In the first-class room of Yutou Town’s only inn, the atmosphere was oppressive. Du Yanlong sat on the bed with an iron-dark expression, and on the floor lay several strips of blood-soaked gauze.

Du Yanlong’s trusted henchman, seeing his boss’s face growing uglier by the minute, launched into a tirade:

“You old man — do you even know what you’re doing? One moment you apply this medicine, the next you apply that — it’s been so long now. Are you stringing us along?!”

“Almost done, almost done…” Doctor Tang picked up a strip of gauze and began wrapping the wound on Du Yanlong’s neck, which was thickly plastered with medicinal ointment.

As he wound the gauze slowly, he spoke slowly:

“You young people — you simply have no patience. This wound is so deep, it nearly cut through the windpipe. If I don’t apply enough medicine, how could this possibly heal?”

Doctor Tang’s unhurried manner was enough to drive anyone mad with frustration, but he was Yutou Town’s only doctor — however furious they were, there was no choice but to swallow it.

At last, the final strip of gauze was wrapped. Doctor Tang had just finished tying the knot when Du Yanlong shoved him aside and stood up.

“We leave.”

“But my consultation fee, sir…”

A subordinate dug out a silver ingot from his pocket and tossed it over. The ingot dropped and rolled with a clunk under the table.

Doctor Tang sighed and bent down to retrieve it. The man who had tossed it directed a cold snort at the old man’s bent, disheveled back, then followed Du Yanlong’s footsteps out of the room.

“Brother Huang, what do we do now?” Du Yanlong’s trusted henchman bowed beside him deferentially.

“Return to Xiangyang and regroup.” Du Yanlong’s face was grim as still water. “I’ve been in the underworld all these years — if I can’t take Li Wu’s life, I might as well stop being a boss.”

The henchman carefully echoed: “Brother Huang fell into Li Wu’s trap this time. We ride back to Xiangyang through the night, and by tomorrow evening we’ll be back at Yutou Town. Once we’ve killed the Li brothers, that beautiful woman will naturally be yours for the taking, Brother Huang.”

“The Li family is no longer what matters.” Du Yanlong sneered, his eyes glinting with a vicious cruelty. “I have never suffered such a great loss before. Every drop of blood he drew from me — I will get it back from Li Wu a hundredfold.”

“Shall we send someone to fetch the new Concubine?”

“No need. At the latest by tomorrow evening, I’ll be back here to take Li Wu’s head.”

Du Yanlong walked out of the inn, where his men had already brought the horses around. Each person vaulted into the saddle, and they rode at full speed toward the town gate in the darkness of night.

Hooves flew, the bright moon hung high, and the pounding of hoofbeats like rain on a roof rang out through the silent night.

Du Yanlong’s party left Yutou Town and galloped up a hillside trail scattered with fallen leaves. The originally parallel formation naturally shifted into pairs riding side by side, several rows deep. The bend was just ahead, the sound of water gurgling at the base of the slope — once they rounded the corner before them, they would be fully clear of Yutou Town’s boundaries.

“Keep up! We must reach Xiangyang before dawn!” Du Yanlong’s henchman called back to rally them, shouting out: “The sooner we get back to Xiangyang, the sooner we can avenge Brother Huang——”

Chaos erupted without warning.

The high-pitched whinnying of horses shattered the nighttime calm. The two lead horses at the front of the formation crashed to the ground with a thunderous impact, and their riders were flung off violently, landing in the rushing river below with a splash.

A trip-rope had appeared in the middle of the road as if from nowhere, catching the two horses before they could react.

Du Yanlong charged through the trip-rope, his back breaking out in a cold sweat, and before he had time to stop and think, countless arrows suddenly flew out from both sides of the dense forest.

Though those crudely made arrows had neither great accuracy nor much force, they made up for it in sheer numbers — impossible to guard against in every direction.

Du Yanlong held up his sword scabbard with one hand to shield his face, and with eyes blazing with fury roared:

“Charge straight through — don’t stop!”

The surviving six men squeezed their horses hard and charged forward with all their might.

