Demon My Ass! (Please Follow)

Some people lived, yet they were already dead. Some people died, yet they still lived on.

Zhao Situ was now in precisely that state.

When he woke up, only half his body remained.

Starting from the waist down, not only were his balls gone, even his ass was gone.

Yet he still felt pain in his ass.

Then he saw his master, Lord Ghosthand.

Ghosthand wore an emerald-green robe and a half-face bronze mask, while his hair was wrapped beneath a green bamboo hat. He looked as if he were shrouded inside a green cover.

No matter the season, his master always dressed this way.

Some said the body beneath that cover was horribly incomplete, that even his balls had only half of one left. But what it truly looked like inside, even Zhao Situ, his chief disciple, did not know.

Now Zhao Situ only knew that he was definitely less complete than his master.

He did not even have an ass anymore!

They said humans were the spirit of all things, born with nine orifices. Yet he was now missing one.

The kind of son people cursed with, "May your son be born without an asshole!"

He did not even know why he could still be alive like this.

And he still had to live!

This must have been his master's handiwork.

"If the King of Hell wants you dead at the third watch, Ghosthand insists on keeping you alive until the fifth."

That was the world's praise for his master's medical skill.

Before Ghosthand, if he wanted you dead, you died easily. But if he did not want you dead, even if you had only half a breath and half a body left, he could snatch you back from the King of Hell.

Zhao Situ was currently in just such a state.

There were still ice shards clinging to his clothes.

That had been Red Tears City's city guardian, Yu Qiling's handiwork.

Looking at Zhao Situ, who had been cut into two, Yu Qiling had promptly used the icy force of Icefire Seven Heavens to freeze half his body, preserving some of its vitality until Ghosthand arrived and acted.

Tears streamed down Zhao Situ's face as he said, "Master, blame me for being useless. I caused you trouble!"

Ghosthand shook his head and sighed. "You made a move, yet failed to slaughter your way through even a single branch hall. You truly have disappointed me."

Zhao Situ said, "If Yu Qiling had not intervened, this disciple would surely have killed them!"

Ghosthand gave a cold laugh and said nothing.

Looking at the frost still lingering on his body, Zhao Situ thought of something. Uneasily, he asked, "Master, did I wrong the Jiangzhong Sect?"

Ghosthand looked unconcerned. "So what if you wronged them? Those two old men wanted to fight me anyway. This is a fine chance to test just how much they weigh."

"Let's see what strength they have to contend with me."

Hearing Ghosthand say that, Zhao Situ knew he had truly made a mistake!

He could not help feeling both shocked and enraged.

He had always relied on his "cleverness" to control others, yet this time, he had been used instead?

He felt a tremendous humiliation and an indescribable terror. "Master, someone harmed my junior brother, then deceived me as well!"

After that, Zhao Situ voiced his thoughts.

"You mean that after the murderer killed your junior brother, he deliberately left clues behind to fan the flames?"

Ghosthand asked coldly.

To him, it was no great matter if they had mistakenly smashed up the Jiangzhong Sect's territory. After all, his disciple Sun Sheng had died without rhyme or reason.

When someone died, it was only human nature to seek out an enemy and vent one's anger.

But if someone had deliberately stirred the pot, that was another matter entirely.

The Blood Soul Divine Needle was his ultimate art. It allowed him to use others as tools at will. But if this had been done deliberately, it meant someone had used both him and the Ghost Hand Apothecary as tools.

That was what Ghosthand hated most!

He had always controlled others. Others did not get to use him!

Zhao Situ wore a strange expression as he pondered. "Master, I noticed someone."

"Speak."

"One of the Apothecary's test subjects. He was there too, watching me fight the Jiangzhong Sect to the death, yet he was sitting there eating."

"Eating?"

At this point, even the famed Ghosthand revealed a look of surprise.

Watching a show was one thing, but insisting on adding a meal to it made the scene seem rather wicked.

"Also, he should have been together with the other test subjects at the time. All the others were controlled by my divine needles, but he was not."

The more Zhao Situ thought about it, the more something felt wrong.

His meaning was obvious. If the other party could evade his divine needles, he must have cultivation to rely on.

And it was not low.

