Hello, You Vicious Thing!

"You old bastard, you're about to die, yet you're still in the mood for a little fun!"

The person outside the window laughed.

Yuan Zhen rolled out of bed, quickly threw on his clothes, and said coldly,

"Which sneaking rat are you? State your name!"

"Get dressed and come out. I'll be waiting outside!"

After saying that, the figure disappeared from the window.

Yuan Zhen hurriedly opened the door and went after him.

Beneath the dim night sky, a tall, slender figure stood in the courtyard with his hands behind his back, smiling as he looked this way.

It was a completely unfamiliar face. Yuan Zhen had no impression of him at all.

"Who are you?"

The visitor was Li Xian.

Li Xian smiled. "Who I am isn't important."

"Are you with the Cao Gang?" Yuan Zhen asked suspiciously.

"So what if I am? And what if I'm not?"

"Hmph, so you really are a Cao Gang brat!"

Yuan Zhen sneered.

"Take my life!"

He roared and struck with the Great Compassion Palm.

"You're a monk, yet your killing intent is so strong?" Li Xian said with an unconcerned smile.

But in fewer than three moves, Li Xian punched Yuan Zhen in the chest, and the monk spewed a mouthful of blood.

Yuan Zhen clutched his chest, his face ashen. In a hoarse voice, he said, "Who are you, really? How could the Cao Gang have someone like you?"

Li Xian shook his head. "I told you already. Who I am isn't important!"

Yuan Zhen gave a bitter laugh. "True. I'm about to die anyway. Knowing or not knowing makes no difference."

Li Xian said, "You're a pretty philosophical monk."

"Kill me or butcher me, do as you please. When the Buddha Son returns, he'll avenge me. He'll slaughter everyone in the Cao Gang until rivers of blood flow, and make them join me in death!"

Same old words.

Li Xian said, "You have that much faith in your Buddha Son?"

"Of course. You can't even begin to imagine how powerful the Buddha Son is!"

Yuan Zhen spat blood as he spoke. "He'll kill you with his own hands and avenge me."

"Too bad I won't live to see that day." His voice was full of regret.

"No." Li Xian didn't agree.

"After you die, I'll hang your head from our Cao Gang's Dragon Ship. I want you to see with your own eyes how your Buddha Son dies at my hands!"

He was going to deny Yuan Zhen even the peace of the grave.

"You're vicious!" Yuan Zhen was shocked and horrified. He couldn't help cursing loudly.

Li Xian didn't care in the slightest. Instead, he burst into laughter.

"Hahahaha..."

As he laughed, one hand reached out and stroked Yuan Zhen's smooth, bald head. Then he twisted hard and easily tore it off.

The curses in the courtyard abruptly stopped.

After an unknown amount of time, the woman hiding in the room heard that not a sound came from outside. Only then did she cautiously creep to the door, open it a crack, and peer into the courtyard.

In the darkness, blood covered the ground.

Only a headless corpse lay sprawled in disarray in the courtyard.

"Ah! Murder!!!"

Her scream rang through the tranquil night sky over Yangzhou City.

With Yuan Zhen dealt with, the remaining monks of White Dragon Temple were no cause for concern. Chen Zhongwu of the Prefectural Army had made his position unclear, and had always gone through the motions without putting in any effort. He seemed unwilling to risk a fight to the death with a giant like the Cao Gang.

Li Xian no longer had anything to worry about. He could enter seclusion without a care.

The location of Li Xian's seclusion was of great importance and wasn't something many people should know. To avoid any mishaps, Liang Haisheng personally went out and found Li Xian an extremely secret place to practice in seclusion.

He also arranged for people to prepare plenty of food and daily necessities, ensuring all his needs were taken care of.

Li Xian looked at the simple, clean stone chamber before him. It would've been a lie to say he wasn't satisfied.

"When did Gang Leader Liang get such a hidden stone chamber?"

Liang Haisheng said, "I found it years ago, when I was making a living on the water. I had plenty of enemies back then, so I had to keep changing where I stayed."

Got it. This was one of the rabbit's three burrows.

Li Xian smiled. "Then I'll thank you in advance, Gang Leader Liang."

