Hearing a commotion behind him, Xie Yuan spun around. His eyes fell on a jagged, angular rock.

In the past, he would have surely suffered a bloody head wound. But after days of full meals, a few of which included meat, and his daily routine of Chopping Wood, he had gained some strength and grown much more agile.

In the nick of time, he dodged to the side, narrowly avoiding the blow aimed at his head. Seizing the opportunity, Xie Yuan swept his leg out and sent Li Mazi sprawling face-first into the dirt.

He stared at the sharp-pointed rock and subconsciously touched the back of his head. The large lump from the last time still hadn’t completely healed, and the thought sent a cold sweat prickling down his back.

Watching Li Mazi struggle to get up from the ground, Xie Yuan’s anger surged. He stepped forward, planted a foot on the small of Li Mazi’s back to pin him down, and hissed through clenched teeth:

"Were you fucking trying to kill me?"

Li Mazi let out a muffled grunt, pinned to the ground.

He squirmed a few times but couldn’t get up. He couldn’t help but wonder:

’I haven’t seen him in a few days. How did Xie Yuan get so much stronger?’

In truth, most people in the poor mountain village lived a life of feast or famine. This was especially true for an idler like Li Mazi. He spent his days stirring up trouble and picking fights, never knowing where his next meal was coming from. He survived by mooching off others. Chronically underfed, he was skinny as a monkey. His only real advantage was a heart blacker than the average person’s; in reality, he possessed little strength.

Xie Yuan, on the other hand, wouldn’t neglect himself; modern people were not accustomed to an empty stomach. He had spent all his income from chopping wood on food, eating his fill at every meal, sometimes even with meat. After a few days, despite his originally weak constitution, being well-fed made a world of difference.

Li Mazi couldn’t figure it out. Pinned to the ground, he started spouting muffled nonsense.

"One hit wouldn’t have killed you. Didn’t you land on your head last time and end up perfectly fine?"

Hearing these words, Xie Yuan felt a vicious fire ignite within him. His hand tightened its grip on his axe.

’I’ve already died once!’

’And today, I was almost killed a second time by the same filthy scumbag, in almost the exact same way.’

’This reckless fool has no regard for my life... Then again, in a savage mountain village like this, who would give a damn about an orphan’s life?’

’If he actually killed me, he could just dump my body in the mountains. Who would ever come to investigate?’

’This was just that kind of world.’

"Yuanzi, that’s enough! Let me go. You’ve already hit me, what more do you want?"

At that moment, Li Mazi’s voice drifted up from under his foot.

"Let’s call it even. You’re not hurt anyway. I’ll admit I lost today. From now on, when I see you, I’ll... uh, what’s it called... I’ll keep my distance, okay?"

After speaking, Li Mazi was met with complete silence. There was no reply.

He couldn’t help but crane his neck, arching his body backward to look up.

The forest was shrouded in mist. The little sunlight that filtered through the gaps in the leaves only made it seem darker, and he couldn’t clearly make out the expression in Xie Yuan’s eyes.

An inexplicable panic began to stir in Li Mazi’s heart. He put on a brave face and threatened:

"Yuanzi, I’m warning you, don’t you dare hit me again! I haven’t told Zhang the Second about this. Just wait until I do, and we’ll see if he doesn’t take care of you!"

"Not scared of Zhang the Second? Then what about Brother Zhang! He’s doing great in the county town, he’s a full-fledged Martial Artist now. When he comes back, you better watch your own skin! Fuck, a simple beating will be the least of your worries. Believe it or not, I’ll have him fuck you up the ass!"

"Yuanzi, I’m advising you to let go right now, and Brother Jun won’t hold it against you. Otherwise, you just wait. The moment I get out of here, your peaceful days are over!"

"That’s right, and Wang Shitou and the others! They love helping you, don’t they? Well I won’t let them have it easy either! I’ll help Zhang the Second seize Wang Shitou’s field! And that tramp Li Lanhua, I’ll climb through her window. Her man can’t be home all the time. There’s a little kid too, isn’t there? You just wait. Zhang the Second knows a human trafficker, and little boys are in high demand..."

