Chapter 5 – Nine Oxen and Two Tigers (1/2)

The black ox did not reply. Instead, it closed its eyes.

Li Qingshan laid flat on the bed. He remained calm on the surface, but his emotions were surging uncontrollably on the inside. As a result, he was unable to fall asleep even till the early hours of the morning. However, once his heart that had been stretched tight by excitement finally eased up, he felt even more exhausted than after working an entire day on the farm. He immediately sank into a deep sleep.

That night, he dreamed of becoming the enemy of thousands, killing until mountains of corpses blotted out the sun and seas of blood swallowed the stars.

Waking up, his dream receded like the tides. Sunlight poured in brilliantly. It was already late in the morning.

Patch-haired Liu’s death was like a droplet of water to a pot of oil. It caused a great disturbance in the village. He had always been making trouble in the village, and now, he was finally dead. Basically all the villagers clapped and cheered, saying that it was retribution.

However, they then began to speculate about the person responsible for this. There were many people who had grievances with patch-haired Liu, but there were not many who were bold enough to settle it. There were no secrets in this tiny village. As soon as the villagers thought about what had happened in the ancestral hall the day before and how the person in question did not come to check out such a major event, they only became further convinced about their speculation.

“Li Erlang has committed murder.”

“He seems quiet most of the time, but he actually possesses such bravery.”

“He has probably fled already.”

As the quiet discussion continued, the elder brother and sister-in-law turned pale-white, while caretaker Liu and village head Li had sunken expressions. The scoundrels became so frightened that they were weak in the knees. If they had been the one who had gone out last night, wouldn’t they be lying there right now instead?

Someone called out, “Li Erlang is here.” The crowd automatically parted to form a path. Under everyone’s gazes, Li Qingshan strode over to patch-haired Liu’s corpse. He could not tell last night due to the darkness, but looking at it now, he also felt that patch-haired Liu had suffered a horrific death. However, he showed none of it on his face. All he said was, “Good riddance.” He glanced around at the crowd.

They all felt that Li Qingshan seemed to have become a completely different person overnight. He had become rather fearful. Everyone his gaze brushed past felt a chill run down their spines, while those who had been directly involved with him leaped in fright.

Village head Li said, “Tie up Li Er and take him to the ancestral hall.”

There was a disturbance among the crowd of villagers. Li Qingshan raised his eyebrows. “Who dares to?” Even without a weapon in hand, he possessed the deterrent of the murder, so he was like a drawn sword, shining with a cold edge.

Not a single villager stepped forward, and it was not only because they feared Li Qingshan. All people had a concept of right and wrong, and the thoughts of the villagers were simple. Village head, you’ve been colluding with tyrants to harass the kind-hearted, so what right do you have to order us around? We’ve all watched Erlang grow up as well. He even calls you grandfather, yet you can still bring yourself to do this. Patch-haired Liu deserved to die. Erlang has gotten rid of a menace for us.

“Patch-haired Liu drank too much and tripped to his death. What’s it got to do with Erlang?” The speaker was Zhang Wuge, who had a grievance with patch-haired Liu. Patch-haired Liu had tried to harass his wife while he was in the fields. Back then, he was tempted to throw his life at patch-haired Liu, and he only stopped under the bitter pleadings of his wife. Now that he saw this fellow’s corpse, he felt an indescribable sense of delight.

Someone added immediately, “Yeah, yeah. He fell to his death. This is heaven’s retribution.”

There was a hubbub of agreement as they echoed the sentiment that patch-haired Liu’s death was purely accidental. They completely ignored patch-haired Liu’s constricted pupils. Additionally, their gazes towards Li Qingshan bore some respect now.

Li Qingshan suddenly felt rather moved. This was the so-called will of the people.

Village head Li knew that if this continued, his authority in the village would be heavily affected. More importantly, he was truly afraid of Li Qingshan’s revenge. If he had known that this kid was so vicious, he never would have twisted his words for a few pieces of silver. Currently, none of the villagers heeded his order, while the other scoundrels were even worse than the villagers, having secretly slipped away already.

He could only glance at caretaker Liu. Caretaker Liu should have been able to order around the servants and workers of his home, but he pretended to not notice. It was the sister-in-law who insisted on selling the land to him anyway, and he was never directly involved in the matter either. He had a lot of matters to attend to, so why would he go up against such a vicious and brutal person over such a small affair? Moreover, it would be his loss if he accidentally aggravated the villagers.

Unknowingly, he had already begun treating Li Qingshan as a vicious and brutal person.

“Possessed by demons, possessed by demons. I’ve said so before, I’ve said so before.” The witch suddenly pointed at Li Qingshan and began wailing.

Her words fazed all of the villagers, causing them to move away from Li Qingshan involuntarily.

Li Qingshan went up and kicked her to the ground. “You old hag, how much longer are you going to falsely accuse me? If you utter another word, I’ll rip your mouth to pieces.”

The witch uttered an ‘Ouch’ before shutting up. She only stared at him in resentment.

Li Qingshan was composed and unafraid. “If you truly possess supernatural abilities, then you better get those gods and ghosts to come look for me. Let’s see whether I’ll be afraid or not.” With that, he left the crowd with his head held high. After he arrived at an area without any people, his imposing manner finally deflated. He only felt his heart thump heavily, but he knew that he had made the right move.