Chapter 22
At this moment Li Qingshan’s steel blade had taken another man’s life. Although he had also taken a saber strike on his back, it hadn’t cut deep in his flesh. Moreover the wound contracted and didn’t let out much blood.
At the same moment, a waist saber pierced with an oblique angle at his belly. He clutched the saber’s edge tightly, then his hand lifted the blade and cut off a head filled with horror in one slash.
This kind of aggressive aura made people intimidated when they saw it.
Little Black wasn’t very convinced originally, only saying that the reason Li Qingshan beat them was merely because he had mounted a sudden sneak attack on them. He was set on finding an occasion to return the favor, but at this moment cold sweat emerged on his forehead. Li Qingshan’s blade technique was exquisite and his slaughtering was vicious, making him alarmed.
This kind of wild beast wasn’t something a half-baked hunter like him could kill. It was fortunate that they hadn’t genuinely faced Li Qingshan with blades drawn earlier in the downtown area.
In a short period of time, seven men fell as corpses. Li Qingshan rested on the ground on one knee, supporting himself on an utterly broken steel blade. There were more than ten wounds on his body, and his clothes were dyed through and through by fresh blood. Some was from other people, some was his own.
The only ginseng gatherer left had a terrified and deranged look on his face. He’d often done things like killing people to rob their belongings, but it had always been bullying honest people. When had he seen this kind of desperate killing in all of his life: “You… you madman!”
Li Qingshan’s expression was like a hardened limestone. In this fight for life and death, every one of his styles and moves displayed a level exceeding his usual, stimulating the potential inside his body. But this way was also very exhausting for the body, and in a short moment he was spent.
Is this originally the dao I chose? It’s really filled with bloodstains!
The green bull stood leisurely at one said, as if asking him: Are you regretting now?
“I’ll kill you!” The ginseng gatherer roared crazily and charged on.
His body had no strength left. The edge of a saber fell on his neck, and the chilliness of it aroused the fine hair on his body to stand up straight. Li Qingshan madly roared “I have no regrets!” All the breath and energy in his body flowed to his hands. He clenched the steel blade tight and brandished it up to meet the enemy.
“Beng” “Sou!” A bowstring tore the air, a feather arrow shot out, nailing the last of the ginseng gatherers on the ground, dead.
Li Qingshan raised his head stunned. Several vigorous silhouettes slipped down from the mountain wall. They were precisely the Horse Rein Village’s hunters. They approached Li Qingshan cautiously, then suddenly rushed forward and grabbed his four limbs.
Li Qingshan had exhausted all the energy in his body in the moment just now. They carried him on top of the ravine.
“Kid, you did well!” Sick Yellow Tiger put away his big bow. After this praise he didn’t continue to talk. He waved his hand, and the hunters once again concealed themselves on both hides of the ravine.
In not too much of a time, the other ginseng gatherers had chased to this place. They examined the corpses of their companions with dignified faces. When they saw the gatherer nailed dead on the ground, their faces suddenly changed greatly, shouting: “Quickly escape!”
“Release!” Sick Yellow Tiger yelled his order, and a rain of arrows fell from both sides.
The ginseng gatherers suddenly waved their waist sabers. But how could they block arrows without a great difference in their martial arts. Blood curling screams echoed one after another.
Sick Yellow Tiger held his great bow, standing on a great protruding boulder, and targeted the ginseng gatherers attempting to flee. In the sea of arrows, none missed their marks, as if he were a god of death.
Li Qingshan propped his body up and watched, feeling also shocked. On one side he was shocked at how easily this battle to the bitter death between two great villages had come, and on the other side was shock at the power of bows and arrows.
He cultivated the [Bull Demon Strong Fist], and what grew fastest was precisely his strength. If he could pull a great bow, could he also kill people as if slaughtering dogs like this?
When Sick Yellow Tiger fired his fifth arrow, the miserable shrieks had already stopped, and there was only the elusive sounds of weak groans that came and went.
“Sick Yellow Tiger!” A ginseng gatherer that had his thigh pierced by an arrow issued a shrill roar.
“I’m right here!” Sick Yellow Tiger leaped down from the tall cliff and asked: “Where’s the spirit ginseng? If you say it out cleanly, I’ll give you a clean death!”
“How…how could you know?”
