Li Daofeng had already lost his patience with Qin Huacheng. He reached out and grabbed a flying bullet, then casually flicked his wrist, hurling all the bullets right back where they came from without a single one missing.
"Puff, puff!"
After a few dull thuds, Qin Huacheng froze, his eyes widening in utter disbelief as the pistol slipped from his grip and clattered to the floor.
Right between his brows were several thumb-sized bloody holes, blood spurting out continuously!
Clearly, the bullets Li Daofeng had flicked back had pierced straight into Qin Huacheng's skull.
"Dead... the master is dead..."
Staring at Qin Huacheng sprawled on the ground, his eyes wide with lingering terror, someone shrieked in horror!
Every single person looked at Li Daofeng as if they were gazing straight into the eyes of a devil!
This young man, barely out of his youth, killed without blinking. The divine figure revered by the Qin family was snuffed out just like that, squashed as easily as an ant. Patriarch Qin Huacheng—a towering figure who could make Qin City tremble with a single stomp—was executed without a second thought. If this wasn't a demon, what was he? A lunatic!
With Qin Huacheng dead, Qin City was bound to experience a massive earthquake!
Of course, Li Daofeng couldn't care less about any of that!
In his eyes, Qin Huacheng was already a dead man. As for what would happen to Qin City, he genuinely didn't give a damn.
Now that Qin Huacheng was dead, the few lackeys who had accompanied him lost all courage to stay. Each of them wished they had sprouted an extra pair of legs to run faster.
In the blink of an eye, everyone had vanished without a trace, leaving only Qin Tianyou behind, utterly paralyzed and traumatized by the murder of his grandfather.
To this moment, he still couldn't believe that his almighty grandfather had just been wiped out like this.
"Now it's just you left! I want to ask my question from earlier one more time. You better think before you answer!" Li Daofeng bent down, looking at Qin Tianyou like a demon incarnate, and spoke with terrifying calmness.
Qin Tianyou trembled violently, raising his head in sheer terror to look at Li Daofeng.
He was terrified. The moment his grandfather was killed, genuine, bone-deep fear had gripped him.
Li Daofeng even dared to kill his grandfather; what the hell was he in comparison?
"Li... Li Daofeng... Don't... don't do anything rash! You can't kill me..." Qin Tianyou stammered, his voice trembling uncontrollably.
"Too much chatter!" Li Daofeng muttered coldly, bringing his foot down hard on Qin Tianyou's other arm.
"Crack!"
The sound of snapping bone made one's scalp tingle.
"Agh..."
Screaming in agonizing pain, Qin Tianyou blurted out frantically, "I'll talk! I'll tell you everything! The ones who wanted you dead are from the Netherworld Organization! It was their people who made our Qin family target you! We had no choice!"
"People from the Netherworld Organization? What kind of people are they?" Li Daofeng furrowed his brow, hearing this name for the very first time.
"I only know that Netherworld is an organization, I don't know anything else! Please spare me! I'll call you my grandpa! I'm begging you, let me live..." Qin Tianyou wailed, kowtowing and pleading for mercy.
Li Daofeng paused. He realized the situation was far more complicated than he had imagined; it was imperative for him to find someone who could fill him in on the state of this world.
Especially since this world, seemingly ordinary on the surface, concealed a hidden realm of extraordinary individuals!
"Was my senior sister abducted by the Netherworld Organization?" Li Daofeng demanded once more.
"I don't know! That person just told us to do as they ordered, or our whole family would be wiped out! My parents are in their hands! We didn't dare disobey! Li Daofeng, I was forced into this! Please spare me!"
Hearing this, Li Daofeng knew that a small fry like Qin Tianyou genuinely had no further information.
"Hmph! Useless trash! What use is keeping you alive? Go down and keep your grandfather company. And remember: don't be a human in your next life!"
With those words, Li Daofeng kicked Qin Tianyou squarely in the neck. The latter didn't even have time to let out a shriek before departing this world in eternal silence.
Having dealt with Qin Tianyou, Li Daofeng didn't linger. He walked out of the Qin Family Manor, crossed the Qin River just as he had earlier, got into his car, and sped back toward Wancheng. He needed to figure out what kind of organization this Netherworld really was, and as quickly as possible.
