Chapter 44: Killing Intent Begins to Stir

After they finished discussing this topic, everyone in the camp immediately fell into a poor mood, and no one had any interest in continuing to chat.

The camp immediately fell quiet for a while. Everyone busied themselves with their own tasks, while Li Si still kept his eyes slightly narrowed, pretending to doze.

After about fifteen minutes, the three of them saw that Li Si seemed to have fallen asleep, so they found an open space, gathered together, and began whispering.

“Boss, the person the Mountain God told us to kill should be this kid. Why didn’t you act just now?” Xu Dayuan lowered his voice and asked Tu Feng, his tone carrying dissatisfaction.

“We can’t act.” Tu Feng’s expression was solemn. Then he glared at Xu Dayuan and cursed in a low voice, “Idiot, didn’t you see the neat cuts on that firewood? This person is definitely a master of the sword. The three of us probably aren’t his match.”

“Him?” Xu Dayuan sneered in contempt. In his view, Li Si looked so thin and weak. How could he possibly be a master of the sword?

“You cannot judge a person by appearance, just as you cannot measure the sea with a ladle. He appeared alone deep in the mountains, so he must have something to rely on. If he really is a master of the sword, all three of us will die here.” Tu Feng frowned, somewhat dissatisfied with Xu Dayuan.

“Anzi, what do you think?” Xu Dayuan did not know whether he had listened to Tu Feng or not, and turned to ask Miao Qing’an, who had remained silent the entire time.

“I listen to Big Brother,” Miao Qing’an said in his distinctive hoarse voice.

“Heh.” Xu Dayuan sneered, his gaze sweeping over the two of them as he cursed in a low voice, “You two who have betrayed the Mountain God will definitely suffer heaven’s punishment.”

Hearing Xu Dayuan say this, Tu Feng and Miao Qing’an’s expressions immediately became somewhat ugly.

“You just need to eat the antidote pills. I put something in the soup long ago,” Tu Feng said coldly, glancing at Xu Dayuan.

Miao Qing’an and Xu Dayuan were stunned. They looked at each other, then both revealed smiles.

Beside the campfire, Li Si looked as though he were sleeping soundly, but he had never actually fallen asleep, because he had always been extremely wary of these three people. These three thought he was a young man who had just entered the martial world and did not understand the dangers of the human heart, so they believed he had fallen asleep.

But as an orphan, Li Si had lacked a sense of security since childhood. How could he possibly trust strangers from the beginning?

So he had always kept his eyes narrowed, leaving a slit open as he watched the three of them. If these three wanted to take advantage of his sleep to harm him, then they could not blame him for suddenly rising up to kill.

After learning how sharp the Black Sword was, Li Si still had some confidence in his heart.

But these people did not come over to commit murder while he slept. Instead, they went far away to discuss matters.

These three clearly harboured ill intentions toward him! Holding the Black Sword, killing intent rose in Li Si’s heart.

But he still needed to confirm it. After all, there was a chance they might be discussing some other private matter.

He was not afraid of killing people, but he did not want to wrongly kill good people.

After the three finished their discussion, they walked back and sat down as if nothing had happened.

Not long afterward, the soup in the pot was already cooked. After Tu Feng opened the lid, a rich fragrance immediately spread through the forest. Even Li Si, who was some distance away from them, smelled a strong aroma of bone broth, mixed with a strange scent that made him feel somewhat hungry.

Li Si frowned slightly. Then he pretended he had not slept steadily and was about to fall to the side, before immediately waking with a start.

“Ah.” He woke up, stretched lazily, then said, “That smells really good!”

“Young Hero Li, would you like to come eat some?” When Tu Feng saw Li Si wake up, joy rose in his heart. If Li Si had not woken up, he would have called him awake anyway.

As for why they did not kill Li Si while he was asleep, that was because Tu Feng and the others knew that some martial arts experts all had warnings of danger. Once they made a move, this person might very well rise up violently and kill them.

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

“No need.” Li Si smiled and refused.

“Have a bowl. There’s no need to be so distant. Besides, there’s something good in this soup.” Tu Feng continued persuading him while ladling up a bowl of soup and walking toward Li Si.

At this time, Li Si also saw what was in the bone broth. It was something with black fuzz on the surface and silver-white underneath.

He had seen this thing before. It was rock tripe, something that usually grew only on sheer cliffs. It had many health benefits, and most importantly, it could delay aging. It was indeed something good.

“Meeting is fate. Why be so polite? This bowl of soup is our repayment for your kindness in taking us in.” After Tu Feng walked up to Li Si, he forcefully stuffed the bowl of bone broth into Li Si’s hands.

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

When Tu Feng heard Li Si say this, his expression stiffened. Then he laughed loudly and said, “Young Hero Li, don’t tell me you’re afraid we’ll harm you?”

As he spoke, he took the bone broth from Li Si’s hands, blew on it, and drank several large mouthfuls right in front of Li Si.

After drinking, Tu Feng turned back and shouted to Xu Dayuan, “Dayuan, ladle another bowl of soup.”

“All right.” Xu Dayuan had been watching Tu Feng hand the soup to Li Si the whole time, so he reacted very quickly. In a few motions, he ladled out a bowl of soup and brought it over.

Tu Feng took the soup from Xu Dayuan, then smiled and handed it to Li Si. “Young Hero Li, you wouldn’t still refuse to give us face, would you?”

At this time, Xu Dayuan and Miao Qing’an in the distance were also staring closely at Li Si.

If he really were someone who had just entered the martial world, then he truly might feel unable to back down and would definitely drink this bowl of soup.

But Li Si had already seen the three of them hide far away to discuss matters. In addition, he himself was extremely vigilant, so he felt that there was definitely something wrong with this soup.

Otherwise, why, when they had only just met not long ago, did they insist on making him drink soup?

“I won’t drink it,” Li Si said coldly. At the same time, his hand had already moved toward the sword hilt.

Of course, this was only an act. The true killing intent was behind these people. There, a Decapitated Ghost was ready to strike.

In truth, Li Si did not know how strong the harm Xiaoduan could inflict on people was. After all, people possessed yang energy, and generally speaking, it was relatively difficult for ghost creatures to invade them, especially young and strong adults.

According to his thoughts over these past few days, a ghost creature had to have a soul body strength of at least around 50 to directly attack ordinary humans. Below a soul body strength of 50, it could only attack people whose yang fire was relatively weak.

Li Si did not place his hopes for killing them on Xiaoduan. He only needed Xiaoduan to create chaos when these three erupted with killing intent, causing the two before him to lose focus and panic for a short period of time.

He was confident that during this period, he could use the Black Sword to cut the two people before him into four pieces with one strike, then go and kill Miao Qing’an in the distance.

Although he was not very proficient in killing moves, and he had practiced The Black Tortoise Record for less than half a month, his calculations for slaughter had already begun to take shape.

In martial combat, whether one’s martial arts were powerful or not did not determine the key to victory or defeat. The key to victory or defeat was often calculation in killing.

As long as the calculation succeeded, life and death could be decided in an instant.

When Li Si forcefully stated that he would not drink, Tu Feng’s expression became somewhat unsightly. Then, after exchanging glances with Xu Dayuan and Miao Qing’an, he shook his head and smiled. “I did not expect Young Hero Li to be so young, yet so heavily guarded. Since that is the case, then I, Tu, have offended you.”

After saying this, he and Xu Dayuan walked back.