Volume One, Chapter 14: The Ambush

Early the next morning, after breakfast, Liu Feng took the two sisters for a stroll around the county town.

In the afternoon, they set off toward Siwa Village, riding a bullock cart.

Upon entering the village, Liu Feng sensed something was amiss.

Since the incident with Xiaofang, he had become more cautious.

Whenever he traveled far, he entrusted the house to Old Man Tian Ba. Before leaving, he would carefully wedge a twig into the door gap.

Now, the twig was lying on the ground, which meant someone had been inside.

“Qing’er, Qing’er, wait here,” Liu Feng said hurriedly.

He rushed home without any weapons except the axe he carried.

Holding the axe firmly, he watched as his two wives hid behind a tree, then leisurely approached the house.

He dared not be careless.

Gently pushing open the door, a flash of cold steel appeared above his head—a blade was already slashing directly toward his face.

Liu Feng reacted swiftly, blocking the strike with his axe, then grabbing the attacker’s wrist. With a kick and a pull, he sent the assailant flying out of the house.

Just as he exhaled with relief, another blade came at him from the side, more forceful than before. Liu Feng dodged and slipped into the courtyard.

Suddenly, the gate slammed shut. A man wielding a long knife appeared, blocking Liu Feng’s escape route. His eyes gleamed with bloodlust as if he were staring down prey.

In the blink of an eye, four more burly men with knives appeared inside the house. Liu Feng immediately knew who they were.

The leader had a scarred face and only one arm.

Yet, with that single arm, he was unbelievably strong and skilled with his knife. This man was the second-in-command under Master Zhang.

Legend had it that he lost his arm during a debt collection when gamblers attacked him. Ever since, his temperament had turned vicious and merciless.

“Liu Feng, not bad. Your life gets easier day by day—you’ve even got a bullock cart now,” the scar-faced man sneered.

“What, enjoying your good fortune and forgetting about your brothers?”

With a wave of his hand, the knife-wielding men circled around, trapping Liu Feng.

“I remember you married two beautiful wives, charming young ladies even more alluring than Xiao Mei from the pleasure house.”

“I recall you promised that if you couldn’t repay your debts, your wives would be collateral.”

“Money can be forgotten, but such an important promise cannot be overlooked.”

Liu Feng clearly understood the scar-faced man’s intentions.

They wanted both the money and the women.

They might even burn down his humble home when they left.

The one-armed man was so confident that there must be more men lurking nearby to back them up.

After all, he wouldn’t dare take such risks without knowing something about Liu Feng. Prudence was in his nature.

But this was his wishful thinking—believing that surrounding Liu Feng would make him surrender.

What they didn’t realize was—

These petty thugs were no match for Liu Feng.

From the moment they set their ambush in the courtyard, they were already doomed.

“Scarface, send out your men. A few aren’t enough.”

“Big talk. If you want to die quickly, I’ll oblige,” the scar-faced man snarled.

“Four Dogs, come out.”

The Four Dogs were the one-armed man’s deadliest subordinates. They rarely showed themselves, but when they did, their enemies were left in pieces—hence their name.

“How about it? Today, you die.”

Scarface was smug.

But this was exactly what Liu Feng wanted—everyone out in the open made it easier to fight.

Despite being surrounded by ten men, Liu Feng only needed a glance to devise a clear plan.

Among them was Li Ergou, one of Siwa Village’s ruffians.

Liu Feng had taught him a lesson last time, yet here he was again. This time, he had to put him down.

In the blink of an eye, Liu Feng took a powerful step forward, nearly breathing on scarface’s face.

Scarface never expected this once useless man to be so ruthless. As the axe swung toward him, he hastily raised his knife to block.

With a sharp clang—

A flash of cold steel severed scarface’s only arm clean off, blood spurting like a fountain.

Screaming in agony, scarface stumbled back, but Liu Feng pressed on without hesitation. With a wrist flip, the axe swung again, wiping away half of scarface’s face.

The henchmen swallowed hard—this man was terrifying.

One raised his knife to strike Liu Feng, but with a mere turn, Liu Feng left a bloodline across his neck.

Two more rushed forward.

Liu Feng chuckled.

As a long blade aimed for his cheek, he sidestepped, and the axe seemed to have eyes of its own—within a breath, the attacker’s arm fell to the ground.

Blood sprayed over the nearby men’s faces.

In that moment, another assassin thought he found his chance and slashed at Liu Feng’s back.

Liu Feng blocked with his axe behind him, then kicked the man flying.

The remaining henchmen attacked all at once. With fists against four hands, Liu Feng rolled like a carp to escape, grabbed nearby furniture to block, then leapt back into the fray.

His axe moved effortlessly, and with a turn, he felled another attacker with a single blow.

With continuous strikes, the remaining five or six killers became nothing but lambs to the slaughter.

“Squelch…”

“Clang…”

“Whoosh…”

Sounds of flesh and blood being torn filled the yard.

Screams echoed briefly before abruptly stopping.

All the henchmen lay dead, their bodies scattered and mutilated.

Liu Feng grinned.

He looked over the tangled corpses, wiping the blood from his axe on the one-armed man’s body. The blade had dulled somewhat.

No wonder it wasn’t as sharp as before.

He’d better sharpen it properly when he had the chance.

With refining technology lagging, his tools weren’t very durable.

When conditions improved, he vowed to build several blast furnaces for steelmaking.

To master the art of fine steel.

Pushing the one-armed man’s body off the door, Liu Feng opened the gate and beckoned to his two wives hiding nearby.

They were frightened.

They had watched anxiously, fearing for their husband.

But to see ten killers fall to him in mere moments—each one utterly destroyed—was shocking.

Though they had witnessed Liu Feng’s decisiveness before, seeing it up close was still terrifying.

These were no lazy villagers like Li Ergou; these were highly skilled, ruthless assassins employed by Master Zhang.

Yet this agile, resolute, merciless, and clever man had swiftly dispatched them all.

Could this really be the same Liu Feng who once drank himself into oblivion every day?

The two sisters exchanged bewildered glances, their minds struggling to comprehend.