Running into Trouble

Madara did not look back as he strode out of the armor shop.

He knew no one would come after him, because no one dared.

Having obtained his second spirit ring as well as the Battle Armor from his previous life, Madara had enjoyed a double blessing and was in exceptionally high spirits.

So he walked down the street, taking in the scenery along the roadside.

Yet it seemed even the heavens did not want peace around Madara. One incident after another came knocking.

A young man in sunglasses strolled along lazily, carrying a cage in his hand. Inside was a red, furry pet curled into a ball, making it impossible to tell what it was.

The young man appeared to be merely out for a walk, moving slowly and leisurely, but beneath his sunglasses, his eyes kept darting about.

When he spotted Madara wandering around, a gleam flashed through his eyes. Then, without drawing attention, he sidled closer.

Before long, he was inches away from Madara. The young man suddenly slammed into him as though he had failed to see him by accident.

"I'm so sorry, so sorry!" The man in sunglasses adjusted his shades and repeatedly apologized to Madara.

"Hand it over!" Madara's gaze turned cold as one hand tightly gripped the man's wrist. He barked icily.

The man in sunglasses looked startled on the surface and feigned ignorance. "I don't understand what you're talking about."

He was truly courting death!

Madara's frigid gaze fell upon him, making the man in sunglasses stiffen all over.

"Hey, hey, hey! What are you doing?" Several obvious accomplices surrounded them, intending to pressure Madara with their numbers.

This place was a chaotic mix of all sorts of people. In the past, the group had formed a gang and stolen valuables from people nearby. Whenever they got caught, they would swarm their target and force them to swallow their anger.

But Madara was no soft touch. They had badly misjudged his strength.

The others surrounded Madara and even began shoving him.

But no matter how hard they pushed, Madara remained as immovable as an ancient pine.

Madara found these little insects unbearably annoying, so he suddenly released his Soul Power and Chakra.

The men were caught completely off guard and were all sent flying. They crashed to the ground like rag dolls and could not get up for a long while.

Only the man in sunglasses, whose arm Madara still held, could barely remain standing.

"Grandpa! I was wrong!" The man in sunglasses realized that his group had kicked an iron plate. His legs immediately gave out, and he dropped to his knees to beg for mercy, not even caring that his sunglasses had fallen to the ground.

Madara brushed at his clothes in disgust, as though they had been contaminated by something filthy. Those people had dirtied his clothes just now.

No matter where he went, there were always pieces of trash that could not dance yet insisted on coming out to be an eyesore.

Madara lowered his head and looked down at the man in sunglasses, who kept kowtowing and begging for mercy. His indifferent gaze made the man shudder with fear.

Madara searched him and retrieved his Gold Soul Coins, then began dealing with this piece of trash.

Madara delivered a vicious kick. Like a kite with its string cut, the man in sunglasses flew away coughing blood, slammed hard into the entrance of a shop, and lay there motionless, his fate unknown.

"Yip! Yip! Yip!" The cage the man in sunglasses had dropped rolled to Madara's feet. After Madara stopped it with his foot, the little creature inside began crying out loudly.

Madara had not inspected it closely before, but now he finally saw what was inside the cage.

It was a fiery red fox. More remarkably, it had nine tails and looked exceptionally adorable.

Others might have been fooled by the little fox's cuteness, but the cunning that occasionally leaked from its eyes did not escape Madara's sharp gaze.

"Interesting!" Madara lifted the cage and teased the little creature.

For some reason, the more Madara stared at it, the more familiar it seemed, as if he were looking at a certain giant fox from his previous life.

"Quick, quick, quick! It's right up ahead!" A burst of noisy shouting came from the distance.

Hearing the voices, the men Madara had beaten up sprang from the ground like mice spotting a cat and fled without looking back.

Madara did not stop them. Killing trash like that would only dirty his hands.

A thin Soul Master with a bare upper body saw the cage in Madara's hand. Without another word, he swung a massive hammer utterly disproportionate to his body as he charged forward, shouting, "Thief! I'll show you what Pan Chui can do!"

Madara frowned slightly and leaped back, easily evading the hammer of the two-ring Soul Grandmaster named Pan Chui.

Then Madara lightly tapped the hammer embedded in the ground with the tip of his foot and lowered his body slightly.

Pan Chui had not expected Madara to evade his attack so easily. He hurriedly tried to pull his hammer back, only to find that no matter how hard he tugged, it would not move.

"Martial Soul Release! Martial Soul Possession!" Pan Chui was not entirely stupid. He immediately dismissed his restrained Martial Soul, retreated several steps, and summoned it again.

"Take this!" Pan Chui's First Spirit Ring flashed. He had clearly used a skill and intended to kill Madara.

Even a clay statue had some temper, much less Madara, who was known as Asura.

No one would be in a good mood after being attacked with a barrage of hammers for no reason.

"Power Strike!" Pan Chui roared. The massive hammer in his hand suddenly doubled in size, looking immensely imposing.

But would that really help?

Madara drew out his scythe with one hand and, before Pan Chui's disbelieving eyes, casually blocked the attack.

Taking a beating without fighting back was not Madara's style!

Madara raised an eyebrow as the strength in his hand gradually increased, lifting the massive hammer bit by bit.

"My turn!" Madara raised his foot and kicked Pan Chui in the stomach, sending him flying.

Pan Chui had never expected someone who had not even revealed his Martial Soul to possess such overwhelming strength.

After all, Pan Chui was a Soul Master. He was not as frail as the man in sunglasses and still managed to climb to his feet, though he was covered in dust and looked miserable.

Pan Chui roared and was about to charge at Madara for a one-on-one fight, but a shout from behind stopped him.

"Hammer! Stop!" A huge, rough hand covered in thick calluses pressed down on Pan Chui's shoulder, bringing him to an immediate halt.

Pan Chui turned around, wanting to see who had the nerve to stop him, only to discover a tall, heavily muscled, bearded middle-aged man standing behind him. He immediately exclaimed in delight, "Captain! You finally came!"

All of Pan Chui's earlier viciousness vanished upon seeing the bearded man. Instead, he became like a bullied child complaining to a parent. "It was him! Look, he still has that stolen fox in his hands!"

Unexpectedly, the bearded man glared at him fiercely with eyes as large as bells, then slapped him hard on the head with a palm the size of a fan and shouted, "What are you yelling for? Get back there, now!"

"Okay..." Pan Chui rubbed his head in grievance and followed behind the bearded man with his head lowered.

The bearded man laughed heartily, extended his hand, and greeted him warmly. "Brother, what should I call you?"