Free Web NovelChapter 81: Chapter 69: Hard to Wash One’s Hands Clean, The 9-Year-Old God of Slaughter
That evening arrived in the blink of an eye.
In the darkness of the night.
Xu Lei, who still hadn’t figured out an excuse to leave home, was sitting cross-legged in his room, quietly focused on his Cultivation.
Suddenly, smoke was blown in through a small tube under the crack of his door.
’Hm?’
Xu Lei’s brow furrowed. ’What’s going on?’
Xu Lei was about to act.
After all, he didn’t know what this smoke was.
If it was poison gas, he and his family could all be killed.
But as he’d thought before, even though it would consume some of his Magical Power...
...with 9,998 lifetimes’ worth of Xu Lei to draw from, he wasn’t panicking.
He could inherit the Cultivation of his past lives!
He just needed to stack a few lifetimes, and he would probably become a top-tier expert.
With such vast reserves, if he didn’t act when his family was in danger, would he even be human?
Other Daoist or Buddhist cultivators only had a hundred coins to their name.
Once they spent it, they could no longer achieve their Dao.
But Xu Lei had a million. What was spending a few cents to save his family when they were in trouble?
Besides, Xu Lei was nine years old now. He wasn’t going to stay at home cultivating forever.
He would soon be leaving to become a monk.
This might be the last time he would use his Magical Power to help them.
Of course, Xu Lei hadn’t acted yet.
Just then, Xu Lei noticed his father had also shot up from his bed.
He had even grabbed his Bow and Arrow.
Seeing that his father was fine, Xu Lei naturally held back.
The smoke was just a knockout agent.
With Magical Power swirling in his nasal passages, he was naturally unaffected by it.
Just then.
"Second Brother!"
A middle-aged man’s voice came from outside the door, cold and menacing. "Your eldest son and his wife!
And the grandson or granddaughter in her belly—we have them all!
Don’t make any rash moves!
And don’t scream!
Or they die!
And this time, don’t even think about escaping again!
Surrender without a fight. We only want your life!
If you’re smart about this, we are still brothers, after all!
We’ll let your family go!"
HUM.
Xu Lei released an extremely faint wisp of ’Qi’—his Magical Power—to sense what was happening outside.
He discovered that a full five burly, middle-aged men had snuck into his family’s courtyard!
Every one of them was dressed in black, with only their eyes visible!
His older brother and pregnant sister-in-law had both been knocked unconscious and were being held hostage.
Xu Lei was already nine years old.
His older brother was eleven years his senior!
At twenty, his brother was naturally already married.
He had even moved out and built his own house on another plot of land in the village.
Clearly, the men who came tonight had done their research on the family.
They had knocked out his brother and sister-in-law before coming here.
They hadn’t rushed into the house, likely because they knew Xu Lei’s father wouldn’t be so easily incapacitated by the smoke.
So they were being cautious, testing the waters.
After all, even though there were many of them, if they charged in...
...his father’s Bow and Arrow could ensure that a few of them never left!
"Don’t touch my son and daughter-in-law!"
Xu Lei’s father growled back. "Big Brother, why must you be so ruthless?
All these years, I’ve run so far.
I’ve lived here under a new name, just wanting to live my life in peace!
I’ve never revealed a single thing about you to anyone!
I didn’t agree with that job you all wanted to pull back then!
So I didn’t take part!
But I knew we were brothers!
So I’ve always kept my mouth shut!
Why do you insist on me dying?
Aren’t we brothers?
Is this how you treat a brother!"
"Once you’re in this life, your hands are tied!"
The middle-aged man leading the group outside also kept his voice low. "Second Brother!
I told you this back when you first decided to follow me!
We pulled so many jobs together back in the day, got rich together. Wasn’t that great?
It would’ve been great to keep getting rich together!
But you had to leave!
Do you have any idea how we’ve been unable to eat or sleep in peace all these years?
You were the one who betrayed your brothers first!"
"I followed you back then!"
Xu Lei’s father retorted, "That’s because back then, we only killed corrupt officials or the wicked rich!
But what about later?
You all went insane.
That Landlord’s family you were going to hit—they were good people!"
"Enough of this nonsense!"
Just then, another middle-aged man outside spoke up. "Second Brother, I’ll call you that one last time!
Get out here and die quietly!
