Fang Qiuyue, Death!

Whoosh!

His vision suddenly changed, and a red box appeared in his mind, flashing madly.

[Detected a repairable fatal injury. Spend 5 Energy Points to repair it?]

After flashing several times with a clanging rhythm.

The red box abruptly changed.

[Detected a repairable fatal injury. Spend 6 Energy Points to repair it?]

Repair it?

Zhang Lingshan's heart tensed to the extreme.

Those two had not left yet. If he repaired himself immediately and they noticed something strange, he would still be doomed.

He could only wait in silence.

Fortunately, urged by Fang Qiuyue, the two did not delay and immediately pushed open the door.

Creak.

He heard Li Ziming casually close the door behind them. "In case he really turns into an Evil Spirit, we can't let the family of three next door get an easy bargain. Heh heh."

As soon as he finished speaking.

The two vaulted over the wall with a pair of whooshes and vanished from the courtyard.

Only when he could no longer hear a single sound did Zhang Lingshan roar inwardly, Repair!

Hiss, hiss, hiss.

The sound of a little snake flicking its tongue came from inside his body. It was as though the blood vessels and muscles around his heart were invisibly growing beneath the replenishment of energy, filling in the hole pierced through by the Steel Nail.

A moment later.

Zhang Lingshan finally caught his breath. He slowly climbed to his feet and moved his limbs, finding no sluggishness in his body. He was still brimming with vigor.

If not for the pool of blood on his clothes and the floor, as well as the ten Energy Points missing from the Panel, he would have wondered whether it had all been an illusion.

When I tested the Medicinal Ingredients before, I discovered that the Panel could warn me about poisoning. Now it can actually bring the dead back to life. I'll need to save more energy in the future, in case of emergencies.

Zhang Lingshan pondered in secret.

He noticed that the Panel's prompt had said, "Detected a repairable fatal injury." In other words, there were fatal injuries that could not be repaired.

For example, having his head cut off outright, his heart crushed, or being hacked into ten thousand pieces?

Even if such situations could be repaired, the Energy Points required would probably be an astronomical number.

So, relying on Energy Points to repair himself while courting death was not an option. He still had to cultivate steadily and keep a low profile. He absolutely could not provoke experts he could not contend against.

Like those two madmen who had appeared out of nowhere today.

In their hands, Zhang Lingshan had deeply felt his own powerlessness.

He had thought that after breaking through Stone Skin, he had gained a measure of strength and achieved some standing at Feng Family Pharmacy and Hong Clan Martial Hall, with people currying favor with him.

But in truth, in the eyes of real experts, he was not even worth a fart.

What do I do now? If those two come back later, I'll still have to die. But going out at night is just as dangerous...

For a moment, Zhang Lingshan did not know what to do.

Weak as he was, he was trapped here, unable to advance or retreat.

Suddenly.

A shrill whistle sounded in the night sky.

Then sharp shouts, blows, and the whistling of arrows through the air rang out without end.

"Ha ha ha! Just a few sick cats and mongrels, and you think you can ambush your Grandpa Ming? Xiaoyue, stop them for me!"

Li Ziming's laughter came from afar, its echoes growing more distant until they vanished completely.

Zhang Lingshan's spirits lifted.

Sure enough, it took villains to grind down villains; beyond one mountain lay another mountain!

Though that dead-faced man was formidable, he had still been frightened away by the hidden expert inside the Zhao Family Residence on Qinghe Road.

The other woman, Xiaoyue, was weaker than the dead-faced man and had even been abandoned by him. She was surely dead.

He no longer had to worry about the two returning here.

At last, he let out a breath of relief.

But before Zhang Lingshan could fully relax, voices came from nearby. "Yamen Runner, where did that woman hide? Should we search room by room until we find her?"

"No need. A nameless nobody who took my Fire Poison is bound to die. There's no need to waste our energy. Follow me after Li Ziming. If we can capture him alive, it will be a great merit!"

"Yes!"

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.

The few people left in an instant, and silence returned to the area.

But suddenly.

Zhang Lingshan heard a thump from the courtyard.

Someone came?

His heart was filled with shock.

Who would run into his courtyard in the middle of such a dangerous night?

Ordinary people did not even dare step outside after dark.

Could it be...

The muscles throughout Zhang Lingshan's body immediately tensed. He thought of the words "Fire Poison" that the Yamen Runner had mentioned earlier.

