A ‘wu’ refers to a settlement of black earth.
The residential buildings in the Dragon Mountain area mostly use black tiles, which connect to form a continuous, dark expanse. Thus, the character ‘wu’ can be understood as a village or settlement with interconnected rooftops.
A ‘bao’ means ‘to protect the earth’ and can be understood as a structure designed to protect its native land.
Therefore, a ‘wubao’ is a type of residential settlement with military defensive capabilities.
In these large settlements, villages are interconnected, with layered ramparts and walls. Each village has a watchtower with a drum hanging from it.
If any single village detects an enemy, they beat the drum once. The surrounding villages, hearing it, will continue beating their drums; more villages further out, hearing it, will also continue beating their drums; and even more distant villages, hearing it, will continue beating their drums.
In this way, the drumbeats can instantly spread for hundreds of miles, and the militia camps in various strategic locations will deploy forces to encircle and annihilate the bandits.
This entire system is the basic military defense structure of the various Wubaos in the chaotic Dragon Mountain region, which is plagued by bandits.
And now, Li Hai stood at the outermost layer of the Zhou Family Fortress’s military defense system—at the outer rampart.
The term ‘leibi’ (rampart wall) can be broken down: ‘lei’ (rampart) can be visually understood as a pile of earth, wider at the bottom and narrower at the top, formed by stacking earth blocks.
‘Bi’ (wall) means ‘to split earth,’ using a knife or axe to cut the earth, making both sides smooth, steep, and neat. It is a higher-grade rampart, more solid, straight, and even.
So, the outer rampart of the Zhou Family Fortress was a winding and continuous wall of earth and stone.
Beyond this stone wall was a winding dirt road, vast stretches of farmland, and farmers and livestock walking in twos and threes through the fields.
Li Hai did not choose to act at night; instead, he waited until the sun rose and the sky was bright before arriving at the Zhou Family Fortress.
The reason for this was not complicated: he did not wish to resort to a cowardly assassination.
Li Hai wanted to slaughter Zhou Yugen and his family like dogs in the marketplace, in broad daylight, under the watchful eyes of everyone.
Upon reaching the Zhou Family Fortress, Li Hai stood on the road, and passersby and vendors began to instinctively detour around him, not daring to approach.
Almost every person who detoured felt a deep sense of awe and fear at Li Hai’s formidable and imposing stature.
However, many simple villagers were not overly fearful, merely expressing their astonishment.
For instance, an old farmer carrying a hoe, as he passed by, fearlessly struck up a conversation with Li Hai:
“Young man, you are truly strong.”
Li Hai also happened to want to ask for directions, so he simply stood by the road and chatted idly with the old farmer:
“Old man, are you done with your work?”
“Done, done. This old man has little land and less work.”
“Is the land your own?”
“No, no.”
The old farmer shook his head repeatedly, “Over ninety percent of the land in Zhou Family Fortress belongs to the Zhou Family. I am just a tenant farmer for the Zhou Family.”
“A tenant farmer? Then how much rent do you have to pay each year?” Li Hai asked again.
“About…” The old farmer gestured, “Seventy-five percent.”
Li Hai frowned immediately upon hearing this: “That’s so exploitative? How do you support your family like that?”
“You mustn’t say such things.”
The old farmer waved his hands repeatedly, his face filled with fear, “If the Zhou Family hears it, this old man will be in trouble.”
Then he sighed: “This old man has no family, just myself.”
“Where is your family?”
“They all died. They were murdered.”
“The Zhou Family?”
The old farmer was silent for a moment, then said, “If my grandson were still alive, he would be about your age, but he probably wouldn’t grow as strong as you.”
Li Hai nodded: “Old man, do you know which direction Niujiao Town is?”
“Simple. Just follow this main road straight, don’t turn, and you’ll reach it in a few miles.”
“Does everyone from the Zhou Family live in Niujiao Town?”
“Niujiao Town is the most prosperous place in this entire Zhou Family Fortress, so everyone from the Zhou Family lives there.”
“Understood.”
Li Hai nodded and added, “Old man, if you are free today, you can go to Niujiao Town. I will slaughter the entire Zhou Family there, for you, for everyone, to avenge them.”
“Ah?!” The old farmer was dumbfounded, “Young man, you… what are you saying? This old man… this old man doesn’t understand.”
Li Hai said no more, merely smiled, then turned and took a single step, leaving a trail of heavy afterimages as he sped towards Niujiao Town, leaving the old farmer and the passersby standing in stunned silence.
...
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Along the long, muddy road, heavy thuds constantly echoed from the fields, and at the same time, abrupt, exploding depressions in the soil continuously appeared.
Passersby looked on in fear, but could not see any human figure, as if an invisible beast had just swept past, not intersecting with the Human Realm.
They did not know that this was actually Li Hai running, sprinting towards Niujiao Town at a speed of over fifty zhang per second.
If he had run on the main road, every single one of these passersby would have been smashed to pieces, leaving no complete corpse.
Fortunately, Li Hai was not so deranged; to avoid harming innocents, he only ran through the unmanned fields beside the road.
But even so, the strong wind generated by Li Hai’s rapid sprint still caused the large and small trees close to him on both sides to sway and rustle.
“Hoo~”
“Haa~”
Li Hai, striding rapidly, maintained steady breathing. His powerful heart sent surges of Bloodline to all his limbs and bones, allowing an inexhaustible supply of Qi to continuously surge forth within him.
In fact, as he delved deeper into the Realm of Steel Tendons Iron Bones, Li Hai became increasingly certain that he could immunize himself against almost all firearm attacks.
Even so-called anti-material sniper rifles might not be able to cause him harm.
This was simply because the strength of his body was now so exaggerated and terrifying, so terrifying that he could even withstand bombs and even artillery.
At the same time, Li Hai was not idle during his run.
He glanced at his personal interface and, with a thought, pushed the Divine Ability skill he had learned from Qiu Fangzheng to its limit.
Thus, in an instant, Li Hai gained two new characteristic entries: 【Yin Absorption Level 1】 and 【Breath Concealment Level 1】.
Simultaneously, he also suddenly grasped the essence of the Yin Accumulating Divine Ability.
The term ‘Yin Accumulating’ refers to mountains, and mountains are eternally silent and firm.
Therefore, Yin Accumulating is a Divine Ability that can both absorb Yin Qi from deep mountains and conceal one’s presence.
But the strange thing is that living people cannot endure Yin Qi; too much Yin Qi will lead to illness, and even decline in luck and death.
Therefore, Yin Accumulating is surprisingly a ghost-type Divine Ability born specifically for the deceased, requiring the wielder to die and become a ghost before it can be activated and take effect.
This is precisely why a ghost like Qiu Fangzheng, who is completely dead and whose body has rotted away, with no concept of Bloodline to speak of, can still possess a Bloodline Divine Power.
From this Divine Ability, Li Hai also suddenly realized.
If there is one, there are two; if there are two, there are three.
Since such a thing as a dual-entry Divine Ability exists, then in this world, there must also exist more powerful Divine Ability, martial arts, spells, and so on, with a greater number of characteristic entries.
He only needed to search for them, discover them, and collect them.
“Here.”
Outside a towering archway, Li Hai stopped, “This is Niujiao Town.”