Han family private residence.

Snow particles fell like scattered salt. The ground was full of wet traces. Han Tangzong watched the enforcers carrying large chests out from the storeroom one after another, urgently pressing them, “Faster! Faster!”

The bluestone pavement was iced over. When one enforcer was carrying a chest across, his foot slipped and he fell. The chest also crashed to the ground, and the white gleaming silver ingots inside rolled out, making all the enforcers stare straight.

Han Tangzong walked over and kicked him, cursing loudly, “Clumsy thing! How do you do things?”

That enforcer didn’t dare make a sound after being kicked and cursed by Han Tangzong. After scolding a few more times, Han Tangzong finally said, “Why aren’t you quickly picking up the silver back into the chest and speedily loading it onto the cart!”

Several enforcers came forward to pick up the silver scattered on the ground. The gambling den steward eagerly offered him a cup of hot tea, “Boss, drink a cup of hot tea to warm your body and calm your anger.”

Han Tangzong took it and sipped, but his old eyes still kept a close watch on the enforcers carrying the silver chests.

His main residence had already been ransacked clean by Huo Kun’s men last night, but with his many years of business operations, his family assets were naturally not limited to just that one place.

Previously, he had been caught off guard by Huo Kun. The four city gates were blockaded and his life was in the other party’s hands, so he had to act submissive everywhere.

Now that Huo Kun had fallen from power, this was definitely a good opportunity to take advantage of the chaos to leave Yong City.

Just as the last chest of silver was loaded onto the cart, the person keeping watch outside came running and crawling in to report, “Boss! Boss! This is terrible!”

Han Tangzong lifted his eyelids and rebuked, “Panicking like this—are ghosts chasing you or what?”

That young ruffian panted heavily with a panicked expression, “Soldiers are coming this way!”

Han Tangzong’s complexion changed. He hastily set down his tea cup, “How did they come so quickly?”

This private residence had been purchased very discreetly. He rarely came here on normal days, and his subordinates didn’t know he hid silver here. How did the soldiers find their way here?

But now wasn’t the time to ponder these things. He immediately pointed to a ruffian boss, “You take a group of people to the street to cause trouble and temporarily hold back the soldiers. Everyone else, guard the silver carts and immediately go through the back door!”

His subordinates all responded affirmatively.

But a group of ruffian hooligans ultimately couldn’t delay the soldiers for long.

Han Tangzong’s carts transporting silver had just driven out from the back alley when the soldiers had already caught up.

Seeing the situation was bad, Han Tangzong hardened his heart and had his subordinates open several chests of silver and push them off the carts.

Several chests of white silver suddenly tumbled onto the street. Common people almost swarmed over to snatch them, instantly blocking the entire street so tightly that not even water could pass through.

No matter how the soldiers on horseback chasing the carts shouted, they ultimately couldn’t clear a path and could only take a detour to continue the pursuit.

Han Tangzong, seeing he had temporarily shaken off the soldiers, finally breathed a sigh of relief.

However, before he could be happy for long, looking at the person standing with a blade on the long street not far away, his expression changed again.

The harsh winter wind and snow were fierce. Xiao Li’s robe was stained with blood, his wet hair crusted with frost, half his face soaked with darkened, dried blood traces. Holding a saber, he coldly watched the several carts driving toward him—like a lone wolf that had just escaped from being torn at by a pack of beasts, coming to seek revenge.

The person driving the cart was frightened by the overwhelming murderous aura on him and unconsciously slowed the cart, turning his head to ask, “Boss, what do we do?”

Seeing that only Xiao Li was alone blocking the road here, Han Tangzong narrowed his eyes and shouted viciously, “Charge straight through!”

The cart driver still hesitated somewhat. The enforcer who had beaten Hou Xiao’an most viciously earlier had already pushed him aside and shouted, “This old man will do it!”

His name was Wang Cheng. He and Wang Qing were cousins—both birds of a feather.

At this moment, he raised his hand and harshly cracked the horse whip. The horse’s four hooves suddenly accelerated and viciously charged toward the person ahead.