On the drive back, he tried calling Shang Wanqiu again, but just like before, her phone was out of service range! This only deepened the anxiety gnawing at his heart.
He silently vowed to himself: whoever they were!
As long as they dared to harm his senior sister or threaten his loved ones, he would make them pay the ultimate price, even if it meant defying the heavens themselves.
Driving at breakneck speed, he quickly arrived back in Wancheng!
Instead of heading home, Li Daofeng went straight to the underground trading market where Shang Wanqiu had brought him previously.
He had visited this underground market twice in total. The first time was when Shang Wanqiu brought him here to buy protective gear, hooking him up with a dark-gold silkworm silk armor and giving that unscrupulous old Daoist Xuan Dongzi a severe thrashing.
The second time was when he and Shang Wanqiu sought out Xuan Dongzi to forge flying knives and silver needles, ruthlessly bleeding the old Daoist dry and nearly making him cough up blood.
His purpose in coming here today was to track down Xuan Dongzi and extract information about the Netherworld Organization so he could locate Shang Wanqiu.
"Oh my! You've arrived, my dear brother!"
Spotting Li Daofeng, the unscrupulous old Daoist Xuan Dongzi greeted him with proactive enthusiasm—an expression so warm it made Li Daofeng feel as though they hadn't extorted enough from him last time.
"Well, well! You doomed little brat, your wife and senior sister didn't come with you today? Do you feel like you owe this old Daoist too much to show your face?"
Xuan Dongzi scanned the space behind Li Daofeng and, failing to see Shang Wanqiu, asked with obvious curiosity.
"My senior sister is busy and couldn't make it!"
"What business could that little fiend possibly have! Aside from fleecing this old Daoist blind, what else is she good for? You two adulterous scoundrels almost drove me to absolute bankruptcy!"
"All the money this old Daoist spent years earning by enlightening young maidens, wealthy matrons, and rising starlets has been squandered by you two wicked lovebirds! Boundless Heavens, my grand-ancestral Daoist master, who am I supposed to seek justice from?!"
Xuan Dongzi wailed and howled, acting as aggrieved as humanly possible.
Li Daofeng felt black lines multiply across his forehead. This old Daoist was simply asking for a beating—what on earth did "adulterous scoundrels" even mean?!
"You old goat! Cut the nonsense, I have something important to ask you! Where can we talk in private?" Li Daofeng said sternly.
Perhaps sensing the seriousness in Li Daofeng's tone, Xuan Dongzi narrowed his eyes at him and nodded. "Follow me!"
The two of them headed up to the second floor and entered a small, secluded room.
"Spit it out, you doomed little brat! What is it?"
"Old goat! Do you know about the Netherworld?" Li Daofeng asked straight to the point.
"The Netherworld? You've crossed paths with them?!" Xuan Dongzi gasped in shock, his eyes bulging.
"No! It's just that their people came to kill me..."
"Holy—holy shit! You're done for, kid. You're completely finished. Hurry up and go home to write your final will, because you won't get another chance!"
Xuan Dongzi shrieked in alarm, looking at Li Daofeng as if he were staring at a walking corpse.
"You doomed little brat, get back there right now! Eat whatever you want, drink whatever you want, don't hold back! Go wild and indulge yourself while you can. The young ladies at Heaven Club aren't bad—take this card and go blow some cash! Otherwise, all you'll be enjoying from here on out are paper figures! Go on, hurry!"
Xuan Dongzi possessed an abundance of conscience; not only did he recommend a spot, but he even handed over his credit card!
In this day and age, such a fine person was truly an endangered species!
"Old goat, you better speak properly, or I won't mind beating you to a pulp!" Li Daofeng's forehead was covered in dark veins. Was he the kind of man lacking for women?
He had over a dozen maids dressed as beauties at home practically drooling over him! Weren't they a hundred times better than public goods at some club?
"Talk about what?! Do you even know what the Netherworld represents?! Go prepare your funeral arrangements right now! Go on! Tell me your bank card passwords, make arrangements for your concubines—bring them all home while you still can! Once you're dead, there's nothing left to fear. As mortals, a person's gotta indulge themselves at least once, right..."
