Chapter 33: I Was Terrified

Chubby Qin opened his eyes. The sounds of fighting still rang in his ears.

He turned his head and saw that Old Smoke Cannon was still struggling against the man in gold-rimmed glasses. At this moment, his body was covered in wounds.

When Chubby Qin saw Old Smoke Cannon's sluggish movements and Tiger Lamb waiting for the chance to strike from behind, he thought,

No! I need to help now, or he won't last much longer.

Chubby Qin grabbed his axe and was just getting up when the man in gold-rimmed glasses slipped behind Old Smoke Cannon and yanked him up by the hair.

As Old Smoke Cannon was yanked upward, he was forced to look up and Tiger Lamb took this opportunity to dart forward and slashed Old Smoke Cannon's throat with a dagger.

Blood sprayed out, and Old Smoke Cannon's body went limp, hitting the ground. Tiger Lamb stared at the blood and burst into wild laughter, coughing a few times between fits.

The toxic fog had eaten away at his body, and Old Smoke Cannon's smoke poison had weakened him further, leaving him in bad shape.

The man in gold-rimmed glasses, however, was in very good condition. As a Poison Cultivator, he had a strong resistance to the fog.

Of course, that didn't mean he could stay on Mount Bitterfog forever. With his current cultivation, he couldn't endure the toxic fog for too long, but a single day would be completely fine for him.

The man in gold-rimmed glasses pulled out a handkerchief, wiped the blood from his hand, and walked up to Chubby Qin.

"I am sure you heard what I said earlier. I hate talking to fools. I don't even want to waste any words on them. Compared to that old man, you don't seem like one. Since you are young, I am sure you won't be that stubborn. If you hand over the flowers, I'll let you live."

"No!" Chubby Qin clutched his pouch tight.

"Why are you even doing this?" Tiger Lamb laughed. "I counted for you. You picked twenty flowers. If you sold them down the mountain, you would get a little over a thousand yuan. Do you really think it's worth losing your life for that?"

"I won't give them to you!" Chubby Qin tightened his grip on his axe. He knew his life was worth far more than a thousand yuan, but he refused to let anyone take what was his so easily.

"I showed you respect, and you trampled it underfoot!" Tiger Lamb roared as he rushed in and kicked Chubby Qin in the chest.

This time, Chubby Qin was ready. He caught the blow on the haft of his axe, then swung back with a heavy strike.

Tiger Lamb dodged, but only barely. The smoke poison had weakened him, and in a one-on-one fight he would no longer have been a match for Chubby Qin. However, he didn't have to fight alone as the man in gold-rimmed glasses stood beside him.

The man in gold-rimmed glasses walked up to Chubby Qin, fanning himself lightly. "Brother, let me give you some advice. Leave the flowers and head down the mountain."

"In your dreams!" Chubby Qin spat. "I actually trusted you! You are such a cunning and vicious bastard! You've been tricking me this whole time!"

"Cunning and ruthless?" The man in gold-rimmed glasses shook his head. "I would say that I have been honest enough."

"Bullshit!" Chubby Qin spat. "Running into a bastard like you is just my rotten luck!"

"It's not bad luck. If you didn't meet me, you would have encountered someone else," the man in gold-rimmed glasses replied with a smile. "With that big axe of yours, it's clear this is your first time on the mountain. From the moment you left the inn, plenty of people already had their eyes on you."

Chubby Qin froze as he suddenly recalled Shopkeeper Feng's warning at the general store. No wonder he had told him not to bring the Azure Dragon Saber up the mountain.

The man in gold-rimmed glasses continued, "I know it's hard for you to accept this outcome. You worked all day to pick those twenty flowers, and now you're losing them. Anyone in your place would feel the same.

"But think about it. Do those twenty flowers really belong to you? Do you deserve them? Do you have the right to make money on your very first trip up Mount Bitterfog? You didn't know the way, you didn't know the rules, and you didn't even recognize a speckled-snake chrysanthemum. I taught you all that.

"At least next time you come, you'll know where to find flowers, which ones to pick, how much you can harvest, how much you can carry, and who you can trust. You've learned so much, and you've kept your life. All it cost you was a little over a thousand yuan. Do you really think that isn't worth it?"

Hearing this, Chubby Qin pulled out a piece of dried ration and shoved it into his mouth. It was his last piece and his final reserve of strength. No matter what the man in gold-rimmed glasses said, he would never hand over his speckled-snake chrysanthemums.

