1961 Tough Bandit Zhao Lie
Zhao Chong did not know that Han Te was speaking to ‘Grandpa Yao’ in his brain. Seeing the guy’s stupid and hesitant look, he thought that the guy was intimidated by him. He became even more arrogant and condescending. Opening his fingers that looked like an eagle’s claw, he s.n.a.t.c.hed at Han Te’s shoulder and shouted, “Give it to me, garbage!”
He had intended to squeeze Han Te’s shoulder and break his bones so that he would kneel on the ground and cry before taking his backpack.
But out of his expectations, Han Te’s eyes shone brilliantly, and before his hand grabbed the target, the guy’s entire right arm unleashed dazzling electric arcs, which turned into a serpent of lightning and darted at his armpit brutally.
Zhao Chong was greatly shocked. He did not antic.i.p.ate that Han Te’s electric arcs would have improved by several levels even though they were only away for a couple of days, nor did he foresee that the guy’s grasp of timing would be so perfect.
The bystanders exclaimed in surprise, too, not expecting that Han Te, a piece of ‘garbage’, would be bold enough to attack first.
“Argh!”
Although Zhao Chong evaded in a hurry, a few electric arcs seemed to crawl to the feeblest part inside his armpit brutally, causing him to scream in pain.
Han Te did not stop at all after attacking. He took four steps forward, and the electric arcs that were flas.h.i.+ng on his fingertips all condensed on his shoulder like a solid s.h.i.+eld made of lightning. He crashed into Zhao Chong’s chest and blew the man away with blood spurting out of his mouth like an arrow.
“What!”
“How is that possible!”
“The garbage has in fact…”
The ten or so unfriendly young men all uttered textbook exclamations. Li Yao almost yawned when he heard them.
Zhao Chong’s reaction, however, was slightly beyond Li Yao’s expectations. The ruthless young man shrieked like a monster before he hit the ground. His entire right arm expanded to almost twice as large, and dozens of coldly-s.h.i.+ning bone spurts burst out. It was also soaked in greenish flames!
“Bam!”
He turned in midair to stabilize his body before he stomped on the ground hard, resulting in a thunderous noise on the deck. Greenish brilliance beamed out of his pale eyes, making him look like both a hungered wolf and a hawk that was in agony because a few of its hairs had been plucked!
“Good. You’ve been practicing in secret and partly recovered your strength!” Zhao Chong laughed hideously and walked up to Han Te, his fingers opening and closing like daggers. “Let me see how good the garbage is right now!”
Han Te sniffed and did not say anything. The electric lightning was condensed into a lightning saber more than two meters long again and placed in front of him and Liu Li.
The green flames dancing around Zhao Chong’s arm gradually formed a devastating ghostly claw.
Toughness was highly wors.h.i.+pped in the Land of Sins. Even in the same village, duels large and small were anything but unusual. Seeing that the two of them were about to be engaged in a life-and-death battle, the unfriendly young men and the villagers who were watching did not stop them at all and simply cleared an open s.p.a.ce for them. Thus, they could use their skills without concerns.
The electric arcs and the flames collided in midair, and the deep blue and the fluorescent green entangled and mauled each other. Neither of the two young men were giving in. A fierce battle was about to take place when somebody coughed heavily nearby. “Zhao Chong, what are you doing?”
Li Yao scanned with his soul, only to discover that a brawny, bald man was standing in the middle of a very powerful field of spiritual energy.
The brawny man was wearing a crystal suit, which was rare in the Land of Sins. He had such a big nose that it almost occupied half of his entire face. All his other facial organs were squeezed aside. Coldness and brutality beamed out of his tiny eyes.
Hearing the voice, Zhao Chong could not help but shudder in coldness. The daunting aura around him vanished. He glared at Han Te angrily, and making a throat-cutting movement, he grinned hideously. “After the Bliss Ceremony, I’ll settle the scores with you once and for all. Make full use of your last two weeks and train yourself well, garbage!”
Zhao Chong waved his hands and left the place with the unfriendly young people c.o.c.kily.
The bold, brawny man who had gloomy eyes and looked very similar to Zhao Chong looked at Han Te thoughtfully before he disappeared into the cabin.
“*sshole…”
Although conflict was avoided, there was not the slightest delight on Han Te’s face. Instead, he looked gloomy and lethargic than ever as he said, “Grandpa Yao, let’s go to my master.”
“Okay.”
Thinking for a moment, Li Yao asked, “The baldy just now whose nose is bigger than his head, is he Zhao Chong’s father and the captain of the exploration team of your village? Is he trying to replace your master as the leader of the village?”
Han Te and Liu Li were both shocked. “How—how did you know?”
“Isn’t it obvious? One of you is the village leader’s daughter, and the other is his disciple,” Li Yao a.n.a.lyzed casually. “Even if you are indeed useless right now, it is not unusual at all for geniuses to be disrupted in the Land of Sins. With any luck, your strength will come back again if you run into a powerful old grandpa.
