Xia Xiaojiu's Invitation

"Impudent! Do you know that I am Elder Liu Dao's personal disciple? I came bearing the elder's decree—how dare you disobey?" Feng Chuan shouted coldly, pointing at Su Hao with overbearing arrogance.

Whoosh!

Su Hao suddenly turned around. His blood-red eyes held not a shred of human emotion as he said coldly, "I've already killed one at the sixth layer of Qi Condensation. Do you want to die too?"

Hiss!

The people around them sucked in cold breaths, their shock reaching an unsurpassable extreme. Feng Chuan had come bearing an elder's decree, yet Su Hao still dared to rebuke him like this. His audacity truly pierced the heavens.

He had gone mad. This kid had gone mad!

That was what everyone thought.

"Bold! A newly inducted disciple dares speak to me like this? When the elder arrives, be careful he doesn't make you die without a proper burial." Feng Chuan shouted coldly. As Elder Liu Dao's designated messenger, whenever he appeared, many people immediately knelt to welcome him. When had anyone ever dared act like Su Hao—not only giving him no face at all, but even shouting about killing him?

His fury surged to the heavens. As his chest heaved, it seemed as though a volcano were about to erupt.

Su Hao's gaze remained grim and cold. The next moment, he took a great stride forward, and a violent gale surged ahead of him. Carrying the tyranny and savagery of a demon king, he charged straight at Feng Chuan.

The terrifying pressure and rampant aura made Feng Chuan immediately retreat. Beneath his furious outrage lay endless horror—the youth before him gave him such a terrifying feeling.

"Get lost!"

Su Hao approached and spat out the single word coldly.

Feng Chuan's face flushed crimson with humiliation, but the fear in his heart eclipsed everything else. He did not dare say another word. When Su Hao took another step forward, he immediately fled.

He ran away in utter disgrace.

Su Hao turned around and headed straight down the mountain.

The surrounding disciples stared at his departing back in boundless shock. A newly admitted disciple of the East Gate had been so domineering and arrogant, entering the North Gate, killing several people, and leaving just like that.

This matter would swiftly spread throughout the Spirit Creek Sect, stirring up a raging storm. Before long, no one would fail to know Su Hao's name.

Su Hao strode down the narrow mountain path and entered the menial workers' district. That large black dog, vicious and ferocious in appearance, seemed to sense the lingering bloodlust and killing intent on him. It instinctively circled around him at once, no longer daring to bark.

"Looks like you got your revenge." Xia Xiaojiu looked at the returning Su Hao, a flicker of surprise passing through his eyes before he swiftly concealed it.

"If someone touches my brother, I won't leave him a way to live. Forget an elder's registered disciple—even if it were the King of Heaven himself, even if I die, I'll drag him down to hell with me!"

Su Hao sneered.

Xia Xiaojiu led him into a crude stone room. This was also part of the menial workers' living quarters, not much different from the thatched hut where Su Hao had lived at the East Gate.

Lin Yaoyao lay on the bed, still unconscious. Green medicinal herb juice had been applied to his wounds, speeding up their healing.

"Thank you."

Su Hao glanced at Xia Xiaojiu and said gratefully.

With the Devil Master's inheritance, Su Hao recognized those herbs at a glance. They were fourth-grade spirit herbs, likely gathered by Xia Xiaojiu in the mountains.

"No need. This big fellow has a special constitution and an extremely strong ability to heal himself. Even his severed meridians and ruined dantian have shown traces of recovery. If you can ask Elder Danyangzi to act, he can be saved."

Xia Xiaojiu smiled.

Just then, the door was pushed open, and a menial worker entered carrying food.

"Ninth Master, your meal is ready." He spoke with trembling apprehension. Especially when Xia Xiaojiu reached out with his left hand, clad in a green leather glove, to take the meal, the worker shuddered and nearly fell to the floor.

"What are you afraid of? I'm not going to kill you. My hand only kills those who deserve to die," Xia Xiaojiu said evenly.

"Yes."

The menial worker nodded at once, but still hurriedly retreated outside.

"Nine Nether Hand is an evil art. Any ordinary person who so much as glances at it will feel a cold, sinister chill rising from within. And in my view, your Nine Nether Hand technique is incomplete. Moreover, you've gone down the wrong path in cultivating it. If you continue like this, not only will you fail to grow stronger—you will likely become crippled, or turn into a Demonic Beast that is neither human nor ghost."

Su Hao suddenly spoke.

Xia Xiaojiu, who had been about to eat, froze. He set down his chopsticks and gave Su Hao a strange look. "You know of the Nine Nether Hand too? Then why do you dare come near me? Aren't you afraid I'll devour you? Those who cultivate the Nine Nether Hand are bloodthirsty by nature. They're all afraid of me, including those self-righteous immortals up on the mountain."

"I'm not an ordinary person." Su Hao smiled faintly. "Besides, I possess the complete cultivation method for the Nine Nether Hand. I can even resolve its flaws."

The surprise in Xia Xiaojiu's eyes deepened. He stared fixedly at Su Hao, then removed the green leather glove from his left hand, revealing a palm that had rotted away over half its surface, with ghastly white bones visible beneath.

At the sight of such a hand, anyone would be instantly horrified, their scalp going numb.

"It's even worse than I imagined. You're already terminally ill. If you keep cultivating according to your method, you'll be meeting the King of Hell within three months."

"Then hurry up and bring out your method so I can save myself. If someone as kind and handsome as me dies, you'll definitely be short one brother in this sect."

"How do you know I'm not lying to you? And that I'll definitely give it to you?"

"Since you brought it up, you naturally have confidence in it," Xia Xiaojiu said as if it were only natural.

Su Hao smiled, took out a jade slip, and sent out a strand of divine soul that formed lines of profound information within it.

Then he flicked his wrist and tossed it to Xia Xiaojiu.

Xia Xiaojiu pressed the jade slip to his brow, and the information flowed into his mind. As he absorbed it, his expression gradually changed, until he was utterly stunned.

Su Hao's jade slip contained the complete cultivation method for the Nine Nether Hand. Moreover, if cultivated according to this method, the so-called flaws of the technique would gradually dissipate.

It would not cause the body the slightest harm.

Most importantly, the jade slip Su Hao had handed over also contained a profound cultivation art that complemented the cultivation of the Nine Nether Hand perfectly.

Only by cultivating according to this technique could the Nine Nether Hand be refined to great completion, truly condensing Nine Nether Underworld Qi and earning the name Hand of Death.

Xia Xiaojiu cast Su Hao a grateful look, then suddenly smiled. "Since you helped me, I naturally won't treat you poorly. Once you've settled your brother's matter, I'll take you somewhere that'll leave you utterly stunned! The treatment there is countless times better than that of those so-called immortal disciples."

"I hope so."

Su Hao replied simply.

He closed his eyes and quietly immersed himself in cultivation. A day passed. Early the next morning, before the sky had fully brightened, Su Hao climbed the mountain again and headed straight for Danyang Hall.

Danyang Hall was also within the North Gate. Danyangzi was considered an elder of the North Gate.

Su Hao had slain a North Gate disciple and trampled an elder's prestige. Now that he had come here to seek medicinal pills, the road ahead was clearly fraught with difficulties.