Li Daofeng's temples throbbed. Honestly, he really felt like strangling this bastard right now; the guy was utterly incorrigible.
"Old goat! I am in no mood to joke around with you. Tell me right now what the Netherworld is!"
Xuan Dongzi pulled up a chair, fixed Li Daofeng with a gaze reserved for the deceased, and said:
"You doomed little brat! This is karmic retribution catching up to you. You must have committed sins so heinous that heaven itself is punishing you, sending the Netherworld Organization to target your head!"
"Confess honestly—did you peek at widows bathing? Go around spreading warmth to lonely widows, defile underage maidens, or bully elderly women?! Look at you! That's what you get for doing evil deeds! Now look at your retribution!"
Li Daofeng gnashed his teeth, a vein throbbing on his forehead.
Listen to that! Was human speech coming out of this guy's mouth?!
Catching the murderous gleam in Li Daofeng's eyes, Xuan Dongzi dared not push his luck further. With a sheepish chuckle, he turned serious. "The Netherworld! It's an assassin organization—a notorious, infamous assassin organization..."
"Wait! No! You doomed little brat, you shouldn't be completely in the dark about the Netherworld! With your level of strength, how could you not know?" Xuan Dongzi asked, utterly bewildered.
Li Daofeng was equally speechless. It would be a miracle if he *did* know about the Netherworld.
Eight years ago, he was just a tender young boy overflowing with boundless compassion and pure as a blank sheet of paper!
Back then, he didn't even know what a black fungus was outside of the edible kind.
A man who didn't even know that cucumbers served purposes other than being vegetables—how on earth was he supposed to know what the Netherworld was?
It took him eight years, transforming from a naive, foolish youth into a powerhouse transcending the Grandmaster-grade Realm. In his master's words, he was invincible!
His cultivation had skyrocketed, but his worldly experience was severely lacking!
"I don't know, just spit it out! My senior sister might have been captured by the Netherworld Organization, and I need to rescue her!" Li Daofeng said impatiently.
"Holy crap... What?! What did you just say? The little fiend got nabbed by the Netherworld Organization? This old Daoist—fuck! Fuck! Fuck! You've really blown things up this time! What are we supposed to do now! We're in deep trouble!"
Upon hearing that Shang Wanqiu might have fallen into the clutches of the Netherworld Organization, Xuan Dongzi instantly turned pale with anxiety!
"You doomed little brat, the Netherworld Organization is a terrifying assassin syndicate! Among all the killer networks across the entire globe, they are the strongest, most evil, and most devoid of human empathy. The killers in this organization recognize only money. As long as your bounty is high enough, they'd plunge a dagger straight into their own father's heart without a second's hesitation!"
"Furthermore, it's said that even the lowest-tier assassins in this organization are Heaven-grade Martial Artists! Whenever a martial artist breaks through to the Heaven-grade and catches their eye, the Netherworld will find ways to coerce these powerhouses into joining their ranks, and that includes Grandmaster-tier Experts!"
"That is why the Netherworld is so powerful—powerful enough to strike fear into the hearts of anyone. Once your name is placed on the Netherworld's hit list, you're not far from meeting the King of Hell. Netherworld! Netherworld—they literally send you packing to the netherworld! They control your life and death!"
"If the little fiend really was captured by the Netherworld Organization, her chances of survival are practically zero!"
"An assassin organization capable of threatening Heaven-grade powerhouses and forcing them to join?" Li Daofeng was quite surprised.
"That's right! The Netherworld Organization is terrifying! Once they accept a contract, they will dispatch different assassins depending on the difficulty of the mission—sometimes even Grandmaster-grade Martial Artists take the field! Think about it, you doomed little brat, how agonizing is it to be hunted down by a Grandmaster-grade assassin?"
"Not only that, the Netherworld publishes contracts too! They offer rewards based on task difficulty, and once you complete a hit, they pay out sums of money you couldn't possibly imagine!"
"Truth be told! As an ordinary person, if you could pull off a single mission issued by the Netherworld Organization, you'd soar to the skies—you'd have more wealth than you could spend in three lifetimes!" As he spoke, Xuan Dongzi pulled his smartphone out of his pocket.