“Under such circ.u.mstances, no matter how much they dislike and despise you in their heart, there does not seem any need for them to have an open conflict with you, especially not when the ‘Bliss Ceremony’ is approaching. Should they be injured in the fight, wouldn’t it be a terrible outcome for them?
“Although that Zhao Long guy does have a disgusting face and looks like a mediocre lackey of some villain, he should’ve been smarter than that. It is possible that he might ask for your trouble in secret, but when he provoked you on purpose with such a sensitive issue as ‘allocation of a.s.sets’ in daylight before so many people, it was certainly not just on the spur of the moment.
“If you had truly been knocked to the ground by him and the Heavenly Fire Thunderous Strike Rings were taken away, wouldn’t it prove that you were trying to keep the possessions to yourselves? In my opinion, in such an inadequate place as the Land of Sins, and at such a sensitive period before the ‘Bliss Ceremony’, the crime can be either severe or grave, but it will definitely be a great blow on the authority of the village leader.
“Because of the serious illness, the village leader’s strength has plummeted, which has already shaken his position. If his daughter and his disciple have a ‘misdemeanor’ and break the rule that he made himself, how could he continue working as the village leader?
“Judging from the confident appearance of Zhao Chong just now, it seems that the ‘captain of the exploration team’ is an important post in the village. If the village leader has lost both his strength and his authority, it is possible that he will be able to take his place.
“But as it turned out, your strength far exceeded the expectations of Zhao Chong and his father. The two of you seemed to be on par with each other in the fight. Should you have luckily knocked Zhao Chong down, the issue of him intentionally provoking you or even setting you up might have been mentioned. Then, everything would have been very tricky. That’s why the captain of the exploration team showed up in time and stopped your fight, and that’s why I asked you if Zhao Chong’s father wants to become the village leader.”
The two little fellows were dumbfounded for a long time before they finally digested Li Yao’s simple a.n.a.lysis. Looking at each other in bewilderment for a while, they eyed Li Yao in a more respectful way.
Han Te thought for a long time. He nodded first but shook it later. “Well, yes and no. In the villages of the Desolate Worlds, the captain of the exploration team is indeed a very important post because they are responsible for the hunting of animals and treasures in the city ruins with the most elite warriors of the village. If a.s.sets fall from the sky far away and must be collected, the captain of the exploration team will generally lead the charge. It’s a very dangerous and very important job. Generally speaking, they are always the top-ranked experts in the village, and they are essentially ‘vice leaders’ of the village.”
Li Yao nodded and added, “Understood. A vice leader in charge of military affairs.”
“Zhao Chong’s father Zhao Lie is indeed a very awesome expert. It is said that he used to be a tough bandit in the b.l.o.o.d.y Worlds, but he suffered some wounds, and his Cultivation dropped a little bit, making it impossible for him to survive in the b.l.o.o.d.y Worlds anymore. That’s why he ran to this Desolate World and joined the Village of Peace.”
“Despite his unknown wounds, he is still one of the best experts in the Desolate Worlds,” Liu Li added. “His strength was only slightly lower than my dad’s in the first place, and he had abundant fighting experience. That’s why he was appointed as the captain of the exploration team.”
Li Yao was slightly dazed. “Even tough bandits can join your village?”
“According to the old people, his ident.i.ty was unknown at the beginning. He was found lying outside of the village, covered in bruises and blood. It was not until after his injuries were recovered and his strength was revealed that somebody gradually guessed his origins,” Han Te said. “At that time, he worked very hard for the village. He helped the village find a lot of good things from the city ruins and hunted many ferocious animals. He was also willing to teach his techniques to the young people in the village. So, how could they have kicked him away?
“Besides, what’s the difference between bandits and sinners in the Land of Sins? Who can really distinguish them?”
“Uncle Zhao Lie… is probably not entirely a bad person. He perhaps does not want to be a simple village leader, either.” Liu Li was actually defending Zhao Lie. “He saved my father’s life many times. When their relations.h.i.+p was best, they were like real brothers. Uncle Zhao Lie is as credible as my father for what the Village of Peace has achieved today.
“It is a shame that they gradually split apart and turn against each other because of different ideologies.”
“Oh? What kind of different ideologies?” Li Yao asked in great interest.
“My father is more conservative. He believes that it will be good enough if the Village of Peace is kept to the scale of several thousand people,” Liu Li said. “My father always says that we should never attack until we are attacked. Since we are the biggest village in the hundreds of square kilometers around, we have to give other people something to survive on. There is no need to drive them to death ruthlessly.
“Zhao Lie, however, believes that even if you do not want to hurt a tiger, the tiger will still swallow you. The Village of Peace today is so prosperous that it has become a common enemy for all the villages nearby. Even if we let them go occasionally, they will not bear the favor in mind and will only try to diminish and even destroy us.”
“Therefore,” Han Te said coldly, “we must attack actively while we are strong to annihilate all the villages nearby in order to guarantee the safety of our village. If we don’t, we will certainly be attacked one day!”