Chapter 17: bandits Blaspheme and Receive Retribution

A group of people worked by the lake for half a day, but aside from dozens of empty clam shells, they caught nothing.

Call Break Heaven roared in anger, as if only now remembering that the villagers must have said that these Stone Clams could not be caught by hand.

Li Qiuchen slept hidden in the woods, and when he opened his eyes and saw they were still fumbling around there, he couldn’t help but shake his head and sigh.

How could people be this stupid?

He had originally buried those empty clam shells, fearing that others might discover his method of extracting the pearls from the shells. Later, he and White Crane dug the shells out and threw them into the water, intending for the bandits to realize that someone had harvested pearls here… They did find them, but they completely failed to consider why the shells were empty and just kept trying to fish them out.

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This gave Li Qiuchen a sense of helplessness, like struggling against thin air.

One could only say that fools have their luck; because they completely failed to realize it was a trap, they perfectly missed the snare Li Qiuchen had set for them.

Fortunately, out of caution, Li Qiuchen had set up more than one set of traps.

Seeing that it was getting late, Call Break Heaven, frantic with rage, kicked Second Scabby around like a ball.

Second Scabby was kicked until blood spurted from his nose and mouth. Unable to bear it, he begged for mercy repeatedly: “Leader, spare my life! Maybe our method is wrong? Why don’t we try the method that old guy mentioned?”

Call Break Heaven grew even angrier. You were the one who said not to trust the old guy before, and now you’re the one saying we should trust him.

Are you playing me for a fool?

“Alright, alright, stop fishing! Pitch camp and cook!”

Spring in the Northern Territory seemed warm, but the temperature difference was actually quite large. As soon as the sun set, the lake water became icy cold. The bandits, who were already freezing, climbed ashore one after another, hugging their arms and starting a fire.

Call Break Heaven grabbed the bleeding and battered Second Scabby and coldly demanded, “What did that old guy say again? Repeat it for me!”

“He… he said that if we want to get the pearls, we must set up a feast, offer three sacrificial animals and fruits, worship the Mountain God Lord, and ask the Mountain God Lord for mercy and blessings.”

The old man spoke skillfully, mixing truth and falsehood, concealing the most crucial part about the Mountain Sovereign.

Since the bandits didn’t know about the Mountain Sovereign, they naturally didn’t know about Li Qiuchen’s existence.

There was an existing stove by the lake, and inside it was a lot of unburnt charcoal. No one would reject such ready-made kindling, and naturally, no one would check if there were any strange powders mixed into the dark soot.

The bandits had looted many things from the village and were exhausted after a day of work. They were scrambling, eager to eat something hot immediately. But just as they managed to light the fire, they were stopped by their Leader.

Call Break Heaven pondered for a moment, ordered someone to slaughter a live chicken, brought over a few Wotou, piled up an earthen altar, and led his subordinates to drop to their knees with a thud. Without a word, he immediately kowtowed nine times with loud bangs.

“Grandpa Mountain God—!”

They say there are only mistaken names, but never mistaken nicknames.

The nickname Call Break Heaven was truly not an exaggeration; the sound of his roar startled countless birds in the surrounding woods into flight.

“Great Mountain God Lord, please observe! I, Xue Jia, lost my parents when I was young and have suffered displacement all my life… I originally secured a proper job in the county town, but who would have thought that my crude language offended a superior, forcing me to become a bandit. It is truly miserable!”

“I also ask the Great Mountain God Lord to show great compassion and bestow the mysterious pearl, giving me and my brothers a chance to turn over a new leaf. If my brothers and I achieve wealth and prosperity in the future, we will return to rebuild your temple and reshape your golden statue! I swear to the heavens, if I break my promise, let me be torn apart by five horses!”

“Great Lord, show some mercy!”

This Call Break Heaven certainly had some knowledge; his shouts sounded quite authentic.

Unfortunately, no one responded.

After shouting himself hoarse for a long time without any movement from the Mountain God Lord, Call Break Heaven hardened his heart, grabbed the head of the nearby Second Scabby, and stomped on it.

Second Scabby immediately wet his pants in terror.

“Leader… what are you doing? Don’t…”

Pfft.

With one slice of the knife, the head and body were separated.

Call Break Heaven picked up Second Scabby’s head and shouted toward the mountain, “Great Mountain God Lord! Look closely! We didn’t want to harass the villagers; it was this brat who was jealous of the village head’s family wealth and specifically ran to inform us. If you want to blame someone, blame him. Now I’ve chopped him down, are you satisfied?”

The mountain was quiet, with no sound except for the echo.

Call Break Heaven waited for a moment, then cursed as he threw the head away: “What damn Mountain God is there? I fell for that motherf*cker’s trick again!”

He felt nothing, but Li Qiuchen, hiding in the woods, felt a wave of fear.

The moment he insulted the Mountain God, Li Qiuchen clearly felt the patch of woods where he was hiding tremble slightly.

Something really came.

The bandits by the lake were still burning the fire, and as the flames rose, the powder mixed into the charcoal was ignited along with it.

