Chapter Thirty-One: I Am Not Skilled at Running

Craven clutched his jaw and limped away in retreat. Behind him, Master Crow cackled, “Look at him, what a pitiful sight! He must have suffered backlash. Every time a beastmaster loses an animal companion, he suffers a certain amount of backlash. Now all his companions are dead. How miserable!”

After fleeing for several dozen meters, Craven stopped, leaning against the wall and gasping for breath. Liang Zhi strode up and slapped him hard across the face. “Run! Why have you stopped running?”

Craven held his face, aggrieved. “I... I’m not good at running.”

In truth, Craven was a feral man, his stamina superior to Liang Zhi’s. But when the falcon died, most of Craven’s strength was still inside it. With that lost, he was now extremely weak. Otherwise, even if the elevator was out, he could have escaped via the stairs.

Liang Zhi said, “This place is like a labyrinth. We can’t find the core of the stronghold. If you lead us there, I’ll spare your life.”

Craven snorted coldly. “I was born of Peach Blossom Spring, and I’ll die as one of its ghosts. Even if you kill me, I won’t lead you.”

...

“Gentlemen, the place you seek is just ahead,” Craven said, his face bruised and battered, meekly leading the way and pointing toward a heavy door.

“Didn’t you say you’d never lead me, even if I killed you?” Liang Zhi teased.

Craven grinned obsequiously. “But you haven’t killed me, have you?”

Qiu Shilu shook her head in disappointment. Craven was utterly spineless—Liang Zhi had merely beaten him and threatened to break his “three legs,” and he’d betrayed his cause without hesitation.

For Craven, betraying Peach Blossom Spring carried no psychological burden. He was like a beast of the jungle; survival and reproduction came first, everything else was secondary. And with Qiu Shilu standing nearby hefting her hammer, no one would doubt the seriousness of Liang Zhi’s threat.

“See, I’ve brought you here. So, shouldn’t you…” Craven winked at Liang Zhi, hinting desperately.

Liang Zhi stroked his chin. “I promised to spare your life, and I won’t break my word. But if I let you go, you may become my enemy. So... break his limbs!”

Moments later, Craven lay on the ground, only one leg intact, his eyes filled with venomous hatred. Though humiliated, he survived.

For members of Peach Blossom Spring, as long as their brains remained alive, their limbs could be replaced with mechanical ones.

---

“I’ll find you, and make you suffer the most dreadful death imaginable.”

He had no idea that monstrous creatures had already been released, and with his limbs broken, he had no chance of survival.

Suddenly, a little crow landed on him, rummaged through his clothes, and unearthed a tri-colored centipede. Pecking it a few times, the crow swallowed it, then hopped away gleefully.

“Too much! That was my last animal companion, and it was only for show…” After enduring so much, Craven finally broke down and cried.

...

“Wang Tumor, your wife’s about to give birth, isn’t she?”

“Her belly’s so big—it must be twins. Once they’re born, I’ll treat you to drinks.”

In a brightly lit room, two men chatted about warm, domestic things, but the others in the room were plunged in despair.

Both men wore goat masks and held pieces of sheepskin. The taller one dragged over a girl, her hands and feet bound, while the shorter one, Wang Tumor, draped a sheepskin over a child.

The sheepskin slowly melded with the girl’s skin. She let out a heart-wrenching scream, struggling with all her might. But gradually, her limbs lost their human shape and became those of a lamb. Her shrieks turned into bleating.

After an hour, Wang Tumor and the other man peeled off the sheepskin; underneath it was now a little lamb dressed in clothes.

Then they grabbed a young boy and did the same.

The girl, now a lamb, was pinned down and injected with a syringe in her neck. Within moments, she slipped into unconsciousness.

The transformation into lambs did not last long; the victims could only move for less than a day, so for a long time afterward, the girl would stay unconscious, only roused for meals.

Besides her, there were twelve other lambs in the room, and more than twenty young women and children.

All wore shackles, and at the door stood a dozen burly men, faces covered, armed with whips and long knives, guarding the exit.

Escape from here was harder than reaching the heavens.

The women and children here weren’t just from the Eastern District of Wangjing—they came from several provinces nearby. The stronghold under Fan Jiu’s control was actually a major transit station: many abducted women and children would be turned into lambs here and then shipped beyond Da Dong’s borders.

---

Such organizations usually hid themselves in remote places, but because Da Dong’s officials had ambiguous attitudes toward Peach Blossom Spring, this stronghold operated openly in Wangjing City.

That eerie sheepskin could turn twenty-four people into lambs a day; every day, twenty-four lives were ruined.

“I don’t want to become a lamb—please spare me, I’ll do any work you ask!” A haggard girl clung to Wang Tumor’s trousers, begging.

Wang Tumor sighed, “Don’t blame Uncle, girl. I have to feed my family too…”

Boom!

The door exploded, shards of wood impaling and killing two guards instantly.

Qiu Shilu and Liang Zhi poked their heads out from either side of the doorway, checked for traps and crossbows, then strode confidently inside.

“Who are you?” a Peach Blossom Spring member shouted, drawing his blade.

Liang Zhi snorted coldly. “The ones here to kill you…”

Before he finished, Qiu Shilu smashed the man against the wall with her hammer, flattening him with a sickening slap, his body doubled in size.

Liang Zhi was furious. “You stole my kill!”

He needed to complete the Chapter of Slaughter—places like this, full of those deserving death, were rare.

He waved his battle flag; the thin iron wires sliced into the necks of two Peach Blossom Spring members like blades.

This weapon, crafted by Liang Zhi, was useless against Jin Yue Monk but cut through ordinary men like grass.

Some tried to flee, but Liang Zhi had already used “Clothing Bind,” slowing them to a crawl.

His moves were strange and unpredictable; once he targeted someone, escape was impossible.

But in the end, out of eighteen enemies in the room, Liang Zhi killed only seven; the rest were crushed into patties by Qiu Shilu.

“Sigh, brute strength really is miraculous,” Liang Zhi lamented in disappointment.