Heaven rewards diligence; he fought his way through chaos to become a saint.

Ye Ci cautiously peered inside from the doorway. There were four cauldron-shaped lamps on the floor, providing fairly bright light.

Just then, footsteps approached the door.

The person had already reached the door.

Unsure of how many people were inside, Ye Ci decided not to alert them.

He quietly retreated, his figure disappearing into the shadows. Hearing the man urinating at the door, Ye Ci's gaze swept over the other houses with lights on.

After a quick mental calculation, he continued searching for a suitable house, much like a raccoon dog.

Soon, they found an empty but brightly lit room.

Ye Ci tiptoed and slowly pushed open the door, leaving a crack, and slipped inside.

In an instant, a strong smell of blood filled the room, making Ye Ci instinctively hold his breath.

"..."

He remained frozen in place, still in the position he had just entered, staring blankly at the scene inside the room, completely motionless...

What came into view was a huge lime pit, in which several corpses were buried, their bodies white and indistinct.

Ye Ci then understood why the stench of the corpse was so faint.

Beside the lime pit were several broken large vats, and a woman's body lay slumped, clearly already lifeless.

She was dead; her limbs had been severed at the root...

Ye Ci turned her head away, unwilling to look closely, her stomach churning slightly.

He felt very uncomfortable.

This is a house where corpses are disposed of.

Ye Ci retreated again and crept to a nearby room with the lights on, quietly peering inside.

The second house was similar in structure.

This time I saw that there were living people inside.

There is a living person in the water tank.

Moreover, it's a row of water tanks.

By the light, he saw the so-called Blood Ganoderma, which was growing even more vigorously and its color was dark red to purple.

Outside, Ye Ci explored each room one by one, finding that the layout of the several side rooms in the mansion was similar.

Every room contained the same bloody scene.

Ye Ci crawled out of a mountain of corpses and a pool of blood, but it was still unbearable.

He saw an empty house.

In the cramped and dimly lit room, the light flickered, probably because the oil in the cauldron-shaped lamp was almost burned out.

A row of seven or eight large vats.

Ye Ci went inside and saw a middle-aged man in the water vat.

"Shen...Shen..."

Ye Ci recalled the day she left the market, when Uncle Shen was shouting in front of her grandmother, Li Shi, saying that Ye Ci had mastered the skill.

He still remembered Uncle Shen telling Grandma Li that he would never see her again...

Here we are!

But Uncle Shen at this moment is no longer the same as before.

A pair of empty eye sockets stared silently at Ye Ci. He opened his mouth, revealing half of his tongue, as if he were laughing.

Ye Ci stared at him and slowly pressed down on the hilt of the knife.

He thought he had long been accustomed to life and death and was almost numb, so even seeing the female corpse only made him feel nauseous.

But at that moment, my heart still clenched painfully.

It turns out that some smiles are uglier than tears.

beep, beep...

Someone barged in from behind.

Ye Ci didn't turn around, drew his sword with his right hand, and raised his left hand.

Blade cuts through the wind.

Cover your mouth.

A knife slits the throat.

A muffled thud.

The man collapsed without making a sound and breathed his last. He was still holding a jar of lamp oil, which fell silently to Ye Ci's feet.

Ye Ci sheathed his sword, wiped away the blood droplets on the blade, and did so swiftly.

"Uncle Shen, I'll take you back."

"..."

Uncle Shen in the vat shook his head.

Ye Ci looked at the unfamiliar faces in the other water tanks.

"If you want to live, I'll report to the authorities and save you; if you want to die, I'll give you a quick death."

"Live, nod; dead, shake head."

As soon as he finished speaking, Ye Ci saw a wave of heads shaking like wheat.

Ye Ci lowered his head and planted the knife in the lime pool.

He was half-squatting.

He stood there blankly for a long time.

Even ants cherish their lives... yet they don't want to live anymore.

Ye Ci wasn't inexperienced in killing; at this moment, he felt a suppressed and cold power surging within his chest, steadily building up...

Half an hour later.

Ye Ci stood in the center of the courtyard, took the bow and arrows off his shoulder, and walked toward the noisy main house.

He felt that some things no longer needed to be reported to the authorities.

At that moment, crows flew through the night sky and suddenly cried out twice.

The piercing cry, like a sob, blended with the wailing of the evening wind.