“The things going on around the hundred thousand mountains, I still know a little about them. The spirit ginseng appeared in the vicinity of the Horse Rein Village’s mountain. When you take it it can eliminate a hundred diseases and prolong your life, isn’t that right? Before I thought it was false, but now looking at your expression I believe it a little. You really overestimate your abilities a little too much if you’re thinking about snatching it from the tiger’s mouth.”
“You want to use the spirit ginseng to cure your disease, but it’s mere wishful thinking. You have absolutely no idea how to capture the spirit ginseng. You just wait, the Ginseng King Village won’t take things lying down.”
“You want to contend with Horse Rein Village with only your disunified village?”
“Heh heh heh heh, when the news spreads out, I don’t now how many strong masters will hurry to converge to Horse Rein Village.”
Sick Yellow Tiger’s face changed slightly: “Will you bear to?” He waved his hand as he saw that he couldn’t obtain much information. Hunters came up one by one, filling the gatherer that still wasn’t dead with their blades. Then they collected his belongings, lifted the body and threw it down in the ravine.
In the blink of an eye, the ground filled with corpses was cleanly tidied up. Only the remnant of blood was witness to the desperate battle right now. By the time the next mountain rain fell, nothing would be left anymore.
A man’s life, at certain moments, was really as light and cheap as crickets or moles.
The hunters’ gazes fell once more on Li Qingshan. Appreciation and admiration existed inside, but even more so there was a barely concealed murderous aura.
Li Qingshan had heard a big secret, and the people of Horse Rein Village would definitely not let him leave. The simplest way was naturally to kill him and throw him down down the ravine after the ginseng gatherers.
The hateful green bull refused to help, no matter he hovered at the edge of death. This time going out of the mountains, he had already understood that his own strength had greatly changed, and he also recognized how small and weak he still was. Perhaps this was precisely where the green bull’s goal lay.
Sick Yellow Tiger said: “Is little brother willing to follow me and come sit in our Horse Rein Village?”
“What if I said I don’t want to?”
“You don’t appreciate kindness!” “Kill him!” The hunters were greatly angry.
Sick Yellow Tiger waved his hand and said: “I don’t kill innocent people. If you’re not willing, then just leave by yourself! I trust you’re not someone to open his mouth and waggle his tongue.”
Li Qingshan wasn’t someone so unreasonable. Based on the other party’s formidable demeanor, he wouldn’t have a soft hand when it came to killing people. He might not kill himself, but his subordinate hunters all looked ferocious and murderous.
Moreover, he himself also had some interest in taking a look at Horse Rein Village. Maybe he could learn some hunter archery. Then he would be able to survive independently without needing the green bull’s help, and his own power might also greatly increase. As to the spirit ginseng, he didn’t dare think too much about it.
“Then I will, if you insist.”
Sick Yellow Tiger showed his smile and ordered someone to bring ointments. When they smeared it on Li Qingshan, they found out that his wounds had contracted and hadn’t continued to bleed. They clucked their tongues in wonder.
Li Qingshan resisted his pain and went to the bull cart. He took out the newly-bought ginseng, put some in his mouth and chewed slowly. He also swatted off a wine jar’s seal and poured himself a bellyful of wine in big gulps.
The wine infused the ginseng and a gust of warm energy diffused from his belly. He felt immediately reinvigorated, making the crowd endlessly astonished.
Li Qingshan climbed on the bull cart and ignored the others around him. He closed his eyes in meditation, restoring the exhaustion and pain that still lingered inside his body. He wanted to take this opportunity to sum up this battle’s successes and failures.
First of all, he couldn’t leave things to luck again. He’d always heard people say that the martial world1 was vicious and sinister. Today could count as the first time he experienced this himself. One careless step could possibly cost him his life. A man’s life in this world was really too light and cheap. He couldn’t possibly always obtain assistance from others every time, and he couldn’t depend on impromptu outbursts from himself either. To be brave but lack planning was to seek the road to one’s own death. He had better treasure this fortunate life of his instead.
But this time, amidst the struggle for life and death, his comprehension of the [Bull Demon Strong Fist] had deepened yet another level, and even his whole body’s essence and energy became a little different, like a treasure blade that had been polished on a grindstone.
1. Jiang Hu in the original text, literally rivers and lakes. Also called Wulin (Martial forests) it’s a term from classic wuxia novels indicating the world martial artists live in. In those novels martial artists mainly interact with each others, with their own rules, structures, upholding justice by themselves with little contact and little interference from the mundane world.