The sun had already set, and the faint night sky held the great moon as it rose to the zenith.
But under the shroud of this dim moonlight, Niujiao Town was incredibly noisy at this moment.
Because almost all the townspeople had left their homes, and together with the militiamen of the local defense group, they were collecting and disposing of thousands of corpses scattered throughout the streets and alleys, as well as the bloodstains covering the ground and walls.
This was certainly not their initiative, but the result of Li Hai spending a large amount of gold and silver.
The reason he still bothered with such troublesome matters was because he felt that… while he had enjoyed the killing, it would be too heartless to simply walk away without a word, leaving a pile of corpses behind.
One must know that the Dragon Mountain region has hot and humid weather, and if bodies are not dealt with promptly, plagues will surely arise. He wasn't afraid, but the people of Niujiao Town would suffer greatly.
This kind of false satisfaction, only caring for one's own pleasure without regard for the feelings of the common people, was not what Li Hai desired.
However, under normal circumstances, this would be an almost impossible task to complete.
Not to mention how to completely clean up the bloodstains without leaving a trace, nor where to transport those bodies.
The most crucial and important task of disposing of the bodies was something that no ordinary person could solve.
Friends who frequently kill people should know about this, so no further explanation will be given.
But with Li Hai's help, the most difficult task after killing, disposing of the bodies, became much easier.
Because in the 'Zou Clan's Southern Border Poison Arts Compendium', many methods for rapidly dissolving bodies were recorded.
Using these methods, and consuming a large amount of medicinal materials from all the pharmacies in Niujiao Town, Li Hai only took an hour to prepare ten large pools of body-dissolving liquid, enough to completely dissolve the two to three thousand bandit corpses, leaving not a drop of blood.
So, the residents of Niujiao Town only needed to endure the pungent smell of blood and the terrifying sight of the dead wolf bandits, and then transport the bodies one by one to the edge of the body-dissolving liquid pools and push them in with force.
Yet, even with such simplicity, the townspeople still spent several hours, until the sky brightened, to barely complete the task, and not a few fainted from vomiting during this time.
However, there were not many people who complained about this, because the residents of Niujiao Town, who had lived in this chaotic Dragon Mountain region since childhood, understood very well.
If these cruel and ruthless wolf mountain bandits were still alive at this moment, they would commit countless heinous acts that would outrage heaven and earth.
Robbing property, indiscriminately killing people, abducting and selling children, violating women… there was nothing they wouldn't do.
Even many townspeople's family members, relatives, and friends had died at the hands of these bandits.
Therefore, the greatly relieved townspeople worked very hard.
In addition, aside from the bloody stimulation brought by the numerous corpses, the townspeople were actually more in awe.
They were amazed that thousands of these extremely vicious wolf bandit raiders had been completely annihilated by one person.
And all of them had died in extremely gruesome ways, making people tremble with fear.
Because of this, the ignorant townspeople even began to think… Li Hai might not be human at all, but a Heavenly Killer Star descended to the mortal realm.
Thus, in the whispered conversations of these busy townspeople, Li Hai's identity, through their mouths, transformed from human to divine, becoming a Demonic Star Incarnate.
Li Hai himself was naturally unaware of this.
As for the dirty work of transporting all the used body-dissolving liquid to the wilderness outside the town, that would have to be done by the militiamen of the local defense group.
Fortunately, with the large amount of gold and silver generously offered by Li Hai as a reward, the militiamen had no great complaints and were even very happy.
Not only the militiamen, but Li Hai also gave generous money to the residents of Niujiao Town who transported the bodies, considering it compensation for their psychological trauma.
Anyway, Li Hai didn't care about money at all.
In short, under his monetary offensive, in just one night, Niujiao Town, which had been covered in corpses, largely returned to its original state.
Only the extremely heavy smell of blood and the crimson traces hidden in many nooks and crannies would need time to slowly fade away.
And after all these matters were settled, it was already early morning.
"It's almost time."
On the high platform, Li Hai, with his back to the naked Zhou Hu tied to the wooden stake, chuckled softly while tidying his tools, "You, it's time to go on your way."
Hearing this, the ashen-faced Zhou Hu merely opened his mouth and then closed it again, his eyes filled with dejection and despair.
Before returning to Niujiao Town, Li Hai had already shown Zhou Hu all the unique Cultivation Techniques that Zhou Hu possessed, and had Cultivated every single one of them to the Peak.
Li Hai didn't explain much about this, letting Zhou Hu guess on his own.
And Zhou Hu, based on Li Hai's previous astonishing statement that he could learn anyone's unique Cultivation Technique with just a glance, and Li Hai's terrifying performance of reaching the Peak of the Wuxiang Sealing Technique as soon as he learned it, he couldn't help but guess more and more fearfully, so scared that he had lost all confidence in his own master.
"My son is dead, my whole family is dead, and I… I'm also going to die, and no one can avenge me, because my biggest backer… my master, will also die, die at the hands of this Li Hai."
As soon as he thought of this, Zhou Hu trembled like a sieve, terrified and despairing.
Li Hai naturally saw this.
But what he wanted was for Zhou Hu to be afraid, so that it would be easier to stop the bleeding later.
Why stop the bleeding?
Because Li Hai wanted to dismember this utterly evil Zhou Hu… under the watchful eyes of thousands of Niujiao Town residents.
"Begin."
Li Hai gestured with his chin to the militiamen waiting by the side.
"Yes, Hero Li!"
The militiaman nodded excitedly, then picked up a large bucket of ice-cold acetic acid and poured it over Zhou Hu's head.
Whoosh—
After a bucket of cold vinegar was poured, the already weak and nervous Zhou Hu immediately constricted his whole body, his blood vessels closing up.
And Li Hai followed closely, under the gaze of tens of thousands of eyes below the platform, he cut a knife towards Zhou Hu's chest, slicing off a piece of skin and flesh, only about half a palm in size.
"Ugh ah~"
Zhou Hu's weak cry of pain immediately aroused countless shouts of delight and screams from the crowd below the platform:
"Serves him right!"
"Cut him well!"
"It's finally your turn, Zhou Hu, Heaven has eyes!"
"So scary, I don't dare to look."
"Bah, if you don't dare to look, go home!"
"My daughter was killed by him!"
"I want to feed his flesh to dogs!"
"The biggest beast of the Zhou Family! A living beast that eats people!"
"Wuwuwu, wife, you can rest in peace now that you know."
"Hero Li! We want to build a shrine for you!"
"Hero Li, may you live a hundred years."
"Hero, please accept my daughter as your servant!"
...
Swish swish swish—
Like peeling a roasted duck, Li Hai's knife moved like flying petals, and in a short time, under the gaze of tens of thousands of people, he had cut off dozens more pieces of Zhou Hu's skin and flesh, completely exposing his chest, even revealing his pale ribs, and the faintly visible heart, lungs, and internal organs beneath the bones.
During this time, every cry of pain and wail from Zhou Hu would cause the cheers and excitement of the thousands of people below the platform.
Even the pieces of flesh that fell from him onto the platform caused repeated frenzied 搶奪 from the crowd, as if it were a New Year celebration.
But just then, Li Hai suddenly stopped the dismemberment.