyes.

* * *

The main hall's door opened again, and the people who organized the performance looked inside with panicked expressions. Perhaps because it was a strictly disciplined organization, the subordinates remained silent while the vice-chairman spoke to me.

"Who are you?"

As the subordinates removed the barriers, the view became clearer.

The vice-chairman was a calm man. His calmness was evident in his expression, and he wasn't as old as I expected. When I remained silent, the vice-chairman approached the stage and looked up at me.

"Are you from the black dao? Do you think you can handle the chairman?"

Since he didn't seem like someone I could have a fun conversation with, I answered briefly.

"I came to collect a debt."

"How much is the debt that you'd do this..."

"How much can you pay?"

The vice-chairman thought for a moment and surprisingly replied,

"Three hundred gold coins, would that be enough?"

"Surprisingly, it matches exactly what Heixianbao told me to collect."

The vice-chairman smiled slightly and replied,

"Ah, you owe Heixianbao, then. In that case, take three hundred coins and settle your debt. Heixianbao's debt collectors are as relentless as us."

"You don't have to pay."

"Why not?"

I roughly demonstrated with my hands how I had smashed Heixianbao's head with a Langya Peak.

"Four times, I think? When blood and flesh scatter, you tend to forget about debt collection. You might not even remember who you lent money to. If you had a debt with Heixianbao, be grateful to me."

The vice-chairman was silent. I couldn't guess what he was thinking, so I tried to reason with him.

"Don't run. I'll let your subordinates live and only chase you. Don't order them to attack me first. I'll ignore them and only kill you."

"Then what should I do? Should I get the money first?"

"Don't. From the emptiness here, it seems your troops are elsewhere. While you're getting the money, they might come. Just stay here. Let's have a time of reflection. Mourn the dead. Think deeply about how our lives have come to this. We weren't evil when we were born, so how did we end up here?"

At that moment, the main hall's front door opened again, and people with swords quietly entered.

Despite the arrival of dozens more subordinates, the vice-chairman's expression remained stern.

I spoke sternly to the vice-chairman,

"Don't you want to talk to me? Is this how you want to handle it?"

The vice-chairman suddenly opened his mouth wide and took a deep breath. He raised his hand as if to give an attack order but then told his subordinates,

"Leave."

The subordinates left silently at the vice-chairman's gesture. The vice-chairman, looking exhausted as if he had just had a fierce martial arts battle, said to me,

"Since they're gone, calm down. If you have any demands, speak. Let's resolve this through conversation from start to finish. I'm willing to cooperate, betray, and beg for my life. Let's talk first."

I nodded and replied,

"Kneel."

The vice-chairman climbed to the edge of the stage and knelt.

* * *

The vice-chairman of Yunwu Hall, with his hands clasped, silently prayed.

Now he was certain.

He had encountered a completely insane person.

He could tell from the conversation. His eyes confirmed it even more. The state of the guests' bodies also confirmed his suspicions. Normally, when killed with an axe, limbs would be cut off, but most of the bodies had their heads split in half.

The state of the bodies gave him a rough idea of the madman's skills.

The vice-chairman, determined to survive at least this moment, said,

"If you have any demands, just say it... Luckily, the chairman is absent, so you can ask for anything. Of course, I'm not interested in money or women, but please tell me what you want."

* * *

I answered the kneeling vice-chairman's question.

"When will Master Shu arrive?"

"Probably late tonight."

"Can you kill him?"

"Of course, it's difficult for me alone. But if my direct subordinates and I attack together, we can kill him. Poison, hidden weapons, coordinated attacks, ambush. And he'll be drunk today, so it should be easier than usual. I can do it. I can kill him... Believe me. If I can't, you can kill me then. You want to kill Master Shu anyway, so we can do it together."

"You're a traitor."

I stood up with the axe and approached the vice-chairman, expecting a counterattack, but he didn't move.

I stroked the vice-chairman's head with my left hand and gripped the axe.

"Master Shu is as strong as a great monk. Can you do it?"

"That's if we fight formally..."

I brought the axe down and split the vice-chairman's head in half.

Thinking about it, the quality of Yunwu Hall was so bad that there were hardly any redeemable people.

The body of the traitor, who was strong against the weak and weak against the strong, was added to the stage.