The mountain within Qinghe County was known as Mount Hundred Zhang. Mount Hundred Zhang was neither a famous mountain nor was it a tall one. The entire mountain extended continuously for more than thirty kilometers. The highest peak was barely hundred zhang away from the ground, and thus it received the name — Mount Hundred Zhang. A majority of this mountain lied within the boundary of Qinghe County while a small part of it extended towards the neighboring Qulan County. It wasn’t considered to be quite far from Liuhe Town.
Mount Hundred Zhang wasn’t well known. However, the mountain was covered with verdant and lush vegetation everywhere. Upon entering the mountain for a brief moment, one would not be able to see any more traces of people on the small trail in the mountain. Apart from the bird cries ringing in one’s ears as well as the barely audible disjointed folk song coming from the other side of the mountain top, everything else appeared to be rather eerily silent.
Usually, apart from a few woodcutters and rhizotomists, not many people would enter the mountains.
Few years back, there would still be people occasionally heading up the mountain to harvest mushrooms. But ever since a woman was raped and murdered while picking mushrooms in the mountains two years ago, the number of people who picked mushrooms also lessened. During that time, the case caused an outrage in Qinghe County and was widely spread across the town. However, until this day they still hadn’t caught the culprit so this was an unresolved case. As time goes on, people slowly forgot about it.
The current world was the same as the past world that Yan Liqiang experienced. Although the worlds weren’t the same, humanity never changed. Everything that was good and evil, along with beauty and ugliness also remained the same. The only thing that changed in the world was perhaps the rules of power. Once the common folk pa.s.sed through the hards.h.i.+ps of training, they would obtain a slight chance to change their lives.
However, those that were hideous and evil in nature still remained unchanged just like before.
Yan Liqiang entered the mountains and followed a trail that led inside without the slightest effort of concealing his tracks. After walking for an entire one hour, he came to a desolate and uninhabited pine forest where the folk song couldn’t be heard anymore. He found a shrub inside the pine forest and underneath it, he found a rabbit hole. Then, he took out the Horned Python Bow as well as the quiver of arrows which he had hidden in the rabbit hole before placing the basket and hoe that he carried on his back into the hole.
It was just as Yan Liqiang had thought. Because the pines in the pine forest weren’t ripe yet, no one had come here last night until now. Even if someone came, they wouldn’t have been able to discover the items he had hidden in the rabbit hole behind the shrub.
When Yan Liqiang was nine years old, Yan Dechang had brought him to this place before to pick up pine cones as well as hunting rabbits. During the year when Yan Liqiang came here, the homicide case had yet to happen on Mount Hundred Zhang so Yan Dechang had led Yan Liqiang deep into the mountain. This blanket of pine forest was one of the very few happy occasions that he experienced during childhood so the memories remain fresh in his mind until now. He even remembered the location of the rabbit hole he scooped out his items from.
After he placed the items into the rabbit hole, Yan Liqiang carried the bow and arrows to the base of an entwined and vigorous old pine tree wrapping itself around another not far from where he had come from. He easily climbed up the couple of meters of the high pine tree and composedly opened the bow bag to retrieve the Horned Python Bow. Then he hid the bow bag and the arrows in a sunken tree hole of an old pine tree behind him. Soon after, he easily took out an arrow from the quiver and lightly nocked it on the bowstring. He hung the bow downwards with his back pressed against the old pine tree as he waited quietly here.
Sometimes, regardless of whether it was a sudden thought or if it had been planned for a long time, killing honestly wasn’t a very difficult feat to accomplish. People who trained in martial arts would find it easier. What was truly difficult was always having the resolution to commit it.
Yan Liqiang’s intuition was telling him that King Cobra would come.
After his ident.i.ty was exposed, King Cobra was still hiding in the shadows spying on him. What he was waiting for was for a slight chance to make Yan Liqiang let down his guard. If King Cobra did not strike now and waited for the martial arts examination to come in two days time, it would be increasingly difficult for him to strike as there would be changes. The reason why Yan Liqiang went up into the mountain alone was to create such opportunity for him.
