It wasn’t that Jiang Zuo was being squeamish.
Had Ding Yi and his men not backed him into a corner, he truly wouldn’t have wanted to make a move.
’These guys... it’s obvious someone sent them to Red Fox Town to stir up trouble.’
’Now that I’ve killed them, the mastermind behind this will just send someone stronger.’
’I might be able to handle the next group, but what if they send someone even stronger after that?’
’I was able to turn the tables this time by instantly dumping points into my stats, but I won’t have that luxury next time.’
’It’s so annoying just thinking about it.’
’All I want is to lie low and build up my strength in peace. Why did these guys have to come looking for a death wish?!’
We could have just gone our separate ways.
They could have minded their own business, causing their trouble while I raised my dog.
But no, these idiots had to court death, forcing a Beast Tamer like me to kill. Damn them.
Glancing at Ding Yi, who was half-crazed, Jiang Zuo decided to ask anyway, "Who sent you to Red Fox Town?"
Ding Yi remained motionless, as if he hadn’t heard the question.
Jiang Zuo wasted no more words. A single stone sent the man on his way, letting him join his brothers so they wouldn’t be lonely on the road to the Yellow Springs.
This was his first time killing, and five people at that. Yet, Jiang Zuo felt nothing, aside from a bit of nausea at the sight of their exploded heads.
Now that they were dead, it was time to loot the bodies.
’Poor bastards. And they call themselves Meat Martial Artists!’
However, after searching all five bodies, Jiang Zuo only managed to find a little over twelve hundred silver taels.
He did, however, find the bags they’d tossed aside before the fight. Each one was filled with more than ten meat buns.
Jiang Zuo had instantly added 50 points to his strength stat to win the fight, and intense hunger pangs were already starting to grip his stomach.
These meat buns would be perfect for staving off the hunger, so Jiang Zuo gathered them all up.
Jiang Zuo had brought a few large meat buns of his own. He ate them all, but wasn’t sure if it would be enough.
He sniffed the buns the brothers had brought. There was no strange smell. ’They probably wouldn’t go so far as to poison their own food,’ he thought. The hunger was unbearable, so he started devouring them.
’Travel permits? They’re all named Ding? From the same village?’
After devouring the meat buns from one of the bags in what felt like a blink of an eye, Jiang Zuo was surprised to find a stack of travel permits at the bottom.
The Da Xi nation was confident in its military might and had no fear of foreign invasion. As a result, travel permits weren’t required for travel or lodging in most parts of the country.
Only a few key checkpoints, like the Imperial Capital, required travel permits for entry.
’Seven travel permits... one was captured, I killed five... so there’s one more person?’
Jiang Zuo’s eyes narrowed.
’The last person... did he not come?’
’Unlikely. This group sent five men just to kill an ordinary person like me.’
’They even set up a pincer attack to make sure I had no chance of escape.’
’They’re clearly a cautious bunch.’
’Letting one person operate alone, away from the group, would be dangerous for both the individual and the remaining five.’
’So if he’s here, where is he? What is he doing?’
’A lookout?’
Jiang Zuo’s head snapped up, his eyes quickly scanning the surrounding mountain ravines.
With a flicker of movement, he dashed up the cliff face to his left.
’If there was a lookout, the summit here would be the best spot. Anyone approaching the path from either direction could be seen immediately.’
With his stats now through the roof, Jiang Zuo moved through the mountains as if on level ground.
Before long, Jiang Zuo reached the mountain’s highest point.
’Someone was here!’
After raising Great Black for so many years, Jiang Zuo’s own sense of smell had become much more sensitive.
In these rarely-traveled mountain woods, the scent of a human stood out sharply.
Jiang Zuo’s nose was no match for Great Black’s, but by following the faint, lingering scent in the air, he still found a specific spot on the summit.
Jiang Zuo glanced at the ground and saw the tracks of trampled weeds.
’Looks like he ran. The only way to go was down the other side of the mountain.’
Jiang Zuo scrambled up a tall tree and peered toward the other side of the mountain.
’Found him!’
Then, Jiang Zuo spotted a figure sprinting through the jungle on the mountain slope below, their form flickering in and out of view between the trees.
Jiang Zuo set off in silent pursuit.
The difference in their speeds was immense. Even though Jiang Zuo had to occasionally leap into the trees to reacquire his target’s position and move carefully under the cover of the foliage so as not to be seen, Jiang Zuo still closed the distance between them at an incredible speed.
In just ten-odd minutes, Jiang Zuo no longer needed to search; he could already see the man’s figure clearly in the distance.
’I can catch up and cut him off in two or three minutes, tops.’
But after a moment’s thought, Jiang Zuo slowed his pace, content to tail him from a distance.
’Killing this man won’t solve the root problem. There’s still a mastermind behind them.’
’If I can find out who that is, things will be much simpler.’
’If it’s someone I can handle, I’ll just get rid of them and be done with it once and for all.’
’If the mastermind is too strong, I’ll just expose their identity.’
’This group didn’t come to Red Fox Town for me, not at first.’
