Chapter 133: 132. Planting a Sign to Sell One

132. Chapter 132: Planting a Sign to Sell One’s Head

After seeing the fate of the other disciples of the Zhao Family Martial Arts Hall outside the city, Li Yi understood what awaited those who lost in power struggles—there was no law in this cruel world; everything depended on one’s martial strength, the principle of the strong ruling the weak fully realized: if you were strong enough, you could crush others at will, oppress them, and it would all seem perfectly natural.

Therefore, upon entering Sanyang City, Li Yi knew that to avenge his master and reclaim the blood debt of the Zhao Family Martial Arts Hall, he must abandon all pity, discard the way he lived on Earth, and become strong, imposing, and cold—only then could he take root and stand firm here.

“Yah!”

Li Yi spurred his horse into a wild gallop; pedestrians on the road scrambled to get out of his way. He calmly asked: “Rongniang, which of the Han or Jin martial halls is closer to us?”

“The Jin Family Martial Arts Hall.”

Rongniang had been closely following him ever since; she was now his exclusive guide, tasked with pointing out the locations of their enemies.

"Good. Then let’s start with the Jin Family Martial Arts Hall. After we crush them, we’ll move on to the next." Li Yi said, his calm tone brimming with a grand ambition that regarded all heroes under heaven as mere grass.

“Turn right at the next street corner, go one li straight ahead—that’s where the Jin Family Martial Arts Hall is.” Rongniang said immediately.

Li Yi pulled his horse to a stop, then turned and galloped off again.

“Who dares ride a horse through our Jin family’s territory? Do you want to die?” As soon as they entered the street, Jin Family disciples stationed there drew their blades and roared: “Stop now, dismount, or be killed on the spot!”

Then, swift blades flashed as several disciples blocked the path, trying to halt Li Yi and Rongniang.

Quickly.

But one sharp-eyed disciple recognized Rongniang—after all, she had been the senior disciple of the Zhao Family Martial Arts Hall and had lived in Sanyang City for over a decade. He shouted: “That woman is Rongniang, the Zhao Family’s remnant!”

“What?”

“The Zhao Family’s remnant?”

At these words, several nearby disciples instantly fixed their gazes on Li Yi and Rongniang, their eyes lighting up with excitement.

The hall master had offered a reward: one hundred taels of silver for killing any Zhao Family remnant, a thousand taels if it was a true disciple.

Zhao Family disciples were now prized targets—everyone wanted to kill them, everyone wanted to capture them.

In an instant.

Seven or eight bone-refining experts rushed forward, steel blades in hand, their speed so great they caught up to the galloping steed.

“Kill!”

Excited, bloodthirsty roars erupted as they charged, determined to take the two heads and claim the bounty.

“You want to kill me before I even lift a hand? You’re all born evil. Fine—I’ll send you all to your deaths today.” Li Yi’s killing intent surged—he dismounted and charged forward like a tiger unleashed, utterly unafraid of the seven or eight steel blades before him.

His spiritual sense activated.

Everything around him came under his control.

“Die.”

Li Yi roared. His towering frame erupted with immense force; his fists rained down, striking in all directions. With thunderous punches that cracked like spring lightning, in a single glance, the seven or eight bone-refining experts spat blood, their bodies bursting open, then scattering like discarded trash.

Shattered bodies fell to the ground; desperate screams echoed through the street.

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Steel blades shattered, broken bones flew.

Some died instantly; others writhed and screamed; some had no body left—reduced to piles of pulp.

This sight left everyone nearby stunned.

“Th-this…” someone stammered, unable to speak.

Seven or eight bone-refining experts—crushed in a single glance?

Who is this man? Why is he so brutal, so fierce?

When had such a formidable force appeared in Sanyang City?

After killing them, Li Yi’s expression remained unchanged, his heart as hard as iron. He sprinted forward, leapt back onto his horse, and rode his black steed straight toward the Jin Family Martial Arts Hall’s gates.

“Well done, Senior Brother,” Rongniang felt a deep sense of vengeance.

Jin family should taste this themselves.

“Just cannon fodder—not worth mentioning. I’m here to kill the Jin family’s qiao-refining expert.” Li Yi was unsatisfied—without the expert dead, killing cannon fodder meant nothing; it changed nothing.

“The Jin Family Martial Arts Hall is right ahead, Senior Brother. You’ll soon meet Jin Zhihuan.” Rongniang said.

“I see their hall gates—indeed, impressive.” Li Yi’s eyes flickered with interest.

In the distance, a grand, imposing gate loomed ahead—over two zhang wide, three zhang tall, thick and massive, carved with fierce beasts: tigers, leopards, wolves, eagles. Above it hung a golden plaque bearing four large characters: Jin Family Martial Arts Hall. Before the gate stood two lifelike stone lions, each baring fangs, wild and ferocious.

“Whoa!”

As soon as Li Yi arrived, he pulled his horse to a stop. Before he could dismount, the Jin Family Martial Arts Hall’s gates swung open.

Clearly, the earlier clash had alerted them—they knew enemies were coming to cause trouble. So, rather than wait for Li Yi to attack, they sent their experts to meet him.

After all, the hall had its reputation to uphold.

If Li Yi rode in like this, the Jin Family Martial Arts Hall would become the laughingstock of Sanyang City.

“When did the Zhao Family’s remnants grow so bold? Daring to come to our Jin Family’s territory and cause trouble? Do you want to die?”

Five blood-refining martial artists advanced together. At their head stood a middle-aged man, broad-shouldered, carrying a massive blade on his back. His gaze radiated lethal aura.