Yan Liqiang concealed himself from sight on the old pine tree. His entire figure was completely shrouded by the pine tree’s branches and leaves. Unless someone closed in on him, they wouldn’t be able to see him in any way.
The mountain breeze blew past the pine forest and swayed the pine trees. Silence engulfed the pine forest...
...
After about an hour, a man finally walked into the pine forest.
The person was wearing a bamboo hat with the edges pressed low on his face, dressed like a woodcutter. However, he wasn’t carrying any firewood on his body. After he walked into the pine forest, he appeared even more alert and cautious, sweeping his eyes across the surroundings every now and then. At times he would crouch down to examine the traces Yan Liqiang had left behind before slowly walking one step at a time towards the shrub where Yan Liqiang had hidden his bow and arrows earlier on.
Yan Liqiang towered above him, unable to see the man’s face clearly as it was covered by the bamboo hat. He wasn’t sure whether this man was King Cobra so he appeared a little hesitant. His arrow was already nocked on his bowstring, but he had yet to launch it.
Right at this moment, a woodp.e.c.k.e.r cried out from the distance as it flew from the trees from within the pine forest. The man instantly lifted his head in shock, glancing at the location where the bird had flown from.
Upon catching sight of it unexpectedly, Yan Liqiang finally got a full glimpse at the pair of triangular eyes underneath the bamboo hat as well as the mole on his left cheek. If this man wasn’t the King Cobra, who else could he be?
When he realized it was only a bird, King Cobra heaved out a sigh of relief...
Right now!....
Yan Liqiang loosened his grip and an arrow instantly shot out as fast as lightning through a distance not even a hundred meters. The arrow that flew out instantly hit the target. In the midst of the blood-curdling scream that erupted from King Cobra, the arrow that was shot out with a huge force immediately pierced through King Cobra’s underbelly before it stabbed itself to the ground, instantly drenching the arrow in red.
As a result, King Cobra heavily collapsed to the ground on his back.
Yan Liqiang snuck out the arrow from the tree hole behind him and carried it on his back. Then, he nimbly leapt down from the old pine tree he hid in with the Horned Python Bow in hand, breaking into a small run towards where King Cobra had collapsed. Yan Liqiang then came to a halt about twenty meters from where King Cobra had fallen. He did not attempt to move closer and took out another arrow, nocking it on the Horned Python Bow. He narrowed his eyes at the collapsed King Cobra in the pine forest.
King Cobra was motionless on the ground, his face facing downwards as though he was dead.
A cold smile then gradually formed on Yan Liqiang’s countenance.
"Your face is facing downwards, preventing others from seeing your appearance. Yet at the same time, your ears were pressed to the ground which allows you to listen to the surrounding footsteps to determine how many people would come over. On the other hand, one of your hands is grasping your waist. I presume there must be a weapon there. This arrow might possibly claim your life but it won’t kill you instantly. You’re not dead, you’re still waiting to make a comeback..." Yan Liqiang muttered to himself as he faced King Cobra.
King Cobra still kept his supine posture motionlessly.
Yan Liqiang did not talk rubbish with him anymore. He immediately shot an arrow from where he was at. The arrowhead instantly pierced through King Cobra’s left leg causing blood to splatter all over.
King Cobra’s body twitched and quivered for a brief moment, but he remained still.
Yan Liqiang still refused to advance forward. He once again nocked another arrow and muttered to himself, "Very good. I will see how long can you pretend. The next arrow will be aimed right at your right leg!"
As soon as he finished, the third arrow shot out and King Cobra’s right leg was instantly nailed down with the arrow.
Similar to before, King Cobra’s body still only quivered for a moment and remained motionless.
