Chapter 37
The mountain bandits laughed out loud, as if they had heard an extremely funny joke. But the third boss sensed something fearsome from Li Qingshan’s body and didn’t make any laughing sound.
A human head falling down, a fully pulled bowstring.
“Die!” Li Qingshan acted in the space of an instant. The bellow coming from his mouth couldn’t cover the metallic cry of the quivering bowstring. The arrow carried his sky-vast fury as it fired toward the third boss.
A beam of dark light pierced through. A gigantic strength carried the third boss with it and lifted him to some height before heavily falling down.
A bow with the strength of three stones had astonishing power. Li Qingshan movements had flowed smoothly. Within such a short distance, only a second-grade master or higher could possibly dodge the arrow, which the third boss obviously wasn’t.
The noisy village quieted down in a flash. The mountain bandits opened their eyes wide one and all, unable to believe the scene in front of them. The glorified third boss had unexpectedly been killed by a half-grown little kid.
The villagers looked at him as if they were watching a god. For them, these mountain bandits were fearsome evil demons, even more so for the third boss who was the evil demon commander. Now Li Qingshan who’d killed the third boss in one hit was truly like a god.
The situation had reverted itself, but there was no joy on Dragon Li’s face, only alarm.
“Third boss! Third boss!” Several mountain bandits circled around the third boss. The third boss coughed a mouthful of fresh blood, and pointed at Li Qingshan with a face full of fierceness: “Kill him!”
He could also amount to a third-grade master, and he had reacted in a split second. Although he couldn’t dodge that arrow, he’d avoided being hit in a vital spot. The arrow had pierced through his right armpit, the surrounding bones all ground into dust; his right hand could be said to be wasted. His eyes were bloodshot, and he wished nothing better than to swallow Li Qingshan raw.
The mountain bandits started to react, holding their various weapons as they charged roaring toward Li Qingshan.
A strong wind came from behind his head. A short javelin stabbed toward the back of his head. He didn’t turn his head and merely leaned it slightly to the side. He clutched the javelin in his hand, then turned around and threw it. The javelin flew back with a fierce speed ten times faster than before, and nailed the bandit who’d sneak-attacked him to a door.
A double-crescent halberd, a goose-feather saber, and a red-tasseled spear all stabbed at him at the same time.
Li Qingshan grasped the spear and halberd. He forcefully pulled on them, and the two mountain bandits lost balance, falling to the ground full of fear. A pair of steel arms were waiting for them. The steel fists hit their chests. Two muffled sounds could be heard, then the two bandits flew out at the same time while puking blood.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, the goose-tail saber stabbed into Li Qingshan’s bosom. The freezing cold saber blade came into contact with his lower abomen. It looked as if Li Qingshan was soon going to be run through, but it couldn’t move an inch deeper.
Li Qingshan’s two iron palms slapped together on the head of the bandit holding the saber, with the power of an ear-piercing gale. When he let his hands fall, the mountain bandit dropped to the ground as if he had lost his soul, fresh blood slowly seeping out of all his facial orifices.
He walked in great strides toward the third boss. The sound of his man-killing power was already deafening to the ears. He poked with his tiptoe, hooked the great halberd up, and grasped it in his hand.
There was no style, there was no qualms, there was only one sweep.
A mad gale lifted a half-circular smoke of dust that rushed toward the mountain bandits.
The halberd tip broke apart, spun in the air, and stabbed into the ground.
Several weapons flew up, followed by a series of blood-curling shrieks. Some people attempted to parry, but they couldn’t block the halberd’s strength that could sweep through a thousand soldiers.
The cloud of dust dispersed. Four mountain bandits were sprawled on the ground. A short bandit had been swept through the face and died on the spot. The other three mountain bandits all had their chests split open and suddenly gained a new-found hobby for screaming miserably on the ground. Fresh blood splashed on the ground as if it were free of charge, the garish color overflowing everywhere.
Li Qingshan took a glance at the cracked halberd, and thought what a poor weapon as he threw it away. He wasn’t aware of just how many steels and bones he’d forcibly swept through just then. How could ordinary weapons withstand such use.
In the turn of an eye, eight mountain bandits had fallen dead or been grievously injured. The bandits behind them cried out in fear and stopped their steps, holding their weapons but not daring to move forward. They were stupefied by the bitter scene of this instant outburst. This originally ordinary young man had seemingly transformed into a fearful god of death within the space of an instant.
