Li Hai and Leng Ying looked up at the sound.
From afar, they saw a burly man with a golden vertical birthmark on his forehead, a fleshy face, and a stout build, looking like a cross between Erlang Shen and a wild boar demon, charging over from the other end of the street.
When this rough man, panting heavily, reached Li Hai, he immediately knelt down with a thud and said in a muffled voice:
"Senior, my name is Niu Fei, and I'm a fifteen-year-old dream-chasing youth from Volcano Town, a hundred li away from Baiqu City.
My dream is to become the most powerful and influential Bandit King in this world!
I beg you, Senior, please take me as your disciple. As long as I learn martial arts and make a name for myself, I'll bring beautiful women to honor you every day—"
Bang!
Before the crude man could finish speaking, Li Hai, who was already impatient, struck his head with a steel whip, causing red and white matter to splatter all over the ground.
The surrounding bloodthirsty fans, who had been quietly observing, were thoroughly thrilled by Li Hai's perfect headshot.
They all clapped and cheered non-stop:
"Good! Well done!"
"Excellent!"
"Let him burst! Let him burst!"
"Another one, another one!"
"We waited so long just for that sound, it's so crisp, so satisfying!"
"A mad killer, came to Baiqu Town, explodes a bunch of round heads every day, explodes a bunch today, explodes a bunch tomorrow, and will explode even more round heads the day after tomorrow."
"He babbled on for ages, I thought he'd spout some good nonsense."
Li Hai put away his steel whip and grumbled, "Who knew your goal in learning martial arts was to be a bandit! Bah, wishful thinking, go be reborn as a pig in your next life."
"Senior."
Leng Ying, who was beside him, asked in confusion, "Just wanting to be a bandit isn't a major mistake, is it? Why did you still act so ruthlessly when he was so respectful?"
"The reason is simple."
Li Hai turned to her and said righteously, "Because I'm a good person, and he wanted to be a bad person, so of course I had to kill him. Do you have any more nonsense to say?!"
Leng Ying quickly shook her head: "No, I wouldn't dare."
Although she said that, she immediately spoke again:
"Actually, Senior, you might have—run into big trouble."
"Hm?" Li Hai was startled, "What do you mean?"
"You probably don't know."
Leng Ying paused for a few seconds and said, "Actually, this Volcano Town is not an ordinary small town. Legend has it that it has existed for thousands of years since its birth. Over the years, many great figures, who could be called Children of Destiny due to their strength, methods, and luck, have appeared in that ancient town.
And these individuals, who appear every few hundred years, all have one commonality: a golden vertical birthmark on their forehead. This birthmark is called the Heavenly Eye Mark, also known as the Heaven-Connecting Mark.
Many people in the Martial World believe that those with this birthmark, regardless of their humble origins or the difficulties they encounter, will surely turn misfortune into blessings in the future, will rise powerfully, and eventually grow into a great figure capable of influencing the entire Martial World."
"I don't believe it."
Li Hai pointed at the headless corpse on the ground and scoffed, "If he was really that divine, then why did he fall so quickly?"
"Ah, that's what I wanted to talk about."
Leng Ying slowly said, "Just as there's no absolutely perfect martial art in the world, the Heaven-Connecting Mark born in Volcano Town is not without its nemesis.
This nemesis could be a person, an object, or even a beast, but often, only after the Child of Destiny is killed by their nemesis do others realize who their nemesis truly was."
At this point, she looked up at Li Hai: "I suspect—you are Niu Fei's nemesis. If he hadn't met you today and in the future, he might have become a new Martial Arts Myth. Unfortunately,
he was unlucky enough to be killed by you."
"And then?"
Li Hai frowned, looking utterly bewildered, "What if I killed him? Will something happen?"
"Yes."
Leng Ying nodded, "That Heaven-Connecting Mark will transfer to your forehead. It will appear in two or three days at the slowest, or in one or two moments at the fastest. And when this birthmark reappears, it will no longer be golden but blood-red.
Under the effect of this blood-red Heaven-Connecting Mark, your martial arts Aptitude and martial arts Comprehension Ability will both significantly increase out of thin air. But once someone kills you, your Heaven-Connecting Mark will transfer to the person who killed you. Therefore, many Martial Artists in the world may come after you—"
"I understand what you mean."
Li Hai waved his hand to interrupt her, "To put it simply, you've given me a taunt aura, right? It will attract all the Martial Artists in the world to kill me, right? Heh heh, it doesn't matter."
Seeing him so confident, Leng Ying wisely said no more.
After this conversation ended, the two walked leisurely towards the outskirts of Baiqu City.
Li Hai's bloodthirsty fans stood behind them, reluctantly shouting in unison:
"Idol, when will you come back to Baiqu City?"
In response, Li Hai, who was slowly moving away, merely waved his hand with his back to them, without saying another word.
Then, this group of bloodthirsty fans watched Li Hai and Leng Ying get further and further away, until they disappeared from sight.
After officially leaving Baiqu City, Li Hai followed the direction Leng Ying pointed, speeding away like the wind.
Meanwhile, to prevent the woman from being crushed by the intense wind pressure whistling by, he had a sudden idea and placed her inside the Guiyou Cave Heaven North Forest Garden.
Anyway, that vast forest garden, having undergone antimatter bombardment, was now just a wasteland with only area but no value.
So, she could wander as much as she liked; even if her shoes wore out, she wouldn't find anything.
To pass the boring time before reaching their destination, Li Hai also manifested a phantom body and descended into the North Forest Garden. While strolling with Leng Ying, he began to ask her various questions.
The first question, and one that Li Hai had always been confused about, was—
"Leng Ying, there's one thing I've never quite understood."
Li Hai stroked his chin and asked, "Why is it that all the people of the Martial World I've seen along the way don't seem to care about their own lives or the lives of others?"
"People of the Martial World? Oh~ ha ha ha, so you're an outsider, hmm—you say we don't care about human lives? That's right, it's true."
Leng Ying first smiled, then leisurely said, "But human lives aren't worth much, so what's there to care about?"
"Alright, perhaps my question was a bit too vague. I'll rephrase it."
Li Hai asked again, "I'm very curious, since so many people die here every day, why haven't you all died out? Where do you get so many people to replenish your numbers? Do they grow from the ground?"