Instructor Li

On the rugged mountain path of White Tiger Ridge, "Pavilion Master Yang" led a group forward with utmost caution.

The horizon had already taken on the pale white of a fish's belly, gradually brightening. Before long, daylight would likely break in full.

Along the way, Instructor Li slipped away from the crowd, passed through the disciples, and suddenly sidled up to Wang Yuehu.

This move made Wang Yuehu's heart skip slightly. He wondered if this fellow had discovered his scheme, but then Li Yan mysteriously pulled him aside.

"Pavilion Master, may I have a word? Does the city yamen only begin issuing the silver after the Crimson Fire Bandits are wiped out?"

"Of course!"

The question left Wang Yuehu somewhat taken aback.

Though he sneered inwardly at the man for still thinking about wiping out the Crimson Fire Bandits, he nodded affirmatively.

"Then, Pavilion Master, could you advance me a bit of silver now?"

Having received a positive answer, Li Yan immediately understood. He rubbed his palms awkwardly, then carefully asked the question.

Ever since the Pavilion Master had returned earlier and stubbornly refused to go out, Li Yan had felt that his Pavilion Master's aura had become strangely more intimidating.

Even while speaking,

Li Yan feared that a careless word or gesture might provoke him.

Had he not lost a large sum of silver at a gambling house in the city some time ago, then been stopped by members of the Chen Family demanding repayment, dragging things out again and again, he likely would never have thought to turn to the Pavilion Master.

In a few days, the final deadline would arrive.

The Chen Family would send people to take one of his hands. If he still failed to repay them, they would take the other as well.

As an instructor of the Golden Rainbow Martial Arts School, he should not have feared such threats. Yet in Taixi City, the Chen Family, whose strength was already considerable, did not fear the school at all.

Seeing that Li Yan had held him up for so long, wasting such precious time over this matter, a trace of impatience appeared on Wang Yuehu's face.

If he missed the timing and Deputy Pavilion Master Xiang Shou, along with the other instructors, noticed something suspicious, all his efforts would have been in vain.

By then, even getting away would be difficult.

After all, he had publicly claimed to have entered the Fourth Realm Return to Hiding, but that was merely raising a banner to bluff and frighten people.

Only one's own family knew one's own affairs. Just Deputy Pavilion Master Xiang Shou alone—if he truly erupted—was likely more than Wang Yuehu could withstand.

"You need silver badly right now?"

A cold gleam flashed deep in Wang Yuehu's eyes, unknown to anyone else, as he smiled faintly.

That smile from his Pavilion Master made Li Yan's heart tighten, but he did not suspect anything and nodded firmly.

"Then come with me!"

Wang Yuehu's expression remained unchanged as he gave Xiang Shou beside him a brief instruction, then spoke to Li Yan and walked into the woods nearby.

Li Yan was instantly overjoyed upon hearing this, thinking that the Pavilion Master understood his troubles and was about to lift his worries from his shoulders.

This manner of handling things

seemed to be for the sake of preserving his dignity.

The Pavilion Master was such a good man!

Watching Pavilion Master Yang head deep into the forest, Li Yan was overwhelmed with emotion and eagerly scampered after him into the woods.

"Pavilion Master, are you going to give me silver?"

Li Yan burrowed into the forest and saw the Pavilion Master standing ahead, waiting for him. He suppressed the delight in his heart as he asked.

"Of course I'm giving you silver..."

Wang Yuehu looked kindly at Instructor Li before him, his expression gentle, a smile that was not quite a smile on his face.

Li Yan vaguely felt that today's Pavilion Master seemed somewhat off. That half-smiling expression made a chill rise in his heart without him realizing it.

Yet all of that vanished without a trace when the Pavilion Master drew five silver notes from his robes.

Li Yan accepted them joyfully, only to notice that the Pavilion Master had been staring at him all along.

He paid it no mind. He chuckled and tucked the banknotes into his robes, only to suddenly discover a tiny black spot at the tip of one finger.

Li Yan was puzzled. Thinking he had gotten some grime on himself, he rolled up his sleeve and wiped at it, but no matter how he rubbed, it would not come off.

The streak of black spread straight up his arm, like a disease clinging to the bone.

"This is..."

Li Yan looked toward the Pavilion Master, who had been watching him, and was about to speak when he discovered that his entire body had stiffened. Even his tongue had gone somewhat numb.

But then he saw the Pavilion Master's expression change, becoming colder and more sinister than ever before.

A fierce gust struck!

The Pavilion Master's five fingers, hard as steel, plunged directly into his chest, a savage glint flashing through his eyes.

An eerie red light glowed from those five fingers, and the countless streams of blood within Li Yan's body surged like rolling waves toward the wounds made by those fingertips.

Li Yan could not move at all. Feeling the icy chill spreading through his body, his eyes brimmed with terror.

He could not understand it, nor could he make sense of it.

He had merely wanted to ask the Pavilion Master for a small advance on his silver. How had it ended like this?

Yet Wang Yuehu could not even be bothered to answer Li Yan's question.

His five fingers were like starving venomous snakes. The blood vessels in their pads bulged and writhed as they absorbed Li Yan's blood and vitality bit by bit.

Having reached this point,

he no longer held himself to any restraint.

It was only somewhat regrettable that the two Night Watchers from the Suspended Sword Division had remained in the city without leaving.

Moreover, during their previous visit to the martial arts school, their casual glance at him had made him fear that they had become suspicious when he entered the school. Otherwise, he would never have left that base of operations.

After all,

while staying in Taixi City, fresh blood with vigorous vitality was all around him. Taking one or two occasionally was no great problem.

For example, that talented youngster from the Chen Family last time had been quite good, raising his cultivation by a substantial amount.

He had replaced Pavilion Master Yang for a long time now, and he had already grown accustomed to this identity.

As long as he remained vigilant in daily life, he could live quite happily.

Damn Night Watchers!

After draining all the blood and vitality from Li Yan's body, he felt the surging aura within himself grow several degrees stronger, and he was deeply satisfied.

A few more times—if he devoured more of this abundant, vigorous blood and vitality—then truly crossing into the Fourth Realm Return to Hiding might not be difficult at all.

Then he would no longer need to face those damn Third Realm martial cultivators.

Kicking the shriveled, cracked corpse into the lush forest, Wang Yuehu immediately turned and left, quickly catching up with the earlier group.

When others asked where Li Yan had gone, he said that Li Yan had gone ahead alone to scout the road.

However, Duan Hongfei in the group took slight notice of this explanation and felt that something seemed wrong.

Everyone in the martial arts school knew exactly what sort of person Li Yan was.

He was the very model of gluttony and laziness, drank as though wine were his life, and loved money. Expecting him to voluntarily go ahead and scout for information was nothing less than a fool's dream.

He looked at the Pavilion Master's back ahead of him, feeling an inexplicable sense of distance. Something seemed wrong, yet he could not tell what was wrong at all.