Inside the main hall of the Ku Hai lineage's temporary stronghold, three men faced one another coldly across a round table: the bald, dragon-tattooed brute, Blood Dust of the Blood Shadow, and Shi Fayuan, sect master of Ku Hai. The air had frozen over, as though an argument had just taken place.
Beneath the orange-yellow lamplight below, the bald monk who had just returned from the small village knelt prostrate on the ground, his monk's robes damp.
His round, gleaming head pressed against the stone floor. His face was miserable, pale as though powdered with rouge, and he trembled like a leaf, bearing none of the executioner's air others knew him for.
Beyond one mountain rose another; no matter how fierce a man was, there was always someone fiercer. Before Dao Qianqiu, he could not keep his backbone straight, and now that three Heavenly Men stood before him, he shrank even smaller than a quail.
"Dao Qianqiu's advancement into the Heavenly Man Realm was indeed unexpected. But what surprised me even more was that he did not make a move to avenge Eight Leaves. What do you two think?"
According to the intelligence in their hands, Eight Leaves and Dao Qianqiu had shared a deep friendship, a bond forged through life and death. Now that Xiang Yang had slain Eight Leaves, Dao Qianqiu had remained utterly unmoved, continuing his seclusion without emerging. This disrupted their scheme to sit atop the mountain and watch tigers fight, then reap the fisherman's profit.
"Beyond reason, yet within expectations. I have studied this man. At the height of his power, he had nearly dominated Kang Province's saber masters. Had he raised his arm and called out, it would have been perfectly natural for him to establish a force twice the size of today's Blade