This Dog Must Not Be Spared!

The dog's behavior really put Jiang Feng in a bind.

He wished the creature would act like the others had earlier—fiercer, with a little more fight in it. Then he could bring his blade down without a shred of guilt.

But seeing it like this, he found himself reluctant to do it.

After a moment's thought, Jiang Feng suddenly came up with an idea.

He crouched down and smiled at the skinny dog before him, then spoke unhurriedly:

"Since you've been so well-behaved, I'll give you a chance to live.

"From today on, your name is Mute.

"As long as you don't bark, you can keep on living. But if you make even one sound, I'll butcher you and stew you for meat.

"If you don't say anything, I'll take that as agreement."

His idea was simple: what dog didn't bark? He was just looking for an excuse to feel justified when he brought his blade down.

But as soon as he finished speaking, the skinny dog in front of him actually stayed silent. Not only did it keep its mouth shut, it even nodded at him.

Jiang Feng's heart gave a sudden leap, and the smile in his eyes froze.

Could this dog really understand people?

There weren't only evil spirits in this world. There were demons, too.

The way this creature was behaving, it was practically on the verge of becoming a spirit.

The trace of amusement in his eyes slowly faded, replaced by a hint of danger. This dog must not be spared!

Maybe he should just kill it. What if it really became a spirit? That would be a disaster.

Just as Jiang Feng was about to finish it off without hesitation, the skinny dog suddenly got up and ran into the distance.

After a few steps, it stopped and looked back at Jiang Feng. Its mouth remained tightly shut, as if it had firmly remembered his warning.

Jiang Feng raised an eyebrow. "Is it leading me somewhere?"

After a brief hesitation, he put away his blade for now and decided to spare the dog's life until he saw where it was going.

The skinny dog led him on a winding path to a small hut piled high with odds and ends.

The hut was nothing like the three imposing main houses. It was so decrepit it looked as if it had been abandoned for years; a gust of wind could have sent it toppling, and the clutter inside was piled haphazardly everywhere.

But the moment Jiang Feng stepped inside, he sensed that something was off.

The clutter looked chaotic, but it didn't seem to have been carelessly discarded. It looked deliberately arranged to conceal something.

He moved the clutter aside, then swept away the thatch covering the floor. A locked trapdoor to a cellar came into view.

Jiang Feng's eyes lit up, and a smile finally tugged at his lips.

"No wonder I couldn't find anything earlier. Looks like the Sun Family's good stuff is probably all hidden down there."

He turned to look at the skinny dog.

Mute sat on the ground, panting silently at him with a fawning look, its tail sweeping back and forth over the floor.

In a good mood, Jiang Feng casually tossed out, "Mute, good work. I'll give you credit for this. Tonight, I'll treat you to a dog-meat hotpot."

Whether the dog understood him or not, he swung the Ghost-Head Blade and cleaved through the cellar's iron lock in one blow.

He lifted the trapdoor and peered down. A faint glimmer of light shone from below.

Jiang Feng didn't hesitate and climbed down the ladder.

When he reached the cellar, the space opened up before him.

At the same time, a thick, almost choking cloud of face powder hit him, making Jiang Feng frown.

This was no ordinary earthen cellar for storing a farming family's grain. The walls had been carefully smoothed, and there was a bed, a table, and a cabinet—everything needed for daily life. It was spacious enough for someone to live in.

Yet scattered all around were still piles of gaudy women's clothes, messily heaped in the corners by the bed and under the table. That cheap, powdery scent filled the whole place.

Jiang Feng was utterly speechless. "Just how pent-up were these three brothers? Visiting brothels wasn't enough for them—they had to develop a collecting habit, too?"

He patiently searched through the place for a good while before finally dragging a large, tightly sealed black wooden chest out of a corner.

Jiang Feng's heart tightened. The Sun Brothers' entire fortune was probably in here.

He violently hacked open the lock with his blade and lifted the lid. A flash of silver dazzled his eyes.

He made a rough estimate: about a hundred taels. That was quite a fortune in Black Water Town; even in Ping'an County, it would be enough to buy a respectable home.

It was the first time he had ever seen so much silver, and he couldn't help taking another look, but he wasn't overly impressed.

What he wanted more was a martial art.

In this world, strength was the foundation. If you weren't strong enough, you couldn't hold on to your wealth.

Sun Bowei's peerless archery and the body-tempering martial art that made skin as hard as iron were what he needed most right now.

He pushed the silver aside layer by layer and, sure enough, found a hidden compartment at the bottom of the chest. He carefully pried it open. Inside lay a thin booklet.

The paper was rough, and the handwriting crooked. It was clearly not the original, but looked more like a barely literate old farmer had hurriedly copied it by eye.

Three crooked characters were written on the cover: Golden Armor Technique.

"This is the Sun Family's heirloom martial art?"

Jiang Feng searched through the chest again but didn't find another book. He couldn't help feeling a little disappointed. "What a shame. I actually liked that archery technique."

But then he thought about it: something was better than nothing.

Eager to learn, Jiang Feng picked up the booklet and was about to read it when he caught the faintest sound by his ear, as if something had shifted ever so slightly in the dark.

Jiang Feng's expression turned icy. He drew the Ghost-Head Blade in a flash and swept a sharp gaze toward the sound, barking, "Who's there? Quit skulking around and get out here!"

His shout echoed back and forth through the sealed cellar several times, but no one answered.

He was certain he hadn't imagined it. There was definitely someone else in the cellar.

Following the sound to the darkest corner, he discovered an inconspicuous little iron door embedded in the wall. It had a lock hanging from it and was clearly the entrance to a hidden room meant to hold someone captive.

Jiang Feng peered through the gap above the little door and into the room.

It was pitch-black inside. With only the faint light seeping in from outside, he could just make out a figure curled up in the corner.

"Who are you?" Jiang Feng asked in a low voice.

The room remained silent. There was no answer.

A cold glint flashed in Jiang Feng's eyes, and his voice turned sterner, carrying undisguised murderous intent.

"I'm warning you, I have limited patience. If you don't answer, you may never get another chance to speak."

As soon as he finished speaking, the dark shape in the corner shuddered violently.

Then a delicate, alluring voice drifted timidly out of the darkness, laced with fear and entreaty.

"Please... My lord, don't be angry. I... I was just so frightened. Please wait a moment. I'll come out now."

The voice was clear and soft, like a feather lightly tickling the heart. It was impossible to say how enticing it sounded.

Jiang Feng gripped the hilt of his blade without showing it.

The next moment, the curled-up figure slowly stood and walked up to the iron door.

In the faint candlelight behind her, her face was revealed to Jiang Feng without anything to hide it.

Her features were strikingly beautiful: brows green without makeup, lips red without rouge. The corners of her peach-blossom eyes tilted slightly upward, and they shimmered with a natural, bewitching allure. When she looked at someone, it was as if her gaze had hooks in it.

Her nose was high-bridged, her lips full, her chin delicately pointed. Her whole face radiated a seductive charm, the sort of looks that made you think at first glance she was trouble.