Chapter 369 - 351: The Stone Cliff 2

Chapter 369: Chapter 351: The Stone Cliff 2

Before the words had even faded, a strange, cackling laugh—hoarse and ancient, yet filled with malice and mockery—suddenly echoed across the river, reaching every ear with chilling clarity.

"KYEHEHEHE... Wuji is right. The Seven Kills Association should just change its name to the Turtle Man Association!"

The voice wasn’t loud, but it shook the small boat. Inside the cabin, the faces of the six Hall Masters changed drastically as they shot to their feet.

A hunched figure had appeared silently at the bow.

The newcomer was an old man who looked to be in his sixties or seventies. His sparse white hair was a mess, and his face was a canvas of deep wrinkles.

His frame was gaunt and his back slightly stooped, but as he stood there, he seemed like an ancient Demon Mountain, exuding a terrifying pressure that was suffocating.

"Disciples greet you, Master!"

The six Hall Masters knelt in unison on the deck.

The man was none other than the great master of the Demon Dao whose vicious reputation had terrorized the Jianghu for decades: the Seven Kills Ancestor.

"Someone’s taken a shit right on our heads, and you worthless fools are still here, hesitating and weighing the pros and cons?"

His withered finger pointed at each of them in turn. "I remember when every single one of you was a god of slaughter who lived with his head on the line, daring enough to stab even the Jade Emperor himself. What happened? Now that your Realms are higher and your positions are secure, you’ve all become cowards who cling to life? Are your guts smaller than a needle’s eye?"

He took a sudden step forward. Though his body was stooped and small, a terrifying Evil Qi erupted from him, flooding the cabin and crushing the others until they could barely breathe.

"Suiyun!"

The Seven Kills Ancestor stared at the Murder Hall Master, his voice as sharp as steel. "Lure him to the Kao Mountain Wall."

He grinned, revealing sparse, yellowed teeth, and let out that bone-chilling "KYEHEHE" cackle.

"I want to see for myself what little bastard doesn’t know the meaning of death, daring to lay his claws on my Seven Kills Association. I’m going to use his skull as a wine flask!"

"We will obey our Master’s command."

The six men answered in unison.

The river wind blew faster, and a light snow danced in the air.

...

The twenty-fourth day of the twelfth lunar month. The new year was approaching.

A cold wind carrying flurries of snow whistled through the deserted streets and alleys.

In the inn’s rear courtyard.

Chen Li was squatting by the bluestone well, a whetstone placed before him. In his hands was a pig-slaughtering knife, which he was sharpening back and forth at a steady, rhythmic pace.

Within a ten-foot radius around him, the ground was dry.

The snowflakes drifting down seemed to encounter an invisible warm current, melting silently into fine droplets of water that seeped into the frozen, rock-hard earth.

After the incident at the ruined temple, Chen Li had secretly come to Bangmiao County Town, bringing Bai San, Gossip, Peng Sanmin, and three captured Gang Leaders with him.

There was a simple reason for this: according to Peng Anmin, the Seven Kills Association had a relatively permanent contact point in this town.

Chen Li secretly followed Peng Anmin to the contact point.

He watched him enter a pawnshop. Afterward, a sealed carriage emerged from the pawnshop’s rear courtyard and carried Peng Anmin on a winding, convoluted route through the county town before finally stopping in an alley behind the brothels.

Peng Anmin was led inside, and after speaking briefly with an unremarkable-looking pimp, the pimp took out a carrier pigeon and released it.

Chen Li carefully observed the pimp and found his body to be completely empty, without the slightest trace of martial arts training. He was clearly just a pawn used for sending messages, a public face for the Seven Kills Association. There was no point in digging deeper.

So, he could only rein in his impatience. He rented a private courtyard at an inn and settled in to wait for a response.

That wait lasted for a full fifteen days.

On the Seven Kills Association’s end, it was as if a stone had sunk into the ocean; there was no news at all.

Three Gang Leaders and a Hall Master had been abducted, yet the other side hadn’t reacted at all. The silence was abnormal.

This raised a sliver of doubt in Chen Li’s heart, making him wonder what game they were playing.

’Do they simply not care if these men live or die? Or are they plotting something in the shadows?’

As the Spring Festival drew near, the festive atmosphere thickened, and the sporadic crackle of firecrackers could be heard on the streets.

A thread of longing for his wife and child couldn’t help but rise in Chen Li’s heart.

He gently exhaled a puff of white air, shook his head, and pushed the distracting thoughts aside.

’As long as this matter isn’t finished, I can’t return home with peace of mind.’

’If I don’t eliminate this hidden danger, the future trouble will be endless.’

「On the day of the Kitchen God Festival.」

In the early morning, the inn’s Shopkeeper came to the small courtyard with a basket of vegetables, an apologetic look on his face. He told Chen Li that with the new year just around the corner, his family was all in the countryside. He had to close up shop tomorrow morning to go back home to worship their ancestors and celebrate. The inn would remain closed until the third day of the new year.

As for meals for the next few days... he was afraid his guests would have to figure something out for themselves.

Chen Li nodded in understanding.

Food wasn’t a problem; he could just start a fire and cook for himself.

He asked the Shopkeeper to go to a farmer’s house outside the town and buy a fat pig for them to slaughter for the new year. That way, they wouldn’t have to worry about meat for the next few days.

The Shopkeeper readily agreed and headed out with Bai San and Gossip.

Chen Li remained in the courtyard and began sharpening his knife, preparing to slaughter the pig.

He fetched two large wooden buckets of well water, poured them into the huge iron wok in the kitchen, found some coal briquettes, and lit them to start boiling the water.

With all preparations complete, all that was left was to wait for Bai San and the others to return with the pig.

The sun climbed higher.

Noon passed. The sky was still filled with heavy, falling snow, but there was no sign of Bai San, Gossip, or the Shopkeeper.

The market wasn’t far from the inn. Logically, they should have been back long ago. ℯℯ𝘭.

Chen Li’s heart sank as a sense of foreboding quietly arose within him.

He went to the inn’s main hall in the front.

The hall was empty, save for a young clerk dozing off on the counter.

Chen Li’s brow furrowed slightly. He was just about to ask a question.

Suddenly, his expression changed drastically.

An extremely faint, yet bone-chilling killing intent emanated without warning from the rear of the inn—from the direction of the private courtyard they had rented.