Chen Xuan's Death, Central District Pass

Lu Hao noticed Chen Xuan's movements, then glanced into the courtyard. Seeing that no Golden Saber Gang members remained standing, he chased after Chen Xuan.

Inside the room, Han Zheng's hands and feet were tied, his hair was disheveled, and his face was covered in bruises. His short training clothes were caked with dirt, and a wad of cloth had been stuffed into his mouth.

When Han Zheng saw Chen Xuan enter the room, he shook his head and repeatedly made muffled "mmph" sounds.

Chen Xuan walked up to Han Zheng and pulled a dagger from his robes. Bending down, he cut the ropes binding Han Zheng's feet.

Then he immediately pressed the dagger to Han Zheng's throat, dragged him to his feet, and headed for the door.

At that moment, Lu Hao also arrived at the doorway.

Chen Xuan looked at Lu Hao and was startled by his appearance.

Lu Hao was covered in blood. His left shoulder in particular had been soaked into a broad patch of dark red. His fists and face were also smeared with blood, making him look like a god of slaughter.

Chen Xuan's heartbeat quickened. The dagger pressed against Han Zheng's throat trembled along with his shaking arm.

By now, Chen Xuan had long lost his usual calm composure. The folding fan he often toyed with was tucked at his waist.

Chen Xuan swallowed, trying hard to steady himself.

"Lu Hao, let me go! Otherwise, I'll kill Han Zheng!"

He swallowed again.

"Looking at your condition, you must have exhausted too much Qi-Blood. The Qi-Blood inside your body is already depleted."

"Though your realm is one stage higher than mine, if I risk my life against you now, in your current state, you are no match for me. Let me go! It will be better for everyone."

Lu Hao looked expressionlessly at Chen Xuan and slowly walked toward him.

Lu Hao looked at the dark blue panel.

[Qi-Blood in body: 1/30]

Lu Hao's face was deathly pale, and his breathing was heavy.

His fierce battle with Ma Xiaotian, Xiong Kaishan, and Diao Xiaolin had already consumed a great deal of Qi-Blood. Then Diao Xiaolin had stabbed him with a sword, and afterward Lu Hao had killed several more Golden Saber Gang members. The Qi-Blood within him was nearly exhausted.

He took a small porcelain bottle from his robes, removed the stopper, poured the dark-red Blood-Qi Pill into his palm, placed it in his mouth, and swallowed it in one gulp.

The pill entered his mouth and slid down his throat into his stomach.

The instant it landed in his stomach, a warm current exploded from his dantian and flowed through his limbs and bones. Around his dantian, the nine strands of Qi-Blood that had originally scattered suddenly seemed to be drawn in by an invisible force. They once more circled his dantian and began spinning rapidly.

Lu Hao quickly absorbed the Blood-Qi Pill's medicinal power, and the color returned to his pale face.

Lu Hao felt incomparably refreshed all over, and he let out a long breath.

[Qi-Blood in body: 16/30]

Lu Hao continued walking toward Chen Xuan.

"Don't come any closer. If you do, I'll really kill Han Zheng." The dagger in his hand had already cut a tiny slit in Han Zheng's neck.

With his mouth blocked, Han Zheng looked at Chen Xuan, then at Lu Hao, shaking his head frantically.

Lu Hao said flatly, "Kill Han Zheng if you want. What does that have to do with me?"

Seeing Lu Hao close in step by step, Chen Xuan slashed the dagger across Han Zheng's neck, hurriedly shoved Han Zheng forward, then turned and lunged toward the rear window.

Chen Xuan rammed the window with his shoulder and rolled outside in one smooth motion.

Shoved like that, Han Zheng crashed straight toward Lu Hao. Lu Hao sidestepped, casually pushed him aside, and Shi Kang, standing nearby, swiftly caught Han Zheng. Blood poured from Han Zheng's neck. Clearly, he would not survive.

Lu Hao also rolled out through the window Chen Xuan had smashed open.

