You Fight Your Fight, I'm Leaving First

"There is one condition, though: you have to take me with you."

Li Pingsheng didn't say a word, just stared at him. Why should he trust someone who had been trying to kill him just a moment ago?

Lu Qingshan saw that Li Pingsheng didn't believe him and let out a laugh.

"Are you afraid I'll drag you down? Or are you worried I'll stab you in the back?"

He raised his hands, which were covered in calluses.

"Five years ago, I used these very hands to try and gather Red Marrow Vine for my sister..."

At the mention of his sister, his hands trembled violently.

"When I entered the mountain, she was already failing, coughing up blood every day. I promised her I would bring the medicine back..."

He paused, his eyes turning bloodshot.

"I failed."

"It wasn't the poisonous miasma, nor was it those demonic beasts. The thing that crippled me was a Tier 2 demonic beast called a Phantom Face Spider!"

Phantom Face Spider? Li Pingsheng had never seen that name in any of the books he had read.

"The most insidious thing about that creature isn't its fangs, but its ability."

"It can sense what you care about most, then conjure up a false vision to lure you into a dead end."

"Back then... I heard my sister calling me, saying she was better and waiting at home for me to eat..."

"By the time I woke up, I was lying outside the forest, and my entire cultivation had been ruined by the miasma."

"My sister... she was gone by the third day I was in the forest."

"To get my revenge, even with my cultivation ruined, I practiced fist techniques."

Lu Qingshan closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, his eye sockets were red.

The only thing that had kept him alive for these five years was the word "revenge."

He opened his eyes again and pulled a piece of animal hide from his chest; it was the other half of the map Li Pingsheng had earlier.

"The one in your hand is the dead end I mapped out five years ago. This one is the new path I've spent these five years uncovering."

Lu Qingshan pieced the two maps together.

"This path bypasses the Phantom Face Spider's nest and leads directly to where the Red Marrow Vine grows. I am the only one who knows this way."

"Take me in, I'll lead the way, and you help me get my revenge. Do we have a deal?"

Li Pingsheng studied him, calculating rapidly in his mind.

A living map was useful, but a guy obsessed with revenge could also be a liability.

But Li Pingsheng didn't have time to be picky.

"Fine."

He nodded. "Midnight. Meet at the ruined temple at Sanli Slope outside the West City Gate."

"It's a deal."

Lu Qingshan tucked the map away, glanced at Li Pingsheng, and turned to walk into the shadows of the servant quarters.

Back in his small courtyard, Li Pingsheng bolted the door behind him.

A sharp spasm shot through his meridians, and cold sweat broke out across his forehead.

He rolled up his sleeve to reveal fine, bloody cracks beneath the skin of his arm.

The effects of the Pulse-Suppressing Pill were no longer enough to hold it back.

He had to obtain the Red Marrow Vine within three days.

Elsewhere.

In a tavern, Zhou Kuang slammed his cup down with a "bang."

"A piece of trash! He actually dared to make me lose face at the Library Pavilion!!"

"Calm down, Brother Zhou." A lackey beside him hurriedly poured more wine.

"I can't! I can't swallow this insult!!"

Zhou Kuang slapped the table. "Zhao Ming said that as long as I can cripple that kid, he'll credit me for a meritorious deed! Once the Zhao Family swallows the territory of the Black Water Gang, there will be plenty of benefits for me!"

His eyes turned vicious.

"Go, call Wang Er and Li Si and the others. We'll wait outside the city tonight. Didn't that kid take a patrol job? If he dares to leave the city, break his dog legs!"

"You got it!"

The lackeys immediately took the order and left.

They didn't notice that a man drinking at a nearby table had heard the words "Zhao Family" and "Black Water Gang," tossed down his payment, and left.

The sky grew darker and darker.

At the Black Water Gang branch, a scout ran in to report.

"Branch Master! We've detected movement from the Zhao Family! A kid named Zhou Kuang, one of Zhao Ming's men, has taken seven or eight people and is heading out of the city to run an errand!"

"The Zhao Family?"

The Branch Master stood up. The gang leader had given the order: not a single person from the Zhao Family was to be let go.

