A Madman Came to Sunset City

"Are you the madman who asks other people to beat him up?"

"You already said that once."

"Now I've said it a second time, and you still won't admit it?"

"I admit it."

"But why are you following me?"

"I'm worried you'll get yourself beaten to death."

"Then you should stay farther away, so the blood won't splatter on you."

"Do you really think you can withstand everyone's punches?"

"I'll only know whether I can withstand them after I've been hit."

"Aren't you embarrassed to go around asking who's the best fighter?"

"There's no shame in looking for someone to beat me up. The shame is in not finding anyone."

Jin Ling stopped walking.

Li Zhexian kept walking ahead, without looking back or waiting for her.

The Azure Lotus Sword hung at his side, while the Drunken Immortal Wine Pot rested against his back.

There were many pebbles on the mountain path. When they got into his shoes, he would walk a few steps, then lift his feet and shake them out.

He looked so earnest that he might really have been reasoning with the stones.

"After you came out of the ruins, was this the only thing left on your mind?"

"There's also drinking."

"Do you still have any wine?"

"Half a pot left."

"And how much money?"

Li Zhexian patted the cloth pouch at his waist.

Two faint clinks came from inside it.

"Chen Xin gave it to me."

Jin Ling held out her hand to him.

"Take it out."

"Two Silver Soul Coins. I can't give them to you."

"I'm not going to snatch them. I just want to see how you plan to stay alive."

Li Zhexian untied the cloth pouch and emptied its contents into his palm.

Two Silver Soul Coins fell out, followed by two copper coins that rolled out beside them.

Jin Ling looked at the money and felt that whether they could even make it to Sunset City had become a question.

"This isn't enough to buy even one meal."

"Then I'll buy wine."

"You plan to rely on drinking to get to Sunset City?"

"With wine, I can travel a long way."

"But you don't even have travel money."

"That's why I need to find people who can hit."

Jin Ling looked at his back and, for the first time, felt that he wasn't mad. He had factored everything into his plan.

It was just that this kind of plan really wasn't something a normal person could have come up with.

In the afternoon, the two of them reached Sunset City's north gate.

There were quite a few Soul Masters coming and going at the gate. After collecting two copper coins, the Soul Master guarding it pointed at the long sword at Li Zhexian's waist.

"No causing trouble inside the city."

"What if someone else hits me first?"

"Then you run away."

"I'd lose out badly if I ran away."

The gate guard looked at him for a while.

"Are you planning to stand there and take a beating?"

"Brother, you understand these things."

The gate guard turned his face away, no longer intending to pay him any attention.

After they entered Sunset City, wheels rolled over the stone paving, and oily smoke rose from the roast-meat stalls along the street.

People gathered around a wooden post by the street to test their punches, their shouts carrying halfway down the street.

After walking half the length of the street, Li Zhexian stopped at the entrance to a tavern.

Laughter came from inside.

"When that Red-Backed Bear charged at me, I drove it back with a single punch!"

"It clearly flung you into a tree, where you hung for a long time."

"I was using the tree to exert force."

"You scraped a patch of bark off the tree. What force were you using?"

Li Zhexian pushed the door open and went inside.

When the proprietor saw the long sword he carried, the rag in his hand stopped on the tabletop.

"There are still empty tables upstairs."

"First, send some wine to those five people by the wall."

The five Soul Masters sitting by the wall stopped talking.

One of them, a man with a scar on his face, raised his head and looked at Li Zhexian.

"We don't know each other, yet you're buying us wine?"

"You just said you were good at fighting."

"So what if we are?"

"After you finish the wine, each of you hit me once with all your strength."

The laughter in the tavern had stopped.

The proprietor put down his rag and sized Li Zhexian up.

"Child, where are the adults from your family?"

"They didn't come."

"If you want to die, go somewhere else."

"Proprietor, bring the wine first."

The scar-faced Soul Master slapped the table and stood up, the short saber at his waist striking a table leg.

"What did you just say?"

"Wine first, then punches."

Jin Ling stood in the doorway, watching how earnest Li Zhexian was, and had already begun to consider whether she should leave first.

"Are you sure you want to leave your life here?"

"I have a shield."

"All I can see is your sword and a wine pot."

"So I have both a sword and a shield."

The scar-faced Soul Master slapped the table and laughed.

"Is this kid already drunk?"

"I haven't started drinking yet."

"Then his brain got drunk first."

The proprietor didn't want to stir up trouble, but he still brought over six bowls of wine.

Li Zhexian took out a Silver Soul Coin and slapped it onto the table.

"Hit me after you finish drinking."

The scar-faced Soul Master picked up a bowl and drained it in one gulp.

"My name is Huo Shan, a level thirty-seven Soul Elder."

"If you die, don't say I bullied a child."

"Brother Huo, there's no need to hold back."

Huo Shan looked at Li Zhexian, thinking he probably didn't know the gap between a Soul Elder and an ordinary person.

But since this person was seeking death himself, he didn't want to keep trying to persuade him.

"Are you really going to stand there and wait?"

"I will."

Huo Shan used only thirty percent of his strength and punched Li Zhexian in the chest.

Li Zhexian staggered back two steps, his soles scraping against the wooden floorboards.

His clothes showed no damage.

The shield in his sea of consciousness had decreased by forty-seven points.