"Yuanzi! Brother Yuan! Master Yuan! Say something, damn it!"

Li Mazi was like an animal with a premonition of danger, howling desperately like a rabid dog.

Suddenly, he felt the foot on the small of his back lift away.

For an instant, Li Mazi was so relieved he could have cried.

’I knew it! The kid has no guts!’

He pushed his torso halfway up, just about to turn over, when his eyes suddenly bulged. They rolled back in his head, instantly flooding with blood.

He twitched, then collapsed to the ground. A moment later, he was completely still.

Leaning on his axe, Xie Yuan gasped for breath, his limbs feeling weak and unsteady.

’First time... It’s normal... It’s nothing...’

He chanted this over and over in his mind while wiping the red and white matter from the back of his axe onto Li Mazi’s clothes. Then, he silently stared at the corpse, the back of its skull now completely caved in.

’I did nothing wrong. If I’d let him live, would I just be giving him a third, fourth, and fifth chance to kill me?’

’Once you provoke a brainless, vicious scoundrel like that, you can never know peace. Given the chance, he absolutely would have made good on all those threats.’

’There was no way I could let him leave this forest alive.’

Xie Yuan stood there for a long time before suddenly taking a deep breath.

Thanks to Li Mazi, he had finally had his rude awakening. This was not the lawful society he came from.

When facing wicked people, giving ground only encouraged them to take more.

To survive, he could only rely on himself and the axe in his hands to hack down every threat in his path.

Xie Yuan covered the bloodstains with dirt, then silently dragged Li Mazi’s body deeper into the forest, planning to dig a hole and bury it.

Few people ever came to this part of the forest, and practically no one ventured any deeper—not even Xie Yuan himself had been more than a few times. Finding a hidden spot shouldn’t be a problem.

Xie Yuan dragged Li Mazi’s corpse away, and silence returned to the forest.

Suddenly, a clump of bushes rustled.

A dark-faced man in a beast-pelt jacket stood up, slowly walked over to the patch of dark, disturbed earth, looked around, and then glanced deeper into the forest.

Afterwards, he nonchalantly shuffled around in a circle, his scuffing feet coincidentally kicking up enough dirt to cover the few bloodstains that hadn’t been properly concealed.

After looking around once more, the man gave a slight nod, then left the forest, carrying a wild rabbit.

It was not until the sun began to set that Xie Yuan, exhausted, finally emerged from the woods, carrying a few bundles of coarse firewood just for show.

’What a pauper. A complete waste of my time digging that grave.’

Xie Yuan mused silently.

’Li Mazi only had about ten copper plates on him. Not even enough to buy a straw burial mat if he’d died out in the open.’

’It was a good thing I was so kind-hearted, letting him return to the earth, dust to dust.’

’The biggest shame, though, was that cotton coat. To keep anyone from getting suspicious, I had to bury it in the pit with him.’

’Otherwise, after Li Mazi was discovered missing, the cotton coat he stole would have reappeared in my possession. Anyone could figure out what happened.’

It was his first time killing someone, and Xie Yuan still felt uneasy. However, after toiling for most of the day and having already come to terms with his actions, he wasn’t dwelling on it. His main fear now was being discovered.

The path from the forest to his home wasn’t long, yet he constantly felt as though someone were spying on him from the side. He quickened his pace, only letting out a sigh of relief once he was safely home.

Then he chuckled, mocking himself.

’Who would be out here in these desolate mountains and just happen to see me? I need to stop scaring myself. I’ll watch how things are in the village for a couple of days before deciding anything... Besides, a guy like Li Mazi is despised by everyone. No one will probably even care. They’ll just hope he never shows up again.’

’But the Zhang Brothers will always be a problem, especially if Zhang Da returns... I have to learn martial arts. I must. At the very least, I need to ask about it first.’

’As for knowledgeable people in the village, besides the Zhang family, there’s only Zhu Dongming. He knocked around outside for a few years. I’ll go find him tomorrow.’