Liang Haisheng waved a hand. "Xiao Li, I'll say it again. You could still leave now. There's no need to go head-to-head with the Buddha Son. You can still change your mind."

Why did these people have so little faith in him?

His talent was unrivaled, wasn't it?

Li Xian held his head and said with a pained expression, "All right, Gang Leader Liang. Let's not talk about this anymore."

"Fine!"

Liang Haisheng and the others exchanged glances, all looking helpless.

Just look at the piles of secret manuals in the stone chamber, stacked higher than a person. Who could believe he'd master everything during a single retreat?

Seeing their downcast expressions, Li Xian couldn't help reassuring them. "It's fine. Don't worry. When I come out, I'll kill the Buddha Son!"

Aren't you a little too confident?

Faced with such a bold declaration, Liang Haisheng, Monk Guan Jing, and the others could only force a wry smile. They didn't dare believe a word of it.

They'd already prepared for the worst.

If the Buddha Son came for them, they would give their lives to buy Li Xian a chance to survive.

Li Xian didn't care what they were thinking. He walked into the chamber and waved to everyone outside.

"All right, if there's nothing else, you can all head back."

With that, the stone chamber's door slammed shut.

Inside the stone chamber, Li Xian looked at the pile of secret manuals, stacked as high as his eyebrows, and grinned.

Li Xian declared: This one's a bladder-busting marathon!

The Proficiency System declared: This one's a high-level match!

The Buddha Son was injured, and Li Xian had entered seclusion.

After the unrest of the previous days, long-awaited peace had returned to Yangzhou City.

Those who knew what was going on understood that this was the calm before the storm.

Those who didn't know the truth began another round of heated discussion.

"Hey, what do you think? So many monks from White Dragon Temple have died. Are they really going to let it go?"

"Who died at White Dragon Temple? Weren't a lot of Hall Masters from the Cao Gang killed?"

"You're behind on the news. White Dragon Temple lost two elders of the Yuan generation."

"If you like this book, add it to your library so you can find it again next time."

"That's terrible. Add the Abbot who died earlier, and nearly all the older generation at White Dragon Temple is gone."

"The Cao Gang is no better. Gang Leader Cao died too."

"So the Cao Gang and White Dragon Temple have both suffered heavy losses!"

"Yeah. Those two major sects from Qingzhou have been badly battered."

"As the saying goes, when the snipe and the clam fight, the fisherman profits. If those two are injured, who do you think stands to gain?"

Someone who couldn't keep his mouth shut jumped in.

"Who else could it be? The Prefectural Army and the Demon Suppressing Division, of course!"

That gave everyone a fright.

"Shut up!"

"Watch what you say. Is that something you can just spout off?"

"Exactly. Stop talking nonsense before you bring disaster down on yourself!"

Everyone hurried to steer the conversation back.

"What do you think? White Dragon Temple still has their Buddha Son. Who does the Cao Gang have?"

"No idea!"

"The new Gang Leader Liang isn't the Buddha Son's match at all!"

"I heard not long ago that Gang Leader Liang was planning to flee!"

"No way!"

"Is that news true?"

"You're talking nonsense. I saw Gang Leader Liang just yesterday. How could he possibly flee?"

"Exactly. Anyone can leave, except him. If he goes, there won't be a Cao Gang in Yangzhou City anymore!"

"Better to die on the battlefield than live as a fleeing coward!"

"But if they don't run, how are the Cao Gang supposed to resist the Buddha Son?"

That question left everyone speechless.

To kill the Abbot of White Dragon Temple and the Cao Gang's Gang Leader single-handedly—such a feat would be astonishing even across all of Dagan.

In their eyes, how could the battered Cao Gang possibly stand against the Buddha Son now?

Time passed.

In the blink of an eye, half a month went by.

That day.

Yangzhou City, Governor's Mansion.

Early in the morning, Zheng Ningji ordered the servants to start cleaning. He wanted every inch of the Governor's Mansion spotless, inside and out, without missing a single corner.

"My lord, is there something special about today? Why are we making such a fuss?" his wife asked, looking puzzled.

Zheng Ningji smiled. "Nothing special. We have an honored guest coming. Naturally, we should do something to welcome him properly."