He did not have Fire Poison.

But his Primal Chaos Righteous Yang Posture possessed Fire Momentum, which should be able to have some effect as well.

So he immediately held his breath and focused, hiding behind the door. He drew his dagger and assumed the Embracing Yang Posture.

His left hand was raised, poised to cover someone's mouth.

His right hand was lowered, poised to slash a throat.

At this moment, Zhang Lingshan knew it had reached the most crucial point. He was tense to the utmost, yet calm to the utmost as well.

He waited with his full attention for the other person to enter the room.

Creak.

The door was gently pushed open.

A slender figure staggered into the room and fell right into Zhang Lingshan's arms.

Without a word, Zhang Lingshan clamped his left hand over the other person's mouth and crazily stabbed his dagger at her throat with his right.

Squelch!

Squelch!

Blood flowed like a river.

At first, it was merely a stream. Then it sprayed outward in splashes, even sending shredded flesh from her throat flying.

"Mmgh, mmgh, mmgh..."

Muffled sounds came from Fang Qiuyue's mouth. She struggled desperately, but could not utter a single word, and her body gradually lost its strength.

Her heart was shaken to the extreme!

Who was hiding here to ambush her? How had he known she would come?

She had clearly calculated everything. As long as she returned to this room, she could abandon this crippled body poisoned by Fire Poison and attach herself to that kid's corpse, thereby deceiving heaven and crossing the sea to escape alive.

As long as she escaped, she could find a chance to discard this stinking man's shell and return to her female body.

But...

Clear moonlight streamed through the wide-open door, shining distinctly upon Zhang Lingshan's face.

"You... you!"

Fang Qiuyue collapsed to the ground. At last, on the verge of death, she saw the ambusher's face. Her eyes instantly widened, and her face filled with disbelief.

No matter how hard she tried, she could not understand how this trash, whom she had clearly killed, had suddenly come back to life.

Had he become an Evil Spirit?

But if he were an Evil Spirit, he should not have had a physical body.

Yet when he had seized her just now, Fire Poison power had still radiated from his body, leaving her weak and limp all over, unable to move or even leave her body.

Could this kid also be an errand runner of Fengdu? Had he gone through all that just to wait for Fang Qiuyue to walk into his trap?

No.

If he were one of Fengdu's lackeys, Li Ziming could not possibly have failed to notice.

But how could a mere mortal martial artist kill me, the great Netherworld Supreme!?

Unwilling.

Fang Qiuyue stared with wide-open eyes, dying without closing them. Until the very end, she refused to believe that her life would end in such a way.

Zhang Lingshan watched her quietly.

This time, he did not tremble with the soul-shaking fear he had felt when he first killed the thug Li Hu.

Nor was he utterly exhausted as he had been after fighting the Demon Rabbit.

On the contrary!

He felt power filling his entire body, and even wanted to stab Fang Qiuyue twice more.

Damn it.

Weren't you so impressive? With one casual Steel Nail, you killed me.

I'll cut off your head now. No matter how many tricks you have, let's see how you use them.

Just as Zhang Lingshan was preparing to hack her corpse into ten thousand pieces to eliminate all future trouble.

A gust of eerie wind suddenly swept in from behind him.

"Heh heh, Zhang Lingshan, you've finally come back. Uncle Fu has waited for you far too long..."

"What do you want? Can't you see I'm killing someone!"

Zhang Lingshan suddenly turned, raising the Fire Momentum of his Primal Chaos Righteous Yang Posture.

His blood-soaked face was incomparably savage, like a baleful god.

Li Fu froze at once. He had not expected Zhang Lingshan to be fiercer than he was. With a terrified shriek, he shot out the door like a mouse spotting a cat.

Bang!

Zhang Lingshan rushed forward and shut the door.

He was not afraid of a coward like Li Fu. What he feared was attracting other things.

That's right.

Seeing himself covered in blood and filth, Zhang Lingshan suddenly had an idea.

He carefully searched Fang Qiuyue and put away all her belongings, then stripped off all his bloodstained clothes.

He then vaulted over the wall and slipped into Li Fu's home.

"Y-you, you, what do you want?"

Li Fu's family of three huddled in a corner, their faces full of terror.

Regret gnawed at Li Fu's heart. What madness had possessed him to provoke this vicious fiend?

Had he known Zhang Lingshan hid such a face, he should have cursed the Three Rivers Gambling House instead.