’Judging by the huge sum Steward Luo paid for Great Black, they were most likely targeting the Government Office—or rather, the imperial court.’
’Once the mastermind’s identity is exposed, I can just go back into hiding. They won’t have time to bother with a small fry like me.’
...
Ding the Sixth’s face was ashen as he fled for his life.
’Dead! They’re all dead!’
’Six brothers came out together, and I’m the only one left!’
’If I hadn’t stayed behind on the high ground as a lookout, I’d be dead too.’
’What should I do? Should I go back to our employer and then return to get revenge on that guy?’
’No!’
’Even though the employer tried his best to hide his identity, the Ding Brothers had already figured it out. We were planning to blackmail him when the time was right.’
’If I go back to the employer and he finds out I’m the only one of the seven brothers who made it back, he’ll definitely kill me to keep me quiet.’
’I can’t think about revenge anymore!’
’Run!’
’Run as far away as I can!’
The image of his older brothers’ heads being crushed like watermelons... just thinking about it sent a chill down Ding the Sixth’s spine.
Ding the Sixth and Laoqi were both young and inexperienced.
’He never imagined a Bone Refining Martial Artist could be so terrifying!’
Fleeing was the only thought on his mind.
He had no idea how long he’d been running. By now, he was in a silent, unfamiliar stretch of mountain forest.
Ding the Sixth finally managed to calm down. He sat on a rock by the path, intending to rest for a moment and decide where to go next.
"Do you know which direction Red Fox Town is in?"
Suddenly, a voice spoke from behind him.
Ding the Sixth scrambled to turn around. At some point, two young figures had appeared on the path behind him.
"Who are you?"
The very mention of Red Fox Town now filled Ding the Sixth with fear. He had no intention of answering their question, merely staring at them with extreme vigilance.
"There’s something off about this guy."
"He doesn’t look like a good person. Forget it, we’ll get the information ourselves."
The two young men looked at Ding the Sixth, a little surprised.
They had genuinely only meant to ask for directions, but Ding the Sixth’s reaction had piqued their interest.
"What are you trying to do?"
Ding the Sixth was a bundle of nerves.
Ordinarily, if some young punks had dared to speak to him like that, he would have slapped them across the face to teach them some manners.
But after his terrifying encounter with Jiang Zuo, he was afraid of everyone he met.
He tried to back away, to put some distance between them, but Ding the Sixth suddenly found that the young man on the left had a Soul Capturing light in his eyes. His feet refused to obey him.
His consciousness slowly faded, and he stood rooted to the spot like a wooden puppet.
"Who are you? What are you doing here?" one of the young men asked.
"I am Ding the Sixth. I was hired by Ma Baoping, an official of the Da Xi imperial court, to create panic in Red Fox Town. But we failed, and I fled here in the chaos," Ding the Sixth answered robotically.
"Haha, what a stroke of luck! Zifeng, hurry up and ask him what else he knows. We need to figure out the real relationship between the Du Family and the Venerable Red Fox as soon as possible so we can report back."
"We haven’t even entered the Heaven and Earth Sealing Spirit Array, but I can’t feel a trace of Spiritual Qi here. Staying in a hellhole like this is unbearable!"
Wan Ziyuan’s spirits lifted as he listened to Ding the Sixth’s words.
He and Wan Zifeng were both Qi Cultivation Cultivators from the Wan Family. They had been sent by their family to secretly investigate the true relationship between the Du Family and the Venerable Red Fox.
The Du Family had been using the Venerable Red Fox’s name for years to take advantage of the Wan Family.
The Wan Family didn’t dare provoke the Venerable Red Fox, so they’d adopted a policy of "less trouble is better" and hadn’t quarreled too much with the Du Family.
But the Du Family took a mile for every inch they were given, relentlessly exploiting the Wan Family.
In the Cultivation Realm, the law of the jungle reigned supreme, and kindness was seen as a weakness to be exploited. The Wan Family knew if they kept enduring this, they risked complete annihilation.
Just a short while ago, the Wan Family decided they had had enough.
During their most recent conflict with the Du Family, the Wan Family suddenly struck back.
The Du Family never expected this "sick cat" to suddenly bite back. They were caught completely off guard and suffered heavy casualties.
The two families had dropped all pretenses, but the Wan Family still didn’t dare to truly offend the Venerable Red Fox. He was, after all, a great Cultivator said to be on the verge of ascending to the Immortal Realm.
That was why they had dispatched Wan Zifeng and Wan Ziyuan to the Da Xi nation to investigate.
As the Wan Family saw it, the Du Family probably had little to no real connection to the Venerable Red Fox. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have needed to squabble with the Wan Family over territory.
With even the slightest support from the Venerable Red Fox, the Du Family could have easily secured a firm foothold in the Cultivation Realm.
Still, the fact that the Venerable Red Fox hailed from Red Fox Town was undeniable. Perhaps the Venerable was simply in seclusion and couldn’t be bothered. But if the Wan Family were to actually wipe out the Du Family and earn the Venerable Red Fox’s ire, they too would face annihilation.
Therefore, it was essential to clearly investigate their relationship. Only then could the Wan Family decide just how far to push things.