I can push my cultivation progress to the end

Morning sunlight spilled onto the ancient archway at the entrance of Niujiao Town, illuminating the rows of characters etched upon it:

Sharpen your blades, horns pointing to the heavens, soaring ambition shattering worldly dust. Endure countless trials, remaining steadfast, warriors holding firm, advancing bravely.

This poem was left by the founder and first town leader of Niujiao Town.

Back then, there was no Zhou Family Fortress, only the impoverished Niujiao Town, along with a scattering of small villages nearby, far from the prosperity it enjoys today.

But in those days, people were simple and helpful, content in their poverty, smiles on every face.

Yet now, though Niujiao Town appears prosperous, since when did vengeful spirits and weeping begin to haunt its streets?

Gains and losses, difficult to say.

After a glance at the archway, Li Hai walked beneath it, following the crowd onto a wide, gray stone avenue.

Along both sides of the road stood rows of shops, gatehouses, and low buildings.

Each of these shops, houses, and buildings had wooden signs of all sizes hanging from their sides.

These signs bore inscriptions such as: Silver Ornaments, Fabrics, Apothecary, Pawnshop, Shoe Store, Teahouse, Tavern, Hotpot Restaurant, Spiced Meat Restaurant, Rouge and Powder... and so on.

In short, a dazzling array of everything imaginable.

Right now, he only wanted to know where the Zhou Family Manor was located.

"I need to ask someone."

Muttering to himself, Li Hai scanned his surroundings.

After looking around, his eyes lit up, and he identified his target.

"Hey!"

Li Hai walked up to a militiaman wearing rattan armor and holding a spear by the roadside, lowering his head and asking in a muffled voice, "Where is the Zhou Family Manor?"

"Uh..."

The militiaman, barely over five-and-a-half feet tall, looked up at the expressionless Li Hai, intimidated by his aura, and asked cautiously and nervously, "You, you, what do you want?"

As he spoke, he raised his spear, trembling, and pointed it at Li Hai.

Swish—

But in an instant, the spear in his hand was snatched away by Li Hai, who casually flung it into the sky.

Screech~ ~ ~

The militiaman craned his neck, mouth agape, watching the spear fly higher and higher, farther and farther, with a series of sonic booms, disappearing completely from his sight in the blink of an eye, beyond Niujiao Town.

"Didn't you hear me talking?"

This shout immediately brought the militiaman back to his senses, and he hurriedly turned to Li Hai, nodding and bowing, "Yes, yes, you speak, you speak."

"I'm asking you."

Li Hai patiently asked again, "Where is the Zhou Family Manor?"

"Just follow this road for two li, then turn right and walk another one and a half li, and you'll be there," the terrified militiaman blurted out the entire directions in one breath.

"Hmm."

Li Hai nodded in satisfaction, patting him on the shoulder and saying, "Very good, you speak clearly and concisely, you have a bright future. Then I'll ask you one more question."

"You speak, you speak," the militiaman said with a smile.

"Among the various militia captains you know..."

Li Hai asked calmly, "Is there anyone who is in poor health and has had his kidney stabbed?"

"Had his kidney stabbed... in poor health..."

The militiaman frowned, thinking, and hesitated, "I heard someone say... our Deputy Captain Chi Daxiao seemed to have been injured in the lower back three years ago. He rested for a long time before recovering, and he didn't fully recover. He has to wear a thick robe even when it's hot, otherwise he'll tremble and shiver and break out in cold sweats."

"Sounds a lot like that person."

Li Hai nodded, "Okay, then you call this Chi Daxiao to me."

"Sir, no need to call him."

The militiaman pointed to a teahouse at the bend in the road to the right, "Unless someone from above comes to investigate, Captain Chi spends his time there drinking tea every day."

"What a coincidence?"

Li Hai's gaze swept over and he grinned, "Heh ~ That's great."

Immediately, he strode towards the teahouse.

Seven or eight zhang distance passed in a flash.

As soon as he entered the teahouse, Li Hai immediately saw the Captain Chi that the militiaman had mentioned.

The reason he was so sure was that out of the five or six people scattered around the stall, only one person was wearing a thick robe in the sweltering heat. If it wasn't him, who else could it be?

"Chi Daxiao."

Chi Daxiao, who was resting and drinking tea, heard someone calling his name from behind and slowly turned to look.

Then he saw a giant man with strangely pale skin but as strong as an ox, staring coldly at him from a zhang away.

"Who are you?" Chi Daxiao asked suspiciously and cautiously, "I don't know you."

"Then do you know Zheng Dashan?" Li Hai said indifferently.

"Zheng Dashan?!"

Upon hearing this name, Chi Daxiao's expression immediately changed drastically, and he shouted sharply, "Who are you?"

"Heh heh heh, quite a temper."

Hearing the hatred in his voice, Li Hai grinned, "But it seems like you haven't had a good life these three years, how is it, does your kidney still hurt, can you still perform?"

"Enough nonsense!" Chi Daxiao gritted his teeth and said fiercely, "Where is that Zheng hiding, tell him to give me..."

Before he could finish speaking, Li Hai suddenly reached out and grabbed Chi Daxiao's hair, slamming him hard to the ground, then dragged him, scraping his face along the way, out of the teahouse.

This sudden change and Chi Daxiao's miserable screams terrified all the customers and the owner at the scene, and they all fled in panic.

And in this short moment, Li Hai had already dragged Chi Daxiao for seventeen or eighteen meters, leaving a trail of bloodstains and scattered flesh, scaring the surrounding onlookers into retreating.

When he reached a full twenty meters, Li Hai immediately stopped and released the barely breathing Chi Daxiao.

At this time, his entire face was a bloody mess, completely unrecognizable, with only a bloody hole hanging on his face, desperately trying to breathe.

Looking at Chi Daxiao's miserable state, Li Hai couldn't help but laugh:

"You think you're tough after drinking a little horse piss, huh? You especially want to humiliate ordinary people's wives when you see them, huh? Since you don't want your face, then I'll help you take it off."

After saying that, he put away his smile, looked at Chi Daxiao's blood-smeared face, and said coldly:

"Zheng Dashan is not dead, so I won't kill you either. As for how long you can live next, it all depends on yourself."

After speaking, he turned and strode away, leaving Chi Daxiao alone lying in the street corner, moaning in pain.

After moaning for a while, he spat out a large pool of blood from the hole in his face, and died amidst the surrounding onlookers' screams.