Strongman

Under the moonlight.

In the cloth shop's large courtyard.

A burly giant of a man, nine feet tall and built like an iron tower, was looking down from above, coldly overlooking Yang Xiao.

More precisely, he was overlooking the man Yang Xiao was impersonating—Boss Zhao!

Yang Xiao turned back and lifted his head to look up.

Seeing that the burly man was dark all over, yet no qi appeared above his head, Yang Xiao was instantly taken aback.

"There was no qi above the old man guarding the pavilion, nor did that faceless woman have any. Why is there also no qi above this man's head?"

The more Yang Xiao thought about it, the less he understood, and he faintly felt something was wrong.

But the feeling this burly man gave Yang Xiao was one of extreme danger!

"Who art thou?"

The burly man looked down at Yang Xiao, his gaze wooden and hollow, his tone icy-cold, without the slightest trace of emotion.

"I am Zhao Hu. Greetings, strong warrior!"

Yang Xiao's mind raced as he searched for a countermeasure, but on the surface he remained perfectly calm, cupping his fists as he spoke.

"Where is the token?"

The burly man continued woodenly.

"Token?"

Yang Xiao was stunned.

"Die!"

The burly man suddenly clenched his fist and smashed it viciously toward Yang Xiao.

Boom!

In an instant, Yang Xiao was sent flying backward, pain tearing through his whole body.

"This place is probably an important stronghold of the Peace Sect. I barged in recklessly—this man is definitely going to kill me to silence me!"

Watching the towering burly man stride toward him, Yang Xiao could not help feeling bitter inside.

Outside the cloth shop, patrol soldiers were everywhere in the streets and alleys.

In the empty sky above the western city, the phantom of the Red Cloud Giant Wolf was also holding watch!

As long as Yang Xiao dared go out, he would be instantly killed!

Yet if he continued to stay inside the cloth shop, the burly man before him was absolutely not someone Yang Xiao could withstand!

What was he supposed to do now?!

Yang Xiao's mind spun rapidly. He was just about to activate the Azure Cloud Sword Art, intending to stake everything on a desperate fight!

But just then...

The well cover at the foot of the courtyard wall was suddenly lifted.

A figure climbed out of the well.

"Old Zhao, why are you only here now?"

The man fixed his eyes on him and was instantly taken aback. Then he hurriedly said:

"Senior Li San, Brother Zhao Hu is one of us. Please show mercy."

At that moment, the burly man had already raised his fist again, a faint golden glow covering it, and it looked like he was about to smash Yang Xiao to pieces with a single punch.

Hearing the words of the person behind him, the burly man still did not stop. He continued gathering his strength, about to unleash a thunderous strike.

Zhang Long froze, then abruptly came to his senses. He immediately took out the token at his waist, raised it high, and shouted angrily, "Stop!"

In an instant, the burly man's fist halted, and he slowly turned his head.

After sweeping a glance over the token in Zhang Long's hand, the burly man finally withdrew all the strength in his body, then turned and walked away without looking back.

"Old Zhao, what are you still standing there for? Hurry up and get over here!"

Zhang Long put away the token and hurried to Yang Xiao's side, lowering his voice:

"Senior Li San is a special envoy sent by the main altar. He has already cultivated into a Yellow Turban Warrior, and his temper is extremely strange. He only recognizes tokens, not people."

So this man was the Peace Sect's Yellow Turban Warrior?

Looking at that burly giant as he walked to the foot of the courtyard wall and merged with the shadows, until there was no oddity to be seen at all, Yang Xiao's heart stirred, and he instantly activated the Spirit Cicada Transformation.

In an instant, every stir of wind and grass within a hundred zhang of the cloth shop's rear courtyard transformed into a vivid, multicolored moving scroll, appearing clearly in Yang Xiao's mind.

"This... how is this possible?"

With just one "look," Yang Xiao's pupils instantly shrank, and stormy waves surged through his heart.

At this moment, in Yang Xiao's mind.

In the shadow at the foot of the courtyard wall within that scroll—where was there any human figure?

Only one massive skeleton stood there, silently looming in the corner.

The skeleton was extraordinarily sturdy, its entire body hung with dense, countless, pitch-black, bizarre flesh and blood of unknown origin.

But that flesh and blood was wreathed in faint black light, moving and writhing through the tough skin covering the white bones like black maggots.