The man in gold-rimmed glasses felt a twinge of disappointment. He had planned to wait until Chubby Qin gave up resisting, then take his life with ease. But since Chubby Qin refused to yield, he would have to change tactics.

"Lil' bro, I'll give you five minutes to think it over." The man in gold-rimmed glasses opened his folding fan and waved it slowly. A faint fragrance drifted out from a hidden mechanism within the fan's ribs.

The fragrance spread, but Chubby Qin didn't notice a thing. He had no idea the man in gold-rimmed glasses was a Poison Cultivator, since he had fainted when Old Smoke Cannon found out about it.

𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

"I'll say it again. Saying even one more word to fools is a waste of my energy. I trust you're not a fool." The man in gold-rimmed glasses was still releasing poison when he suddenly noticed someone running toward them from the distance.

"Chubby Bro, my friends! I found a great spot! There are tons of speckled-snake chrysanthemums there!"

Chubby Qin turned and saw Li Banfeng running toward them.

The man in gold-rimmed glasses froze and took a step back, while Tiger Lamb quickly drew his dagger.

Why is he back? Didn't he already head down the mountain?

Li Banfeng rushed up to Chubby and said, "We've hit the jackpot! There's a bamboo grove just ahead, and speckled-snake chrysanthemums are growing all over it. Hurry, let's go take a look!"

Chubby Qin grabbed Li Banfeng by the arm. "Brother, something bad has happened."

"What is it?"

"Old Smoke Cannon is dead."

"Dead? How did he die?"

"They killed him!" Chubby Qin pointed to the corpse lying in the distance.

When Li Banfeng saw the bloodstains on the ground and Old Smoke Cannon's body, his legs gave out at once.

"Wh-what happened? Wh-what are you doing? Weren't we supposed to be teammates? Weren't we supposed to watch each other's backs?" Li Banfeng stammered in terror, barely able to speak.

Chubby Qin grabbed Li Banfeng. "Brother, it's no use saying that now. From the start, they were after our things. Let's fight them together!"

"F-fight... fight them..." Li Banfeng trembled all over.

Tiger Lamb laughed. "Big Bro, you said we should watch out for this guy. But look at him. Don't you see what a coward he is?"

The man in gold-rimmed glasses sighed. "Seems I misjudged him. Tell me, you are Bai Sha, right? You said you found a good spot?"

"I-I did..." Tears welled up in Li Banfeng's eyes.

"You really did?"

"I really did. I'm not lying," Li Banfeng said as he untied the pouch at his waist. It was stuffed full. "I picked all of these over there."

The man in gold-rimmed glasses smiled. "You've done us a great service. Squat here for now, and later you can take us there."

"O-okay..." Li Banfeng stood frozen in a daze.

Tiger Lamb stepped forward and kicked Li Banfeng. "I told you to squat. Didn't you hear me?"

Li Banfeng hurriedly squatted down on the ground.

The man in gold-rimmed glasses smiled at Chubby Qin. "Well then, what now? Your friend's useless."

"You are a fucking coward!" Chubby Qin spat. Seeing Li Banfeng squatting on the ground, wiping away his tears, he knew he couldn't count on him. He tightened his grip on his axe, ready to fight the man in gold-rimmed glasses to the death.

Tiger Lamb rolled up his sleeves, ready to help the man in gold-rimmed glasses finish Chubby Qin off.

Li Banfeng was still sobbing as he crouched on the ground. "Weren't we supposed to be teammates? We agreed to watch each other's backs. How could you kill someone? Why do you have to kill people?"

Whoosh!

Tiger Lamb suddenly felt a chill at his ankle, and before the pain set in, a warm liquid was already trickling down it.

Someone had cut him, and he was bleeding. The gash was deep, severing his tendons. In that instant, Tiger Lamb realized that he could no longer move his feet

Tiger Lamb looked down at Li Banfeng, who was still crouched on the ground, wiping away his tears as he cried, "Isn't it the speckled-snake chrysanthemums you want? There are plenty over there. I'll give them all to you... Just don't kill me."

After saying that, Li Banfeng pulled out his pouch and seemed to be handing it over to the man in gold-rimmed glasses.

The man in gold-rimmed glasses froze for an instant, then saw Li Banfeng suddenly whip the pouch straight at him.

