The Tribulation of Fate

The sword wind howled.

Yellow sand wrapped around severed limbs and carried them away.

Gu Qingshan sheathed his sword and said to the tree radiating an emerald green glow, "Sorry for making a mess of your place."

The tree hummed, "No problem, no problem. It's nothing."

Gu Qingshan smiled. "I'll be going, then."

"Mm, see you. Come visit again sometime."

"Sure. Goodbye."

Gu Qingshan rose into the air once more.

He got his bearings and flew toward the black market.

This time, he didn't run into anyone else. Before long, he had flown out of the peaceful territory sheltered by the tree and disappeared into the rolling sandstorm.

After he left.

A little black scorpion leaped out of the desert and chittered at the tree in front of it.

—It was the same little scorpion that had secretly watched Gu Qingshan while he rested earlier.

The tree swayed nimbly from side to side a few times and said, "Forget it."

The little black scorpion chittered a few more times, puzzled.

"Ah, don't ask. He was very polite, and I like polite people."

The little black scorpion chittered twice in protest.

The tree patiently explained, "That's not all. He's also the first human I've seen who's so skilled at two different professions. Someone like that is rare, and he must be hiding an astonishing secret. We'd better not provoke that kind of trouble lightly."

As they spoke, a pile of corpses slowly emerged from the sand.

They were the dozen or so people Gu Qingshan had just killed.

Along with the corpses, there was also a gourd of Spiritual Spring.

"This should be enough for dinner, more or less. There's also a gourd of spiritual water he gave us. What do you think?" said the tree.

The little black scorpion looked