The pure white moonlight fell upon Ye Ci.

He stood by the door.

Slowly pound the knife.

Left hand holding the bow,

Take the arrow with your right hand.

He felt that he ultimately hadn't integrated into this world.

By the light, Ye Ci saw a long table with about twenty people around it.

Draw back the bowstring.

His body was bent over like a full moon.

"Six points! I won!"

"groove!"

The room was filled with the clatter of dice and crude shouts.

Before the words were even finished, the arrow pierced the air.

"Pfft—"

The burly man closest to the door had his head pierced by a bullet, blood splattering onto the gambling table, and dice rolling all over the floor.

The room fell into a deathly silence.

"Who?!"

Someone roared and grabbed a stool, but before he could even look up, a second arrow came flying, piercing his throat and embedding itself firmly in the table.

"court death!"

Inside the room were more than a dozen gang members, all looking fierce and menacing, some carrying machetes, others with their sleeves rolled up, who surrounded them.

"Whoosh whoosh-"

Three arrows were fired simultaneously, arranged in a pincer shape, heading towards the fastest person in the lead.

Blood blossoms bloom.

The man fell to the ground with a thud.

At that moment, someone rushed over, swinging their knife with great force, accompanied by a whooshing sound as it cut through the air.

Ye Ci lowered his shoulders and braced himself, then used his shoulders and spine to exert force simultaneously, dodging the knife while slamming into it.

Bang!

Ye Ci grunted and used the recoil to slide backward, only to be met with an arrow.

With a "plop," the man screamed and knelt down.

The crowd was taken aback by Ye Ci's swift action and, after a moment of stunned silence, swarmed forward.

A man on the left swung a stick at him, but he blocked it with his left arm, taking the blow head-on. The stick broke in two.

Seeing Ye Ci take the hit, the man formed claws with both hands and attacked Ye Ci's face with a whooshing sound. Ye Ci retaliated by striking out with his right arm, the force of his punch hitting the opponent's chest squarely.

"Bang!"

The man was sent flying backward and crashed into the wall.

Someone attacked from behind. Ye Ci bent down and, without having time to nock the arrow, thrust it straight at the opponent's groin.

The man curled up in pain.

Ye Ci turned around, and with a sudden burst of force, gripped his neck with her five fingers.

"Snap!"

The sound of the neck breaking was clearly audible.

Several burly men rushed at the same time; they were all muscular men, and their punches and kicks were powerful and heavy.

If that hit Ye Ci, he would be crippled if not killed.

It's a tough one.

Ye Ci dropped his longbow, and instead of retreating, he advanced, parrying the left fist with his left fist and smashing his right fist into the face of the man in the middle, the sound of his nose bone shattering was ear-piercing.

Before the person in the middle could fall, he sidestepped the leg sweeping from the right, grabbed the other person's ankle with his other hand, and twisted it hard.

"ah--"

Amidst a piercing scream, the man's ankle twisted and deformed. Ye Ci pulled him and flung him toward the other people who had surrounded him.

Many people collided together, creating chaos.

Ye Ci lunged forward, alternating his punches, each one landing squarely.

Baoshanquan emphasizes defense and is adept at offense.

He mastered the art, and every punch he threw carried immense force, capable of killing or maiming anyone who landed on him—far more powerful than arrows or swords.

A man swung a knife at his head, but Ye Ci tilted his head back to dodge. He locked the man's wrist with his left hand and punched him in the elbow with his right fist.

"Click."

The machete fell to the ground, and Ye Ci seized the opportunity to snatch it, then slit his throat with a backhand.

Use your fist techniques to defend yourself and adapt to changing circumstances.

After a fierce attack, the scene was in complete chaos, and Ye Ci only suffered minor injuries.

The Black Tiger Gang members were terrified, feeling that the newcomer was even more difficult to deal with than a master of internal energy.

Someone rushed toward the gate.

I want to run away.

Ye Ci's eyes were icy cold. He flashed forward, caught up with the person who was trying to run away, and punched him squarely in the back.

The man collapsed at the doorway. Ye Ci stepped forward and crushed the back of his head with a single stomp.

puff!

The surroundings were deathly silent, and everyone in front of them looked fearful.

The lights flickered.

The shadow of Ye Ci stretched long as he slowly closed the door, a smile playing on his lips.

"I thought you weren't afraid of death."