Big Brother! Virtuous Brother!

"Big Brother, why does this bronze stone door feel to me exactly the same as the private-room door at our Vermilion Bird Tower?"

Yang Xiao voiced the doubt in his heart.

"Worthy brother, to tell the truth, when I first came here with the helmsman, I had the same doubt."

"The helmsman once said that in this world, those capable of using Mystic Black Stone to craft soundproof doors and secret chambers number only the Heavenly Crafts Pavilion."

Zhang Long did not think too much of it either, and spoke with a sigh of feeling.

"The Heavenly Crafts Pavilion?"

Yang Xiao was instantly taken aback.

"The Heavenly Crafts Pavilion is an ancient sect, famed throughout the world for its secret arts of mechanisms. However, this sect is rather mysterious, not something you or I are able to come into contact with."

Zhang Long gave a wry laugh, took the token from his waist, and gently placed it into the groove in the bronze stone door.

Whoosh~

The bronze stone door slowly opened.

A huge, ferocious beast, half wolf and half tiger, was locked inside a thick iron cage. It crouched on the ground, coldly staring at Zhang Long and Yang Xiao as they approached.

"So this is the Tiger-Wolf?"

Sensing the terrifying aura of the fierce beast rushing into his face, Yang Xiao's heart tightened, and he immediately felt an intense sense of danger.

Yang Xiao even had the illusion that this Tiger-Wolf seemed to look down on Zhang Long; within its beastly eyes, there was the faint hint of mockery.

"Worthy brother, after you go out, remove the token at once, and the bronze stone door will close on its own."

"For the next few days, wait by the door."

"Once I have refined all the flesh and blood of this Tiger-Wolf, I will shout three times."

"When that moment comes, you must promptly bring in the secret medicine from the jade box. Remember this, remember it well!"

Zhang Long's tone was filled with gravity.

"Rest assured, Big Brother. Unless I, Zhao Hu, die, anyone who wants to break through this bronze stone door will have to step over my corpse first!"

Yang Xiao nodded excitedly, pointed at the heavens, and said, "If I violate this oath, may my entire family, Zhao Hu's family, die out, and may all nine clans be annihilated!"

Good brother!

Zhang Long's eyes grew hot. Forcing back his moved tears, he clapped Yang Xiao heavily on the shoulder.

"Worthy brother, rest assured. Once Big Brother succeeds in exchanging blood, we'll kill Yang Xiao first. When that time comes, the things in that treasure map will be split evenly between us brothers. I definitely won't disappoint you!"

Big Brother!

Worthy brother!

At once, two great hands of friendship clasped tightly together.

A moment later...

Yang Xiao left the secret chamber and removed the waist token.

Boom!

The bronze stone door slowly closed.

Inside the secret chamber.

The tears in Zhang Long's eyes vanished completely, and his gaze turned sharp in an instant.

"Old Zhao, don't blame Big Brother."

"Big Brother doesn't want to kill you either, but you know too many secrets. If you live and leak the secret of the treasure map, how could Big Brother be at ease?"

"And besides..."

Zhang Long turned back, looking at the Tiger-Wolf in the iron cage, a trace of sadness flashing through his eyes.

"For the jade box and that blood-exchange secret medicine, and to receive the Heavenly Master's blessing, my Zhang family has long since exhausted its wealth. There is no spare money left."

"This Tiger-Wolf, in truth, was not something I could possess either—it was only after I slaughtered over a hundred members of the Zhang family and fed their flesh and blood to this Tiger-Wolf that I won the helmsman's support."

"But even so, if I want this Tiger-Wolf to be willing to cut off its flesh and blood for me and help me succeed in exchanging blood—relying only on the flesh and blood of those ordinary people of my Zhang family is naturally not enough."

"Worthy brother, you are at the Iron Skin realm, not far from exchanging blood, and the qi and blood throughout your body are boiling. If I can feed you to the Tiger-Wolf, that would naturally be excellent..."

After murmuring a few words in a low voice that only he himself could hear, Zhang Long sighed softly. "But there's no hurry about this matter."

"Worthy brother, Big Brother will let you live a little longer."

"Once Big Brother has prepared everything, when you bring the secret medicine inside..."

Outside the bronze stone door.

Through the Spirit Cicada Transformation, Yang Xiao had "painted" Zhang Long's words, as well as the subtle expressions on his face, into his mind without missing the slightest detail.

Yang Xiao looked at the jade box in his hand and could not help sighing.

"Big Brother, your little brother originally still had a bit of a guilty conscience. I felt that swiping your secret blood-exchange medicine like this was really too rotten of me."

"But since you're so ruthless, Big Brother, then your little brother naturally has to uphold justice on behalf of Heaven, lest you succeed in exchanging your blood and go on to plague the common people."

With that, Yang Xiao snatched up the jade box, turned, and left without looking back.

In any case, I'm not Zhao Hu. What does that oath have to do with me, Yang Xiao?

As for breaking into the secret chamber and killing Zhang Long?

