Chapter Two: The Effectiveness of Violence

"Miss."

Chief Li pulled out a chair and sat across from the county magistrate’s daughter. He pondered his words carefully before opening his mouth. "Since you don’t wish to leave the mountain, then stay here and settle in."

"I hope this is the last time you try to end your life."

Li Yun’s face was gentle, but years of banditry had given his words an undercurrent of intimidation.

"If you try to kill yourself again, next time I’ll strip your corpse bare and throw it into Qingyang County for all to see."

He said this as casually as if discussing some trivial matter, but the magistrate’s daughter was already staring at him in terror, her eyes wide in disbelief.

In this world...

There truly existed someone so vicious!

She huddled on the bed, burrowing under the covers, shivering and not daring to utter another word.

Seeing the effect of his words, Li Yun cleared his throat and continued, "Since you’re here, make yourself at home for now. As for what to do in the future..."

Chief Li scratched his head. "I’ll have to think of something."

From beneath the covers, a small head peeked out. She regarded Li Yun up and down with a strange look for quite a while before finally speaking.

"You..."

"Have you studied the classics?"

Chief Li was taken aback and frowned. "Why do you ask?"

"You just said, 'Since you’re here, make yourself at home.'"

The bride stared intently at Li Yun. "How could a mountain bandit say something like that?"

Chief Li stood up and headed for the door. Just as he reached the threshold, he glanced back at the young woman.

"I’m a bandit. Never studied a day in my life."

With that, he strode outside. As soon as he reached the doorway, Baldy grabbed his arm and said, "Chief... the second-in-command wants to see you."

By now, Li Yun had already accepted part of Li Scarface’s memories and knew that Cangshan Outpost had not just thirteen men, but over twenty—almost thirty in total.

A sizable force.

He had inherited the outpost from his father, so naturally there were a few uncles and elders among the ranks—such as this second-in-command.

Li Yun rubbed his temples and asked with a frown, "What’s the matter?"

"No idea." Baldy scratched his head. "Said it’s to discuss some business."

Li Yun, still new to this world, had a more composed temperament, but Li Scarface had been a brash man, and that personality had rubbed off on him somewhat. After some thought, he said, "Lead the way."

Baldy scratched his head and looked at Li Yun’s head. "Chief, you don’t even know the way around our outpost anymore? That Blackie really roughed you up..."

"Enough nonsense," Chief Li grunted. "Just lead the way."

Baldy scratched his head and led the way.

It wasn’t long before they arrived at a crude assembly hall. In the middle stood an equally crude large table. Even this table had been made years ago when the old chief kidnapped a carpenter to build it, and now three of its four legs were propped up with stones.

Around the table were nine chairs by Li Yun’s count.

He didn’t yet fully understand the rules of mountain life, but could guess that these were the so-called "elders’ chairs."

Cangshan Outpost had nine such chairs, and now eight of them were occupied. Only the main seat, covered in tiger hide, remained empty.

Chief Li surveyed the room, his eyes settling on a portly, bearded man of about forty beside him. Instinct told him this was the second-in-command.

Li Yun took a deep breath and strode to the head chair, taking his seat. He swept his gaze over the assembly.

For some reason, he felt not the slightest fear.

"Is everyone here?" Chief Li crossed one leg over the other and asked, "What’s this about?"

Everyone looked to the second-in-command, who was staring back at Li Yun, sensing something faintly different about him.

This kid seemed... not quite the same as before?

Yet he couldn’t say exactly what had changed.

"Erzi," the man said, forcing a smile that revealed a mouthful of yellow teeth. "These past days, our men have heard that Blackie’s lot have been spotted near Cangshan, and some other outlaws are prowling nearby."

"Our hideout is well-hidden and defensible, but if they discover us, I doubt we can hold out for long."

Li Scarface was not the old chief’s only son, but the second born. His older brother had left the mountains ten years ago and never returned, leaving him to inherit the "family business."

Chief Li shot the man a sideways glance. "And what do you suggest?"

"My suggestion..." The second-in-command sighed. "Erzi, don’t blame your uncle for saying this, but you acted rashly this time. If you needed a bride, couldn’t you have taken one from some village? Why go and kidnap an official’s daughter..."

Chief Li cut him off. "Spare me. Just say what you want to do."

"Our thinking is..." The second-in-command looked around at the others. "Maybe you should take the girl and lay low for a while, or just send her back to her family. She’s still untouched, after all. There’s no sense in ruining the old chief’s legacy over a woman, is there?"

Li Yun stood up and faced the assembly. "Is that all of your opinion?"

The men glanced at each other in silence.

Li Yun laughed. "So you want to throw me out to save your own skins?"

The second-in-command quickly stood up and waved his hands. "Don’t get the wrong idea, Erzi. You’ll just be lying low for a bit and then come back. The chief’s seat will always be yours—no one can take it."

"To hell with that!"

Without another word, Chief Li drove a heavy kick into the second-in-command’s stomach.

He was immensely strong, and the blow sent the man sprawling to the ground, clutching his belly and howling in pain, sweat beading on his face.

Chief Li planted a foot on the chair, glared at the assembly, and roared, "You sons of bitches! When you made your own messes, how many times did I take the blame for you?"

"You called me here today just to throw me out, didn’t you? Then let’s be clear: are we splitting up, or do we each gather our men and settle this once and for all?"

He was furious as he spoke.

But as he looked at the frightened faces in the hall, he suddenly realized what he was doing.

"I need some air," he grunted. "We’ll settle this later!"

He strode out of the hall and stopped beneath a great willow tree, gripping its trunk and gasping for breath.

That feeling just now was uncanny!

Though he lacked many of Li Scarface's memories, the words had come to him naturally! His temper, too, had changed for the worse.

In his former world, he had been a gentleman—never troubling others, always accommodating.

But that sort of goodness only led to others taking advantage, and in the end he’d died a sorry death.

Now, his temperament seemed to have quietly shifted.

He closed his eyes and thought for a long while. Then, opening them, he looked at his hands and his thick, powerful arms.

He slapped his right palm against the thick willow trunk.

The whole tree shook violently, leaves cascading to the ground.

Chief Li stared at his own hands, a strange look on his face.

He tried pushing with force, and a piece of bark was actually stripped away!

"I’m so strong..."

After murmuring this, he looked up at the sky and muttered, "For Cangshan Outpost to have lasted so many years, the world must be far from peaceful..."

Thinking of the fear on those elders’ faces in the hall, Chief Li looked again at his hands and whispered,

"Violence..."

"It’s really quite useful."