Chen Xuan had only run a few steps and had yet to leave the back courtyard when he heard footsteps closing in behind him.

He turned his head to look back, only to see that Lu Hao had already reached his rear.

Lu Hao pushed off with both feet and used Black Tiger Pounces on Prey. He wrapped both arms around Chen Xuan's waist from behind and, borrowing the force of his charge, slammed Chen Xuan viciously to the ground. Chen Xuan's folding fan flew from his waist as well.

"Don't kill me!" Chen Xuan cried out in terror. "Don't kill me! I have a pass to the Central District of Bluestone County Seat."

Lu Hao snorted. "A Central District pass?"

"Yes, a pass!"

"Without a pass, you can't enter the Central District of Bluestone County Seat. Let me go, and I'll give you the pass!"

"If I kill you, I can take the pass all the same."

As the words fell, Lu Hao pressed both hands against Chen Xuan's temples and twisted hard clockwise. As he twisted, he said, "I do not bully others, but others must not bully me! Those who bully me, I kill!"

With a crack, Chen Xuan's neck snapped, and his head drooped to one side.

Chen Xuan's pupils were filled with terror. In the final instant before his death, one thought spun through his mind. If he had not plotted against Lu Hao in the beginning, if he had not sent that god-of-slaughter-like man to raid the Azure Robe Branch Hall, would none of this have happened? Would he not have died?

There was another question Chen Xuan never understood until his death. How had Lu Hao taken only ten days to go from someone who had not awakened Qi-Blood to his current Third Gate-Breaking Stage?

After killing Chen Xuan, Lu Hao turned Chen Xuan's corpse over.

From Chen Xuan's robes, he took out a palm-sized wooden token. On its front were engraved the three characters "Central Passage." Around the outer edge of its back was a ring of auspicious clouds, while "Bluestone City" was engraved in the center. This was precisely the pass for the Central District of Bluestone County Seat. Lu Hao inspected it again, then tucked it into his robes.

He also found over a dozen taels of loose silver and another Blood-Qi Pill in Chen Xuan's robes.

Before chasing Chen Xuan just now, the Qi-Blood in his body had been exhausted, leaving him no choice but to consume the Blood-Qi Pill he had seized from the Azure Robe Branch Hall.

At that time, he had already felt that this Blood-Qi Pill was truly a treasure. With a Blood-Qi Pill, when fighting someone to the death, it was like gaining half an extra life.

When he had the chance, he would have to find someone to ask how one could obtain Blood-Qi Pills.

Lu Hao also found a letter in Chen Xuan's robes. Its contents were extremely brief. It merely instructed Chen Xuan to lead people out of the city every day at midnight through a dog hole beneath the city wall, abduct ten vagrants, then use the Central District pass to send those ten vagrants to the Purple Radiance Alley Entrance in the Central District, where they were to be handed over to the receiving party.

Lu Hao read the letter back and forth several times, yet found no signature on it.

The north, west, and south parts of Bluestone County Seat were all slums. Wealthy households and high-ranking officials lived in the Central District. To protect those people, and to keep the poor from disturbing their peace, Bluestone County Seat had another regulation: people from the slums were forbidden from freely entering or leaving the Central District unless they held a pass.

Meanwhile, the eastern district of Bluestone County was where one thousand soldiers of the Great Jin Dynasty were stationed.

Lu Hao recalled from the original owner's memories that those who lost their homes within the city could no longer live in the city. Yet among those cast out beyond its walls, people would disappear from time to time, vanishing without a trace, neither alive nor dead.

So this matter was actually connected to Chen Xuan.

Yet the letter bore no signature, and Lu Hao had no idea whom Chen Xuan had been working for. Was this Chen Xuan's personal doing, or had the entire Black Tiger Gang taken part? And what became of those vagrants sent into the Central District?

Lu Hao did not continue dwelling on these matters. He tucked the letter into his robes.

Lu Hao searched Chen Xuan again and finally found a key tied with a red cord at Chen Xuan's waist.