At first, no one noticed anything unusual. Even when someone was constantly hugging their shoulders and shivering, eyes glazed over, their comrades just assumed he was frozen by the lake water and paid no attention.

Until someone looked at the lake surface and chuckled foolishly, and a comrade nearby asked curiously, “What are you looking at?”

“Watching two little people fight!”

“Where? Let me see?”

“Right there!”

Call Break Heaven faintly sensed something was wrong. Just as he was about to get up and check, he suddenly felt dizzy and, swaying, plopped back down.

Also sensing that something was wrong was Li Qiuchen, the initiator.

Did the medicinal powder I sprinkled have such potent toxicity? How did I not know?

Could it be that I’m some kind of minor poisoning Genius?

That was, of course, impossible.

If anything, this looked more like they were suffering “retribution.”

Could there really be a Mountain God here?

Whether or not there was a Mountain God, Li Qiuchen didn’t know, but in the current situation, the unsuspecting bandits were all poisoned and plunged into crazed hallucinations.

It was the perfect time to fish in troubled waters.

Li Qiuchen made a gesture to White Crane, pointing toward two bandits who were kneeling in a secluded spot, dry heaving.

A fierce light flashed in White Crane’s eyes. It spread its wings and gave a light flick; two feathers transformed into streaks of light and shot out silently.

The sharp feathers slit their throats, and the two men collapsed silently.

Having succeeded in one strike, Li Qiuchen did not rush to increase his tally. Instead, he quietly changed positions with White Crane.

Three minutes later, he found a suitable target again. He raised his hand and pointed, and feathers shot out. In a dark corner unnoticed by anyone, two more men clutched their throats and fell.

After changing positions again, Li Qiuchen noticed White Crane’s body trembling slightly, and even its steps were unsteady.

“First time killing someone?”

He just asked casually, but he didn’t expect the Stupid Bird to actually nod.

Then why was your killing intent so heavy? It made me think you used to kill people like cutting grass.

Li Qiuchen patted White Crane’s shoulder irritably: “Don’t be nervous, it’s my first time too.”

Wait, I didn’t kill anyone, I just instigated it. It was the one who acted, what does it have to do with me?

White Crane stared at Li Qiuchen with a suspicious look; the implication was obvious.

You don’t look like it.

What kid plans their first murder so meticulously?

Can’t I just say I played too many games in my last life?

Li Qiuchen didn’t feel guilty at all.

He was even a little excited.

Seeing living lives disappear before his eyes, a hint of irritation vaguely surfaced deep within his heart.

It wasn’t fear of death, but regret over the passing of life.

Like seeing leftover Bird’s Nest and Shark Fin being dumped into the trash can.

It was too wasteful.

How can life be squandered like this?

Li Qiuchen calmly soothed this trace of restless emotion and selected the third group of targets.

“If you feel uncomfortable, we’ll retreat. Killing four of them already counts as avenging the villagers.”

White Crane shook its head, raised its wing, and shot out two more feathers.

The bandits caught in the illusion completely failed to notice their comrades disappearing one by one beside them. They were hopelessly immersed in the hallucination, even treating each other as enemies and drawing weapons to kill one another.

The hallucinatory power of this medicinal powder far exceeded Li Qiuchen’s expectations.

Call Break Heaven screamed hoarsely, slicing the strange enemy in front of him into two segments with one swing of his knife. The hot blood splashed onto his face, finally restoring a slight degree of clarity to his mind.

The eerie silence around him made him shudder.

Turning his head, he saw that the thirty to fifty subordinates he had brought were completely wiped out.

Li Qiuchen directed White Crane to launch seven surprise attacks in the dark, killing a total of fifteen people.

The remaining bandits all died killing each other in the hallucinations. Six or seven of the unluckier ones were directly slaughtered by Call Break Heaven’s knife.

The night wind blew, and Call Break Heaven felt a chill on the back of his neck, causing him to shiver violently.

“Ghost! Gh-gh-ghost—!”

He dropped his knife and ran down the mountain without looking back.

It seemed he had been driven mad by the bizarre scene.

Not only him, but even Li Qiuchen and White Crane, hiding in the woods, were trembling with fear.

White Crane stumbled out of the woods, flapped its wings, and instantly retracted all its feathers. But the bloody smell clinging to the feathers made it vomit right there.

It was just a little blood, acting like a woman.

Li Qiuchen also felt nauseated, but he had seen far more disgusting things before.

For example, Old Hulk, who was 180 years old and covered in eyeballs.

So he could barely tolerate this physiological discomfort.

Forcing down his nausea, he walked into the pile of corpses and started finishing them off.

Some people weren’t dead yet; either their injuries weren’t fatal and they hadn’t breathed their last, or they had fallen into a coma and thus escaped death.

Although they appeared motionless on the surface, the Life Energy flowing inside them could not escape Li Qiuchen’s eyes.

He dared not show any trace of Womanly Compassion toward these bandits who would draw their knives and kill at the slightest disagreement.

If he let them live, his small arms and legs wouldn’t be able to withstand their revenge.

Either don’t do it, or do it thoroughly.

This is called survival wisdom.