"That fellow named Zhou Kuang is likely heading to a rendezvous! Follow him! Keep your eyes glued to them, and if necessary, capture the lot of them!"

"Yes!"

Midnight.

A bolt of lightning split the sky, and raindrops the size of beans began to pelt down.

Outside the West City Gate, at Sanli Slope.

The dilapidated Temple of the Mountain God swayed in the wind and rain.

Li Pingsheng, dressed in black, stood in the shadow of the statue.

Before long, a figure in a straw raincoat walked out of the rain; it was Lu Qingshan.

"Let's go."

Li Pingsheng said only one word.

The two were just about to move.

With a loud "bang," the temple door was kicked open from the outside, sending rotten wood splinters flying everywhere.

Seven or eight men holding blades blocked the entrance, rainwater dripping from the tips of their weapons.

The leader was none other than Zhou Kuang.

He saw Li Pingsheng and Lu Qingshan inside the temple and chuckled.

"Li Pingsheng! So you were sneaking around to meet with an old trash who sweeps floors!"

"Two pieces of trash, running to this broken temple in the middle of the night—plotting something shameful, are you?"

Zhou Kuang brandished his steel blade and pressed forward.

"Today, I'll send you both on your way together! Get them! Break their limbs!!"

Lu Qingshan's expression changed, and he prepared to charge forward.

Li Pingsheng reached out and pressed his hand onto his shoulder.

Just as Zhou Kuang's men were about to rush in, a roar erupted from outside the door.

A dozen burly men in black rushed in; they were from the Black Water Gang.

The leading Branch Master glanced at Zhou Kuang's group, then his gaze fell upon Li Pingsheng and Lu Qingshan, and he frowned.

Two pieces of trash?

He turned his head to glare at Zhou Kuang and said, "So the Zhao Family really is meeting here in secret?!"

Zhou Kuang was stunned.

"What meeting? Who the hell are you people? I'm from the Azure Cloud Martial Hall!"

"Still trying to play dumb!"

The Black Water Gang Branch Master assumed he was feigning ignorance.

Inside the ruined temple, the three factions stood in a stalemate.

The rain fell even harder.

Li Pingsheng, hiding in the shadow of the statue, didn't move at all.

He quietly activated the Breath Concealment Art, tucking his presence away completely.

Li Pingsheng pressed his fingers together, and a flicker of hidden energy flashed at his fingertips before vanishing.

Thunderclap Explosion.

With a soft "pfft" sound.

A Black Water Gang member standing on the outermost edge suddenly had a bloody hole appear in his throat, and he collapsed straight to the ground.

A burst of force pushed the corpse right toward Zhou Kuang's side.

The body landed with a "thud" right at Zhou Kuang's feet.

"You dare strike first?!"

The Branch Master assumed Zhou Kuang had made the first move.

"Kill!!"

At the command, the dozen Black Water Gang members brandished their steel blades and lunged at Zhou Kuang and his men.

"Madmen! You bunch of madmen!"

Zhou Kuang was forced to raise his blade and fight back.

The cramped, dilapidated temple instantly descended into chaos. Blade light flashed wildly, blood splattered everywhere, and screams mingled with curses.

No one noticed.

Taking advantage of the peak of the turmoil, Li Pingsheng grabbed the still-dazed Lu Qingshan.

[Wind Treading] talent activated.

He led Lu Qingshan, dodging and weaving through the crowd of brawlers without a single drop of blood touching him, and vaulted straight out of the temple's back window.

The two climbed over the West City Gate and plunged headlong into the forest, which was drenched in heavy rain and filled with poisonous miasma.

Inside the dilapidated temple.

Zhou Kuang was covered in gashes, and half of the men he brought had already fallen.

The Black Water Gang members fought with ruthless, dark intent, every strike aimed at taking a life.

"Helmsman! Those two ran off!"

A lackey from the Black Water Gang shouted.

Seeing that his side could barely hold on any longer, Zhou Kuang caught sight of the direction in which Li Pingsheng had fled.

He forced back the person in front of him with a slash, rushed out of the temple, and plunged headlong into the pitch-black forest.