Second Brother and Eldest Brother

"Who are you people?"

"B-bandits."

"Bandits?"

Zhao Hong was slightly taken aback.

After a round of interrogation, he finally understood.

This area, spanning nearly three hundred li, was known as Clawfang Mountain. There were mountain villages nearby, as well as large numbers of vicious criminals and bandits entrenched here.

But recently, all of them had suffered heavy purges by the Judge's Office martial artists.

The Judge's Office martial artists had also suffered many casualties.

The bell on the young man's body did indeed belong to a Judge's Office martial artist.

They had taken it by killing its owner and erased the mark upon it.

"We encountered that Evil Skin Cult demon while fleeing. He helped us escape our pursuers and gave us a skin, telling us to hunt martial artists or demons and nourish it with their vital essence until it reached a level comparable to a Profound Embryo."

"At that time, he would come to collect the skin and lead us into the Evil Skin Cult."

Just like that wolfskin man.

But the outcome was somewhat different.

The three young men had not fused with the skin.

Profound Embryo.

After fusion, it could rival a Profound Embryo martial artist.

Hiss!

Zhao Hong glanced at the skin and secretly clicked his tongue.

"You dare join such a wicked cult?"

The moment the question left his mouth, Zhao Hong lightly shook his head.

They were all ruthless bandits. Why would they care about such things?

Wicked as it was, the skin could genuinely increase one's strength, and the effect was terrifying.

Though being skinned alive was agony beyond endurance, ending in a gruesome death.

But once one had fallen to such a state, death was death either way.

"Where is the Judge's Office?"

"I don't know."

"Hm?"

"I really don't know. I only know that about a hundred li west of here, there is a patrol outpost of the Judge's Office."

A hundred li west.

Zhao Hong looked toward the depths of the mountains. He was currently on the southeastern side of the Azure Cloud Mountains.

A hundred li.

He frowned to himself.

He had not encountered many unexpected incidents along the way.

But both of them had involved Evil Skin Cult demons.

According to the young man, this region was currently in chaos.

The Judge's Office was purging the area, bandits and vicious criminals were fleeing, and the Evil Skin Cult was involved as well.

The deeper he went, the more dangerous it would become.

His meager strength would be utterly insignificant.

But having come this far, he naturally could not give up so easily.

"It feels like the Evil Skin Cult is creating chaos to deal with the Judge's Office. Good lord, just how powerful are they to dare oppose the imperial court?"

Zhao Hong was secretly alarmed. He had only just begun his journey and knew very little about such matters.

After barely sorting through the information, he set it aside, interrogated them further about the area, and then began searching their bodies.

Nearly five hundred taels' worth of banknotes.

A martial art called the Entangling Silk Hand.

Zhao Hong skimmed through it before tossing it aside.

Its power was decent enough.

But compared to the Stele-Splitting Hand, it was completely outclassed.

"What is this?"

Zhao Hong fingered the jade bottle in his hand.

Inside were two bright red pills.

"Bloodforce Pills. They can strengthen one's force when beginning cultivation in the Bloodforce Realm," the young man answered everything he knew.

Zhao Hong was rather suspicious, but he tucked the jade bottle into his clothes.

The young man's heart tightened, unease filling him.

"Don't kill me."

"While I was fleeing, I hid over a thousand taels' worth of banknotes and some cultivation pills."

"Don't kill me. I'll take you there. Once you get the things, let me go and continue looking for your Judge's Office. It won't affect you in any way."

The young man looked pleadingly at Zhao Hong.

"They called you Third Brother."

Zhao Hong smiled. "Where are Eldest Brother and Second Brother?"

The young man's pupils shrank. He forced an ugly smile. "Eldest Brother and Second Brother died on the road."

Before his words had even faded, a large foot came crashing down from above.

"N-no, I—"

Crack!

The young man's neck was crushed to pulp. His head lolled to one side, and he died instantly.

Zhao Hong turned to the other two men.

"Where are your Eldest Brother and Second Brother?"

The two trembled like leaves, shivering in terror.

"I'll talk, I'll talk! Eldest Brother and Second Brother went out hunting."

