All Evil, All Around

"Haircut! Over here, over here!"

In the alley, a middle-aged man waved at Xiao Ran, then led him to a shady spot around the corner.

"Would you like a shave, sir, or a haircut?"

Xiao Ran set down his shoulder pole and asked with a smile as he took out his tools.

The man sat down on a wooden stool and lowered his voice. "It's too hot. My head's so stuffy I'm breaking out in a rash. Could you shave some hair off the back for me?"

The man looked to be in his thirties. A large black mole marked his face, and his long, narrow face and beady eyes made him look like a shady character.

"Hey, there's no need to shave it off. I can thin it out for you."

"What do you mean, thin it out?"

"I'll cut off some of your hair to make you feel cooler, but no one will be able to tell."

"No one will be able to tell?" The man looked at Xiao Ran in surprise. He'd never heard of such a technique.

"Absolutely not."

reassured by Xiao Ran's promise, the man nodded. "All right, sorry for the trouble."

Xiao Ran picked up the scissors and lightly brushed his thumb against the blade. It rang out with a crisp chink.

He pinched up a lock of hair at the nape of the man's neck with his left hand, while the scissors in his right opened and closed like a sparrow's beak. The strands fell in a soft, rhythmic shower.

Truth be told, Xiao Ran wasn't very good at cutting hair. But his attributes were so high that, just like Xuzhu in Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils, once his Internal Energy Cultivation reached a certain level, he learned everything quickly.

Recalling the techniques used by