Wang Cheng’s face showed a ferocious grin, waiting for Xiao Li to be knocked flying. But the horse pulling the cart suddenly neighed and lunged forward, causing the entire carriage to overturn sideways due to inertia.

The cart crashed heavily to the ground. Both Wang Cheng and Han Tangzong were thrown dizzy and disoriented. The several silver chests inside also crashed with loud “clangs.” The chest locks broke from the impact, and white gleaming silver ingots rolled all over the ground.

Wang Cheng supported himself on the cart carriage and stood up cursing. Looking up, he saw the horse’s two front hooves that had been severed ahead, and a ring-pommel saber dripping blood downward.

The person holding the blade had a pair of blood-cold, bone-chilling eyes beneath disheveled hair, staring at them as if staring at dead objects.

Just as some timidity arose in his heart, the carts behind were blocked and forced to stop. A crowd of enforcers also jumped down from the carts, confronting Xiao Li with an aggressive manner.

The numerical superiority instantly made that bit of timidity in Wang Cheng’s heart vanish without a trace. He shouted, “Xiao Li, you’re seeking death!”

Han Tangzong was helped up by someone. Still shaken, he shouted fiercely, “Grab your weapons and attack together! Quickly finish him off! Can’t delay too much time here!”

Led by Wang Cheng, the group immediately took bladed weapons from the carts and roared as they charged at Xiao Li.

In the past, they had also feared him, but now Xiao Li was covered in blood, looking like he had already suffered serious injuries. Behind them, the carts were loaded with chest after chest of white gleaming silver. Under such tremendous wealth and fortune, who wouldn’t want to risk their life to fight for it?

Xiao Li quietly watched the group of people pressing toward him.

In his pupils covered with a thin layer of red, the reflected flying snow seemed to fall extremely slowly in that moment. The crowd frantically rushing forward to hack at him with their blades also moved extremely slowly. Even the ferocious expressions on their faces were appearing at an extremely slow speed.

When that group was still several steps away from him, the blade body of the saber in his hand turned to the side with the cutting edge facing outward. In the instant he accelerated forward, he sliced through a slowly drifting snowflake, cut through layers of skin and flesh, bringing out gushes of blood.

Then he gripped the throat of Wang Cheng at the very back.

Wang Cheng almost couldn’t attend to the suffocating feeling coming from his neck. He watched wide-eyed as those people with blades ahead—their forms all suddenly froze, like marionettes whose strings controlling them had all suddenly been cut. Blood spilled from their necks, and one by one they all toppled down as if suddenly boneless.

Wang Cheng’s hands tightly clasped Xiao Li’s hand strangling his throat. Now he was truly afraid, swallowing saliva frantically, “Brother… Brother Xiao, you also know, taking people’s money to eliminate disasters for them. Looking for your mother, beating Hou Xiao’an—the boss made me do all of it. You… if you want revenge, just find him! I was just doing a job for money…”

Xiao Li didn’t speak. The blade in his hand dripping blood downward, blown by the cold wind, seemed to become a layer of blood frost condensed on it. In his blood-cold eyes, it seemed a layer of bone-chilling ice frost had also formed.

Han Tangzong was also frightened by Xiao Li killing so many people. Seeing Wang Cheng turning traitor in the face of battle, he immediately cursed, “You’re also an ungrateful thing! I only told you to interrogate Hou Xiao’an. I never told you to kick him to death one kick after another, to grab his hair and desperately smash his head against the ground. You were the one who said these were things Xiao Li had done to you and you wanted Hou Xiao’an to suffer them for him!”

Hearing these words, the murderous aura on Xiao Li’s body instantly surged.

Wang Cheng didn’t have time to say another word begging for mercy before his five fingers closed with great force and crushed his throat.

Hearing that subtle “crack” sound of throat bones shattering, Han Tangzong only felt his own throat tighten. Seeing Xiao Li throw Wang Cheng aside and walk toward him, he could no longer care about picking up the ingots fallen on the ground. While retreating backward, he said to the few remaining enforcers behind him with false bravado, “Attack!”

