Chapter 27 Murder [Seeking Everything]

Huff, huff, huff...

Li Mu gasped for breath in great, ragged gulps.

Both his hands throbbed with excruciating pain, as if the bones had been shattered. Forcing himself to endure the agony in his arms and the dizziness clouding his mind, he chanted swiftly in his heart, "Cancel 'Activate'..."

In his mind, within the Demon-Slaying Compendium, the seal that had appeared on the image of the Azure Bull Demon, marked with the word "Activate," vanished.

The terrifying power surging through his body dissipated in an instant. Li Mu's vision went black, and he nearly collapsed headfirst to the ground.

He staggered a few steps and fell heavily, landing on his backside beside the two corpses.

His mind went utterly blank. It was a long while before he recovered enough to turn his head and look to his side...

Beneath the desolate moonlight, two figures lay motionless at his side.

One of them stared wide-eyed, shock and despair frozen in his gaze, unblinking even in death as he gazed up at the moon.

It took yet another long moment before Li Mu looked down at his own hands...

Both hands trembled uncontrollably, as if seized by a violent palsy.

He could feel that his right hand was utterly useless now—no strength left at all. His left hand retained a sliver of power, just barely. But even the slightest movement sent lances of pain shooting through his limb, as if a thousand needles were stabbing into him, as though the arm might snap at any moment.

Gritting his teeth, he managed to tug up the coarse sleeve of his shirt.

His entire arm was mottled with bruises, swollen and discolored. The left arm was only slightly better, but not by much.

After all...

His right arm had exerted itself twice with sudden force, while the left only once.

Both hands continued to tremble.

He sat there for quite some time before he finally managed to struggle to his feet.

Approaching one of the corpses, he used his left hand to pull away the man's mask.

A square face came into view, the most distinctive feature being the sparse, barely-there eyebrows. Even in death, there was a dull, blunt look to him.

After a moment of scrutiny, Li Mu recognized him—

He was indeed from the village.

"Li Thirty-Eight..."

He murmured the name. This man was a notorious idler in the village.

Then he looked at the other corpse lying nearby.

If this was Li Thirty-Eight, then barring any surprises, the other should be...

He shuffled over with difficulty and pried off the second man's mask.

Sure enough, as expected, the rodent-like features of Li Twenty-Seven appeared before him—pointed face, shifty eyes, and a prominent mole.

Li Twenty-Seven's eyes were still open, a trace of a cold sneer lingering on his lips.

But now, half his skull had been smashed in. White, viscous brain matter mixed with fragments of bone had splattered everywhere.

Li Mu stared.

This was his second life, but it was the first time he had killed.

Yet the terror he had imagined did not come. On the contrary, he was remarkably calm.

The reason was simple—

They had come to kill him.

He had only struck first to save himself!

Li Mu did not see himself as an evil man, but when pushed to the brink, he had no choice but to fight back with everything he had.

So he felt no guilt or fear whatsoever.

After all...

"You forced my hand..."

Li Mu pressed his lips together in thought.

He stared directly at the shattered skull of Li Twenty-Seven. There was no fear in his heart, but the sight of the sticky brain matter and shattered head still triggered a wave of nausea.

He endured it for a while, then turned his head away.

He knew well enough how the other man's injuries had come about...

When they tripped the Azure Bull, he had been thrown from the beast's back in a sorry heap. But as he scrambled up, he had snatched a stone from the ground.

Ambushed and facing a knife-wielding enemy, he had instinctively armed himself with whatever was at hand to defend himself.

He was acutely aware, however, that he had no martial training. Even with his cheat-like ability, stamina was a major problem.

Judging from his first use of the golden finger, he had already realized that just activating it drained his strength before he could even strike down his foe.

At first, he had truly considered paying them off to avoid a disaster.

First, because using the golden finger would rapidly exhaust his strength and vitality. He had only just managed to recover; if it was drained again, who knew how long it would take to recuperate.

Second, there were two assailants, both armed—even if their weapons were only hatchets, they were still lethal threats.

Even if he used the golden finger, he doubted he could prevail.

After all, even if he could take one down in a burst of power, he would likely be too exhausted to resist the second, who could then easily finish him off.

So, if seven or eight taels of silver could persuade them to leave, it would have been worth it.

He could afford to lose the money.

But alas—greed has no bounds.

Once they set their sights on the bull, and even after he made it clear how serious the consequences would be, their eyes still filled with murderous intent...

He knew then that he had no choice but to risk everything.

The cheat's effect was far stronger than he had anticipated.

With the "Azure Bull's Strength" boosting him, even though his eruption was limited by his own physique and could never reach the bull's full power, it was still terrifying in its own right.

Li Twenty-Seven had no luck; the first stone, thrown before he could react, struck him square on the head.

At such close range, the stone wasn't quite as deadly as a bullet, but not far off.

That first stone punched right through Li Twenty-Seven's skull, killing him instantly without so much as a groan.

Li Thirty-Eight, however, had been somewhat prepared—his reaction may have been instinctive, but the stone only knocked him down.

Li Mu wasn't sure how much damage he had done with that blow, but he knew as long as the enemy could still move, he was in danger.

Because once he deactivated the golden finger, his entire body would be drained, and even moving would be a challenge.

When it came down to a life-or-death struggle, Li Mu couldn't afford to hold back.

After felling his opponent, he quickly picked up another stone and pounced.

He thought he could probably kill the man even with his fists, given the strength he possessed.

But force is a double-edged sword; his own bones could not withstand such power, and the backlash might shatter them as well.

So he used the stone to focus the blow...

The result:

The strike broke the man's arm and caved in his chest, killing him on the spot.

The force behind that blow must have been truly terrifying.

Now both men were dead.

And he, too, had exhausted every ounce of strength.

...

He sat in a daze for quite some time before slowly getting up.

Looking down at the two corpses, he once again felt, deep in his bones, just how hard it was to survive in this world.

How long had it been?

He had only just managed to earn a little money, and already he was being targeted—even to the point of being ambushed for his life.

The chaos of this world was all too clear.

At present, it was "only" these two who had set their sights on him. Perhaps, in a way, he had Uncle Jiu to thank for that...

After all, everyone knew he was temporarily staying at Uncle Jiu’s house. There were surely others who had calculated his income, but only these two had dared act, deterred as the rest were by Uncle Jiu's reputation.

But Uncle Jiu could only intimidate people for so long. He couldn’t protect him forever.

He wasn’t Uncle Jiu’s son, after all.

And even if he were, when the stakes were high enough, others might still dare to move against him.

No matter how well Uncle Jiu was doing in the county, he was, when all was said and done, merely a guard for a merchant.

Li Mu was certain there were others in the county who could go toe-to-toe with Uncle Jiu, perhaps even overpower him.

"...I must begin martial training as soon as possible!"

The sense of urgency in his heart only grew stronger.

Letting out a long, heavy breath, Li Mu glanced at the corpses, then looked up at the sky.

Then he frowned.

Now he had to figure out how to clean up this mess.