"Come here, you doomed little brat. Look at this. On this website called Blood Fiend, all these hits posted by the Netherworld are listed right here!"
Hearing this, Li Daofeng leaned in. Sure enough, on a webpage dyed entirely in blood-red hues, he saw contracts posted by the Netherworld Organization.The job board was divided into four categories: Heaven, Earth, Dark, and Yellow, ranked from highest to lowest. Heaven-grade missions were the highest, and Huang-grade were the lowest! Aside from those, there was also a God-grade mission category, rendered in striking purple text!
"Huang-grade Hit Order: Assassinate Eagle Nation arms tycoon Te Chuang Jianguo. Bounty: Fifty million!"
"Earth-grade Hit Order: Assassinate Jiaopenji right-wing radical Pao Er Ping Wu. Bounty: Eighty million!"
Seeing that name, Li Daofeng curled his lip. What kind of names were these anyway? Pao Er Ping Wu? Why not Pao Ba Jin Si while you're at it!
"Heaven-grade Hit Order: Assassinate Yan Country General Li Yongtian. Bounty: One hundred million!"
"See that, you doomed little brat? Every single one of these names represents mountains of cash! If you've got the skills, you'll make a killing! Tempted yet?"
Xuan Dongzi's train of thought had completely derailed; he had been worrying about Shang Wanqiu just a second ago, but now his mind was right back on money.
"Open the God-grade mission!" Li Daofeng's curiosity was piqued by this God-grade category.
"God-grade mission! You really dare to think big! Even if you look, it's useless. Since the Blood Fiend website was founded, only a single mission has ever appeared in that category, and it's hung there ever since!" Xuan Dongzi muttered as he tapped open the God-grade mission tab.
"God-grade Hit Order: Assassinate the nameless entity of Taixu Mountain. Bounty: ......"
Seeing this, Li Daofeng couldn't help but chuckle. He hadn't expected to stumble upon gossip about his own master!
He never imagined that Taixu Mountain was so famous it actually made the God-grade hit list—and remained firmly at the top for years. That in itself was quite an achievement.
However, seeing the bounty listed as a string of dots, he was a bit confused.
Was it the kind where they didn't pay money? Everyone else got tens or hundreds of millions, but when it came to Taixu Mountain, it was just dots. Did Taixu Mountain not even qualify for a price tag?
"Why is there no bounty listed?" Li Daofeng felt a tiny hint of grievance.
"It's not that there's no bounty, but rather that whoever completes the mission gets to name their own price, and the Netherworld Organization will never negotiate! Ain't that dominant? Ain't that loaded? If you could pull that off, you'd be set for life!" Xuan Dongzi said mischievously.
"Get lost!"
Li Daofeng shot back an annoyed curse, then asked, "Do you know where the Netherworld's headquarters is?"
"No idea! I doubt anyone in this world knows that," Xuan Dongzi answered honestly.
"Then if I want to assassinate someone, how do they accept contracts?" Li Daofeng asked, puzzled.
"Kid! You're way behind the times. This is the internet era, my brother! Times have changed! If there's someone you want dead, you can post it directly on this webpage, transfer the bounty over, and just wait. The Netherworld Organization will naturally pick up the contract! That's called technology, understand? No need for face-to-face meetings, everything gets handled seamlessly! Well? Want to post one yourself?" Xuan Dongzi taunted.
"Fine! I'll post one, you help me operate it!" Li Daofeng said casually.
"Holy shit! I was just joking, you're actually taking this seriously?!"
Li Daofeng's reply completely dumbfounded Xuan Dongzi, who had been mocking him this whole time!
To post a hit order on the Blood Fiend website required an unimaginable sum of money. Even ordinary arms dealers like Chuang Jianguo cost tens of millions, let alone anyone else.
Judging by Li Daofeng's broke-looking demeanor, Xuan Dongzi couldn't see him as a wealthy man by any stretch of the imagination.
"Post a contract on there! Issue a hit on the Divine Eagle Sacred Sovereign with a bounty of two hundred million!" Li Daofeng said calmly.