But the enforcers were already scared out of their wits and kept retreating backward. Not one person dared to step forward to their death anymore.

Han Tangzong was both afraid and angry. He turned and roared fiercely at them, “Attack!”

The hands of the enforcers holding blades were all trembling uncontrollably. One who was extremely frightened even directly threw down his blade, turned and ran.

Seeing this, the others also threw down their blades and fled.

Han Tangzong shouted furiously and desperately at their backs, “Come back! I have plenty of money! Kill him! I’ll give you money!”

But the enforcers had long run without a trace.

Han Tangzong turned his head back. Looking at Xiao Li holding the blade still approaching him step by step, he retreated in panic. But his foot stepped on a silver ingot, immediately making him fall.

He fell to the ground. His elbow was hit painfully by the silver ingots on the ground but he couldn’t care about that. Supporting himself with his hands, he continued to retreat backward, swallowing saliva, “Xiao… Xiao Li, actually this matter can’t be blamed on me. Huo Kun! It was all Huo Kun who forced me! Look, my home was already ransacked by him. I… I still had to find a way to survive for myself, didn’t I?”

“If you think carefully, I’ve always treated you well, haven’t I? I was even always promoting you! If you hadn’t taken the account book and caused such a great disaster, my entire gambling den would be managed by you now!”

Seeing that Xiao Li still didn’t speak, and that blood-stained blade tip was already getting closer and closer to him, Han Tangzong was almost driven mad by fear. He touched the silver ingots beside him and presented them all to Xiao Li, saying, “Silver! I’ll give you all this silver! Spare my life!”

But Xiao Li completely ignored everything, as if he couldn’t see anything. The killing intent in his eyes seemed to make the howling wind and snow lose their harsh cold in this moment.

The fear in Han Tangzong’s heart grew stronger. He wept bitterly, “I didn’t want to kill Little An either. It was him who didn’t know what was good for him! I even said I was willing to take him as my adopted son, but he insisted on seeking his own death… Ah—”

Before he finished his sentence, he suddenly clutched his arm and screamed miserably. Half his face was thoroughly drenched in blood.

He fell to the ground, looking at his own arm that had been severed and fallen far away. The entire person collapsed crying and shouting, “My hand! My hand—”

Han Tangzong’s pain drained all blood color from his face. Probably knowing he couldn’t escape today, when he looked at Xiao Li again, thick unwillingness surged to his heart. His entire face was already twisted with hatred as he roared madly, “Xiao Li! The one who most deserves to die is you! The one who killed Hou Xiao’an is also you! If you hadn’t gotten greedy and had handed over my account book early, how would any of these things have happened?”

He said ferociously, “The one who wronged him is you! You and those prostitute mothers of yours who were ridden by ten thousand men—may you all die horrible deaths!”

Xiao Li said not a word and with another strike severed his other arm.

Han Tangzong’s entire body fell into a pool of blood, screaming voicelessly.

That blade edge continued to fall. He went from cursing at the beginning to miserably begging for mercy later. Finally, he couldn’t even make begging sounds anymore. He was literally hacked to death alive by Xiao Li. A pair of eyes like bronze bells, filled with fear, stared fixedly at the vault of sky.

Thick fresh blood stained the bluestone tiles covered with thin frost, the stone walls brushed with white lime, the silver ingots all over the ground, and Xiao Li’s already blood-mottled hem—all dyed into a slurry of red.

—

Wen Yu received word from the garrison troops. Learning that Han Tangzong was at this place, when she hurriedly rushed over, she saw that the carts and those corpses lying on the ground were already covered with a thin layer of snow.

Xiao Li sat on the shaft of the overturned cart. In the snowy ground beside him was a blood-stained long blade stuck in the ground. His head was half-lowered, his disheveled wet hair stuck into strands with fine snow covering his eyes. Half his handsome face dripped with blood traces, completely motionless.

Wen Yu held up an umbrella and walked over, shielding him from the wind and snow overhead. She hesitantly called, “Xiao Li?”