Why Didn't You Come Sooner?

Drip, drip.

Tears splashed onto the ground.

"How pitiful." Seeing the shopkeeper in such a miserable state, Zhou Jin could not help but feel sympathy. "He didn't want this either. Let him go."

Zhao Zhi flicked a glance at Zhou Jin from the corner of his eye, then looked back at the shopkeeper.

Hearing Zhou Jin's words, the shopkeeper seemed to have grasped a lifesaving straw. He raised his head, his face streaked with tears and snot. "Miss, my parents, my whole family, were all killed by the bandits of Blackwind Stronghold. I hate them to the bone. But I'm just an ordinary commoner. I don't have the slightest ability to resist. If I didn't obey Blackwind Stronghold, they would kill me."

He raised a hand to wipe away the tears and snot on his face. His eyes were red, and a trace of madness showed within them. "The authorities never came. The Profound Nether Platform never appeared. What was I supposed to do?"

The shopkeeper suddenly grabbed He Peng's thigh. "You are Profound Nether Guards from the Profound Nether Platform. Why didn't you appear back then? If you had appeared back then, my parents wouldn't have died, and my little sister wouldn't have been killed by the people of Blackwind Stronghold. Why? Why didn't you come sooner?"

His voice and tears flowed together; those who heard him felt sorrow, and those who saw him shed tears.

Seeing the shopkeeper's state, Zhou Jin tugged on Pan Hu's sleeve and said in a low voice, "Brother Pan, let's help him."

"Help him? We absolutely must help him." Chen Nanxing stepped forward. "The two of you are Profound Nether Guards. The duty of the Profound Nether Guard is to protect the common people. This shopkeeper is one of the people you should protect. Why aren't you releasing him?"

He Peng's face showed hesitation.

Especially upon seeing the shopkeeper like this, the hand gripping his long saber loosened slightly.

Step.

Zhao Zhi took a step forward and walked up to the shopkeeper. Under everyone's gaze, he extended a hand with distinct knuckles, seized the man by the throat, and slowly lifted him up.

"How did you know we were Profound Nether Guards?"

The Profound Nether Guard had its own uniform.

Yet Zhao Zhi and He Peng had not worn the Profound Nether Guard uniform for this operation.

How could a tea stall owner know that the two of them were Profound Nether Guards?

Pan Hu, Zhou Jin, and Chen Nanxing did not know either.

"Hack, hack... You looked like..." The shopkeeper's eyes darted about as he coughed. "I heard others talk about what Profound Nether Guards look like."

"Is that so?"

A cold glint burst from Zhao Zhi's eyes. The corner of his mouth curled, and threads of killing intent spread through the air.

"Fine. Since you knew we were Profound Nether Guards, instead of asking us for help, you wanted to kill us. Did you think the bandits of Blackwind Stronghold would dare kill you, but we Profound Nether Guards would not?"

The shopkeeper's expression clearly grew more flustered. "What are you talking about? I don't understand."

Pan Hu, Zhou Jin, and Chen Nanxing exchanged looks, utterly baffled.

"You don't understand?" Zhao Zhi sneered. "I think you're one of Blackwind Stronghold's bandits, trying to pass yourself off as a commoner. You're courting death."

As soon as he finished speaking—

Crack.

Zhao Zhi directly snapped the shopkeeper's neck.

[You killed a bandit who had willingly sunk into depravity. Merit +9.]

The shopkeeper's eyes widened until they nearly bulged from their sockets, and the light in them rapidly faded.

As though tossing away garbage, Zhao Zhi casually threw the shopkeeper's corpse aside.

"How could you kill him?!" Zhou Jin looked at the shopkeeper's corpse, her face pale. "Even if he was a bandit from Blackwind Stronghold, he begged for mercy just now. He wasn't a threat to you. You should have let him go."

Zhao Zhi turned back and glanced at Zhou Jin.

Fucking idiot.

"Wait until you drink the tea, then decide whether he should have been spared."

After leaving those words behind, Zhao Zhi left the tea stall, with He Peng following close behind.