Even cultivators who had entered the third realm, the True Essence Realm, would find it difficult to evade his divine needles.

Ghosthand considered this. "You think that test subject was the murderer?"

Zhao Situ nodded. "There is an eighty or ninety percent chance it was him!"

"Good, good, good! Someone actually dared play dirty in my Ghost Hand Apothecary."

"Think carefully. Draw his face for me!"

For a moment, even Lord Ghosthand was so angry he almost laughed.

He had opened sixty-six Ghost Hand Apothecaries throughout the Returning Ruins, and not one had ever shut its doors.

But after today's events, this eighteenth Apothecary would certainly be difficult to keep open. Moreover, the Apothecary overseen by his chief disciple Zhao Situ would surely also be affected. One or two might even have to close.

Who would have thought his "first time" would be brought about by a mere "test subject"?

"Just what background does this test subject have?"

"How did he dare?"

That was Ghosthand's confusion.

It was also the confusion of Zhao Situ and the dead Sun Sheng.

This was equivalent to killing an important figure of the Ghosthand Lineage, then deliberately provoking a conflict between them and the Jiangzhong Sect.

With one move, he had set up both factions and placed them over a fire to roast.

It could be said that he gave neither the Ghosthand Lineage nor the Jiangzhong Sect any face.

He was out to screw them over!

Did the Returning Ruins really have such a "young man" who gave no one any face whatsoever?

"How wicked." Ghosthand could not help sighing.

At that moment, Zhao Situ drew Gu Qingfeng according to his memory.

His impression of Gu Qingfeng was that he was a handsome drug seed, and that he had kept eating while watching Zhao Situ fight desperately. He had only seen him twice in total, so there were not many details in the drawing.

This portrait soon found its way into the hands of the "middleman," city guardian Yu Qiling, as well as the Jiangzhong Sect.

After learning what had happened, they developed a feeling similar to Ghosthand's.

Just what was the background of this person stirring up discord?

He dared provoke both of their factions at once, and he was so young?

Even knowing someone had deliberately framed them, the Jiangzhong Sect's fury remained hard to quell.

Because throughout the entire affair, they had been the genuine victims.

Stabbed while lying down!

The Ghost Hand Apothecary had recruited a disaster-star test subject, yet their branch hall had nearly been wiped out. Who could they even reason with over this?

Thus, the Jiangzhong Sect's demand was simple: if Ghosthand did not give them a proper explanation, then the Ghost Hand Apothecary would suffer the same unprovoked disaster as their branch hall!

Yu Qiling could not help sighing.

He knew Ghosthand's and the Jiangzhong Sect's temperaments. As a peacemaker, there was no way he could mediate this matter.

Even if the city lord came personally, it would probably be no use.

If this continued, these two factions were destined to know no peace.

And if they knew no peace, neither would Red Tears City.

"Fuck that old sow of a mother! Screw your dead balls! What kind of shit is this?!"

Yu Qiling once again spoke in polished phrases.

Whether it was the fire at the Ghost Hand Apothecary, the death of shopkeeper Sun Sheng, or the bloody clash between the Ghost Hand Apothecary's chief disciple and Jiang Zhongtang, all of it could be called major events in Red Tears City over the past two years.

Then, over the following two days, because Ghosthand failed to give a satisfactory explanation, the Ghost Hand Apothecary and the Jiangzhong Sect clashed three more times, leaving onlookers crying out in delight.

Clearly, unless one side was beaten into submission—or even exterminated—neither would let the matter rest.

For forces of this level to suddenly fight to such an extent could only be called brutally savage!

Even the bloodthirstiest spectators, those who loved excitement most, could not tell for a while whether this was good or bad.

In any case, it was absolutely not good for city guardian Yu Qiling.

Before long, Gu Qingfeng saw the bounty notice for himself.

"Heavy Reward!

The person in the portrait once served as a test subject at the Ghost Hand Apothecary. He is handsome in appearance and tall in bearing.

Beware: this person may be an evil demon lord in disguise, intending to bring chaos upon the world!

Anyone providing useful clues will be rewarded one hundred taels."

Looking at the description and the portrait that bore a twenty-percent resemblance to himself, Gu Qingfeng could not help cursing, "Fuck your mother! Demon lord my ass!"