They had just rounded the bend when another scene of horses toppling and riders tumbling broke out——

Hidden beneath the leaf-covered road was a series of palm-sized pits, each one containing a sharpened bamboo spike standing upright. Within a stretch of fewer than twenty paces, Du Yanlong’s entire group had been thrown from their horses. Some were lucky and landed where there were no spikes; others fell squarely near them — some had their palms pierced as they tried to rise, others had their soles pierced as they tried to walk.

The sound of agonized screams rose all around Du Yanlong.

His face had gone white. In a panic he searched for the bamboo spikes beneath his feet, abandoned his injured companions, and ran in disheveled flight.

“Brother Huang — you’ve come all this way, why not stay for a cup of tea?”

Li Wu stepped out from the dense forest and stood in the only path of Du Yanlong’s escape. Du Yanlong saw that things had taken a bad turn and immediately turned back — but his retreat was also blocked. Li Wu’s brother, a towering figure nine feet tall and built like a door plank, held a battle-axe in each hand, his eyes wide as a bull’s, waiting there to chop off his head if he tried to return.

“Li Wu — do you really want to push things all the way to the end?” Du Yanlong’s expression shifted to a cold smile, yet beads of cold sweat the size of soybeans slid down his forehead. “If I die, the Xiangzhou prefect will not let this rest. Not only will you and your brothers suffer, even your wife will not escape. But if you let me off, I will certainly remember your kindness. Once I return to Xiangyang, I will introduce you three brothers to the prefect…”

“Conveniently, I also know a certain gentleman — let me introduce you to him right now.”

Li Wu walked toward him. Du Yanlong’s inner alarm bells rang fiercely. Trapped between a wolf in front and a tiger behind, after a brief hesitation he chose to turn and run — that nine-foot monster, though immensely powerful, had only just recovered from the poison and hadn’t fully regained his strength. As long as he could hold his own, he might just have a chance to escape!

Li Kun let out a great roar and came striding over with his battle-axe.

Du Yanlong put his head down and charged straight at him — but as he drew close to Li Kun, he raised his arm to reveal something: a sleeve arrow! He watched Li Kun’s expression of panic and broke into a triumphant sneer. Falling into the same trap twice — a fool truly is a fool!

The sleeve arrow was coated with deadly contact poison. This time there was no antidote!

“Diao’er!” Li Wu cried out.

The sleeve arrow shot out with a cold black gleam, and Li Kun stood on the spot in a daze, not knowing to dodge.

Just as the poison arrow was about to pierce his body, an arrow shot out from seemingly nowhere in the mountain forest, clanging against the sleeve arrow with a sharp ring, knocking it off course. It fell powerlessly to the ground halfway along its path.

Li Que stepped out from the forest, longbow in hand.

Du Yanlong flew into a rage: “No wonder there were only two of you — you were hiding in the dark all along——”

Before he could finish, a kick caught him behind the knee, and he reflexively went down to his knees.

“Don’t——”

Du Yanlong opened his eyes wide, watching the blood gush from his own neck.

“Don’t keep the King of Hell waiting, Brother Huang — you go first.”

Li Wu let go of the hand gripping the top of his head, and Du Yanlong fell stiffly to the ground, only a pair of wide-open, furious eyes remaining, staring unblinkingly at Li Wu. In just a brief moment, a pool of blood had stained the earth beneath him red, and the last light faded from his murky eyes.

Li Que threw down his longbow and, without a word, leaped down from the slope and walked over. He drew a dagger from his person and, one after another, slit the throats of Du Yanlong’s injured men to finish them off. Li Kun, seeing this, was afraid to be left behind, and came hacking away with his battle-axe.

After Li Que cut the last enemy’s throat, he released the blood-streaked dagger, turned around, and looked at Li Wu, who had not said a word. He lowered himself to one knee.

He looked at Li Wu, and after several blinks of his eyes, suddenly shifted his knees and bowed his head down toward Li Kun.

“Second Brother, I was wrong. Beat me, curse me, punish me… just forgive me.”

