“Thirty thousand?”
The merchant’s eyes bulged in shock. “No way! Can Niujiao Town even hold that many bandits? And… for thirty thousand people to rob just one town, isn’t that a bit…”
“Stop arguing, alright?”
The fatty frowned impatiently. “If you keep this up, I won’t tell you anymore.”
“Alright, alright, thirty thousand it is,”
The merchant chuckled foolishly. “You tell, you keep telling.”
“Mm.”
Only then did the fatty nod in satisfaction and continue, “Just now, that Heavenly Fiend, Li Hai, pushed the door open and barged into the Ruan family mansion, and then screams kept coming from inside.”
“Ah?” The merchant was stunned. “So this Li Hai… is he just randomly killing people? No, that’s not right, isn’t he a Hero?”
Hearing his question, someone nearby immediately interjected, “The Blood Dual Whip wouldn’t kill indiscriminately. It must be that the Ruan family secretly did something evil.”
“That’s right, Li Hai would never kill innocent people,”
A lean young man also chimed in, “A few days ago, he also killed someone at my aunt’s house in Nan Jingzi Village. That person appeared to be a benevolent landlord, but in reality, he was a scoundrel who dug up graves to steal the corpses of people’s ancestors, and even stole children for Alchemy! If Hero Li hadn’t killed that person and exposed his crimes, we would still be in the dark.”
“Not just that, there’s more.”
Another burly man also spoke up, “Three days ago, in our Dachang Village, Hero Li also caught a sorcerer who was pretending to be a god and tricking people into giving him their children as disciples. Later, Hero Li announced that he had been tricking children everywhere to use them for refining Magical Artifacts.”
“And my wife’s grandmother’s house…”
“And my brother-in-law’s uncle’s house…”
“And…”
In a short time, these onlookers chattered away, recounting Li Hai’s deeds of slaying various evil beings in different places these past few days.
Some stories sounded passionate and greatly excited the onlookers at the entrance of the Ruan family mansion.
Others, however, sounded a bit exaggerated and nonsensical, making people half-believe and half-doubt.
But the narrators’ confident and almost swearing demeanor made a considerable portion of the audience believe them without question.
Just as everyone was happily chatting, Li Hai emerged from the Ruan family mansion, holding a bloody head with half a spine still attached.
And the townspeople and passersby, who had just been lively chatting, immediately began discussing in surprise when they saw the head he was carrying:
“Whoa, isn’t that Master Ruan’s father, Old Master Ruan?”
“Yeah, that old man seemed frail and had difficulty moving, he usually never left the house.”
“Could it be that this old man really did something evil?”
“I don’t know, let’s hear what Hero Li has to say.”
Li Hai walked to the main entrance of the Ruan family mansion, casually threw the head on the ground, then surveyed the dense crowd of townspeople and passersby in front, to his left, and to his right, and declared loudly:
“Fellow villagers of Hong Hua Town, I, Li Hai, hereby announce that at this very moment, I have killed all twenty-eight members of the Ruan Wunying family, young and old.
The reason I killed the Ruan family is because every single one of them, even children as young as ten, participated in the human trafficking in this region.
And Ruan Wunying’s father, Ruan Xuande, an old demon who lived for one hundred and seventy years, in the past century, forcibly abducted and extracted the hearts, livers, and fetuses of seventy-eight pregnant women from villages around Hong Hua Town, solely for the purpose of refining medicine to extend his life.”
As soon as Li Hai uttered these words, the crowd immediately burst into an uproar, then became filled with righteous indignation:
“I never would have thought! Old Master Zhang was actually so vicious!”
“That’s right, it wasn’t enough to abduct pregnant women, he even dug out their hearts, livers, and unborn children! That’s too much!”
“Demon! Hero Li is right, if that’s not a demon, what is?”
“Hey, I suddenly remembered, I think I heard about this, about wives who were heavily pregnant and stayed at home, but just disappeared without a trace.”
“I’ve heard of it too.”
“Yes, yes, I heard people talk about such things. Back then, rumors spread that there were child-eating ghosts stealing people.”
