Chapter 15
The witch pointed a finger and a cloud of dark haze flew in front of him. There were many faces struggling in pain faintly visible inside the haze.
This was the witch’s killing card, called “Ghost Haze.” It gathered thick gloom and resentment. She usually kept it in an earthen jar filled with the ashes of the dead, and buried it underground to absorb the gloomy chill. It would only be used at critical moments. In any case, this ghost haze had no awareness and only possessed hatred, so it was very hard to control. It could turn on her instead at the slightest carelessness.
Today she saw Li Qingshan come with such a threatening momentum and had hurriedly opened the jar. This ghost haze’s might was also extraordinary. Ordinary beings would immediately fall down and lose consciousness as soon as they’re shrouded by the ghostly haze. The most insidious thing was that this ghost fog was the same as ghosts and stood between reality and illusion, entirely invisible to ordinary people.
If Li Qingshan’s eyes hadn’t been unusually clear, he would have been fooled this time. Those days’ of painstaking training manifested their results. He slanted his body, dodged the ghost haze, and directly charged at the witch.
The witch didn’t expect Li Qingshan to be able to see the haze and suddenly panicked. She quickly shook a bronze bell: “Little An Little An! Come out for your grandmother, kill him!”
This child called “Little An” squatted in a corner, his face full of suffering, but he hugged his head and didn’t move one bit.
During the time she spoke, Li Qingshan resorted to the “Bull Demon Ground Stamp.” His foot heavily stepped on the ground, leaving a very deep footprint behind as he flew forward and slashed his blade down.
Cold light flashed and fresh blood splashed in the four directions. The witch’s hand that clutched the bronze bell was thin like chicken claws, and it was cut off by Li Qingshan together with the wrist.
Li Qingshan didn’t even have time to examine the results of his slash when he felt gloomy air pour forth behind his back. This ghost haze sensed the breath of a living person, and like a wild beast smelling the scent of fresh blood, it attacked driven by its hatred.
Li Qingshan didn’t dare to stop and sprinted forward. He sensed that the ghost haze didn’t catch up, and instead he heard a burst of shrill screams behind his back. He turned around and saw the cloud of ghost haze enveloping the witch silhouette, the many faces within biting and gnawing at her body.
Even Li Qingshan hadn’t expected this turnaround.
The witch actually lost control of the ghost haze under the pain, and was immediately bitten back instead.
For every grievance there was someone responsible, every debt had a debtor. The witch was the one to initiate evil and ultimately reaped what she had sown. Her body twisted from head to toes, and her flesh withered at a pace visible to the naked eye.
Li Qingshan watched with a very carefree and content feeling in his chest. He laughed loudly.
He originally had a shred of compassion and sympathy in him, but he repressed it down, because he felt it was shameful. Facing an innocent child who had suffered injustices, he was wiling to sing in grief and shed his tears. When faced with this kind of person that was even lower than beasts, he wanted to obliterate all sympathy and heartily laugh to the sky.
Many people had originally climbed over the outer yard’s walls and were looking toward the house. The villagers were really curious and the three scoundrels were entirely unable to stop all of them, so they could only allow them to do so. They merely occupied the best seats in front of the main door.
They saw Li Qingshan step inside the door, fly up and hack down the witch’s hand with his blade, then the witch just fell on the ground and wailed in pain. Amidst this painful wailing, Li Qingshan’s laughter seemed like a crazed demon, alarming the crowd and making them tremble in fear.
Many people were so afraid that they fell off the walls. The three scoundrels’ legs also went soft and they fell sitting on the ground. They felt incomparable regrets when they remembered that back then they had even mocked and insulted him. Was this kind of person someone they could afford to provoke?
Li Qingshan saw the ghost haze gradually dissipate, and the hatred within set free in a short moment. The witch laid prone on the ground, breathing her last breaths. She was surprisingly not dead yet, but obviously not far from death either. He guessed that she had cultivated some kind of technique, and it was why she could still hang on.
The witch stretched her one chicken claw left and called the child in the corner, seemingly begging and resenting at the same time: “Little An, Little An!”
Little An watched her both blankly and fearfully. Li Qingshan said: “I’ll send you off!” The thick-backed blade in his hand stabbed down.
