The morning sunlight spilled onto the ancient archway at the entrance of Niujiao Town, making the lines of characters on it clear and prominent:
Sharpen the edge, point to the sky, high aspirations break through the dust and smoke. After a thousand trials and tribulations, still strong and firm, the warrior grasps it and moves forward bravely.
This poem was left by the founder and first town chief of Niujiao Town.
At that time, there was no Zhou Family Fortress, only the impoverished Niujiao Town and a few scattered small villages nearby; it was far from as prosperous as it is now.
But at that time, people were simple and helped each other; though poor, they were content with their lot, and everyone smiled.
However, now, although Niujiao Town appears prosperous, it is unknown when the cries of injustice and wails began to emerge.
Who gains, who loses, it's hard to say.
After glancing at the archway, Li Hai walked under it and followed the crowd into a wide, gray stone avenue.
On both sides of the Dao were neatly arranged shops, gatehouses, and low-rise buildings.
The sides of these shops, houses, and buildings were covered with wooden signs of various sizes.
These signs bore words such as silver ornaments, fabrics, pharmacies, pawnshops, shoe stores, teahouses, taverns, hot pot restaurants, dog meat restaurants, rouge and powder… and so on.
In short, there was a wide variety of everything imaginable.
In addition to these, there were also a considerable number of vendors and peddlers on the gray stone avenue, constantly hawking their goods to passersby.
Thus, the clamor of the crowd, the noise of children, and the shouts of peddlers all entered Li Hai's ears, converging into a bustling scene of market life before him.
However, this scene, upon approaching his body, would be forcibly diminished by a third due to his exaggeratedly tall and robust physique.
Because no matter if it was male or female, old or young, anyone who saw Li Hai up close would inevitably be intimidated and awestruck by his 'magnificent' figure, to the point where they couldn't even speak loudly, only wanting to lower their heads and move away.
However, Li Hai himself had no awareness of this, or rather, he simply didn't care.
All he wanted to know now was where the Zhou Family Residence was.
"I need to ask someone."
Muttering to himself, Li Hai scanned his surroundings.
After a quick look, his eyes lit up, and he identified his target.
"Hey!"
Li Hai walked up to a militia guard at the roadside, who was wearing rattan armor and holding a long spear, and asked in a low, muffled voice, "Where is the Zhou Family Residence?"
"Uh..."
The guard, who was only about 1.7 meters tall, raised his head to look at the expressionless Li Hai, and intimidated by his Aura, he asked cautiously and nervously, "You, you, what do you want to do?"
As he spoke, he raised his spear, trembling, and pointed it at Li Hai.
Whoosh—
But in an instant, the spear in his hand was snatched away by Li Hai and casually flung into the sky.
Chirp~~~
The guard craned his neck, mouth agape, watching the spear fly higher and farther with a series of popping sounds, disappearing out of Niujiao Town and completely out of his sight in the blink of an eye.
"Did you not hear me speak?"
This sharp question immediately brought the guard back to his senses, and he quickly turned to Li Hai, nodding and bowing, "Yes, yes, please speak, please speak."
"I'm asking you."
Li Hai patiently asked again, "Where is the Zhou Family Residence?"
"You just follow this Dao for two li, then turn right and walk another one and a half li, and you'll be there," the terrified guard managed to say all at once.
"Hmm."
Li Hai nodded in satisfaction, patting his shoulder, "Very good, your tongue is very nimble, you have a lot of potential, so I'll ask you one more question."
"Please speak, please speak," the guard said with a forced smile.
"Among all the militia captains you know..."
Li Hai asked indifferently, "Is there anyone whose health is not good and whose kidney was stabbed?"
"Whose kidney was stabbed... health is not good..."
The guard frowned in thought, then hesitated, "I heard people say... our deputy captain, Chi Daxiao, seems to have suffered a back injury three years ago, and it took him a long time to recover, and it didn't heal completely. Even in hot weather, he has to wear a thick robe, otherwise he shivers and feels cold, breaking out in cold sweats."
"Sounds a lot like that person."
Li Hai nodded, "Alright then, call this Chi Daxiao for me."
"Sir, no need to call him."
The guard pointed to a tea stall at the bend of the road on the right side ahead, "Unless someone from above comes to inspect, Captain Chi will be there every day drinking tea and passing the time."
"That coincidental?"
Li Hai's gaze swept over, and he grinned, "Heh~ That's great."
Immediately, he strode towards the tea stall.
The distance of seven or eight zhang passed in a flash.
Upon entering the tea stall, Li Hai immediately spotted Captain Chi, whom the guard had just mentioned.
The reason he was so certain was that among the five or six sparse people at the stall, only one person was wearing a thick robe on a hot day; if not him, who else could it be?
"Chi Daxiao."
Chi Daxiao, who was drinking tea and resting, heard someone call his name from behind, and slowly turned to look.
Then he saw a giant man, whose skin was strangely pale yet as sturdy as an ox, looking at him coldly from a zhang away.
"Who are you?" Chi Daxiao asked with suspicion and vigilance, "I don't know you."
"Then do you know Zheng Dashan?" Li Hai said indifferently.
"Zheng Dashan?!"
Upon hearing this name, Chi Daxiao's face instantly changed drastically, and he roared, "Who are you?!"
"Hehehe, quite a temper."
Hearing the deep hatred in his voice, Li Hai grinned and said, "But it looks like you haven't had an easy time these past three years, have you? How is it, does your kidney still hurt? Can you still perform?"
"Less nonsense!" Chi Daxiao gritted his teeth and said fiercely, "Where is that Zheng fellow hiding? Tell him to come to me..."
Before he could finish speaking, Li Hai suddenly reached out, grabbed Chi Daxiao's hair, slammed him hard to the ground, and then dragged him, grinding his face along the way, out of the tea stall.
This sudden turn of events and Chi Daxiao's shrill screams terrified all the tea customers and the owner, who fled in disarray.
And in that short time, Li Hai had already dragged Chi Daxiao for seventeen or eighteen meters, leaving behind streaks of blood and scattered bits of flesh, terrifying the surrounding onlookers who repeatedly backed away.
When he had walked a full twenty meters, Li Hai immediately stopped, releasing the dying Chi Daxiao.
At this point, his entire face was a bloody mess, his features completely unrecognizable, with only a bloody hole of an eye hanging on his face, opening and closing as he struggled to breathe.
Looking at Chi Daxiao's miserable state, Li Hai couldn't help but laugh:
"You drank some horse piss and thought you were special, huh? You see a commoner's wife and you just want to humiliate her, huh? Since you don't want your face, I'll help you take it off."
After speaking, he put away his smile, looked at Chi Daxiao's blood-streaked face, and said coldly:
"Zheng Dashan is not dead, so I won't kill you either. As for how long you can live next, that's entirely up to you."
After speaking, he turned and strode away, leaving Chi Daxiao alone, lying in the corner of the street, groaning in pain.
After whimpering for a while, he spewed a large pool of blood from the hole in his face, and died amidst the startled cries of the surrounding passersby.