Seeing Zhao Zhi and He Peng leave just like that, Zhou Jin stomped her foot in anger. "Brother Pan, what did he mean by that?"

"I don't know." Pan Hu shook his head, his gaze falling upon the coarse tea on the table. "Perhaps this tea can explain it."

He then removed a blue-and-white wristband from his wrist and dipped one of its blue-and-white beads into the coarse tea.

In an instant—

The blue-and-white bead changed color, turning a bloody crimson.

"The tea is poisoned."

Pan Hu's expression darkened somewhat.

"Poisoned?!"

Zhou Jin and Chen Nanxing's expressions changed abruptly.

They knew the origin of the blue-and-white bead in Pan Hu's hand. It was an exceedingly precious gemstone that could test for poison; upon touching any poison, it would turn blood-red. At the same time, the blue-and-white bead could detoxify most poisons.

Chen Nanxing clenched his fists. "So what if it's poisoned? The shopkeeper hadn't poisoned us yet. Besides, with Brother Pan's Star-Tear Stone, even if we were poisoned, it could be cured. What's there to fear?"

Zhou Jin nodded. "That's right."

Pan Hu glanced at the two of them, feeling rather helpless. "They are Profound Nether Guards of the Profound Nether Platform. Their experience traveling the martial world is richer than ours. They handled it correctly."

Chen Nanxing's face sank. Clearly still unconvinced, he looked toward Zhao Zhi and He Peng in the distance. As though he had thought of something, a smile rose at his lips. "The two of them are Profound Nether Guards. They must have come here to deal with Blackwind Stronghold. We came here for Blackwind Stronghold as well. As long as we kill Blackwind Stronghold's chief, Xiahou Cheng, right in front of them, let's see whether they still dare look down on us."

"Brother Nanxing makes sense." Light gathered in Zhou Jin's peach-blossom eyes. "Let's go kill Xiahou Cheng right now."

Seeing the eager expressions on Zhou Jin and Chen Nanxing's faces, Pan Hu felt deeply helpless.

Xiahou Cheng of Blackwind Stronghold was quite a notable figure in Linshui Commandery. How could he be so easy to deal with? Moreover, Blackwind Stronghold did not consist of Xiahou Cheng alone; it had many bandits.

However—

He was only a bandit, after all.

Deep down, Pan Hu did not truly regard Xiahou Cheng as a threat. The three of them came from prominent families; the martial arts they cultivated and the resources they obtained were hardly something a mere forest bandit could compare with.

"Let's go."

Pan Hu led the two onward.

After what had just happened, none of them had any mood left to rest.

Most missions to eliminate mountain bandits and river bandits were classified by the Profound Nether Platform as D-grade Missions.

This was because they were not particularly powerful. Most were at the Foundation Establishment level, and Meridian Opening Realm martial artists were rarely found among them.

Moreover, mountain bandits and river bandits had fixed locations, so there was no need to waste too much time searching for the mission targets.

In fact—

The places occupied by mountain bandits and river bandits were extremely similar.

Blackwind Stronghold was much like Flying Cloud Stronghold. It was located halfway up a mountain, with steep cliffs on three sides that were difficult to climb, and a narrow mountain path on the remaining side—easy to defend and hard to attack.

Unlike Flying Cloud Stronghold, which was divided into an outer stronghold and a main stronghold, Blackwind Stronghold had only a main stronghold, and it was no larger than Flying Cloud Stronghold's.

The D-grade Mission contained a brief record of information concerning Blackwind Stronghold.

Blackwind Stronghold had three Xiantian-level martial artists. Its chief was Xiahou Cheng, who had reached Innate Perfection and possessed some measure of strength.

But only some measure of strength. He could not compare with Xianyu Tu.

That was precisely why Yan Qing had chosen to assign this mission to Zhao Zhi.

Zhao Zhi had been able to easily kill Xianyu Tu, so taking down a mere Xiahou Cheng would pose no problem at all.

Zhao Zhi and He Peng headed toward Blackwind Stronghold.

Suddenly, a sound rose from behind them. Turning around, they found Pan Hu and the other two.