Chapter 7

Translated by Oedon Edited by Phantom0408

Nanshan Town

This town was located in the city’s southern area. Inside, there were many stalls selling clothes and textiles.

However, most of the stalls here have now been closed, losing their past hustle and bustle.

In recent years, the Royal Taxes have been rising and the commercial taxes even more so. Now, one can only see a little trace of the city’s former glory.

Wei He walked along the street with his head down, face covered with a cloth while walking hurriedly. He also changed his clothes to inconspicuous grey linen.

These days, he didn’t only rely on Cheng Shaojiu to inquire about news regarding Chen Biao.

After several days of careful tailing, he got Chen Biao and his men’s address.

Lowering his head to cross a broken bamboo drying pole, he soon came to a small and broken courtyard.

The gate of the courtyard was ajar, and inside, there happened to be a woman with puffy red eyes holding luggage and a small boy.

The woman was a bit beautiful, but the tears on her face and her red and puffy eyes showed that she was in a bad mood.

Holding the boy’s hand, the woman looked at Wei He’s clothes, then immediately lowered her head, leaving hurriedly without even closing the gate.

Wei He knew this woman.

She’s Chen Biao’s daughter-in-law, Shan Ju, a well-known widow nearby.

“Who’s out there!?” Chen Biao’s doubtful voice came out from the courtyard.

Wei He entered the courtyard.

In the middle of the courtyard, Chen Biao was sitting on the steps in front of the house, his arm bandaged with some blood soaking out.

“Chen Biao, I rushed over as soon as I heard that you were injured.” Wei He revealed a smile.

“You? You are…?” Chen Biao stood up in confusion.

He wanted to say something before suddenly, he was dazed as white ash was maliciously thrown in his face.

AH!!

Chen Biao flailed his arm around, trying to block a possible attack.

Wei He kicked Chen Biao’s abdomen and picked up a hoe from the corner of the wall, then used it to repeatedly hit Chen Biao’s head.

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!!

Throwing away the hoe, Wei He didn’t even look at Chen Biao who was silent on the ground. He turned to leave the courtyard and closed the gate with his backhand.

Then, without saying a word, he walked away with his face wrapped.

All the way out of Nanshan town, and to the small river between the two towns, he then sat among the wild grass.

Only then did he take a deep breath.

Everything was going as he planned at the beginning, and it was going smoothly too. The injured Chen Biao wasn’t able to muster any resistance, not to mention that he was blinded in advance.

He had simulated the process many times before, but it was much easier than imagined.

Chen Biao, who was supposed to be strong and full of deterrence, came to an end without even a grunt after he had done so.

‘I… No one saw me when I entered or left, I had kept my face wrapped, Chen Biao didn’t manage to shout out my name in the process. Only the widow Shan Ju saw me, but she probably didn’t see my face either.’

Wei He shook his hand and untied the cloth on his face, then took off his coat and turned it inside out to hide the bloodstains.

‘I wonder how Chen Biao is now? With so much force smashed on him, he should be—’ Wei He stopped thinking about it anymore.

Although it’s not a rare sight for people to die in this city, and oftentimes one can even pull out corpses from the city’s ditch.

Not to mention outside the city, there were many corpses out there, neglected and left about to lure out and be eaten by wild dogs, who are then trapped and eaten by the people.

But the difference was that this time, Chen Biao may have died at his hands.

Wei He kept breathing deeply, constantly adjusting his physical state.

‘Chen Biao had been targeting my sister for a long time, not to mention that he often abducts people. He also almost robbed my money for my martial arts studies before, and If he didn’t die, my sister wouldn’t feel at ease.

‘Therefore, I’m doing this to eliminate evil. I’m right, right.’

Wei He constantly justified his actions, but in fact, he knew it in his heart.

The original plan was to just cripple Chen Biao instead of killing him.

But when he set out to do it, his mind went blank and his body’s strength burst out, for fear that Chen Biao would shout out his name.

To prevent him from making a sound, he subconsciously smashed down on his head. It took five or six times before he realized that his strength was too strong.

Now that he thought about it, he had wrapped his face up, so Chen Biao couldn’t know who he was.

‘What’s more, the hoe was made of wrought iron and I smashed it down with all of my eighty catties of lifting strength… and it was also aimed at his head…’

Wei He knew in his heart that Chen Biao was doomed.

He was not worried about the government because now, the government does not care at all. There are dead people every day in and outside the city, with various kinds of crime happening, and yet, the government’s officials acted like they didn’t see nor hear it.

It was completely ignored.

“So… this is what it feels to murder someone…” Wei He’s hands were still trembling, but he knew he had to adapt, even if he didn’t want to.

In this era, one cannot survive without being ruthless.

He doesn’t want to die, so he could only let others die.

He turned around and walked towards the town.

Not long after.

At one of Chen Biao’s men’s residences, a small bungalow.

Wei He walked in expressionlessly and walked out after a while with bloodstains on his hands.

He was a little scared when he did it the first time, but after he got used to it he became less nervous.

