Shen Bai listened outside the door. Upon hearing the words "Five Hearts Sect," he gripped the iron sword at his waist.
"Five Hearts Sect again."
This force was connected to Old Master Qian, yet the authorities had been unable to uncover any background on it. It was exceedingly mysterious.
More importantly, this woman seemed to be investigating something related to the Five Hearts Sect.
When he had encountered her at the Qian residence last night, she had definitely been investigating.
A rough outline formed in Shen Bai's mind, and he decided to keep listening.
The woman said nothing, nor did the little girl. Instead, a weak middle-aged man's voice rang out.
"Five Hearts Facing Heaven, free and unfettered! Let me go, or the Sect Master will kill you all!"
Though the voice was weak, Shen Bai could hear something unusual within it.
Hatred, madness, and a bone-deep hysteria.
Shen Bai narrowed his eyes. "A member of the Five Hearts Sect."
At that moment, the woman spoke again.
"Five Hearts Facing Heaven was originally a proper cultivation method, but your Sect Master has turned yin and yang upside down. What he taught you was nothing more than the Anti-Five Hearts Method."
"The more you cultivate it, the madder you become. You separate your head and limbs from your body. Growing limbs is still manageable—they will not die after leaving the body. But if you grow a head, you die on the spot."
"If you want to live, obey me."
There was a trace of disgust in the woman's voice.
The man's voice came again.
"Five Hearts Facing Heaven! The Sect Master will not hurt us. He is leading us toward freedom! Die, die, die, die!"
The moment that voice sounded, Shen Bai heard the sounds of fighting.
That weak man seemed to have broken free of his restraints and begun fighting the woman.
A thunderous crash rang out from time to time.
This place was remote, with hardly anyone around. Otherwise, a crowd would have already gathered by now.
Shen Bai stroked his chin, considering whether he should turn around and leave first.
"You actually cultivated a second heart!"
Just then, he heard the sound of wind rushing closer, as if something were approaching the doorway.
Shen Bai reacted with lightning speed. Air currents covered his legs as he retreated at top speed.
At the instant he withdrew, the door burst open from within.
A beautiful woman with no powder on her face slammed back-first into the door and flew out.
The woman wore goose-yellow robes and held a pair of short spikes in both hands. After landing, she rolled three times, blood spilling from the corner of her mouth.
Blood was seeping from her abdomen.
"I was careless. You cultivated two hands!"
"Y-you... who are you?"
As she spoke, the woman in yellow finally noticed Shen Bai, surprise written across her face.
She could not understand it. She had chosen such a remote place—how could someone still happen to pass by?
Shen Bai pondered for a moment, then said very seriously, "Just a passing citizen."
The woman in yellow clearly did not believe him.
But there was no time for further words. Footsteps sounded from inside the house.
Shen Bai turned to look and found the sight before him deeply horrifying.
A thin, weak man walked out of the house. His hands had already separated from his shoulders and floated in midair.
Beyond that, one of the man's pupils pointed left while the other pointed right, giving him the look of a mad, deranged fool.
One of the arms held the little girl who had bought medicine by her hair.
The little girl winced in pain, yet she still said, "Father, I'm Yaya. Don't you recognize me?"
"Yaya?"
The thin man's mouth twisted and his eyes slanted as he shook his right hand. "To seek freedom, cut away the roots of all affliction."
The other hand floating in midair curved around and smashed toward Yaya's head.
Seeing this, the woman in yellow charged forward with her short spikes in hand.
But before she had taken more than a few steps, blood suddenly sprayed from the wound in her abdomen. Pain slowed her steps considerably.
All she could do was watch that hand draw closer to Yaya, a trace of unwillingness and despair appearing in her eyes.
At that moment, a Rusty Longsword appeared between them.
Clang!
The clash of metal rang out.
The longsword collided with the arm, throwing off a shower of violent sparks.
Shen Bai felt a tremendous force strike him and was slightly surprised. "What incredible strength."
The woman in yellow looked at him, then at the Rusty Longsword. It felt strangely familiar to her.
After looking again and again, she recalled what had happened last night, and delight appeared on her face.
"It's you—the expert from last night!"
An expert? Me?
Shen Bai was full of question marks.
He did not think he counted as an expert. After all, he had only been involved in this circle for a short time.
But now was not the time to discuss that.
Seeing Shen Bai block him, the thin man actually released the little girl and attacked Shen Bai instead.
With his hands separated, one hand reached for Shen Bai's iron sword while the other hammered toward Shen Bai's chest.
Shen Bai used Blood Sword Dance, the blood and qi within his body surging without end.
As his blood and qi surged, a vast, righteous aura appeared upon Shen Bai's iron sword.
Clang!
This clash sounded vastly different.
The longsword sliced one arm in two. The arm fell to the ground, twitched twice, then turned into black smoke and vanished.
At that moment, the other arm had already reached Shen Bai's chest.
Because the two arms had separated, distance posed no restriction at all. It was as though Shen Bai were being attacked by two people at once.
Now, Shen Bai had nowhere to evade.
His longsword had just swung out and needed time to turn back.
Seeing this, the woman in yellow endured the pain and raised her short spikes.
Last night, this expert had been investigating the Qian residence. At the time, the woman in yellow had never seen sword moves so fierce and sharp, and in her alarm, she had fled at once.
But in this situation, if Shen Bai were struck by that arm, hard as metal, the woman in yellow feared he would die right there.
Her abdomen was wounded, and the pain was unbearable, yet she wanted to block it somehow, at least to seize a sliver of hope.
Because in the woman in yellow's eyes, Shen Bai seemed to have no room at all to turn the situation around.
Just then, the woman in yellow saw Shen Bai raise his left hand.
A layer of golden light emerged over that hand, shrouding his fist.
From within the golden light came waves of Buddha's Voice, as though a Buddha had descended into the world.
There was also a chilling killing intent, like Vajra Subduing Demons.
This punch landed on the thin man's arm.
Cracks spread inch by inch across the arm. Under the assault of golden light, it exploded with a thunderous bang.
Black smoke rose, and this arm vanished as well.
With both arms gone, the thin man let out a scream. His eyes rolled back, and he collapsed to the ground, falling unconscious in an instant.
Shen Bai turned his head and looked at the woman in yellow beside him.
The woman in yellow was stunned.
In her eyes, Shen Bai held a longsword in his right hand and clenched his left into a fist.
The longsword bore a vast, righteous aura, while the fist glowed with waves of Buddhist light.
Righteous aura and Buddhist light intertwined, along with waves of illusory yet chilling killing force that continually flowed over Shen Bai's body.
His scorching blood-and-qi power pressed toward her like a mountain.
The woman in yellow felt that she would never forget this sight for the rest of her life.
Only one thought remained in her heart.
"In such a tiny Ascending Cloud County, there was actually an expert like this?"
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