52: Chapter 52 Bloodhand Butcher

The faint light of a fire striker flickered and danced within the confined stone chamber.

Qiu Shuzhen's slender fingers meticulously traced the intricate, labyrinthine mechanism deep within the lock's keyhole, her delicate brows knitted tightly together.

"Mother, opening this lock in a short time is unrealistic. To avoid complications, this lock... it can only be opened with its key!"

"The key!"

Qiu Zhiruo whirled around, her eyes blazing with a ferocious, wolf-like glint.

"Don't worry, dear daughter. Tonight, even if I have to scrape a layer of fat off that pig, I will pry that key out of him!"

Filled with bitter resentment, mother and daughter quietly retreated from the treasure vault entrance that felt so close yet was as distant as the horizon.

The massive artificial rock silently slid back into place.

...

Meanwhile, a hundred li outside Panshi City, in the Black Wind Ridge.

Moonlight, sliced into fragments by the dense forest canopy, scattered upon the winding, steep mountain path.

A jet-black steed with four snow-white hooves galloped like lightning. Upon its back, a figure as sturdy as a mountain sat immovable as a rock.

This man was none other than the Great Chieftain of the Black Wind Stockade, the Bloody-Handed Butcher — Zhao Tianba!

He wore a half-old, half-new kasaya, roughly open at the front, revealing a bronze-hued chest where muscles coiled like ancient gnarled tree roots.

Faint, dark-golden strange patterns were vaguely visible on his neck, rising and falling slightly with his breath, like slumbering Vicious Beasts.

His square face originally held a certain rustic boldness.

But this was utterly ruined by a ferocious scar that slanted across his left brow all the way to his ear, adding ten parts of malevolence.

Most terrifying were his eyes. When they opened and closed, sharp light flashed within.

At times, they were like wrathful Vajra deities, awe-inspiring and mighty. At others, they resembled a spying viper, cold, slippery, and oozing a palpitation-inducing Evil Qi.

Zhao Tianba was originally a monk of the Vajra Temple, who left after breaking the precept of celibacy.

"Whoa—!"

The steed neighed long, reared up on its hind legs, and came to a steady halt before the Black Wind Stockade's gate—a structure built from giant logs, stained and mottled with blood.

The stockade was ablaze with light and deafening with clamor, seemingly in the midst of a grand feast.

The moment Zhao Tianba dismounted and strode through the gate, the clamor was abruptly cut off as if by an invisible hand.

Dozens of fierce bandits stood up in unison, each with a steel saber at their waist, their eyes fierce.

Upon recognizing the newcomer, not a single one dared to meet Zhao Tianba's gaze. The air was thick with a stifling, extreme panic.

"Stockade Master!"

"The Stockade Master has returned!"

The aroma of wine and meat, mingled with the stench of sweat and blood, became nauseating.

A group escorted Zhao Tianba to the Hall of Gathering.

Zhao Tianba's gaze swept like lightning over the empty seat at the head of the hall, on the right side. His brows abruptly furrowed into a tight knot.

The scar on his face twisted along with it, appearing even more ferocious.

"Where's Third Brother?"

His voice wasn't loud, yet it rumbled through the Hall of Gathering like muffled thunder, making eardrums buzz, carrying an unquestionable authority.

The bandits fell deathly silent, their gazes involuntarily shifting to the left side of the head table.

A giant of a man, towering like an iron pagoda, abruptly stood up. This was the Second Chieftain, "Mountain-Cleaving Axe" Rage of Liu.

Nearly ten feet tall, his muscles knotted like granite, straining the beast-skin vest he wore to the point of bursting. His face was full of coarse flesh, his beard like inverted steel needles.

At this moment, this brute's face bore grief, indignation, and a trace of fear he couldn't quite conceal.

"Big Brother!" Rage of Liu's voice was loud, yet it couldn't hide its hoarseness.

"Third Brother... Third Brother has fallen! At the Li Family in Panshi City, someone... someone with a single move... lopped off his head!"

Boom!

A violent, unmatched Evil Qi, mixed with the bloody and Fiery aura of the Buddhist Dharma, erupted from Zhao Tianba's body like a volcanic explosion.

Several nearby lackeys were sent staggering back by the invisible shockwave, their faces turning ashen.

"Who?!!!"

Zhao Tianba took a step forward. The thick bluestone slab beneath his foot cracked with a *crunch*, spiderweb-like fissures spreading outwards.