A ball of white light rolled out from the hem of his clothes, struck a table leg, and stopped beside everyone's feet.

"What is that?"

"Did you hide it?"

Li Zhexian bent down and picked up the ball of light.

When the white light dispersed, a Pain-Relieving Pill appeared inside.

[White Prize Pool triggered.]

[Reward: Pain-Relieving Pill.]

Huo Shan looked at the pill, and the smile on his face faded somewhat.

"Where did you hide that thing?"

"I didn't hide it."

"Then why did it appear?"

"You beat it out of me."

"Bullshit."

Li Zhexian put the Pain-Relieving Pill into his cloth pouch.

"Next."

A fat, burly Soul Master walked up to him.

"I'll hit you."

"Use all your strength."

"Aren't you really afraid?"

"I am, so don't hit me over the heart."

The fat Soul Master landed a punch on his shoulder.

The shield had lost sixty-three points.

A second ball of white light rolled under the table.

The fat Soul Master bent down and reached for it, but the ball of light rolled over to Li Zhexian's feet on its own.

Jin Ling looked at the ball of light and understood part of it now.

"These things recognize their master."

"You saw them a long time ago?"

"My eyes aren't blind."

Li Zhexian bent down and picked up the ball of light.

When the white light faded, there was a roll of bandages inside.

"Line up. Don't beat away all the wine money."

The third Soul Master came toward him.

The fourth Soul Master also threw a punch afterward.

The table kept rocking from the impacts, and half the wine in the bowls had spilled.

The Soul Masters went from mocking him at first to watching the hem of Li Zhexian's clothes.

White and green lights fell out one after another.

The shield had lost more than two thousand points.

Each time Li Zhexian was punched, he announced the number of points the shield had lost.

"Sixty-seven points."

"Eighty-one points."

"That punch was decent. One hundred and twenty points."

"Are you keeping accounts for us?"

"It's to keep you from hitting me too few times."

Those words made Huo Shan's face darken.

He pushed his companion aside, the smell of wine rushing into his face.

"Have you been insulting me this whole time?"

"Nothing of the sort."

"You're saying my punches don't carry enough weight."

"That's a fact."

Huo Shan no longer held back his strength.

He summoned his Martial Soul. Yellow light in the shape of a short blade coiled around his arm, and his Soul Ring lit up as well.

When he threw the punch, Soul Power passed from his fist into Li Zhexian's chest.

The shield had already decreased by 416 points.

A ball of green light fell from beside Li Zhexian's body.

After the ball of light dispersed, a short dagger and a recovery pill appeared on the table.

[Green prize pool triggered.]

[Rewards: low-grade dagger, recovery pill.]

Huo Shan reached for the short dagger.

But the short dagger was lifted by a green light and landed in Li Zhexian's hand.

"Give it back to me."

"You were the one who knocked this out."

"Why should I hand over something I knocked out?"

"Because it fell into my hand."

Huo Shan stepped forward.

Jin Ling had already walked to Li Zhexian's side.

"If you want to take it, ask the sword in his hand first."

Huo Shan looked at the Azure Lotus Sword, then stopped in his tracks.

He could tell that the sword was no ordinary object.

What caught his attention even more was that Jin Ling's Soul Power presence was stronger than his.

Li Zhexian took the remaining money from his cloth bag, counted out three coins, and slapped them onto the table.

"Another round."

"Whoever admits they're scared first pays for the drinks."

The shopkeeper charged over to them with a broom.

"Everyone out!"

"Shopkeeper, we haven't finished our drinks."

"You've already damaged two tables and stomped three holes in the floor, and you still intend to keep drinking?"

"Put the damage to the tables on Brother Huo's tab."

"It's going on the tab for all of you!"

The Soul Masters were driven outside the door.

Huo Shan turned to look at the green light in Li Zhexian's hand.

"There are plenty of people in the city who can deal with you."

"Then please help me find them."

"Don't regret it later."

"First, leave me your name."

Huo Shan looked at him for a moment, then turned and left.

The shopkeeper closed the door halfway, then pulled Li Zhexian over to the counter.

"What were those balls of light just now?"

"In the forest outside the city, there are things that are even better at fighting. You can go and have a look."

The shopkeeper took a notice from behind the counter and slapped it onto the table.

"Seven Soul Masters have already gone missing on the outskirts of the Ancient Vine Forest."

"If you want to go there and get yourself killed, go ahead. Just don't bring trouble back here."

Li Zhexian picked up the notice.

A line was written on it in red.

Outside Sunset City, seven Soul Masters have already gone missing near the Ancient Vine Forest.

"The Ancient Vine Forest?"

Jin Ling looked at the notice, her expression growing a little more serious.

The shopkeeper lowered his voice.

"The vines there can wrap around people on their own."

"After some people went in, they didn't even leave their shoes behind."

Li Zhexian folded the notice and put it in his cloth bag.

"From the sound of it, it's very good at hitting people."

The shopkeeper reached out and grabbed his wrist.

"Are you really going there?"

"I'm going to look for something that can fight."

The shopkeeper let go and cursed.

"Madman."

Li Zhexian pushed the door open and walked out of the tavern.

"Shopkeeper, put the drinks on Huo Shan's tab."

The shopkeeper chased him to the door.

"Just make it back from there alive first!"