Chapter 39: When The Heart Is Restless, It’s Time To Kill!
In Huangling County’s Da Huai Village, even though it was already the eleventh day of the first lunar month, snow was still falling heavily, adorning the entire village like an icy snow kingdom.
Unfortunately, no one was there to appreciate such a beautiful scene.
The entire Da Huai Village seemed extraordinarily quiet.
Even if people from nearby approached Da Huai Village, they would quickly leave, their faces filled with fear.
Ji Qing led his horse, stepping one foot at a time into Da Huai Village.
The conical hat on his head was already covered with thick snow.
Even his body was covered in snow, the cold air bone-chilling and freezing cold.
But no matter how cold it was, it could not compare to the cold in Ji Qing’s heart.
This was Da Huai Village.
The once bustling Da Huai Village was now completely empty.
An old man from a neighboring village saw Ji Qing leading his horse toward Da Huai Village and hurriedly shouted, “Hey, young man, you can’t go ahead!”
“Why not?”
Ji Qing asked.
“You young man, don’t you know that ahead is Da Huai Village? Da Huai Village offended a demon, and all over two hundred people in the village were poisoned to death. So pitiful—even the chickens, ducks, dogs, and so on in the village didn’t survive.”
“It’s said that the poison from that demon is particularly potent. The yamen even specially posted a notice telling the villagers not to go in, lest they get poisoned and die in Da Huai Village too.”
The old man breathed on his hands, his two feet constantly moving, clearly freezing badly.
“I remember there was a Steward Jin in Da Huai Village. What happened to his family?”
Ji Qing asked again.
“You mean Master Jin? Sigh, what a tragedy! Master Jin was such a good man. In disaster years, he would reduce rent for the tenant farmers, even pay out of his own pocket to hire Jianghu martial artists for rat extermination, and year after year he repaired bridges and paved roads…”
“His family was all poisoned to death too, not even the little children escaped…”
The old man sighed repeatedly as he spoke.
Steward Jin had a very good reputation in this area, known far and wide as a great benefactor.
Unfortunately, not a single member of his household survived, just like the other villagers of Da Huai Village—they were all poisoned to death.
Ji Qing’s gaze grew even colder.
He resolutely stepped into Da Huai Village territory.
“Young man, why won’t you listen to advice…”
The old man watched Ji Qing’s figure gradually disappear into the distance and couldn’t help shaking his head.
Ji Qing walked along the familiar road.
He finally arrived at Jin Mansion.
The once grand Jin Mansion was now deathly quiet.
The great door still had the government’s seal.
Ji Qing tore off the seal and pushed the door open to enter.
The courtyard was empty, with thick snow covering the ground.
In Ji Qing’s mind, he seemed to recall Steward Jin, and also Suo’er.
That little girl about the same age as Ji Yao, carved like pink jade and extremely cute.
Ji Qing went to the back mountain again.
There was a large pit here.
The government officials had burned all the corpses from Da Huai Village into ashes, then buried them all in the large pit, making a simple grave.
Two hundred and eighty-one people were all in this grave.
Perhaps in a few decades, no one would know that Da Huai Village had once suffered such a tragedy.
But Ji Qing remembered.
He would remember forever!
Ji Qing closed his eyes.
After traveling the Jianghu for a year, he thought himself sufficiently indifferent.
Even Ji Qing knew very well that he was no “Great Hero.”
His hands were equally bloody.
Whether the Jianghu called him a demon or a Great Hero, Ji Qing didn’t care.
He never deceived his conscience!
He only killed those who deserved to be killed!
Da Huai Village and Ji Qing could only be considered ships passing in the night.
Every person of Jianghu passes through many places in a lifetime.
Da Huai Village was not a particularly special place.
Steward Jin and Suo’er were not particularly special people to Ji Qing either.
But when Ji Qing closed his eyes.
No matter what, his heart could not calm down.
He could deceive others, but he couldn’t deceive his own heart!
His heart was not calm!
His thoughts were not clear!
For a person of Jianghu, what to do if the heart is not calm?
The method is simple and crude.
When the heart is not calm, kill!