It was not as if Yang Xiao had not considered it.

But after weighing it carefully, Yang Xiao ultimately chose to give up.

The main reason was that the Tiger-Wolf's qi and blood were far too vigorous, and the sense of danger it gave Yang Xiao was far too intense.

Yang Xiao did not want to take that risk!

Without the secret medicine, Zhang Long was the same as a paper tiger with its teeth pulled, nothing to worry about at all.

Wait!

Yang Xiao's heart suddenly stirred. He turned back to the bronze stone door again, not in any hurry to leave, and instead tried to "look" at Zhang Long inside the secret chamber.

Inside the secret chamber.

Zhang Long knelt on the ground and kowtowed respectfully:

"Senior Blood Wolf, this junior wishes to cut off a piece of your flesh and blood to prepare for the blood exchange. I ask for your permission."

The entire place was deathly silent.

Inside the iron cage.

The enormous Tiger-Wolf lay on the ground, coldly looking down at Zhang Long, its gaze indifferent and disdainful.

"Please rest assured, Senior. After this junior draws your blood and cuts your flesh, I will offer up that iron-skinned youth outside the door, so that you may replenish your flesh and blood."

"After this junior succeeds in the blood exchange, I will follow the rules and, within the next year, kill a First Blood expert for you and bring them here for you to devour."

"I ask Senior to grant this junior's wish!"

Thud!

Zhang Long kowtowed respectfully, his voice trembling.

The Tiger-Wolf still made no sound and slowly closed its eyes.

That terrifying sense of life and death that had made Zhang Long's whole body turn cold vanished without a trace in an instant.

Zhang Long let out a breath, understanding that the Tiger-Wolf had tacitly agreed and would not reject him going forward to cut flesh and draw blood.

"Senior, forgive the offense."

Zhang Long picked up a sharp dagger and quickly walked toward the Tiger-Wolf.

Outside the bronze stone door.

Yang Xiao paid no attention to Blood Wolf. His "gaze" stared fixedly at Zhang Long.

"Could it be that using Spirit Cicada Transformation to spy on Zhang Long through a door, watching his aura to steal his technique, doesn't work?"

"Or is it that Zhang Long hasn't stepped into First Blood, and his cultivation is too low, so I can't observe his qi?"

Yang Xiao was just about to give up when his pupils suddenly shrank.

He saw that above Zhang Long's head, a faint strand of invisible, colorless qi mechanism was slowly taking shape.

The next instant, Yang Xiao's vision blurred, and he immediately "entered a dream."

"Ah Long, though my Zhang family is only a small family of Qingzhou, a martial dao grandmaster was once born among our ancestors."

"Unfortunately, a thousand long years have passed in the snap of a finger. Each generation of my Zhang family has been worse than the last, and no one has been able to master the Shadowless Divine Skill passed down by our forebears."

"Since you have gained some insight into this skill, then from today onward, this old man shall formally pass it to you. I hope you cultivate it well and restore the glory of my Zhang family's name..."

Inside the secret chamber of Qingzhou's Zhang family, an old man completely shrouded in a black robe spoke solemnly in a hoarse voice.

"Rest assured, Ancestor. Ah Long will not fail your trust. I will restore the Zhang family!"

Zhang Long's face was full of excitement as he accepted the tattered bamboo slips with both hands.

The scene shifted again.

In the blink of an eye, ten years passed...

Relying on decent aptitude and bones, along with his compatibility with the "Shadowless Divine Skill," Zhang Long finally succeeded in cultivating the Shadowless Divine Skill.

But because this was only a fragmentary scroll and the circulation was incomplete, Zhang Long called this skill—the Shadowless Skill!

The scene spun again.

In the "dream," Yang Xiao seemed to become Zhang Long, using the Shadowless Skill as cover while constantly killing people and seizing wealth in the dark of night, his strength increasing rapidly.

And every time Zhang Long committed evil, there would be a youth keeping watch nearby. This person was shockingly—Zhao Hu.

The scene ended there.

Yang Xiao slowly woke from his "dream."

"Although I used today's Qi-Observing Stealing Technique on trash like Zhang Long, whose realm is so low, this incomplete Shadowless Divine Skill does have its merits."

"The reason this skill's requirements are so harsh, demanding one blood exchange before you can move slowly through shadows, is because martial artists who haven't exchanged blood have bodies that aren't strong enough to withstand the skill's side effects."

"But for me, that isn't a problem."

With a thought from Yang Xiao, his figure abruptly vanished from where he stood.

In truth, however, Yang Xiao had not turned invisible. He had merely hidden himself within the shadows, where others could neither see nor even sense him.

"With this skill paired with the Thousand Illusion Dagger, if I keep my head down and develop quietly, I'll have added quite a bit more capital to my hand!"

Yang Xiao was in high spirits. He felt the Qi-Observing Stealing Technique had been worth it, and turned to leave.

But in that very instant—

Yang Xiao's eyelids began twitching wildly, and every hair on his body stood on end...