Steward Liu and Village Chief had gotten the news and rushed over. They just happened to see this scene, and before they even had time to shout “Spare her life from your blade” or this kind of words, the witch had already given up the ghost. They both looked at each other and they both sweat cold sweats. They remembered that a few days ago the witch was still running her mouth and saying Li Qingshan didn’t have long to live, now today she’d handed her life over.
It was fortunate they didn’t drive Li Qingshan into a corner that day, otherwise no one could know the results.
This was already the second time Li Qingshan killed someone. Compared to his panic in the darkness the first time, this time he seemed very unperturbed in broad daylight. He made great progress and even he himself was surprised, wondering: “Could it be that the [Bull Demon Strong Fist] stirred the demon nature inside my heart, or could this be my true face?”
In the blurry and deranged modern society of his former world, there were so many people who couldn’t unfold their true character. They could only drift along with the current, living while conforming to society’s trends. Not mentioning adults thirty or forty years old, even young men and women didn’t have any hot blood or great ambitions. He had also been but another face in the crowd, not any different from the next person.
After experiencing the changes of life and death through the wheel of reincarnation, it had stirred the noble aspirations in his chest, and he refused to spend this life in mediocrity. But he’d still been crushed by the bitter life of this small mountain village for fifteen years. Now he finally got his chance, and once his heroic spirit was set free, it was really like a crazy demon as he refused to restrain himself any longer.
Li Qingshan restrained his laughter and said as he turned his head back: “The two of you don’t panic, this old scamming wench has only herself to blame and deserved punishment. I still need you two to uphold justice.”
You charge into someone’s house in broad daylight and murder people, now you still want us to uphold justice. Those words only spun inside the two’s mind and they naturally didn’t dare say them out loud.
Suddenly someone rushed out of the crowd and came in front of Li Qingshan. Bang bang bang, he kowtowed three times then lifted his head: “I”m the murderer, it has nothing to do with the Second Son! This old monster wench ruined my household and killed my family. Little Hair, dad took revenge for you!” When he was done talking he was both laughing and in tears at the same time. It was precisely Wealthy Li. This great boulder pressing upon his chest for many years had suddenly been pushed away, and he felt that he would be at peace even if he had to die.
There was no one in the village who didn’t know of Wealthy Li’s bitter experience, and all fell silent.
There was only Steward Liu who exposed some fear and embarrassment. It was precisely because Wealthy Li had met with this disaster, drowning his sorry in alcohol and selling his fertile lands, that he could obtain the “Half Village Liu” nickname. If Li Qingshan suspected he had colluded with the witch, wouldn’t that be a disaster?
Li Qingshan said: “The things I do I take responsibility for, what do I need you to act as the scapegoat? Please follow me!” He called the three scoundrels and some elder folks with prestige inside the village, then together they went to the witch’s backyard.
Li Qingshan turned his head back and nodded towards the eaves. Others followed his gaze but there was only a patch of emptiness there. Little An hid inside the shadows and pointed at an empty spot.
Li Qingshan issued an order and the three scoundrels started digging. Under Li Qingshan’s supervision, they one and all exerted their full effort and didn’t dare slack off in the slightest. After a short moment of effort, they dug out a great pit and excavated a pile of bones.
Li Qingshan went down and collected the remains. He turned his head back and watched the eaves, then ordered: “Keep digging!” Those weren’t Little An’s remains.
Under Little An’s directions, Li Qingshan made them dig several times more, and they again excavated several white bony skeletons. The surrounding people all exposed horror on their faces. How could so many skeletons been buried in the witch’s backyard? Moreover, they all were children’s skeletons.
Li Qingshan was also a little aghast, and his face became heavier. He knew that those were the sacrifices to the evil arts the witch cultivated. The cloud of ghost haze filled with resentment that he had seen should certainly have come from this. He only hated that he let the old traitor witch die too easily.
At this time, a “Ding” came, as if they’d hit something. They carefully dug it out. It was a porcelain jar, tightly sealed.
Not waiting for Li Qingshan to stop them, the three scoundrels scrambled to open the jar. A small cloud of black air rushed out, and as if it was afraid of sunlight it directly drilled itself into a scoundrel’s mouth and nose.
This scoundrel’s body trembled all over then fell to the ground and passed out. In not long of a time no more sound came from him.