Chapter 33
If it were a one versus one, Li Qingshan was confident that he could defeat Yang Jun within ten moves, or even kill him.
“Hmph, since you don’t want to drink a toast you’ll have to drink bitter wine!” Yang Jun was about to pass down the order to have Li Qingshan seized. Even if the Horse Rein Village wasn’t good to provoke, there was no fearing any news would leak out from those deep mountains after they destroyed the corpse and erased the evidence.
Li Qingshan’s whole body was taut. He planned to first take out their ringleader. Even at the risk of taking a sword, he’d capture Yang Jun first and see the rest later.
Suddenly someone said: “Little Master, it looks like that’s the Stone Rending Bow on his back.”
“What, Stone Rending Bow!” Yang Jun stopped his actions and took the measure of the great bow carried on Li Qingshan’s back. He had some understanding about this famous weapon of a famous character in Suncheer City’s surroundings: “Where did you get this bow?”
“Of course it’s a gift from the chief hunter.” Li Qingshan said.
There was a burst of uncertainty on Yang Jun’s face. He could hear and see things inside the sect. He knew everything he had to know. The one who could get this weapon was most likely Sick Yellow Tiger’s successor, the next generation chief hunter of the Horse Rein Village.
If such a person died, the Horse Rein Village would certainly not take things lying down. It wouldn’t take much effort to learn of their activity in this region. If they wanted to risk all their strength in revenge, those hidden arrows and pit snares weren’t good to deal with either. He couldn’t stir up this kind of trouble just for the anger of a moment. He flung his hand: “Kid, don’t let me run into you again.”
In the blink of an eye, they were gone without a trace, and there was only Li Qingshan left by himself on the mountain path. Although he couldn’t read minds, he could still guess that the other party was afraid of the Horse Rein Village’s power.
When strangers saw you, what they saw was never your person itself, but your influence, your strength, your wealth. Though Li Qingshan achieved the level of a third-grad master, what he had relied on to escape from danger was the bow on his back.
He was filled with anger abreast as he silently said: “I’m not a man anymore if I can’t take revenge for this hatred. I, Li Qingshan am absolutely not controlled by anyone, and absolutely don’t survive thanks to someone else’s reputation.”
He originally didn’t very much approve of the green bull’s saying about “even trivial animosity must be taken revenge for.” He felt that a real man should be a little bit more broad-minded. Now he realized that many great blood feuds were born from such trivialities, transforming into enmities that couldn’t rest until death.
Li Qingshan returned to Crouching Bull Village after an absence of more than a month. He heard sounds of activity inside his house before he even set foot in the door. “Could it be a thief? The place I live at is a little remote. I actually want to see which petty thief dares to come steal from me.” The rage in his chest hadn’t dissipated yet. He went inside in fast strides and grabbed that man. The man ate some pain and turned his head toward him.
Four eyes faced each others. The two men were both startled.
“Wealthy Li!”
“Second Son.”
“What are you doing in my house?”
“Second Son, you’re not dead?”
Li Qingshan watched the room. Although he went away for a month, it was still untainted by dust. He knew Wealthy Li didn’t come to steal things but to help him tidy the house.
“Of course I’m not dead, why do you say that?”
He only found things out after some inquiry. Originally, there wasn’t any news about Li Qingshan after he came back from Cedar Creek Town. Some people from the village saw him get into a conflict with villagers from Horse Rein Village in the market, so they all said that every sign pointed to disaster.
Wealthy Li even burned some paper money for him and cried for a while.
Li Qingshan didn’t know whether to cry or laugh: “Am I not still alive and kicking. The Horse Rein Village’s chief hunter Yellow invited me to be a guest in their village, so I stayed a few days there.”
Wealthy Li didn’t think that he could survive even after going into the Horse Rein Village, this kind of dragon pond and tiger cave. As to those kind of words about chief hunter Yellow inviting him to be a guest, he didn’t put too much faith in them. In his eyes, Li Qingshan was very fierce, but he was still far away if he were to compared with a character like Sick Yellow Tiger. He didn’t know what he should be saying and only repeated over and over: “That’s good then! That’s good then!” It made Li Qingshan a little moved. Back then he didn’t help the wrong person.
