Dividing the Spoils

Wu Laochuan did not rush to act. Instead, he glanced at Lousy Liu, who was already dead, his expression shifting several times.

As for Qiu Qianhai across from him, he had already been beaten black and blue by that bamboo pole.

His original intention had been for the two of them to attack together and then butcher Wu Laochuan, but since Ji Yuan had already said that, he would not say anything more.

"Ha, hahaha... Heroes truly did emerge from the youth."

Wu Laochuan let out a few dry laughs. "I never would have thought that Lousy Liu, who had lorded over Zengtou City for more than ten years, would ultimately die at Little Brother Ji's hands."

"He deserved to die."

The Water Arrow in Ji Yuan's hand had not dispersed. It even seemed faintly poised to leave his grasp.

"He certainly deserved to die... So be it!"

Wu Laochuan tossed aside the bamboo pole in his hand. "Lousy Liu is already dead. There is no point in my holding out any longer. Today, I, Wu Laochuan, have been thoroughly beaten. I admit defeat."

"You should have done so sooner."

Ji Yuan dispersed the Water Arrow Technique and appeared to let out a sigh of relief.

"But I have to admit, Little Brother Ji, you are truly impressive. You even endured the pain of the Water Drop Finger, and you carry two Middle-Grade Talismans with you. That is genuinely formidable."

After Wu Laochuan finished speaking, he even cupped his hands toward Ji Yuan with great ceremony.

But at the very moment he rose, Qiu Qianhai's expression changed drastically. He did not even have time to speak and could only hurriedly throw out a Water Ball.

Even so, his first instinct was still... Too late.

Because at the moment Wu Laochuan had just cupped his hands, a streak of bloody light had already shot from his chest, pointing straight at Ji Yuan across from him.

This Old Ghost had never intended to surrender from the very beginning!

Damn it! Ji Yuan might be strong, but he had ultimately suffered from being young and inexperienced. How could anyone trust a cunning, treacherous rogue cultivator like this?!

In the blink of an eye, just as that thought flashed through Qiu Qianhai's mind, he saw another glimmer of watery-blue light.

It was the Water Drop Finger.

It was even faster than the streak of bloody light across from it—not in terms of speed, but because it had struck first!

Ji Yuan had already attacked the moment Wu Laochuan lowered his head!

"Shhk—"

At such close range, that watery-blue spiritual radiance shot straight through Wu Laochuan's brow and out the back of his head.

"Bang—"

His body crashed heavily to the ground. Falling with it was an Embroidery Needle that had already pierced through Ji Yuan's protective golden light and was just about to stab into his brow.

"Son of a bitch!"

Qiu Qianhai stepped forward and fired a Water Arrow directly. Like a watermelon being punctured, it blasted Wu Laochuan's head into a bloody mess, splattering some red and white onto Qiu Qianhai himself.

Ji Yuan, who had been fine just moments ago, immediately went pale when he saw the headless corpse.

Qiu Qianhai glanced at him and could not help squeezing a smile out of his swollen face.

"Get used to it. You will have no shortage of chances to kill people in the future."

After saying that, he walked toward Lousy Liu's corpse, clearly intending to finish him off as well.

But who would have thought...

"You bastard, you are still alive?!"

Ji Yuan, who had just been dry-heaving, immediately sprang to his feet. With a single leap, he landed beside Qiu Qianhai, both hands already condensing Water Drop Fingers.

At that moment, Lousy Liu's forehead was split open, and blood flowed from all seven orifices.

He was alive, but barely breathing in while breathing out far more. When he saw Ji Yuan approach, he tugged at the corners of his mouth and made a feeble sound.

"I used this very method to kill your parents back then. Do you know who helped me by calling them out?"

"Who?"

Ji Yuan was genuinely curious about that.

"Come closer, and I will tell you." Lousy Liu spoke with all his remaining strength.

Ji Yuan extended his right index finger and fired a Water Drop Finger straight through the web between Lousy Liu's right thumb and index finger. He grunted, and an unnatural flush flashed across his face.

"Heh, you... you really are... quite... quite a tough one."

"So be it, so... be it. It was Old Man Huang."

