Already Dead!

A punch shatters the firmament!

White light flashed in the courtyard, instantly turning the dark world into daylight.

The dark mist was broken, and black fog scattered everywhere.

A gentle breeze blew, and bright sunlight shone in.

Li Mu Yang could see the cracks in the corner of the bluestone wall, the bloodstains on the door, the ruined garden, and his father, mother, and sister lying behind him.

He could hear the sounds of traffic outside, and people shouting about candied hawthorn—

It was as if he had returned to the human world from hell. The world before him had color, and his ears heard life.

The luck of escaping death made him feel exceptionally happy.

The Blood Crows that Li Mu Yang had sent flying with a punch felt danger and flapped their wings, fleeing towards the Void Gate.

More Blood Crows were a step too late because, as the Crow's body heavily crashed to the ground, the Void Gate disappeared and closed.

The Crow was too severely injured; the True Qi within its body could no longer sustain the existence of the Void Gate.

The Blood Crows that couldn't escape were in a panic, flying in tighter circles in the courtyard, then burrowing towards the Crow lying on the ground—

Only there could they feel the familiar dark aura.

They disliked the daytime, disliked the light. If they didn't escape soon, they would soon be melted and scorched by the increasingly powerful sun.

They didn't want to become roasted crows with crispy skin and tender meat!

The Crow's body slammed against the stone wall of the courtyard again, and it lay there, vomiting blood.

Its internal lungs were severely injured, and it no longer had the strength to stand.

The carrion Blood Crows flew towards it. Its expression was terrified, its pupils wide, and it wanted to raise its hand to drive them away.

Unfortunately, its arm had no strength left.

"Li Mu Yang, save me— Li Mu Yang, hurry and save me, help me drive them away—" The Crow cried out to Li Mu Yang for help.

Li Mu Yang glared with bloodshot eyes, panting heavily.

A Blood Crow lunged forward and tore a piece of flesh from the Crow's face.

"Ah—" The Crow cried out in pain and shouted, "Li Mu Yang, kill me. Hurry and kill me."

Li Mu Yang stood still, as if he hadn't heard the Crow's miserable cries.

Seeing a companion's mouth, the other Blood Crows became even more frenzied.

They lunged at the Crow's face, chest, arms, and thighs, extending their sharp claws and opening their sharp beaks, tearing off pieces of flesh and eating them.

"Ahhhhh—" The Crow was in unbearable pain, rolling on the ground, trying to drive away the Blood Crows.

But as he rolled over, he exposed his back. The Blood Crows were experienced; their claws swiped a few times, tearing the clothes on his back to shreds, then using their slender beaks to tear at the flesh on his back.

"Li Mu Yang, kill me— Please kill me—"

For the first time, regret appeared in the Crow's mouth!

This was truly a contradictory feeling. After recovering from his injuries, he had been eager to come and retaliate against the troublesome Li Mu Yang. But at this moment, he wished he had never come. He wished he hadn't jumped into this small courtyard, hadn't found Li Mu Yang to retaliate against.

"You deserve to die," Li Mu Yang said fiercely.

He hated this killer to the extreme and naturally wouldn't save him or kill him.

He rather hoped that those carrion crows would tear off his flesh piece by piece and drink all his blood dry. Leaving not even a single bone, just as he had threatened him earlier.

He wanted him to personally taste every kind of torture.

"Li Mu Yang, who exactly are you? What kind of monster are you?" The Crow roared fiercely. He couldn't die in peace without clarifying this.

Li Mu Yang sneered and walked towards the Crow step by step.

The Blood Crows were terrified of Li Mu Yang. Seeing him approach, they quickly flapped their wings and flew away.

Li Mu Yang looked down at the Crow and asked, "Do you really want to know?"

"Tell me," The Crow looked at Li Mu Yang with pleading eyes and said, "Li Mu Yang, tell me quickly. Otherwise, I will not rest in peace even in death."

A famous killer on the assassin rankings, yet defeated by an unknown youth. Such a result—no, such humiliation was unbearable for him.

"I am—"

"What are you?" The Crow asked.

"I won't tell you," Li Mu Yang said with a cold smile, his face covered in blood. "The more you want to know, the less I will tell you. I want you to die with regret, I want you to die unwillingly—"

"Li Mu Yang—" The Crow's eyes widened, and blood seemed to seep from his pupils.

He hadn't expected this young man to be so ruthless, to have such a venomous heart.

Was this kid also from their academy? Even in a place as cold and ruthless as the Killer Academy, someone with this disposition could become a leader, a 'King of Killers' that the school would be ashamed of.

Li Mu Yang turned around and walked towards where his parents and sister were.

He wanted to check on their condition, to see if their bodies had suffered serious injuries.

This was the matter he cared about most.

As Li Mu Yang turned to leave, the Blood Crows that had been scattering around the courtyard lunged at Crow again.

One Blood Crow went to peck at Crow's eyes, and Crow quickly reached out to block it.