“Senior Brother, this man is Jin Da Dao. He’s the Jin Family’s resident expert, just one step away from qiao-refining. His Listening Wind Blade is no ordinary weapon—most blood-refining martial artists can’t survive a single clash with him. The other four are also Jin Family blood-refiners, stronger than the late Jin Bu Feng.” Rongniang recognized them and spoke up.

Though she knew her Senior Brother’s power was terrifying, she still felt the need to prepare him.

“So it’s Rongniang. Haven’t seen you in a while—where did you drag up this Senior Brother? Did Zhao Ge, that old dog, take a final disciple? I didn’t hear about it.”

Jin Da Dao sneered: “Or is this some lover you picked up outside, charmed by your sweet words, come here to throw away his life?”

Rongniang’s anger flared, ready to retort—but Li Yi raised a hand to stop her.

“Five worthless fools ready to sell their heads. You don’t need to speak—I’ll handle them.”

Li Yi removed his cloak and tossed it carelessly to Rongniang, then dismounted: “Help me hold this, Rongniang. I don’t want such a fine cloak stained with blood—you don’t have laundry powder here, and it won’t wash clean.”

Worthless fools ready to sell their heads?

At these words, Jin Da Dao and the other four blood-refiners’ killing intent surged. They glared at Li Yi, ready to cut his head off—if only they could gauge his true strength.

“What realm are you? How dare you speak such arrogance to our faces?” Jin Da Dao demanded coldly.

Even a qiao-refining expert, he would dare challenge with his blade.

“I completed bone-refining last night. I suppose I’m at the bone-refining realm.” Li Yi kept walking, striding forward toward the five.

Bone-refining?

“Ha!”

At this, Jin Da Dao burst into loud laughter. He found it absurd—a bone-refining martial artist daring to speak disrespectfully to him?

Was this Zhao Family’s Senior Brother trying to amuse himself by throwing away his life?

If so, he’d succeeded.

But in the next instant, Jin Da Dao’s laughter froze—because suddenly, a towering, muscular figure appeared right before his eyes. The man’s eyes, which had just been normal, now glowed with vertical pupils, bright and piercing. Merely being looked at felt like being caught by a primordial beast—he was now prey, about to be devoured.

“Whoo!”

Only then did a gust of wind rush from where Li Yi had stood, stirring dust all around.

The man arrived first—the force followed.

“Did you find my words funny?” Li Yi’s vertical pupils glowed, releasing icy killing intent.

“Was that speed and explosive power an illusion?”

Jin Da Dao’s smile vanished completely, replaced by chilling dread—but then he snapped back to reality.

His blood-refining peak martial energy erupted instantly; his hand shot behind his back with blinding speed, grasping his massive blade.

Under his Listening Wind Blade, even qiao-refining experts had to retreat.

He roared, bellowed, preparing to unleash the most brilliant strike of his life.

“Too slow.”

But a blood-refining martial artist’s reaction could never match that of a spiritual-sense-evolved cultivator.

It was a gap in life’s very level—irreparable, like a human’s reaction never matching a cat’s.

Li Yi’s cold voice echoed beside Jin Da Dao’s ear—and in an instant, his fist struck.

Fist power exploded.

Sound like muffled thunder.

“Boom!”

Instantly, Jin Da Dao’s head shattered, blood mist spraying, drenching those beside him. His hand still gripped the hilt of his blade—he never even got to draw it.

Thud~!

Jin Da Dao’s massive, headless corpse crashed to the ground. The sound sent chills down the spines of the other four blood-refiners.

When they looked at Li Yi again, there was no more contempt—only chilling dread and terror.

The revered resident expert, Jin Da Dao—crushed in a single clash, without even drawing his blade? It was unthinkable.

“Who puts a blade on their back? At a critical moment, you can’t even draw it. What a pity.” Li Yi shook his head, then turned to the remaining four.

As their eyes met Li Yi’s glowing vertical pupils, the four blood-refiners’ hair stood on end. They staggered back in panic—had it not been for the Jin Family Martial Arts Hall behind them, they would have fled immediately.

This feeling was too terrifying.

“He’s not bone-refining—he’s at least a qiao-refining expert! Go warn Master! Someone’s seizing the hall!”

One of the blood-refiners snapped out of shock and screamed in terror, drawing his blade and retreating—he didn’t want to die instantly.

As soon as he spoke—

From within the Jin Family Martial Arts Hall, several figures bolted inside like ghosts fleeing, clearly to raise the alarm.

Li Yi glanced at them, making no move to stop them. He hoped they’d call more people—better to kill them all at once than chase them scattered across the city. After all, he didn’t know this place well; he might get lost.

“Good. Since you’ve got such a loud voice and so much energy, I’ll send you on your way first.”

Li Yi’s towering, muscular frame moved again.

Power exploded; the green stone pavement beneath his feet shattered instantly, and the fierce aura carried him straight to this man’s front.

With preparation, the Qi-Blood martial artist roared, raising his blade to meet the attack, unwilling to surrender without a fight.

But Li Yi threw out a punch—the Qi-Blood martial artist’s precious blade missed, and he was instantly flung away by a terrifying force, his body like discarded mud slamming hard against the front gate of the Jin Family Martial Hall. The heavy gate shook violently, cracking all over; before the man’s corpse even hit the ground, he was already dead.

Li Yi killed one man with a single punch.

Such ferocity utterly terrified the other three Qi-Blood martial artists holding blades; they trembled like rats caught by a cat, frozen in place, unsure what to do.

Neither fleeing nor fighting was possible; their swords felt as heavy as a thousand jin, and they lacked the courage to swing them at all.

Now they truly became what Li Yi had called them—merchants selling their own heads, forced to stand still and wait for him to take their skulls.