“I know more clearly. Years ago, the second son of Old Lei’s family in Hutou Village encountered this. He lost his seven-month pregnant wife. He even went crazy for a while afterward and is still a bit unhinged. When he sees people on the road, he kneels and kowtows, muttering and begging them to return his wife. So, this… could it be that old demon from the Ruan family who did it?”
“It must be!”
“What a beast, it’s too easy for him to just die like that.”
“Yes, he should be cut into a thousand pieces!”
“Ah, we must thank Hero Li properly. If he hadn’t acted, we wouldn’t have known anything.”
“Yes, yes.”
After quietly listening to the crowd’s discussions and their gratitude towards him for a while, Li Hai spoke loudly again:
“Everyone, let’s not dwell on pleasantries. In short, the Ruan family, whose evil deeds were abundant, have all been executed by me. All their evil deeds and evidence have also been collected by me and placed in the Ruan family mansion courtyard. When the Hong Hua Town militia arrives later, please inform them. With that—farewell.”
“Ah, Hero Li is leaving already?”
“Hero Li, walk slowly, thank you for your righteous actions!”
“Hero Li, why don’t you stay for a while? How about I treat you to a drink?”
“Forget it, do you think he lacks your drink? Hey, Hero Li, I see you’re alone, you don’t have a wife yet, do you? Hehe, I just happen to have a daughter, what do you think…”
“Old Man Wang, how can you be so shameless with your daughter looking like that?”
“Hey, what nonsense are you talking about!”
Ignoring the clamoring crowd, Li Hai turned and was about to step away from the place.
But just then, a lean young man suddenly pushed through the crowd and quickly ran out, kneeling before Li Hai.
He shouted, “Hero Li, your martial arts are astonishing and your chivalry is unmatched! I… I admire you greatly! Can you… can you accept me as your disciple? I’m very quick at cooking and doing chores, and I also want to suppress violence and bring peace like you…”
“Sorry.”
Li Hai said indifferently, “I have no intention of taking any disciples. You should seek someone else.”
With that, he moved past the young man and walked into the distance, leaving the young man kneeling in place, his face filled with a blank stare.
Upon seeing this scene, the crowd present also fell silent instantly, wanting to see the subsequent development of the situation.
And just as Li Hai had walked a few zhang away, the young man suddenly shouted from behind, with extreme unwillingness:
“Wait!”
Although the shout was loud, Li Hai’s steps did not falter in the slightest.
“Hero Li, you… there are so many evil people and evil deeds in this world, how can you cleanse them all with just your own strength?!”
The young man quickly stood up and chased after him, shouting as he ran, “Your ability is so great, why don’t you establish a sect and take on more disciples? A group of heroes upholding justice would surely be more… than just one hero…”
Before he finished speaking, Li Hai suddenly stopped and turned around.
The young man was intimidated by his tall figure and dared not speak further.
Li Hai looked at him indifferently, then looked at the crowd in Hong Hua Town not far away, and said calmly:
“Let it be known to you all, everything Li Hai does, whether good or evil, is never for the common people of this world. It is… merely for my own satisfaction.”
With that, his body suddenly narrowed and darkened, transforming into a solitary crescent moon silhouette, instantly disappearing from the spot.
Only the young man, standing dumbfounded, and the people present, looking at each other in silence, remained.
…
Several li away, the ferry crossing at Hong Hua Town was bustling with boats coming and going.
It was here that Li Hai stood, gazing into the distance, about to cross the river.
But just then, a familiar figure, along with a group of travelers, slowly disembarked from a docked ferry a thousand zhang away.
“Dr. Zhao?”
Li Hai instantly appeared before this person and asked in surprise, “How did you come all the way here from Niujiao Town, six hundred li away?” (Dr. Zhao appeared in Chapter 46)
“Ah? Is… is that you? It’s Li Hai!”
Dr. Zhao, covered in dust from his journey, first froze when he saw Li Hai, then immediately knelt down, wailing and kowtowing to him, crying as he did so, “Wuwuwuwu, Li Hai, everyone in Niujiao Town… they’re all dead!”