"Holy crap! You doomed little brat, you can't joke about this! Even though this is just a website, Blood Fiend isn't like other sites. Blood Fiend is monitored by the Netherworld itself. If anyone dares post a fake hit without the cash to back it up, the Netherworld will hunt them down, and your entire household won't even have a moment of peace!" Xuan Dongzi kindly warned.
"Just post it like I told you! Why so much chatter? Isn't it just money?"
"Fine! Fine! You're the big boss. At least it's not this old Daoist dying—I'll post it for you and we'll see how you face your executioner!"
Grumbling indignantly, Xuan Dongzi tapped furiously on his phone, and the assassination contract targeting the Divine Eagle Sacred Sovereign was successfully submitted with a bounty of two hundred million!
"There! You brat, go get your money ready. If you don't have the cash, prepare your funeral shroud instead!" Xuan Dongzi chided unhappily.
"The little fiend might have been captured, which is already a massive headache, and yet you're still out here stirring up trouble! Fine! Go run wild! Once you blow through your life, it's game over!"
"Alright, old goat! If anyone accepts the contract, I'll pay you the money! Also, if you catch wind of any news regarding the Netherworld, make sure to let me know!" Li Daofeng prepared to leave.
Failing to extract the location of the Netherworld's headquarters left him feeling a bit anxious. He had zero information on Shang Wanqiu's current situation and no idea how to search for her, leaving him with no choice but to use this method to flush them out.
"Piss off! Remember to prepare your funeral! Eat well, drink well, treat yourself nicely!"
Ignoring Xuan Dongzi's cursed tongue, Li Daofeng shook his head in speechlessness, thoroughly convinced that this old Daoist was simply begging for a thrashing.
Deciding to pay him no further mind, he turned and walked out. For now, all he could do was wait.
However, just as he stepped a short distance away, a shrill shriek echoed from behind him courtesy of Xuan Dongzi.
"Holy shit... You doomed little brat, you're done for. You are officially finished this time, you dead little bastard, you've been put on a bounty list! Boundless Heavens, my grand-ancestral grand-uncle—eight hundred million bounty! Holy mother of god, you are worth a damn fortune!"
Howling in terror, Xuan Dongzi sprinted over to Li Daofeng, jabbing his finger fiercely at his phone screen.
Li Daofeng glanced down. Sure enough, right there on the Blood Fiend website under the Heaven-grade hit list, a new entry had appeared: "Assassinate Li Daofeng! Bounty: Eight hundred million!"
"Heh! I never knew I was worth so much money. Wonderful! I'll be waiting!" Li Daofeng said with utter indifference.
"Are you kidding me! You doomed little brat, have you lost your damn mind?! Eight hundred million! That's eight hundred million, do you even know what that means?! It means you might not even live to see tomorrow!" Xuan Dongzi was beside himself with agitation.
"Never mind anyone else—even this old Daoist is starting to drool looking at you right now!"
"You doomed little brat! Since you're a dead man anyway, why not do me a solid? Once I collect that bounty, I'll burn a ton of extra paper money for you—and beauties, the kind with big chests and perky butts. I'll burn a thousand of them for you every single day so they're never repetitive. How about that?!"
"We're friends after all, aren't we? When that time comes, I'll be living it up in the upper realms while you're having the time of your life down below. Isn't that a win-win? Think about it!"
Xuan Dongzi stared at Li Daofeng with glowing eyes. Coupled with his thoroughly pathetic expression, Li Daofeng could tell this guy wasn't even joking.
"Get lost!"
This time, Li Daofeng didn't hold back. He raised his foot and planted a kick right into Xuan Dongzi's backside, sending him flying.
"Damn it! Why the hell should you get to enjoy flesh-and-blood beauties while I only get a thousand paper dolls burned for me? Don't I even deserve to be an undead knight and ride a female ghost? Fuck..."
Li Daofeng fumed inwardly, vowing to keep his distance from this eccentric old man in the future so he wouldn't constantly be eyed as a walking payday.
Just as Li Daofeng emerged from the underground trading market and prepared to head home, his cell phone suddenly rang.
"Big boss! That bastard is calling you again..."
Noticing the caller ID was Shang Wanqiu, he hurriedly swiped to answer. "Eighth Senior Sister, is that you?"