Chapter 28: Shoot to Kill

The night was dark and windy, crows croaked low.

The tavern.

Three burly men were drunk, one of them being Zhu Lie.

Zhu Lie, eyes bloodshot and glazed, growled: “Fuck, a stable boy—what the hell is he, that I should apologize to him?”

Another chimed in: “Exactly, Second Master, someday I’ll kill that old bastard for you.”

“Yes, yes, yes—I heard he has a disciple. Tomorrow, we’ll make him drown in the latrine.”

These two were not Zhu family members, but Zhu Lie’s underworld associates—both feared thugs with reputations.

Hearing their words,

Zhu Lie felt somewhat relieved.

“Big brother’s too cautious in everything!”

Back when he and his big brother Zhu Ping roamed Qinghe, Zhu Ping was cunning and resourceful, while he was brutal and domineering—that’s how they built their foundation in Qinghe.

“If not for Big Brother holding him back, the other two families in Qinghe would’ve been wiped out long ago.”

Zhu Lie muttered.

These past years, he’d grown more and more stifled—nothing compared to twenty years ago, when he’d just chop someone down if he didn’t like them.

The three drank until deep night before stumbling out the door; of course, they never paid the bill—even if they had, the owner wouldn’t dare take it.

Who in Qinghe didn’t know the infamous reputation of the Zhu family’s Second Master?

It was already midnight, the hour of Zi.

The streets were pitch black, save for a few cold, silvery moonbeams like fine sand.

Zhu Lie and the others staggered down the main road—just as they turned into a secluded alley—

Suddenly!

An arrow pierced the air.

It struck the temple of the burly man beside him, piercing straight through his skull; his body thudded to the ground.

Everything happened too suddenly!

Zhu Lie shuddered, the alcohol in him draining away.

“Who’s there?”

“Motherfucker, have the guts to show yourself! Shooting from the shadows—is that any kind of skill?!”

Zhu Lie roared.

He was a ranked martial artist, quick to react—he immediately crouched and scanned his surroundings.

A staff for a night, a blade for a year, a spear for a lifetime—bows and arrows can wound even a child.

Among commoners, the bow was the ultimate killing weapon.

Even a child holding a bow could kill an adult, let alone someone hiding in the dark to shoot.

He hadn’t yet located the archer.

Swoosh!

Another arrow flew toward him.

It embedded itself in the chest of the other burly man; a scream tore through the air, blood gushed, and he was clearly dead.

At that moment, Zhu Lie spotted the archer’s position.

“Die!”

He rolled on the ground like a hunting leopard and sprinted toward where the arrow had come from.

He leapt up, landing on the wall’s edge.

There, in the dark night, he saw a figure crouched atop the wall.

“Who are you?”

With two men dead, Zhu Lie was now a raging bull—only wanting to tear this shadow-killer into pieces to quench his fury.

But the man tossed his bow behind his back, slung it over his shoulder, and leapt off the wall, vanishing.

Would Zhu Lie let this go?

He jumped down after him.

Chase and flight, weaving through seven or eight alleys.

Finally, the masked man stopped at an abandoned house.

Zhu Lie glanced around, frowning slightly: “Is this your chosen grave?”

As he spoke, he stared fixedly at the man ahead.

The man wore a black cloth over his face—no features visible, no age discernible, only that he was a man.

“You’re—”

Before he could finish the word—

The man suddenly pulled off his mask himself.

Zhu Lie’s pupils shrank, then he gasped in disbelief: “Old Li?”

He hadn’t even moved—and Li Rui had already come to kill him.

But in the instant Zhu Lie was stunned, a cloud of white powder erupted from Li Rui’s hand into the night.

“Shit!”

“Lime!”

In the darkness, Zhu Lie realized too late.

His eyes burned with searing pain.

A gust of wind surged toward him.

Zhu Lie staggered backward, forcing his eyes open.

The moment his swollen eyelids cracked open, he saw only a brilliant slash of blade-light beneath the moon.

“Such a strong blade.”

That was Zhu Lie’s final thought.

His head spun through the air, then thudded to the ground.

Zhu Lie’s head still stared open-eyed, disbelieving, at Li Rui.

Even in death, he couldn’t understand.

How could a seventy-year-old old man be this strong?!

Li Rui’s face was calm.

He pulled a shovel from beside the wall, swiftly digging away a layer of earth.

A pit, just large enough to hold a man, appeared before him.

“How’s the grave I picked for you?”

He kicked Zhu Lie’s body and head into the deep pit.

Then he refilled the hole.

Finally, he scattered a thin layer of old soil over it, erasing all trace of recent digging.

When everything was done,

He clapped his hands in satisfaction, wiped away all traces from the derelict yard, and returned to his room at Huaye Pavilion.

Morning.

The plump woman awoke to find Li Rui sitting beside the bed, eyes closed in meditation.

“Master?”

She whispered softly—she didn’t know how she’d fallen asleep, and remembered nothing after.

Li Rui slowly opened his eyes, opened the door, and stepped out.

“Old Brother Li, how’s the bow?”

Wu Tu regarded Li Rui with a sly smile.

Yu State was founded on martial prowess; ordinary weapons could be carried freely, but powerful bows and crossbows were forbidden.

These two weapons were too deadly.

A commoner wielding a strong bow could injure a martial artist, and with luck, kill outright—his own yew hardwood bow could draw eighty stone, its power immense.

“It’s a fine bow.”

Li Rui nodded in approval, recalling the image from last night: the arrow piercing the burly man’s temple.

“Old Brother Li, you handle things with such precision—I admire you.”

“Don’t flatter this old man anymore.”

Li Rui smiled like an ordinary, cheerful old man.

Wu Tu took back the hardwood bow.

He glanced at the quiver—it held only three arrows left; he’d given Li Rui five yesterday.

News came from Qinghe today.

In Dongcheng, two well-known underworld fighters had been killed by arrows—exactly those two!

“Impressive.”

Wu Tu would never expose the truth—giving someone favors was never as valuable as helping them commit a crime. Li Rui clearly treated him like family.

He was delighted.

As for killing?

Who among those who wander the martial world doesn’t have blood on their hands?

Besides, those two men terrorized Qinghe County, forced innocent people into prostitution, and committed countless vile deeds—death was what they deserved.

It was Li Rui’s skill at killing that startled Wu Tu.

It’s said that the Second Master of the Zhu family also went missing last night.

Slaying a ranked Wu Gong—hmm, that’s no ordinary feat.

Li Rui returned to Tianyi Hall.

He flipped through the Daoist scripture as if nothing had happened.

Suddenly!

His hand paused mid-turning of the page.

The next instant.

A line of small characters appeared before his eyes.

【Congratulations, host! Achievement completed: “Famous in the Jianghu—Initial Plot: Eradicating Evil and Protecting the Innocent.”】

(End of Chapter)