"State your name."
"I don't kill nameless nobodies."
Lang Tu raised the axe in his hand and pointed it straight at the middle-aged man in the distance.
"Me..."
"My name is... Xie Approaching the Abyss."
"A fine name."
"Since you can't wait, I'll send you down below."
Lang Tu's tone was icy, the corners of his mouth lifting slightly.
The next moment, he moved.
There was nothing aggressive about his movement. He merely lifted the axe in his right claw from his side and held it across his chest, its blade facing outward, with his left hand resting on the back of the axe.
It was an utterly standard defensive opening stance, yet when he adopted it, it carried the oppressive air of a wild beast about to pounce on its prey.
His dark green, slit-pupiled eyes locked onto every detail of Xie Approaching the Abyss.
His pupils continually contracted and dilated, like two dark green crystals adjusting their focus.
Xie Approaching the Abyss took all of this in.
He gently pointed forward with his right index finger, and the wisp of inky light at his fingertip condensed into a tiny character in midair.
The character was only the size of a fingernail, its strokes rounded and restrained. It was an Observing Character.
The instant the Observing Character took shape, an extremely faint halo of inky light appeared deep within his pupils.
The halo slowly rotated across his retinas, bringing the paths of the killing intent flowing around Lang Tu, the tension in his muscles, and even the rhythm of the blood pulsing through his meridians into his field of vision.
Lang Tu's dark green pupils abruptly contracted.
He sensed an exceedingly subtle scrutiny.
It was as though an invisible thread had gently settled against the surface of his body