Kill, Kill, Kill!!

Rumble!!

A thunderclap rumbled through the roiling black clouds, whimpering like a trapped beast.

The Hall of Law Enforcement was deserted.

"Hah... hah..."

A man in a thin shirt appeared at the entrance, panting and clutching a pot of pale yellow begonia blossoms.

Crash!

The pot of begonias smashed against the ground, scattering mud and flower-laden branches everywhere.

"Xiao Tang..."

The man was trembling all over.

His eyeballs looked as though they had split into dozens of pieces, bulging from their sockets.

He crawled and scrambled his way onto the judicial platform.

Amid all the blood on the floor, only a hairpin and a few broken floral ornaments remained.

The bodies were all gone.

"Xiao Tang!"

His fingers trembling violently, the man picked up the hairpin and broken flowers. Blood streamed from his eyes.

"I came too late..."

Bloody tears fell like rain as he sobbed in a voice that sounded as though he were dead.

Who knew how much regret was mingled in his voice?

When the blood had drained from his eyes, he rose unsteadily to his feet and walked outside...

"Qi Lin, faster!"

Rain poured down, soaking the clothes and long hair of the two youths.

The curtain of rain was too black, the world too dark to see clearly.

Tang Biao looked tense!

Tall red walls rose on either side of their path, and a tall building stood off to one side ahead.

It was the Cloud-Watching Tower.

The downpour had lasted less than a quarter of an hour, yet water three inches deep had already collected on the flagstone road between the red walls.

Qi Lin walked through the water with his head lowered, covered in mud.

Tang Biao said worriedly, "The Divine Strategy Manor is in chaos now, and no one is keeping order. I'm worried those Xiao Clan members will take the chance to go after you. Hurry and find Pavilion Master Jiang Xinghai. He's the only one who can save..."

Before he could finish, a thunderclap suddenly erupted overhead, swallowing his voice.

Rumble-!

The flash of lightning lit up the long, flooded passage, which had been dark as night.

Tang Biao suddenly cried out in alarm!

His eyes widened as he saw a group of people standing ahead on the road illuminated by the lightning!

They were young men and women dressed in fine brocade, each with an imposing bearing.

They stood in the rain, each holding an umbrella, completely blocking Qi Lin's way along the flooded passage.

The lightning made the cold smiles on their faces look especially sinister.

"Xiao Clan members!"

Tang Biao's expression changed drastically, and he nearly suffocated.

"Go back!"

He whirled around and looked behind them.

Just as thunder crashed again and snakes of lightning filled the sky, he saw another group of Xiao Clan members holding umbrellas behind them!

One group in front and one behind!

They had completely blocked their way beneath the high walls.

"Thirty... thirty-five. They're all here..."

Tang Biao's voice was hoarse, and his teeth chattered.

The thunder faded, but at both ends of the flooded passage, thirty-five pairs of cold eyes showed unmistakable killing intent through the curtain of rain.

Thump, thump, thump!

Rain pattered against thirty-five paper umbrellas, sounding like war drums pounding straight against their hearts!

The Xiao Clan geniuses of the Three Stars Pavilion who had been at the Hall of Law Enforcement were all here, waiting for Qi Lin!

And it was still a long way from noon...

"Qi Lin!"

His voice trembling, Tang Biao gripped Qi Lin's shoulder. "You're at the Mystic Sea Realm Second Layer, but twenty-two of them are at the Mystic Sea Realm Second Layer, and thirteen are at the Mystic Sea Realm Third Layer!"

"Oh."

Qi Lin leaned against the high wall and looked through the rain at the thirty-five Xiao Clan geniuses.

Every one of them was at least at the Mystic Sea Realm Second Layer!

Not one was mediocre.

Seeing that he seemed to have been scared witless, Tang Biao could only sigh, unable to stop himself from trembling.

If it had been yesterday, he, Tang Biao, wouldn't have been afraid even if thirty-five Xiao Clan geniuses had surrounded him.

Because this was the Divine Strategy Manor.

But today, the Xiao Clan had even lured a demon into the Divine Strategy Manor to kill people. Now the entire manor was in chaos, and the downpour swallowed the sky... If two students were missing after the rain stopped, they could easily say a demon had killed them.

How could he not be afraid?

The thirty-five Xiao Clan geniuses stood beneath their umbrellas amid the downpour and thunder, watching Tang Biao and Qi Lin with mocking expressions. Their eyes held only the amusement of hunters looking at prey and utter ruthlessness.

"Tang Biao."

A young man and a young woman stepped out from the two groups of Xiao Clan geniuses, one from the front and one from the back. Holding their umbrellas, they walked unhurriedly toward Tang Biao.

"Xiao Xuanxing, Xiao Yao'er..."

Cold sweat mingled with rain on Tang Biao's face. "Don't do anything rash. My eldest uncle will be here any moment!"

