Liu Si immediately understood—they were trying to pin Lin Sanlong’s death on her. But she still couldn’t quite grasp why they’d bother with such a pointless move. With Li Daoqiang’s strength, he didn’t need any excuse. Those in the know would get it, and those who didn’t weren’t worth acknowledging. Yet, feeling the grip on her neck loosen slightly, she still spat out bitterly, “You’re so vicious.”
Li Daoqiang didn’t care. “Sister-in-law, you’re just as naive as Big Brother, always dreaming. You heard what I said to him—we’re bandits and outlaws. What’s the point of talking about viciousness? Following your and Big Brother’s teachings, we bandits aren’t even human. You taught me all this, so why call me vicious now?”
Liu Si struggled for that last breath of air, her vengeful heart sinking deeper into despair. Suddenly, looking at the man before her, she began to understand. Li Daoqiang was taking revenge—revenge on her and Lin Sanlong for turning him into a bandit, revenge for all the evil they’d done over the years. He’d long grown tired of them, just holding it in until today, when he finally let it all out. But understanding this was useless; it only made her more terrified, because she realized Li Daoqiang was determined to kill her. The fear in her eyes grew thicker, and though she wanted to beg for mercy, she could no longer speak.
Suddenly, Li Daoqiang’s lips curled into a faint smile. “Enough, Liu Si, I’m done joking with you. Since I’ve killed you both, so be it. Asking me to still call you Big Brother and Sister-in-law—you’re not worthy of that.”
Liu Si couldn’t speak, only feeling the hand tightening, her breathing growing harder, her mind foggy, but his voice still clear. “As payment for our time together, I let you live a little longer and gave you one last pleasure—you’re not losing out. Also, I’ll tell you the real reason I killed you: you’re not pretty enough.”
At those final words, a surge of emotions instinctively rose within her, but the next moment, a sharp crack, and she knew nothing more.
Li Daoqiang picked up Liu Si’s corpse, carried it to the main hall, and casually tossed it onto Lin Sanlong’s body. Staring at the two corpses, a feeling of freedom and release—like a bird soaring in the sky, unbound—washed over him, even stronger than when he’d killed Lin Sanlong. These two people, who had weighed him down for over two years, were finally dead, dead by his hand. He took a deep breath, a surge of boldness rising within him. No one was holding him back anymore. He had truly arrived in this world.
“Ha, heh, hahaha~!”
From low to high, a mix of excitement, pride, relief, and indescribable emotions intertwined. Laughter echoed through the room again, unrestrained and unguarded.
After a while, ignoring the corpses of Lin Sanlong and Liu Si, Li Daoqiang got to work. Calmly and methodically, he searched the courtyard for gold, silver, and martial arts manuals.
The Black Dragon Stronghold had just over two hundred people, a small mountain lair with only private property, no communal goods. What was called communal was all Lin Sanlong’s, to use as he pleased. For instance, he’d directly rewarded Li Daoqiang with two hundred taels of silver, and no one dared object. So the stronghold’s most valuable treasures and martial arts secrets were all hidden in the courtyard where Lin Sanlong and his wife lived.
Following what they’d said, Li Daoqiang soon uncovered everything the couple had hoarded over the years: over 1,300 taels of silver, more than 50 taels of gold. With a gold-to-silver ratio of 1:20, that totaled around 2,300 taels of silver. Besides that, there was a chest of jewelry and 1,000 taels in Datong banknotes. After gathering it all, the bandit points in the Big Bandit System jumped to 3,351.
Striking it rich overnight—even after over two years of hardship and tonight’s events, Li Daoqiang’s expression turned excited. Over 3,300 bandit points—with these, he’d truly have the capital to rise. Sure enough, robbing and being the boss was the way to go. He glanced again at the corpses of Lin Sanlong and his wife, feeling for the first time the benefits of robbery—or rather, the benefits of combining robbery with being the boss. In over two years as a bandit and a few months as the second-in-command, aside from the two hundred taels Lin Sanlong had given him, he’d only scraped together about three hundred taels through sneaky, desperate means. Lin Sanlong and his wife lived lavishly, covering the entire stronghold’s expenses, and after sending most of it up to Ling Tuisi, they still had over 3,000 taels in wealth and a chest of jewelry of unknown value. Bandits usually didn’t save money—they spent it on enjoyment, as the couple’s daily life showed. Having this much wealth was, in Li Daoqiang’s eyes, a pleasant surprise. And now, it was all his. That was striking it rich overnight.
Too bad the Big Bandit System recognized banknotes but not jewelry, unless he turned the jewelry into silver. Otherwise, his bandit points could have broken 4,000. Greedily eyeing the chest of jewelry a few times, he resolved to cash it in quickly, then put all the wealth away. Without hesitation, he went to the inner room to begin his breakthrough.
In this world, he knew one thing clearly: strength was everything. If he could boost his power, he shouldn’t hesitate or wait. Spending over 3,000 bandit points right away was the right path. Sitting cross-legged on the bed, he focused his mind. In an instant, the bandit points dropped from 3,351 to 2,951, a loss of 400. At the same time, a surge of mysterious power, greater than the previous three times, flooded his entire body. His physique and inner energy rapidly strengthened. Li Daoqiang immersed himself in the secrets of the fourth level of the Dragon-Elephant Prajna Technique, time seeming to pass tenfold, a hundredfold, as his consciousness and body advanced together with the technique.
“Boom!”
Suddenly, a heavy, powerful aura erupted from Li Daoqiang, invisible waves of force rolling outward. The next moment, the bed curtains snapped, leaving chaos all around. A few breaths later, an even stronger presence emerged, shaking the entire room. Li Daoqiang opened his eyes, withdrew his technique, and stood up, feeling the new power. His inner energy had tripled—if before it was a stream, now it was a river. He had already opened the Ren meridian, with only the Du meridian left to break through to the innate realm. His physical strength matched his inner energy, a testament to the Dragon-Elephant Prajna Technique’s ferocity—cultivating both internal and external. Even without any formidable martial arts, with this dual cultivation, he believed he was second to none below the innate realm. Overwhelming with raw power—that was the best description of the Dragon-Elephant Prajna Technique.
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