Cave Refuge

But now, a number of powerful martial artists had joined their ranks, and at this point, not to mention a regular pistol in Mr. Thompson's hands, even if he held a fully automatic rifle, it posed no threat to them at all.

Just as he was about to open his mouth to ridicule Mr. Thompson, Mr. Thompson suddenly spoke up, "I know there are martial artists in your team, and I also know why those martial artists have joined your group."

Then Mr. Thompson took out a bottle of dark green liquid from his storage space and looked past the leader, fixing his gaze on the group behind him, "Though I don't know why you are colluding with them, as long as you don't provoke me, I'll turn a blind eye.

But now you're going to make a move on me, and I'm not the type to be slaughtered at will. This thing in my hand is Peaceful Heart Powder, and I presume you martial artists know very well what it does. The dosage in this bottle in my hand is enough to meet the needs of all the martial artists on this floor.

Perhaps you think I'm lying to deceive you. Do you want to bet whether what I'm saying is true or false?"

Hearing Mr. Thompson's words, the faces of many people in the crowd turned somewhat awkward.

The Peaceful Heart Powder has a simple use: it calms martial artists who fall into the grip of their heart demons, returning them to a normal state of mind. However, it also has a side effect: after taking it, it dissipates the cultivation level of martial artists, reducing them back to ordinary humans.

Nevertheless, compared to being trapped by the heart demon with no way out, taking Peaceful Heart Powder does disperse one's cultivation, but it saves their life. Additionally, due to their past cultivation experience, even if they start over as re-cultivators, they progress much faster than those who have never practiced cultivation.

Because it's difficult to feed such drugs to those afflicted by heart demons, Peaceful Heart Powder is highly volatile for ease of use.

Normally, most people buy the Peaceful Heart Powder only in quantities the size of a grain of rice, and even just a little bit can be effective. Most of the time, an ordinary person is arranged to come close to let it evaporate, while other martial artists hide far away to ensure safety.

And right now the bottle of dark green liquid that Mr. Thompson held, if it truly contained Peaceful Heart Powder as he claimed, then should Mr. Thompson shatter this bottle...

Perhaps it wouldn't affect all the martial artists on the floor as dramatically as Mr. Thompson suggested, but at the very least, all the martial artists in the vicinity of the Thompson Family would undoubtedly fall victim.

These martial artists had joined the group merely to seize the opportunity to accumulate some items, not to dissipate their powers willingly.

After all, while it's true that re-cultivating after dissipating powers could be fast, that's for re-cultivators with ample resources. People like them who didn't have many resources at hand would certainly not want to cause themselves unnecessary trouble.

So when Mr. Thompson took out this item, the martial artists hiding among the crowd exchanged glances and then nodded to each other silently in understanding.

But the leader paid no heed to Mr. Thompson's threat. Although his team contained many martial artists, he was after all just an ordinary person, and with the consecutive victories he'd had recently, he felt very inflated inside and had no regard for what the martial artists in his team thought.

"Who knows if you're telling the truth," he called out. "Follow me, brothers." With that, he immediately led the way forward, and with his lead, the crowd behind him also began to inch forward.

"Bang!"

With a gunshot, the leader's head exploded in an instant, and the pistol in Mr. Thompson's hands was far from ordinary; its power surpassed many automatic rifles from before the natural disaster.

As the leader's head burst open, scattering brain matter, his headless body slowly toppled backwards. The group that had been following halted abruptly, then erupted into a cacophony of panicked screams.

They had not expected Mr. Thompson to fire the gun so decisively, unlike other armed families they had encountered before that often warned them multiple times before shooting.

Nor did they expect that the martial artists mingled among them would not deflect the bullet with other objects as they had in the past, allowing Mr. Thompson to gun down the leader instead.

The reason for this was in fact quite simple. If the leader had turned back to consult with them, regardless of whether Mr. Thompson's claim was true or false, with so many other families outside, they didn't necessarily need to take such a risk out of caution.

"""

But perhaps it was the consecutive successes that inflated the leader's ego to the point of recklessness, making decisions that could threaten martial artists without consulting them.

After all, they saw the leader as nothing more than a scapegoat puppet, so even if he died, they would simply choose another, no need to take such great risks; that's why they allowed Mr. Thompson to shoot him dead.

With the second gunshot, those who had just entered the living room scrambled in panic to flee the room, afraid that if they were too slow, they'd become the next soul taken by Mr. Thompson's gun.

Once everyone had left, Mr. Thompson finally collapsed into a chair, gasping for air as he tried to calm himself down.

Mr. Thompson was nothing like those novel protagonists who dared to play the empty fort strategy with a fake prop.

The bottle of dark green liquid in Mr. Thompson's hand was indeed Peaceful Heart Powder, and he had so much of it because he had ordered it from Ye Liuyun. Ye Liuyun had recently gone on a trip, so the goods were temporarily stored here, waiting for buyers to come and pick them up.

That Mr. Thompson made it through this ordeal was simply good luck.

Of course, if those people had actually been so dishonorable as to attack him, Mr. Thompson would have definitely smashed the bottle and gone down fighting with the enemy, even at the cost of his martial cultivation.

After all, the Thompson Family compound was his home, and while it may seem he only had a handgun, he could have a fully automatic rifle in his hands within ten seconds if he wanted it.

It was quite a while before Mrs. Thompson, gun in both hands, cautiously walked out from another room.

Having been through so much, Mrs. Thompson was no longer just a weak woman. Although she had hidden in the room, she never let go of her firearm, ready to rush out and fight alongside Mr. Thompson at the first sign of trouble.

Seeing Mrs. Thompson emerge from the room with a tense expression, Mr. Thompson gathered his strength to stand up despite his weakness, then tried to reassure her, "It's okay, they're all gone!

Sigh, I don't know what those people were thinking. They had a peaceful life but resorted to such despicable tactics, not considering how those instigators in the past couldn't control the same tide and faced backlash themselves.

I just can't believe those foolish leaders didn't have elders at home to remind them, nobody managed to end well after that event.

All the leaders back then faced retaliation, not a single one escaped.

Ah, never mind, let's not think about it. Whatever happens to them in the future has nothing to do with us anymore. Let them be.

Okay! Don't worry anymore. The door's broken and can't be closed; don't bother fixing it, just prop it with a chair for now, we'll deal with it when things settle down.

This trouble has reached our doorstep; looks like those people pulling the strings have really screwed up this time.

I remember Old Jefferson's family just celebrated the birth of their little great-grandson, and with four generations living together now, that family must be blissful.

If those fools really stir up trouble at Old Jefferson's, none of his three sons are pushovers, especially the eldest, who is a Path Entry Realm martial artist.

Moreover, since he's remained single due to his cultivation, he treasures that newborn grandson immensely.

If those fools really cause a commotion at Old Jefferson's place, it's not just about hurting the kid; even scaring Old Jefferson's treasured child might prompt the eldest son to make them regret it profoundly."

"""