Once you kill, the heart calms!
Ji Qing did not linger.
He turned and left.
Evidence?
Reason?
Motive?
None of it mattered.
That was the government’s business.
For Ji Qing, he only needed to know one thing.
“Those who disturb my heart must be killed!”
Ji Qing naturally knew who “disturbed his heart.”
The newly ranked Villain Ranking Eighth, Poison Demon Ouyang Bo!
……
An Yang City, Listen to the Wind Tower.
Ji Qing arrived in the secret chamber and met Shopkeeper Yu.
Ji Qing removed the conical hat from his head and shook off the thick snowflakes from it.
Shopkeeper Yu smiled and asked, “Great Hero Ji left An Yang City on the first day of the first lunar month, traveling through wind and dust, and has finally returned.”
Shopkeeper Yu did not ask what Ji Qing had actually gone to do.
The two were merely in a cooperative relationship, not subordinate.
Ji Qing looked up at Shopkeeper Yu and said gravely, “I need detailed intelligence on Poison Demon Ouyang Bo!”
“Poison Demon Ouyang Bo… Not many people buy his intelligence, but…”
“I’ll pay!”
Ji Qing tossed out a banknote.
Shopkeeper Yu smiled charmingly, discreetly pocketed the banknote, then took out a thick stack of documents, all intelligence on Ouyang Bo.
Ji Qing examined it carefully.
Poison Demon Ouyang Bo was in his forties, having learned a set of poison arts from who knows where. Twenty years ago, he had already made a name in the Jianghu, but Ouyang Bo didn’t have much reputation in the Jianghu at that time.
It wasn’t until ten years ago, when Ouyang Bo poisoned the entire Zhao Family of seventy-three people, that he suddenly climbed onto the Villain Ranking, though still ranked low.
Later, Ouyang Bo successively poisoned some Jianghu people, and his ranking on the Villain Ranking steadily climbed.
Until the recent Da Huai Village tragedy, Ouyang Bo suddenly became Villain Ranking Eighth, a great demon renowned throughout the world!
Ouyang Bo’s martial arts were second-rate, perhaps he had long since opened the extraordinary meridians, with internal energy at second-rate peak.
In terms of martial arts, Ouyang Bo’s poison arts were only enough to make people wary, but not particularly intimidating.
But in terms of poisoning, Ouyang Bo was terrifying.
No one in the Jianghu wanted to provoke Ouyang Bo.
Better to provoke the King of Hell than the Poison Demon!
That was about Ouyang Bo!
“Hm?”
“No government bounty? No bounty money at all?”
Ji Qing finished reading all the intelligence but found no bounty on Ouyang Bo.
One must know, Ouyang Bo had been famous for a long time and had long been on the Villain Ranking.
How could such a person guilty of heinous crimes have no bounty?
Shopkeeper Yu shook her head and said, “Great Hero Ji, you don’t know— it’s not that no one offers a bounty, but no one dares, not even the government. Ouyang Bo is different from other demons on the Villain Ranking. His poisons are silent and odorless, able to cause massive panic, often wiping out entire families.”
“Even, if Ouyang Bo were willing, poisoning an entire city wouldn’t be impossible. Under such circumstances, who would dare bounty Ouyang Bo? The government bullies the weak and fears the strong too. If the government offers a bounty and enrages Ouyang Bo, causing him to poison everywhere under government jurisdiction, then the yamen officials’ hats would probably be gone.”
“So, over time, although Poison Demon Ouyang Bo’s ranking on the Villain Ranking has been steadily climbing and he’s committed more and more evil deeds, there has never been any bounty on him.”
Ji Qing understood.
“No one dares to offer a bounty?”
“Then I’ll offer one in my name! Anyone who provides clues and ultimately captures or kills Ouyang Bo will be rewarded with a thousand gold!”
“Boom.”
Shopkeeper Yu’s face changed instantly.
“A thousand gold? Thousand taels of gold?”
“Yes!”
Thousand taels of gold.
Even Shopkeeper Yu was moved.
What grudge? What resentment?
Ji Qing was set on fighting Ouyang Bo to the death!
