Chapter 44: The First Stirrings of Murderous Intent

After this topic of conversation, everyone’s mood suddenly soured, and they lost interest in continuing to chat.

The campsite suddenly fell quiet, with each person busy with their own affairs. Li Si still had his eyes slightly closed, pretending to be dozing.

After about a quarter of an hour, the three men, seeing Li Si seemingly asleep, found an empty space and gathered together to whisper.

“Boss, the person the Mountain God told us to kill should be this guy, why didn’t we make a move just now?” Xu Da Yuan asked Tu Feng in a lowered voice, his tone dissatisfied.

“We can’t make a move,” Tu Feng’s face was solemn as he glared at Xu Da Yuan and scolded in a low voice, “Fool, didn’t you see the neat cut marks on the firewood? This person must be a sword master. The three of us probably aren’t his match.”

“Him?” Xu Da Yuan scoffed. In his view, Li Si looked so frail, how could he possibly be a sword master?

“Don’t judge a book by its cover, you can’t measure the sea with a bushel. He’s alone in the deep mountains, he must have something to rely on. If he’s a sword master, all three of us could die here,” Tu Feng frowned, feeling somewhat displeased with Xu Da Yuan.

“An Zi, what do you think?” Xu Da Yuan, seemingly not heeding Tu Feng’s words, turned to ask the silent Miao Qing An.

“I’ll follow Big Brother’s lead,” Miao Qing An said in his unique hoarse voice.

“Heh,” Xu Da Yuan sneered, his eyes sweeping over the two, cursing in a low voice, “You two who have betrayed the Mountain God will surely face divine punishment.”

Hearing Xu Da Yuan say this, Tu Feng and Miao Qing An’s faces immediately became unpleasant.

“Just take the antidote pills, I’ve already put the stuff in the soup,” Tu Feng said coldly, glancing at Xu Da Yuan.

Miao Qing An and Xu Da Yuan were stunned, exchanged glances, then both smiled.

Li Si, who appeared to be sleeping soundly by the campfire, hadn’t actually slept at all, as he had been very wary of these three people. These three thought he was a young man new to the jianghu, unaware of the treachery of human hearts, so they believed he was asleep.

But as an orphan, Li Si had always lacked a sense of security from childhood to adulthood. How could he trust strangers from the start?

So he had always been squinting, leaving a small gap to watch these three people. If they tried to harm him while he was sleeping, he wouldn’t hesitate to suddenly attack and kill them.

Knowing the sharpness of the Black Sword, Li Si was quite confident.

But these people didn’t try to harm him while he was sleeping, instead running off to discuss things.

These three clearly had ill intentions towards him!

Li Si, holding the Black Sword, felt murderous intent rising in his heart.

But he still needed to confirm, after all, there was a chance they might be discussing other private matters.

He wasn’t afraid to kill, but he didn’t want to mistakenly kill good people.

After their discussion, the three returned and sat down as if nothing had happened.

Not long after, the soup in the pot was ready. When Tu Feng opened the lid, a rich aroma immediately spread through the forest. Even Li Si, at some distance, could smell the rich bone soup flavor, with some strange scents mixed in, making him feel a bit hungry.

Li Si frowned slightly, then pretended to almost fall over as if he hadn’t slept well, immediately waking up.

“Ah~” He woke up, stretched, and then said, “It smells so good!”

“Young Hero Li, would you like some?” Tu Feng was delighted to see Li Si awake. If Li Si hadn’t woken up, he would have called him.

As for why they didn’t kill Li Si while he was sleeping, it was because Tu Feng and his companions knew that some martial arts experts had a danger sense. If they made a move, this person might suddenly attack and kill them.

So using poison to kill Li Si was the safest method.

“No need,” Li Si smiled and refused.

“Have a bowl, don’t be so distant. Besides, there’s something good in this soup,” Tu Feng continued to persuade, while ladling a bowl of soup and walking towards Li Si.

At this point, Li Si could see what was in the bone soup. It was something black and fuzzy on the surface, with a silvery-white underside.

He had seen this before. It was rock ear, usually found only on cliff faces, with many health benefits. Most importantly, it had an anti-aging effect. It was indeed a good thing.

“Meeting is fate, why be so polite? This bowl of soup is to repay your kindness for sheltering us,” Tu Feng reached Li Si and forcefully placed the bowl of bone soup in his hands.

“I don’t eat things from strangers,” Li Si handed the bone soup back to Tu Feng, his expression turning cold.

Hearing Li Si say this, Tu Feng’s face stiffened, then he laughed, “Young Hero Li, surely you’re not afraid we’ll harm you?”

As he spoke, he took the bone soup from Li Si’s hands, blew on it, and took a few big gulps in front of Li Si.

After drinking, Tu Feng turned back and called to Xu Da Yuan, “Da Yuan, ladle another bowl of soup.”

“Alright!” Xu Da Yuan had been watching Tu Feng give the soup to Li Si, so he reacted quickly, ladling a bowl of soup in a few moves and bringing it over.

Tu Feng took the soup from Xu Da Yuan’s hands, then smiled and offered it to Li Si, saying, “Young Hero Li, surely you won’t refuse to give us face?”

At this moment, Xu Da Yuan and Miao Qing An in the distance were also staring intently at Li Si.

If he were truly new to the jianghu, he would really feel unable to back down and would definitely drink the bowl of soup.

But Li Si had seen them sneaking off to discuss earlier, and he was naturally very cautious, so he felt the soup must be problematic.

Otherwise, why would they insist on him drinking the soup when they had only just met?

“I won’t drink it,” Li Si said coldly, his hand already reaching for the sword hilt.

Of course, this was just for show. The real killing intent was behind these people, where a Beheaded Ghost was poised to strike.

Li Si actually didn’t know how much damage Xiao Duan could inflict on humans, as humans had yang energy, and generally ghost creatures found it difficult to invade, especially young and strong people.

From his reflections over these days, ghost creatures needed at least around 50 soul strength to directly attack ordinary humans, while those below 50 soul strength could only attack people with weaker yang fire.

Li Si didn’t place his hopes of killing on Xiao Duan. He just needed Xiao Duan to cause a disturbance when these three unleashed their killing intent, giving the two in front of him a moment of distraction and panic.

He was confident that in this time, he could use the Black Sword to slice these two people into four pieces with one stroke, then go kill Miao Qing An in the distance.

Although he wasn’t proficient in killing moves and had only practiced the “Mystic Tortoise Record” for less than half a month, his murderous calculations were already taking shape.

In martial combat, the strength of one’s skills doesn’t determine the key to victory. The key to victory is often murderous calculation.

As long as the calculation succeeds, life and death can be determined in an instant.

When Li Si firmly refused to drink, Tu Feng’s face became somewhat unpleasant. After exchanging glances with Xu Da Yuan and Miao Qing An, he shook his head and smiled, “I didn’t expect Young Hero Li to be so guarded at such a young age. If that’s the case, Tu has offended you.”


With that, he and Xu Da Yuan walked back.