It wasn't aimed at his hand, but at his head. Within five meters, Li Banfeng's aim never failed. The pouch shot toward his face, and the man in gold-rimmed glasses instinctively raised a hand to block it. But the pouch had been left open, and its contents burst out, spilling all over the man's face.

The vomit was sour and sticky, and the man in gold-rimmed glasses couldn't open his eyes for a moment.

"I've given you all the flowers. Please, just spare me." Li Banfeng sobbed as he stood up, revealing the small sickle hidden in his sleeve. With a swift motion, he slashed Tiger Lamb's throat.

Tiger Lamb didn't react at all. Li Banfeng, as a Wanderlust Cultivator, was incredibly fast, and as a Homebound Cultivator, his presence was difficult to detect.

Having just emerged from his dwelling, his combat strength was at its peak. On top of that, the effect of Mount Bitterfog's toxic fog had mostly worn off, leaving Li Banfeng in a far better state than Tiger Lamb. But most crucial of all, Li Banfeng's state of mind was something Tiger Lamb could not understand.

Tiger Lamb was not the only one. Even Chubby Qin could not understand what was happening to Li Banfeng. He was crying and begging for mercy while at the same time swinging his blade and killing. His actions defied all sense of logic.

Tiger Lamb clutched his throat and collapsed to the ground.

The man in gold-rimmed glasses had just finished wiping vomit from his eyes. He didn't even realize what had happened when the world suddenly went dark.

Li Banfeng had pulled the pouch back over his head while crying, "Please don't kill me! I'll give you all my flowers!"

Even as he sobbed pitifully, he swung his sickle in a passing motion, as if it were done without thought.

"Let go! I won't kill you, I swear I won't!"

The man in gold-rimmed glasses struggled with all his strength, but Li Banfeng clutched the pouch tightly over his head, leaving him unable to break free.

"I really gave you the flowers, so please don't kill me." Li Banfeng sobbed endlessly as the sickle came down, piercing through the pouch and hooking into the man's skull.

"I won't kill you! I swear I won't!" The man in gold-rimmed glasses couldn't break free. With his brain injured, he began to lose control of his limbs!

Li Banfeng yanked the sickle free and hooked it into his head again. "I told you I gave you the flowers. Why do you still want to kill me?"

"I really didn't want to kill you, I swear I didn't!" the man screamed hoarsely.

What is even going on?

the man in gold-rimmed glasses thought. He couldn't figure it out. His brain had been badly damaged and he had lost the ability to think.

"And you still insist on killing me?" Li Banfeng wept, but even through his tears he kept swinging the sickle. It plunged in and out of the man's skull again and again.

"I never meant to kill you!" the man's voice cracked and warped.

"Can't you just not kill me?"

Splurt!

The sickle drove into his skull again.

"I swear I won't kill you!"

"Please don't kill me!" Li Banfeng sobbed as he ripped the sickle free once more.

Crack!

"I... I..." The man in gold-rimmed glasses could no longer form words. He tried to lift his fan, but when it rose, it only shook uncontrollably.

Li Banfeng drove the sickle into his skull six times in succession. The pouch turned red, and a pale white fluid oozed out, dripping in thick streaks.

The man in gold-rimmed glasses convulsed all over.

Li Banfeng sobbed, "I'm so scared. Why do you all have to kill me?"

Chubby Qin stood frozen, at a loss for words.

Li Banfeng's body was thin and frail, hardly the kind that looked capable of fighting. Even Old Chen of the Dark Star Bureau could not figure out how he could win while outnumbered five to one and even cause serious injuries. But if he could have witnessed this moment, there was a chance he would then understand.

Watching Li Banfeng hack again and again until the man's skullcap lifted, Chubby Qin quickly urged, "Brother Li, I think he's already dead."

"Dead?" Li Banfeng blinked and stopped crying. His expression and his voice became normal again. It was as if nothing had happened a moment ago.

He then looked at Chubby Qin and said with complete seriousness, "Brother, you know... I was really terrified just now."

Li Banfeng said he was terrified, and he said it with absolute seriousness.

Chubby Qin felt dazed and cautiously asked, "Brother Li... are you mentally crazy or something?"

Li Banfeng shook his head firmly. "I'm not crazy. I went to get it checked at a hospital, and the doctor said I am not crazy."