"Judge's Office martial artists, other criminals, demons, powerful beasts—everything is prey. They've been out for more than a day already. They should... they should be coming back soon."

"Don't kill me, please don't kill me."

"Pah, coward. You think begging him will make him spare us?"

"You little bastard, even if I die, I'll curse you to a miserable death!"

One begged for mercy, while the other cursed viciously, as though he already knew he was doomed.

"What cultivation are they at?"

The bandit who had begged for mercy seemed to be jolted awake by his companion's words. Despair appeared on his face, and he sneered with bloodshot eyes. "I'm not telling you."

Zhao Hong sighed and, without another word, fulfilled both their wishes.

He sent them on their way to the underworld.

"Eldest Brother and Second Brother must be much stronger than this Third Brother."

"At the very least, they should be in the late Bloodforce Realm."

He could not beat them.

Even risking his life, he could not beat them.

Zhao Hong vigilantly swept his gaze over the surroundings before looking again at the skin hanging from the locust tree.

Forget it.

There was no point worrying about so much.

He leaped into the wilderness.

The shrubs in the distance rustled, and the wind seemed to roar faintly.

Zhao Hong's expression changed slightly. He quickly turned, hid beneath the trees along a steep slope at the edge, and curled himself up. In an instant, he observed the dragon and tiger within, and even his breathing vanished without a trace.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

Two figures, one before the other, darted toward the valley like agile leopards.

They carried several mangled corpses in their hands, while the bundles on their backs bulged full.

Before they approached, both stopped at once.

"There's a scent of blood. Fresh."

"Be careful."

The leading man looked rough and rugged, yet he was extremely cautious and keen. He drifted to the ground, his steps soundless.

The man behind him was a young man who appeared a few years older than Third Brother, his gaze sharp as a blade.

When they reached the edge of the valley, they saw the three corpses on the ground.

"Third Brother."

The rugged man's face darkened, grief appearing on it. "Damn it, what bastard did this?"

The two walked over, looked at the corpses, then at the skin on the locust tree, and both frowned.

"They died not long ago. The Jade Hide is still here, so the killer can't have gone far."

"I'll investigate."

The young man spoke slowly.

"Fine."

"Be careful."

Eldest Brother nodded slightly.

Second Brother turned and left.

Just then.

Eldest Brother suddenly struck.

His bent palm shot out like lightning, wrapped in suffocatingly violent force as it viciously clawed toward Second Brother's back.

"Since they're all dead, one more of you makes no difference. Better to nourish the Jade Hide to the Profound Embryo stage sooner."

Force raged through the forest.

Boom!

It was like metal clashing against metal, like thunder crashing through the air.

Winds of force scattered in every direction, shredding swathes of brush.

The two figures both staggered back in shock.

Second Brother had apparently anticipated it. In that lightning-fast instant, he twisted around and counterattacked.

"Eldest Brother, you truly harbored evil intentions."

Second Brother's gaze was ice-cold.

Eldest Brother's palm trembled slightly as he frowned. "You actually hid your strength."

Second Brother sighed. "What a pity. If you hadn't acted, you could have lived for quite some time yet."

"Who exactly are you?"

Second Brother's tone stirred a trace of unease within Eldest Brother.

Jingle!

A small silver bell abruptly appeared in Second Brother's hand and rang crisply.

"Zhou Baishan of the Judge's Office Silver Bell Guard."

"I originally infiltrated your group to wait for the Evil Skin Cult demon to show himself. Capturing him then would have been a great merit. I never expected you to be so impatient." Zhou Baishan lightly shook his head with a gloomy expression.

Third Brother's unexpected death.

Eldest Brother's impatient attack had completely disrupted his plans.

Still, it was understandable.

With more people, they could search for prey.

But now that everyone else was dead, only the two of them remained. On the surface, Eldest Brother was the strongest. Killing him and feeding him to the Jade Hide was only natural.

They were all bandits and vicious criminals who killed without blinking, wanted by the imperial court beyond these mountains. Which one of them was not ruthless?

"You damned lackey!" Eldest Brother's face was filled with fury at having been deceived and toyed with.