"But there's one condition: you have to take me with you."
Li Pingsheng said nothing. He just stared at him. Why should he trust someone who'd just tried to kill him?
Lu Qingshan could tell Li Pingsheng didn't trust him, and gave a bitter laugh.
"Are you afraid I'll drag you down? Or that I'll stab you in the back along the way?"
He raised his hands, both covered in calluses.
"Five years ago, I used these very hands to gather Red Marrow Vine for my younger sister..."
At the mention of his sister, his hands trembled violently.
"When I went into the mountains, she was already at death's door, coughing up blood every day. I promised her I'd bring back the medicine..."
He broke off, his eyes reddening.
"I failed."
"It wasn't the poisonous miasma, nor the demon beasts. What crippled me was a second-tier demon beast called the Phantom Face Spider!"
The Phantom Face Spider? Li Pingsheng had never seen that name in any of his books.
"The most sinister thing about that creature isn't its venomous fangs. It's what it can do."
"It can tell what you want most, then conjure a false scene to lure you into a dead end."
"Back then...I heard my sister calling to me, saying she'd recovered and was waiting at home for me to have dinner..."
"By the time I came to, I was lying outside the forest. The poisonous miasma had destroyed every last bit of my cultivation."
"My sister...she died on the third day I was in the forest."
"To avenge her, I trained in fist techniques, even after my cultivation was crippled."
Lu Qingshan closed his eyes. When he opened them again, his eyes were bloodshot.
For five years, those two words—revenge—had been what kept him alive.
He opened his eyes again and pulled a piece of beast hide from his robes. It was another map, like the one Li Pingsheng had shown him earlier.
"The map you have is the dead-end route I drew five years ago. This one shows the new route I've pieced together over the past five years."
Lu Qingshan laid the two maps together.
"This path bypasses the Phantom Face Spider's nest and goes straight to where the Red Marrow Vine grows. I'm the only one who knows it."
"Take me in, and I'll guide you. You help me get revenge. So, do we have a deal?"
Li Pingsheng stared at him, quickly weighing his options.
A living map could be useful, but a man consumed by revenge could also be trouble.
But Li Pingsheng had no time to be picky.
"Fine."
He nodded. "Midnight. Meet me at the ruined temple on Sanli Slope, outside the west city gate."
"Then it's settled."
Lu Qingshan put away the map, glanced at Li Pingsheng, then turned and disappeared into the shadows of the Servant Courtyard.
Back in his courtyard, Li Pingsheng bolted the door behind him.
His meridians suddenly seized with pain, and cold sweat covered his forehead.
He pushed up his sleeve. Fine, blood-red cracks webbed beneath the skin of his arm.
The Pulse-Suppressing Pill was about to lose its effect.
He had to get the Red Marrow Vine within three days.
Meanwhile.
In a tavern, Zhou Kuang slammed his cup onto the table.
"That good-for-nothing! How dare he humiliate me in the Library Pavilion?!"
"Brother Zhou, calm down." One of his lackeys hurriedly poured him more wine.
"No! I can't let this go!"
Zhou Kuang slapped the table. "Zhao Ming said that if I cripple that brat, he'll give me credit for it! Once the Zhao Family takes over the Black Water Gang's territory, there'll be plenty in it for me!"
His gaze turned vicious.
"Go get Wang Er, Li Si, and the others. We'll wait outside the city tonight. That brat took a patrol job, didn't he? If he dares leave the city, we'll break his dog legs!"
"Right away!"
Several lackeys hurried off at once.
They didn't notice the man drinking at the next table. As soon as he heard "Zhao Family" and "Black Water Gang," he dropped some money for his wine and left.
The sky grew darker and darker.
At a Black Water Gang branch hall, a scout rushed in with a report.
"Branch master! The Zhao Family's making a move! A fellow named Zhou Kuang, one of Zhao Ming's men, is taking seven or eight people out of the city on business!"
"People from the Zhao Family?"