Otherwise, your eldest son, his wife, and their child will die, and the rest of your family won’t escape either!
The Landlord’s nephew is an official now, and the Court is investigating that old case with all its resources!
They’ve even posted a massive reward!
We’re obviously not going to turn ourselves in.
But we can’t be sure about you!
After all, you always said that Landlord was a good man, heh!
Your conscience, plus a huge reward... who’d dare believe you wouldn’t be tempted?
You weren’t tempted before, but who knows about the future!
You can only blame yourself for having the bad luck to run into us a while back!
We weren’t planning on hunting you down relentlessly!
But now?
We can’t and we don’t dare to trust you!
Only a dead man can keep a secret!
You die, and we’ll turn around and leave!"
Hearing this, Xu Lei still didn’t make a move.
He just kept listening silently.
Everyone else in the house was still unconscious.
They had clearly all been knocked out.
Meanwhile, Xu Lei’s father didn’t immediately agree to go out and face his death.
He was probably worried they wouldn’t keep their word.
That after he sacrificed himself, they would still kill his entire family.
The men outside were still threatening his father, even considering using a knife on his older brother to apply more pressure.
After listening for a while, Xu Lei had pieced together the whole story.
He also finally understood why, even though his father was just an ordinary hunter and farmer, the family had never been short on money.
This was why Xu Lei had never bothered to think about how to help the family earn money over the years.
That money must have come from his father’s early crimes.
But later, when the others wanted to pull another big job...
...Xu Lei’s father felt their target was a good person, so he refused and ran away.
But the other five went through with it.
And now the Court had posted a huge reward and was in hot pursuit.
So the five men got scared.
Which led to today.
"Fine, I agree!"
At this point, the standoff came to an end. Xu Lei’s father finally gave in. "I’m coming out!
I’ll die!
Just don’t touch my family!"
But just as his father was about to open the door and walk to his death...
CREAK.
Xu Lei quietly opened his bedroom window.
"Go!"
Then, with a wave of his hand, he threw out several thin, round bamboo chips!
WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH!
The bamboo chips were enveloped in a faint, transparent ’Qi’ that was nearly invisible to the naked eye.
They whistled through the air!
The reason he controlled the bamboo chips was that he’d discovered this method consumed slightly less Magical Power than using it directly.
It was like the difference between an ordinary person fighting with a sword versus with their bare hands.
The five burly men in the courtyard were startled.
They naturally tried to dodge and block.
The two holding his unconscious brother and sister-in-law even used them as shields, pulling them in front.
SQUELCH! SQUELCH!
But a series of slicing sounds rang out.
The necks of all five black-clad, masked men were slit open.
Their main arteries were severed.
Blood gushed from their necks, staining their black clothes red.
Including the two who had used his brother and sister-in-law as shields.
CREAK!
Just then, Xu Lei’s father opened his door and witnessed the terrifying scene of five bamboo chips killing the five men.
"How is that possible?"
His pupils contracted in horror. "What... what just happened?"
Because the bamboo chips had whistled through the air, changing direction mid-flight!
That was how they had managed to kill all five well-trained, burly bandits in an instant!
The two men using his brother and sister-in-law as human shields never expected the chips to curve, and they were caught completely off guard and killed instantly!
This kind of Power was beyond his father’s comprehension.
Goosebumps erupted all over his skin.
And just then, he saw the five round bamboo chips spinning in the air.
Then, in a flash, they flew back through his second son’s window.
This was one of the weaknesses of using controlled bamboo chips to kill enemies.
An ordinary person could see the trajectory of the attack.
However, this was something Xu Lei had intentionally let his father see.
Otherwise, he wouldn’t have used the bamboo chips at all.
"My second son?"
At this, his father’s face changed drastically, and he sprinted toward Xu Lei’s room.
He didn’t know if the bamboo chips were friend or foe!
They had killed the five men, so they seemed friendly!
But it was also possible they were something sinister!
After killing those five, they might be after his second son next.
Of course, the moment he entered Xu Lei’s room, Xu Lei’s father was dumbfounded.
Because there, sitting cross-legged on the bed, was nine-year-old Xu Lei.
And the five terrifying bamboo chips that had just instantly killed five ruthless bandits were flying obediently into his palm.
They even stacked themselves together meticulously.
