Villain

The four people inside the room sized Li ChunJun up without restraint.

Hua Xiong didn't say much.

After bringing Li ChunJun into the room and telling him to wait for further arrangements, he turned and left.

As soon as Hua Xiong was gone and the door shut, the four people inside exchanged glances.

After a long moment, a man in his thirties whose muscles showed even through his shirt spoke first. "So this little brat is the reason we had to wait around for hours?"

Li ChunJun glanced at the four of them.

The man who'd spoken seemed fairly normal.

The other three were still wearing prison clothes.

Red Pillar Prison.

The most tightly guarded prison in Xuan Province, where the most vicious criminals were held.

You had to have killed at least one person or started one or two fires just to qualify for a cell.

The moment Li ChunJun's gaze fell on him, one of the men seemed to notice.

He was a burly man over six feet three, weighing more than two hundred pounds. He looked back at Li ChunJun.

Just one glance, and he embodied the words "ruthless killer" to perfection.

In the past, meeting that gaze would have left him trembling with fear, quickly looking away.

But now, he didn't.

That physique...

He looked incredibly imposing.

Was he at Internal-External Unity, had he opened all Hundred Meridians, or was he Circulating Energy Through the Heavens?

Hopefully, it was Circulating Energy Through the Heavens.

A Unity martial master!

And a Unity martial master with serious crimes to his name, someone he could kill without the slightest pang of conscience. How rare was that?

He needed time!

These people...

They were his time!

That was why he'd quietly followed Ling Feng to Ascend Peak Tower.

"You've got guts."

Watching Li ChunJun dare to meet his gaze, the burly man spoke in a low voice.

He rose to his feet, his massive frame towering over the room.

As he stood upright, Li ChunJun realized he was probably close to six feet seven.

His weight was likely closer to three hundred pounds, too.

"Sen Ge, this kid's mouthing off to you."

A man beside him wore gold-rimmed glasses and looked like a refined scholar. He seemed eager to stir up trouble.

"Glasses, you trying to provoke me?"

The burly man called Sen Ge tilted his head slightly.

"No."

Feeling the man's intimidating Killing Intent, Glasses shrugged. "We're all in the same boat. No need to get so worked up. I'm just here to watch."

"Then get out of the way."

Sen Ge snapped coldly.

"Everyone, settle down."

At that moment, the man sitting to one side, with long hair and a height of barely five foot nine, spoke up. "Save your strength for fighting those beasts."

"Right, right. Peace brings prosperity."

The man with glasses chuckled.

The man in the shirt who'd spoken first couldn't help but sneer. "Peace brings prosperity? Stop pretending to be some white lotus. Who in this room doesn't have blood on their hands?"

He pointed at the man with glasses. "Lifeless Blade Tan Li, professional hitman in the underground world! You kill anyone as long as they pay. You've got more lives on your hands than you can count on both hands, don't you?"

Then he turned to the other two. "Titan Vincent, Iron Blood Society's number-one enforcer! From Unity martial masters to children and women, you tore apart anyone who opposed the Iron Blood Society without even blinking. Scum."

Vincent rolled his neck, shifted his gaze, and stared at him menacingly.

But the man in the shirt didn't even bother with him. Instead, he turned to the long-haired man. "You, though, I don't recognize. What should I call you?"

"Before asking someone else, shouldn't you introduce yourself first?"

The long-haired man remained calm.

"I never hide my name. Xu ZhengYi."

The man in the shirt raised his chin.

At the sound of that name, the atmosphere in the room shifted.

"Skull Splitter Xu ZhengYi?!"

Tan Li, a professional hitman himself, blurted out in shock.

This was a true madman.

He'd killed his own master for seeing through his wicked nature, all for the sake of training in martial arts. After that, he'd gone on to challenge every expert in Mingzhou City.

He never held back when he fought.

In just a few months, he'd beaten over a dozen martial artists and martial masters to death.

Though the number of his victims didn't match Vincent's, their caliber was on a completely different level.

And now even this dangerous man had been arrested?

Wait!

Tan Li realized something and blurted, "You chose to come to Ascend Peak Tower yourself? You want to kill people and fight here?"

"Hahaha! I only hope the people at Ascend Peak Tower aren't complete pushovers. Otherwise, the sound of crushing their skulls might not be crisp enough."

Xu ZhengYi burst out laughing.

There was a touch of madness in his laughter. Even Tan Li—and even Vincent, a man who'd killed countless people—looked grave.

The laughter went on for a while, then stopped abruptly in a strange way.

As if nothing had happened, Xu ZhengYi looked at the long-haired man. "So, what about you? Who are you?"

The man was silent for a moment. "Du Kang."

At that name, not only Tan Li and Vincent but even the erratic Xu ZhengYi narrowed his eyes.

"Du Kang, the man who wiped out everyone at Heaven Sword Martial Hall?!"

Tan Li was astonished.

"A big shot!"

"The Heaven Sword Martial Hall massacre ten years ago... One hundred and three people, slaughtered to the last. It's been so long since that case, I thought you'd fled far away. I never expected you'd end up caught after all!"

"Are you really Du Kang? You don't look the part. I heard you were already a top martial master ten years ago. Can you still fight?"

Their gazes swept over him.

Compared to the others...

Du Kang had wiped out Heaven Sword Martial Hall, once a celebrated name in Xuan Province's former provincial capital. What he'd done had caused far more of a stir than anything they'd done.

Li ChunJun listened patiently as each of them introduced themselves.

His expression remained calm, neither happy nor sad.

Four of them.

Any of them would do.

"Hey, brat, who are you?"

Xu ZhengYi's voice sounded beside him.

The others said nothing more, but they were quietly sizing Li ChunJun up.

At eighteen, Li ChunJun looked completely out of place in the room.

But Li ChunJun didn't answer.

"Heh. Got a personality."

Xu ZhengYi stared at Li ChunJun. "Come on, tell us about your glorious deeds."

When he realized Li ChunJun wasn't going to respond, the Skull Splitter only grew more interested. "Everyone who gets into Ascend Peak Tower has to be a Unity martial master! You don't look a day over twenty. I wonder if crushing the skull of a Unity martial master under twenty would make a different sound?"

"Can you kill people here?"

Li ChunJun suddenly asked.

The question left the others momentarily stunned.

Then they understood what he meant.

"Of course not," Titan Vincent sneered.

Not allowed?

Li ChunJun heard him and patiently accepted it.

If it wasn't allowed, then so be it.

Don't lose sight of the big picture over a small gain.

He couldn't let four people make him miss out on nine.

"As a good kid, you have to obey the law. Even if it hurts, remember not to fight back when someone hits you! Otherwise, it counts as mutual fighting!"

Tan Li smiled and nudged his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

"Right, right. Come on, let me jog your memory and remind you how you got here!"

Xu ZhengYi stood up and walked toward Li ChunJun, one step at a time.