Chapter 1

Chapter 1

“The Asura Appearance but a Bodhisattva Heart-you are destined to walk the line between the living and the dead.”

When I was twelve, I rescued a crazed old man from a ditch.

That was what he told me.

Then, he gave me an eleven-section Soul-Striking Whip made of peach wood.

I didn’t believe a word he said. At eighteen, I left my village to drive heavy trucks.

By my thirties, I had my own company and a family.

My life was nearly perfect.

But in the blink of an eye, my parents passed away, my wife died of illness, and my brother-in-arms betrayed me.

I was left with crushing debt and only a son and daughter to my name.

Driven to a dead end, I found that Soul-Striking Whip again, tucked away under a cabinet.

When Tang Dong called, I was driving a client up into the mountains.

Tang Dong was clearly hammered, his voice slurred and thick.

“Long Changdong, don’t be ungrateful. I’m being kind here, giving you a way out-”

“Go to hell!” I snapped.

I hung up and blocked his number immediately.

In the rearview mirror, the mother and daughter sitting in the back looked rather nervous. I could only nod to them apologetically.

I couldn’t blame them for being afraid. I have a fierce look about me, and my stature is far larger than the average man’s.

Since I was a child, people said I looked like Zhang Fei or Li Kui. Lately, I hadn’t been taking care of myself; with a face full of stubble, the resemblance was even stronger.

Tang Dong was my former partner and my childhood friend.

We came from the same village and drove trucks together.

We got married around the same time and founded a logistics company together.

Tang Dong used to be very thin and short.

Since I was built much stronger, I had him call me ‘big brother’ and looked out for him everywhere. Whenever we ran into trouble on the road that required fists, I was always the one standing in front of him.

When it came to Chong Sha, he was terrified, so I would go alone and split the bonus with him fifty-fifty when I got back.

I told him more than once: “I’m the one who brought you out of the village, and I’m going to make sure I bring you back home safe and sound.”

I once thought Tang Dong was like family.

I thought our bond would never change.

But while I was busy caring for my parents and my sick wife, he hollowed out the company and transferred the assets.

Finally, he took on unauthorized private contracts that left me saddled with massive liquidated damages.

Even then, I never doubted his intentions.

Not until the day I knelt at his front door, trying to raise money for my wife’s medical bills.

I watched with my own eyes as he took the ribs I had bought with my last two hundred yuan and fed them to his dog.

He said, “Long Changdong, who the hell do you think you’re calling ‘brother’? Right now, you aren’t even worth as much as my dog!”