Chapter 259

Chapter 259: Vicious and Evil

“The next day your mother woke to find her husband dead. Rage and grief triggered a heart illness, and she died as well.”

“Half a year later, your money ran out, and you caused trouble again. You guessed the matter at home should be settled by then, so you went back to hide. You did not expect to hear your parents were dead. You decided the rich family forced them to death. That night you took a kitchen cleaver and killed the rich couple and their child, along with more than twenty servants in their household.”

Arms crossed, Yu Tie Zhu stared coldly at Yu Zhi Yi. He looked about fifty. Though his appearance was aged, his aura was powerful. No one would take him for an ordinary old man. If anyone brought up these old stories somewhere else, he would have killed them to silence them. But the Immortal Cave was full of his people, and these two little bugs could not escape, so he felt no need to hold back.

He said: “They killed my parents. I killed them to avenge them. What is wrong with that?”

Li Chang Huai said with exasperation: “If you really wanted revenge, the first person you should have killed was yourself. If you had not made trouble everywhere and stolen all your family’s money, your parents would not have died because they could not pay for treatment.”

Yu Tie Zhu could not be bothered to answer him. He looked at Yu Zhi Yi with interest and said: “I always heard Official Yu’s judgments are iron and never wrong. I did not believe it at first. Now it seems your fame is well earned.”

“With a talent like yours, I cannot bear to kill you.”

“Here is my offer: stay, and answer questions for our guests. How about that?” He seemed pleased with his own idea, hawk-like eyes bright with excitement, and said: “You do not need to sell your body. Just use your gift to serve the guests.”

“As long as you obey, I will even make you steward of the Immortal Cave. How about it?”

Li Chang Huai fell silent. In only a short time, his status and Yu Zhi Yi’s had split far apart. He, the young manor lord of Sky Domain Manor, was only fit to lie on the chopping block. [This is depressing.]

Ignoring Yu Tie Zhu’s lure, Yu Zhi Yi continued and said: “That year you were only seventeen. After the killings, you did not feel fear. It awakened your taste for murder. Heaven seemed to help you. While you fled, you stumbled into a mountain cave. It was the resting place of an elder who had passed away. Beside the bones lay a martial arts manual.”

“You had studied for a few years and could read the words. You tried practicing on your own and advanced at amazing speed. After that, you were hard to defeat.”

“Later, by chance, you went to the water. You found that being a water bandit brought fast money, and that on the water even the Imperial Court could do little to you. So you began a twelve-year career as a pirate. During that time, you killed about three thousand people. You stole over ten million taels of silver. The gold and jewels were beyond counting.”

“You also violated countless women.”

“At first you killed the women afterward. Later, when you looked at the gold and silver you had taken, you suddenly wanted a son to inherit it. So you kept those women.”

“Sadly, you had done too much evil. You were fated to have no children. No matter what you tried, none of the women became pregnant. In your anger, you thought of this: even if they could not bear you a child, they could still make you money.”

“So you built a hidden den and used these good family women to earn you fees.”

“Twenty years ago, when the Imperial Court and the Martial Alliance moved to suppress you, you got word early. You had someone impersonate you and escaped. Your base at sea was destroyed, but your den on land was untouched. Then you had a bold idea: could you make this ‘business’ big and strong?”

“You are a man of strong action. Once you decide, you move at once. You still had money, so setting up a few fine flower houses was no problem.”

“As for your ‘supply,’ to set yourself apart from other brothels you decided to use good family girls to attract guests. But how would good family girls ever come to such a place? So your supply mostly came from trickery and kidnapping.”

“You could even find girls to order, based on a guest’s wishes.”

“For example, a certain lord took a fancy to the daughter of a rival family, and that rival was not one of your guests. To please the lord, you sent men to kidnap that family’s daughter.”

“Even though the family had power in the area and the young lady always had guards, you still succeeded in taking her.”

“The lord you wanted to flatter was very pleased and willingly became your shield.”

At first, when Yu Zhi Yi spoke of Yu Tie Zhu’s past, his reaction was very mild. He only looked interested, not angry. But when he heard these “start-up secrets” that only he knew, his face finally grew dark. He said: “I did not expect you to have real skill, able to uncover even this.” He clicked his tongue in regret and said: “What a pity. You are talented, but your head is not. If you did not know these things, I might have let you go. Now, the mouths of the dead keep secrets best.”

As he spoke, he stamped one foot and lunged at Yu Zhi Yi.

Even though Yu Zhi Yi was a weak woman with no strength to truss a chicken, he did not mind losing face. He wanted to do it himself.

“You are being stupid!” Li Chang Huai thought Yu Zhi Yi must be out of her mind. [If you know all this, keep it to yourself until we escape, all right? Tearing off his mask to his face only forces him to kill you!]

Cursing in his heart, he still moved. He snapped open his folding fan, and three hidden weapons shot out.

He did not look to see the result. He reached to grab Yu Zhi Yi by the collar so he could carry her off using his lightness skill.

But he overestimated his hidden weapons and underestimated Yu Tie Zhu’s skill. The three darts did not even brush the hem of Yu Tie Zhu’s robe. Yu Tie Zhu flicked a palm, and the hidden weapons flew back.

He gave a cruel smile, reached out, and poured out powerful inner strength, ready to smash Yu Zhi Yi’s head.

Hearing the air tear behind him, Li Chang Huai’s heart tightened. He turned his head, and his eyes went red as he said: “Darn it!”

Without thinking, he yanked Yu Zhi Yi in front of himself.

He had no time for anything else, only to watch that terrifying palm fall toward his head.

Then nothing happened.

“Huh?” Li Chang Huai stared at the hand frozen in midair and could not understand why Yu Tie Zhu would not strike. Was he letting them go?

But the man’s face was dark as ink, which did not look like mercy.

Before he could figure it out, Yu Zhi Yi pulled him behind her.

Startled, Li Chang Huai said: “Are you crazy?” He started to move, but in the next second his eyes flew wide in shock.