Chu Lingtian never expected that just as he was slowly coming to terms with the fact that his family's annihilation by fire might have been caused by his own clansmen's carelessness rather than foul play, he would unexpectedly learn the truth of their persecution from Hei Baozi.
Crackling!
At this moment, hurried footsteps approached from outside.
Chu Lingtian immediately deduced that there were at least a hundred people out there.
Whoosh!
The main door was flung open.
Chu Lingtian, hands tucked into his pockets, walked out of the house. In the open space before him, hundreds of burly men armed with cleavers appeared, their eyes ferocious and their expressions savage.
These burly men were all Hei Baozi's subordinates. Upon hearing the news, they had quickly gathered, wielding their cleavers.
"Kid, where's our Brother Bao?"
A tall, sturdy man with a crew cut, pointing his sharp cleaver at Chu Lingtian, roared and asked.
Swish!
Chu Lingtian remained silent. With a flash, he appeared in front of the crew-cut brute.
Swoosh!
The crew-cut brute's face contorted in shock. Instinctively, he raised the knife in his right hand and slashed at Chu Lingtian.
But Chu Lingtian was faster. With his right hand, he grabbed the brute's neck, lifting him off the ground.
The other burly thugs were startled by this. They hadn't expected this young man to strike without hesitation in such a situation. Was he truly seeking death, or was he genuinely fearless?
Crack!
Just as the other burly thugs were about to slash at Chu Lingtian, a bone-snapping sound was heard. Chu Lingtian had twisted the neck of the leading crew-cut brute, breaking it. The man fell to the ground, blood gushing from his mouth and nose, his body twitching a few times before he died with his eyes wide open in an unnatural gaze.
This scene terrified the remaining knife-wielding thugs. Each of them had been involved in the underworld for years, had cut people, and had killed people. But they had never encountered a young man like Chu Lingtian, who killed so ruthlessly.
Chu Lingtian's gaze swept coldly over the nearly a hundred cleaver-wielding thugs before him. He asked, "On the night your family was annihilated, were you all involved?"
"Who are you to the Chu family?"
A bald, burly man, his expression filled with suspicion, retorted.
"You just need to answer my question: were you involved, or not?"
Chu Lingtian's eyes were icy, and his tone was forceful.
"You little bastard, if we were all involved, what can you do to us? Can you possibly kill all hundred of us?"
"Damn it, I don't care who you are from the Chu family, you're going to die here tonight!"
"Ten years ago, the Chu family in Da Chang City was wiped out. No one from the underworld dared to openly discuss the Chu family's affairs. You, a mere milk-toothed brat, dare to mention the Chu family in front of us, the participants? That's a death sentence!"
"..."
Several burly men with cleavers began to curse. They all felt that Chu Lingtian, such a young man, facing hundreds of them with cleavers, was being incredibly strong and arrogant, completely ignorant of the immensity of heaven and earth, and was simply courting death.
But these men did not know that their very words sealed their doom.
Chu Lingtian looked up at the sky. Dark clouds were slowly drifting, obscuring the moon. He muttered to himself,
"Dad, Mom, little sister... I will send everyone who participated in persecuting our Chu family to hell to repent. Don't worry, the lives of these scums tonight are just an appetizer, the beginning of my revenge."
As his voice fell, Chu Lingtian stomped his right foot on the ground.
The cleaver of the crew-cut brute, whose neck he had just broken, flew up from the ground.
The moment Chu Lingtian's right hand gripped the hilt, he no longer restrained his killing intent. The iron-blooded slaughter of the Grim Wolf King was unleashed.
Shouts of killing, screams of agony, rose and fell in succession.
Broken hands, broken feet, and blood splattered into the air.
When the dark clouds that had obscured the moon drifted away, allowing moonlight to shine upon the earth once more, hundreds of cleaver-wielding thugs, who had also killed without blinking, all lay in pools of blood.
The blood splattered into the air, forming a rain of blood that was still falling. Chu Lingtian stood in the center of the corpses, his entire body soaked in blood. He dropped the cleaver, which was still gushing blood, from his right hand, then took out a cigarette, placed it in his mouth, lit it, and took a slow drag. Without even looking back at the corpses of the hundreds of thugs, he left, his back as cold as death.
Lu Family Courtyard.
Chu Lingtian, having changed his clothes, got out of a taxi. He wore a ghost mask on his face and walked directly towards the entrance of the Lu family courtyard.
"Stop!"
"Who are you?"
As Chu Lingtian approached the entrance of the Lu family courtyard, he was stopped by two bodyguards in black suits.
Bang!
Bang!
With two muffled thuds, the two black-suited bodyguards fell to their knees, groaning in pain before passing out.
Chu Lingtian looked up at the plaque above the entrance to the Lu family courtyard. Two powerful characters, "Lu Jia," were written on the plaque, quite conspicuous.
Whoosh!
Chu Lingtian leaped, pushing off the wall with his left foot. He soared into the air, dislodging the Lu family plaque.
After writing a line of bloody characters on the Lu family plaque, Chu Lingtian threw it at the main entrance and turned to leave.
Zhao Family Villa Area.
Chu Lingtian arrived here again. He similarly knocked down the guards at the gate, then took down the Zhao family plaque, wrote a line of bloody characters on it, and then went to the Wei family residence and the Qi family manor, following the same procedure.
After visiting the Lu, Zhao, Qi, and Wei families, Chu Lingtian did not return to the apartment he rented, nor did he go to Liu Bingxue's place. Instead, he bought cigarettes and wine and went to the former site of the Chu family.
He lit a cigarette, poured wine, and stood by the ruins of the Chu family's former residence, looking at the home that had been reduced to nothing but rubble. Happy memories of himself, his father, mother, sister, grandfather, and other family members flooded his mind. Tears streamed uncontrollably from his eyes.
They say a man only cries when his heart is broken.
A shattered home, beloved relatives all tragically killed overnight – this was more than just heartbreak. Such an event would break anyone's spirit.
Though a warrior, Chu Lingtian was also a man of flesh and blood, with emotions.
He stood for a long time, then poured the wine from his cup onto the ground. He sat down, gazing at the once prosperous and bustling home, now a vast expanse of scorched earth. He thought to himself:
"My tragically deceased loved ones, please rest assured. I will avenge you. I will ensure that everyone who participated in persecuting our Chu family dies a terrible death. I also hope that your spirits in heaven will protect me and help me find another living relative."
At this moment, the members of the renowned Lu, Zhao, Qi, and Wei families in Da Chang City, upon learning of what had happened at their gates, were already beginning to feel shock and panic.