“You possess formidable martial arts and are a great hero, so you can simply leave.
But we are just common folk; we truly, truly cannot withstand the wrath of Zhong Tianchuan, or even Zhong XiangSheng!”
Li Zhen bowed his back and said sorrowfully, “Their wrath is enough to burn to ashes all fifteen hundred households and hundreds of thousands of people in our Jin Fu Town! So I want to plead on behalf of everyone in the town—please, Great Hero, do not kill that Zhang Yong, and even more so, do not provoke that Zhong Tianchuan.
If your anger is truly unquenchable, then kill me—kill me, this incompetent town leader, instead of Zhang Yong.
I only hope that after killing this old, useless man, Great Hero’s killing intent will dissipate, and you will leave this town; at that time, all the people in the town will be endlessly grateful!”
After saying these words, Li Zhen slowly knelt and prostrated himself.
At the same time, the women outside the door behind him all gracefully knelt as well.
The infants they held in their arms also began to cry, one by one.
Thus, for a time, the entire Wang residence, both inside and out, was enveloped and covered by the pitiful cries of children.
And amidst these children’s cries, Feifei, who had been standing silently for a long time, lowered her head and walked to Li Hai’s side, pursing her lips and tugging at his clothes, saying in a dispirited voice:
“Brother Li, I, I suddenly don’t want revenge anymore; let’s leave Jin Fu Town, leave here—go to the Red Soil Forest, go find that Mystic Gu Workshop; aren’t you, aren’t you very eager to go there? Let’s go now, quickly.”
Feifei’s words were very earnest, her tone even approaching pleading, but Li Hai did not respond; instead, he spoke to Li Zhen with an even colder tone:
“Li Zhen, I have some doubts. Since that Zhong Tianchuan is the Sect Leader’s own son of Mingyue Pavilion, why would he go to the desert to be a bandit? What benefit is there for him?”
Hearing the question, Li Zhen slowly raised his head and replied, “Great Hero, in truth, there are many people in this world who have strange quirks, just as some people, despite being high-ranking and powerful, enjoy personally slaughtering pigs and livestock; some people, despite being wealthy, enjoy fishing in rivers; some people, despite being handsome and dashing, enjoy old women; and some people, despite being highly skilled in martial arts, enjoy being reviled and humiliated. That Zhong Tianchuan’s quirk is to enjoy living in the desert with rough clothes and no fixed abode, while also committing all sorts of evil acts like burning, killing, and looting.”
“Oh, is that so? I understand.”
Li Hai said indifferently, “It seems, then, that Zhong Tianchuan and his old father, Zhong XiangSheng, who failed to educate his son, are also people who deserve to be killed.”
“This—” Li Zhen was stunned, then stammered, “Great Hero, you—you must not—”
“Li Zhen.”
Li Hai interrupted him, saying, “I observe that although your internal Qi cultivation is only at Acquired Triple Realm, your Martial World Realm faintly possesses some Innatemeaning.
Could it be that—you were once an Innate Martial Artist long ago, but suffered some calamity that caused your Realm to fall?”
“Great Hero truly has discerning eyes, seeing everything clearly!”
Li Zhen bowed respectfully, “Indeed, Great Hero, if you don’t mind me saying, twenty years ago, this old man was also an Innate Maniac, and likewise a desert ranger with a fiery temperament who loved to meddle in unjust affairs.
But later, during an act of chivalry and evil-extermination, this old man encountered Zhong Tianchuan, was severely wounded by his single move, and then subjected to his torture and humiliation, which utterly destroyed my Foundation and caused my cultivation to plummet wildly.
As for now, alas~ now only a trace of Martial Dao remnant intent and some turbid internal Qi barely survive within this old man’s body.”
“So that’s how it is.”
Li Hai nodded and sighed leisurely, “From a chivalrous man who once roamed the desert with heroic spirit, to now being in such a servile state, you are indeed pitiful—but also detestable.”
At this point, his voice suddenly turned cold: “I presume, as Wang Widow’s cousin, you must be aware of her actions, yet you feigned ignorance and turned a deaf ear, allowing her to send information to the desert bandits, causing the deaths of countless people in passing merchant caravans, isn’t that right?”
“It is.” Li Zhen lowered his head and sighed, “This old man is guilty, gravely guilty, a capital offense.”
“This crime, we will discuss later.”
Li Hai glanced at the kneeling women and children behind Li Zhen and chuckled softly, “You want to use these people, to use their lives, to force me not to kill Zhang Yong and not to provoke Zhong Tianchuan. You want to—gamble that I am benevolent and righteous enough, right?”
“Yes.” Li Zhen kowtowed, “This old man has no other way.”
“Alas, how boring, utterly boring.”
Li Hai slowly stood up from the chair, and around him, clusters of misty vortices suddenly appeared. “You narrow-minded, ignorant commoners, who have no idea what a strong person is, are truly unbearable to me. I’ve had enough! Very well—
Let me open your eyes.”
With that, the Dao Ge Four and the Sky Steel Kirin all flew out from those swirling vortices, each exuding a majestic Aura, hovering around Li Hai.
“Li Zhen.”
After stepping into the Qilin and sitting down, Li Hai’s gaze passed through the slowly opening carriage curtain and fixed on Li Zhen’s dumbfounded old face, saying indifferently:
“At such a close distance, less than three zhang, with your remaining Innate Martial intent, you should be able to sense the Martial World Realm of these four people, right?”
“This, this—”
Li Zhen felt the wild, surging Aura of the Dao Ge Four that almost suffocated him, and he stammered, trembling and wide-eyed:
“This kind of Aura—it has already—already surpassed an Innate hero! Are these four subordinates of yours—are they actually Innate Legends?!”
If the distance were tens or hundreds of zhang away, then under the concealment of the Martial World’s turbulent essence, Li Zhen truly would not have felt any abnormality.
But now the distance was so close, not even three zhang.
Then no matter how turbulent the Martial World’s heaven and earth essence was, it could no longer block the shocking pressure emanating from the Dao Ge Four.
And in his shock, Li Zhen also couldn’t help but think:
“Four Innate Legends! This, this is almost equivalent to the entire Foundation of a great sect!
But they are—they are all subordinates of this senior, so what Realm must this senior be?!”
At the same time, the women kneeling on the ground behind him, though trembling incessantly under the pressure of the Dao Ge Four’s Aura, kept their eyes fixed on Li Hai’s handsome face, their eyes practically spraying with spring light.
It was as if Li Hai’s 4-level charm had a stronger effect on these women than the pressure from the four-person group’s Aura.
Just at this moment, while everyone present was trembling and shocked by the four-person group’s might,
a fierce-looking man, carrying a wine bottle, staggered out from the corner of the street outside the Wang residence, singing some vulgar tunes as he walked.
And when he was about to approach the Wang Widow’s mansion, he immediately noticed the more than a hundred women and children kneeling across half the street.