His eyes turned blood-red, as if molten lava boiled and burned within their depths, locked Die Die on Rage of Liu.

Pricked by that gaze, Rage of Liu felt as if pierced by steel needles, subconsciously retreating half a step.

The muscles on his thick arms bulged, steadying himself before he spoke urgently.

"A stranger named Ding Qing. According to the brothers who escaped, the man wore black clothes, a black hat, held an infant in his arms... his methods... his methods were utterly bizarre and sinister!"

He swallowed hard, remnants of terror lingering in his eyes as he recounted the horrifying scene from the wedding hall.

How Ding Qing lightly tapped the rim of a cup with two fingers, pierced Third Chieftain Sun's palm from a distance with a single pointed finger, and then flicked his sleeve to throw a plate, bursting Third Chieftain's head as easily as swatting a fly...

Each detail caused the temperature in the Hall of Gathering to drop another degree.

"Two fingers tapping a cup... injuring from a distance... a flick of the sleeve to shatter a skull..."

Zhao Tianba repeated in a low voice.

Each word seemed squeezed from between his teeth, carrying a bone-chilling coldness.

"The Li Family! What a fine Li Family! Daring to kill my Black Wind Stockade's Third Chieftain! Next, will they try to flatten my Black Wind Stockade, to slaughter us all?!"

He whirled around to face the cowering bandits in the hall. His kasaya billowed without wind, flapping loudly.

That face, a Fusion of ferocity and furious, looked like a Hell demon god under the flickering firelight.

"If this beast is not eliminated, the Black Wind Stockade will never know peace! If the Li Family is not destroyed, I, Zhao Tianba, vow to be less than human!"

His roar was like thunder, shaking dust from the rafters to fall in showers.

"Rage of Liu!"

"Big Brother!" Rage of Liu clasped his fists in acknowledgment, his voice like a great bell.

"Send carrier pigeons immediately! To Vulture Old Monster, Poison Mistress, One-Eyed Biao... all friends from the seven mountains, from all paths of the Dao! I, Zhao Tianba, invite them to drink at the Black Wind Stockade!

Tell them, the Li Family in Panshi City is dripping with fat. Slay that Ding Qing, slaughter the Li Family, and the gold, silver, treasures, beauties, land... take whatever you want!"

The fierce light in Zhao Tianba's eyes blazed violently. Not a trace of a monk's dignified bearing remained, only Naked greed and the desire for slaughter.

He knew well that troubled times were approaching, the court was too busy with its own troubles. This was the perfect opportunity for grass-roots kings like them to expand their power and plunder Foundation!

He had long coveted the Li Family, this piece of fatty meat.

Now, with added blood feud, it gave him a justified reason to act and an opportunity to establish his authority by leveraging the situation.

"Muster all brothers in the stockade. Three days! I give you only three days! In three days, I will trample Panshi City!

I will use the blood of the entire Li Family to sacrifice to Third Brother! I will hang Ding Qing's head on the walls of Panshi City, to let everyone see the fate of those who offend my Black Wind Stockade!"

"Yes, Big Brother!" Rage of Liu and the gathered leaders roared in unison, their Evil Qi soaring to the heavens.

Zhao Tianba grabbed a crude ceramic bowl filled with strong liquor from a nearby table, tilted his head back, and gulped it down. The liquor streamed down his thick beard.

He suddenly hurled the empty The bowl was fiercely to the ground!

*Crash!*

The ceramic bowl shattered into pieces, like the fate soon to befall the Li Family.

"The Governor of Qingzhou was assassinated yesterday. Brothers, the troubled times have arrived! This Panshi City is the first stepping stone for our Black Wind Stockade to draw blood and raise our banner!"

"Whether we feast on delicacies and drink fine wine in the future depends on whether you dare to kill!"

He licked the liquor splashed onto his lips. The interwoven light in his eyes—part wrathful Vajra, part viper's coldness—sent chills down the spine.

That giant hand, which had once ambushed and severely wounded the Head of the Discipline Hall, and which had cultivated the "Dragon-Locking Heart-Shattering Palm" by Fusing Buddhist and demonic power, slowly clenched. The knuckles emitted a teeth-grating series of cracks.

"Kill! Kill! Kill!!!"

"Trample Panshi City, slaughter the Li Family!"

"Trample Panshi City, slaughter the Li Family!"

Above Panshi City, an intangible black cloud was madly gathering, centered on Black Wind Ridge. The killing intent surged like a tide.