Lousy Liu gave him the answer, then stared blankly at the clouds in the sky. No one knew what thoughts occupied the mind of this dying man.

It was him... Ji Yuan was both surprised and unsurprised by the answer.

What surprised him was that Ji Qingyun had indeed had a good relationship with Old Man Huang. Whenever he prepared food for festivals or holidays, he would even make a portion especially for Old Man Huang. He had never expected that Old Man Huang would actually strike out against Ji Qingyun.

What did not surprise him was that Old Man Huang truly was that sort of person.

His nature could be seen from the way he had treated Lin Hu's family.

"He is dead."

Qiu Qianhai stared at Lousy Liu's eyes for a while before speaking.

Ji Yuan answered with an "Mm," then fired another Water Drop Finger, piercing through Lousy Liu's brow.

Qiu Qianhai bent down and removed the Storage Bag from Lousy Liu's waist. He then took a small porcelain bottle from his own Storage Bag, poured out a drop of black liquid, and let it fall onto the corpse.

In an instant, the corpse melted and rotted away.

Even the clothes disappeared with it.

This is pretty good for destroying corpses and erasing traces. It truly is an essential medicine for anyone traveling the martial world... Ji Yuan could not help feeling stirred.

Before Ji Yuan could speak, Qiu Qianhai took the initiative to say, "Corpse-Melting Water. At Room Xu-9 in Zengtou City, tell them Qiu Qianhai introduced you, and that Lame Li will sell it to you. One Spirit Stone per bottle."

"All right."

Qiu Qianhai then used the same method to dissolve Wu Laochuan's corpse. He gathered up the bamboo pole and short saber on the ground, the two Dharma Tools, while Ji Yuan picked up the Embroidery Needle Wu Laochuan had used in his final assassination attempt.

"This place is dangerous. We cannot stay long. We will find somewhere else to divide the spoils."

Qiu Qianhai was clearly extremely experienced in killing people and taking their possessions.

"All right."

Before long, a Spirit Vessel headed straight north, sailing deeper into Cloud-Rain Marsh.

Crouching Tortoise Island lay northeast of Zengtou City. An hour later, in a small Reed Marsh northwest of Zengtou City, Qiu Qianhai dumped out all the contents of the two Storage Bags in one go.

The first things they saw were several pink undergarments belonging to female cultivators. Judging by their appearance, they had even been worn before.

"Wu Laochuan, you damn bastard."

Qiu Qianhai tossed them aside and only then began dividing the spoils.

Lousy Liu had probably just gone through a fierce battle in Cloud-Rain Marsh, so he did not have many possessions on him. He had no more than five Spirit Stones, and only two Detoxification Pills among his remaining Cultivation Pills. He had already eaten all his Hundred-Herb Pills for healing. His Talismans were similarly scarce, leaving only low-grade Talismans such as Water Shield Talismans and Water Ball Talismans.

The Dharma Tools consisted of the black-gold short saber from earlier, along with a blue-black Spirit Vessel.

"This old bastard must have suffered quite a few losses over on Maple Leaf Island."

Qiu Qianhai muttered as he spoke.

Ji Yuan's gaze fell upon Wu Laochuan's possessions. At a single glance, a feeling surfaced in his heart... Killing and arson truly did make a golden belt!

There were already piles of Spirit Stones alone. After estimating at a glance, he figured there were nearly forty. There were also four bottles of Cultivation Pills: two bottles of Hundred-Herb Pills, one bottle of Detoxification Pills, and one bottle of Blood-Burning Pills.

As for Talismans, there were more than a dozen low-grade Talismans.

There were two Middle-Grade Talismans: one Thunderstrike Talisman and one Water Shadow Talisman for escaping.

Unfortunately, he had died before he could use either of them.

As for Dharma Tools, he had gained several more: a Spirit Vessel, that bamboo-pole-like Dharma Tool, and the Embroidery Needle meant for sneak attacks that Ji Yuan had just picked up.

"There are even techniques here."

As Qiu Qianhai spoke, he shook out three jade slips. The names of three techniques were engraved on them.

Ji Yuan had sharp eyes and picked one up from among them...

"Object Manipulation Technique."