Leaving Wei Dayong's home, Wang Quan headed straight for the strange-smelling courtyard in the west of the city. Pushing open the ajar wooden door, Madman Xu was squatting in a corner with his back to him, tinkering with a bubbling clay pot as pungent smoke curled around.
"Well, well, a rare visitor." Madman Xu didn't even turn his head, his hoarse voice carrying its habitual mockery. "I heard you've been doing pretty well lately, even starting to teach a little girl kung fu? What, you have time to come smell the stench at my place today?"
Wang Quan closed the door with the back of his hand. Under the dim, yellowish light, his expression was calm. "That Myriad Monster Blood Devouring Art you gave me, I've practiced it," he stated bluntly.
Madman Xu's movements paused. He slowly turned around, his turbid eyes flashing with a sharp glint in the shadows as he looked Wang Quan up and down like he was appraising a piece of work. "Practiced it? How's it feel? You haven't turned yourself into a monster that only knows how to kill, have you?"
"The urge for blood is indeed a bit heavier toward non-human things," Wang Quan admitted, feeling the dormant restlessness within his body. "Especially when seeing those Corpse Clan demonic beasts on my night patrols; the intent to kill arises very quickly. But for now, I can still suppress it, and toward other living people there's no abnormality. As for other aspects, nothing amiss for the time being."
"Only a strong intent to kill outcasts? Normal!" Madman Xu grinned, revealing uneven yellow teeth. "The Myriad Monster Blood Devouring Art feeds on the blood, essence, and vital energy of demons and monsters. Practice it long enough, and naturally your eyes will turn red when you see them! As long as you aren't drooling at the sight of a living person yet, consider your youthful willpower un-gnawed by animalistic nature!" He suddenly leaned in, lowering his voice. "Want to try something even more exhilarating?" As he spoke, he fished out a long object wrapped in talisman paper from a wooden box in the corner. Peeling back the talisman paper, a wave of scorching, tyrannical aura rushed at them—it was an arm covered in dark red scales, its claws sharp as hooks, radiating a heart-palpitating heat.
"An arm of an Abyssal Flame Demon! Graft it on, and you'll have boundless strength while being able to manipulate blazing flames!" Madman Xu stroked the scales fanatically. "But only those ready to die can graft it! Everyone who tried before went mad. Do you dare?"
Wang Quan frowned as he looked at the arm that seemed ready to burn at any moment, and shook his head. "Not quite human, not quite ghost—I can't accept it."
"No guts!" Madman Xu spat, then pulled out a gray cloth bundle. Unwrapping it revealed a dark cyan arm covered in stone-like patterns, radiating a heavy, solid aura. "The forelimbs of a Mountain-Bearing Dragon Turtle! Carrying a trace of the bloodline of the dragon son Baxia, focusing on absolute strength and ultimate suppression!"
Wang Quan still shook his head. "I'll rely on my own hands and feet to walk first. I came today to ask about General of the Middle Army Li Chongshan."
Madman Xu's expression instantly turned cold as he leisurely put the arm away. "Ask about him? Heh, the imperial court has ignored things for five years; do you really think those above don't know?" He laughed with caustic sarcasm. "He is, after all, a registered disciple of a certain high official in the capital! Doing dirty work and heavy labor in this impoverished backwater, who in the court wouldn't give him some face?"
Wang Quan clenched his fists. "So the common folk of Anping deserve to have their families destroyed and lives ruined?"
"Justice?" Madman Xu suddenly burst into frantic laughter. "In this world, whoever has the bigger fists is justice! Li Chongshan and the master behind him are justice! I, Madman Xu, can make people who want to stay alive stronger, but I can't give them justice!"
He abruptly lowered his voice. "Listen to me, stop asking around. Save your own little life before your fists are hard enough! You can't even protect yourself right now, what justice are you talking about giving to others?"
Wang Quan fixed a knife-like gaze on him. "I'll protect my own life, and I'll solve my own problems. But some things, once seen, can't be treated as unseen." His voice suppressed anger. "Even an ordinary person's anger can still splatter blood five steps!"
The frantic smile on Madman Xu's face gradually faded, replaced by a nearly cold composure. His turbid eyes looked at Wang Quan, his voice low and hoarse. "You think anger can change this world?" He slowly shook his head, carrying a desolate worldview that had seen through the ways of the world. "If you want to blame someone, blame the fact that you were born in this place, born as nothing more than blades of grass. If you want to fault someone, you can only fault your own fists for not being hard enough."
He paused, his sharp gaze piercing toward Wang Quan with a tone carrying a few notes of warning, and even a trace of an imperceptible complexity. "Young man, having a fire in your heart is a good thing; it can make you arrogant, making you feel like you can pierce the heavens. But don't forget, before you've truly grown, in the eyes of those big figures, crushing you to death is... no different from crushing an ant."
Wang Quan said nothing more. He merely gave Madman Xu a deep look, then abruptly turned, yanked open that creaking wooden door, and strode out without looking back.
"Fighting for justice... is a fatal business..." Madman Xu muttered softly.
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