The legend begins with becoming a white deer.

Ji Zhu received the order and set off for Pingqiu City that very day with some trusted confidants.

The capital city of Jinhua and Pingqiu City are not too far apart; a round trip by fast horse would only take two and a half days.

After a long and tiring journey, the group arrived at an old winery in the west of Pingqiu City the following evening.

Eight figures cloaked in black stood at the entrance of the winery. Upon seeing Ji Zhu approach, they quickly bowed in greeting.

These are the people who have been following Yan Lie around these past few days, cleaning up his messes and tidying up his problems.

At this moment, all eight men wore expressions of unconcealed exhaustion and apprehension. When they spoke, their tone was full of resentment: "Lord Ji Zhu, you've finally arrived! This Yan Lie is simply a madman. In the past three days, he has already caused trouble at five restaurants and has more than a dozen lives on his hands. We've already gone to great lengths just to suppress the government's investigation for him. When will this work end? The brothers don't want to do it anymore."

"Don't worry, barring any unforeseen circumstances, this should be the end of the day. Now, keep a close watch outside."

Ji Zhu waved her hand expressionlessly, pushed open the door, and walked straight in.

The winery lobby was filled with a strong smell of alcohol and blood.

Yan Lie sat casually at the table in the center of the hall, one foot on a bench, holding a wine jar and gulping it down.

Several corpses lay scattered on the ground beside him, including winery workers and managers, their deaths gruesome, almost identical to the scene when Ji Zhu first met him.

Ji Zhu stood a dozen steps away, looked at the corpses, then at Yan Lie who was drinking by himself, her tone filled with undisguised sarcasm.

"Are all the Ten Villains like you, never abiding by worldly rules, eating and drinking without paying every day, and killing cooks and brewers at the slightest disagreement? If we hadn't cleaned up the mess for you these past few days, the soldiers of Pingqiu City would have surrounded you long ago."

Yan Lie lifted his eyelids, glanced at her sideways, and a disdainful smile appeared on his lips: "Rules set by the weak are not worthy of my obedience. Besides, I didn't ask you to clean up my mess; you were just being nosy."

Ji Zhu had no liking for this thug to begin with, so she didn't bother with pleasantries and went straight to the point: "We have news about the auspicious beast, the white deer."

"What?!"

Yan Lie suddenly looked up, his cloudy eyes flashing with a sharp light.

He slammed the wine jar on the ground with a "bang," splashing wine and broken porcelain all over the place. Then he circulated his qi in his dantian, and white mist rose from his body, dispelling the smell of alcohol from his body in no time.

"Where is that beast?!"

Upon hearing Yan Lie refer to the auspicious white deer as a beast, Ji Zhu's lips twitched, but she still truthfully replied, "In the royal palace of the capital city of Jinhua."

Upon hearing this, Yan Lie immediately grabbed the outer robe beside him, put it on, and made as if to walk out.

"Wait a minute."

Ji Zhu coldly interrupted him: "Yan Lie, if you just barge into the capital like this, forget about killing the white deer, you probably won't even get close to the palace before the city defense army takes you down."

"A bunch of good-for-nothings, do they even dare to stop me?" Yan Lie sneered, his face full of arrogance.

"Even a large number of ants can kill an elephant, and if the information I received before is correct, you tried to break into the capital once before, but you failed."

Ji Zhu's words made Yan Lie's face turn cold.

"Woman, what are you trying to say?"

Ji Zhu said calmly, "What I want to say is, even if you, Yan Lie, are a master of martial arts and aren't afraid of a few hundred soldiers in a one-on-one fight, what about a thousand or several thousand? The Imperial Guards of the capital are not lacking in experts with profound internal strength. If you are truly surrounded, do you think you can escape unscathed?"

Yan Lie's eyes flickered. Although his gaze remained fierce, the arrogance on his face lessened somewhat.

He may be arrogant, but he is not stupid.

Yan Lie knew in his heart that no matter how strong a martial arts master was, he was still made of flesh and blood. Even if he had mastered a high-intensity external martial art and could be indestructible, he was still not immune to exhaustion. He didn't care about a few hundred people, but once the number exceeded a thousand, he would be in danger. Moreover, the soldiers' weapons were not to be underestimated. With crossbows firing in unison and their formations closing in, they would relentlessly charge. Even with his indestructible body, he would eventually be worn down to death. Although he wouldn't admit it on the surface, he still had this self-awareness in his heart.