Waves of nauseating stench of blood spread from that flesh and blood, yet were bound inside the tough skin; from the outside, there was no way to detect it at all.

"No wonder I couldn't see the qi above Li San's head. So he—wasn't a person at all!"

Yang Xiao's scalp tingled, and he suddenly had the urge to climb over the wall and flee.

But it was already curfew. There was nowhere to run!

Wait!

Through the Spirit Cicada Transformation, Yang Xiao suddenly "saw" again.

At the giant Li San's feet, there were actually two black threads almost invisible to the naked eye.

The black threads stretched all the way to the area near the well, seeping into a cellar hidden deep underground.

Inside the cellar, a strange old hunchbacked, short man was lying on a wooden couch, driving himself on.

A woman's desperate, terrified sobs rose from the wooden couch.

Only, the cellar was airtight, and no sound could get out.

The louder the woman cried, the more excited the strange old man became.

All around the cellar, indistinct flesh and blood lay scattered in a chaotic mess, no longer human in shape.

Amid the flesh and blood, a woman's skirt hem and fragments of vermilion hairpins could faintly be seen, scattered all over the ground.

On a wooden post to the side, a little girl was tied up as well, unconscious and insensible.

"Isn't that the little granddaughter of Old Liu, the one who sells soup dumplings near the little courtyard where I live? Damn it!"

When he "saw" the little girl's features clearly, Yang Xiao's mind went buzz, and instantly exploded.

Calm down, calm down!

Seeing suspicion in Zhang Long's eyes, Yang Xiao jolted, forced down the fury in his heart, and made himself calm down by sheer will.

"I may not be any kind of good person, and all I want is to keep a low profile and scrape by in this chaotic world, but I really can't stand the filthy business these Peace Sect animals are up to!"

Yang Xiao lowered his head, killing intent flashing through his eyes and vanishing in an instant.

But when Yang Xiao raised his head, his face was already piled with smiles.

"Brother Zhang, if it weren't for you today, this little brother would probably have kicked the bucket."

"As they say, great kindness can't be repaid with thanks alone. Tomorrow night at Red Sleeve Pavilion, this little brother will treat you to wine. Brother Zhang, you absolutely have to come."

"Old Zhao, what's there to be polite about between us?" Zhang Long's eyes lit up, and he swallowed, clearly tempted.

But Zhang Long quickly calmed down, lifted his head to look at the sky packed with black clouds, and could not help sighing.

"Old Zhao, we'll talk about Red Sleeve Pavilion later. I have to exchange blood tonight. I don't trust anyone else, so I'm entrusting it to you, brother!"

After saying this, Zhang Long swept away his former unruliness and aloofness, and solemnly gave Yang Xiao a deep bow.

"Big Brother, you're too polite. We're brothers. It's only right, only right."

Yang Xiao looked open and forthright, and hurriedly helped Zhang Long up.

In truth, Yang Xiao had no idea at all what Zhang Long wanted him to do.

But did that matter?

All along, Yang Xiao had long held many doubts about blood exchange.

Even after spending the entire day reading bamboo slips in the Scripture Pavilion, Yang Xiao still discovered that many key things were described very vaguely on the bamboo slips, not clearly at all.

Now that Zhang Long planned to exchange blood, Yang Xiao, wearing Boss Zhao's identity and impersonating Zhao Hu, could just take the opportunity to glimpse the mystery and see where the problem lay, couldn't he?

"Big Brother, Senior Li San is right there. This place is as solid as a golden fortress. You probably don't need this little brother, do you?"

Seeing Zhang Long lead him toward the ancient well in the corner of the courtyard, Yang Xiao probed.

"Could it be that my worthy brother has forgotten the Sacred Pool isn't in this place?"

Zhang Long froze, faintly feeling that today's "Zhao Hu" seemed a little off.

But Zhang Long clearly could never have dreamed that the real Zhao Hu had died long ago, and the person before him was an impostor.

As Zhang Long climbed down the ladder inside the ancient well, he explained, "Worthy brother, this ancient well leads to the Sacred Pool. It's said that tonight, the Great Sage Teacher will also come in person."

"I have joined the Holy Sect for so many years. If not for this lucky coincidence, just when I happened to be nearing blood exchange, even I would not be fated to behold his heavenly countenance."

The more Zhang Long spoke, the more excited he became.

Yet he was completely unaware that though Yang Xiao appeared composed and calm, his heart seemed to have plunged into an ice cellar, endless cold rising within it...