Followed by the last one, the other men’s residence, which was a small earthen house located between the two towns.

When Wei He arrived there, it was almost dark.

The area around the house was empty and deserted.

Outside the house, there were many piles of dried corn stalks.

Wei He walked to the door and knocked gently.

Knock, knock, knock

It was quiet, there was no sound inside.

Knock, knock, knock

He knocked on the door again and waited for a while, but there was still no sound inside.

After thinking about it, he went to the window and looked in through the crack.

Generally, the doors and windows of this kind of house were not closed tightly, and the gaps were very large, so you can see what is inside.

Wei He vaguely saw a person lying on a bed through the crack.

It was a man in a short black jacket.

‘There’s someone.’

He walked back to the door and checked his surroundings; he saw no one.

He took a few steps back, then rushed forward and kicked the door.

BANG!

This kick easily opened the broken wooden door of the earthen house.

He has been exercising for more than half a year, so he was no longer the skinny little man he used to be.

Now, his figure was about the same size as Chen Biao, who used to make him nervous. So his strength was estimated to be about the same, one or even two people wouldn’t be able to fight him.

The door was kicked open, but there were still no sounds inside.

Wei He was puzzled, and with vigilance, he stood at the door and looked inside.

“Zhao Deli, get up,” he said out loud.

The man on the bed was motionless as if he didn’t hear anything.

The house was filled with an unpleasant stench, like some kind of rotting meat.

Wei He’s complexion changed slightly, and he had a vague guess.

He approached and pulled him over to take a look.

A ghastly pale face with only skin and bones left appeared before his eyes.

The two eyeballs on his face have dried up, and small black bugs were crawling in and out of his nostrils.

This man had long been dead.

And yet no one had even noticed that he was dead.

The most important thing is that he is still holding a child in his arms.

The child was curled up and shrunk into a ball. His small face was left with only skin and bones, with black bugs crawling in and out of his ears and mouth.

Wei He’s scalp became numb. He quickly stepped back and ran out of the room to gasp for breath.

On the one hand, he was scared by the corpse, but the smell managed to disgust him even more.

Three people, two died by his own hands, and one has been long dead for who knows how long.

His revenge was over, and yet, Wei He didn’t feel any happiness.

He went to the nearby river and washed his hands, he then went back towards his old home dazedly.

His mind kept replaying the image of the last corpse.

He had inquired about it before, Zhao Deli had a child, a young one too. But he did not expect the man to hold his child even on his deathbed, and he wasn’t sure how long it had been.

‘This is troubling times… that’s all the value human life holds.’

Wei He sat alone on his bed. The moonlight shone through the window and hit the side of his face, revealing his pale face.

He didn’t sleep well for the whole night, constantly tossing and turning over on the bed, as he was constantly reminded of the child.

It was not until dawn that he got up again and ate the gold worm meat.

He tried to shake off the image in his mind. Once he thought of the Pojing Bead, he felt a little more settled.

It’s just that, this gold worm meat, although it raised the Pojing Bead’s energy very fast, the taste was really bad.

Wei He put a small piece into his mouth, although it tastes like dry wood, it was possible to swallow a small piece if it was mixed with water.

………

On the other side.

Nanshan Town, Zhao Deli’s house.

Before the sun went up, a few strong men in grey Duanda came to the door of the earthen house. [1]

“Is this the place?”

“Yes.”

Several people spoke quietly.

With that, one of them kicked the door open and quickly went in for a short while. Soon after, he came out.

“They are all dead.”

“The last place that woman stayed was here, those black bugs are the traces. Look around, the black bugs are still very much alive, she must not have gone far.” The man in the lead said in a deep voice.

“According to the traces, she should have stayed here temporarily to hide for a while, and then left.”

“She must be found. Also, leave one person to silence anyone who may be involved and has seen the black bugs.”

“HAO!” [2]

After a while, the whole house was set on fire, and several people turned around and left quietly after they were sure that everything inside had been burned down.

………

Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, another month had passed.

Wei He practiced the moves every day, and at the same time, he began his first desquamation.

HUA, HUA, HUA!

In the courtyard of Mountain Fist, in front of a big wooden basin, Wei He ceaselessly hit the sand in the wooden basin with his bare fists.

The dry, hard sandy soil was the first step in practicing desquamation.

Wei He did not move fast or slow, instead each time he would always plunge his fist deep into the sand so that every part of it could be rubbed thoroughly.

After rubbing for half an hour, he pulled out his fists and put them in the medicinal soup on the side, soaking them for fifty breaths.

A charcoal fire was placed under the medicinal soup to maintain its heat.

Like him, there were several people around him practicing desquamation together.

And on the periphery, there were still people waiting for their turn.

After all, this position for practicing desquamation was quite valuable.

1. Duanda (短打), a kind of ancient Hanfu, it’s more commonly known as Shuhe (竖褐), images for reference: https://bit.ly/3uDSn5Y

2. Something like OK! or ROGER!

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