Yan Liqiang continued to nock the fourth arrow on the bowstring, his voice still serene and chilly as before. "As expected, you really are a crafty and experienced man. You can still endure it after being hit by two arrows in succession. However, you seemed to have forgotten something. No matter how much you endure, the reaction from your can’t be faked. Sweat is already forming on your neck. For the next arrow, I’ll count to three. It’ll be aimed right at your neck. Allow me to verify whether you’re really intending to pretend until death... "
"Two…"
The moment Yan Liqiang counted to two, King Cobra’s body finally flipped over like a dead fish and he turned his head over. His expression was distorted as he glared daggers at Yan Liqiang who was twenty meters away from him with his pair of triangular eyes. Traces of fear, hatred, and murderous intent were oozing from his expression.
"Your hand has yet to leave your waist. Spread open your palm and reveal what’s in it face up. Then you slowly place it on the ground. Don’t test my patience..."
"I...I admit defeat..." King Cobra’s face trembled for a brief moment as he removed his hand from his waist and went according to Yan Liqiang’s demand, spreading both his hands on the ground. He opened his mouth like a dead fish, struggling to breathe violently, his chest heaving up and down. He cast a complex expression which was difficult to make out as Yan Liqiang cautiously walked slowly towards him with bow and arrows in hand. Gradually, he began to burst into a hysterical laughter, coughing as he laughed harder. "Ahem…ahem… I’ve never imagined that I, Fang Ji, would unexpectedly be defeated at a small unremarkable place like Qinghe County of Pingxi Prefecture.... Not only that, I can’t believe I’ll die in the hands of a young man...Retribution….Retribution...HAHAHA…. "
Fang Ji? Yan Liqiang gave a slight frown, and once again meticulously studied the face on the ground. Wasn’t this King Cobra called Deng Long? How did he turn into Fang Ji? Could it be that Deng Long was also a pseudonym for King Cobra? Hmm, that ought to the case, so Yan Liqiang didn’t spare any more thoughts on it...
Yan Liqiang walked over with bow and arrow in hand. He soon came to a stop about ten meters away from King Cobra with no intention of going further.
"There is no doubt you’ll die today. Now that we have come to this, just beg for a quick death. Answer my question and I’ll end it quick by giving you a full corpse. I’ll even dig you a hole so you can be buried and lie at rest. Should you play tricks with me again, I’ll make sure you"d rather be dead than be alive. I brought a pack of icing sugar with me. If you’re not being honest, I’ll let you have a taste of a myriad of ants devouring you at death’s door!" Yan Liqiang coldly exclaimed, "How much did the Hong Clan pay you to kill me?"
"Initially it was fifty taels of gold, but after...because you ran all the way to Huanglong County, the delay was too long so I made the Hong Clan double the amount. In the beginning, the Hong Clan only wanted me to cripple you so you’d be handicapped forever. However, the Hong Clan found out your clan had relations with the Huanglong County Weaponsmiths Quarter, which prompted them to change their mind. They wanted me to kill you and your father to eliminate future problems…" King Cobra gasped for breath as he laid on the ground; his tone was suddenly filled with bitter resentment and unwillingness. "Prior to this, the Hong Clan said you never learned the art of archery… If I can live...I will crush them all..."
"The Hong Clan was the one who informed you of me heading up the mountain?"
"Yes, ever since you came back, the Hong Clan had sent someone to monitor your family’s every move. I’m also hidden in the shadows waiting for the right chance to strike again. The one who notified me today was Hong An. He’s still at the foot of the mountain...inside that peach forest...waiting for me to bring your head back to meet with him again...Then he’ll pay the remaining amount of money to me…" Large globs of blood began spewing out from King Cobra’s mouth.
Yan Liqiang fell silent for a few seconds. "Lastly, do you have anything else to say…"
A mad smile emerged on King Cobra’s face as he rolled his eyes to gaze at Yan Liqiang. He laughed sinisterly, "Since the Hong Clan tricked me, then let...let them be buried with me..."
"You don’t need to worry about that…" After he finished, the Horned Python Bow in Yan Liqiang’s hand trembled and the fourth arrow flew out, instantly piercing through King Cobra’s neck. The sharp, incisive arrowhead had immediately snapped the vertebra on King Cobra’s neck, causing him to ultimately die...
...