Li Qingshan continued to walk toward the third boss without any expression on his face. His eyes twinkled with a red light that he hadn’t yet discovered himself.
His brain was analyzing and judging at high speed. He hadn’t let his anger rush to his head. There was only the third boss among them who could count as a third-grade master, so he damaged him first as soon as he started acting, as to remove the greatest threat.
There were a few proficient fighters among the other bandits, but most of them were at the ginseng gatherers’ level. They’d trained some martial arts that were largely enough to bully the common people with, but they were absolutely no match for him.
“I’m… I’m going die here!” The third boss supported his body as he shifted backward, watching the incoming Li Qingshan with a face full of dread, as if he were one of those monster demons in human form from the legends who suddenly transformed back with one shake of the body and exposed their malevolent fangs. No matter how many people he had around him, it couldn’t insure his security.
“If I die, this whole Crouching Bull Village will be buried. Do you know who my big brother is?”
Dragon Li’s face was even uglier as he went forward and grabbed Li Qingshan: “Qingshan, don’t be reckless!”
The third boss took advantage of this opportunity to climb on the horse, take command of the reins, and spur the horse to speed out as fast as possible. The other bandits didn’t need him to say anything and swarmed behind as they followed, not even caring about the wounded bandits.
Li Qingshan freed himself from the hold and tightly clutched Dragon Li’s throat, lifting him up: “Do you also want to die?”
Dragon Li said with difficulty: “Can’t… can’t kill the Black Wind Camp’s bosses, have you heard of Elmunder Village?”
“Elmunder Village!” Steward Liu was flopped to the ground, half-frightened to death, and he suddenly cried in fear involuntarily as he heard.
“What Elmunder Village!” Li Qingshan eased the strength of his hand.
“Elmunder Village also had the custom of learning martial arts. Theirs folks were swift and fierce, and they once killed a boss from the Black Wind Camp. But not long after, the Black Wind camp master personally led five bosses and cleanly killed the hundred or so villagers, no matter men or women, elders or children. The Black Wind camp master personally took each of the bosses and used the corpses piled into a hill as sacrifices for their departed brother. Do you want this kind of devastation to happen to Crouching Bull Village?”
Li Qingshan thundered in a low voice: “Then we have to allow them to trample and humiliate us?”
“Qingshan, I know what you’re feeling, but circumstances are stronger than men.”
“Then I’ll be even stronger!”
The expression of every villager had changed. At this time, they heard incomparably poisonous words left far away by the third boss: “You Crouching Bull Village just wait for your whole village to be massacred!” Some people were so scared they fell sitting on the ground, and wailing cries of fear echoed once again, without the slightest joy at repelling the mountain bandits.
A wounded bandit clutched his chest while exposing a cruel smile: “You’ll all be buried together with me!”
Li Qingshan said: “Are you done talking?”
“What?”
Li Qingshan let go of Dragon Li and kicked the goose-feather saber beside his feet. The saber’s blade pierced the bandit’s throat, immediately extracting his last breath. “The words I speak, I won’t go back on them.” Li Qingshan took the lives of the other mountain bandits one by one, then turned back to the villagers and said: “Nothing will happen, I swear!” Then without turning his head back he pursued in great strides in the direction the mountain bandits had escaped to.
The setting sun fell to the west. The last of the twilight faded away below the horizon. Darkness descended over the mountains and the earth.
Beside a raging bonfire, two bandits were helping to extract the arrow from the third boss. The third boss cried in pain and hit a bandit down with one slap: “Can’t you motherfucking do it a little gentler?”
That bandit had a mouthful of fresh blood from the blow. He falteringly mumbled something and didn’t dare talk back.
The other mountain bandits were all crestfallen. With the fame and glory of the Black Wind Camp, how long had it been since they last experienced such a failure. They were already used to gazes filled with dread and flattery, used to take women and silver whenever they pleased.
“You all fucking chin up for this father. We’ll definitely take revenge for this hatred, wait until we catch that kid…” The third boss exposed a cruel smile.
A mountain bandit immediately echoed him: “We’ll hack him into a thousand pieces!”
“No, we’ll boil him alive, we’ll all get a share of his meat, the taste must surely…” The bandit who wished to eat Li Qingshan’s flesh didn’t even finish talking when a bloody mark appeared on his throat. Fresh blood spurted out, interrupting the mountain bandits’ discussion about torture