The bright moon hung high.
Pure moonlight quietly spilled down, draping all things in a coat of silver.
Inside a room at Xuan Yue Inn, a masked figure suddenly flipped out through the window and landed in a nearby alley.
Fang Hong looked at the bright moon in the night sky and raised an eyebrow slightly.
"With the moon this bright, aside from being a little inconvenient, it's still fine weather for killing."
For the past two days, he had been quietly investigating Scholar He's Residence in secret.
His main goal had been to ascertain the strength of Scholar He's household guards, which had taken some time.
Scholar He's Residence had six guards in total, all belonging to the same master-and-disciples group.
Their leader was a man in his forties named Deng Changliu.
The others were all his disciples. They knew some martial arts,
but they were merely sturdier than ordinary people. Their strength was quite limited.
As for Deng Changliu, his strength was not weak.
However, Fang Hong had observed him up close during the day while he accompanied Scholar He out of the residence.
Since Fang Hong did not possess any perception-based cultivation technique,
he could not be entirely certain of Deng Changliu's exact level of strength.
But he definitely had not surpassed Flesh Refinement Mastery.
After all, Fang Hong had not sensed much danger from him.
Deng Changliu had not even felt as dangerous as the White Wolf King Fang Hong had encountered in the mountains.
Before long, Fang Hong arrived in front of a medical clinic under cover of night.
Hui Chun Tang!
"The air is dry, beware of fire!"
Once the Night Watchman making his rounds had passed by, Fang Hong directly vaulted into Hui Chun Tang.
At this moment, in Hui Chun Tang's rear courtyard,
an old man and a young man were talking.
The older man was naturally Qian Chunsheng, the owner and resident physician of Hui Chun Tang.
The young man was his apprentice, who was currently grinding medicinal ingredients.
At that moment, the youth frowned slightly as he picked a medicinal ingredient from the pile and set it aside.
Seeing this, Qian Chunsheng questioned him with some displeasure. "What are you doing? Why did you pick out that piece of Yellow Gall Wood separately?"
"Master, this piece of Yellow Gall Wood has expired. It no longer has any medicinal effect," his apprentice answered.
"You say it has no medicinal effect, so it has no medicinal effect? Put it back!" Qian Chunsheng rebuked with a frown.
His apprentice hesitated. "But Master, when you taught me before, didn't you say that even if Yellow Gall Wood has lost its medicinal effect, mixing it with certain other herbs can still produce harmful effects?"
Qian Chunsheng cursed in exasperation, hating iron for not becoming steel. "You fool!"
"Why do you remember one thing but not the other?!"
"These medicinal ingredients are all money! This piece of Yellow Gall Wood may not be valuable, but do you know how much it amounts to after days and months pile up?!"
"But if such medicine is sold to sick people..."
"Shut up. If I tell you to put it back, then put it back."
"What do those sick people know?"
"What illness they have, how it should be treated, what medicine they should use, what effects it will have—the final say is mine!"
"What I say goes!"
Seeing that his apprentice still wanted to say something, Qian Chunsheng immediately scolded him in displeasure.
Clap, clap, clap!
Fang Hong emerged, carrying the new saber he had bought in town the day before yesterday and applauding. "You sure know how to talk. Are you planning to go learn foreign languages too?"
"Wonderful! Not only is Doctor Qian highly skilled in medicine, you're also a master at making money!"
"Who are you?!"
Seeing Fang Hong suddenly appear, Qian Chunsheng immediately demanded in anger.
"Of course, I'm the one here to kill you."
Fang Hong chuckled. "Half a month ago, thanks to your superb medical skills, Doctor Qian, my mother's illness worsened at an extraordinary pace."
At those words, Doctor Qian was startled. He instinctively backed away and opened his mouth wide.
But before he could cry out for help, Fang Hong had already rushed before him.
A cold flash of blade-light swept through the candlelight.
Qian Chunsheng's entire head rolled from his neck with a gurgle, gurgle.
"Good sir, spare..."
On the other side, Qian Chunsheng's apprentice was nearly struck dumb by the sight before him.
He was about to beg for mercy, but he had barely opened his mouth and had not even finished the sentence before Fang Hong rushed over and severed his neck with a slash.
Blood splattered everywhere!
After quickly searching Hui Chun Tang and finding over a hundred taels of silver,
Fang Hong left Hui Chun Tang directly and hurried toward Scholar He's Residence.
Behind him, within Hui Chun Tang, only two headless corpses and two severed heads remained, blood continuously flowing from them.
After Fang Hong arrived at Scholar He's Residence, his movements of killing and beheading became increasingly practiced.
He began from the He family's rear courtyard, especially the rooms occupied by Scholar He and his family.
He searched room by room.
Cover the mouth, draw the blade. Cover the mouth, draw the blade...
Fang Hong was like a killing machine devoid of emotion, slaughtering people continuously without much fluctuation in his emotions.
Other than the slight delay when he killed Scholar He, caused by asking where the money was,
he wasted no time on anything else.
The number of people dying by his hand steadily increased.
The entire He Mansion became ever quieter, ever more desolate.
Very soon, Fang Hong had killed his way to the rooms where the household guards lived.
Since he did not know which room Deng Changliu occupied, Fang Hong simply chose a nearby room.
That room housed two of Deng Changliu's disciples.
When Fang Hong entered, both men were still fast asleep.
Though neither was particularly strong and they only had a rudimentary grasp of martial arts,
training had indeed made them sturdier than ordinary people, with sharper hearing and clearer eyes, and faster reactions.
Although Fang Hong's killing movements had already been quick enough,
when Fang Hong severed the first man's neck, the other was still startled awake.
That man was still groggy and not fully conscious,
but when Fang Hong's saber came slashing at him as well, he instinctively raised his hand and recoiled backward.
Though Fang Hong's slash was powerful and sharp enough to cut off both the raised hand and his neck,
it still allowed his scream to escape.
Deng Changliu, who lived in the neighboring room, jolted awake in an instant.
"Damn it, something seems to have happened!"
Once awake, Deng Changliu did not even have time to get dressed. Wearing only a white sleeping undershirt, he rushed straight out of his room.
The moment he entered the courtyard, Deng Changliu saw a figure emerge from the room next door.
It was a tall, sturdy masked man, holding a long saber that continuously dripped blood.
Amid the night and moonlight,
the white gleaming with blood on the saber seemed like a third peerless color!
"I have long heard of Master Deng's great name. Tonight, I have come especially to invite you to die."
Fang Hong slowly raised his saber.
Seeing Fang Hong's movement and sensing the powerful danger radiating from him, Deng Changliu felt his scalp go numb.
Do I even know you? And you came to invite me to die?
So having a little fame is a crime now?
"Wait. Who exactly are you, sir?"
"Everything can be discussed. Why must this go so far?"
Deng Changliu tried to persuade him, but from the corner of his eye, he stared directly toward the Moon Gate leading to the central courtyard not far away.
He was an old hand at roaming the martial world.
The moment he sensed Fang Hong's intense danger, he realized that he was no match for him.
Moreover, he trained in hand techniques, while the other party held a saber.
Only someone with a problem in his head would fight barehanded against someone stronger than himself who also carried a weapon.
Therefore, fleeing for his life was the most urgent matter!
Before you continue