Carried Away

White Ape Martial Hall.

The air was suffused with a faint smell of blood and medicinal herbs.

The physician the hall master had summoned was cleaning, bandaging, and applying medicine to several injured disciples. Groans and chatter blended into a muddle.

Chen Hao stood out conspicuously among the crowd, spotless from head to toe, without so much as a scrape.

With his hands behind his back and his chin slightly raised, he could not hide the smugness in his eyes. Not only had he returned unscathed today, but the spoils he had picked up along the way were plentiful.

On the way back to the Martial Hall, he had still remembered not to flaunt his wealth, telling anyone who asked that he had gained little.

Yet the moment he stepped through the hall gates, several familiar disciples surrounded him and lavished him with praise, insisting that he treat them to a meal.

He had condensed Blood Qi only yesterday, then made a rich haul today without losing a single hair. More importantly, his temperament had always been impetuous. In the end, he was carried away.

"Fine, fine, fine! You brothers all worked hard today! Fortune Pavilion tonight, my treat. There'll be enough wine and meat for everyone!"

Chen Hao patted his chest, his booming voice carrying throughout the entire front hall.

Several younger disciples immediately cheered and egged him on. A few older disciples frowned slightly, but soon joined in with smiling agreement.

Chen Hao felt even more honored, yet he failed to notice the faint, almost imperceptible coldness in the hall master's glance from the corner.

The crowd was noisily preparing to leave.

But the hall master suddenly spoke in an even tone.

"Chen Hao, come here."

"Yes!"

Chen Hao was still surrounded by the others. After answering at once, he waved at them casually.

"You all go to Fortune Pavilion first and grab a good table! Order whatever fine wine and dishes you like. I'll be there shortly. Tonight, we're drinking to our hearts' content!"

The disciples answered with laughter, draping arms over one another's shoulders as they poured out the door.

Once they had turned the street corner and put some distance between themselves and the Martial Hall, the group gradually spread out into twos and threes.

A few who had never gotten along with Chen Hao deliberately lagged behind and began whispering among themselves.

"Chen Hao really has a dog's luck. He succeeded in breaking through Blood Condensation on his second try. Judging by today's display, he must have struck another huge windfall. From now on, he won't lack cultivation resources."

"Dog's luck, my ass! Do you think he made it on his own? Let me tell you, he stole the deed to his family's ancestral home and sold it, then traded it for top-grade Blood Refining Powder. That's how he managed it!"

"Hah! So he's a wastrel who ruins his family! No wonder... With his temperament and foundation, why would things go so smoothly for him?"

"Forget that. He said it himself that we could order all the best wine and dishes we wanted tonight! There are twenty or thirty of us..."

"Heh, shouldn't we let Senior Brother Chen bleed properly and show off? Wasn't he acting so high and mighty? Wasn't he so smug? This time, we'll let him have all the glory he can handle!"

"It's a pity Senior Brother Lu fell out with Chen Hao and won't be coming tonight. Otherwise, it would've been even more exciting..."

The few of them exchanged looks, understood one another without a word, and quickened their pace to catch up with the noisy crowd ahead. The smiles on their faces had returned to those of people eager to join the fun.

Some time later.

Chen Hao emerged from the Martial Hall, his expression somewhat unpleasant, but he still hastened toward the appointment.

He took a shortcut that required him to pass through two narrow backstreet alleys.

They were quiet even during the day, and after nightfall they were pitch-black, with only a faint glimmer of light filtering over from the distant main street.

Chen Hao had matters weighing on his mind and hurried onward. Only when he reached the depths of the alley did he suddenly sense that something was wrong.

It was too quiet!

Deep in this dark alley, he could not even hear the usual irritating buzz of mosquitoes and flies, nor the rustling of wild rats scurrying about. There was only the increasingly loud thump of his own heartbeat.

Whoosh—

A black shadow shot forward from behind him at an incredible speed, without warning.

A fierce gust of wind bore down directly on the back of Chen Hao's head.

Chen Hao's reaction was swift enough. He spun around sharply and saw that the other party had opened with the deadliest move of the White Ape Fist, Angry Ape Pierces the Moon.

Chen Hao's hairs stood on end. In his haste, he twisted his body and raised an arm to block.

Bang!

A muffled impact rang out. A pain like shattered bone shot through Chen Hao's forearm. The other party's Blood Qi was denser and their force more penetrating, clearly surpassing his own.

He staggered backward, his gaze fixing at the same time on the attacker's face.

However, the person had black cloth covering their mouth, nose, and forehead, revealing only a pair of eyes. There was no way to tell who it was.

"Lu Feng!? Is that you!? How dare you..."

Chen Hao was both shocked and furious.

But before he could finish speaking, that person attacked again. Five fingers curved into iron claws and lunged for his throat, while the other hand remained hidden at their ribs, ready to change moves and strike his heart at any moment.

This is bad...

Panic rose in Chen Hao's heart.

He had only just condensed his first One-Incense Blood Qi. His realm was not yet stable, his Blood Qi was restless and difficult to control, and his strength had already been inferior to his opponent's.

Pressed by the other party's vicious and experienced assault, he immediately lost his composure.

He had intended to use White Ape Offers Fruit to block, but his Blood Qi failed to keep up, slowing his arm by half a beat.

Pfft!

The person's fist slipped cunningly through the gap and slammed heavily into Chen Hao's left shoulder.

Chen Hao's vision went black. His entire body was knocked off the ground and sent flying backward, his back smashing hard into an earthen wall as dust showered down.

Before he could catch his breath, the person had closed in like a shadow. One foot stomped onto his chest with such force that it nearly crushed his bones.

The person then reached into Chen Hao's clothes and tore out a bulging money pouch in one swift motion.

"Urgh... Give it back!"

Chen Hao's eyes nearly split apart as he struggled to get up.

The person suddenly exerted force with their foot. Two more sharp cracks of breaking bones sounded, and the pain made Chen Hao curl up on the ground, howling repeatedly.

Taking the opportunity, the person tucked the money pouch into their robes and vanished into the darkness at the other end of the alley in a few leaps.

"My money!!! I... Help... Help me..."

Chen Hao lay sprawled on the cold dirt, a piercing pain in his chest and left shoulder.

How could he still care about the dignity of a Martial Hall disciple? He immediately began screaming hysterically.

Whoosh—

He had barely cried out twice when a fierce wind suddenly swept past the back of his head.

It was another black shadow, as swift as a ghost, that abruptly shot past his side. It forcibly stirred up a small whirlwind, rolling up the dust on the ground before racing after the masked person in an instant.

"This... This is..."

Chen Hao's cries caught in his throat as he froze in place.

He barely managed to prop up his upper body, catching only the final afterimage of that figure.

Fast, far too fast!

So fast that even Chen Hao's eyes could barely follow it.

What startled him even more was that the outline of that figure, glimpsed in a flash, seemed strangely familiar.

An utterly impossible name suddenly sprang into his chaotic mind.

Chen Cheng?

No... Impossible!

Chen Hao shook his head violently, tugging at his wounds and making him bare his teeth in pain.

"Chen Cheng only entered Longshan Middle Academy not long ago. There's no way he could possess such speed... This, this is at least a powerhouse with two incense-sticks' worth of Blood Qi... Perhaps even more..."

"That must have been an expert with a build similar to Chen Cheng's... who happened to be passing nearby, heard me calling for help, and arrived in time to uphold justice... Or was it black eating black?"

Chen Hao collapsed back onto the ground, his chest heaving violently. His mind was in utter turmoil, more unbearable than the wounds on his body.