The young boy in spotless white hadn't looked at Qi Lin by the wall once. He came up to Tang Biao and smiled faintly. "Don't try to scare us. The adults are all very busy. Right now, there's only you and us on Cloud-Watching Street."

"Xiao Xuanxing!" Tang Biao's voice was hoarse. "Don't underestimate how wary my Tang Clan is of you. If you dare touch me, you definitely won't get away..."

Smack!

Before he could finish, Xiao Xuanxing suddenly slapped him across the face.

The slap came without warning, leaving a bloody mark on Tang Biao's face!

"You!"

Tang Biao was angry, but even more afraid.

Xiao Xuanxing wasn't alone.

Besides the two of them, the other thirty-three Xiao Clan geniuses closed in, all holding umbrellas and looking mockingly at Tang Biao.

None of them looked at Qi Lin, as though he didn't exist.

"Your Tang Clan really likes attracting flies to disgust us, doesn't it?"

Xiao Xuanxing asked with a smile.

"No..."

Smack!

Xiao Yao'er, whose high compatibility had only been announced that day, also slapped Tang Biao across the face, leaving another bloody mark.

"What do you mean, no? Don't we have eyes to see for ourselves?"

Xiao Yao'er said coldly.

"Everyone..."

Smack!

Before Tang Biao could say another word, another youth named Xiao Chen stepped forward and slapped him on the forehead, making him stagger and nearly fall.

"Get up!"

Xiao Chen grabbed Tang Biao by the hair and hauled him upright, grinning viciously. "Well, is it true or not?"

"No..."

Smack!

Xiao Su'e slapped him too, knocking out two of Tang Biao's bloodied teeth.

"Really? Haven't you been playing the clever one, hanging around with a dead man? Huh?"

She asked, pulling Tang Biao by the ear.

"If it's true, it's true. If it isn't, it isn't!"

Xiao Yunyi, Xiao Ningdie and the others each slapped Tang Biao, beating him until he staggered from side to side, his face covered in blood.

"Tang Biao, do you know what annoys me most about you?"

Xiao Yao'er grabbed him again and said coldly, "If you want to get under our skin, find someone with some ability. Instead, you just had to bring one stray dog to parade in front of us. How are the thirty-five of us supposed to share him? Tell me, how? There wouldn't be enough to go around even if we tore him limb from limb, you know that?"

As she spoke, she finally glanced at Qi Lin.

At that moment, Qi Lin stood by the wall, the stray dog she had said wasn't enough for them to share and devour!

Thirty-five pairs of savage, lofty eyes fixed on Qi Lin, stabbing into him like a dense thicket of sword points!

"I, Xiao Yao'er, have never cherished a stray dog this much in all my life!"

"Do you know why?"

"We're afraid! Afraid we'll accidentally play him to death. That would be an enormous loss!"

"How could one dog be enough for us to play with?!"

"It's not enough, do you understand?"

"Not enough!"

Xiao Yao'er slapped him with every sentence.

Tang Biao didn't dare fight back or move. His face was covered in blood and tears.

The other thirty-four Xiao Clan geniuses all sneered.

Rumble!

At that moment, lightning flashed and thunder exploded overhead.

In the instant of that roar, the dark figure by the wall suddenly sprang into action!!

Like a bolt of black lightning, he lunged straight at Xiao Yao'er!

"You stray dog, you dare strike first!!"

Xiao Yao'er flew into a rage and drew her sword.

But the instant she drew it, lightning flashed, and a starry sky filled with writhing bolts of lightning seemed to descend upon her!

For a moment, Xiao Yao'er couldn't see the tip of the dark figure's sword!

She swept her sword out in a hurry.

Clang!!!

A piercing ring sounded as a sword came from she knew not where, skimming along Xiao Yao'er's blade and flashing toward her eye!

"I... high compatibility..."

In that instant, Xiao Yao'er was stunned.

Puchi!

A long azure sword pierced through her left eye and burst out the back of her head!!!

Red and white matter splattered all over Tang Biao's face!

"Xiao Yao'er..."

Tang Biao trembled violently from head to toe!

Eyes wide, he stared at the girl before him, who had once had hope of becoming a Holy Master of the Demon-Slaying Headquarters!

Now there was a hole through her skull, and her body was rigid.

Plop!

The paper umbrella in her other hand tilted and fell onto the flooded passage.

Blood and rainwater streamed from her eye socket and the back of her head, staining the front of her clothes red and beginning to spread through the water on the ground.

Her remaining eye, its expression somewhat bewildered, stared blankly at the young boy in black before her.

In the time it took a single bolt of lightning to flash across the sky, the world before her suddenly went dark.

And the future Holy Master was no more.

Puchi!

The young boy in black amid the crowd withdrew the Azure Soul Sword, holding it in his hand.

He flicked the blade, shaking off scraps of blood and flesh, along with an eyeball.

Then he slowly raised his head.

Beneath his short, soaking-wet hair,

his eyes were filled with blood-red azure dragons.

"Thirty-four left. Come at me together."

He said.