The lobby fell silent for a moment, with only the sound of the wind whistling past the window.

Seeing that Yan Lie had listened to her to some extent, Ji Zhu immediately raised her hand behind her.

Four men carried a heavy, long wooden crate forward and placed it on the ground with a thud.

"If you want to kill the White Deer, you have no choice but to cooperate with us."

Ji Zhu kicked the lid of the box, her tone confident: "We can help you infiltrate the capital and distract the guards. If necessary, we can create opportunities for you to make your move and increase your chances of killing the white deer. Our condition is simple: you just need to eliminate one person for us."

As soon as she finished speaking, she reached out and lifted the lid of the box.

There was no gold or silver, no poison in the box, only a double-edged giant axe.

The axe was entirely black, with a cold, sharp edge. The handle was as thick as a child's arm and wrapped in non-slip animal hide. The axe, including the handle, was a full two meters long. This was the famous weapon that Yan Lie had unfortunately lost when he was chasing Qi Ji.

"My Mountain-Splitting Axe!"

Yan Lie's eyes lit up, and he strode forward, grabbing the giant axe in one hand.

He swung the double axes in a circle, creating a gust of wind that cracked the bricks and stones on the ground.

Yan Lie burst into hearty laughter, his voice so loud it made the windows of the hall tremble slightly: "Hahahaha, good! Good! Good! Considering you helped me retrieve my weapons, I agree to this cooperation!"

Yan Lie slung the Mountain-Splitting Axe over his shoulder, his gaze fixed intently on Ji Zhu: "Tell me, who do you want me to kill?"

Ji Zhu said calmly, "I can't tell you now. When you arrive in the capital, someone will naturally take over from you. However, I must remind you to restrain your temper after you get to the capital and not cause any more trouble. If your identity as one of the Ten Evils is exposed in the capital, no one can protect you."

Yan Lie grinned, revealing a set of yellowed teeth: "I've never cared about any damn royal power, but no problem, as long as you can help me kill Bai Lu, I'm not unwilling to cooperate."

After saying that, Yan Lie thought of something else and added, "Oh right, besides that white deer, I also need to kill someone. There's a guard in the Bilin royal family named Lin Qin, I have to kill him too."

Ji Zhu had never heard of Lin Qin's name and didn't care about killing one more person, so she immediately nodded: "Okay."

"happy."

Yan Lie flicked his arm, planting the Mountain-Splitting Axe directly into the ground. He then looked at Ji Zhu with a probing gaze, "After all this time, I still don't know who your master is? To have such considerable influence in the capital, you must have quite a powerful background."

Ji Zhu remained calm and said indifferently, "You are not worthy to know the master's name. Just go to the capital. Someone will prepare a carriage for you here tomorrow morning."

Having said that, Ji Zhu didn't linger any longer. She turned and left the winery with her men, leaving Yan Lie alone in the blood-soaked hall.

Yan Lie watched Ji Zhu's disappearing figure, his fingers gently stroking the axe handle, lost in thought.

The fact that they could suppress so many murders for him in Pingqiu City and even extend their reach into the capital shows that their power is far beyond that of ordinary martial arts sects.

"Royalty?" Yan Lie chuckled softly, his tone full of nonchalant contempt.

Ordinary people revere royalty and nobility, but in Yan Lie's eyes, they are nothing.

The Ten Villains' fearsome reputation in the martial arts world wasn't solely based on the number of people they killed, but also on the quality of their killings.

Among them, some had killed the city guards of many cities, some had slaughtered entire noble families, and some had even personally beheaded a king. To this day, they remain at large, and no one has been able to capture them.

In their eyes, the fate of nobles was no different from that of ordinary people.

Yan Lie snapped out of his thoughts, hoisted the giant axe back onto his shoulder, grabbed a jar of unbroken wine, and took a large gulp.

"White Deer, just you wait. I will cut off your head sooner or later, and I will definitely keep your antlers."