His wife asked curiously, "I wonder who could be important enough for you to take this much care."

Zheng Ningji only shook his head without answering.

His wife tactfully fell silent.

Once everything had been tidied, Zheng Ningji sent his wife and the servants away. He sat alone in a pavilion in the mansion, brewing tea and waiting in person.

Before long, a breeze swept through.

A handsome monk in white appeared outside the pavilion.

Zheng Ningji looked at him and smiled in greeting. "Master Guan Miao, you're here."

The visitor was none other than Guan Miao, the Buddha Son of White Dragon Temple.

"Amitabha, Lord Zheng. I trust you've been well!"

Zheng Ningji looked him up and down. "It seems your injuries have healed nicely, Master Guan Miao."

The Buddha Son said calmly, "They were only minor injuries. Nothing to worry about."

"That's good." Zheng Ningji chuckled and pointed to the chair beside him. "Don't just stand there, Master. Please sit."

After the Buddha Son sat down, he asked, "Lord Zheng, why hasn't the Prefectural Army acted during this time?"

I knew he'd ask that.

"Alas!" Zheng Ningji sighed as though deeply troubled.

"Master Guan Miao, there's something you don't know."

"What is it? Tell me."

Zheng Ningji said, "A young genius has emerged from the Cao Gang. He has exceptional talent. Not only was Chen Zhongwu no match for him, but neither were your two martial uncles."

"Is that true?" the Buddha Son asked in surprise.

Zheng Ningji said firmly, "Absolutely. Several of our military officers in the Prefectural Army died at his hands, and even your martial uncles..."

He stopped right at the crucial point.

Sure enough, the Buddha Son, who had been utterly unruffled until then, furrowed his brow for the first time.

"What happened to my martial uncles?"

Zheng Ningji said with a mournful expression, "They... were also attacked by the Cao Gang not long ago. They were killed!"

The Buddha Son's expression tightened. The air in the pavilion seemed to freeze, and killing intent filled the space.

"Impossible. My two martial uncles are Mid-fourth Grade Martialists. There's no one in the Cao Gang who could beat them!"

Zheng Ningji sighed. "I know this is hard for you to accept, Buddha Son, but it happened. You have to face reality!"

The Buddha Son saw no sign that he was pretending, and began to believe him.

But he couldn't bring himself to believe that the two martial uncles who had always stayed by his side and supported him were gone.

He was vicious and merciless, with a powerful lust for killing, but he still felt deep affection for the two martial uncles who had quietly supported him all along.

Faced with their deaths, even the Buddha Son, for all his resilience, couldn't help being overcome with grief.

Zheng Ningji said self-reproachfully from beside him, "Alas, it's all my fault. If I'd been more alert, the Cao Gang might not have had a chance to attack your martial uncles. They wouldn't have had to suffer such a terrible humiliation."

The Buddha Son frowned. "Humiliation? What happened to my martial uncles?"

"Ah, well, no, I..."

Zheng Ningji looked as if he'd let something slip and didn't know what to do.

The Buddha Son said seriously, "Lord Zheng, please don't hide anything from me."

Zheng Ningji looked hesitant, as if torn by an intense inner struggle. Only after a long while did he finally speak.

"All right. I shouldn't have kept this from you in the first place."

"After your Uncle-Master Yuan Zhen was killed by the Cao Gang, they cut off his head and hung it from the highest mast of their Dragon Ship. It's still there to this day, and no one has gone to take it down!"

The words had barely left his mouth.

The Buddha Son's hard-won calm was swept away by a raging storm.

Killing intent suddenly surged inside and outside the pavilion, like a violent tempest.

Zheng Ningji narrowed his eyes. A sly smile flickered at the corner of his mouth, then he quickly hid it.

"Alas, it's a pity none of us can match that man from the Cao Gang. We can't help Master Yuan Zhen rest in peace. I've failed you, Master Guan Miao!"

"Who killed my Uncle-Master Yuan Zhen?" the Buddha Son asked coldly.

"His name is Li Xian. He's a Hall Master of the Cao Gang. It wasn't just Master Yuan Zhen—even Master Yuan Jue died at his hands!"