The Four Fiends of Ten Evils Manor? Take My Shadowless Kick First

After Gu Zixian mastered Dual Cultivation Manor's secret art, the manor's rules required her to enter the martial world and choose a suitable husband from among its people—one whose nature aligned with her secret art and who could cultivate the Dual Cultivation Method alongside her.

If she failed to find one within three years, she would have to settle for the next best thing and let the manor find a husband for her. When that time came, the choice would no longer be hers.

For this reason, she had traveled through the misty rain of Jiangnan and crossed the ancient roads of the Central Plains. She had met sons of noble clans and encountered outstanding talents of the martial world. Some were suave and charming, some heroic and extraordinary, and some gifted in both talent and learning.

Yet sadly, not one had stirred even the slightest response from her cultivation method.

It was as though that person remained somewhere at the edge of the world, still unseen.

When her travels brought her into Runan, she was targeted by an evildoer.

The man was Tan Yingshou, master of Ten Evils Manor and a notorious expert on the Black List. Coveting her beauty, he intended to capture her and force her to become his concubine.

She had tangled with him, exhausting every means at her disposal and even risking mutual destruction before barely managing to escape. Yet that old villain refused to let the matter rest, sending his wicked followers after her in relentless pursuit.

She fled all the way to Longmen. Then, in the restaurant by the ferry crossing, she saw him—

A monk.

Young and handsome, dressed in moon-white monk's robes, with features as beautiful as a painting, he was lowering his head over a bowl of vegetarian noodles.

In that instant, a painful memory surged through her heart. Those old memories of her mother, the things she did not wish to recall yet which had been branded into her heart like a scorching mark...

A dark anger filled her heart, and as if possessed, she walked over.

Yet when she sat across from him and spoke, the secret art she cultivated suddenly reacted.

She could hardly believe it, her eyes widening. The man she had searched for so desperately was actually a monk? Was fate playing a joke on her? Was she truly destined to follow in her mother's footsteps?

The response from her secret art was so intense that her mind fell into chaos. She should not remain here. She should not become entangled with this monk in any way. She absolutely could not follow in her mother's footsteps.

Instinctively, she wanted to stay far away from him.

But it was already too late. Her pursuers had arrived.

"Skullcrusher Hammer" Lei Hong, "Mad Dog" Fan Sheng, "Consumptive Ghost" Wu Ji, and "Soul-Chasing Lock" Cui San.

These four were infamous throughout the martial world, guilty of monstrous crimes.

"Skullcrusher Hammer" Lei Hong had once been an escort. Coveting a valuable shipment, he personally murdered his comrades from the escort agency. Since then, he had been hunted across seven provinces, killing countless people while on the run. No one knew how many souls had perished beneath his pair of octagonal copper hammers.

"Mad Dog" Fan Sheng had been abandoned as a child and grown up fighting wild dogs for food. Savage by nature, cruel and bloodthirsty, he had slaughtered passing merchant caravans in the mountains, never sparing man, woman, old, or young.

"Consumptive Ghost" Wu Ji had suffered from consumption since childhood, leaving him emaciated and skeletal. Subjected to the scorn of the world, his mind had gradually twisted. He hated all people and most enjoyed poisoning and brutally murdering others.

"Soul-Chasing Lock" Cui San had once been a guard for a wealthy household, but he embezzled a vast sum from his employer. To silence everyone, he set the entire estate ablaze. More than thirty people, from top to bottom, had perished without a single survivor.

All four had become outcasts in the martial world and were wanted by the authorities. That was why they had sought refuge with Ten Evils Manor and become Tan Yingshou's lackeys.

The moment the four stepped into the restaurant, their vicious aura cowed everyone inside. The diners sat silent as cicadas in winter, not daring to even breathe loudly, while the proprietor cowered behind the counter, pale as dirt.

The four stood shoulder to shoulder, blocking Zhu Yingxiong and Gu Zixian's path.

The leader was broad-backed and powerfully built, with a square face, a wide mouth, and heavy brows. A vicious old scar ran across his brow bone, making his gaze all the fiercer. He carried an octagonal copper hammer in his hand, clearly of considerable weight. Simply standing there, he radiated brutal ferocity.

He glanced at Zhu Yingxiong, grinned to reveal a mouthful of yellow teeth, and spoke with three parts mockery and seven parts threat.

"Little monk, I advise you to know what's good for you and stay out of this. This is private business for Ten Evils Manor. You're a man of the cloth—just eat your vegetarian meals and chant your sutras. Don't go looking for trouble."

Zhu Yingxiong looked at the four men before him, then glanced sideways at the beauty hiding behind him. He could not help but sigh inwardly.

It seems this trouble cannot be avoided.

As a Shaolin disciple and a member of the righteous Eight Schools Alliance, how could he stand by and watch a helpless woman be abducted by such villains? How could he continue to walk the martial world afterward?

"I am Yuan Zhen of Shaolin. If you leave now, I will let bygones be bygones," Zhu Yingxiong said.

The expressions of all four men changed at once. Their leader looked especially hesitant, clearly wary of his identity.

"So you are a disciple of Shaolin. A pleasure, a pleasure."

One of the four spoke. His complexion was waxen yellow, his cheeks hollow, and his eye sockets deeply sunken. He was thin and slightly hunched, looking sickly and frail.

As he spoke, he took several steps forward and cupped his fists, seemingly intending to offer Zhu Yingxiong a formal greeting.

"Be careful," Gu Zixian warned from behind him. This man was "Consumptive Ghost" Wu Ji, whose greatest specialty was taking advantage of others' inattention to poison them in secret.

In truth, she did not need to warn him. The moment that man stepped forward, Zhu Yingxiong had already become secretly alert. If he lacked even that much vigilance, there would be no point in walking the martial world.

Sure enough—

The moment Gu Zixian cried, "Be careful," a cloud of green smoke burst from Wu Ji's sleeve and spread toward Zhu Yingxiong's face!

The man's heart was twisted, and he felt only bone-deep hatred toward so-called righteous sects. Shaolin disciple? Great orthodox sect? In his eyes, they all deserved to die.

His first move was a killing technique, utterly without mercy.

Gu Zixian's heart jolted, and she was about to intervene.

Though thoughts of her own background had left her inexplicably annoyed at this little monk, she was ultimately kind at heart. She could not stand by and watch him die because of her.

But before she could act—

Zhu Yingxiong seemed to have anticipated it. The instant poison smoke poured from Wu Ji's sleeve, he held his breath and focused his mind, then fiercely swept his wide monk's sleeve!

A powerful gale, supple yet fierce, rose with a howl, rolling up the entire cloud of blue-green poison smoke and hurling it back at Wu Ji!

Wu Ji's face changed in shock, and he instinctively tried to retreat—

But his chest suddenly tightened!

Zhu Yingxiong's kick was so fast that it seemed to appear from thin air. Soundless and shadowless, it landed solidly before Wu Ji could even withdraw.

With a muffled bang, Wu Ji flew through the air like a ragged sack, sent more than a yard away.

From the sweep of his sleeve to the kick, it had taken no more than the blink of an eye. The leg technique was so swift that not only could Wu Ji not react, even the other three watching from the side saw only a blur before their companion was sent flying.

"You're courting death!" With a furious roar, the other three lunged at Zhu Yingxiong.

In truth, the instant "Consumptive Ghost" Wu Ji stepped forward to attack, the other three had known that there would be no peaceful resolution today.

But they had not expected this monk to look so young while striking so decisively and cleanly. He was clearly no easy opponent.

Now that they had made their move, there was no room left to turn back. They could only attack with everything they had and kill this little monk on the spot!