Li Kun was completely at a loss. He switched the battle-axe to his left hand, walked forward, and tried to pull Li Que up from the ground.

“What are you saying? I don’t understand…”

“Second Brother, I was dismissive of you before, I tricked you, and when danger came, I didn’t value your life. I’m not human — hit me, and if you don’t hit me, I’ll hit myself——”

Li Que raised his hand to slap himself in the face, and Li Kun was so startled he threw down the other battle-axe in his hand and rushed to stop him.

“Big Brother! Big Brother! Third Brother has gone crazy! Crazy!”

Li Wu stood in place and didn’t move.

“Do you truly know you were wrong?” he said.

“I know I was wrong. I, Li Que, swear this day: I will treat Second Brother as I treat Big Brother, and if I violate this oath, may heaven——”

“That’s enough.” Li Wu cut off the oath, and his expression suddenly darkened. “Diao’er, kneel down!”

Li Kun was thoroughly bewildered, yet his knees instinctively buckled, and he dropped down next to Li Que with a thud.

“Third Brother already knows he was wrong. Do you know what you did wrong?”

“I… what did I do wrong…”

“When the plan was being worked out, did Third Brother warn you to be careful and watch out for ambushes?”

Li Kun said quietly: “He did…”

“Then why did you still fall into the enemy’s ambush?”

“I… I had a fake pig on my back, and I got confused for a moment and thought it was a real pig…”

“Was that not your own carelessness?”

“It was…” Li Kun’s face was full of remorse.

“Do you know you were wrong?”

“Diao’er was wrong…” Li Kun said pitifully.

“Who should you apologize to?” Li Wu said.

Li Kun shifted his knees, looked at Li Que, and said: “Third Brother… I’m sorry… my head is dull and I made another mistake and caused you trouble… You, don’t be angry with me. We’re brothers. Brothers don’t hold grudges overnight…”

Li Que, tears in his eyes, shook his head.

“Second Brother, it is your younger brother who was wrong…”

“I was wrong, I was wrong…”

Li Wu reached out both hands and pulled them both up from the ground.

“Diao’er is right — brothers hold no grudges overnight. This matter need not be mentioned again. But if next time you make the same mistakes again——” Li Wu’s eyes widened, and he turned ferocious: “I’ll deal with you myself!”

Li Que wiped his tears and answered loudly: “Yes!”

Li Kun, afraid to fall behind, also bellowed at the top of his voice: “Yes——”

Li Wu gave his forehead a hard flick: “What are you hollering about?! Do you want to call the constables over?!”

Li Kun rubbed his head, wronged: “Third Brother yelled too… why do you only hit me…”

Li Que broke into a grin: “Isn’t it because Big Brother likes me better.”

“You’re lying, you’re making things up… Big Brother likes me the most…” Li Kun puffed up his cheeks in protest.

“Stop wasting time — don’t you know what needs to be done now?” Li Wu said impatiently.

“I do!” Li Kun beat Li Que to it and spoke up: “Time to strip the corpses!”

“Strip what corpses!” Li Wu flew a kick at him. “Do you not know how to speak properly?! This is salvaging — salvaging!”

The three of them got to work without delay and immediately set about their salvaging. In no time at all, the three seasoned workers had stuffed themselves full of their salvaged gains.

“Big Brother, what do we do with these bodies? Should we bury them?” Li Que said.

“Didn’t collect a burial fee — I don’t do charity work.” Li Wu lifted his outer robe and, from his waist, produced a string of jingling items. He sorted through them by moonlight. “This one is from Qingtou Stronghold… this one is from Black Wind Mountain…”

His fingers moved past a blue headband and various odds and ends, finally stopping on a broken arrow smeared with dried blood.

“…Heavenly King Gang. This one will do.”

Li Wu pulled the broken arrow from the string and tossed it casually beside Du Yanlong’s lifeless body.

“Du Yanlong’s newly wedded Concubine is still in the town — do we silence her or pay her off?” Li Que asked.

Li Wu pulled a golden thumb ring from inside his coat and tossed it to Li Que.

“Go have a talk with her. Use your judgment.”