Countless Blood Crows then landed on his arm, tearing off and devouring chunks of flesh from his limb in moments.

Crow extended his bloody arm to shoo away the Blood Crows, but they then went for his face, his chin—

"Chomp—"

One Blood Crow, catching him off guard, pecked out one of his eyeballs.

"Ah—ah—"

Crow's struggles grew weaker and weaker, his resistance more and more feeble.

Crow was instantly overwhelmed by the swarm of Blood Crows.

When the Blood Crows flew away in a flurry of wings, the killer Crow had vanished without a trace.

Just as he himself had said, not even a bone was left behind.

As if he had never been there at all.

Snap—

The crossbar of the courtyard gate was hooked open.

A man with a hearty voice said in a low tone, "Young Master, the gate's been pried open. My brother here used to be a renowned thief in Jiangnan City; there wasn't a door in all of Jiangnan City he couldn't get into—"

"He can open my house's locks too?" the Young Master asked.

"Of course—" The hearty voice paused for a moment. "Impossible. What kind of family do you have, Young Master? A prominent household, not only guarded by iron locks but also by Star-level experts. You think a nobody like him could get into your house? He'd probably be discovered three thousand miles away and swatted dead with a single palm—"

"How many miles is all of Jiangnan City? Li Da Lu, can you use your brain when you talk? Even flattery requires intelligence," the Young Master said, extremely displeased.

"Yes, yes, yes. You're right, Young Master. I'll work hard and improve from now on. I'll definitely deliver flattery that satisfies you— Here, Young Master, please go first."

As they spoke, the courtyard gate was pushed open.

Yan Xiangma entered, fanning himself. The moment his left foot crossed the threshold, he met Li Mu Yang's blood-red eyes.

"Li Mu Yang?"

Yan Xiangma turned and smacked Li Da Lu on the head with his fan, cursing, "You useless piece of trash! Didn't you say your brother could open doors and pick locks without a trace? Look at the courtyard—"

Yan Xiangma's words trailed off as he smelled the strong scent of blood.

"Close the gate," Yan Xiangma said.

"Yes, Young Master—"

Li Da Lu, followed by a group of subordinates, entered behind Yan Xiangma and prepared to close the gate.

"Get out," Yan Xiangma said.

"Yes, Young Master— Young Master, who should get out?"

"All of you, get out," Yan Xiangma said.

"Young Master, let us stay with you. This courtyard is a bit eerie—" Li Da Lu sensed danger and stepped forward, positioning himself in front of Yan Xiangma, his eyes warily fixed on Li Mu Yang.

"Get out," Yan Xiangma said again.

"Yes, yes, yes, we're leaving now—" Li Da Lu bowed, retreated, pulled the gate open again, and fled the courtyard with his subordinates in a sorry state.

Yan Xiangma looked at Li Mu Yang, and Li Mu Yang stared back at Yan Xiangma.

"I originally intended to kidnap you," Yan Xiangma said.

Li Mu Yang didn't answer, merely glaring fiercely at Yan Xiangma.

The hostility was hard to quell, the blood hard to calm.

He didn't know Yan Xiangma's intention, nor did he even understand Yan Xiangma's relationship with the killer from before— If that killer had been sent by Yan Xiangma, then he was prepared to leave all these people here today, to fight to the death.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Yan Xiangma 'slapped' his Dragon Spine Fan shut and asked, "What do you want?"

"What are you doing here?" Li Mu Yang asked icily.

"Didn't I just say? I was going to kidnap you—" Yan Xiangma said, incredibly frankly.

"Just as I guessed," Li Mu Yang's eyes were cold as he walked step by step towards Yan Xiangma.

"Hey, Li Mu Yang, don't do anything rash. Let's talk things out properly. Don't get handsy—" Seeing Li Mu Yang's blood-red eyes, Yan Xiangma began to feel uneasy and asked, "You're not planning to kidnap me, are you?"

"You deserve to die—" Li Mu Yang said. "All of you deserve to die—"

All bad people who want to harm his family deserve to die!

"Why do we deserve to die? I just wanted to kidnap you. Why do I deserve to die for that?" Yan Xiangma felt very wronged. "Hmm, you mean someone else came to kidnap you?"

His gaze swept over the bloodstains behind Li Mu Yang and the scattered corpses of Blood Crows, his expression horrified. He exclaimed, "Crow was here?"

"He was," Li Mu Yang said, staring into Yan Xiangma's eyes, trying to discern his relationship with Crow.

"Where is he?" Yan Xiangma 'chack'ed his fan open, concentrating, adopting a stance ready for a life-or-death struggle. Facing a master like Crow, no amount of vigilance was too much. "I searched high and low, and now I've found him effortlessly. If he dares to attack my Yan family's kin, he'd better prepare to pay a heavy price— Crow, stop hiding like a coward and come out to face your death."

"He's already dead," Li Mu Yang said.

"—"