The branch master stood up. The gang leader had given the order: not one member of the Zhao Family was to be let go.
"That Zhou Kuang is probably going to meet someone! Follow him! Keep your eyes on him, and if necessary, take them all in!"
"Yes!"
Midnight.
A bolt of lightning split the sky, and raindrops as big as beans came crashing down.
Outside the west city gate, at Sanli Slope.
The Mountain God Temple swayed in the wind and rain.
Dressed in black, Li Pingsheng stood in the shadow of the statue.
Before long, a figure in a straw rain cape emerged from the rain. It was Lu Qingshan.
"Let's go."
Li Pingsheng said just one word.
The two were about to move.
With a crash, the temple door was kicked open from the outside, sending splinters of rotten wood flying everywhere.
Seven or eight men with knives blocked the entrance, rainwater dripping from their blades.
At their head was Zhou Kuang.
When he saw Li Pingsheng and Lu Qingshan in the temple, he grinned.
"Li Pingsheng! So you were sneaking around to meet up with an old good-for-nothing who sweeps floors!"
"Two useless losers, meeting in a ruined temple in the middle of the night. What shady business are you discussing?"
Zhou Kuang brandished his steel saber and closed in.
"Today, I'll send you both on your way together! Get them! Break their arms and legs!"
Lu Qingshan's expression changed, and he started to charge forward.
Li Pingsheng reached out and pressed down on his shoulder.
Zhou Kuang's men were about to rush forward when a sudden shout came from outside.
More than a dozen black-clad men charged in. They were members of the Black Water Gang.
The branch master at their head swept his gaze over Zhou Kuang's group, then over Li Pingsheng and Lu Qingshan. His brows furrowed.
Two useless losers?
He turned and fixed his eyes on Zhou Kuang. "So the Zhao Family's been meeting here in secret after all!"
Zhou Kuang was stunned.
"What meeting? Who the hell are you? I'm from the Azure Cloud Martial Hall!"
"Still playing dumb!"
The Black Water Gang branch master thought he was feigning ignorance.
The three groups were locked in a standoff inside the temple.
The rain came down even harder.
Hidden in the shadow of the statue, Li Pingsheng hadn't moved at all.
He silently circulated the Breath Concealment Art, hiding his entire presence.
Li Pingsheng brought his fingers together. A flicker of dark force flashed at his fingertips, then vanished.
Thunderclap Explosion.
With a soft puff, a Black Water Gang member standing at the edge suddenly had a bloody hole in his throat. He toppled straight to the ground.
A burst of force sent the corpse tumbling toward Zhou Kuang's group.
The body thudded down at Zhou Kuang's feet.
"How dare you attack?!"
The branch master thought Zhou Kuang had struck first.
"Kill!"
At his command, more than a dozen Black Water Gang members charged at Zhou Kuang's men, steel sabers flashing.
"Are you crazy? You bunch of lunatics!"
Driven into a corner, Zhou Kuang could only raise his saber and fight back.
The cramped ruined temple instantly became a cauldron of chaos. Blades flashed everywhere, blood sprayed in every direction, and screams mingled with curses.
No one noticed.
At the height of the chaos, Li Pingsheng grabbed Lu Qingshan, who was still standing there in a daze.
The Wind Treading talent activated.
He led Lu Qingshan, dodging left and right through the brawling crowd. Not a drop of blood touched them as they slipped straight out through the rear window of the temple.
The two vaulted over the west city wall and plunged headfirst into the forest, where poisonous miasma churned beneath the torrential rain.
Inside the ruined temple.
Zhou Kuang was covered in cuts, and half the men he'd brought had already fallen.
The Black Water Gang members fought dirty and viciously, every blow aimed to kill.
"Branch master! Those two got away!"
One of the Black Water Gang members shouted.
Zhou Kuang saw his side was about to be overwhelmed, and spotted the direction Li Pingsheng had fled.
He forced the man in front of him back with a slash, then rushed out of the temple and plunged into the pitch-black forest after them.
Before you continue