But Wealthy Li’s face suddenly became anxious: “You better quickly leave, don’t let the people in the village know.”
“What’s this now?”
“The eldest kid from the village chief’s family came back, he said he was going to make trouble for you!”
“Dragon Li!”
Village Chief Li’s eldest son, also the elder brother of Panther Li and Tiger Li. Li Qingshan couldn’t be said to be unfamiliar with his name. On the contrary, the villagers talked on and on so much about him that he almost got ear calluses just listening about him.
Dragon Li wasn’t much older than him, but rumors had it that a noble took a fancy to him when he was a kid and playing outside, then took him to Suncheer City to learn martial arts. He only came back at the new year or during festivals. He’d met face to face with the cowherd boy Li Qingshan a few times, but they never even exchanged a word.
In the eyes of the villagers, this was a great person who went out of Crouching Bull Village to Suncheer City and made something of himself. If there was an unmarried maiden in any family, she would hope to be his fiancee. Together with Steward Liu’s son Little Steward Liu, they were named the “hero pair of Crouching Bull.”
Of course, now with Li Qingshan’s emergence, perhaps they should be called the “three heroes of Crouching Bull,” but Li Qingshan hadn’t seen the world, hadn’t gone to Suncheer City, so this “third hero” was a bit stretching it.
Li Qingshan said: “Am I afraid of him!” Not only not afraid, but on the contrary he had to go experience it for himself. He disregarded Wealthy Li’s dissuasion and pulled his legs toward Village Chief Li’s house.
Inside Village Chief Li’s house, a young man with short one-inch long hair was lecturing Village Chief Li at this exact moment: “Anyone dares to bully over our heads, you’re really more immature the longer you live.” Then he pointed to Tiger Li and Panther Li: “You two great lordlings actually allow someone to bully to our door.”
He had grown up almost entirely in Suncheer City, and the range of his experience was extremely rich. He also considered himself a Suncheer man, and at this moment he used the vision of a “city man” to look at the matters of the village. There was a kind of natural involuntary contempt, not only for Li Qingshan but for everything about the Crouching Bull Village.
He wasn’t so young anymore but never took a wife. His family was also once anxious and search around to find him a partner, but there was only refusal hanging on his mouth. The present him was already not someone that a village girl could be matched to.
The Village Chief Li who was full of majesty inside the village was merely submissive at this time: “Don’t be angry my son, anyway this kid is already dead.”
“He provoked the Horse Rein Village, that’s courting the road to his own death, it actually spares me the trouble of teaching him a lesson.”
Tiger Li shrank his neck and had become a yes-man, but Panther Li actually said: “Big brother, you didn’t let us enter the Iron Fist Gate to learn martial arts, so of course we’ll be bullied in the village.”
Dragon Li glared at him: “That’s because your qualifications aren’t enough!”
At this time someone suddenly shouted outside: “Li Qingshan didn’t die, Li Qingshan came back!”
Dragon Li fiercely stood up.
If one said this news set off great waves in the tranquil village, then what “Li Qingshan went off to Village Chief Li’s house!” set off would be mad crazy swelling billows. It caused everyone in the village to move out and go watch this showdown at the pinnacle between the Crouching Bull Village’s first hero and third hero.
Under the blazing sun, Li Qingshan and Dragon Li faced off four eyes looking into each others, while the villagers all held their breaths as if afraid of disturbing them.
Tiger Li and Panther Li stood beside Dragon Li to foster his momentum. Dragon Li waved his hand and made those two step back, “Li the Second, it’s been a long while, you’ve already grown so big.”
This was entirely the tone used by seniors toward later generations, but every villager thought he had this kind of qualifications. They whispered among themselves:
“This time the Second Son ran into big troubles.”
“Right, Dragon Li isn’t someone those Baldy Liu this kind of scoundrels and muckers can compare to.”
Li Qingshan didn’t answer this tone of voice. He observed that Dragon Li was tall and muscular with swelling arm muscles and bright eyes full of spirit. He radiated power just standing there. But his intuition told him that this man wasn’t as strong as Sick Yellow Tiger.